At the ancient ferry crossing on the east bank of the Great Lin River, in the southern outskirts of the Royal City, lanterns hung and colorful decorations fluttered.
People from all the surrounding villages and towns had flocked here, filling the place with a bustling, lively crowd.
Today was the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the Boat-Racing Festival celebrated around the Royal City of the Mystic Xin Kingdom. Every year, common folk from the city and neighboring towns gathered at this ancient crossing to hold ceremonies and race boats.
The festival was presided over by the Royal City's Prefect, with local gentry, landowners, and wealthy city merchants contributing money and labor. Over the years, it had grown to include song and dance, acrobatics, the Market Gathering, and wagers on the winners.
Li Ling and the Ninth Princess sat inside their carriage, lifting the curtain to watch from a distance. Seeing the surging sea of heads and the tens of thousands of people who had come, they could not help feeling invigorated.
For an ancient feudal kingdom to gather so many people for festivities was quite a grand occasion. It was also a rare diversion in the common folk's monotonous lives.
Genuine delight shone on every face as people set up stalls or browsed the fair, enjoyed performances, and discussed the coming boat races.
Noisy conversations drifted to their ears, punctuated by vendors' cries and the back-and-forth of haggling.
"This humble official pays his respects to Prince Consort Li and the Ninth Princess."
Before long, officials from the prefectural office came to greet them after receiving word of their arrival. The Royal City's Prefect personally led them in paying respects.
Li Ling stepped down from the carriage and said amiably, "There's no need for such ceremony."
The Royal City Prefect said, "The seats prepared for your residence are beneath the awning on the east side. Prince Consort, Princess, this way, please."
Soldiers led the way as the party from the Prince Consort's Residence headed toward a viewing stand in an excellent position on the east side.
Far more dignitaries had come to enjoy the festivities than expected. Even the seats originally prepared for the local gentry and magnates had been filled.
Li Ling himself did not mind, but with the Ninth Princess and a group of maidservants in tow, he still needed somewhere shady with an unobstructed view. He therefore accepted the officials' arrangements.
Along the way, quite a few people noticed them. Those who considered themselves qualified to approach came forward to pay their respects.
Li Ling had little patience for this. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he sent them all away.
Before long, gongs and drums thundered to the skies, and over a hundred long, spear-shaped boats decorated in bright colors slowly sailed down from upstream onto the calm stretch of river before the crossing.
An enthusiastic cheer rose from the surrounding stands.
These racing vessels were called spear boats. To Li Ling, they looked like dragon boats, complete with drummers, callers, and strong rowers, all brimming with vigor and enthusiasm.
The teams had been selected from the surrounding towns, while others had been assembled by merchant guilds in the Royal City. They competed for substantial prizes.
It was the sweltering heat of the seventh month, but Li Ling sat beneath an awning with chilled fruit, cold drinks, and cooling tea, a lovely wife beside him and maidservants fanning him. Watching each team make its dazzling entrance and listening to the master of ceremonies introduce their origins, he could hardly have been more comfortable.
He casually asked the young guards nearby, "Cai, Lin, you're all from around the Royal City, aren't you? Are any of these spear boats from your hometowns?"
Guard Cai was overwhelmed by the attention. "Reporting to you, Prince Consort, I'm from Whitewater Town, east of the Royal City. Boat number three in Group A, which just appeared, is the Spear Boat from my hometown."
Guard Lin also said, "I'm from Duckbill Township. It's too small to send a team, but some of my fellow townsfolk should have come to watch."
The other guards and servants began discussing it as well.
"Once the boats have all made their entrance, you can place wagers," Li Ling said. "Aren't you going to back your hometowns?"
"Most of the young men in our town have come to the Royal City to make a living," Guard Cai said. "A while ago, the old town head even sent someone with a message asking me to return and compete."
"In my opinion, without us young men taking part, the town will probably lose."
Hearing this, Li Ling teased him, "You certainly are honest. You won't even put in a good word for your hometown."
"The prizes have grown bigger and bigger in recent years," the Ninth Princess said. "The local gentry and rich men care so much about face that they fight tooth and nail over them. Without young martial artists competing, it really is difficult to place."
"I hear the races weren't like this before," Li Ling said with a smile. "But once some face-conscious gentry hired martial artists to row, everyone else started paying for rowers too. They kept competing and trying to outdo one another, and the lineups grew more and more extravagant."
"I think everyone will find it unbearable sooner or later, and they'll have to restrict the practice."
As he spoke, he raised a Gilt Monocular for a look. Sure enough, every team had formidable members. Their bearing alone showed that they were not countryfolk scratching a living from the soil, but household guards, martial performers, armed escorts, and the like.
He took another look at Whitewater Town's spear boat. Its prospects seemed poor. Though its rowers also looked like professional martial artists, they all appeared rather old.
"In terms of raw strength, a few extra years of training might be an advantage, but over such a long course, their stamina won't hold up."
"It's probably not that they don't understand this. They simply couldn't find enough people."
Hearing Li Ling mutter to himself, the Ninth Princess smiled. "Husband, do you want to place a wager and win yourself some good luck? That's easy. Just choose the teams with the most splendid boats and the finest clothes."
"True," Li Ling said. "If they dress well, they eat well too. The people they've hired must be good. Money means better chances of winning."
He then addressed the others. "Pick a few numbers you like. Steward Lin, give everyone two thousand cash for wagers and charge it to the residence. Whatever they win is theirs."
"Give them another three thousand cash each to browse the Market Gathering and buy some trinkets or food and drink. But you maidservants must be careful. Don't let traffickers carry you off and sell you."
"Thank you for your generosity, Prince Consort!" everyone said joyfully.
The Ninth Princess hugged his arm with innocent affection. "Husband, I want to wager too. Pick some good ones for me."
Li Ling laughed. "Let your husband divine the outcome on his fingers and bring home the grand prize."
In the end, they waited a long time through songs, dances, and sacrificial ceremonies. The races did not begin until nearly noon.
None of the teams Li Ling backed even reached the finals. One of the boats he chose for the Ninth Princess did take first place, but the payout was small. There was hardly any money to be made.
Li Ling slapped his thigh. "Looks like we fell into their trap. Anyone would know to back the richest-looking teams, but looking rich doesn't mean they actually are rich. And you have to get the order of these numbers right, not just pick the winner."
The Ninth Princess sighed with a laugh. "These people are devilishly shrewd."
They were not the only ones who felt this way. Once the results were announced, many people at the ancient crossing sighed and groaned, laughing or cursing.
A few had correctly picked several numbers and made a killing.
Just then, Li Ling suddenly noticed what seemed like countless silken threads drifting through the sky.
Innumerable gossamer strands of incense essence rose like steaming heat from the heads of the masses at the ancient crossing into the void.
The scent held traces of burning paper, sandalwood, and aluminum foil mingled together-the smell of incense, candles, and spirit money.
Within that invisible presence, joy, anger, sorrow, and delight seemed to mingle in a hundred tangled emotions.
It was unmistakably the same sensation he had experienced while studying the divine statue.
At this moment, many people resembled pieces of incense wood that had been set alight, steaming and dispersing, each releasing millions of particles of incense essence.
Li Ling's perception seemed to spread with this scene of blazing fire beneath boiling oil, conjuring the strange spectacle of countless people burning like firewood, smoke rising from their heads.
People as firewood?
The image taking shape in his mind was strange and intriguing, yet beneath that intrigue lay a horror he scarcely dared contemplate.
Could it be that, in the eyes of ghosts and gods, the human spirit was nothing more than firewood?
Could ghosts and gods also use Incense-Feeding Soul Tempering, but take their believers as incense?
Burning incense and lighting candles were merely outward forms. Not every faith required the ritual of lighting incense...
What was truly being lit was people!
Yet Li Ling now noticed that not everyone was releasing this substance.
At least, the Ninth Princess was not.
Her spirit did not seem to have reached the point of burning, and therefore had not released that incense essence.
Those around him whose expressions were noticeably calmer and more composed were not releasing it either, because their minds were not focused on this ceremony.
Some of the less devout people also gave off noticeably less incense essence smoke, though it still displayed a vitality utterly different from its usual state.
This burning effect seemed connected to fluctuations of the spirit. It required intense spiritual fluctuations that aligned with certain unseen things or principles.
As everyone knew, in a heated atmosphere, people's emotions and spirits could kindle one another like burning firewood.
It was just like ordinary incense needing a flame to ignite it and release the incense essence within.
The precise effect varied from person to person, but there were a full fifty thousand people present. At least thirty thousand had reacted strongly and come under this mysterious influence.
This was a torrent of incense essence equivalent to that produced by tens of thousands of incense sticks burning at once.
A hundred million made a trillion. Hundreds upon thousands of trillions of particles of incense essence gathered together, almost condensing into billowing beacon smoke in Li Ling's spiritual world.
Li Ling idly intercepted a few strands with his divine sense and tried digesting them. The result was the same as before: consuming them did not increase his soul power, but instead wore away a trace of his spirit.
Li Ling quickly stopped. It seemed they were exactly the same as what he had contacted through the divine statue.
Falling silent and sensing them carefully, he discovered that they entered a mysterious grotto-heaven, dark and unfathomable, before vanishing shortly afterward.
Is this the vital incense essence within incense and fire prayer power?
Somewhere in the unseen depths, he seemed to understand something.
This was catalyzed by the ceremony.
But where did it go?
It doesn't seem to be the place I contacted before.
Li Ling's spirit could already communicate with the Great Lin River God, and he vaguely sensed that this was not the place to which the divine statue had previously directed him.
The incense essence born of the people's spirits and their incense and fire prayer power was flowing into another void.
A god has a thousand faces, like the sun and moon shining overhead, casting their light upon myriad worlds.
This is an orthodox sacrificial celebration officially recognized by the Mystic Xin Kingdom, and an orthodox faith recognized by all the nations of the Mystic Continent. It seems utterly different from the faith in the Great Lin River God previously cultivated by the demonic path.
Even if both are called the Great Lin River God.
The essence of a deity was like the sun and moon hanging high in the sky, visible to all living beings. Yet what those beings could truly perceive remained the reflections cast upon rivers and lakes.
Though these reflections shared the same source, they did indeed belong to different places.
Those in rivers belonged to rivers; those in lakes belonged to lakes.
Naturally, the Mystic Xin Kingdom's official orthodox faith belonged to that faith, while the demonic path's belonged to the demonic path.
Li Ling seemed to glean something from the direction in which this incense and fire prayer power flowed, yet he had not fully grasped its mysteries. He only felt that it offered much food for thought.
Moreover, the incense essence released by humans actually possessed vitality. He had predicted this long ago but had never directly observed it. He had not expected to experience such an event himself.
The key lay in sacrifice, and also... faith!
This was connected to his self-created Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation, but belonged to its second realm, within the category of consciousness incense.
A sudden idea struck Li Ling. What would happen if I could condense this incense essence and turn it into incense and fire?
The divine path is unfathomable, linking the karma of all living beings in the unseen realm. It is indeed shunned by the orthodox path of immortal cultivation. But if I avoided that karma, worshipped myself, offered sacrifices to myself, and enjoyed my own incense and fire...
Wouldn't that achieve the same wondrous effect as the soul-strengthening arts of Yang Spirit celestial immortals?
Li Ling suddenly grew excited.
It really might be possible!
Unfortunately, neither his level of perception nor the transformation of his soul had reached the second realm. His Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art was newly devised, with only a broad framework in place. As for precisely how to draw in the myriad wonders and transform them into incense, he still relied more on instinct.
For now, Li Ling could only rein in these thoughts and bury them deep in his heart.
Whatever the case, once he cultivated the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art to the second realm, he would certainly give it a try.
After an unknown stretch of time, the torrent of incense essence perceived by Li Ling’s extraordinary Incense Perception grew increasingly faint, gradually returning to the usual state of myriad mingling scents.
The fire burning through the firewood was beginning to die.
It was already afternoon, and the festival was drawing to a close. Not wanting to jostle with the crowds when everyone dispersed, Li Ling led the party from the Prince Consort's Residence away early.
Wheels rumbled as the procession made its leisurely way home. Inside the spacious carriage, Li Ling and the Ninth Princess discussed what they had seen that day, while a maidservant traveling with them poured ice, cream, and fruit pieces from silver vessels to make frozen desserts for them on the spot.
Just then, the procession suddenly stopped.
Looking puzzled, Li Ling asked, "What's wrong?"
Before long, a burly guard approached and reported through the carriage curtain, "Prince Consort, some people are arguing in the road and blocking the way. Should we drive them off?"
"No need," Li Ling said. "If the road is blocked, we'll wait."
He then continued chatting and laughing with the Ninth Princess.
The carriage was spacious and cool anyway. He had no reason to grow impatient or worked up.
The burly guard acknowledged the order and told the attendants to wait where they were.
Without drawing attention, everyone moved to protect the carriage and quietly went on alert.
Ever since Li Ling had been abducted by people from the Zhu Yuan Kingdom, the Prince Consort's Residence had made more thorough arrangements for his protection when traveling. Many of those dressed as pageboys and servants were actually hardened elite fighters.
Besides provisions for the outing, the carriages ahead and behind carried mechanical crossbows and other military weapons. Some experts were even equipped with Thunderclap Bombs and various talismans. Their strength was not to be underestimated.
Li Ling glanced at the Ninth Princess beside him and secretly extended his Spiritual Consciousness to investigate the road ahead. At the edge of its ten-zhang reach, he dimly perceived one of the parties involved in the argument.
Hm?
It was none other than Zuo Zhongliang, the Unusual Events Bureau's hundred-household officer, who had left quite an impression on Li Ling.
He immediately changed his mind and called outside, "Go ask what's happening."