"Li Ling, how dare you hide money from me! Drink my foot-washing water, and from now on, you're sleeping in the pigsty!"
"I didn't! Don't... don't! Glug, glug..."
"Ah!"
Li Ling jolted awake from his dream, feeling strangely bereft. It took him a while to recover.
"Thank goodness, thank goodness. Dreams mean the opposite."
After transmigrating, Li Ling had been reborn as a commoner in the Mystic Xin Kingdom on the Mystic Continent. His skill in making incense, combined with the experience of two lifetimes, made him rather more diligent and discerning than most. Gradually, he had risen above the crowd. When he finally produced Spirit-Communing Incense, he was named a master of the Incense Path. An immortal master had even taken an interest in him and offered him a descendant of his bloodline in marriage to draw him into his fold.
Thus, he had become the prince consort of the Mystic Xin Kingdom, a respectable gentleman by any measure.
As these thoughts passed through his mind, the woman beside his pillow stirred. Warm, fragrant, and soft as jade, she nestled against him. "Husband, why are you awake so early?"
Li Ling turned to look. A dignified, classically beautiful woman gazed at him through sleepy eyes, her slightly disheveled hair lending her a charm all its own. She was his wife, Mu Qingsi, the ninth princess of the Mystic Xin Kingdom.
Li Ling reached out to smooth the hair over her forehead and said apologetically, "I've been a light sleeper since childhood. Sorry I disturbed you."
The ninth princess grew a little more alert at his words and smiled gently. "Husband and wife are one. Why speak of disturbing me? But the chance to cultivate immortality and pursue the Dao ultimately depends on your Spirit Root. Don't let your longing for the Dao drive you into reckless experiments that ruin your health."
Li Ling smiled faintly, stroking her hair and feeling its silky smoothness. "Don't worry. I know my limits."
The ninth princess said, "I know you were born with wisdom from a former life and yearn for the Great Dao. You aren't someone content to live quietly in the mortal world. But rather than fumbling about on your own, you would do better to hope our Old Ancestor reaches Nascent Soul soon. In recognition of your help with his cultivation, he could refine your mortal bones. Even if there's no hope in this lifetime, you could start again after a hundred years. That's the proper path."
Li Ling sighed with a smile. "I understand."
After holding her and chatting for a while, Li Ling looked toward the window and found a pale light already showing through.
"It's already dawn."
He and the ninth princess slept in a Gilt Purple Sandalwood and Ivory Bed over ten feet wide. With its gauze curtains lowered, it formed a world of its own, larger than the rooms of ordinary households. Beyond the red silk quilt covering the couple was a sleeping platform one step lower, where two pretty bedchamber maids sat on either side, having kept watch over their masters' sleep all night. Only farther down did one emerge from the great bed, where dressing tables, cabinets, curtains, and lamps could faintly be seen, all fully furnished.
The spring chill still bit. Although the fireplace blazed brightly, the bedcovers were more comfortable after all. Li Ling lay there a little longer before mustering tremendous resolve to get up. He soothed his lovely wife, saying, "I'm going to look in on the workshop. If you have nothing to do, sleep a little longer."
The ninth princess blushed faintly and chided him, "Husband, don't underestimate me. I'm a Qi Refinement cultivator, after all. Gathering the sun's essence in the morning and refining the moon's radiance at night-which of my cultivation practices isn't serious business?"
Despite her words, she murmured lazily a few times and closed her eyes again, reluctant to give up her sleep.
Li Ling chuckled inwardly and instructed the bedchamber maids, "The princess is a salted fish by nature. Once the sun comes out, remember to turn her over. Don't let her burn on just one side."
Knowing his playful nature, the maids stifled their laughter and agreed, earning a delicate huff from the princess.
Once he emerged, other servants in the outer room helped him dress and wash before he headed outside.
The eunuchs who had accompanied the princess upon her marriage served as stewards, with at least one on duty each day. Sure enough, one was already waiting outside. "Prince Consort, the carriage is ready. Will you go to the incense workshop now, or would you prefer to eat first?"
Li Ling said, "I have business to attend to today. I'll make do with some pastries at the Incense Workshop. Let's go."
Amid the clopping of hooves, the carriage entered a compound in the city bearing a sign that read "Li's Incense Workshop." This was Li Ling's property in this lifetime, the business he had built with his own hands.
Li Ling alighted and looked around. Seeing the workers already busy, he could not help recalling his experiences over the past twenty-odd years.
Li Ling had begun this life by transmigrating and being reborn. Using supposed wisdom from a former life as an explanation while earning his livelihood, he had personally raised an impoverished family in the southern Mystic Xin Kingdom into a merchant household whose wealth dominated the region. He had relied on the incense recipes in his memory.
For reasons he did not understand, the classical incense recipes considered nothing special on Earth in his previous life had unexpectedly resonated with the underlying Dao of this world. Unseen, they had stirred heaven's mysteries, revealing a sliver of a wondrous opportunity to ascend to immortality.
Needing a patron and a guide, he had simply offered it in trade, gaining a heaven-filling shower of wealth and honor. Yet his Spirit Root was deficient, leaving him without recourse to the Immortal Dao. Hoping to seize the opportunity to cultivate and advance had ultimately proved a fool's dream.
"Spirit Root, Spirit Root-what a marvelous Spirit Root!
Could the Immortal Dao truly be predetermined, with Spirit Root aptitude barring every road to cultivation and advancement? Clever or foolish, good or evil, beautiful or ugly—does heaven favor only those with complete Spirit Roots? How can that be called cultivation? How can that be called defying heaven and changing one's fate?
I refuse to believe that this vast heaven and earth, where all living beings are equal, would grant me such intelligence only to let this so-called Spirit Root stand in my way!"
Composing himself slightly, Li Ling crossed a corridor of red brick and blue-gray tiles and went straight into a simple, secluded stone chamber in the rear courtyard.
Hidden deep within the workshop, the chamber was nevertheless bright and airy. Currents of energy seemed to circulate at the four corners of its walls, where Arrays and restrictions had been laid. These were immortal methods concealed amid the bustling city, showing how much the immortal master cared and how closely he guarded the place.
Tall cabinets stood along the walls like medicine shelves in an apothecary, their compartments holding substances of different properties and flavors. Labels written in neat small regular script were pasted beside the drawer handles. Everything was orderly: agarwood, pepper, orchids, mint, and all manner of aromatic ingredients.
Li Ling first lit an incense lamp in offering to the Five Deity Tablets of Jiazi, Bingzi, Wuzi, Gengzi, and Renzi. Then he took five qian each of acronychia wood, turmeric, agarwood, and fast-burning agarwood; eight qian of patchouli; one liang and six qian each of gaoben, spikenard, Angelica dahurica, and linglingxiang; and two qian each of rhubarb, nutgrass, and black ginseng from the shelves, and began blending incense.
Incense had been used since remote antiquity to honor the gods and achieve purification.
Since ancient times, Mortal People had burned wood and incense in sacrifice and prayer, always using fragrance as their guide. Later came methods such as burning mugwort and fumigating with incense, with uses ranging from repelling insects and warding off evil to calming the mind, healing, and cooking.
People delighted in fragrance and loathed foul odors. From poets and scholars to women in their chambers, from peddlers to porters, everyone found a use for incense. A refined custom of purity and taste, it gradually entered daily life and became the Incense Path.
But supernatural arts had never manifested on Earth in his previous life. Li Ling had inherited his family's knowledge from childhood and made incense for a living, yet even that livelihood had faltered under the impact of modern industry. Only after his unexpected rebirth in this world had he taken up his old craft again and truly devoted himself to its study, finally becoming a master.
The Incense Path was vast. The Li family had passed down traditional native recipes, with particular expertise in making Spirit-Communing Incense for Daoist rites.
The Wanli Supplement to the Daoist Canon contained the following passage in the Jade Scroll of Supreme Clarity on the Heavenly Sovereign's Ultimate Dao, compiled by Zhu Quan of the Ming dynasty:
On a Jiazi day, gather the incense ingredients; on a Bingzi day, grind them; on a Wuzi day, blend them together; on a Gengzi day, form them into pellets and offer them upon the Altar of Heaven; on a Renzi day, place them in a gourd and hang it up. On a Jia day, burn one pellet in sacrifice to heaven. Thereafter, do not use it routinely. Whenever urgent prayer is needed, burn it to commune with the divine virtue of the gods. If, while traveling, one encounters danger from evildoers, or faces peril from wind and waves upon rivers and lakes, and in that crisis has no fire with which to burn it, chew the incense in the mouth and spray it upward to avert the calamity.
Originally, this had been something that worked if one believed and did nothing if one did not. When Li Ling first made it in this world, he had merely intended to supplement his household income. He had never expected to discover later that it nourished yin souls and increased cultivation.
Amid his astonishment, Li Ling had developed a longing for the Dao, hoping to try cultivating through this unorthodox shortcut.
After several years, he had earned mortal wealth and every sort of pleasure in abundance, yet the Immortal Dao future he yearned for remained distant and uncertain.
Even the immortal master he had pledged himself to could do nothing. His verdict was that Li Ling's Spirit Root was deficient, leaving him without recourse to the Immortal Dao, and he advised him to enjoy his mortal prosperity in peace.
A little under an hour later, Li Ling emerged thoughtfully from the stone chamber and caught the fragrance of wine.
Looking up, he saw a disheveled Daoist sitting in the courtyard, drinking from a gourd. He hurried over to greet him. "Senior Brother Zhu, I didn't realize you'd already arrived."
The disheveled Daoist's face was flushed from drinking. At his words, he grinned and said, "Li Ling, I've come for incense again. Is this month's tribute ready?"
Li Ling said, "It's all ready. Just take it with you, Senior Brother. I have a little personal gift for you as well."
He immediately went back inside, took two brocade boxes, one large and one small, from a concealed compartment in the wall, and brought them out to the disheveled Daoist.
The disheveled Daoist nodded in satisfaction, though he said, "I really don't know where someone so young learned all these tricks. This old Daoist never had such intentions-you've corrupted me."
Li Ling said, "You're overstating things, Senior Brother Zhu. It's only a small token of my regard."
The disheveled Daoist said, "Now that our Old Ancestor's advancement is imminent, maintaining the quality of his tribute is what matters. You mustn't let my requests spoil the greater undertaking."
Li Ling said, "You may not know this, Senior Brother Zhu, but supplying our Old Ancestor alone is well within my abilities. Once he advances and passes down the spell, he can also help me open a school and take in disciples. That will be more than enough to sustain this business, and production of Spirit-Communing Incense will increase. We'll be the waterside pavilion that catches the moonlight first. How could we ever lack enough for our own use?"
The disheveled Daoist said, "True enough. But you've always been a shrewd lad. Out with it—what cultivator's possessions are you after this time? Over these past three years and more, you've pestered me so often that you've nearly emptied my coffers. Heavenly Treasures might help you make incense, but everyone's own supplies are tight. How could there be enough for you to squander? If you're serious, wait until our Old Ancestor advances. And if you want ordinary flowers or fragrant woods, the Mystic Xin King has already helped you establish a trading firm to gather materials from far and wide. He's much more useful in such matters."
Li Ling said, "You misunderstand me, Senior Brother. Heavenly Treasures are rare and difficult to obtain, and our earlier experiments proved useless. How would I dare harbor such hopes again? I only want a few low-grade artifacts, pills, and talismans to study."
The disheveled Daoist's eyes widened. "Ha! You certainly talk big. Even low-grade items are no ordinary goods. Do you really think they're there for the taking? Fine, fine. Having accepted your gifts, this old Daoist's hands are tied. I'll have to run your errands again, asking around for trades."
Delighted, Li Ling said, "Then I'm sorry for the trouble, Senior Brother Zhu."
The disheveled Daoist waved a hand. "Don't thank me yet. You're an ambitious one, I know. You've already tinkered with the common items and no longer think much of them. I may not find anything to your liking anytime soon."
Li Ling said, "Just look around, Senior Brother. The thought is what matters."
The disheveled Daoist took a deep gulp of wine, waved, and turned to leave.
Li Ling saw him off with a smile. After a while, he returned to the stone chamber to organize his notes and various aromatic ingredients.
Before he knew it, noon had arrived. As Li Ling read in the courtyard pavilion, a waft of osmanthus fragrance suddenly drifted toward him, warm and intoxicating. He smiled. "Qingsi, you're here?"
Turning around, he found that it was indeed his lovely wife, the ninth princess.
The ninth princess had told her maids to hide behind her and crept toward Li Ling, apparently planning to cover his eyes while he was off guard. Unexpectedly exposed at once, she could not help laughing. "Husband, how did you know it was me?"
Li Ling said, "I can recognize people by their scent. Before you arrived, your fragrance reached me. I know that scent well."
Realization dawned on the ninth princess. "I almost forgot. My husband is a dog by nature, with a wonderfully keen nose."
Li Ling had not been speaking idly. He had indeed been born in this world with an unusual soul and a peculiar talent unlike that of ordinary people: discerning scents.
But what even the ninth princess did not know was that this had nothing to do with his nose. It was an extraordinary innate gift that allowed him to visualize scents within his mind, giving their qualities tangible form.
When ordinary people smelled something, they gained only a vague impression, broadly classifying it as resembling orchid, musk, pepper, or osmanthus, perhaps distinguishing between strong and faint. Any deeper distinction entered the realm of the mysterious.
As the saying went, listen, yet hear no sound; look, yet see no form-such was the imperceptible.
Thus, this was actually a perceptual ability that transcended particles of matter, something that could be called Netherworld Communion.
Li Ling knew little about modern incense manufacturing or chemistry, and he did not understand the mathematical formulas or concepts such as relative odor intensity. He did, however, understand that modern industrial methods focused on molecular structure, attempting to explain fragrance composition and incense blending through fractal mathematics and chemical synthesis. It was, in fact, a highly advanced approach.
If every variable could be mastered, every method of making incense would be within easy reach.
Yet it was indeed a chaotic system. Although basic physics held that the diffusion of scent generally followed the kinetic theory of gas molecules in thermodynamics, humanity had only just begun to understand it. Existing instruments could not fully capture its trajectories and simulate them comprehensively. Thus, making incense, composing fragrances, and evaluating scents still depended heavily on talent and experience.
These things were much like the "one spoonful," "an appropriate amount," "a little," and "add as needed" found in Chinese recipes. One had to grasp them personally and improvise in the moment.
By now, Li Ling knew that he could accurately distinguish the texture of scents. People had their own odors, intimately linked to their endocrine systems and sweat-gland secretions, and connected to their physiological and psychological activity.
That he could judge people without ever looking at them, knowing their goodness or wickedness, beauty or ugliness merely by smelling them, was no empty boast. As the saying went, living with good people was like entering a room of fragrant orchids; living with bad people was like entering a shop selling salted fish.
Objectively speaking, fragrance and stench were two sides of the same thing. Yet they gave people different impressions, also influenced by intensity. Thus, under emotions such as excitement, distress, or anger, the strength of each person's scent varied enormously.
Those essentially extroverted, unrestrained, ardent, and active, Li Ling classified as yang in nature. Their scents resembled musk or fox, most often associated with animals;
Those introverted, gentle, tranquil, and passive, he classified as yin in nature. Their scents resembled orchid or osmanthus, most often associated with plants;
Those cruel and tyrannical, whose malice seeped outward, carried the stench of rotting corpses and blood;
Those pure in character and noble in conduct, whose hearts gave rise to goodwill, carried the refined freshness of orchids and bamboo, the fragrance of grass and trees.
The ninth princess smelled lovely all over, so she was unquestionably good. Such was his logic as a master incense maker.