Incense Accumulation Sect, Mountain Gate Square.
A full three hundred and thirty-three pyres of fragrant timber stood here, with rosewood, agarwood, huanghuali, camphorwood, cypresswood, and nanmu stacked in interlocking layers. Sprinkled with various spices, they gave off a fresh, natural fragrance.
At the very center stood an enormous wooden tower a hundred feet tall, carved with dragons and painted with phoenixes. Like an openwork architectural model coated in gold leaf, it glittered in the sunlight.
Li Ling stood beneath it, personally holding a torch, and set it alight.
Raging flames spread upward, quickly drawing out the properties of the Agarwood until the entire Incense Tower was ablaze.
The disciples of the Incense Accumulation Sect lit the other pyres. Amid hundreds of bonfires, fierce flames rose with thick smoke and fragrance, countless wisps swimming about like koi competing for food.
Before long, the fires burned even more fiercely, displaying a brocade-rich prosperity as exuberant as oil poured onto blazing flames.
The smoke responded and took shape. Beneath the guests' astonished or admiring gazes, it assumed the forms of true dragons, phoenixes, tortoise-snakes, immortal cranes, egrets, auspicious clouds, and rosy clouds.
The Incense Array activated, and gentle breezes stirred. All the choking harshness vanished, leaving only pure incense essence.
In the unseen space beyond ordinary people's perception, strands of incense essence shimmered in myriad colors. Driven by the array, they spread in every direction like sunlight bathing the world.
"This trip was well worth it. I'd long heard that the Incense Accumulation Sect's Incense-Burning Grand Gathering was a sight to behold. Now I've finally seen it with my own eyes."
"These must be the incense forms catalyzed by Dragonfire Incense. If spirit resonance were infused into these clouds, they could become incense deities."
"And once this Grand Array activates and refines the