in the edge

Chapter 552: Grinding
Strictly speaking, this is the first time for Du Chengfeng to treat a person as an object to be polished.

Although he had a similar experience before, that time it was more like an accident. This time, he was truly fully armed to do this - in order to ensure the efficiency of polishing, he even changed the tools he used, such as the whetstone, which was replaced with a bath towel.

"The bone structure here is worn out, causing problems with the tendons inside. This is obviously due to some... huh?"

Du Chengfeng was stunned as soon as he started to use it. This familiar feeling was really no different from when he was sharpening a knife - just like when he was sharpening a knife, he could roughly judge the experience of the knife by just looking at the notches and scratches on the blade. The various problems displayed on this person's body and the corresponding impression that emerged in his mind were exactly the same.

"So, it actually works?"

Du Chengfeng was greatly surprised. It turned out that this person could actually be sharpened as a knife.

This does not even refer specifically to the humanoid weapon like the Southern Chen Taizu, nor does it refer to the incense head who was resurrected by Zheng Qixing, but to everyone. It seems that everyone can be polished using a similar method.

"This……"

Du Chengfeng was a little dazed for a moment.

You know, he had always thought that his special ability was only in sharpening knives, so after mastering the power, he had not used this ability that had nothing to do with power for a while. Only when he needed to extract some information and happened to get the opponent's weapon, he would remember that he had such a skill.

But looking at it now...

It’s not that this skill is not useful, but that his previous understanding of this skill was fundamentally wrong.

Compared to simply sharpening weapons, this technology obviously has a broader application space.

However, Du Chengfeng did not have time to think about these things at the moment, because a familiar picture had appeared before his eyes - if he was going through a lot of tempering when sharpening the sword, then when sharpening the human body, he was going through the process of birth.

After the familiar birth process, Du Chengfeng saw the light again.

This also allowed him to gradually understand the life of this incense head.

Like most ordinary people, Xiangtou's life when he was young was not very eventful. He learned how to do things from his parents when he was young. When he grew up, he went to school for a year and then came back to work to supplement his family income. It couldn't be said to be miserable, but it couldn't be said to be very good either. At least for Xiangtou, such a life was far from what he wanted.

But even if he didn't want it, it would be meaningless, because Xiangtou's family was not the kind of starving people who could not survive. Although his family was poor, it was not to the point of starving to death.

Having solved the problem of food and clothing, he naturally lost his ruthlessness to fight for his life. However, his poor family background made it impossible for him to do anything. He had no capital to do anything, and he was not ruthless enough. It can be said that this Xiangtou achieved nothing in the first half of his life.

Even Xiangtou himself was confused for a long time. He didn't know what he should do, nor did he know what he could do. It seemed that he would work like this for the rest of his life. When he reached the right age, his family would probably find him a wife from a similarly poor family, and then spend all their savings to marry her, and they might even go into debt.

Then he will have children, and his children will grow up in such an environment. With one more mouth to feed, the family will become increasingly short of money, until his children grow up to be as old as he is now, and go to work like him, and continue this life of not having enough to eat but not starving to death, day after day.

Days like this seem to have no end in sight, yet they also seem to have no end in sight.

"no way!"

Xiangtou didn't know what to do, but he instinctively rejected such a life.

This is living, but it is just living. He doesn't know what the difference is between living like this and being dead. He wants to get rid of this situation. He wants to see the bigger sky outside - but he can only think about it. He can't even fill his stomach, so he can't do anything.

"But is there really nothing we can do?"

This is what the old incense master said to him when he went to listen to the Dharma teaching for the first time.

This kind of teaching is not about imparting any real magic, it is just to give people a place to complain - after all, regular temples all collect incense money, and as an ordinary person, it is difficult for an incense head to find a place to pray to the gods and worship Buddha. Now that there is someone to listen to him complain about the sufferings accumulated in daily life, this is already a great comfort to him.

But to the young incense boss's surprise, when he told the old incense boss all his sufferings, the old incense boss smiled at him.

"You can do it, you can definitely do it...You have such a strong will, how could there be anything you can't do?"

That was the first time that the young Xiangtou was praised, and at that time he was not even Xiangtou yet.

Xiangtou did not dare to reveal these thoughts in the deepest part of his heart to his parents, simply because he knew that if he said these things out loud, he would only be scolded by his parents, who would say that he only knew how to daydream and not how to work properly. However, these wild thoughts, these statements that even he himself felt were not good enough, were actually praised.

It was from this time on that he began to burn incense more frequently.

Burning incense made him happy, and the words of the old incense master made him even more delighted. Every time he came to burn incense, he felt as happy as if he had returned home - so soon, he was promoted and became a new incense master.

At the beginning, he still burned incense with the old incense head and was considered the old incense head's deputy, but with the death of the old incense head, he began to take control of the overall situation.

In a sense, Lao Xiangtou could be considered his mentor. He learned a lot from Lao Xiangtou, such as how to manage, how to lead people to burn incense, what to pay attention to when traveling far away, and some of the jargon commonly used in religion - from this perspective, it is not an exaggeration to say that Lao Xiangtou is his adoptive father.

Perhaps it was because of this kind of friendship that Lao Xiangtou specifically called him over before he died.

"My sect is very widespread. If something happens, you can send someone with the mark of the deceased Maitreya to ask for help. The brothers and sisters around will help you..."

The old man, who was barely breathing, made his final instructions.

"Also, if you encounter those evil strongmen who want to kill you, you must remember that your strong will can do anything."

"Remember, I will remember it." Although he said this at the time, Xiangtou himself didn't care about the last sentence.

Can you do anything if you have a strong will? How could such a thing exist? You have to know that he is not the kind of ignorant young man. He has gained a lot of experience in following the old man for these years. Naturally, he knows that many times, things cannot be solved by hard work alone. Moreover, he has been with the old man for a long time and is considered to be half an expert.

In other words, this kind of words can be used to deceive new believers, but as for insiders like him... he has always known very well that the so-called Maitreya may not exist, and the Pure Land may not exist. They have always been trying to use words to relieve the resentment in the hearts of ordinary people, and that's all.

But soon, Xiangtou realized that it was not what he thought at all.

It was only because the Reborn Maitreya really appeared to him once, when he was chanting the name of the Reborn Maitreya, even though he was the one who least believed it, he suddenly felt an inexplicable surge of power - as if the power of the Reborn Maitreya was really with him, as if this hidden god and Buddha was really protecting him.

"This... this kind of thing is actually possible?"

Xiangtou realized that something was wrong and quickly began to try to understand this power. It was at this moment that he vaguely understood that his cheap master's previous behavior might not be just a simple talk therapy - willpower is really powerful, and it can even be said to be a very strong force. This power is so fierce that it is not inferior to evil spirits.

It’s just that before, his old mentor, the old incense boss, had never told him about this.

It was as if she was deliberately hiding it from him.

"This... is normal."

Xiangtou was not surprised by such things. After all, these days one had to work for a master for three years for free to learn a craft. As for such secret skills, they would not be passed down until the master was buried, so this kind of thing was nothing in his opinion.

Or maybe he no longer has time to care about such trivial matters.

He cares more about the power itself.

Unlike evil spirits, this power was obviously more convenient. It did not require weapons or killing. All one had to do was concentrate one's will to unleash many magical powers. When Xiangtou first came into contact with this power, he thought he had become extraordinary and had become one of the legendary immortals who wielded magic.

But soon, Xiangtou realized that he was not the only one who possessed this power.

It's strange to say, he had never heard of the existence of this strange power before, but with the death of his cheap mentor, and as he gradually mastered the power, other people who could use this power also emerged like mushrooms after a rain - although the number of these people was still small, it was enough to make this incense head begin to feel a sense of crisis.

This power is not unique to him, and he may not even be considered the best fighter among these people.

"But...I will definitely be the hardest working one."

The incense head was indeed very hardworking, but his way of working was to use this miraculous method to make money. Relying on this truly superb technique, he quickly gathered a large number of believers and became a local tyrant. With so many people under his control, it was inevitable that the incense head developed some ambitions that he shouldn't have.

But this is not enough, he wants to do more and do it bigger.

However, this kind of thing is obviously not something that can be solved by just thinking about it, at least he can't do it at the moment. Although he has mastered this mysterious power, it can only be regarded as the level of a master of evil spirits. In fact, if they really have to fight head-on, he may not be able to beat those masters of evil spirits because he has not fought many times.

“So we need to work hard on this strength.”

Xiangtou had this thought for a while.

If he could become stronger, there would probably be a way. Even if he couldn't kill those evil masters head-on, being able to protect himself would be the best thing - but to his surprise, at this time he once again received the blessing of the deceased Maitreya.

When that flash of inspiration passed through his mind, he realized for the first time where this power should be used.

"Even I can learn how to use this power... then doesn't that mean everyone can learn it?"

Yes, this is perhaps the dangerous part of this power. It is not about how strong it is, but about its universality - as long as one can think normally, open their mouths and speak, and shout a few words "May Maitreya bless you in the future", it is very likely that they will master this power.

And if one wants to increase the strength, it is not completely impossible. At least through repeated attempts, this incense head has vaguely grasped the key to this power.

That is, the more difficult it is, the stronger it becomes.

This was a very counter-intuitive thing. After all, usually speaking, masters who could resolve battles with ease always looked stronger than those crazy martial arts lunatics. But Xiangtou knew clearly that the power at the moment was something completely different - this power did not require the rationality of ordinary masters to control the evil spirit, but rather something that transcended rationality itself, which could be described as extreme madness.

Reason is meaningless and is just a constraint. Only by transcending reason and common sense can we better use this power and reach the Pure Land better.

Therefore, in order to allow more people to experience the Pure Land and the mysterious power of this power, the incense master even specially created supporting facilities - those are incense sticks mixed with Five Stones Powder. They look exactly the same as real incense sticks on weekdays, but once this thing burns, the people who inhale the fragrance will soon become confused and gradually go crazy.

And this is what he wants.

Reason cannot bring power, it can only restrain oneself, just like the disciplines from parents in childhood, they cannot bring anything - but the blessing of Maitreya, this power that goes straight to the heart, can bring him freedom, bring him strength, and bring him everything!
“May the Maitreya Buddha bless you…May the Maitreya Buddha bless you!”

This incense head still doesn't believe in rebirth in Maitreya, but he believes in power, believes in this extremely powerful power.

"Everyone can have this power, and everyone can do this power!"

At that moment, the incense head was full of ambition.

"I just want everyone in this world to be like a dragon!"

(End of this chapter)