Bewitching Incense

As Liu Xiaolou left the market, a chill ran down his spine. He hadn't realized he'd broken out in a sweat, and the cool breeze now made him shiver. His tense nerves finally relaxed, and he felt a sense of satisfaction for saving two spirit stones.

Spirit elixirs weren't meant for me anyway, he thought. Wouldn't it be better to accumulate more true essence?

Feeling as though he'd stumbled upon two free spirit stones, Liu Xiaolou decided to celebrate. He had a new set of clothes made in town, bought some cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and medicinal herbs. After spending over ten taels of silver, he filled a large bamboo basket, slung it over his shoulder, and hurried back to the mountain.

The benefits of advancing his cultivation were everywhere. A journey that used to take nearly two hours now took about fifteen minutes less, and his steps were light and unburdened by fatigue.

On the way back to the mountain, he also caught a pheasant, which he planned to stew for a hearty meal.

The Big White Goose was honking in the yard, seemingly engaged in a battle with some chicken bones. Liu Xiaolou, meanwhile, lit an oil lamp and placed a small alchemy furnace on it, heating it up. He then enveloped the furnace with his true essence, ensuring the heat wouldn't dissipate and would instead become more concentrated.

He wasn't an alchemist and didn't understand the art of refining elixirs. The Three Xuan Sect also lacked any cultivation techniques for alchemy. What he was refining was a secret sect technique—the Bewitching Incense.

When the alchemy furnace changed color, turning a faint red, it indicated the heat within had reached the optimal level. Liu Xiaolou then introduced the Pine Resin Essence into the furnace. Before long, it melted into a milky white, viscous liquid that settled at the bottom of the furnace, occasionally bubbling.

Simultaneously, he took the tiger penis, deer antler, cinnamon, cynomorium, epimedium, and other medicinal herbs he had bought. Following the recipe, he measured out the required portions, crushed them into powder with his true essence, and added them to the furnace. The Pine Resin Essence represented the yin, and these herbs represented the yang. As yin and yang merged, they blended perfectly in the furnace, and the viscous liquid turned a pale yellow, resembling amber.

Liu Xiaolou slowly lowered the furnace temperature using his cultivation method, intermittently infusing it with streams of true essence. He refined it for an entire night, and by dawn, he had successfully produced a strand of Incense Tendon. This Incense Tendon was over three feet long, as thin as a bamboo skewer, impervious to water and fire, and both soft and resilient. At first glance, it looked like a slender rope that could be used as a weapon in combat, and indeed, it could be wielded in such a manner, not much different from a low-grade magical artifact.

However, its true purpose was to be ignited and used to fumigate people with a bewitching scent. Those affected would experience uncontrollable emotions, initially unaware as their minds became muddled and infatuated. Later, they would become dizzy, their heads would ache, and they would fall into a deep sleep. Even cultivators, if their minds were not steadfast, could easily fall prey to it.

The most remarkable aspect of the Bewitching Incense was the integration of the Three Xuan Dao principles. The higher the cultivator's level, the more solidified their true essence, the deeper their understanding of the Dao, and the more exquisite their techniques during application, the stronger the bewitching effect would be.

For those who fell victim to it, the outcome depended on their state when inhaling the Bewitching Incense. If someone was ignorant of human desires, the incense would be useless. But if they were already troubled by emotions or harboring lustful thoughts, the effect would be extremely pronounced.

Regardless, after successfully refining the Bewitching Incense again, Liu Xiaolou's means of self-preservation had greatly increased. He wrapped the Incense Tendon around his arm using a sect technique, concealing it beneath his sleeve. This allowed him to instantly unleash it as a weapon-like thin rope or activate it with his true essence to attack others with the scent, giving him complete control.

After finishing the Incense Tendon, Liu Xiaolou didn't waste any time and immediately took out the spirit stones to consume them. For a destitute rogue cultivator like himself, spirit stones were impossible to hold onto unless they had a specific purpose. He sat in his room and cultivated day and night. In the blink of an eye, nearly a month passed, and the two spirit stones turned into dust and fragments that fell onto the dirt ground in the courtyard.

The Big White Goose tried several times to peck at the spirit stones in his palm but failed. Instead, it received several slaps that left it dizzy. It could only console itself by pecking at the spirit stone dust that had fallen on the ground.

With the aid of these two spirit stones, Liu Xiaolou broke through the first acupoint of the Hand Jueyin Meridian—the Tianchi acupoint. His spiritual energy transformed into true essence, which accumulated in the essence pool within the Tianchi acupoint.

Calculating the time, he noticed that his efficiency in absorbing and refining spirit stones had also improved compared to when he was at the Qi Refining second layer. Previously, a spirit stone could sustain him for half a month, but now it seemed he saved a day. The improvement in his cultivation was quite significant.

Alas, his spirit stones were exhausted, and this period of smooth cultivation had to be temporarily halted. Now, he had to figure out his next move.

As he was pondering, he suddenly slapped his forehead, got up, and went to chop two long bamboo stalks in the bamboo grove. He then carried them to the bank of the Wu Chao River.

He split the long bamboo into six sections, tied them together with long grass, and hastily assembled a crude bamboo raft. He then jumped onto the raft and floated downstream.

The spirit fields on Goose-Goat Mountain should be ready for harvest by now. He had been in seclusion cultivating and had forgotten this important matter. He wondered if it was still too late to go now!

Goose-Goat Mountain was the territory of the Zhanglong Sect, a prominent sect in Xiangxi, bordering the blessed land of Zhanglong Mountain. A residual spiritual spring from the Zhanglong Mountain blessed land had an outlet on Goose-Goat Mountain. Although no spiritual spring water leaked out, spiritual energy permeated from it, covering a mountain hollow of over two thousand mu on Goose-Goat Mountain. The Zhanglong Sect had established spirit fields here, and the spirit rice produced contained spiritual energy.

Ling'er, Wei Hongqing's jilted fiancée, had married Zang Qianli, an inner disciple of the Zhanglong Sect.

The Zang family was responsible for managing the spirit fields on Goose-Goat Mountain for the Zhanglong Sect.

Every year in late autumn, when the spirit fields on Goose-Goat Mountain matured, the Zang family would hire a group of rogue cultivators to help with the harvest, paying them some spirit rice as compensation. For many rogue cultivators in Xiangxi, this was a good source of income.

On one hand, there was brotherly affection; on the other, hunger. Initially, Liu Xiaolou was hesitant about whether to give up this opportunity. But since his brother had run off, he couldn't afford to worry about brotherly affection for now.

Following the Wu Chao River downstream, he passed through Wu Chao Town. After traveling for more than ten li, Liu Xiaolou disembarked and headed northeast with large strides. He traveled urgently through the night, crossing over ten mountain peaks, and finally arrived at Goose-Goat Mountain at dawn.

North of the mountain hollow were dozens of houses of various sizes. This was the Goose-Goat Mountain Villa where the Zang family resided. South of the villa was a small stream about a zhang wide. The two thousand-plus mu of paddy fields cultivated along this stream were the spirit fields of Goose-Goat Mountain.

When Liu Xiaolou arrived, he saw wisps of mist rising from the stream and dispersing towards the spirit fields on both banks. This mist was the spiritual energy leaked from the residual spiritual spring. As it flowed out along this stream, it evaporated every morning, nourishing the surrounding land.

He really wanted to go over and take a few refreshing breaths, but this was strictly prohibited on Goose-Goat Mountain. If everyone came to inhale the spiritual mist, what would be left to nourish the spirit fields? Therefore, the villa had erected a long fence to protect the spirit fields within.

The fence could be pushed over or leaped over, but it represented the authority of the Zhanglong Sect, and no one dared to violate this rule. Liu Xiaolou was no exception. He had no choice but to follow the fence to the front of the villa and request an audience with the person in charge of the villa, Zang Baili.

While waiting for notification at the manor's entrance, many rogue cultivators were already coming out from within the manor, each carrying sickles and baskets, heading down to the spirit fields.

Damn it, it looks like I'm still too late.