Avenge him and wash away the humiliation... avenge him, my ass!
At that moment, Jian Fenghao simply pretended to be deaf, as though he had never heard those words.
All his considerations revolved around his own safety and his sect's interests. Whether he advanced or retreated would depend entirely on Li Ling's condition and how the situation developed.
Li Ling held his head high and met his gaze fearlessly, while silently reflecting on the Divine Ability he had just used, "Fragrance As Before."
He had created it by combining the Stone of Time with his accumulated insights into Mind-Transmitted Incense Resonance, the Bone-Burning Curse Art, and other arts, infusing the power of time into his Incense Essence to regenerate it in a cycle.
He had named it Fragrance As Before for its enduring quality, and the name was fitting enough.
Lin Xi had not expected Li Ling to wield such power, much less strike at him on the level of the soul!
Either of those two surprises could have proved fatal. Together, they truly spelled his doom.
However, the Dao Fruits Li Ling possessed consisted only of his attainments in the Incense Path and the power of his Dharma Form. He had no Dao Fruit of time from the Time Dao, so using the Stone of Time inevitably affected him.
He was not particularly compatible with that power, and thus suffered a backlash, just as Yin Changming and the others had struggled to control the Dragon Heart Stone back then.
This move requires the power of time as a catalyst. Only a mighty expert truly versed in this Dao could complete the cycle in the shortest possible time, stack dozens or hundreds of layers of that first exposure to Spirit-Bewildering Incense, and unleash their power...
*If I could have done