Folklore simulation, starting with the mortician

After a brief chat, the misunderstandings cleared up, and Li Feng realized that the old man in front of him was the temple keeper of the City God Temple, a man with a prestigious background who had been a contract worker and a permanent employee in his previous life.

The old man's original surname was Lin, but he had long forgotten his given name. He only had a pen name, which everyone called Lin Zhangdeng. Li Feng should just call him "sir".

"Did your cook light the stove for you?"

Mr. Lin's question left Li Feng stunned. He had never heard his master mention this matter before, and even after racking his brains, he couldn't recall anything about burning firewood.

"What? You didn't even have that? How did your master even teach you to get started?"

Mr. Lin frowned and placed the incense stick in his hand into the incense burner on the offering table.

Li Feng stammered, unable to speak. This matter was truly difficult for him, as he had no idea what burning the stove meant.

"In that case, come with me to the side room, I'll cut it for you."

After he finished speaking, Mr. Lin led the way. The night was very dark, but Li Feng felt a warmth as he followed behind Mr. Lin, and the surroundings seemed much brighter.

Upon entering the inner room, Mr. Lin lit the oil lamp, looked at Li Feng with his clear eyes, and asked Li Feng to raise his hand, placing two fingers on it.

Li Feng found it rather strange, thinking that the incision was some kind of intricacies, but he didn't expect it to be somewhat similar to taking a pulse.

After cutting for a while, Mr. Lin's brows furrowed even deeper. He looked up at Li Feng, his expression a mixture of surprise and uncertainty. "You haven't even crossed the threshold yet. How dare you use methods that are barely acceptable?"

Li Feng didn't know what to say. The cheap master had only taught him the art of burning incense before passing away, and hadn't explained what happened afterward.

"This...this...I don't know whether to say your master is too bold, or..."

"Isn't this driving a living person to their death?!"

"It's fortunate that your life is heavy enough to hold you back; otherwise, you would be dead in no time."

"Alright, alright, let me ask you first, do you know what the five great academies are in this world?"

Li Feng shook his head, leaving Mr. Lin speechless again. "Hey, how exactly does your master teach? He's brought people into the world so easily without them even knowing what he's doing."

"Let me tell you, there are five major realms in this world: Heaven, Earth, Man, God, and Ghost. If you count them, you morticians should belong to the Ghost realm, since you make your living from the dead. Our incense offerings belong to the God realm."

"I'm telling you this to give you a general idea. Everyone who enters our sect has a very heavy fate. I suppose your master wanted to teach you a lot of skills, but he just didn't expect to suffer such a misfortune."

"Today, considering that we met your master once, I'll make an exception and light this stove for you. But once we leave this house, we'll pretend we never met, and this will never have happened."

Listening to Mr. Lin ramble on and on, Li Feng nodded, puzzled but somehow it seemed like a good thing.

It's as if you can only enter the gate after lighting the stove.

I don't know what my cheap master was thinking. He didn't even teach me a basic method before letting me sew up the murder weapon.

"Here we are. We've come to the City God Temple to invite the divine fire. We've brought three incense sticks to offer before the temple. Please don't be offended, sir, so that we can make offerings in the future."

Suddenly, Mr. Lin's shout startled Li Feng. He saw Mr. Lin raise his fingertips and pinch the oil lamp, managing to produce a flame.

Looking again at the oil lamp, it was still lit.

"Swallow it, don't exhale, just inhale. The fire is connected to the air, and the air fuels the fire; the connection must not be broken!"

Seeing Mr. Lin's serious expression, Li Feng didn't dare to be negligent and quickly opened his mouth, swallowing it in one gulp.

Strangely enough, the flame didn't burn him at all when he put it in his mouth. As he ate, Li Feng watched as Mr. Lin lit an incense stick and tended the fire beside him.

The incense burned very brightly, and through this light, Li Feng could see that Mr. Lin's head and shoulders were engulfed in three flames, the flames shining brightly like a lamp.

Strangely enough, after swallowing the fire given to him by Mr. Lin, Li Feng felt a chill all over his body, but a warm sensation shot up from his lower abdomen, traveled through his limbs, and only stopped when it reached the top of his head.

After swallowing the fire, Li Feng felt quite relaxed and energetic, and the blackness between his eyebrows and eyes lessened considerably.

Opening his eyes, he looked at Mr. Lin and frowned even more deeply. "Strange, strange, how come there's a furnace inside your body..."

Li Feng opened his mouth as if to say something, but heard Mr. Lin wave his hand, "This isn't your fault, it's all my fault, my skills aren't good enough..."

After saying that, Mr. Lin sighed to himself, but then couldn't help but pinch off the wick of an oil lamp and mold a clay figure. He then stuffed the fire in his hand into the clay figure's mouth, and the clay figure jumped and hopped around for quite a while, which amazed Li Feng.

"That doesn't make sense..."

Mr. Lin shook his head and sighed a few times.

Suddenly, a series of noises came from outside, like something making strange noises, followed by the sound of something falling to the ground with a thud.

"This is?!"

Perhaps because the furnace was lit, the sound Li Feng heard was particularly loud, like the call of some kind of bird, exceptionally shrill and terrifying.

"Could it be those things coming?!"

Li Feng instinctively sensed something was wrong, guessing that the Ascension Sect members had come looking for him.

"Don't be afraid, what's there to be afraid of? Sit down, we've arrived at the City God's Palace, what are you afraid of!"

After saying that, Mr. Lin pushed the clay figure out with his finger, but the clay figure resisted and tried to go back in. After a long stalemate, he finally managed to get the clay figure moving after giving it some small ingots.

Li Feng found it strange, and then heard Mr. Lin explaining from the side, "They say money can make the devil turn the millstone, and that ingot was earned with our good deeds, otherwise, would this peasant dare to go out and risk his life to ward off evil?!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the clay figure shattered with a crack, and a puddle of water gushed out from inside.

Seeing this, Mr. Lin's expression finally relaxed. "Alright, it's nothing. This is just a big favor. Kid, you better remember this: I have that much burning ingot!"

After saying that, he seemed to remember something and waved his hand, "Never mind, never mind. Let's go back to what we said before. Once we leave here, don't mention anything else. That would be good for us..."

Li Feng waited in the side room until dawn before he mustered up the courage to go out with Mr. Lin. He saw that the courtyard was full of black birds that had crashed to their deaths and turned into thick water stains.

"Don't touch it, it's a harbinger of doom. Those beggar ghosts have their eyes on you. Let's see if you dare to take their hits. Now, it's time for you to go out and face them yourself..."

"Don't look at me. I can't help you with this. From now on, just one more thing, and whatever you do, don't mention that you came to the City God Temple tonight."

After Mr. Lin finished speaking, he chased Li Feng out.

Li Feng didn't say much, knowing that the other party had done their best, so he cupped his hands in greeting and walked outside.

Li Feng hadn't gone far when Mr. Lin's expression in the other room grew increasingly strange. He rummaged through drawers and cabinets for a long time, then paused, slightly bewildered, "Wait, where are all my ingots?"