On a rugged mountain road in Eastern Yue on Gathering Grotto Continent, the party from Xuguang Town's Incense Market urged their pack beasts onward, struggling along.
A fine drizzle had fallen for nearly half a month, leaving the roads muddy and making their journey miserable. Yet no hardship or exhaustion could compare with the sense of defeat that came from hastily abandoning everything they had built and leaving the western frontier.
Bitterness filled the Steward Elder overseeing the party. He glanced back, only to see the distant mountains swallowed by a gray, haze-like sky, their outlines impossible to make out. He could not help sighing inwardly.
Just then, several streaks of flight light approached from ahead. As the guards looked about warily, the arrivals descended onto the road.
"Dean Zhan."
The Steward Elder was slightly surprised.
The leader of the newcomers was a youthful-looking Foundation Establishment cultivator, none other than Zhan Li, one of the outstanding fourth-generation disciples of the Incense Accumulation Sect.
He stood there smiling warmly at everyone. "Thank you all for your hard work."
Kind words warmed the heart. Hearing them, those who had traveled so far felt their eyes redden, visibly moved.
Soon, the reception party arrived in succession, helping tend the pack beasts and drive them onward. The Steward Elder invited Zhan Li into the beast-drawn carriage in the middle of the procession, and they began to talk.
"How have things been lately? Has everything gone well?"
"There are no Incense Path factions here yet. We used the practical applications of the Incense Path as our point of entry and successfully broke into the market. Naturally, everything has gone splendidly."
"Heh, but Elder Zhang, you don't look particularly happy to me."
"Ah, Dean Zhan, put yourself in my place. After finally getting things going in