Chapter 130: Tempering Bones and Skin

Just as Lin Feng was focusing on drawing talismans, the interior of the *Xiangmiao* (Incense Temple) was solemn. Last night, the assassin paper dolls destroyed more than twenty incense towers across various prefectures.

At first, the *Xiangmiao* thought only one prefecture was deliberately sabotaging their plans, but after the intelligence from various places reached the ears of the *Xiangmiao* ancestors during the day, the matter immediately became extremely serious.

In a certain netherworld, the *Xiangmiao* leader, Song Zhong, came here again. Before him were nine massive and terrifying ancestor statues.

"Reporting to all ancestors, according to investigations by the people I arranged, those destroyed incense towers were all handled with the same method."

"There were no corpses inside the incense towers, most things were burned to ashes, and there were not many traces of fighting, only various different *guiyi* powers remaining."

"The disciple guesses this is definitely a major power, capable of mobilizing a large number of *Gui* controllers to act in a short time. These forces are very likely to have a deep blood feud with our *Xiangmiao*."

When saying this, Song Zhong's eyes were filled with anger. Now, all the ancestors had awakened, and even the *Xiangzhu* (Incense Master) was paying attention to this matter.

This made him feel a bit ashamed and angry. According to his thoughts, they should directly attack the opponent's door and completely grind them to dust!

However, according to the investigation results, the opponent's background was likely not small, which forced him to act cautiously.

"Hmph!"

Suddenly, an ancestor let out an extremely angry cold snort, directly causing this netherworld to tremble.

"We shall act tonight!"

"Do not let this matter happen again!"

Subsequently, another ancestor also spoke. They were naturally extremely dissatisfied with this result.

However, rashly arranging manpower to pursue would only lead to being led by the nose, and even risk falling into a trap prepared by the opponent.

"Yes! This disciple understands!"

Hearing the ancestor speak, Song Zhong immediately bowed and saluted. No matter what, with the ancestors acting, those petty thieves would be unable to escape.

Soon, Song Zhong directly turned into a cloud of smoke and dissipated, while the nine ancestors did not leave.

"Rustle, rustle."

Suddenly, the sound of pages turning echoed in this netherworld, and the nine ancestors bowed and saluted one after another.

"Greetings, *Xiangzhu*!"

"Greetings, *Xiangzhu*!"

"..."

Their grand voices echoed throughout the netherworld, but they could never drown out the sound of the pages turning.

"Incense Fire Divine Kingdom, acting against heaven, three disasters and nine calamities, this is one of them!"

"Setting up incense to lure *Gui*, weaving a dense net, soldiers in front, black hands behind the scenes."

Suddenly, a huge, yellowed page appeared out of thin air, and then lines of ink characters emerged on it, immediately shocking the nine ancestors present.

They never expected that the three disasters and nine calamities had already arrived just as it started, and even less did they expect that the *Xiangzhu* meant there was a deeper black hand hidden behind this.

"Respectfully follow the decree!"

Subsequently, these ancestors saluted again, but now they understood what they should do.

In the evening, Lin Feng, who had been drawing talismans all day, felt a bit dizzy.

But what surprised him even more was that, according to the observation of the corpse-collecting paper dolls, the *Xiangmiao* did not have any obvious major movements.

The incense towers still existing in Lin Prefecture and Liu Prefecture were still attracting believers by distributing money and grain, and even the incense towers burned down by the assassin paper dolls were rebuilt.

"The situation is a bit wrong?"

Lin Feng felt a bit puzzled by this result. With the *Xiangmiao*'s methods, it was absolutely impossible for them not to find clues.

Know that the *Zhenguisi* (Ghost Suppression Division) had *Guixiao* (Ghost Owls) specifically for finding *Gui* based on *Guiyi*; the *Xiangmiao* might also have such *Gui*, which is why Lin Feng scattered the assassin paper dolls into the deep mountains and forests to let them slowly search.

But after a whole day, the various assassin paper dolls were not found at all, and those incense towers seemed unaffected.

"When things are abnormal, there must be demons. Although I don't know what medicine they are selling in their gourds, it is clearly strange!"

Looking at the sunset, the sky was fiery red, and Lin Feng faintly felt that the setting sun was like blood.

"Better to be still than to move. Since you don't move, then I won't move either!"

"When my internal energy reaches the level of four hundred years, I will immediately start to improve the strength of the *Xi Gui* (Play Ghost) and *Tanshi Gui* (Gluttonous Ghost)!"

If the *Xiangmiao* people were searching the world for the assassin paper dolls with great fanfare, Lin Feng would not be so cautious, because that would mean the opponent was already being led by the nose by him.

But now the *Xiangmiao*'s actions were clearly not like this, so Lin Feng had to be a bit careful; otherwise, if he plunged into the opponent's trap, that would not be the result he wanted.

After dinner, Lin Feng did not continue drawing talismans but came directly to the graveyard in the depths of Xinglong Ling.

"Crunch, crunch, crunch."

Over a hundred corpses were quickly buried by Lin Feng, and the majestic internal energy in his body began to surge again.

This time, he faintly felt a bit hot; even though it was already winter, he still felt that the clothes on his body were redundant.

Taking off his clothes, Lin Feng revealed the solid muscles on his body. At this time, his skin presented a special bronze color.

On his arms, back, and chest, wherever blood vessels were easily seen, they were now bulging.

At this moment, Lin Feng felt that a large amount of internal energy was spreading on the surface of his body. The internal energy that originally only strengthened internal organs and muscles had now extended to the surface of his body.

"Come over and hit me hard with wooden sticks!"

Seeming to think of something, Lin Feng directly controlled several heavy-armored paper dolls to grab wooden sticks and whip his body.

"Slap, slap, slap!"

Under the waving of the heavy-armored paper dolls, the wrist-thick wooden sticks hit Lin Feng hard, but Lin Feng not only felt no pain but felt a bit itchy.

"Too light! Keep using force!"

The wooden sticks hitting Lin Feng couldn't even leave a mark, which made Lin Feng feel extremely dissatisfied.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

As he spoke again, the heavy-armored paper dolls used even greater force. This time, the wooden sticks swung over with great weight.

But Lin Feng's body felt as if it had been hit on thick cowhide; besides hearing muffled sounds, it had no effect.

This time, Lin Feng felt much more comfortable, but it still felt like scratching an itch through a boot, never quite satisfying enough.

The internal energy spreading from his body was constantly tempering his epidermis, and the repeated whipping of the wooden sticks was actually accelerating this process.

"Crack~"

Suddenly, a wooden stick broke directly when it hit Lin Feng, which left Lin Feng speechless.

"Change one and continue!"

After saying this, Lin Feng felt that he should use iron sticks, but there were no ready-made iron bars for the moment.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

After several wooden sticks broke in succession, the surging internal energy in Lin Feng's body gradually calmed down.

"Stop!"

Having gradually adapted, Lin Feng stopped the heavy-armored paper dolls from raising the wooden sticks again, then put on the clothes he had taken off.

"Soon, after tomorrow, the internal energy in my body will completely break through the four-hundred-year mark!"

"But next time, it will probably be even more intense. It seems I must take action tonight; if not the Ruyi Golden Cudgel, at least I must get some iron bars!"

Lin Feng knew that top-grade *guiyi* weapons were not so easy to forge, but high-grade or middle-grade ones were relatively simple.

If he couldn't make a top-notch weapon blank, getting some iron bars would be useful for tomorrow.

Coming into the stone house, Lin Feng directly used *gui* fire to light the coal stove, then threw in several pieces of ore that looked like severed limbs to calcine.

According to the *Gui* Blacksmith, these materials were not top-tier ore, just usable. The best ore was the kind that was complete in form and lifelike.

In other words, the closer the form was to a living person, the better the quality of the ore! ===== CHAPTER 131 =====