Chapter Summaries

Li Ling used a dream-omen technique to locate the Blood Shark Bandits’ gathering on a deserted island and discovered their new Tenth Chieftain, Lian Li, presiding over a brutal pirate crew. After infiltrating the island, Li Ling found Senior Brother Zhou Cheng and two other cultivators mutilated and impaled on a stone platform.

• Li Ling learned that the Blood Shark Bandits had appointed Lian Li as their new Tenth Chieftain and chose to track the abductors himself rather than wait for informants.
• Li Ling used a Fishing Pellet as an anchor for his dream-omen technique and saw a three-masted ship moored beside a fleet near a deserted island.
• Li Ling consulted the sea chart and used the Time-Knowing Art and Earth-Recognition Art to find a route to the island.
• Lian Li distributed plunder among his followers and made their underlings fight over extra treasure before hosting the shipmasters for a feast.
• Li Ling reached the island, concealed himself from Lian Li, and searched the pirate den.
• Li Ling found Senior Brother Zhou Cheng and two other cultivators mutilated and impaled on a stone platform.

Li Ling rescued Zhou Cheng and two other captives from Lian Li by using human incense to fool the guards’ spiritual perception, then brought them to Yi Yi’s residence and began restoring their severed limbs. Zhou Cheng’s limbs regrew, and Li Ling’s new deception technique proved successful.

• Li Ling found Zhou Cheng near death and devised a plan to extract and imitate the captives’ human incense so he could disguise their absence.
• Li Ling transferred the three captives’ incense essences to corpses, disguised the bodies, and quietly lowered the real captives down the cliff while Lian Li was distracted.
• Lian Li discovered the empty spears after the false auras faded and ordered his men to pursue the rescuers using a tracking token.
• Li Ling brought the three injured men to Yi Yi’s residence, where he used Teaweed Incense to revive them and reassure Yi Yi that Zhou Cheng could be healed.
• Li Ling scraped away Zhou Cheng’s scabs and applied incense powder and a medicinal solution, causing Zhou Cheng’s severed limbs to regrow.

Li Ling rescued Zhou Cheng and learned that Lian Li had captured the travelers, then gathered allies to ambush the pirate chieftain. The ambush began with five Foundation Establishment experts surrounding Lian Li, but he overwhelmed them and killed one of their number.

• Li Ling used Teaweed Incense to restore Zhou Cheng and explained to Fu Yong and Jin Hongshan that the rare incense was sold through the Money Guild.
• Zhou Cheng recounted how Lian Li and the Blood Shark Bandits had captured them, and Li Ling suspected that someone had revealed their location.
• Li Ling learned that pirates were approaching, coordinated with Fu Yong and Shang Yuxian, and gathered five experts to ambush Lian Li.
• Li Ling tracked the pirates to the island, moved Zhou Cheng and the others into hiding, and went to observe the ambush in an unnamed valley.
• Lian Li fought his five attackers with powerful fire sword techniques, killed a commerce guild steward, and threw the others' formation into disarray.

Lian Li slaughtered two of the trading association’s attackers and grew stronger by devouring their vital essence, forcing the survivors into a desperate standoff. The dead Tong Surname Cultivator then revealed himself alive, trapped Lian Li with help from a hidden ally, and betrayed the remaining men by revealing he was Tong Zhifeng, a chief of the Blood Shark Bandits.

• Lian Li used a blood-consuming secret art to grow stronger as he fought the five men, killing the Branch Headquarters guardian Yuan after killing Tong.
• Lian Li’s origin-energy phantom grew powerful enough to drive the three surviving attackers back, while Li Ling worried they would not unite to stop him.
• The supposedly dead Tong Surname Cultivator revived and bound Lian Li with a golden rope as an arrow from his hidden Dao companion froze him in ice.
• Tong Zhifeng attacked the three surviving men with poisoned throwing knives, killing one and wounding another.
• Tong Zhifeng revealed that he was the seventh chief of the Blood Shark Bandits, dismissing the men’s threat that the trading association would punish him.

Tong Zhifeng's pursuer Lian Li fought the impostor Tong Yuan and his wife Mo Lan, the Demonic Couple, but they killed him and planned to take his place among the Blood Shark Bandits. Li Ling used Netherdream Incense and Lian Li's greatsword to kill Tong Yuan and Mo Lan, leaving the valley silent.

• Tong Yuan and Mo Lan revealed themselves as the Demonic Couple and killed the gravely wounded Lian Li.
• Tong Yuan explained that the pair had infiltrated the merchant association's pursuit team to claim Lian Li's bounty, treasure, and position as a Blood Shark Bandit chieftain.
• Tong Yuan and Mo Lan looted the bodies, and Tong Yuan transformed himself to look like Lian Li.
• Li Ling secretly drifted Netherdream Incense into the valley, leaving Mo Lan dazed beneath a ghost spirit bride and weakening Tong Yuan's awareness.
• Li Ling used Lian Li's greatsword to kill Tong Yuan and Mo Lan.

Li Ling secretly collected the spoils from the failed hunt for Lian Li and examined several valuable magic treasures with Mu Qingsi. After the merchant association reported the expedition’s losses, Li Ling learned that reinforcements had been dispatched while Lian Li’s whereabouts remained unknown.

• Li Ling hid the traces of the expedition’s aftermath, kept its valuable spoils, and told Mu Qingsi what had happened; they discussed the danger to Mystic Xin Peak and the risk of the merchant association tracking them.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi examined Lian Li’s seven-cycle treasure sword, Mo Lan’s water-and-ice longbow, and Tong Yuan’s disguise mask, which Li Ling planned to combine with the Human Incense Method.
• Mu Qingsi found Lian Li’s stone rice fragrance, and Li Ling recognized its value as a rare material that might help him develop a mind-clearing incense.
• Zhou Cheng and Yi Yi told Li Ling that the merchant association’s hunting team had suffered a setback, with one member turning traitor and two dying.
• Li Ling asked Shang Yuxian for details and learned that a disguised attacker had been mistaken for Tong Zhifeng, while Lian Li’s whereabouts were unknown and Northsky Island had sent stronger reinforcements.

Li Ling wiped out the pirates left at their lair, rescued their captives, and discovered evidence that someone in the Bamboo Step Kingdom had been supplying them. By tracing scents left on the supplies, he narrowed the search to an affluent source and detected the fragrance and sweat of a mature woman.

• Zhou Cheng told Li Ling that wealthy and influential mortals would gather in the royal capital to discuss a campaign against the bandits, and the group discussed pirates targeting the Bamboo Step Kingdom's attendants.
• Li Ling said they should eliminate the pirate chiefs and punish anyone colluding with the bandits, while Mu Qingsi revealed that helpers were pursuing Lian Li and his subordinates.
• Li Ling used Soul Projection to enter the pirates' lair, killed the remaining evildoers with the Frostbreath Bow, and told the captives that rescuers would come from the Bamboo Step Kingdom.
• Li Ling found 1.2 million and assorted spirit materials in a hidden store, then learned from an abducted woman that a ship brought supplies from the direction of the Bamboo Step Kingdom each month.
• Li Ling examined the supplies and identified lingering scents, including costly hand cream associated with wealthy nobles, then detected a rose fragrance and the sweat of a mature woman.

Li Ling identified Madam Ling as connected to the pirates and suspected the powerful Ling Household was involved in the attack on Zhou Cheng. After the guild announced Lian Li’s death, Li Ling overheard Madam Ling and the head of the Ling Household discussing their dealings with him, then confronted the head with evidence.

• Li Ling sensed the stone rice incense’s scent on Madam Ling and concluded that she had colluded with the pirates.
• Li Ling and Zhou Cheng discussed the Ling Household’s influence and decided to observe its reaction to news of the battle.
• Elder Tu announced that the guild had defeated the pirates and brought back Lian Li’s head.
• Li Ling overheard Madam Ling and the head of the Ling Household discuss their past dealings with Lian Li and the need to silence people who knew about them.
• Li Ling followed the head of the Ling Household to his lodgings, revealed himself, and demanded that the man explain his collusion with Lian Li.

Li Ling uncovered the Ling Household’s alliance with Lian Li and confronted the household’s hidden pirate allies at Peaceful Retreat Garden. He and Mu Qingsi killed the four cultivators, while the fate of their families remained unresolved.

• The Ling Household head claimed Lian Li had exploited his family, but Li Ling accused them of profiting from piracy and demanded the location of Lian Li’s properties.
• After Li Ling left, the Ling Household head revealed that his brother Ling Jinfeng and three other cultivators planned to kill Li Ling.
• Li Ling entered Peaceful Retreat Garden, where Ling Jinfeng and three former pirates confronted him and tried to attack.
• Li Ling and the concealed Mu Qingsi killed the three cultivators and mortally wounded Ling Jinfeng.
• Li Ling found women and children hiding in the garden, then withdrew and left their fate for Senior Brother Zhou and the others to decide.

Zhou Cheng and the Mystic Xin Peak disciples dismantled the Ling Household and used its seized assets to establish a trading house, while Li Ling learned about the costs and classes of seagoing Treasure Ships. With their unexpected windfall limited, Li Ling decided to bid on two ships to test the maritime trade.

• Zhou Cheng and the Mystic Xin Peak disciples exposed the Ling Household's collusion with pirates, subdued its descendants across the region, and forced Madam Ling to take poison after the King refused to see her.
• Zhou Cheng told Li Ling that rival lineages had helped destroy the Ling Household, and proposed turning its holdings into the Moon-Gazing Trading House with the fellow disciples as partners.
• Li Ling agreed that Zhou Cheng and the others could develop the trading house, which would focus on mortal and spirit incense and support Mystic Xin Peak's foothold in the Bamboo Step Kingdom.
• Zhou Cheng alerted Li Ling to Steward Yuan's planned auction of the pirates' Magical Artifact Treasure Ships, and Mu Qingsi urged Li Ling to consult Shang Yuxian about maritime commerce.
• Shang Yuxian explained the ship classes and warned that a Whale Class vessel could cost up to five hundred thousand talisman currency to buy, with another substantial sum needed for operation and upkeep.
• Li Ling assessed that the windfall could support only two or three ships and decided to buy two first to test the waters.

Li Ling and the Mystic Xin Peak disciples established the Moon-Gazing Trading House in the Bamboo Step Kingdom and prepared its ships and operations. Meanwhile, Tong Zhifeng learned someone had impersonated him, but the Blood Shark Bandits’ Third Chieftain ordered him not to provoke the forces behind the incident.

• Li Ling and his companions restructured the Moon-Gazing Trading House, gained the Money Guild’s support, and secured recognition of Zhou Cheng and the others’ inheritance rights.
• Zhou Cheng and the others bought two magical-artifact treasure ships and discussed the costly equipment, experienced crews, and safety measures needed to operate them.
• Li Ling explained to Mu Qingsi that the trading house would build its own people and subordinate forces while continuing to rely on Northsky Island’s shipping and commerce channels.
• Tong Zhifeng learned that Lian Li had died and that an impostor using his identity had killed a commerce guild steward.
• Tong Zhifeng received the Third Chieftain’s order to avoid a clash, then explained that the Blood Shark Bandits survived by befriending powerful cultivators and valuing harmony.

After the Blood Shark Bandits threat was addressed, Li Ling stayed in Wang to investigate local incense materials and help rescued mortals find work. He discovered he could perceive wealth as a stench and recognized a bottle of Rose Dew as a valuable maritime incense, leaving him intrigued by what he noticed about it.

• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi reported the resolution of the matter to Yellow Cloud True Person, who promised to send Han Gusheng and Lin Li against the Blood Shark Bandits if they returned.
• Li Ling decided to remain in Wang to study its incense materials and the prospects for developing the Incense Path rather than board a Four Seas Commerce Guild ship home.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi visited the Moon-Gazing Trading House's workshops and found that the rescued mortals had been assigned work.
• Li Ling gained the ability to perceive a stench of money, realizing it signified wealth and might reveal its karmic connections.
• Mu Qingsi found a bottle of Rose Dew, and Li Ling identified it as prized maritime incense before examining it with growing surprise.

Li Ling visited Master Chi to learn about his Rose Dew and shared improved methods for extracting fragrance and cultivating sweetbrier. Recognizing Master Chi’s expertise in flower breeding, Li Ling hired him to oversee selective cultivation for his workshop.

• Li Ling examined Rose Dew and asked the steward to introduce him to its maker, Master Chi.
• Li Ling demonstrated a refined fragrance-extraction method and explained practical improvements Master Chi could use without divine abilities.
• Master Chi shared that his sweetbrier variety, Barbarian Girl, and his skill at choosing and growing flowers were central to his incense production.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi discussed applying Master Chi’s cultivation knowledge, and Li Ling offered him a position as chief gardener.
• Master Chi accepted, and Li Ling toured his distillation equipment and learned that he also made flower-filled pastries.

Li Ling discovered that Rose Dew could catalyze changes in bodily fragrance and developed Cherimoya Blossom Incense, which worked on him and Mu Qingsi but not on mortals. He identified the incense essence’s role as guidance and occupation and planned to study its effects and develop it into an Incense Path enterprise.

• Master Chi told Li Ling how eating flowers helped him recover from a serious illness and explained that perseverance and healthy routines had preserved his strength.
• Li Ling noticed that Master Chi’s grandson ate Rose Dew with his pie and found that the boy had an unusually fragrant body.
• Li Ling realized Rose Dew’s incense essence could catalyze changes in his body and began refining it into a new aromatic.
• Li Ling created Cherimoya Blossom Incense, which cleansed his body and filled it with fragrance, but produced no such effect in the mortal servants he tested.
• After Mu Qingsi also developed a fragrant body from the incense, Li Ling concluded that it worked by guiding and occupying the body’s existing fragrance and resolved to investigate its potential for large-scale production.

Li Ling gave Master Chi the Spirit-Communing Incense formula and arranged support for the Incense Path in the Bamboo Step Kingdom, while investigating local commerce and discovering the karmic burden tied to wealth. After returning to Moon-Sand Island with Mu Qingsi, he entered seclusion to explore how Cherimoya Blossom Incense could shape a cultivation route.

• Li Ling visited Master Chi as he prepared to leave for South Li Island and gave him the Spirit-Communing Incense formula, urging him to establish a workshop and pass it on carefully.
• Li Ling asked Zhou Cheng and the others to support Master Chi, then investigated local aromatic ingredients and learned that the Gazetteer of the Ten Thousand Nations contained outdated information.
• Li Ling visited Elder Tu to request help gathering local goods and discovered through his Scent Identification ability that Elder Tu bore a heavy karmic burden from wealth.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi discussed sharing Incense Path business proceeds with Elder Tu and using merchant organizations to protect trade routes.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi returned to Moon-Sand Island, where Li Ling entered seclusion to study Cherimoya Blossom Incense and its potential applications in Incense Path cultivation.

Li Ling tested Cherimoya Blossom Incense on residents of Moon-Sand Island and developed Heavenly Incense Guidance, a Human Incense Method that could help cultivators build a Dao Body. He then prepared to have Min Lian and Xin Dayuan attempt Foundation Establishment using the new method.

• Li Ling assigned shrimp servants to comparison groups to test how drinking, eating, and breathing Incense Dew affected them, and invited Gui Yecheng and others to participate.
• After several months, Li Ling found that the shrimp servants had become fragrant and gained physical stamina, confirming that Cherimoya Blossom Incense could cleanse and nourish the body.
• Li Ling explained to Mu Qingsi that Cherimoya Blossom Incense could complement Spirit-Communing Incense by tempering the body, and he anticipated that a descendant of the Chi Family might inherit his Incense Path arts.
• Li Ling spent nearly half a month developing Heavenly Incense Guidance, a method that combined sensing and consuming incense to cultivate an Incense Body and guide cultivators toward a Dao Body.
• Li Ling gave Min Lian and Xin Dayuan instructions to test whether they could use Heavenly Incense Guidance to advance to Foundation Establishment.

Li Ling continued testing Rose Dew and Heavenly Incense Guidance, confronting the difficulty of getting people to persevere while Mu Qingsi explained how cultivation rewarded steady effort. After Mu Qingsi condensed an Incense Deity, the couple achieved full mastery of their dual-cultivation secret record and greatly improved their cultivation efficiency.

• Min Lian reluctantly agreed to keep drinking Rose Dew, while Li Ling discovered that Xin Dayuan had secretly eaten other food and decided to leave him to his own choices.
• Mu Qingsi explained to Li Ling that Immortal Sect disciples advanced through years of patient cultivation, and Li Ling accepted that his method would help only those who persevered.
• During their nighttime practice, Li Ling sensed an Incense Deity forming within Mu Qingsi and realized Rose Dew had changed her bodily fragrance.
• Li Ling entered the Mindscape Secret Realm with Mu Qingsi and used spiritual communion to practice the Violet-Gold Radiance Profound Cavern Secret Record.
• By morning, Li Ling and Mu Qingsi had eliminated the losses in their joint cultivation, reached full mastery, and refined their origin energy at two or three times their previous efficiency.

Li Ling and Mu Qingsi developed an Incense Path method through dual cultivation, while Min Lian independently cultivated Heavenly Incense Guidance and achieved Foundation Establishment. The chapter ended with Min Lian becoming the first person besides Li Ling and Mu Qingsi to establish her foundation through his Incense Path art.

• Li Ling helped Mu Qingsi condense her own human incense, proving she could cultivate the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art through their dual cultivation.
• Min Lian persevered with Spirit-Communing Incense and Heavenly Incense Guidance, eventually transforming into smoke and developing her own lotus-and-lilac human fragrance.
• Li Ling recognized that Min Lian had achieved an incense body and was half a step into Foundation Establishment, then advised her to stop drinking Rose Dew and continue cultivating her own human incense.
• Min Lian spent another half year refining her human-incense transformation and accumulated enough incense essence to establish her foundation.
• Li Ling congratulated Min Lian on establishing her foundation through the Incense Path, marking a major advance for the cultivation art.

Min Lian reached Foundation Establishment through Li Ling’s incense cultivation method, and Li Ling began preparing to establish the Incense Accumulation Sect. After naming the sect and resolving to build its Dao path, he sought support and advice from Yellow Cloud True Person and Madam Zhao.

• Min Lian demonstrated her new Foundation Establishment abilities, and Shang Yuxian proposed helping Li Ling establish a sect through the Money Guild.
• Min Lian agreed to join Li Ling’s sect after Shang Yuxian explained the guild’s celebration and managing elder arrangements.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi chose the name Incense Accumulation Sect, and Li Ling’s vow to pursue the incense path stirred his Dao heart and revealed his divine domain.
• Li Ling told Yellow Cloud True Person of his plans, asked her to attend the sect’s founding, and discussed the need for supporters, gifts, a sanctuary, and cultivation resources.
• Li Ling visited Madam Zhao to inform her of the plans, and she promised a generous gift while asking him to continue developing the Human Incense chapters.

Li Ling negotiated with the Money Guild for loans, resources, recruits, and a blessed land to establish the Incense Accumulation Sect while retaining control of its affairs. After settling the main arrangements, he chose Nine Fields as the sect’s starting location.

• Li Ling considered ways to found the Incense Accumulation Sect without surrendering its control to the Money Dao.
• Li Ling agreed to borrow funds and supplies from the Money Guild, using Moon-Sand Island as collateral for a Spirit Peak Blessed Land.
• The Money Guild arranged for workshop apprentices and youths from nearby maritime kingdoms to become registered disciples, with graduates eligible for guild workshop positions.
• Li Ling negotiated favorable terms for the sect’s disciples and settled the initial arrangements with the guild.
• Li Ling selected Nine Fields, a low-grade blessed land made up of nine island groups, as the Incense Accumulation Sect’s starting location.