Chapter Summaries

After the Unusual Events Bureau defeated the demonic cultivators in Lianhe County, Elder Gong warned Zuo Zhongliang and Yuan that an unknown ally might be stronger than Foundation Establishment. At the Prince Consort’s Residence, Li Ling experimented with Dharma-Form Transformation and manifested a three-headed, six-armed Celestial Person form, though its promised abilities remained beyond his reach.

• Elder Gong examined the dead demonic cultivator and concluded that the mysterious figure who killed him might be beyond Foundation Establishment.
• Elder Gong privately told Zuo Zhongliang and Yuan that demonic cultivators were preparing a major move and that the unknown expert posed a greater threat, then said they should report the matter to the sect.
• Li Ling read the bulletin about the bureau’s victory in Lianhe County and considered how demonic cultivators might exploit the kingdom’s strained defenses.
• The Ninth Princess showed Li Ling how her Mirage Cloud changed shape and color, prompting him to consider attempting Dharma-Form Transformation.
• Li Ling projected his soul to the eastern outskirts of the Royal City and transformed his Spirit Body into a child Celestial Person with three heads and six arms.
• Li Ling learned that his dharma form had potential abilities involving precise multitasking and increased magical power, but he could not use them without cultivation and magical power.

Li Ling tested how Spirit-Communing Incense Essence dispersed and considered whether he could tap into a hidden dimension to cultivate through incense offerings. He persuaded the Ninth Princess and Vice Minister Pei to prepare an extravagant Incense-Burning Grand Gathering, then planned to add useful spiritual materials to the tribute list.

• Li Ling tested sealed vats of burning Spirit-Communing Incense and confirmed that its Incense Essence gradually dispersed and vanished over time.
• Li Ling speculated that incense offerings might let him draw Incense Essence from another dimension and imagined burning hundreds of cartloads of aromatics.
• Li Ling explained the ancient origins of incense and sacrificial fire to the Ninth Princess, who praised his ideas but worried about the cost.
• Li Ling asked Vice Minister Pei to arrange an Incense-Burning Grand Gathering and offered Li's Incense Workshop to the Incense Affairs Bureau to manage.
• Vice Minister Pei promised at least three hundred cartloads of Agarwood and other supplies, while Li Ling requested finished aromatics and incense sugar maples.
• Li Ling told Vice Minister Pei he would ask the ancestor to add Devil Finger Wood, Cold Fragrance Fruit, Silverthread Grass, and Five-Spirit Flower to the tribute list.

Li Ling secured devil finger wood from the Unusual Events Bureau, discovered one portion was unusually potent, and sought the Mystic Xin King’s support for the bureau. The king granted a decree, but Li Ling then sensed that the foreign beauty approaching them was a practitioner of the demonic path.

• Li Ling hosted Commander Huo, Deputy Commander Ma, and Unusual Events Bureau leaders, offering to ease their burdens and arrange exchanges through the Incense Affairs Bureau in return for cooperation.
• The Unusual Events Bureau delivered four portions of devil finger wood, and Li Ling found one portion had unusually high resin content and produced ten portions of improved Spirit-Communing Incense.
• Li Ling visited the Mystic Xin King at his hot-spring palace and asked for a decree allocating arms, money, and provisions to strengthen the Unusual Events Bureau.
• The Mystic Xin King agreed to issue a decree after Li Ling presented him with several kinds of incense.
• Li Ling noticed a rotten smell from the foreign beauty approaching with a fruit platter and realized she was a practitioner of the demonic path.

Li Ling discovered that Beauty was a hidden agent and used a staged haunting to make her reveal how she contacted someone through processed Spirit-Communing Incense. He witnessed an unseen presence answer her prayer and left wondering whether he could use the same method to draw in incense essence.

• Li Ling secretly watched Beauty and found first-grade Spirit-Communing Incense hidden beneath her pillow.
• After strengthening his divine sense and presenting incense formulas to the ancestor, Li Ling tested his refined gold flying sword and returned to investigate Beauty.
• Li Ling frightened Beauty with a ghostly apparition and prompted her to retrieve and light processed Spirit-Communing Incense.
• Beauty prayed with the incense, and Li Ling sensed a hazy figure appear through a strange field beyond ordinary perception.
• The figure told Beauty to abort the transaction, then vanished after she reported the mysterious disturbance.
• Li Ling considered whether the incense had opened a connection to a higher realm and whether he could learn to absorb incense essence from others' offerings.

Li Ling traced the mysterious being contacted by Beauty to a demonic stronghold in Jiu Mouth Town, where he uncovered corpse-refining atrocities and a Ghost Soul Sect cultivator named Miss Lin. After overhearing plans for a river-god sacrificial ceremony, he recognized the origins of the being he had been seeking, but Miss Lin sensed someone nearby.

• Li Ling used Returning Soul Incense to follow the essence from Beauty’s prayer to Jiu Mouth Town.
• Li Ling found a cellar packed with corpse demons and watched Elder You transform a drowned girl into a demonic creature.
• Li Ling identified Miss Lin as a powerful Ghost Soul Sect cultivator using Blood-Baleful Demon Cloud and Yin Spirits.
• Li Ling discovered the stronghold held numerous cultivators, demonic creatures, servants, and weapons, but had not yet found the being he sought.
• Miss Lin and Elder You discussed preparations for a river-god sacrificial ceremony and the local tradition of offerings.
• Li Ling recognized the mysterious being’s origins, but Miss Lin suddenly sensed his presence.

Li Ling ambushed Miss Lin and the demonic cultivators, using Thunderbolt Bombs and his spirit-body abilities to kill many of them. Miss Lin and Senior Brother Pang escaped, while Li Ling gathered their spoils before the Unusual Events Bureau arrived.

• Miss Lin sensed Li Ling and called Senior Brother Pang to investigate, so Li Ling decided to attack her before the demonic cultivators could cause more harm.
• Miss Lin, Elder You, and Senior Brother Pang ambushed Li Ling, but he passed through their attacks and wounded Miss Lin before retreating to collect weapons.
• Li Ling returned with Thunderbolt Bombs and devastated the courtyard, then killed the demonic disciples who tried to flee.
• Elder You released poisonous smoke that killed nearby disciples, but Li Ling manipulated its incense essence and killed Elder You with sword qi.
• Miss Lin escaped using Gang-Baleful Wing Transformation, and Senior Brother Pang also fled, while Li Ling searched the area and found ten portions of devil finger wood.

After raiding the demonic cultivators’ base, Li Ling found a statue of the Great Lin River God and learned more about the river’s sinister dragon and the demonic cultivators’ plans. Back in the northern hills, he tested a mysterious powder on rabbits after his divine sense grew strong enough to wield a flying sword.

• Li Ling collected the devil finger wood, Spirit Materials, and an unclaimed Great Lin River God statue from the demonic cultivators’ base before leaving as Unusual Events Bureau troops arrived.
• Li Ling hid his loot in the northern hills and took the devil finger wood home to absorb its gains.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess discussed incense, recent demonic cultivator activity, and the legend that the Great Lin River God was a sinister dragon tied to the river’s spiritual veins.
• Li Ling concluded that the demonic cultivators were seeking the river dragon’s authority, then returned to practicing after his divine sense surpassed the fifty-jin threshold.
• Li Ling tested powder from a small bottle on two rabbits, driving them into a frenzy before discarding them in a pit with other strangely preserved rabbit corpses.

Li Ling used the Great Lin River God statue to investigate the divine kingdom and discovered that its incense essence could infect the mind, then used Returning Soul Incense to locate Miss Lin. After finding intelligence identifying her as Lin Rouniang, a powerful Ghost Soul Sect scion backed by the Blood Sea Demon Venerable, he realized she would be dangerous to confront.

• Li Ling burned the infected zombie rabbits, then used the Great Lin River God statue and the Incense-Prayer Method to explore the divine kingdom and witness its accumulated prayers and memories.
• Li Ling recognized that the kingdom’s incense essence could overwhelm and assimilate his mind, but decided he might refine small amounts of it for cultivation.
• Li Ling waited in the divine kingdom and saw Miss Lin use Spirit-Communing Incense to open a passage, then sent Returning Soul Incense through it to locate her more than two hundred miles east.
• Li Ling inspected Unusual Events Bureau files and learned that the bureau suspected demonic cultivators were using the Incense Prayer Method to steal the River God’s power.
• Li Ling discovered that Miss Lin was Lin Rouniang, a Sacred Scion of the Ghost Soul Sect and descendant of the Blood Sea Demon Venerable.

Li Ling tracked Lin Rouniang to Black Snake Ridge and waited for the Unusual Events Bureau’s assault to create an opening. After her guardian left to investigate the attack, Lin Rouniang tried to protect herself with a sun-powered lamp, but Li Ling repeatedly blew it out, frightening her into fleeing the room.

• Li Ling studied the Unusual Events Bureau’s file on Lin Rouniang and planned to exploit its attack on nearby demonic strongholds.
• Li Ling located Lin Rouniang at Black Snake Ridge and secretly brought his flying sword, gunpowder, and poison powder to the area.
• Lin Rouniang sensed she was being watched, and her Foundation Establishment guardian reassured her while warning that the bureau might attack.
• The bureau’s signal fireworks appeared, and Lin Rouniang’s guardian left to investigate as Li Ling hid nearby.
• Li Ling entered Lin Rouniang’s room, endured the sun-powered lamp’s radiance, and blew it out twice.
• Lin Rouniang called the unseen intruder a ghost and ran outside.

Lin Rouniang was frightened by Li Ling’s unseen haunting while the Unusual Events Bureau attacked the demonic-path stronghold. Li Ling poisoned the lackeys left behind, watched Senior Brother Pang get captured, then looted the estate and discovered enough spiritual materials to make a major breakthrough.

• Lin Rouniang felt an unseen presence watching her, and Li Ling stole her oil lamp for soul tempering before turning his attention to the battle.
• The Unusual Events Bureau’s mortal soldiers attacked the stronghold with coordinated formations and explosives, while Zuo Zhongliang and other experts fought Senior Brother Pang.
• The old woman and several demonic-path experts broke out with Lin Rouniang as monsters overwhelmed the Bureau’s forces, leaving Senior Brother Pang behind.
• Li Ling killed abandoned lackeys and a Qi Refining cultivator with poison, then saw the Bureau capture Senior Brother Pang with chains and fire.
• Li Ling looted the estate and later counted eight portions of devil finger wood and over thirty portions of other spiritual materials, enough to greatly improve his mental power.

Li Ling studied the sun-powered lamp, strengthened his Divine Sense with Devil Finger Wood incense, and helped the Ninth Princess pursue research that might earn them Youth-Preserving Pills. After his Divine Sense passed a hundred jin, he discovered that his Incense Perception could detect and manipulate Incense Essence with remarkable ease, bringing him closer to creating his own arts.

• Li Ling recognized the lamp's oil as Crow-Blood Oil, hid his stolen supplies, and later received eighteen portions of Devil Finger Wood from Vice Minister Pei.
• Li Ling made incense from the wood while the Ninth Princess invited him to watch the Boat-Racing Festival and showed him her progress refining the Cloud-Producing Incense.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess agreed to seek two Youth-Preserving Pills with their contribution credit, and Li Ling's Divine Sense grew to a hundred jin by the fifth day of the seventh month.
• Li Ling warmed his Spirit Body by the Crow-Blood Oil lamp and found that his Incense Perception could detect the distinct fragrances of sun essence, moonlight, and Five Elements spiritual energy.
• Li Ling failed to move Five Elements spiritual energy but effortlessly controlled natural Incense Essence, realizing that his soul had reached the threshold for creating his own divine abilities and arts.

Li Ling created the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art, a Divine Ability that let him transform incense essence and absorb it as soul power. After discovering that it also nourished his body, he explored ways to strengthen himself and prepared to take the Ninth Princess to the Boat-Racing Festival.

• Li Ling combined his Incense Path foundation with other cultivation theories and awakened the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art, reaching the first of its five realms and creating Spirit-Communing Incense essence.
• Li Ling absorbed incense essence from the food at breakfast and discovered that it sustained his body, leaving him energetic and without hunger.
• Li Ling asked the residence’s martial instructor about strengthening his body and learned that ordinary martial training relied on eating and exercise, not Qi Refining.
• By mid-July, Li Ling remembered his promise to the Ninth Princess and decided to take her to watch the Boat-Racing Festival.

At the Boat-Racing Festival, Li Ling discovered that the crowd’s intense emotions released incense essence that flowed into a mysterious realm, leading him to consider cultivating it for himself. On the journey home, his procession stopped over a road dispute, and Li Ling recognized Zuo Zhongliang among those involved.

• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess attended the Boat-Racing Festival, watched the spear boats, and gave the guards and servants money to wager and enjoy the Market Gathering.
• Li Ling’s wagers mostly lost, but he noticed that many festivalgoers released incense essence when their spirits flared with emotion, and he sensed it flowing into an unknown void.
• Li Ling realized the essence resembled what he had encountered through the divine statue, considered whether he could transform it into incense and fire for his own cultivation, and decided to wait until his art reached the second realm.
• As Li Ling’s party left the festival early, their carriage stopped because people were arguing and blocking the road; Li Ling recognized Zuo Zhongliang and ordered a guard to ask what was happening.

Li Ling joined Hundred-Household Commander Zuo Zhongliang in Duckbill Township, where villagers and local leaders tried to force a bride into a River God Wedding. After identifying the witch and shaman as murderers, Li Ling stopped the sacrifice and had them thrown into the river.

• Li Ling learned Zuo Zhongliang was heading to Duckbill Township to investigate illicit worship and decided to follow him.
• In Duckbill Township, Zuo Zhongliang’s officers struggled to protect the bride from villagers incited by a witch, a shaman, and a local squire.
• Li Ling ordered Guard Lin and the other guards to help Zuo Zhongliang, allowing them to escort the bride to Li Ling’s carriage.
• Li Ling summoned the township’s influential figures, recognized the witches and shaman as killers, and ordered their arrest.
• Li Ling declared that he objected to the River God Wedding and had the three culprits thrown into the river, where they drowned.

Li Ling stopped a River God Wedding and rescued a girl, then reflected on the villagers’ exploitation before Walking Corpses and a Water Monkey attacked the convoy. Zuo Zhongliang and the guards defeated the monsters, but warned that more Demon Monsters could travel along the Great Lin River, so the group hurried toward the city.

• Li Ling learned that the gentry and elders had seized a poor girl for the River God Wedding, rescued her family, and warned them to stop the custom.
• Li Ling and the Ninth Princess discussed the villagers’ ignorance, the gentry’s greed, and the limits of Li Ling’s ability to change rural conditions.
• Walking Corpses appeared on the river, and Zuo Zhongliang beheaded all three before identifying them as Demon Monsters.
• A Water Ghost attacked with a Water Arrow, and Zuo Zhongliang and the guards used Thunderclap Bombs and Locust Crossbows to kill a Water Monkey.
• Zuo Zhongliang warned that other water-type Demon Monsters could travel along the Great Lin River, and the convoy continued toward the city.

After learning how the Demonic Path used the Great Lin River God's authority to frighten villagers into providing sacrifices, Li Ling entered the divine kingdom domain to find the culprits. He tracked down and crushed one attacker’s dream-spirit, alerting a Demonic Path practitioner upstream who began to fear the statue beside him.

• Zuo Zhongliang explained that the Demonic Path used divine authority to send nightmares and pressure Duckbill Township villagers into offering sacrifices.
• After no attacker came to the Prince Consort's Residence, Li Ling projected his soul into the divine kingdom domain and searched for the culprit.
• Li Ling reached Duckbill Township and discovered a strange smoke-snake entering villagers' dreams to threaten them into replacing a sacrifice.
• Unable to enter the villagers' dreams and explain the truth, Li Ling crushed the smoke-snake and followed its foul scent upstream.
• The Demonic Path practitioner whose dream-spirit Li Ling had attacked woke in a cold sweat and stared uneasily at the Ebony Divine Statue.

Li Ling used his divine power to frighten a demonic cultivator, then tracked him down and killed him and his accomplice. He discovered the man was a Ghost Soul Sect disciple and obtained Crow-Blood Oil and the Ghost Soul Secret Manual, including its Soul-Control Art.

• The demonic cultivator fled his room after strange phenomena appeared around the Great Lin River God statue, then sought refuge with his lackey and stayed with him until dawn.
• Li Ling realized the demonic cultivator had disrupted his influence through the divine domain, severed his connection, and traveled in his spirit body to attack the man in reality.
• Li Ling wounded and killed the demonic cultivator with sword qi, then killed the lackey who had witnessed the attack.
• Li Ling found a token identifying the dead cultivator as a Ghost Soul Sect disciple and left it and the Ebony Divine Statue for the Unusual Events Bureau.
• Li Ling found Crow-Blood Oil and the Ghost Soul Secret Manual, studied the Soul-Control Art, and recognized that its soul-damaging drawbacks would not hinder him.

After studying the Ghost Soul Secret Manual, Li Ling recognized how demonic cultivators used nightmares to spread illicit worship and proposed creating an affordable Sleep-Aid Incense to protect ordinary people. He began testing different incense varieties among the maidservants and entered Chao Shu’s dream to test his Nightmare-Suppression Arts.

• Li Ling used his knowledge of the soul to understand spirit origins and how Nightmare-Suppression Arts let demonic cultivators harass people through dreams.
• Li Ling questioned Zuo Zhongliang and Deputy Commander Ma about nightmare cases and learned that Ghost Soul Sect members were using Spirit-Communing Incense to aid illicit worship.
• Li Ling proposed making affordable incense that soothed the mind, cleared troubled dreams, and helped prevent demonic cultivators from influencing people.
• Li Ling prepared several varieties of Sleep-Aid Incense and had Chao Shu, Li Ju, Luo Zhen, and Jie Hua distribute them among the maidservants for a comparative test.
• Li Ling used Soul Projection, visited the sleeping maidservants, and entered Chao Shu’s dream to test his Nightmare-Suppression Arts against the incense.

Li Ling tested the effects of Sleep-Aid Incense and discovered a Demonic Path plot involving a poisoned Mystic Xin King and a possible Great Flood. He then developed Evil-Repelling Incense and confirmed that it could interfere with the Divine Domain’s influence in dreams and the real world.

• Li Ling entered Chao Shu’s dream, learned to alter it by taking over his own dream-self, and concluded that Sleep-Aid Incense might not prevent dream invasions.
• Li Ling entered a palace beauty’s dream through the Great Lin River God’s Divine Domain and uncovered memories of a plan to poison the Mystic Xin King and create chaos as cover.
• Li Ling removed the hidden poison, then found reports of prolonged torrential rain and water gathering upstream, suggesting the Demonic Path was preparing a flood.
• Li Ling reconsidered his incense research and made Evil-Repelling Incense from greenwood fragrance, frankincense, and benzoin resin.
• Li Ling lit the Evil-Repelling Incense and found that dense fog covered both the dream and its corresponding area in the real world.

Li Ling used Evil-Repelling Incense to filter the Great Lin River God's prayer power, discovered he could travel through divine authority, and entered a beautiful concubine's dream to capture the Demonic Path figures there. He encountered Lin Rouniang dressed in divine robes, and she sensed his presence.

• Li Ling entered the Great Lin River God's Divine Kingdom Domain and used Evil-Repelling Incense to block prayer power's mental influence.
• Li Ling filtered and absorbed tens of millions of prayer-power incense essence strands before stopping when voices began overwhelming him.
• Li Ling used divine authority to travel from the Divine Kingdom Domain to the beautiful concubine's courtyard, then returned to the domain and found traces of Lin Rouniang and an old Foundation Establishment woman in the concubine's dream.
• Li Ling entered the dream, intending to capture the women's dream spirits, and found Lin Rouniang wearing robes resembling those of the Great Lin River God.
• Lin Rouniang sensed Li Ling and turned toward him as vengeful spirits and a bone-chilling frost appeared in the hall.