He Kao stood up and disappeared, returning to his old family home to bring back something: a long Silver Silk Wood table.

The table was made by his grandfather with his own hands back in the day. According to old traditions, it should be placed against the wall in the central hall, with ancestral tablets offered during festivals. It served both as an offering table and a divine table.

However, modern people no longer pay much attention to these things. Nowadays, in the hall's location, there's a square table. This long table was moved to He Kao's room to be used as a study desk, complete with a desktop computer.

He Kao moved the offering table here, and according to the ancestral worship rituals, he went out several times to prepare incense, candles, and fruits, then burned incense and worshipped... Perhaps it was psychological, but he felt a slight sensing, though not clear.

As Hidden Moth, he has always been able to feel the gaze of the figures in the paintings. This gaze seemed to have a tangible touch, and as he bowed and worshiped, this tactile sensation seemed to become clearer.

If he weren't Hidden Moth, he probably wouldn't even notice such a subtle change.

It seems the thought is correct, but the method may still be lacking. What exactly is missing? Could it be the candles?

He Kao remembered something his grandfather told him as a child.

When his grandfather was a child, he once followed his great-grandfather to offer ancestral sacrifices and lit white candles. Those candles weren't bought; they were handmade by his great-grandfather.

The candle body was made from bug wax, and the wick was twisted from reed fiber, which was an ancient technique. But using reed was too troublesome, so in the more modern era, it was replaced with the kind of cotton thread used for shoe soles.

Why did his grandfather say these things? Because that day there happened to be a power outage, and they couldn't find a candle, so his grandfather asked He Kao to buy one from the town's small shop, and he casually mentioned a few tales while lighting the candle.

He was mainly telling He Kao how craftsmen of the past made candles, which were very expensive at the time, unlike the cheap paraffin now.

In ancient times, the material for making wax was best with white wax, yellow wax being second. Yellow wax referred to beeswax, while white wax was refined from bug wax, which could also be used as medicine.

He Kao doesn't need to gather the wax himself; almost everything is sold on the all-powerful Eastern Country internet.

He Kao immediately left the signal-less Secret Mansion, took out his phone and placed an order. To avoid buying fakes, he repeatedly confirmed with the seller that he wanted bug wax, not paraffin.

Then he also bought a box of what might be decorative dried reed flowers.

In the Magic Sect's heritage, there's no record of candles, it's something He Kao learned from his grandfather. But in the Magic Sect's heritage, there is a record of an Awakening Incense, which when lit in a quiet room can aid in entering and has a slight effect on condensing Divine Sense. It was also used in grand sacrifices in ancient times.

He Ke already obtained the knowledge of the materials and processing methods needed for Awakening Incense, but he couldn't make it himself; it requires at least Tier Four Cultivation.

Let's call Lin Qingshuang first and see if she has any channels; if not, I'll look for someone else.

When Lin Qingshuang heard, she didn't ask what he wanted to do, but pondered: "The materials for making Awakening Incense can all be used to make other elixirs, so using them for incense is a bit of a waste... Therefore, it's quite rare."

He Kao: "Getting it is good enough, how much is it?"

Lin Qingshuang laughed: "It's not about money, the people who make Awakening Incense don't do it to sell it. If I ask, others will give face without quoting a price, but I can't take it for free, I have to offer compensation.

Let's settle it this way, I'll decide for you: two tubes of incense, one million. You don't have to pay me, just deduct from the proceeds of the ginseng you're selling, I sold the ginseng for three million…"

That one ginseng sold for three million! Actually, in He Kao's expectation, selling for hundreds of thousands would already be a blessing… Elder Lin was right, things could fetch a price in her hands,

and the ginseng He Kao dug up always had the best appearance and spiritual effects, as seen with the combination of Divine Sense and Medicine Identification Skill.

As for burning high incense, that Awakening Incense is also quite expensive!

Each tube contains a hundred sticks, and two tubes cost a million, averaging five thousand per stick. The usual method of use is to light one stick in a quiet room before meditating, with each burning for an hour, equivalent to burning a new mobile phone.

For rituals, at least three sticks should be lit.

But He Kao can't just buy three sticks of incense, no one goes to such trouble to just process a few. To ask someone for help, you can't ask for too little, but two tubes are also the minimum.

It's good to prepare more, they can also be used during cultivation…

The Awakening Incense arrived quickly, and He Kao personally went to collect it. He silently pondered, perhaps with the incense, the candles wouldn't need to be as particular? But to be safe, he'd stick to the ancient wax-making method.

The online seller claimed it's premium natural bug wax, but in He Kao's view, it was far from pure, with too many impurities… Since it's already come to this, he must try to do his best.

A Tier Three Cultivation already allows one to practice the method of refining essence with Divine Sense, which is also a must-learn technique for Tier Three Appraisers of the Micro Realm Sect. He Kao's first attempt was refining bug wax to remove all impurities.

In addition, he repeatedly boiled, pounded, and air-dried the reed fibers to obtain pure fibers twisted into the candle wick, and finally processed a batch of candles with a creamy jade-like texture.

Everything was ready… No, there was still a need for a written eulogy to explain who was worshiping whom. He Kao wasn't good at writing these, but he could ask AI to help draft one.

The content is roughly as follows—

"On this day, disciple He Kao pays homage to Ancestral Master Tan Jun, saying: In the past, you achieved heavenly ascension, leaving shade for posterity, our technique and alchemy cauldron, inherited to this day.

With a life full of blessings, never forgetting to repay, I am fortunate to have the shadow painting, seeing it as if you are present, specially offering incense and candles, respectfully contemplating and offering sacrifice, only praying to the immortal spirits, may you come and accept it. Kindly enjoy!"

After more than a week, the ritual was finally ready. In the Gu Mountain Secret Mansion, He Kao lit candles and burned incense, reciting the sacrificial text and bowing, focusing his mind to enter the scene, and immediately sensed a change…

The three sticks of Awakening Incense that originally burned slowly, taking an hour to finish, had now rapidly burned nearly two-thirds, and within the primordial spirit, a voice was heard, reciting four lines of verse—

"The Great Dao unites Heaven and Earth, broadens the heart's true essence, merges Qi to give birth to all things, harmonizes the spirit to connect the people."

As this voice rose, He Kao naturally understood what it was about, the specific meaning was indescribably profound… the things he did roughly equated to "consecrating" this painting.

But what's called consecration was only for himself. If another person were to use it, they would have to do it anew.

From now on, when he communicates with the Immortal Tan in the painting, he won't need that sacrificial text anymore; reciting those four lines of verse after burning incense and candles will suffice, with the three sticks of Awakening Incense being a necessity…

He Kao raised his head, the eyes of the Immortal Tan in the painting seemed to have a lively spirit, and he received a divine thought.

The Magic Sect's ritual did not require five animals or three animals, just a symbolic plate of offering fruits. He Kao deliberately went to the most incense-flourishing temple in Qi Yuan to see, and on the incense table there were apples, so today he also placed a plate of red apples.

This divine thought was actually an introduction to the apple, but not to the whole plate, just the one on top.

A divine thought is not simply an image or text but a kind of thought, trying to express in words is very awkward, equivalent to a re-translation process, and many details cannot be explained clearly.

How complex can an introduction to an apple be? Practice proved it could be very, very, very complex!

For example, He Kao seemed to witness the place of production, the growing environment of this apple, the process of harvesting, transportation, and sale, and the emotions imparted to it by people involved, including himself, He Kao, who bought the apple.

He Kao could certainly recognize himself; he decoded certain emotions of choice and expectation in himself. At the time, he was indeed thinking about which apple to choose and also other things…

He Kao couldn't help but remember Wei Luo, the day he invited Wei Luo to dinner, the latter ordered spicy soup.

Beauty Wei said during the meal: "Many things in the world have their distinct flavors. For example, this bowl of spicy soup can bring out the characteristics of many places, many environments, and the thoughts and emotions of different people."

He Kao understood this, but he could only marvel, as he himself wasn't yet capable… now this painting actually had such mystical qualities?

When you think about it, it makes sense, seeing the painting as seeing the person, so the Immortal Tan must be more perceptive than Wei Luo.

But the content of the divine thought wasn't just that, it also included the plant situation where the apple was carried, its preferences, physical characteristics, etc.… Regarding the physical characteristics, He Kao himself could use the Medicine Identification Skill to get results, but the content of the divine thought was evidently more exquisite and comprehensive.

This apple also has a beneficial effect, and it can be used in medicine. The divine thought not only provided an introduction to its effects but also included many processing methods.

For example, for moisturizing dryness, it can be steamed in a bowl, cooled, and then eaten. He Kao had never eaten an apple like that.

Even though he hadn't eaten this apple, he could already taste it, including the taste after various processing methods.

However, this apple's effect is too weak and actually doesn't have much medicinal value.

A divine thought isn't for verbal expression, but many people's understanding of concepts requires the help of language, so different people might comprehend different meanings and have various ways of expression.

What exactly is this apple? What He Kao comprehended was that it was called "Haitang Exotic Fruit." According to ancient terminology, shouldn't an apple be called "Linqin" or "Danai"?

But this seems not to be any "ancient terminology," and even the expression "Haitang Exotic Fruit" was a result processed and evolved by He Kao's knowledge.

The information given by "Tan Xian's Walking Stick Painting" is extraordinarily complex, but the content that He Kao could comprehend was only corresponding to his own cultivation and understanding, within the scope he could accept and understand.

Is this "Immortal Tan's" view of this apple? Is this painting comparable to an appraiser?

If his cultivation were higher, could he accept and comprehend more, more complex, more profound content, and even trigger more mystical qualities from this painting, instead of just using it for appraising?

When he came back to his senses, more than half an hour had passed, the candlelight was still bright, but the three sticks of Awakening Incense had already burned out.

He Kao was very excited and pleasantly surprised, for he finally discovered the wonderful use of this painting, at least the initial wonderful use, but at the same time, he felt a bit unwilling, having expended so much effort, could it be that he only appraised an apple?

After thinking about it, he removed the plate of apples and placed the newly acquired Treasure Pearl Snow Cold Light on the incense table, then lit three incense sticks again, concentrated his mind, chanted the verses, and bowed down.

**

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