Mu Qingsi

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Mu Qingsi (慕青丝)
Alias(es)	Qing Si; Ninth Princess; former Pacifying-the-Kingdom Grand Princess; Madam Mu; Madam Li 1 390 431 524
Gender	Female 1
Affiliation	Mystic Xin royal Mu Household; Mystic Xin Peak of the Skycloud Sect; Incense Accumulation Sect 149 199 253 431
Occupation/Role	Former princess; founding Old Ancestor of the Incense Accumulation Sect; overseer of its Merit Hall and resources 253 431 541
Dao Companion	Li Ling, her husband 1 527
Cultivation Realm	Core Formation, with a high-grade True Core; no later breakthrough is documented in the supplied passages 523 524 793
Primary Paths	Sword Dao and Incense Path; also proficient in Dream Dao combat 201 429 469 524
Status	Alive in her latest documented appearance 906
First Appearance	Chapter 1, “Knowing People by Their Scent” 1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Foundation Establishment	199	Breaks through after more than three months in seclusion, gaining Dharma power and a greatly extended lifespan. The advancement eases her fear of aging and dying while Li Ling continues cultivating.
Yin-natured Dao body; transition toward Sword Dao	201	Learns the Profound Yin Divine Sword Art from Yellow Cloud True Person. Her transformed Dao body suits its mental-power-based sword fiend, allowing her to grasp its basics quickly.
Incense Deity condensation	239	Condenses an Incense Deity resembling a more transcendent version of herself after previously struggling to enter the method. Its fragrance carries osmanthus and rose-like qualities.
Expanded spiritual consciousness	294	Joint medicinal refinement with Li Ling strengthens her cultivation; she feels her spiritual consciousness spread over a substantially greater area. She has not yet cultivated a Dharma Form.
Independent Incense Path development	469	Agrees to test Li Ling’s developing Incense-Sensing Breath-Nurturing Art, using sect resources rather than the Dragon Heart Stone. Her intended path is based on her own essential scent.
Accelerated preparation for Core Formation	512	Remains in the Que Luo Immortal Abode, whose strong spiritual resonance greatly accelerates her cultivation toward the next realm.
Core Formation — high-grade True Core	523 524	Her resolve to protect the Immortal Abode perfects her Dao heart during battle. Accumulated power transforms into innate true essence; Li Ling’s retained True Essence and vital-energy seed help produce a high-grade core. Her Purple Mansion opens, and her combined Incense Path techniques briefly raise her borrowed power to a level comparable to Nascent Soul.

Background / History

Mystic Xin Princess and Early Cultivation

Mu Qingsi begins the story as the ninth princess of the Mystic Xin Kingdom and Li Ling’s wife. She cautions him against damaging his health through reckless attempts to overcome his deficient Spirit Root. Later, she practices cloud-fiend control until her Divine Sense is exhausted; Li Ling suspects that she is preparing for the dangers surrounding the kingdom’s establishment of a fiefdom 1 83.

After an attack on the couple, Li Ling reveals that he can cultivate and has concealed his strength. Qingsi accepts his explanation, and they cooperate in concealing his killings from the authorities. Her hesitation to use the powerful Golden Scissors exposes her lack of life-or-death combat experience. At Seven Waters Pass, she subsequently faces two rogue cultivators and emerges unharmed, but fails to land a blow 89 100.

She also participates in preparations and negotiations for Mystic Xin’s alliance with the Zhu Yuan Kingdom. When Zhu Yuan offers Li Ling marriage to Princess Qingyou, he refuses. Qingsi explains how such a marriage could have become a political arrangement had he remained mortal, then joins him in investigating Qingyou’s concealed intentions through her dreams 149 150 152.

Establishing a Life in the North Sea

Foundation Establishment changes Qingsi’s priorities from merely extending her life to choosing a sustainable cultivation path. She originally favors the Spell Dao, but worries that living outside the sect’s territory will restrict access to its advanced teachings. A brief attempt at pill refining proves unsuccessful, after which Yellow Cloud True Person guides her toward the Sword Dao and equips her for independent cultivation 199 201.

Qingsi helps establish the household on Moon-Sand Island, selecting sea-race servants, overseeing renovations, and continuing sword practice while Li Ling travels. She later coordinates their move from the Prince Consort’s Residence and manages the household during his absences 202 203 208.

Founding and Defending the Incense Accumulation Sect

During the sect’s establishment on Nine-Wan Island, Qingsi takes charge of the Merit Hall and resources. She applies her royal experience to recruitment, recommending that the new stewards’ descendants receive opportunities for nominal discipleship and that relationships with their families be cultivated. She also manages inauguration supplies and questions Li Ling about how the sect will select and educate disciples 253 254.

Her responsibilities extend beyond administration. She helps conceal Li Ling’s activities, participates in the campaign against the Blood Shark Bandits, and personally destroys Tong Zhifeng’s dreamscape. When Yellow Cloud True Person nears death, Qingsi spends her days serving medicine and keeping her ancestor company 228 256 347 364.

Qingsi later leads defensive discussions during an assault on the sect. During Li Ling’s tribulation crisis, she traps Wang Erxi in the Water-Moon Mirror and retreats to the formation eye; she and Li Ling subsequently escape under the concealment provided by incense 390 424 426.

Mainland Connections and an Independent Dao Path

More than a century after leaving the Mystic Continent, Qingsi meets Mu Hou, a distant Mu Household descendant serving as Great Qian’s Mystic Xin Marquis. She does not treat blood ties as sufficient reason for unrestricted support. Instead, she proposes limited aid to his grandson Zhao Kong as an opportunity to spread the Incense Path 431.

She continues monitoring Great Qian’s succession politics from the North Sea and exchanges information with Li Ling through dreams. As his cultivation research develops, she agrees to help perfect his incomplete method while pursuing an Incense Path grounded in her own nature rather than simply copying his 439 464 469.

Core Formation at the Que Luo Immortal Abode

Qingsi cultivates in the Que Luo Immortal Abode until an attack interrupts her seclusion. With ordinary communications blocked, she summons Lin Rouniang for protection and sends Li Ling a warning through their private Incense Prayer Method. Recognizing that the attackers intend to kill the laborers and prevent completion of the protective Grand Array, she resolves to intervene rather than leave the crisis entirely to her husband 512 523.

That resolve completes her Dao heart and triggers Core Formation. She enters the battle at Mine Mountain, overwhelms the Foundation Establishment attackers, and kills Xiwu Sect elder Zhu He with her Incense Deity and sword techniques. Li Ling arrives afterward and discovers that she has achieved the breakthrough 523 524.

Later Responsibilities

As founding Old Ancestors, Qingsi and Li Ling spend much of their time in seclusion on the Floating Cloud Platform, appearing at major festivities. She remains his adviser and traveling companion, accompanying him on covert visits among maritime demon rulers and later into Bashan 541 561 580 725 736.

The couple eventually discuss having children and watching their descendants establish kingdoms. Li Ling also searches for a way to advance Qingsi further, including an attempt to illuminate her past and present lives with Past-Wisdom Incense. Later, he entrusts her with guarding their home region while he leads a South Sea expedition 793 852.

Appearance

• Physical appearance: A dignified, classically beautiful woman with a gentle expression. Later observers describe her as jade-like and possessing an immortal elegance 1 390 534.
• Apparent age: Remains youthful despite a cultivation age approaching two hundred when she meets Mu Hou 431.
• Spiritual appearance: The Heart-Reflecting Mirror reveals her true appearance as a mature, graceful female sword immortal 331.
• Incense Deity: Resembles Qingsi herself with a more transcendent bearing. Its early appearance wears a flowing-cloud flying-immortal dress; at Core Formation, it manifests as a sword-wielding female immortal 239 524.
• Characteristic fragrance: Her Incense Deity initially carries osmanthus and rose-like notes; her Core Formation fragrance is distinctly rich in osmanthus 239 524.

Personality

Qingsi is affectionate, playful, and protective toward Li Ling. She teases him about his keen nose and other women, but supports his work and helps keep his secrets. Her concern for his safety predates his cultivation success, when she warns him not to sacrifice his health in pursuit of the Dao 1 199 208 228 525.

Her royal upbringing makes her politically practical. She understands marriage diplomacy, institutional patronage, and the value of cultivating officials’ family loyalties. Even when approached by a distant relative, she weighs risks and benefits instead of allowing kinship alone to determine her response 150 253 431.

Her early combat hesitation contrasts with her later decisiveness. At Mine Mountain, she chooses to defend the workers and the Immortal Abode herself, then pursues Zhu He without hesitation. Her attachment to Li Ling becomes the foundation of her Dao heart rather than an obstacle to cultivation 89 523 524.

She is also moved by enduring companionship and loss. Tong Zhifeng’s devotion to his wife prompts her to reflect on their own future as an immortal couple; much later, she mourns Shang Yuxian’s lost opportunity for Core Formation as her friend approaches the end of her lifespan 347 906.

Abilities & Skills

Incense Path

• Personal cultivation: Develops an Incense Path based on her essential scent through Li Ling’s Incense-Sensing Breath-Nurturing Art 469.
• Incense Deity: Condenses a self-image that eventually becomes an embryonic Dharma Form. At Core Formation, it releases torrents of Sword Qi powerful enough to kill Foundation Establishment enemies and pierce a Magic Treasure 239 524.
• Heaven and Earth Have Fragrance: Spreads osmanthus fragrance across a hundred li, permeating surrounding Origin Energy with Incense Essence 524.
• Heaven-and-Earth borrowing: Achieves roughly five-hundredfold borrowing amplification at her breakthrough, compared with the approximately hundredfold amplification described for ordinary Core Formation cultivators. Combined with her Incense Deity, her borrowed power reaches a level comparable to Nascent Soul; this is not a Nascent Soul realm breakthrough 524.
• Incense Prayer Method: Sends thoughts directly to Li Ling through burning Spirit Incense, bypassing the communications blockade at the Immortal Abode 523.

Sword Dao

• Profound Yin Divine Sword Art: Converts mental power into profound yin sword fiend to attack the mind. Its nature lies outside the five elements and suits her yin-natured Dao body 201.
• Sword Pellet control: Her early practice punches a hole through a reef, demonstrating considerable power despite her limited experience 201.
• Void Store Divine Sword: Counters and shatters Zhu He’s flame attack. Her later Sword Pellet’s time-altering power disrupts his movement, allowing successive sword arts to overcome his regeneration 524.

Dream Dao

• Dream investigation: Enters Princess Qingyou’s dream with Li Ling to uncover her plans 152.
• Consciousness suppression: Destroys Tong Zhifeng’s dreamscape, suppresses his consciousness, and kills him 347.
• Combat beyond bodily limitations: While still below Core Formation, exchanges blows evenly with Core Formation experts in a dreamscape using the Blazing Cloud Gourd. Her familiarity with their capabilities allows her to fight beyond her physical cultivation constraints there 429.
• Long-distance contact: Communicates with Li Ling through dreams while he operates on the Mystic Continent 439 464.

Dual Cultivation and Aura Union

• Medicinal refinement: Circulates energy with Li Ling to refine powerful medicines, with benefits flowing to both partners 294 379.
• Power purification: Dual cultivation after her Incense Deity’s formation slightly improves Li Ling’s cultivation and refines his magical power 280.
• Treasure compatibility: Their successful dual cultivation allows Li Ling to wield the Soul-Seizing Treasure Mirror after she has refined it 167.
• Aura union: Upon taking Li Ling’s hand, their auras rapidly mingle and merge through the accumulated results of their long partnership 527.

Transformation and Space Dao

• Smoke transformation: Becomes wisps of smoke and drifts like fragrance to conceal herself at a formation eye 424.
• Basic spatial understanding: Opening her Purple Mansion during Core Formation gives her an instinctive grasp of basic Space Dao transformations 524.

Administration and Political Judgment

• Resource management: Oversees the sect’s Merit Hall, resources, and founding-ceremony supplies 253 254.
• Household organization: Supervises servants, guards, renovations, and relocation arrangements on Moon-Sand Island 202 203 208.
• Institutional loyalty: Uses family opportunities and personal relationships to strengthen the allegiance of newly recruited stewards 253.
• Strategic assessment: Identifies the attack on Mine Mountain as an attempt to undermine the Immortal Abode’s security by halting Grand Array construction 523.

Pill Refining

• Brief experimentation: Studies formulas and attempts to refine life-extending pills after Foundation Establishment 199.
• Documented limitations: Her experiments cause a furnace mishap and an alchemy-room fire. Although she produces pills, a rabbit test reveals that one is poisonous, prompting Li Ling to advise reconsidering the craft 199.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Golden Scissors — Powerful treasure bestowed by the ancestor. During an early ambush, Qingsi has it ready but hesitates to use it 89.
• Profound Yin Sword Pellet — Fifth Grade treasure given by Yellow Cloud True Person; described in the detailed passage as a precious Pseudo Sword Pellet 201.
• Later commissioned Sword Pellet — Provided through Li Ling and capable of altering time. Used with the Void Store Divine Sword to defeat Zhu He; the supplied context does not establish whether it is the earlier pellet 524.
• Soul-Seizing Treasure Mirror — Refined by Qingsi and tested with Li Ling. Its immobilizing light depends on the wielder’s Divine Sense and relative strength 167.
• Water-Moon Mirror — Concealed Magic Treasure she deploys to twist space around Wang Erxi during the tribulation attack 424.
• Blazing Cloud Gourd — Releases blazing fire clouds; used in dreamscape combat against Core Formation experts 429.
• Immortal Register — Lifesaving gift from the Old Ancestor that summons a Skycloud Sect divine general. Qingsi avoids using it during an uncertain conspiracy for fear of inviting further trouble 424.
• Spirit Incense and censer — Used to carry her warning to Li Ling through their private prayer channel 523.

Relationships

• Li Ling — Husband and Dao Companion. Their partnership encompasses cultivation, administration, covert operations, and mutual protection; he encourages her to develop a complementary path of her own 1 228 253 469 527.
• Yellow Cloud True Person — Ancestor, teacher, and protector. Teaches her sword arts, provides treasures, and anticipates that her love for Li Ling will become the basis of her Dao heart. Qingsi attends her sickbed near the end of her life 201 364 524.
• Shang Yuxian — Close friend whom she addresses as an elder sister. Helps secure Moon-Sand Island’s transfer and later asks Qingsi about her Core Formation experience; Qingsi laments the family obligations that cost Yuxian her own opportunity to advance 201 530 906.
• Lin Rouniang — Protector assigned by Li Ling during Qingsi’s seclusion in the Immortal Abode. Responds to her summons and engages Wang Shuo during the attack 523.
• Yi Yi — Senior sister and companion. Qingsi comforts her and arranges rest while she anxiously awaits Zhou Cheng’s rescue 221.
• Mu Hou — Distant Mu Household descendant, at least eight generations below her. His repeated address of “Great-Grandaunt” embarrasses her, though she agrees to consider limited support for his political aims 431.
• Zhao Kong — Mu Hou’s grandson and beneficiary of the couple’s mainland support. Qingsi recognizes the risks surrounding his succession struggle 431 439 483.
• Zhu Lisheng and Li Ying — Li Ling’s disciples whose mainland safety concerns her. She shares his grief over Li Ying’s disappearance and offers perspective on Zhu Lisheng’s political position 483 541.

Notable Quotes

“Husband and wife are one. Why speak of disturbing me? But the chance to cultivate immortality and pursue the Dao ultimately depends on your Spirit Root. Don't let your longing for the Dao drive you into reckless experiments that ruin your health.” 1

“Look, husband! I've reached Foundation Establishment! I finally did it!” 199

“The Incense Path needs to spread its teachings anyway. Why not take this opportunity to offer a little support?” 431