Infinite Flow: An Invitation from World B

Chapter 80 The Incense Offering to Ancestors

Lin Tian didn't reply immediately. She brought the lantern closer, carefully smelled the incense the old servant had given her, broke off a small piece from the bottom to examine the incense core, and then spoke:

"This incense is mixed with poplar wood. In the underworld, it is called 'evil incense' because it can arouse the resentment of the dead. Using incense to worship ancestors is extremely disrespectful."

Just follow the old man's instructions for offering incense, but be careful not to let the incense burn out, and make sure your body doesn't touch the incense burner.

After the four people finish offering incense, they must scatter the sand from the jar in the four corners of the room before the last stick of incense burns out.

After explaining everything, Lin Tian picked up a clay pot, opened it, and poured out some of its contents.

After examining it carefully, Lin Tian continued:

"This earthen jar contains evil soil, mixed with some poplar wood chips. This soil is very beneficial to evil spirits and ghosts."

Judging from the old man's rules, this is... asking us to perform a ritual to appease the ancestors and ward off evil spirits...

"Miss Lin He?" Seeing that Lin Tian had stopped talking, Chen Ximing couldn't help but call out to her.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just have some questions. Let's talk about it after the mission is over."

Lin Tian came to his senses and continued, "When offering sacrifices and casting out evil spirits, too many words will surely lead to mistakes, and the spirits of the dead will seek revenge for the sounds they utter."

We must not talk to each other, cough, or make any sound.

During the process of sprinkling ancestral soil, one must always face the ancestral tablets.

After one person finishes scattering, they should immediately move to the next location without lingering or looking back.

After scattering sand in all four corners, be sure to walk back in reverse order of scattering sand, then exit facing the memorial tablet.

After giving his instructions, Lin Tian carried a lantern, held a long incense stick, and bowed as he entered the ancestral hall.

Lin Tian glanced around out of the corner of his eye. The ancestral hall was three times smaller than he had imagined. There were seven rows of memorial tablets in front of him, with candles burning on both sides of each tablet.

Tall, narrow tables were placed in the four corners of the hall, and a candlestick was placed on each table.

Lin Tian lowered his head and went straight forward. He lit the incense with a candle and carefully placed it in the incense burner.

He then slowly took two steps back, knelt on the prayer mat, and silently recited the incantation instructed by the old servant, before kowtowing three times.

As he kowtowed, Lin Tian caught a glimpse of his shadow on the ground.

The shadow of the memorial tablet seemed to have grown considerably longer than when she first entered.

The shadow swayed slightly with the flickering candlelight, as if something was trying to crawl out from inside.

Lin Tian dared not look any closer. She stood up steadily and retreated backwards.

When Chen Ximing saw Lin Tian come out, he immediately went up to him and asked what had happened.

After a brief exchange, Chen Ximing bowed and entered the ancestral hall as Lin Tian had described.

However, when Chen Ximing came out again, his expression was not very good.

Upon seeing this, Wen Zhunian quickly went up to ask what was going on.

"Something's strange... I don't know if it's just my imagination because I'm too nervous."

"As I kowtowed, I saw a shadowy figure on the ground out of the corner of my eye." Chen Ximing's face turned pale as he spoke.

Upon hearing this, Wen Zhunian immediately tensed up, "What figure?"

"It was just a person's shadow. I didn't dare to look closely, but I felt a chill on my body and thought there was someone standing next to me," Chen Ximing stammered.

During their conversation, Lin Tian secretly glanced at Wen Zhunian's dry hands.

Besides him, Chen Ximing and Li Zheng's hands were still wet.

Only after Wen Zhunian entered the ancestral hall did she tell the other two about this.

Li Zheng's actions in framing Wen Zhunian are certainly despicable, but since Wen Zhunian has become a ticking time bomb, we must take precautions against him.

Following the experience of the two men before him, Wen Zhunian carried a lantern and entered the ancestral hall.

He first carefully inserted the incense sticks into the incense burner according to the two people's description, and then stepped back.

But he froze after taking a step back, as if he could hear footsteps behind him.

Fearing he was hallucinating, he took another step back with his other foot.

"despair."

The sound of footsteps behind him and the sound of his feet landing occurred almost simultaneously.

It was as if someone was standing behind him, and he was walking backwards with them.

Thinking of this, Wen Zhunian got goosebumps on his arms.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and continued to back away until he reached the prayer mat.

"Crack crack crack".

This time, there wasn't just one voice behind him, but a group of people, a group of people rubbing their feet and backing away.

Wen Zhunian pretended not to have noticed anything and began to silently recite the incantation while kowtowing.

But as soon as Wen Zhunian lay down, his hand recoiled as if he had been electrocuted.

It was very itchy; something had touched his hand.

This thing feels cool to the touch, a little slippery, and has an indescribable roughness.

The candles on the offering table flickered a few times, and Wen Zhunian suddenly stood up and looked around by the light.

The firelight cast long, thin shadows on the ground, no longer the shadows of ancestral tablets, but clearly long, thin human figures.

The figures, flickering in the candlelight, were slowly gathering around Wen Zhunian's location.

Even the slowest-witted person would realize something was wrong at this moment.

He no longer cared about kowtowing the remaining two heads; all he wanted to do now was run away.

Before he could get up, a huge force suddenly came from behind, and Wen Zhunian was pushed over and fell to the ground in a sorry state.

If he turned his head to look back at this moment, he would find that his shadow was being pulled and torn apart by the shadows on the ground, as if they were sharing it.

Intense itching mixed with stinging sensations came from my hands and was slowly spreading to my arms.

He tried to pull his hand back, but no matter how hard he tried, his hand wouldn't budge.

On the offering table, the candlelight in front of the ancestral tablets flickered violently a few times, then with a "poof" sound, it turned from a warm orange light to a bluish-gray.

In the dim firelight, Wen Zhunian's pupils suddenly contracted.

He saw several rotting figures grabbing his arms, half-crouching and half-kneeling around his hands, frantically licking them.