"What kind of treasure was this?"
Li Ling stared fixedly at the strange object he had never seen before, his heart filled with delighted surprise and shock.
As an incense maker, he had always sought out the fragrant materials of this world, collecting all manner of novel substances from every corner of the land, including rarities almost impossible to obtain in the mortal world.
Yet Heavenly Treasures had always remained within sight but beyond his reach.
Apart from receiving some low-grade spiritual materials more than three years ago as a reward for presenting Spirit-Communing Incense, which he had used in unsuccessful experiments, he had never had another opportunity.
Li Ling had never stopped wondering: if even Spirit-Communing Incense made from ordinary materials could temper his soul through Incense-Feeding Soul Tempering, how much benefit would genuine spiritual incense made from suitable Heavenly Treasures bring him?
It was almost beyond imagining.
Still, Li Ling did not regret devouring the incense essence from this chance encounter. It had lain here for who knew how many years, and if he had not used it on the spot, bringing it back would have been difficult anyway.
After turning the matter over in his mind, he decided that learning exactly what it was would be more useful.
What mattered to him was a whole forest, not a single tree.
Li Ling examined the object carefully and pondered.
"Incense has three grades: sinking, raft, and yellow-ripe..."
This was recorded in the classic of the Incense Path, The Incense Compendium.
The water-sinking incense formed by fragrant woods fell into three grades: sinking incense, raft incense, and yellow-ripe incense. Of these, sinking incense sank as soon as it entered water and came from four sources.
The first was called mature formation, produced when resin naturally accumulated after a tree died and decayed;
The second was called living formation, produced from resin secreted after a tree was cut with knives or axes;
The third was called fallen formation, produced when wood decayed and fell away, then formed resin again;
The fourth was called insect-bored formation, which, as its name suggested, formed after insects bored into the wood.
Living formation was best, followed by mature and fallen formations; hard, black specimens were best, followed by yellow ones.
From Li Ling's observations, this should have been yellow-wax agarwood produced through living formation. Judging by its appearance, it should have been a first-grade, earth-buried specimen.
Though such material could be considered rare, Li Ling had collected quite a bit thanks to his wealth in this life. He had simply never seen a finished specimen with such extraordinary effects.
It had undoubtedly formed in fragrant wood of Heavenly Treasures quality, far beyond comparison with ordinary materials.
"What kind of wood could this be? Agarwood has many sources, each with different causes of resin formation."
"Still, anything stored in a box like this should count as a rare spiritual wood. Once I get back, I must consult plenty of illustrated catalogs and search carefully."
Li Ling committed this unusual fragrance, distinct from all the other smells in the stone chamber, deeply to memory. Although the fragrance underwent a transformation after resin formed in a tree and could not necessarily be traced to its source, it at least gave him something to follow.
He also memorized the object's appearance.
It had a strange shape resembling an animal's finger bone, faintly yellow throughout, as though saturated with wax. Its highly distinctive appearance should make tracing its origins much easier.
"My divine sense has now surged to a little over two and a half taels. This weighs about two taels, so I can just barely move it, but carrying it all the way back would still be troublesome."
"I'll hide it somewhere nearby first, then compare it at leisure when I have the chance."
Li Ling immediately moved it with his object-manipulation technique, found an opening, and slipped silently out of the Water Monkey's lair.
Throughout the process, he did his best to keep the fragrant material out of the water. Although this sort of water-sinking incense generally would not absorb large amounts of water quickly, if a turbulent current swept it away, he would no longer be able to retrieve it.
After some effort, Li Ling finally found a suitable hollow in a tree outside and hid it there.
Seeing that he had already spent quite some time here and ought to return, he headed straight toward the Royal City. Rather than immediately returning to his residence and reentering his body, however, he first visited the Unusual Events Bureau.
Before long, a mysterious incident occurred at the Unusual Events Bureau: a Communication Talisman spontaneously burst into flames, sending everyone into a chicken-flapping, dog-leaping uproar.
"A concerned citizen, reporting online..."
Li Ling looked with satisfaction at the people he had alerted, then quietly withdrew, burying both his deeds and his name.
The next morning, Li Ling reclined leisurely in a rocking chair in the courtyard, reading the court gazette that had just arrived.
This was a newspaper the secular dynasty provided specifically for nobles and households that supplied tribute to the sects, making it easier to circulate news.
"The Mystic Xin Kingdom proposes establishing an Incense Affairs Bureau. The three southern commanderies will add incense sugar maple to their tribute lists, with an annual quota of six trees each..."
This was the ancestor's response to Li Ling's request, making preparations to increase the supply of various incense materials.
"The Zhu Yuan Kingdom has provoked hostilities along the southern border..."
The rumors he had heard some time ago had come true. War was about to break out.
"The Unusual Events Bureau has dispatched troops to investigate attacks by a water monster in Huangkou Town. Sources indicate that the bureau has obtained reliable intelligence..."
Before long, entirely unsurprised, Li Ling found the news of the Unusual Events Bureau's deployment in the gazette.
"The Unusual Events Bureau found that water monster so quickly?" The Ninth Princess was also a cultivator and paid attention to the gazette's unusual-events section.
Li Ling chuckled inwardly, but said, "Probably for merit. This Unusual Events Bureau is quite capable."
The Ninth Princess agreed wholeheartedly. "The Unusual Events Bureau was established by the various sects to suppress demons, monsters, and spirits, as well as rogue cultivators who commit crimes. Plenty of cultivators eager to slay monsters and vanquish demons keep an eye on it. It even stands apart from the secular world, above the nations of Mortal People. It certainly deserves to be called powerful."
"But operating in the secular world means it depends on Mortal People for intelligence, manpower, and logistical support, so it cannot avoid being checked by the nations where its branches are based."
"Besides, each branch acts only for merit and accomplishments, and its development has now reached a bottleneck."
One absolutely could not underestimate it merely because several fatal water-monster attacks had already occurred in Huangkou Town without any response from the authorities, leaving Li Ling to report the matter.
Fundamentally, this organization existed to help cultivators accumulate merit. In a sense, it was an institution led by cultivators.
Once an unusual incident grew serious enough to become a scourge, it would inevitably draw cultivators' attention. They were in no hurry.
Li Ling looked thoughtful. "Merit seems quite mysterious. Only cultivators who have reached a certain level of cultivation care about it, don't they?"
"Not entirely," the Ninth Princess said. "The immortal Dao has a long history. After countless years, this has long since become common knowledge."
"Oh? Then tell me how it works," Li Ling said.
"Humans are the most spiritually gifted of all beings," the Ninth Princess said. "Advancing in cultivation is much easier for them than for other creatures. Beasts face a tribulation after a hundred years when they become spirits, then another when they become monsters and take human form. Humans, however, only face tribulations after attaining lifespans of several hundred or even a thousand years."
"All these tribulations before ascension are collectively called minor heavenly tribulations. They can be offset by accumulating outward merit, cultivating blessings, and eliminating karmic debts. That is why cultivators who understand this often travel about slaying monsters and vanquishing demons. But working alone limits their sources of information, so many also register with the Unusual Events Bureau as nominal Attendants."
"So that's how it is," Li Ling said. "No wonder they say hidden dragons and crouching tigers dwell within the Unusual Events Bureau."
"There are also cultivators who don't believe in merit at all," the Ninth Princess said. "Its rewards leave neither visible form nor trace, and it may conflict with their belief in following nature or letting the strong prey upon the weak."
"Fundamentally, this is a choice of Dao path, as well as a validation of one's own Dao heart."
"These differences allow the cultivation world to be broadly divided into the immortal and demonic paths. The demons in 'slaying monsters and vanquishing demons' include certain human cultivators."
"I think I've heard something about that. I wonder whether demonic cultivators were behind this water-monster incident." Li Ling brought it up with the Ninth Princess, making no attempt to hide his interest.
"If you're curious, husband, why not send someone to ask?" the Ninth Princess said. "It is confidential to ordinary mortals, but some outer-court disciples of the Skycloud Sect are on duty at the Unusual Events Bureau. They should be willing to tell us."
She immediately summoned someone and sent him to inquire at the Unusual Events Bureau's offices in the Royal City.
Li Ling could not help smiling at this. With such a considerate wife, what more could a husband ask for?
A little after three that afternoon, fresh news arrived: the Water Monkey had been successfully hunted down and killed.
Its corpse had now been brought back, along with belongings of its victims discovered in the same cavern.
The steward sent to gather information returned to report, "According to Steward Cao of the Unusual Events Bureau, this water monster apparently gained intelligence and became a spirit creature after swallowing a cultivator's flesh and blood by chance."
This did not surprise Li Ling. He asked, "Do they know where that cultivator came from?"
"The preliminary judgment is that he was involved in a deadly feud between unaffiliated rogue cultivators," the steward said. "His injuries were too severe, and he died beside the river, where the Water Monkey carried him away."
"But the Unusual Events Bureau discovered a strange clue while investigating the water monster's lair."
"What clue?" Li Ling asked, though he already knew.
"It seems a mysterious person got there first, entered the cavern, and took something the corpse had been carrying. The bureau is urgently pursuing the matter and is determined to get to the bottom of it!"
"Is that so?" Li Ling offered no comment either way.
"Oh, and they also discovered someone practicing demonic arts in Huangkou Town. The water monster's repeated killing of humans, which allowed it to grow, was all directed by a person."
"Oh?" This rather surprised Li Ling. "Who was it?"
"His name is Huang De. He seems to be a wealthy local landowner, but he obtained his opportunity from a local orphan called Gou Wa Zi."
"Tell me in detail." Li Ling's expression grew grave, and he sat upright.
Only then did he learn the full story.
The boy who had been tied up was a local orphan known as Gou Wa Zi. The landowner Huang De had accidentally discovered that he possessed a silk manuscript embroidered with special materials. It actually recorded a Demon-Taming Method that allowed one to raise Water Monkeys and command water monsters.
Gou Wa Zi was illiterate. Although he had obtained the manuscript, it had brought him no fortuitous encounter. Instead, the shrewd Huang De secretly took it for himself. His repeated attempts to summon the creature and order it to harm people had all succeeded.
Only then did Li Ling realize that on the day he visited, he had happened upon Huang De's attempt to silence witnesses and cut off future trouble.
What Huang De had not anticipated was that the Water Monkey's limited intelligence prevented it from following orders perfectly. Instead, it killed the two household servants and left Gou Wa Zi, who was tied up and unable to move freely, alive.
Early the next morning, the Unusual Events Bureau's people arrived in town, immediately secured the scene, and followed the vine to the melon to take everyone involved into custody.
With Li Ling's detailed intelligence to guide them, they killed the Water Monkey in its lair without much effort, then uncovered the deeper secrets themselves and established the full sequence of events.
"They say the bureau suspects another mastermind behind this and is investigating secretly. But this is all I was able to learn."
Li Ling waved a hand. "Good. I was only asking casually. You may go."
"Yes, Prince Consort."
After the steward left, Li Ling began to ponder.
If that Demon-Taming Method truly existed, an investigation into whoever was behind it was inevitable. A mere local landowner could not possibly warrant so much attention from the Unusual Events Bureau.
Still, Li Ling strongly suspected that his message might inadvertently have spurred the Unusual Events Bureau into action, producing the right result by a lucky misstep.
Following their usual habit of smoothing things over, they could have closed the case after killing the water monster. If no one died for a while afterward, all would be peaceful under heaven.
The cultivators cared only about slaying monsters and vanquishing demons, not anything else.
Li Ling even entertained a conspiracy theory: the Unusual Events Bureau's reserve of hidden dragons and crouching tigers did not actually contradict its lazy, sluggish conduct. Mortal wisdom had a phrase for this: nurturing bandits to bolster one's own importance.
If they plowed through every lair and swept out every nest each time, wouldn't it be a thankless task?
Late that night, after the Ninth Princess had gone to sleep, Li Ling used soul projection and headed straight for the Unusual Events Bureau to investigate.
The Royal City's Unusual Events Bureau was one of many branches across the Mystic Continent, but within the Mystic Xin Kingdom, it served as the headquarters overseeing subordinate offices. Skilled criminal investigators, exorcists, sword cultivators, and extraordinary individuals of every stripe were stationed here to protect the land and keep its people safe.
Whenever an unusual event like the water-monster incident in Huangkou Town occurred, or a more serious scourge or disaster struck, they would spring into action.
Li Ling reached the dungeon without much effort, but from that point onward, a mixture of foul odors assailed him, making him miserable.
This was not because the dungeon was filthy and full of disgusting stenches, but because most of its prisoners were vicious criminals.
It was like entering a shop selling salted fish: everything he smelled was fishy and rotten, almost enough to make him retch.
Fortunately, these odors could do no more than make Li Ling uncomfortable. After patiently circling the place a few times, he successfully found Huang De.
"Talk! How many lives did you take..."
A torturer was whipping Huang De with a leather lash. Tears and snot streamed down Huang De's face as he howled in agony, "Officer, haven't I already confessed? Only nine... really, only nine!"
After a while, the torturer stopped and went with several bureau officers to a clean room upstairs.
"My lord, we've confirmed it again. He still confesses to nine..."
Several men who looked like senior bureau officials sat in the room. Their leader, however, was an Attendant dressed in Daoist robes who looked like a cultivator. At this, he sneered. "This art is called the Three Treasures Demon-Refining Art. The three treasures are essence, qi, and spirit. If one feeds the creature with the flesh and blood contained in nine times nine-eighty-one-corpses, it can rival foundation establishment and roam unchallenged through the mortal world!"
Li Ling was momentarily startled. He truly had come to the right place. The Unusual Events Bureau's people really did know what that demonic art was.
The Attendant continued, "From what I saw, that water monster had already achieved a measure of power. Even if the original cultivator's flesh and blood equaled several people, that would amount to only one set of nine. That still leaves at least another dozen or twenty lives unaccounted for!"
An official beside him snorted. "That old bastard still dares to be stubborn with death staring him in the face!"
Just then, another man nearby said hesitantly, "Could he be telling the truth? Could the water monster have exceeded expectations because someone was secretly feeding it?"
At those words, everyone fell silent.