Gou Refining Essence into Qi in the Dharma-ending Age

Chapter 36 Spiritual Object: The Witchcraft Scarecrow

Lin Yuan personally watched as the corpses of the two evil cultivators were burned to ashes.

It burned for a long time and used a lot of firewood from Qingshui Village.

In particular, that evil cultivator at the fifth level of the embryonic breathing stage was protected by a portion of spiritual energy even after death, making him impervious to fire. In the end, it was only after the spiritual energy gradually dissipated that he was completely burned to ashes.

The village chief of Qingshui Village is named Hongshan, an old man who is almost seventy years old.

He brought some respected elders from the village to express their gratitude: "Thank you, Master Lin, for helping my Qingshui Village eliminate the enemy."

"It's what a disciple of the Sword Sect should do." Lin Yuan wasn't too bothered by their gratitude. He changed the subject, "These two have been staking out your Qingshui Village for so long. Surely the village chief is aware that something is amiss?"

The fact that the two "immortals" were so patient suggests that, had the Sword Sect disciples not been even more patient, their village would likely have already met with disaster.

Hong Shan was a clever man, and he immediately said, "Master Lin, our Qingshui Village probably has some kind of treasure. If so, please take it away, as our Qingshui Village cannot handle it."

With so many people dead, Qingshui Village was terrified.

Without the protection of a deity, don't take treasures you can't control.

However, Lin Yuan shook his head and said, "I don't know what treasures your village has. In fact, I only learned about it from those two. You'll have to figure out the specifics yourselves."

"Immortal Master...we are all mortals, we have absolutely no clues!" Old Hongshan said helplessly.

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "There are two possibilities. One is that your ancestors were extraordinary, causing some changes in your bodies. The other is that something that everyone in your village can eat has caused these changes in your bodies."

"You can follow these two clues to find out."

Upon hearing this, Hong Shan immediately said, "Master Lin, if there is anything that the whole village can eat, it is only the well water in the village."

"Although Qingshui Village is close to the river, most villagers are still used to drawing water from wells."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan said, "I'll go take a look."

Soon after, the group arrived at the well and drew some water from it.

Hongshan asked, "Immortal Master, how is it?"

Lin Yuan shook his head.

However, he found nothing unusual in the well water.

The well water was also very ordinary.

Actually, the possibility of this happening was very small to begin with.

After all, such an obvious clue would most likely be investigated by the evil cultivator.

He only came to investigate because he thought that the evil cultivator might have damaged his mind.

Upon hearing this, Hongshan felt somewhat troubled.

He genuinely didn't want to leave the source of trouble in the village.

If their ancestors were some important figures, then that would be troublesome.

This root of the problem is impossible to get rid of.

"Immortal Master, your sect once came to Qingshui Village to test the people, and none of them had the potential to become immortals!" Hong Shan said.

According to his thinking, if their ancestors were extraordinary and had produced immortals, then they wouldn't be unable to produce even one immortal.

Lin Yuan, somewhat helpless upon hearing this, could only resort to a crude method, saying, "I'll go to each of your homes and investigate!"

"Yes, Immortal Master," Hong Shan immediately replied.

Next, the entire Qingshui Village sprang into action.

The village has thousands of people, including several hundred households.

However, Lin Yuan was very efficient, investigating each household one by one.

As it turned out, he did discover something unusual, which he found in a villager's house.

It was a scarecrow the size of a palm, with several tiny needles stuck in its body.

In addition, there was a piece of paper with the birth date and time written on it.

Upon seeing this thing being found, the owner's expression immediately changed.

Upon seeing the birth date and time, some people's expressions changed drastically, and they immediately started fighting with the homeowner.

"How dare you stab my sullen face!"

"So what if I do this? You beast! Last time you tried to bully my daughter, I wish you were dead."

Hong Shan quickly ordered his men to separate the two, then looked at Lin Yuan and said, "Immortal Master, please forgive this straw doll..."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan glanced at the scarecrow's owner and said, "This is no ordinary object; it is a spiritual object. It may truly be effective."

Upon hearing this, everyone present changed their expressions.

The practice of pricking voodoo dolls has been a long-standing folk custom and is considered taboo.

In most cases, it's just a taboo, basically only annoying people, and won't actually have any effect.

However, this time is different.

Even immortals say it's effective, so it really is.

Being stabbed with a voodoo doll can really kill you.

The cursed person was terrified and immediately knelt down in front of Lin Yuan: "Immortal Master, you must save me! I admit my mistake, I don't want to die."

He was a reckless person who wasn't afraid of anything supernatural or ghostly, and he even believed that the legends of immortal masters were all false.

Now, however, I'm afraid.

Because there really are immortal masters.

"Don't worry, the effectiveness of this item depends on who uses it. Ordinary people won't activate it, otherwise you would have died long ago." Lin Yuan had just heard about the conflict between the owner of this item and the person who was cursed. He didn't have a good impression of the person who was cursed, but he wouldn't say anything recklessly.

However, he added, "Of course, it is a spiritual object after all, and it is not simple. Its effects may be delayed. You need to atone for your sins and offset them with your own merits, otherwise, you will suffer misery in your future life."

"Yes, Immortal Master, I will certainly atone for my sins." The cursed person dared not disbelieve and immediately kowtowed.

Lin Yuan nodded slightly, ignoring him, and instead looked at the scarecrow's owner, asking, "How did you get this?"

Since it is a spiritual object, it is unlikely that its owner made it himself.

The scarecrow's owner dared not conceal the truth and said, "I inform you, Master, that this item was passed down from my ancestors, who said that carrying it could strengthen the body..."

"How can witchcraft items improve one's health?" Lin Yuan frowned. "Do you really feel that way?"

In theory, prolonged contact with spiritual objects can indeed improve one's physical condition.

However, he could clearly sense that the spiritual energy within the scarecrow was contained and not leaked out at all, making it impossible for it to subtly influence people.

Upon seeing this, the scarecrow's owner panicked and said, "Immortal Master, this is a message passed down from our ancestors, and it's been a long time. I don't know if it's true or not, but I certainly haven't felt any effect from it."

"Not only petty people, but even the ancestors of petty people haven't discovered this effect for a long time."

"Actually, my grandfather is quite frail..."

The village chief, Hong Shan, nodded and said, "Master, that's true. His grandfather was my generation and had a poor constitution."

"However, Immortal Master, is the root of our village's problems this thing?"

Upon hearing this, several people glared at the scarecrow with hatred, and even its owner was implicated.

However, Lin Yuan shook his head and said, "The probability is not high, but the existence of this item does indicate that your ancestors may indeed have had extraordinary figures."

"As for this item..."

Without hesitation, the scarecrow's original owner said, "Immortal Master, I offer this to you for safekeeping."

Knowing that this was a spiritual object that only immortals could possess, he was indeed tempted.

But he quickly calmed down.

Let's not even talk about how this immortal master could be forcibly taken.

Even if the immortal master is of noble character, he dares not stay any longer unless he leaves Qingshui Village forever.

Otherwise, everyone in Qingshui Village would be wary of him.

Does the immortal master mean it's useless?

Who knows if it's true?

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan did not refuse, as keeping this item would not be a good thing.

He put the scarecrow away, intending to return to his sect and ask the elders about it.

He then continued his investigation.

However, no second type of spiritual object was found.

Lin Yuan sighed and said, "I will patrol the area around the village again. If I find nothing, I will return to the sect and ask the elders to try to solve your problem."