Chapter Summaries

Li Ling visited Madam Zhao at her island residence, where his fragrance-sensing talent impressed her and led her to ask for help with an ancient beauty-preserving formula. The chapter ended with Madam Zhao realizing she had mistaken his reaction to her natural fragrance for flirtation, though she remained intrigued by him.

• Li Ling traveled to Jiwu Island and entered Madam Zhao's Snail Shell Sanctuary with Redfish.
• Li Ling recognized Madam Zhao's floral tea as Breath-Fragrance and explained that his fragrance-sensing talent let him identify its ingredients and effects.
• Madam Zhao advised Li Ling to use the Four Seas Commerce Guild's flying vessels for future sea journeys and invited him to stay.
• Madam Zhao asked Li Ling to help improve an ancient formula for changing bodily fragrance and preserving beauty, offering to share it if they succeeded.
• After Li Ling left to rest, Madam Zhao realized he had reacted to her natural fragrance rather than making flirtatious advances, but she said his steadiness made him more interesting.

Li Ling demonstrated his knowledge of mundane incense formulas and learned how Madam Zhao used gem salt to extract animal-derived aromatic essences. After Madam Zhao challenged him to extract operculum incense using only a few materials and without leaving the spot, an unexpected fragrance reached his nose.

• Li Ling met Mu Qingsi in the Netherdream Realm and assured her that he had arrived safely.
• Madam Zhao tested Li Ling’s ability to identify mundane aromatics and name three plum-blossom incense formulas, which impressed her.
• Madam Zhao introduced Li Ling to gemstone coral and gem salt, demonstrating how it absorbed musk essences and released them into Mystic Origin True Water.
• Li Ling described numerous animal-derived aromatics and explained their shared relationship to secretions and bodily substances.
• Madam Zhao assigned Li Ling to extract operculum incense using only gemstone coral, Mystic Origin True Water, and empty cups, then Li Ling detected an unexpected fragrance.

Li Ling identified the incense in Madam Zhao’s grotto and refined it from the ambient fragrance to complete her test. Madam Zhao mistook his resourceful method for cheating, dismissed him, and left without examining his finished product, though Redfish noticed its unusual fragrance.

• Li Ling recognized the grotto’s ambient scent as high-quality operculum incense and realized he could refine it without the materials Madam Zhao had provided.
• Madam Zhao told Redfish that she was testing Li Ling’s wisdom and character before deciding how to guide him in incense-making.
• A maid reported that Li Ling had finished, and Madam Zhao assumed he had cheated by using a product prepared in advance.
• Li Ling explained that he had drawn the incense from the air and refined it, while Madam Zhao believed he had taken the grotto’s incense without permission.
• Madam Zhao called Li Ling shameless and foolish, ordered him escorted out, and walked away without inspecting his bottle.
• Redfish noticed an unusual fragrance coming from the bottle of mystic origin true water.

Madam Zhao realized Li Ling had not cheated and learned that his innate gift let him perceive and control incense essence directly. After seeing him use the gift, she recognized its extraordinary value and asked whether he had heard of human incense.

• Redfish showed Madam Zhao the incense essence Li Ling had extracted from the Snail Shell Sanctuary, and Madam Zhao used Wall-Painting Trace to review his actions.
• Redfish caught up with Li Ling at sea, and Madam Zhao appeared to apologize for suspecting him of cheating and invited him back.
• Li Ling explained that he could perceive incense essence as particles and move it with divine sense, prompting Madam Zhao to recognize his unique Incense Path aptitude.
• Li Ling demonstrated the gift by changing the color of gem salt, and Madam Zhao asked whether he had heard of human incense.

Li Ling discussed the principles of heavenly, earthly, and human incense with Madam Zhao, who asked him to help reproduce Dust-Transcending Incense, a fragrance said to avert tribulations. After studying Daoist Hao’s secret manual and other records, Li Ling decided to rely on his own incense-sensing abilities rather than follow the manual’s methods blindly.

• Li Ling explained that human incense combined tangible and intangible qualities and included the unusual fragrances produced by humanoid Dao bodies.
• Madam Zhao revealed that she was born with an enchanting bodily fragrance and sought to reproduce Dust-Transcending Incense, which could dissolve tribulation karma.
• Madam Zhao lent Li Ling Daoist Hao’s secret manual, which described a fragrance that had preserved Hao’s youth and helped him survive tribulation.
• Li Ling stayed at Madam Zhao’s residence and studied her books and spirit materials while assessing the weaknesses in her research and the manual.
• Li Ling concluded that Daoist Hao’s account proved the fragrance was possible but that its methods could not be trusted, so he resolved to find his own path using his ability to perceive incense essence.

After moving to Moon-Sand Island, Li Ling chose to make his name public as an incense master and worked with Shang Yuxian to promote his products. When a dangerous secret realm made Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance vital to surviving its sandworms, demand surged and Li Ling rushed to increase production.

• Li Ling returned to Moon-Sand Island, reunited with Mu Qingsi, and discussed their household and move from the Prince Consort's Residence.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi moved to Moon-Sand Island, where Zhou Cheng and Yi Yi visited as newlyweds and described plans to establish themselves overseas.
• Shang Yuxian reported growing interest in Li Ling's incense, and Li Ling chose to publicize his name and build a reputation as an Incense Path master.
• The Money Guild promoted Li Ling's products, and Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance gained recognition for its usefulness alongside the Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing Great Art.
• A newly emerged secret realm filled with hard-to-detect sandworms drove cultivators to buy Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance after it proved effective at detecting the creatures.
• Shang Yuxian told Li Ling that the secret realm had made him famous, and Li Ling used his three heads and six arms divine ability to increase incense production.

Li Ling tried to teach Shang Yuxian and Min Lian to make Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance, then devised a way to use stone spirit grease to help others extract incense essence. He began preparing ingredients for Min Lian to practice, while Shang Yuxian showed more interest in the method’s commercial potential than learning it herself.

• Li Ling considered spreading the Incense Path beyond himself and invited Shang Yuxian to learn Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance after she delivered Mystic Origin True Water and revealed she had reached Foundation Establishment.
• Shang Yuxian accepted Li Ling’s invitation to a year-end celebration, advised him to establish a lineage, and Min Lian asked to learn alongside her; Li Ling agreed and began teaching them.
• Li Ling’s lesson confused Shang Yuxian and Min Lian because they could not perceive or manipulate incense essence as he could, prompting him to consider using external materials as aids.
• Li Ling demonstrated how stone spirit grease could extract plant-derived incense essence from dream essence qi, producing a crude but usable form of Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance.
• Shang Yuxian praised the method’s potential for mass production and profit but admitted she did not understand it, while Min Lian asked to try the steps she had memorized.
• Li Ling agreed to prepare raw essence qi so Min Lian could practice.

Li Ling improved the production of Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance Incense Pills by having Min Lian prepare crude fragrance concentrate and buying dream spirit plants from Dreamlike Island disciples. As production accelerated and the pills became a sensation among rogue cultivators, Li Ling’s name spread with the promise of wealth.

• Min Lian extracted usable semifinished incense essence, and Li Ling offered to pay her for preparing crude fragrance concentrate while letting her keep her commerce guild position.
• Li Ling bought dream spirit plants gathered from the Black Forest from Dreamlike Island disciples and promised to purchase future finds at prices based on their Spirit Resonance and his needs.
• Li Ling delegated the pill-making work to Min Lian and the Dreamlike Island disciples, doubling production while he handled the transfer of incense essence.
• Rogue cultivators crowded the market for the better-value pills, while purchasing tokens and pills were resold at steep markups.
• The Money Guild promoted the pills as symbols of wealth and treasure, and Li Ling’s reputation as their maker spread.

Li Ling’s Incense Pills became wildly popular, but a group of cultivators secretly counterfeited them and sold the fakes to secret-realm explorers. As Li Ling considered expanding production and helping Min Lian, Shang Yuxian warned him that a buyer had died after using counterfeit pills and sales had collapsed.

• Rogue cultivators crowded the Rare Treasures Tower to buy Incense Pills, and merchants auctioned off the rights to purchase the next batch for a thousand talisman currency.
• A cultivator brought five boxes of Incense Pills to a manor, where Fellow Daoist Xin and his accomplices diluted the pills and coated counterfeit batches with genuine paste.
• Li Ling felt that someone was plotting against him, while Shang Yuxian reported that Incense Pill sales and income had risen sharply.
• Li Ling discussed finding more workers, arranged for Min Lian to receive more time to help him, and visited her while she prepared fragrance concentrate.
• Shang Yuxian returned with news that someone had died after exploring the secret realm with counterfeit Incense Pills, stirring rumors and causing sales to plummet.

Li Ling used Spirit-Communing Incense and the Dreamscape Return to Heaven Art to trace the counterfeit Incense Pills to three cultivators in the Ashili Kingdom. After identifying them, he set out with Mu Qingsi to confront them.

• Shang Yuxian told Li Ling that a Rare Treasures Tower branch had sold counterfeit Incense Pills, threatening the pills’ reputation and Li Ling’s standing.
• Li Ling used incense to connect with the Great Dao of heaven and earth, but his first dream revealed no culprits because he lacked an anchor.
• After obtaining counterfeit pills from Shang Yuxian, Li Ling examined them and recognized the skill behind their manufacture.
• Li Ling used the counterfeit pill as an anchor in another dream and overheard three Qi Refining cultivators discussing their scheme.
• Li Ling identified the counterfeiters as Xin Dayuan, Wang Ji, and Tong Li, located in the Ashili Kingdom, and left with Mu Qingsi to deal with them.

Li Ling and Mu Qingsi captured Xin Dayuan, Wang Ji, and Tong Li for counterfeiting Li Ling’s Incense Pills, then publicly punished them and reimbursed their victims. After Wang Ji died and the other two submitted, Li Ling brought Xin Dayuan to demonstrate his counterfeit-making method.

• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi cornered Xin Dayuan at his estate, bound him, and forced him to summon Wang Ji and Tong Li.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi ambushed Wang Ji and Tong Li as they returned, then took all three prisoners to Green River Market.
• The merchant association paraded the counterfeiters in Evilwood Cangues and reimbursed Rogue Cultivators who returned counterfeit pills.
• Wang Ji died after three days without treatment, while Xin Dayuan and Tong Li were taken down and brought before Li Ling.
• Li Ling explained that Xin Dayuan and Tong Li survived because their skills and connections made them useful, and both men submitted to him.
• Li Ling brought Xin Dayuan to the rear hall and ordered him to demonstrate how he made counterfeit Incense Pills.

Li Ling forced Xin Dayuan and Tong Li into controlled service, using Ji Earth Grand Tai Sui to keep them obedient while expanding incense production. After Xin Dayuan began producing incense pills under close surveillance, Li Ling opened Granny Wu’s Treasure Pouch and discovered a vast cache of Demonic Path supplies and magic treasures.

• Xin Dayuan demonstrated that his gift for identifying spirit medicines let him produce good incense pills, and Li Ling decided to keep him.
• Li Ling demanded that Xin Dayuan and Tong Li serve him for sixty years, then made them swallow Ji Earth Grand Tai Sui to control them.
• Li Ling kept Xin Dayuan on Moon-Sand Island to produce Hearing-Reach Herb Fragrance and let Tong Li return to the Ashili Kingdom, hoping to use his influence there.
• Xin Dayuan began refining incense pills under Li Ling’s intense surveillance, and Li Ling asked Shang Yuxian to help find more apprentices and artisans.
• Li Ling finally opened Granny Wu’s Treasure Pouch and entered its cavernous interior, where he found weapons, supplies, hundreds of magical artifacts, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, and other treasures.

Li Ling discovered that Granny Wu's incense burner contained resentful spirits and planned to deliver them after strengthening his divine domain. He also learned that his dragon-vein treasure could produce cultivation-enhancing pearls, then the chapter ended with Min Lian and Xin Dayuan finishing their incense work.

• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi identified the burner as a soul artifact containing resentful spirits nurtured in grave soil, and Li Ling decided to keep it while destroying the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.
• Li Ling planned to use Transcendence Incense and his River God's divine domain to deliver the trapped souls, but chose to wait until he understood the method better.
• Li Ling discovered that the Cicada-Wing Gauze Sash had produced a Spirit Spring Pearl, and Mu Qingsi explained that the dragon vein needed earth qi to recover its strength.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi agreed to use the pearls and their cultivation-transfer method to advance together, and Li Ling's pearl accelerated the growth of his Dharma Power by about thirty percent.
• Min Lian finished preparing fragrance crystals, while Xin Dayuan completed his incense-making tasks and ate the food delivered to him.

Li Ling visited Madam Zhao at the Snail Shell Sanctuary, where he discussed his research into ancient incense materials and learned that two had changed names. He explored her incense workshops and realized her work on changing body fragrance centered on improving fragrant tea, leaving him ready to assist with her research.

• Li Ling and Shang Yuxian discussed the decline in Island Secret Realm supplies, and Li Ling told Min Lian to rest while continuing to help study ways to improve the fragrance.
• Li Ling traveled to the Snail Shell Sanctuary, where Redfish welcomed him and led him to Madam Zhao.
• Li Ling asked Madam Zhao about five mysterious materials in the Great Wilderness Classic, and she identified seasonal red flower as inkstone red and lingzhi insect as snake-scaled insect.
• Madam Zhao praised Li Ling's diligence and entrusted him with carrying on the study of her incense texts.
• Redfish showed Li Ling the sanctuary's incense workshops and described its products, including the famous Hundred-Flower Spirit Brew.
• Li Ling recognized that Madam Zhao's research into changing body fragrance focused on fragrant tea and considered how he could help improve it.

Li Ling refined the sanctuary’s Breath-Freshening Tea and recorded his perceptions of fragrances to help people without his innate gift understand them. He then asked Madam Zhao to test his Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art, and she agreed to help.

• Li Ling and Redfish sampled the sanctuary’s incense products and floral tea, and Li Ling created a more balanced tea that Redfish found exceptionally refreshing.
• Several days later, Madam Zhao and Redfish tried Li Ling’s improved Breath-Freshening Tea, and Madam Zhao said its flavor and lingering effect were better.
• Li Ling sampled Madam Zhao’s spirit materials and recorded detailed tasting impressions, prompting Madam Zhao to recognize his effort to convey the Dao through writing.
• Li Ling explained that descriptions linking fragrances to familiar sensations could help others perceive incense essences and cultivate the Incense Path.
• Li Ling asked Madam Zhao to test his Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art, and after noting its inspiration from the Ten Thousand Fiends Poison-Transforming Art, she agreed to help.

Li Ling improved the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art by using a Heaven-and-Earth Borrowing Art and developed incense resonance, which let incense essence travel against the wind. He tested its limits with Redfish and found the connection had a short range and duration, though it worked effectively in combat.

• Madam Zhao explained that Li Ling's art lacked a method for borrowing Heaven-and-Earth Origin Energy and gave him an annotated borrowing art from the Lingyuan Sect.
• Li Ling used the Heaven-Borrowing Art to draw on ambient origin energy, multiplying the incense essence his technique produced.
• Li Ling developed incense resonance and manifested three nascent incense deities, but could not yet give them concrete appearances.
• Li Ling decided to postpone shaping the incense deities and went to test incense resonance with Redfish.
• Li Ling found that the resonance worked within a hundred zhang, disappeared across the Snail Shell Sanctuary's gateway, and faded after several hours.
• Li Ling tested Spirit-Bewildering Incense on Redfish and confirmed that incense resonance could draw essence to its target regardless of wind direction.

Li Ling refined Mu Qingsi’s body fragrance and used it to create an incense deity, proving that incense resonance could connect scent to a person’s image and reach into the mind. He ended by demonstrating that the deity could vanish into Mu Qingsi’s thoughts and transmit fragrance beyond ordinary distance.

• Madam Zhao praised Li Ling’s incense-resonance theory, advised him to simplify it, and sent him with Redfish to deliver fragrant tea to Madam Mo.
• Li Ling told Mu Qingsi that his Incense Path should focus on practical cultivation needs rather than elegant luxury goods, though he admitted refinement still made money.
• Li Ling persuaded Mu Qingsi to help collect and refine the fragrance of her bathwater so he could study the link between human incense and an incense deity.
• Li Ling extracted Mu Qingsi’s body fragrance and, using the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art and Heaven-Borrowing Art, formed an incense deity resembling her.
• Li Ling sent the incense deity into Mu Qingsi’s mind and demonstrated that it could make her smell a familiar fragrance without relying on ordinary distance.

Li Ling developed the Incense Deity method with Mu Qingsi and expanded his incense business by training Min Lian. Senior Sister Yi Yi arrived seeking help after her husband Zhou Cheng disappeared while pursuing pirates in the Bamboo Step Kingdom.

• Li Ling explained how incense resonance could create Incense Deities, and Mu Qingsi controlled one as an incorporeal avatar.
• Li Ling identified his own Incense Deity with his Child Celestial Aspect and considered how the Incense Path could cultivate Dharma Forms through them.
• Li Ling assigned Min Lian fragrant-tea formulas and promised her payment for each batch she brewed.
• Li Ling inspected preparations to expand production as the nearby Island Secret Realm sank beneath the sea.
• Mu Qingsi summoned Li Ling back after Senior Sister Yi Yi arrived in distress.
• Yi Yi told Li Ling that Zhou Cheng had disappeared while pursuing pirates, and that the King had refused to search for him.

Li Ling used Dream Dao divination to learn that Zhou Cheng was alive but trapped in a mountain cave, then traveled with Mu Qingsi and Yi Yi to the Bamboo Step Kingdom to search for him. Reports that pirates had attacked Zhou Cheng pointed to the Blood Shark Bandits, raising fears that they would torture and kill him because of Mystic Xin Peak’s feud with them.

• Li Ling used Zhou Cheng’s Magical Artifacts in a dream omen and sensed that Zhou Cheng was alive and trapped in a mountain cave.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi took Yi Yi to the Bamboo Step Kingdom, where Li Ling began searching at sea while Mu Qingsi returned Yi Yi to the other Mystic Xin Peak disciples.
• Senior Brother Yuan told Mu Qingsi that pirates had docked nearby with a badly damaged ship and that Zhou Cheng might have encountered them.
• Senior Brother Yuan identified the suspected pirates as Blood Shark Bandits led by cultivators, including the powerful Hundred-Eyed Bloodstar Shark.
• Yi Yi and Mu Qingsi realized the Blood Shark Bandits might keep Zhou Cheng alive because he belonged to Mystic Xin Peak, but feared they would torture him in retaliation for the feud.

Li Ling used Netherdream Incense and the Dream-Link Method to search a remote town’s shared dreams for hidden cultivators and clues about the Blood Shark Bandits. He uncovered a local network monitoring ships from the Bamboo Step Kingdom and heard that the Tenth Chieftain had captured someone important, despite the chieftain’s reported death.

• Mu Qingsi warned Li Ling that the Blood Shark Bandits had powerful chieftains, informants, and protection from the Hundred-Eyed Bloodstar Shark, and Li Ling urged her and the others to stay cautious.
• Li Ling decided to investigate ordinary townspeople and used his Nascent Soul-level abilities to spread Netherdream Incense over an unnamed town and connect its residents’ dreams.
• Li Ling found no cultivators in the town but detected the bloody scent of a fisherman and followed the man’s dream to a meeting aboard a magical artifact-grade ship.
• Master Pu ordered the fishermen to report magical artifact treasure ships and cultivators arriving from the Bamboo Step Kingdom, then gave them Fishing Pellets.
• Li Ling overheard cultivators mention that the Tenth Chieftain had caught someone who was a hot potato, and wondered how that was possible because the chieftain had supposedly died.