"Sutra of Life-saving..."
The characters on the booklet were ancient and solemn. Although Xu Qing had never studied this type of script, he could instantly understand their meaning.
Xu Qing felt a connection, holding his breath and focusing his mind, enveloping his thoughts over the booklet.
In an instant, streams of light gently rotated on the booklet's surface, and a power distinctly different from the Sutra of Salvation spread out, while the Sutra of Life-saving turned a page under Xu Qing's control.
The pages were not made of paper and emitted a faint scent of blood and incense. Amidst the smoke, many pale golden, ethereal names appeared on the page, some bright and some dim, some new and some old.
Before Xu Qing's mind actively touched the words on the page, the content within those words appeared vividly in his mind.
Xu Qing instantly realized that this "Sutra of Life-saving" recorded the names of all the children who had ever received the divine power protection of Lady Bao Sheng or had karmic connections with her!
The clarity and brightness of the children's names directly reflected their vitality and health.
The clearer and brighter, the more vigorous and lively the child; the more blurred and dim, the weaker or even closer to peril they were.
To disappear meant the passing of life.
Xu Qing's mind settled on those names.
Among them, Chen Liu'Er's name was the most dazzling, followed by the names of Shang Shaoyang's child, Chen Zi'an, and the children from Master Feng's family...
At a glance, Xu Qing saw many children from families he was familiar with on the list.
Continuing down, Xu Qing noticed a name with a very peculiar status—Shi Xiaoyu.
This name, formed from incense, was especially dim. Not only were the edges of the strokes blurry, but the entire name was gradually becoming transparent and fading, as if it could disappear into the smoke at any moment.
Xu Qing frowned slightly, instinctively channeling more wishing power from the incense, attaching it to Shi Xiaoyu's name. The dim name, condensed from the incense smoke, suddenly rippled like water and instantly transformed into a "mirror of incense."
As the smoke woven into the mirror dispersed, Xu Qing saw within the mirror Shi Xiaoyu struggling ceaselessly on the water surface. As the struggling lessened, the small figure began sinking beneath the water.
Through the incense connection of the Sutra of Life-saving, Xu Qing could clearly sense the location of the child within the mirror.
That should be near the river port!
Xu Qing immediately realized that the Sutra of Life-saving not only recorded the names of children who had connections with Bao Sheng Temple but also, by using the connection with the wishing power of incense, allowed one to see the 'life light scenes' of each child in the book.
Aside from this, it seemed the booklet had other functions yet to be revealed. However, at this moment, Xu Qing had no time to explore these.
Upon seeing the child about to submerge on the other side of the mirror, Xu Qing instantly tapped into the magical power of Hidden Corpse and used the Divine Travel Celestial Scripture, arriving at the river port in an instant.
As he kept descending from a hundred feet above, Xu Qing activated Wide Eye Recognition, instantly locking onto the area where Shi Xiaoyu was drowning.
With a shoot of the silk-reinforced rope, Xu Qing's figure followed closely, appearing before the water surface where the ripples had not yet settled.
Deploying the water corpse domain, Xu Qing parted the water, and within just a couple of breaths, pulled the drowning child up from the water.
A round of massage plus stimulation from the Jia-Yi Acupuncture Technique, the previously unconscious child slowly came back to consciousness.
Having just settled his nerves, Xu Qing instinctively turned to look at the booklet within the bloodlake Dharma Realm.
Turning to the first page, he saw that after a series of distortions and transformations, the incense name of Shi Xiaoyu, initially dim and blurred, began to solidify at the edges at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the faint red glow that symbolized vitality brightened again!
Though still not as brilliant as a healthy child, it was no longer the desolate sight teetering on the edge of demise.
At this moment, the shallow but gradually steady breathing of the child before him rose and fell with the steadily brightening name on the booklet, accompanied by the surging tide of the surrounding river water.
Xu Qing felt inexplicably emotional.
No wonder he always felt that something was missing from Lady Bao Sheng's divine persona.
Xu Qing had also never figured out the purpose of the special incense gathering within the bloodlake Dharma Realm.
But now, with the alignment of the nurturing manual and the emergence of the Sutra of Life-saving, all mysteries dissipated, and Xu Qing saw a unique spiritual path belonging to the deity of Bao Sheng Temple.
This was a path completely contrary to transcending the deceased.
Without the bloodlake Dharma Realm, without the avatar of Lady Bao Sheng, even if Xu Qing wished to engage with this spiritual journey, it would have been impossible!
It was all due to a series of coincidental opportunities.
Coming to his senses, Xu Qing turned his gaze to the nearby child shivering all over.
A whisper of bloodlake incense silently enveloped the child's body. Although it was early winter, Shi Xiaoyu felt the coldness dispel entirely, his whole body warm.
Observing the child before him, Xu Qing asked in a tone typical of an adult interrogating a child:
"Hey, kid! Let me ask you, what are you doing out here at the river port late at night instead of at home? Where are your parents?"
Shi Xiaoyu pouted, tears brimming as he said, "My mom and my third dad are resting in the back cabin. I was alone in the front cabin. At night, I went outside to relieve myself, went to the bow, and accidentally fell into the water."
At just five or six years old, with an immature mind, despite Xu Qing's repeated questions, he couldn't get Shi Xiaoyu to explain where this ironhead boat mentioned was, or the names of his parents...
Shi Xiaoyu only knew that his mom was called Shi Chunlan, while he had four or five dads. He usually called them first dad, second dad, and so on. If you asked him what each dad's name was, he couldn't answer a single one.