The Azure Incense Burner

"What's going on?" Yuan Ming's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly looked at the spot on his right arm that was getting hot.

He had been in a dim environment for the past half month, and his eyes had gradually adapted to the darkness. The hot spot was a faint azure mark that looked somewhat like an incense burner.

The originally very faint mark was now becoming clearer at a speed visible to the naked eye, emitting faint wisps of light.

"Huh? When did this strange mark appear on my arm?" Yuan Ming exclaimed, touching it with his finger. The azure mark felt neither painful nor itchy, with no abnormality.

He pondered for a moment, then tried to mobilize the trace of spiritual power in his dantian, condensing it to his fingertip, and placed it on the azure mark.

Although the light emitted by the mark was faint, it carried a subtle fluctuation of spiritual power, giving him an inexplicable urge to do so.

The azure mark suddenly emitted a suction force, and with a "whoosh," it swallowed that trace of spiritual power!

Yuan Ming was greatly alarmed. This trace of spiritual power was something he had painstakingly accumulated over half a month, and it was all gone in an instant.

In his panic, he circulated the Blood Qi Method, trying to draw the spiritual power back from the mark, but he couldn't draw it out at all. His heart sank.

Accumulating spiritual power was already difficult, and now all his efforts were in vain.

Just as Yuan Ming was feeling utterly disheartened, a stream of warm energy surged from within the azure mark, and a hazy glow lit up on his arm.

Yuan Ming's eyes widened as he looked at the glow.

Then, to his astonishment, he saw a palm-sized azure incense burner emerge from the glow. Supported by the light, it landed steadily in front of him.

The incense burner appeared to be made of fired clay, with three legs and two ears, but no lid. One side was carved with a yin-yang fish tai chi symbol, and the other side was dotted with stars, engraved with a formation diagram resembling a starry sky.

The yin-yang tai chi symbol shone brilliantly, looking very mysterious.

On the incense burner, three black incense sticks were inserted: one short and two long.

Yuan Ming was startled by this bizarre sight. After a few breaths of stunned silence, he reached out his palm and gently rubbed the incense burner with his fingertip. His fingertips felt a fine and real texture.

"It's not an illusion."

Yuan Ming sat up straight and gently stroked the three black incense sticks again. He felt that their material was no different from ordinary incense, but they felt more delicate and smooth to the touch.

He lowered his head to look at his arm. The mark was gone, leaving only a slight burning sensation.

"Strange, where did this incense burner come from? How did it get onto my arm?"

As Yuan Ming was wondering, a memory suddenly surfaced in his mind. He vaguely recalled falling into the river, tumbling and crashing in the turbulent waves, and finally being swept to the bottom by an undertow.

In the chaos, he saw a ball of light at the bottom of the water and reached out, struggling to touch something.

That something was the incense burner.

Yuan Ming's pupils contracted instantly. When he looked at the incense burner again, his gaze became even more astonished.

Although he didn't know what this incense burner was, it was definitely not an ordinary object if it could attach itself to him.

Yuan Ming placed his palm on the incense burner, feeling a stream of warmth penetrate him and quickly enter his mind.

He felt a cool sensation flash through his mind. The fatigue accumulated from days and nights of cultivation vanished without a trace, and his spirit became exceptionally invigorated.

"This incense burner is truly a divine object; it actually has such a refreshing effect," Yuan Ming murmured to himself with joy.

He looked at the three black incense sticks standing in the burner. After a moment's thought, he used the method of drilling wood to ignite a flame and lit a piece of cloth wadding.

Holding the flaming cloth wadding, he carefully brought it to the incense burner and lit one of the black incense sticks.

A spark ignited at the tip of the incense stick, creating a tiny point of light in the dark cave. Wisps of smoke rose from it.

Yuan Ming immediately smelled a unique fragrance, unlike anything he had ever smelled before, somewhere between sandalwood and pine. Just a slight whiff made his consciousness hazy and his vision blurry.

"Hypnotic incense?"

As soon as this thought flashed through Yuan Ming's mind, he fell into darkness, losing all consciousness.

After an unknown amount of time, his consciousness gradually returned, and a cacophony of sounds erupted around him.

"Oh no, a wild beast is attacking!" Yuan Ming's heart leaped, and he suddenly opened his eyes.

But what greeted his sight was not the dim cave, but a very wide, carved desk covered with golden embroidered silk.

On the desk were neatly arranged the Four Treasures of the Study and a stack of books bound in yellow satin. The inkstone was carved with dragons, and the brush had a jade handle with wolf bristles. Each item was exquisite and beautiful.

"Was I dreaming?"

Yuan Ming suddenly woke up and looked up, only to realize that he was in a magnificent palace hall.

Below the hall, there were four people dressed in white brocade, two men and two women, standing with their heads bowed on either side.

"Your Majesty, you are awake?" At this moment, a sharp, high-pitched voice came from beside him.

Yuan Ming then noticed that a effeminate middle-aged man in brocade robes, holding a horsetail whisk, with a pale, beardless face, was standing beside him.

"Your Majesty?" Yuan Ming narrowed his eyes. Was this person calling him?

Seeing the man's fawning smile, Yuan Ming frowned and shifted his gaze to a smooth bronze mirror next to the carved desk. His reflection was clearly visible in it: a young man in a luxurious golden robe, with a five-clawed dragon embroidered on his chest.

That young man was about his age, but his features were completely different!

Yuan Ming leaned back involuntarily, hitting the backrest of the dragon throne.

"Oh dear, this servant deserves death, for startling Your Majesty." The effeminate man was startled and quickly knelt down in fear, shouting.

The four people below the hall also trembled and knelt on the ground, lowering their heads and not daring to raise them at all.

Yuan Ming's heart churned with a tempest of emotions, and he paid no mind to the effeminate man and the others.

He had just been in a dark cave, how did he suddenly arrive in such a place? If it were a dream, everything around him was too real. Whether it was touch, hearing, or smell, it was all the same as usual.

"Could it be that incense burner that brought me here?" Yuan Ming recalled his actions just before, and a thought suddenly struck him. The more he thought about it, the more possible it seemed.

"I... I'm fine. You all go out first." He took a deep breath, steadied his mind, and said slowly.

"Yes!"

The effeminate man hesitated for a moment before quickly agreeing. He led everyone out of the palace, retreating backward.

Once the hall was completely cleared, Yuan Ming stood up from the dragon throne and walked to the bronze mirror, looking around and scrutinizing himself. He finally confirmed that this body was not his own.

The hall was adorned with carvings of dragons and phoenixes everywhere, and the dominant color was gold, representing the supreme emperor. Combined with the effeminate man's address to him just now and the golden dragon robe he was wearing, this body seemed to belong to a young emperor.

"Did I die because of that incense burner and then get reincarnated? But reincarnation should be into newborn infants, right? How did I end up in a half-grown young man?" Yuan Ming was filled with confusion.

He paced in the room for a while, then returned to sit behind the desk. After calming down, a strange thought arose in his mind: "Could it be that my soul has left my body and possessed someone else?"

Other than this, he couldn't think of a more plausible answer.

Just then, Yuan Ming's nose twitched. He smelled a fragrant aroma. Following the scent, he saw a square porcelain box about a foot wide placed on the corner of the desk. Its surface was carved with greenish patterns resembling birds and beasts.

He quickly reached out and opened the lid of the box, and a rich fragrance immediately wafted out.

The box was filled with exquisite pastries of various shapes. Some were square, some round, and some were shaped like flowers. They were of different colors and still emitting heat.

Yuan Ming had been eating raw meat for the past few days, and to conserve food, he had been eating very little each day. He subconsciously swallowed his saliva and, without a second thought, reached out and grabbed a crystal-clear, translucent square pastry that looked like white jade, stuffing it into his mouth and chewing vigorously.

A sweet date flavor, combined with the aroma of osmanthus, instantly filled his entire mouth.

"Delicious!"

Before he had even finished chewing the food in his mouth, he quickly grabbed another pastry shaped like a lotus flower and swallowed it. It was truly crisp, fragrant, and sweet.

Yuan Ming simply stood up and used both hands, like a whirlwind sweeping away fallen clouds, to clear all the pastries in the box. Then, he picked up a nearby teapot and gulped down the tea until the pot was empty.

"Burp."

Yuan Ming let out a satisfied burp and slumped back onto the dragon throne. He reached up and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, patted his slightly bulging belly, and felt an indescribable sense of contentment.

It felt so good to be full. He hadn't eaten so heartily in a long time!

After eating and drinking his fill, Yuan Ming began to reconsider everything.

Was he brought here by that incense burner? If so, perhaps he could find some clues.

He looked around, searching for the incense burner. On the desk in front of him, there was indeed an incense burner, but it was bronze in color and its style was very different from the one that had just emerged from the mark on his arm.

"Arm mark!" Yuan Ming suddenly remembered something. He quickly rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, and his eyes widened.

On his right arm, near the elbow, there was a distinct azure mark, exactly the same as the mark on his original body. A faint stream of warmth could be felt circulating within it.

Yuan Ming secretly thought, "It's just as I suspected."

He was now mostly certain that he had been brought to this place by that incense burner. But could he return?

Although this body belonged to an emperor and was roughly his age, he still wanted to return to his own body.

Yuan Ming touched the azure mark with his finger, but there was no reaction.

He tried using other things, but the mark remained motionless.

"It's a pity this little emperor isn't a cultivator and has no magical power within him. Otherwise, I could have tried to see if I could summon the incense burner here." Yuan Ming gave up helplessly, sighing.

After collecting his thoughts, Yuan Ming's gaze shifted to the stack of yellow satin books on the desk.

Since he didn't know if he could return to his original body, he decided to first understand his current situation and play the role of the little emperor well, so as not to reveal any flaws.

With that in mind, he picked up a booklet and opened it. It was a report from a provincial official about a flood in his jurisdiction, requesting the emperor's grace to allow the opening of the prefectural granaries for disaster relief.

What should have been a simple matter of a few sentences was described in a very convoluted manner by the provincial official. First, he busied himself with apologizing to heaven, then he lamented that heaven had not shown mercy, and then he used a long passage to describe the scene in the disaster-stricken area.

After writing thousands of words, the memorial only presented the specific disaster situation and relief measures at the end, which made Yuan Ming feel dizzy.