This was truly alarming. Someone from the demonic path had actually infiltrated the Mystic Xin King's inner circle?
"What were the Royal City Office and the City Patrol Guards doing? And those guardian attendants-had they noticed nothing either?"
Thoughts flashed through Li Ling's mind, but he soon felt reassured.
They aren't immortals, after all. At most, they're a group of cultivators, and only Qi Refining cultivators at that.
Only now did he realize that, rather than consuming incense for Soul Tempering, his greatest advantage was this ability to identify people by scent.
Though his attention could sometimes be diverted, preventing him from monitoring everything around him in time, when he focused, his perception could reach extraordinarily deep levels.
This ability was simply too convenient for distinguishing friend from foe.
Ignoring the smug Mystic Xin King, Li Ling began thinking to himself.
She looks like a mortal, but whatever the case, she could never have accomplished this alone. There must be someone pulling the strings behind her.
Could I follow the vine to the melon and find the hidden Corpse Immortal Sect disciples?
After returning to his residence, Li Ling told no one of his discovery. Even when the Ninth Princess asked, he merely said he had visited his father-in-law to request some weapons, money, and provisions.
Only that night did he investigate the temporary palace again.
He found that Beauty kept a normal routine, just like the other palace maids, and displayed nothing unusual.
Li Ling was not discouraged, however, for he suspected that this woman was a hidden pawn who would not be activated lightly.
While searching for the means by which she communicated with the outside world, he began consuming his newly made batch of Spirit-Communing Incense.
In just five short days, he successfully digested the entire batch of improved incense.
As expected, the strength of his divine sense increased to around eighteen jin.
During this time, Li Ling did not forget another matter: presenting his incense formulas to show the ancestor the fruits of his efforts.
This time, besides the improved Spirit-Communing Incense, he finally formally submitted the Cloud-Producing Incense he had previously refined.
The Ninth Princess had personally tested this product and confirmed that it worked on Qi Refining disciples. It should be worth a considerable amount.
He hoped it would earn him the support he needed.
Late at night, in a room within the Fragrant Incense Pavilion.
The refined gold flying sword floated in midair, as though supported by an invisible arm.
Li Ling held it with his divine sense, moving it up and down before making it slash and thrust.
Although its movements were somewhat stiff, and its speed and strength still fell short, he could finally be said to wield a sword properly.
Unfortunately, it's a physical object. Carrying it around isn't convenient.
While in his physical body, he could perhaps acquire an artifact such as a sword pouch, or carry it by some other means.
Once he used soul projection, however, his inability to bring it along became a problem.
Under normal circumstances, Core Formation Realm cultivators could open a small grotto-heaven within their purple mansion, connect it to the void, and store certain ritually refined objects inside. Only a mortal like him would face such a difficulty.
Still, Li Ling had no need for such a thing yet. Once his cultivation deepened and he acquired other divine abilities, he might no longer rely on an inferior flying sword artifact like this.
For now, he decided that diligently cultivating methods such as transforming gang and baleful intent into swords, turning his own power into sword qi, would probably be more convenient.
After some experimentation, Li Ling returned the flying sword to the weapon rack and checked the time. It was almost midnight, so he immediately flew outside.
He once again reached the temporary palace in the outskirts, entered with practiced ease, and secretly watched Beauty.
Favored and possessed of some status, Beauty did not share quarters with the other maids and concubines, but occupied a room of her own. This made things easier for Li Ling.
She had already gone to sleep. After secretly observing her for a while and confirming that she was not pretending, Li Ling began drifting around the room, carefully sniffing its contents in search of clues connected to the Corpse Immortal Sect.
Yet as he sniffed, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.
Why does this feel so perverted...?
Somewhat embarrassed, Li Ling glanced at the undergarments hanging from the wooden rack ahead. In the end, he did not approach them, instead relying on his powerful perception to distinguish their scents from a distance.
Sweat, body fragrance, incense, soap, rouge and powder, dust, mold... all sorts of odors mingled there.
Suddenly, a fragrance combining agarwood, spikenard, angelica dahurica, and other ingredients reached him. Li Ling, who had grown slightly restless with embarrassment, perked up, his spirits instantly roused.
That's the scent of Spirit-Communing Incense. Is there some hidden in this room?
Following the incense substance he sensed, Li Ling discovered several drifting threads beneath the pillow. On closer examination, they were indeed the incense essence of Spirit-Communing Incense!
He could hardly have been more familiar with it. From the quantity and quality of the incense essence it released, he could even identify it as first-grade Spirit-Communing Incense produced by Workshop A of his own Li's Incense Workshop.
The Skycloud Sect classified the Spirit-Communing Incense personally made by Li Ling as special grade, while the imitations made by other artisans and apprentices ranged from first to third grade.
First-grade incense was a relatively high-quality finished product, and one of the tribute goods the sect was currently attempting to mass-produce.
The ancestor had previously instructed Li Ling to devote his time and energy to Returning Soul Incense rather than personally making Spirit-Communing Incense. Besides the greater interest that powerful cultivators took in Returning Soul Incense, this was also because skilled workers had been trained over the past few years, and major breakthroughs in production techniques now ensured both quality and output.
Many high officials and nobles came and went here, and quite a few had the means to acquire the mass-produced incense. Over time, some might have accumulated in the palace.
But Li Ling had never expected Beauty to keep a secret stash of it.
What does she want this incense for?
Li Ling vaguely guessed something, but failed to catch the sudden spark of inspiration that flashed through his mind, leaving him rather puzzled.
It seems this mystery won't be solved until I see her use it myself.
But judging by her behavior, she won't rashly contact her handler unless something happens.
I may have to create an opportunity and provoke her into making contact.
Li Ling thought it over. Many schemes would not only cost time and effort, but could easily go astray. Better to be simple and direct: use his spirit body to play a ghost and give her a fright.
Li Ling soon settled on an idea and began preparing.
A short while later, Beauty awoke, bleary-eyed and somewhat bewildered.
She felt as though someone had pushed her several times, waking her from sleep. As she came to her senses, she suddenly started in fright.
At some point, the lamp in her room had been lit. A figure stood beside her bed, looking down at her.
"There's a mole. Abort the transaction!"
Li Ling produced this voice by vibrating the air with a minor Qi Refining technique. In essence, it was no different from the sounds of wind and thunder in nature, but he had yet to master the method, so it sounded slightly distorted.
Beauty did not notice this detail. Still half asleep, she was startled all the more by the sudden appearance of a stranger beside her bed.
By the time she recovered her senses, the figure had vanished.
"Was that a dream?"
Cold sweat beaded on Beauty's forehead as she muttered to herself.
But when she looked closely, the lamp on the table was still burning.
This was no dream or hallucination. It had really happened!
Someone had slipped into her room, spoken those words right in front of her, then vanished into thin air!
The eerie scene sent a shudder through her, jolting her fully awake.
"Y-you... who are you?"
"Are you still there?"
Of course Li Ling was still there. He had merely undone the transformation of the mirage cloud, returning the figure to nothingness.
The more one spoke, the more likely one was to slip up. He could hardly reveal himself and converse with her now. What that scene meant was entirely up to her imagination.
After asking several questions in a trembling voice and receiving no answer, Beauty grew even paler. Afraid to shout and attract attention, she could not stop her body from shaking.
She huddled beneath her covers and watched for a long while. Only when nothing else happened did she cautiously climb out of bed to inspect the doors and windows.
Their bolts were intact and still in place, with no sign that anyone had opened them from outside.
After a long hesitation, she finally did something that greatly pleased Li Ling: she retrieved a brocade box from beneath her pillow and opened it, revealing slender sticks of brownish-yellow incense.
The Spirit-Communing Incense she's using has actually been processed?
Li Ling was slightly surprised by the sight.
This was no longer the original product from the incense workshop, but something entirely new, softened and remade into incense sticks.
This was the sort of incense normally used to worship heaven and earth, gods and ghosts, or ancestors. Thin wooden sticks served as cores, around which the incense was formed for easy handling and placement. Its quantity varied according to the sticks' thickness and length.
A quick visual estimate told Li Ling that there were a dozen or so sticks inside, roughly equivalent to one ingot of Spirit-Communing Incense.
What is she going to do?
Somewhat puzzled, Li Ling watched Beauty draw a stick from the brocade box and light it from the oil lamp.
Sacrificial traditions had long circulated throughout the Mystic Continent. Worship of heaven and earth, gods and ghosts, or ancestors likewise involved various offerings and the ritual burning of incense, candles, and spirit money.
Sacrificial animals and burial offerings came in every imaginable material, from gold, silver, and jade to pottery figures, bamboo, and wood. There was truly a rich variety, with lavishness or simplicity left to one's means.
But Spirit-Communing Incense was meant for offerings to gods, capable of reaching the spirit of the Heavenly Emperor. Li Ling mostly presented it to immortal masters, while consuming it himself for Soul Tempering. He had genuinely never thought of using it elsewhere.
The longer he watched, the stranger it seemed. After lighting the Spirit-Communing Incense, Beauty held it in both hands and bowed westward four times in succession, murmuring as though in prayer.
Floating beside her and watching her actions, Li Ling was deeply astonished. She's worshipping a ghost!
Using Spirit-Communing Incense to worship a ghost-what utter nonsense!
He watched her burn incense and make offerings in the dead of night, her hair disheveled and her body clad in nothing but an undergarment. With not the slightest sincerity or reverence on display, he was speechless.
Yet wisps of smoke curled upward through the room. As she worshipped, ripples like waves of water spread through the space before her.
Startled, Li Ling probed with his divine sense, but detected nothing. It was as though the ripples he had just noticed were merely an illusion in his mind.
When he switched to his Fragrance-Sensing Talent, however, a powerful odor resembling incense, candles, and spirit money rushed toward him.
Something invisible to the naked eye and imperceptible to Spiritual Consciousness has responded? What on earth is it?
Towering waves seemed to surge through Li Ling's heart. In a sudden flash of inspiration, he used his ability to visualize scents and manifest incense substance to investigate in finer detail.
This time, he finally detected a hazy figure emerging.
He could not determine the figure's identity or origins, nor even whether it was male or female, a god or a ghost. All he could confirm was that, as the Spirit-Communing Incense burned, heat seemed to rise around it, distorting the void and forming a peculiar field.
This field seemed to exist in an extremely deep, higher dimension, linking the room to some mysterious location in a distant, unknown place.
Li Ling did not hear Beauty's prayers, but instinctively sensed the vibrations and changes in the incense substance and incense essence.
The vast void echoed like a voice carrying through an empty valley: "Mysterious... report... abort the transaction!"
She's reporting what just happened?
"Understood!" The figure that had appeared from nowhere patiently listened to Beauty's prayers. Without giving any instructions, it offered only that brief reply.
In the blink of an eye, the smell of incense, candles, and spirit money vanished from the room, and the figure disappeared without a trace.
With its departure, the rising heat, distorted void, and peculiar field within the room gradually subsided. Everything returned to normal.
Beauty seemed unable to tell when the presence appeared or disappeared. Only after a long delay, when the Spirit-Communing Incense in her hand was almost burned out, did she shudder, as though awakening from a dream.
Li Ling noticed confusion and unease on her face. She seemed unwilling to accept that the matter remained unresolved, but after hesitating for a long while, she ultimately did not dare take out another incense stick and pray again.
Watching her extinguish the lamp and lie back down, still tossing and turning sleeplessly, Li Ling sank into thought.
Was that a god or a ghost that appeared just now?
Regardless, in the world of cultivation, talk of gods and ghosts is superstition used to hoodwink the common people. Those beings are merely powerful cultivators who have attained success, becoming yang spirit celestial immortals or ghost immortals!
Before reaching that level, they're merely ordinary spirits and ghost cultivators-practitioners of side paths and unorthodox arts!
But how exactly does their method of using Spirit-Communing Incense to pray, respond, and communicate work? To think Spirit-Communing Incense has such an effect!
Even Li Ling himself had not known this, and the Skycloud Sect's immortal masters had never mentioned it.
This was probably an ingenious application that those demonic cultivators had only recently developed. Had the Skycloud Sect's immortal masters known, they would have valued Spirit-Communing Incense more highly, and would not have told him to prioritize researching Returning Soul Incense and leave Spirit-Communing Incense alone.
Li Ling recalled the details of what had just happened. The instant that figure appeared, I smelled a powerful scent of incense, candles, and spirit money, very much like the surroundings where ordinary people burn incense and light candles. Some incense essence even drifted out, but its nature was far less lively than that of Spirit-Communing Incense, so I couldn't absorb or use it.
Does this mean my earlier guess about attaining godhood through incense offerings was correct? That somewhere within the chaos of the void, there exists a place above the physical world, and that incense essence doesn't actually deteriorate, but ascends there instead?
If I could master this method of prayer and response, or even open a passage and draw in incense essence, would that mean I could absorb the incense essence burned by others during their prayers and worship?
His thoughts surged like a tide, and countless possibilities came to mind at once.
There seems to be a great deal here worth digging into...