Time flew like an arrow. In the blink of an eye, several springs and autumns had passed.
The war in the West Sea had lasted a full ten years. Cultivators from every faction had thrown themselves into it, fighting tooth and nail for control of cities and market wards.
The banners atop the walls of those West Sea cities and market wards kept changing, their ownership passing from hand to hand several times.
Jade Lang Mountain had deep reserves. Even after years of demonic upheaval, it had managed to withstand the Incense Market's offensive and had even invaded the Misty Wave Kingdom under the Incense Path's control for a time, clamoring that it would fight its way to Lai'er Island.
But in recent years, after each side had suffered hundreds of cultivator casualties and several armies of mortal people organized into defensive formations had been wiped out, one great advantage of the Incense Path's backing by the Heavenly Court began to show.
They could confer apotheosis!
Thanks to Li Ling, the Incense Accumulation Sect possessed the immense authority to deliver departed souls and invest gods sustained by incense offerings. Even here in the West Sea, where it lacked the autonomy it enjoyed in the North Sea, the Heavenly Court, currently cooperating closely with it, would never lightly reject its petitions for divine investiture. Almost every petition received approval in full!
On the great plaza of the Incense Market's West Sea Branch Headquarters on Lai'er Island, Yao Lingxian wore a golden Daoist robe and held a stick of Wish-Granting Incense as thick as an elephant's leg, solemnly and sincerely worshipping Heaven.
A great crowd of civilians and cultivators had gathered to witness the scene.
Many cultivators in the crowd had personally participated in the West Sea war, losing friends, relatives, and