Put Away Your Divine Techniques Now!

Chapter 1088 - 324: [Identity Crisis] (Part 2)

·

Chen Yan had just seen off Gu Tongbing and Zhan Li, closed the door, and turned back into the room when his peripheral vision caught sight of the table inside the room. His gaze immediately froze!

Chen Yan remembered that the wooden table had nothing on it earlier, but now when he looked again, there was an object placed right in the center!

Chen Yan frowned and walked over, picked up the object and held it in his hand, feeling a stirring in his heart!

A mahjong tile!

It was crafted from wood, not very well polished, rather rough, as if it was made hastily, and there were some burrs on it.

The mahjong tile was engraved with a Red Center.

Chen Yan’s gaze immediately changed, he suddenly looked around and tentatively said, "Old Lady? Is it you who came, Old Lady?"

No one answered in the room. Chen Yan took a deep breath and held the mahjong tile in his hand, his fingers unconsciously stroking it.

This mahjong tile showed no fluctuation of Primordial Qi, or perhaps there was some special spell, just that Chen Yan’s realm couldn’t understand it.

But then, what changed Chen Yan’s eyes was that words slowly appeared automatically on the wooden table!

The writing was carved into the wood, revealing each character one by one, finally forming a sentence:

"Wear it on you."

Chen Yan’s eyes lit up!

But soon, when he looked at those four words again, the line of text gradually disappeared.

The tabletop became smooth and flat again, without any trace of the previous carving!

Chen Yan looked serious, pondered for a moment, then carefully placed the "Red Center" into an inner pocket of his shirt.

·

In the afternoon, following the time Zhan Li mentioned, Chen Yan left the room and went to the first floor of the earthen building.

In the open space of the central courtyard of the earthen building, rows of straw mats were laid out. Towards the north, two meditation cushions were arranged.

Just after noon, Chen Yan arrived at the courtyard and found that many people were already seated around. The courtyard was quite spacious, and if all the straw mats were filled, they could accommodate two to three hundred people without feeling crowded.

Chen Yan thought for a moment, then casually took a seat on the left side, toward the back row. The position was on the edge, and when he sat down, there were only a few people around.

He scanned around, realizing the people here were likely token holders participating in the Heaven-Crashing Ceremony. But seating here also required some consideration.

Everyone here were outsiders, not members of the Ghost Race themselves—those participating from the Ghost Race surely had people from their own tribe to guide them on the procedures, so they wouldn’t need to go through this process.

However, these outsiders, despite having different outfits, exhibited some discernible patterns. Some of them wore the same attire, indicating they were from the same sect or family. Such individuals often gathered in threes or fives, sitting together and distinctly apart from people from other families.

Among those present, the majority seemed to be this type of "regular troops" from sects and families.

There were also loose cultivators like Chen Yan, dressed casually and not belonging to any sect or family. They probably paid a price or took some path to obtain a token for the Heaven-Crashing Ceremony.

In the whole venue, there were only about twenty loose cultivators, all naturally keeping some distance from the disciples of the sects and families. It was by chance that they ended up sitting near Chen Yan.

About three quarters after noon, the number of people exceeded one hundred and fifty, making Chen Yan’s heart stir.

He calculated in his mind; the disciples from sects and families numbered over one hundred—this number surpassed the quota of one hundred that the Ghost Race sold to the sects and families each time, suggesting that those sects and families acquired additional quotas through other channels.

This means it could be concluded that, for this Heaven-Crashing Ceremony, many tribes within the eighteen tribes of the Ghost Race decided to sell their own quotas in exchange for benefits.

This discovery made Chen Yan feel somewhat odd, reminding him of what Shepherd Master Ju Shanfeng had once mentioned...

The Ghost Race’s ancestor, which was his own Old Lady, had left the Southern Border decades ago and hadn’t returned, causing the Heaven-Crashing Ceremony to cease for decades and resulting in a hiccup in the path of cultivation for the Ghost Race. Logically, there should be many people within the tribe waiting to begin their cultivation.

At this time, there were still tribes within the Ghost Race willing to sell their own quotas...

It seems the sects and families must have spent considerable resources!

And for such matters...there must be many within the Ghost Race who would oppose it, or even harbor resentment.

Shepherd Master Ju Shanfeng, though his methods were unkind, spoke truth to some degree.

Within the Ghost Race, there were certainly more people who, like him, were discontented, just that they might not use Ju Shanfeng’s extreme methods.

His thoughts wandered with these notions, causing him to lose focus. In his daze, he suddenly sensed someone approaching, moving closer to sit on the straw mat beside him.

This person had light footsteps, yet did not deliberately restrain their pace. They walked over casually and confidently sat on Chen Yan’s left side. Once seated, they crossed their legs and pointed at the table before them, smiling as they spoke to Chen Yan: "Fellow Daoist, would you like to drink the water on the table?"

Chen Yan, lost in his thoughts, answered casually, "No need, Fellow Daoist, feel free."

But as soon as the words were out, Chen Yan instinctively turned to look at the person, and with just one glance, Chen Yan’s body suddenly shook, his eyes widened in astonishment, staring at the other person!!