Chapter 192 - 178: Rice Divination Rules

Grandma Bai sat in a rocking chair, while Yin Zhen sat on a small stool beside her. Ying was still hiding in the pile of Papermen, playing video games.

As soon as the yin rice bowl touched her hands, Yin Zhen knew it was a Ghost Device.

Grandma Bai slowly fanned herself with a palm-leaf fan. "Rice Divination has three strict taboos you must never break: do not ask about the gender of an unborn child, do not ask about a person’s lifespan or fortune, and do not ask for wealth or harm to others. To perform Rice Divination, a rice bowl is essential. It must be filled to exactly seventy percent capacity with new glutinous rice from the current year—no more, no less, and never aged rice. You also need one yellow stick of incense and one red-shelled egg. The egg stabilizes the yin energy, traps any runaway Wandering Souls, and serves as the crucial Item for sending the spirits off.

"Once everything is prepared, go into a sealed, dark, and empty room. There can be absolutely no sunlight. Bolt the door and leave only a single Soybean Oil Lamp burning. Place the rice bowl in the center of the table and bury half of the red-shelled egg in the rice. Insert the incense vertically into the rice and light it. Recite the spirit-summoning incantation in your mind. When the lamp’s flame flickers, the path to the underworld is opening. At this point, pay close attention to the smoke from the incense.

"If the smoke swirls around the bowl without dispersing, it means a yin spirit has arrived. If the smoke drifts erratically from side to side, it means a resentful Fierce Ghost has come. With a normal yin spirit, you may begin asking questions. You must ask yes-or-no questions. If the rice in the bowl gathers into a small mound, the answer is ’yes.’ If the rice separates to form a depression, the answer is ’no.’

"If there is no change in the rice bowl, you may ask the same question one more time. If there is still no change, it means the yin spirit doesn’t know the answer. Remember, you can never ask the same question a third time. Doing so will inevitably cause trouble. If a Fierce Ghost appears, immediately send the spirit away. Do not ask it anything. Asking a question equates to forming a contract, and the Fierce Ghost will possess you."

Hearing this, Yin Zhen couldn’t help but interrupt, "How many questions can be asked during a single summoning?"

"Three. Afterward, you must wait seven days before performing another summoning."

Yin Zhen nodded. "If I summon a Fierce Ghost, can I just destroy it and summon again?"

Grandma Bai’s fanning paused, and she turned her head to look at Yin Zhen. "You can. There is no need to show mercy to Fierce Ghosts and evil spirits. As long as you have the capability, you can destroy them and start over. However, most summoned spirits are rule-abiding good spirits. As long as you don’t lie to them, they will do their best to answer your questions. You absolutely cannot attack these spirits recklessly. Otherwise, you will ruin your reputation in the Good Spirit Realm, and you can forget about ever summoning spirits again."

"Understood."

Grandma Bai continued, "If you are skilled enough, good spirits can even deliver messages for you. Now, about sending the spirits off. When doing so, pull the incense out and insert it upside down into the rice bowl. The incense will extinguish on its own. You must never blow it out or pinch it off with your fingers. The used rice and the red-shelled egg cannot be left in the house overnight. They must be immediately taken to a nearby intersection or graveyard, and you must not break the egg during the process..."

Grandma Bai explained everything to Yin Zhen in meticulous detail, while Yin Zhen occasionally raised her own questions. Rice Divination seemed simple, but in reality, various unexpected situations often occurred during the process—such as the rice turning black, or words being left at the bottom of the bowl when pouring out the rice. Grandma Bai taught Yin Zhen all the different scenarios she had encountered and how to handle them.

What Yin Zhen was actually most curious about was why these ghosts could answer people’s questions and how they knew the answers. Grandma Bai said that the living had their ways, and ghosts had theirs. As for what the ghosts’ information channels were, she would naturally find out once she became a ghost herself.

Yin Zhen did indeed have some questions she needed to verify. This Rice Divination Skill had come at the perfect time. She had examined the incense master’s chaotic memories, which belonged to different people. Yin Zhen deduced that most of these individuals were the incense master’s Papermen avatars in the Autumn Tomb World. They had infiltrated various professions and controlled a significant amount of resources and connections.

Even if this incense master wasn’t the ultimate villain of the Autumn Tomb World, he was definitely an extremely important one. She had no way of determining which of these people was the real incense master in a short amount of time. Killing them one by one would be time-consuming, strenuous, and easily alert the enemy. She only had one chance to kill the incense master. A could use big data to help her filter out some of them, and the rest could be verified through Rice Divination.

It wasn’t until after dinner that Grandma Bai finally finished explaining everything she could remember. She set down her chopsticks and asked, "Do you have anything else to ask?"

"Can I chop down those willow trees by the graveyard and take them with me?"

Grandma Bai was taken aback for a moment, but didn’t ask what Yin Zhen planned to do. "Ten thousand per tree. Those belong to the village, so you have to pay before you can chop them down."

"Deal!"

Grandma Bai stood up and said, "Clear the dishes, then follow me to the inner room. We’ll perform Rice Divination once to make sure you’ve learned it, and then you can go back tomorrow."

Yin Zhen stood up and said, "Ying, clear the dishes. Alright, Grandma, let’s go perform the Rice Divination."

Grandma Bai laughed speechlessly and tapped Yin Zhen on the head with her palm-leaf fan. "You little rascal, you sure know how to put a ghost to work."

Grandma Bai closed the doors and windows of the inner room, lit only an old-fashioned Soybean Oil Lamp, and had Yin Zhen prepare all the Items for Rice Divination one by one. Just as they were about to begin, Grandma Bai noticed Yin Zhen staring blankly at the table and asked, "What’s wrong?"

Yin Zhen glanced at the clock on the wall. It was past seven o’clock, but to her surprise, the system hadn’t issued any public events this time. The Players in the forum were also asking why things were different from before. Previously, after a 24-hour rest upon returning, there would always be a public event. For the Red Corpse World, it was hunting down invading members of the Blood Clan. Now in the Autumn Tomb World, it should logically be handling invading supernatural events. Currently, no one knew the reason. When Yin Zhen asked the system, the system replied that there was no public event for this round.

Something was fishy! Yin Zhen had a very bad premonition. The absence of a public event meant that something much more serious than a regular public event must have occurred. She vaguely had a guess.

After sending a message to Bai Qiang, Yin Zhen pulled her thoughts back and focused on the Rice Divination at hand. Grandma Bai had prepared three personal questions and wanted Yin Zhen to ask them for her.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Bai Qiang, who was out for a night run, saw the message from Yin Zhen. She pulled the towel from her neck and wiped her sweat. "We’re on the same page," she muttered.

Bai Qiang took out her phone and directly called Guan Lan. It rang three times before connecting. "Commander Guan, I suspect the protagonist of Autumn Tomb has already crossed over into our world."

On the other end of the line, Guan Lan’s breathing was steady, and his voice was extremely calm. "I know. Kunpeng is currently holding a meeting regarding this issue. If you’d like to attend, I can send someone to pick you up."

Bai Qiang chuckled. As expected of Guan Lan. It seemed she and Yin Zhen had worried for nothing.

Indeed, it wasn’t hard to deduce this. In the previous round of the game, Ancient Abyss was far weaker than Chi Hai and had been at a disadvantage, which was why they were given a seven-round head start. But in this current round, all Players were explicitly told from the very beginning that both Ancient Abyss and Autumn Tomb were D-level Worlds. They were equal worlds. Ancient Abyss crossing over first was already an advantage; there was no reason for them to hold onto that advantage forever.

"No need. I’m just a psychiatrist, a Gray Card cannon fodder. I can’t do the world-saving work of you protagonists. Plus, I have an appointment to chat with a patient, so I won’t interrupt your meeting."

Hanging up the phone, Bai Qiang continued her run. At this stage, she wasn’t going to waste her energy trying to find the target. It wouldn’t be too late to help once Kunpeng had pinned them down.