"High Energy Ahead," aside from its gaming background, had one of the most interesting and intriguing game settings: its scanning system. Ordinary items, once in the game, would transform into props with supernatural abilities.

However, not everything could be scanned; living things showed no reaction, and the Mini-World Game Console and smartphones simply couldn't be recognized. After exploring for a few days, Ren Suo discovered that the determinants of an item's strength seemed to be greatly related to "cognition."

For instance, ordinary items with no fame and very specific uses—such as kitchen knives, water bottles, or tissues—could at most evolve into Rare Level Items like a "Dragon-slaying Saber," "Sacred Container," or "Purifying Talisman."

Items with more abstract uses, or those with fantasy elements, were very likely to display their power when scanned, such as "Flying Boots," "Three-Tomoe Eye," or "Flame Gauntlets from the Kusanagi Household."

Epic Items were different. To qualify as an Epic Item, not only must the item have high original value (reflecting significant human labor and achievement), but the fantasy elements also needed to be strong. If it had practical uses, these were greatly enhanced. Additionally, it was best if it matched popular cognition and possessed some historical or cultural background, or even an official setting.

For instance, the "Hell 4 Game Controller," "The Alchemist's Silver Pocket Watch," "Relic of the Saint," and "Advanced Countermeasure Vest" all basically met these characteristics.

So, where could one find the most items with the strongest fantasy elements, practical uses, known by billions, and possessing a long-standing historical, cultural, or even official background?

Buddhism.

Your typical anime might brag about a punch causing a nuclear explosion or someone conjuring a universal big bang from mere orbs. But Buddhism, nearly millennia ago, already boasted concepts like the cosmic cycles of formation, stasis, destruction, and emptiness, the Pure Land of Bliss, flipping heaven and earth in a flick of a finger, controlling life and death with a palm's turn, the suffering of all sentient beings, a single flower holding a world, and a leaf embodying enlightenment. If these were truly realized, Earth's combat power ceiling could rise to a mythical level, and humanity could venture out to explore the stars.

Ren Suo naturally didn't expect to find any super items himself. However, the methods used by that bull in "High Energy Ahead" felt quite supernatural. Therefore, he came to Pure Wisdom Temple to see if he could find something good to defend against such inexplicable attacks.

Apart from Buddhism, Taoism was also a good choice. But with more temples than Taoist temples in the city, Ren Suo naturally visited a temple.

Pure Wisdom Temple was a famous ancient temple in Lianjiang. It contained a Buddhist stupa with nine exterior stories and seventeen interior stories, housing a thousand Buddha statues of the Wise Kalpa, giving it a solemn and ancient atmosphere. The stupa's exterior was magnificent and grand, with bells hanging from the eaves' corners. The structure resembled a pillar of stacked flowers, and its top looked like the heart of a bloom, thus earning it the name Six Banyan Flower Pagoda.

The Daxiong Palace stood before the Buddhist stupa, and the Guan Yin Hall was located east of the Banyan Shade Garden, in front of the Sixth Patriarch Hall. Although the afternoon wasn't a typical time for worship, Ren Suo entered to find many devout worshippers amidst swirling incense smoke. He quickly activated the Mysterious Sovereign's Secret Records and took out a mask from his backpack.

When Ren Suo was a child, a temple visit with his parents had caused him to develop rhinitis from the smoke. It took years of nasal washing, acupuncture, and applying medicinal patches during the hottest summer days to cure it. During those years, Ren Suo had to carry a large pack of tissues to school in winter to manage his runny nose. He felt that being single throughout high school wasn't just because he was a good student who listened to his teachers; the rhinitis was also a major culprit.

The incense used in worship was basically a concoction of harmful substances; its fumes were even worse than secondhand smoke. Ren Suo hadn't forgotten this, so he came prepared with a defensive prop—the "Ghoul Mask"!

Well, he had also bought it from Anime Star City. Ren Suo remembered needing to wear a mask when visiting a Buddhist temple, but he couldn't find any normal masks on short notice. So, he used this prop instead; as long as it covered his nose, it was sufficient.

Although wearing this mask into Pure Wisdom Temple garnered strange looks from the aunties around him, with whispers like, "That's a true anime fan," or "Is he here to cause trouble?" floating by his ears, Ren Suo didn't mind. Who would recognize him with the mask on anyway?

A large incense burner, about one and a half meters high, was placed in the center of the square before the Daxiong Palace. After the aunts and grandmothers finished burning incense and praying inside the main hall, they came out to insert their incense sticks into this large burner. If incense were placed inside the main hall, it would not only pose a fire hazard but could also knock people out from the smoke alone. The Buddha values the sincerity of one's heart; placing incense in the outdoor burner suffices, and the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats will all share the communal offering.

The smoke was dense. Enduring the overwhelming scent of incense, Ren Suo managed to get close enough to scan the Incense Cauldron. When he stepped back, his eyes were already watery and stinging from the fumes.

"Incense Furnace: Mythical Level Item. An incense burner that carries myriad wishes and faiths, refining 9,764 units of Divine Power. When holding this equipment, a player will invariably land a critical hit (at least tenfold damage) with each attack, invariably absorb (and potentially rebound) all incoming damage, invariably nullify (and potentially rebound) every negative effect, and invariably achieve great success with each judgment roll. Triggering any of the above effects consumes one unit of Divine Power. Requires 9,764 energy points.

Special Effect—Incense: If the Incense Furnace's True Form continues to receive sufficient incense offerings, it can continue to refine Divine Power.

Special Effect—Gold Patron: After obtaining a Mythical Level Item with an energy value over 1,000, it will inevitably become the sole item drawn after a mission review (if multiple Mythical Level Items appear, one will be drawn from among them).

Special Effect—Greed: After obtaining a Mythical Level Item with an energy value over 5,000, the mission review score increases by 40 points."

Ren Suo's eyes turned red—not with envy, but from the smoke irritation.

These are all very, very good features, but I don't like them... Just kidding!

Over nine thousand energy points! Ren Suo doubted even an adventurer who wiped out an entire village could accumulate that much!

Leaving the incense burner square, Ren Suo wandered around the Daxiong Palace without seeking divination. Following the path of the devout aunts and grandmothers, he arrived at the Banyan Shade Garden in front of the Sixth Patriarch Hall. The scent of incense was much lighter here, while the smell of cooking fires had increased—this area was teeming with stalls for divination, Life Fate Reading, face-reading, and selling auspicious items.

Ren Suo unfastened his mask and pulled out his phone to scan the information on the items.

Among these stalls were quite a few Taoist fortune tellers. It seemed Taoism and Buddhism had found common ground, both prospering together.

That made sense. Since ancient times, more people have worshipped Buddha than sought the Tao. This had nothing to do with the faith of the people of the Mysterious Country, of course. Ren Suo could bet that most of the aunts and grandmothers in front of him had never even heard the Great Compassion Mantra—but Buddhism's marketing power was just too strong.

However, Ren Suo noticed something odd about the stalls here—

"Fairy Palace Dream Interpretation"

"Qitian Algorithm"

"Seeker of the Dao Ninety-Nine Items: For promotions, academic success, marriage, and cultivation—omnipotent!"

The banners at most of these stalls seemed to be… related to the Fairy Palace?

Ren Suo walked a bit further and even saw a "World Tree Divination Method" stall, manned by a middle-aged woman using tarot cards for readings!

Ren Suo speculated that if the God of Cookery weren't completely unrelated to these things, the Food Goddess would definitely have been dragged into it as well.

Then, as Ren Suo followed the crowd to the front of the Guan Yin Hall, he realized he was mistaken—

"God of Food Fortune-Telling Skewer"

This sign hung on a Ghost Stall. Ren Suo took a closer look and found that this Ghost Stall greatly resembled the one featured in the show "Midnight Walker." Inside the stall were three large pans filled with thick soup, into which dozens of bamboo skewers were submerged, making it impossible to see what food was actually on them.

The owner of the Ghost Stall seemed to be genuinely trying to cosplay as the Food Goddess, wearing an apron identical to hers. Unfortunately, she was a middle-aged woman, currently sitting inside the stall watching a TV drama on a tablet. This behavior, at least, did resemble the Food Goddess.

Curious about this strange setup, Ren Suo approached. The owner immediately said, "Come on, want to try some fortune-telling skewers from the God of Cookery?"

"How does the fortune-telling work?" Ren Suo asked.

"One yuan per skewer. It might have beef offal and meatballs, or it could be radish and konjac. Getting a meat skewer means good luck; getting a vegetarian one means bad luck."

That actually works? Unbelievable!

Ren Suo wasn't hungry, but the stall seemed quite popular. Perhaps the middle-aged and elderly women had plenty of spare change after buying incense, and having walked a bit, were feeling peckish. In any case, quite a few people were patronizing it.

Next to the Ghost Stall was a trash can specifically for disposing of used skewers. The ground was fairly clean, which was probably why the temple tolerated this small food stall operating under the guise of a fortune-telling booth.

"Brother, you look troubled. Why don't you sit down and talk about it?"

Ren Suo turned his head and saw another Life Fate Reading booth next to the Ghost Stall. A young man sat at this stall, wearing trendy black-framed glasses and a faded, gray-black scholar's robe. A bottle of Yibao water on the table looked quite out of place.

The other stalls at least had middle-aged fortune tellers with fitting mustaches, complete with Taoist robes and horsetail whisks. If their tables didn't have teapots, they at least used disposable transparent cups for tea. What's with the bottle of Yibao? Is this a business meeting or something?

However, despite its unprofessional appearance, Ren Suo sat down at this particular booth.

The reason was the banner behind the fortune teller, which read—

"Eastern Han Ren Family: Authentic Life Fate Reading, A Rich and Storied Tradition"

"Marriage, Offspring, Future Prospects, Destiny—Omniscient in All Matters"

The young man noticed Ren Suo's gaze, glanced at the banner, and smiled embarrassedly. "Just trying to catch some hype, make a living."

"Understandable... Pfft!" Ren Suo couldn't help but chuckle.

The banner wasn't wrong; the Eastern Han Ren Family was indeed proficient in Life Fate Reading. At least, they fully knew their own 'Marriage, Offspring, Future Prospects, Destiny'—even if all Ren Family members experienced fruitless marriages, premature loss of children, difficult careers, and ill-fated lives.

"Business isn't good, huh?" Ren Suo asked.

The young man nodded. "Yeah, I don't know why. Aren't you supposed to strike it rich by riding a trending wave? Online, they even call it the 'Naiser Effect'—if you connect your videos even slightly to Naiser, you're bound to make a killing."

Of course, no one came. If you gave someone a 'Ren Family Destiny' reading, even flipping your stall over wouldn't satisfy their frustration.

"You should change the name," Ren Suo advised. "Even just using your own name for the stall would be better than this."

The young man was receptive. "Alright, I'll change it to 'Wang Shu Fortune-Telling' later."

"Then I wish you wealth and prosperity," Ren Suo said, smiling as he stood up.

However, the young man pressed his hand down. "As a return gesture—I haven't had any customers today—let me read your fortune for free."

Ren Suo paused, then obediently sat back down.

It wasn't the word 'free' that made him stay. When the young man touched him, the Key Search System had triggered, indicating it had found a complete Key!

This young man... he's got something!

Yet Ren Suo had felt nothing unusual from the young man; it was as if he were invisible to Ren Suo's perception system. Only upon physical contact did the Mini-World Game Console's Key Search System suddenly activate!

However, Ren Suo didn't feel any Cyclone Pressure from him; the young man seemed like an ordinary person!

"So, what do you want to know? Marriage, future prospects, wealth, or the currently trending topic of cultivation?" the young man smiled. "Only one is free, though."

"I'm... looking for something," Ren Suo said after a moment's thought, revealing his purpose.

"Something, huh... Let me take a look at your palm then."

He's not even going to ask what I'm looking for? Ren Suo was slightly startled. Although he felt the young man wasn't very professional, he obediently extended his palm.

The young man didn't touch it. He just looked at it for about ten seconds and then suddenly said, "Go back to the Daxiong Palace. Find a monk and tell him you want to buy a consecrated Magic Artifact, specifically one consecrated by Abbot Jinghai. It should cost a few thousand yuan."

Ren Suo stared at the young man in astonishment. "Do you really know what I'm looking for?"

A consecrated Magic Artifact... that sounded exactly like what he needed.

He had just passed by stalls selling Magic Artifacts and noticed that the so-called consecrated items rarely reached epic or even extraordinary level. Most were just rare level, with effects like 'Focus Spirit' or 'Calming Heart,' none of which caught Ren Suo's eye.

"Hehe, the sign might be for hype, but the skills are real," the young man said proudly.

"You can tell all that just by looking at a hand?" Ren Suo probed. "Where did you learn such skills? Could it be... you're actually one of those high-and-mighty Cultivators?"

"I learned from the Eastern Han Ren Family," the young man laughed.

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