My Ability Pool is Superior-Chapter 137 - 136: Ambush

"Steward, I beg you to save my husband..."

The disheveled peasant woman sobbed as she tugged at Master’s coat, looking extremely panicked and distraught.

A few kind-hearted villagers, seeing the man who had been possessed by the Fox Immortal had been unconscious, felt it was inappropriate to leave him lying naked on the ground.

They covered him with a layer of reed mat and used a hard door plank of unknown origin to carry him into the house.

Master, having no choice, first tried to soothe the peasant woman.

Lv Bai, however, said nothing, pulling up a small stool to sit nearby. He was somewhat curious about how these Incense Masters would exorcise the spirit.

Beside him, the village elder was visibly uneasy, wanting to distance himself from Lv Bai, yet fearing that doing so might anger him.

He still perceived Lv Bai as some Immortal, even suspecting that these troubles were caused by Lv Bai.

Soon, Master’s three apprentices gradually returned.

They had offered incense while circling the village but did not find any trace of the Fox Immortal. For some reason, the incense patterns were a bit chaotic, making it difficult to pinpoint a specific location.

After reporting this to Master, he was silent for a moment before turning to the village elder, "Please gather the villagers."

Since it’s still in the village, he figured that the Fox Immortal must have possessed one of the villagers.

The village elder readily agreed, even feeling happy to briefly be away from Lv Bai.

Watching the elder leave, Master turned to Lv Bai and asked, "What’s your opinion on this matter, Young Master Lv?"

Lv Bai cheerfully waved his hand, "I don’t understand any of this; you can handle it as you see fit."

Master nodded.

In his mind, as long as this mysterious young master didn’t interfere, he was confident in exorcising the spirit.

Indeed, being able to possess someone meant this Hu Sect Immortal had reached the level of an Incense Head Immortal, or an Altar Immortal.

But he had handled such level Immortals during his years as an Incense Master before, so he didn’t expect any surprises.

Perhaps eager to quickly resolve the chaos in the village, the village elder was quite efficient.

It didn’t take long for the villagers to gather in the clearing.

There were fewer than a hundred households in Liu Family Village, adding to a few hundred people in total; gathering them didn’t make the place crowded.

However, the villagers talking all at once made the scene seem chaotic.

Master, familiar with such situations, walked to the front and cupped his hands toward the villagers, saying loudly, "Thank you for coming, please wait a moment."

The sound of discussions quieted down; everyone undoubtedly recognized this Incense Master.

Master circled the crowd once, then came to the front.

He paced slowly, lighting incense along the way.

"I am Tao Gui, serving as an Incense Master under Master Bai the Fourteenth. Would the Immortal here be willing to come out and converse with me?"

The atmosphere became inexplicably heavy, rendering the crowd silent.

"..."

Master’s brows furrowed slightly.

"Whoever’s family you might be from, this is rather improper."

The crowd remained quiet.

The village elder silently took two steps back, sensing that this issue might not end peacefully.

"No matter where you come from originally, you can’t harm people, can you?"

After Master finished speaking, he said no more.

Three attempts to persuade were more than enough.

If there’s still no compliance, then it’s an evil spirit.

Master pulled out four sticks of incense and lit them simultaneously.

As four trails of blue smoke rose, Master bowed four times in a certain direction.

Lv Bai clearly saw Master’s bright eyes gradually lose focus.

Then, for no reason, Master yawned and started to hum a tune.

Lv Bai couldn’t understand but was greatly shocked. He grabbed the obedient apprentice nearby and asked, "What’s happening?"

Mr. Liu heard Lv Bai’s query, hesitated for a moment, but then explained, "It’s called ’incense healing’."

Lv Bai asked again, "Is there more to it?"

Mr. Liu showed a difficult expression; typically, such inside information shouldn’t be leaked. It took several years of apprenticeship to learn these routines.

But considering Master’s attitude toward Lv Bai, although hesitant, he lowered his voice to explain...

There are many ways to burn incense; the two most common ones are ’duo’ and ’mysterious view’.

The ’duo incense’ process involves becoming entranced, the Altar Immortal possesses, and the Incense Master acts muddled, typically called ’duo incense healing’.

The ’mysterious view incense’ is the opposite; it doesn’t involve becoming entranced, merely entering a "Divine Communication" state.

This way, the Altar Immortal doesn’t possess, and the Incense Master remains clear-headed throughout; this is called ’mysterious view incense healing’.

For ’duo incense,’ there’s not much to say; the strength depends on the chosen Immortal’s mana and the match with the possessing incense master.

However, ’mysterious view incense’ requires considering numerous factors.

There are many subtleties in this method.

Yawning, singing, changing accents—these are signs of entering a trance. Generally, the more evident the effects, the larger the burden on the Incense Master.

Rumor has it that the highest level of entrancement doesn’t affect the Incense Master at all but perfectly harnesses the Immortal’s mana.

Of course, a steward like Tao Gui in a run-down village could hardly know such an entrancement art.

But usually, it’s sufficient.

After chatting for a while, Tao Gui’s singing grew more fervent, and he suddenly shouted.

"Lock the doors."

Hearing the shout, Mr. Liu and another apprentice hurried to the two corners to light incense, then began to dance bizarrely.

The chubby apprentice wielded a rusty, peeling bell, rhythmically striking it behind Master.

Their dance wasn’t exactly graceful, yet carried a kind of absurd, ancient aesthetic appeal.

Clap~

Master slapped his forehead with his left hand, sending dozens of hairs flying, cleverly dodging villagers to search for their target.

The next second, a dark gust rose from the crowd, attempting to flee toward the village entrance but bounced back by an invisible barrier.

Upon closer look, one would discover that it was a gray-furred fox with some human features.

The villagers immediately screamed and scattered while able-bodied men with hoes and rakes rushed at it, trying to beat it dead.

The gray-furred fox howled miserably, its broom-like tail sweeping, whirling dust and pebbles.

Lv Bai squinted, feeling something wasn’t right.

He had to admit he wasn’t an exorcism expert.

But he felt the gray fox was clearly different from the one he saw before, and how could such a creature cause directional confusion?

The situation indeed was changing.

The disheveled peasant woman unexpectedly lunged at Master, her elongated nails clawing for his head.

With a gust of wind coming his way, Master had no time to think and reflexively rolled to one side.

Missing the strike, the woman let out an ear-piercing fox howl, dazing Master and nearly sealing his fate to her sneak attack.

Fortunately, Lv Bai had sensed something was off and was ready to act.

So when the woman unexpectedly lashed out, he just barely managed to rush over and give her a hard kick.

The kick was strong and heavy; whether it hurt the possessing Fox Immortal was unforeseeable, but it certainly injured the woman.