At those words, Nie Yingzhi flew up with a measure of excitement, once again setting foot upon the sect's sacred ground after many years away.
This had been the private residence Li Ling and his wife had built with floating stone in their early years. Through the changes of time, it had become a holy place in the hearts of their disciples. In recent years, Li Ling had rarely ventured out and spent long stretches in seclusion, lending it an even greater air of mystery.
Up above, the terraces and pavilions remained unchanged, but the drifting haze around them seemed as elusive as a dream, as though suffused with countless fragrant vapors. Everywhere Nie Yingzhi looked, flowers bloomed like brocade, and he could faintly smell a serene spirit incense in the air.
Even as sect master of the Incense Accumulation Sect, Nie Yingzhi could not immediately identify its type. He only felt his spirits lift, as though his mind had grown clearer.
He did not stop to linger over these things, but continued forward. Before long, he reached the main hall.
Li Ling was already seated at the head of the hall, waiting for him.
Nie Yingzhi looked up and saw that Li Ling's figure seemed ethereal. Compared with before, it possessed an indescribable, spiritual illusoriness.
For an instant, it seemed that his true body was not here at all, only a divine body condensed from incense essence.
Was it or was it not? Real and illusory, illusory and real-there was no way to distinguish between them.
He could not help marveling. "Master, what divine ability is this?"
Li Ling smiled faintly and said, "This is the Xiyi Illusory Body, which I only recently succeeded in developing. Summoned by incense offerings and forged through the tempering of thought, it possesses