Assistant Yan sent Chen Yan home. Before parting, Chen Yan told him: "I need to think carefully about President Fang's matter, calculate it a bit. You all wait for a while, if there's any development, I'll contact you."
Assistant Yan left after expressing his heartfelt gratitude. After closing the door, Chen Yan walked to the living room, took out the two A4 paper packets from his pocket, spread them out on the coffee table, and fell into contemplation.
One piece of paper had the sandalwood he brought back, which had already snapped into two pieces on the way.
The other piece of paper had a small pinch of incense ash.
Chen Yan began to ponder a question.
This amount of money...
Should I earn it or not?
The problem lies in this sandalwood.
Chen Yan had read some basic identification methods in the Artifact Identification Chapter of the Secret Manual. He had especially memorized the identification of basic materials for talisman drawing and spell casting.
This sandalwood, with yellow incense sticks, looked like the most common sandalwood on the market. But Chen Yan's Primordial Qi sensing could faintly smell a trace of barely perceptible resentment!
He snapped off a piece of sandalwood, rubbed it meticulously into crumbs, then kneaded the incense ash, comparing both sides.
"Mixed with a tiny bit of bone powder?"
It was mentioned in the Artifact Identification Chapter: grind the bones of a resentful dead creature into powder, then... this stuff, can actually be used to release resentment.
However, this method is quite vicious and not righteous, so the Chapter only mentioned how to identify it, without recording the specific production process.
This stuff is called "Resentful Bone Powder."
Some of them are powerful, some are not.
In the book, the most vicious type of Resentful Bone Powder is made from the bones of a full-term dead infant, which is ground into powder – the dead infant originally could have grown up, but missed the chance, hence containing the strongest resentment, resulting in the most vicious Resentful Bone Powder, with powerful effects.
In mild cases, it causes family unrest, continuous misfortune, ultimately leading to family destruction.
However, this kind of thing is rare, and the method is evil, making the refining very difficult, only done by deeply wicked evil cultivators.
Ordinary ones are easier to obtain.
Using the bones of certain animals as substitutes.
And the animal bones used as substitutes for the dead infant are something ordinary people generally cannot think of.
Pigs are livestock commonly eaten by ordinary households.
But few people know that pigs are actually quite intelligent animals.
People say dogs are empathetic, dogs are human friends, loyal partners.
Actually, pigs have higher intelligence than dogs.
Among the numerous mammals in the world, pigs are considered highly intelligent species.
This creature is actually more empathetic than dogs.
With considerable intelligence and some spirituality, naturally, they have some emotional fluctuations.
Using pigs to make Resentful Bone Powder is much easier.
Firstly, these livestock materials are easily available.
Secondly, the production difficulty is less.
Using special methods, slaughter a pig, then peel its skin, take its meat, leaving only the skeleton, then grind and refine.
A single pig can yield a few pounds of Resentful Bone Powder.
According to the records in the manual, quite a few deceitful people in the Jianghu like to use this stuff to harm others.
The effect of this stuff is milder compared to the Resentful Bone Powder made from dead infants, and the harm is not as severe.
After all, the resentment level is not high, the effect is relatively weak.
Staying in contact with this resentment for a long time just leads to low spirits, insomnia, anxiety, or occasional minor illnesses.
Like the incense stick in Chen Yan's hand, mixed with resenting bone powder in the sandalwood, sent to President Fang somehow.
President Fang likes to appear cultured, occasionally lighting one to calm his mind.
Then, the contamination from the resentment would cause President Fang to have occasional bouts of bad luck.
It became apparent...someone is harming him.
Chen Yan squinted his eyes and thought: The question is, whether I should involve myself in this matter.
Involving myself has a clear benefit: money.
President Fang is willing to pay ten thousand for a broken compass, if I help him solve this issue, there will certainly be a hefty sum of money earned.
But the downside is: it might create enemies.
Someone is secretly harming President Fang, using such a method, they are clearly not ordinary people, might have some Tao Practice as well.
If I intervene and save President Fang, what if his enemies find out and trace it back to me...
I have no kinship or connection with President Fang, there's really no need to earn some money and make enemies.
Especially when the enemies might be evil cultivators with Tao Practice.
Earning money is tempting, but I don't lack money at the moment.
While contemplating, Chen Yan suddenly remembered the sandalwood tube he saw in President Fang's office.
The paper tube had an antique design with swirling cloud patterns.
Chen Yan frowned: Luoyun House?
Chen Yan put on a down jacket, deliberately stood up the collar, and wore a mask, then went out.
He ordered an online car, heading straight to Qixia Mountain.
Qixia Mountain is in Jiangbei. Jinling Prefecture spans across Jiangnan and Jiangbei, to get to Qixia Mountain one must cross the river, the road is not close.
Qixia Mountain is originally quite famous, there is a thousand-year-old ancient temple here, with always flourishing incense.
With the flourishing incense, it has driven the surrounding industries these years.
Outside the temple, a street has gradually formed, selling antiques, calligraphy and painting businesses, and even mystics, fortune-telling and divination.
With demand comes crowds, with crowds, supporting dining businesses also emerged.