That night, Fang Lin encountered the Incense Path for the first time and glimpsed true understanding. Then he sensed incense transforming into a rainbow, laying his foundation.
Yet at that moment, he still did not know what any of this meant for him.
The next day, Fang Lin received a message and hurried east of the city to meet a fellow rogue cultivator named Huang Jin.
They had once been companions in exploring secluded places and uncovering mysteries. This time, they had come to seek their fortunes in the Misty Wave Kingdom and had both joined the Feng Household as guest retainers.
Huang Jin waited for him on a low slope. His first words upon meeting him were, "Something's happened! Someone reported trouble in the eastern hills. Zombies suddenly attacked people in a village, and someone suspected of being an Unorthodox Cultivator has been seen nearby!"
Fang Lin was startled. "No wonder Senior Feng told us to travel together!"
Huang Jin said, "The Netherworld Sect's main force has withdrawn, but plenty of their people remain in hiding, secretly spreading the Nether Path and refining corpse souls. One careless move could bring disaster.
"Senior Feng doesn't want widespread casualties here. He wants us to go ahead and see whether we can handle it!"
Fang Lin nodded silently, though he knew that not all Unorthodox Cultivators were alike.
The first kind of Unorthodox Cultivator was the easiest to deal with: novices who had only just set foot on the path of cultivation.
Even the geniuses among them were mostly only at early-stage Qi Refining.
The second kind were those who had cultivated for anywhere from three or five years to over a decade.
They were typical examples of the cultivation world's lowest-ranking cultivators, a reflection of seasoned hands like Fang Lin and