Chapter Summaries

Li Ling expanded the Incense Path’s influence in Longevity Hall while he and Mu Qingsi planned to give a rare sky wolf to Fang Xin. Venerable Longevity brought Wu Lin to meet Li Ling, and Wu Lin began explaining his group’s dealings with the demon race.

• Li Ling explained that teaching Longevity Hall the Incense Path would help secure its future, along with access to spirit materials and markets.
• Li Ling lectured Longevity Hall disciples on human incense, and he noted Ma Lian’s particular talent and dedication.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi decided to arrange for Fang Xin to receive the sky wolf and planned how to guide her growth.
• Venerable Longevity introduced Wu Lin, who had helped obtain divine tree fruit from the Bashan Demon Kingdom.
• Wu Lin described how his group gathered intelligence and traded among humans, demon cultivators, and spirit monsters in the western regions.

Li Ling learned how to reach the Bashan Demon Kingdom and spent months developing the Incense Path with the Longevity Hall. The chapter ended when Qing Ji warned Ju Huang that Li Ling had come looking for them.

• Wu Lin explained the Bashan Demon Kingdom's history and told Li Ling that Hu Lao, the King of Giant Pillar Peak, could help him make contact with its powerful demons.
• Li Ling asked Wu Lin to arrange another deal with Hu Lao while secretly continuing to search for Ju Huang and Qing Ji as a way to reach the Myriad Demon Gathering.
• Li Ling and the Longevity Hall completed an alliance framework, and he began compiling the Gathering Grotto Continent Incense Canon and appraising local spirit materials.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi discussed the value of water from Seeing Emptiness Mountain and the difficulty of extracting it on a large scale.
• Qing Ji hurried to the Seventh Sacred Peak and warned Ju Huang that Li Ling had come looking for them.

Ju Huang decided to meet Li Ling in hopes of obtaining more life origin, while Qing Ji stayed behind to cover for her. Li Ling reached a border Market Ward in disguise and prepared to enter the Demon Kingdom, where Wu Lin’s purchase of a fox spirit’s pelt raised questions about how to approach their upcoming meeting with Hu Lao.

• Qing Ji urged Ju Huang to report Li Ling’s contact to Lord Bashan, but Ju Huang chose to meet him and seek more life origin instead.
• Li Ling traveled with Wu Lin and his companions to a border Market Ward, disguising himself and Mu Qingsi while presenting the demons as his slaves and pets.
• Wu Lin explained that demons followed the rule of the strong and warned Li Ling not to let the region’s customs disrupt their objective.
• Li Ling and his group explored the crowded Market Ward while waiting for the appointed meeting time.
• Wu Lin bargained for a fox spirit’s pelt and suggested giving it to Hu Lao, prompting Li Ling to question whether that gift would be appropriate.

Li Ling met the powerful fox demon Hu Lao and discussed opening a trade route between the maritime region and the Bashan Demon Kingdom. As Hu Lao departed with the gifts, Li Ling sensed murderous intent beneath his greed and friendliness.

• Wu Lin brought Li Ling and his companions to a guesthouse, where Hu Lao arrived in an extravagant procession.
• Wu Lin introduced Li Ling as a young master from the maritime Money Guild, and Li Ling proposed trading sea goods for local specialties.
• Hu Lao explained that a trade venture would need a Demon Emperor’s backing and surrender over seventy percent of its gross profits.
• Wu Lin suggested seeking support from Zhou Gan through King Yu Kai, and Hu Lao proudly acknowledged his favored position with the king.
• Li Ling detected humiliation and resentment beneath Hu Lao’s smugness, then used Mind-Harmony Incense when Hu Lao reacted to the fox pelt gift.
• Hu Lao accepted the gifts and departed, while Li Ling sensed blood and rot carrying murderous intent from him.

Li Ling learned that Hu Lao and Hu Gou belonged to the oppressed Heavenly Fox Race, whose survivors hoped to revive their people, and he accompanied Hu Lao to Partridge Ridge. On the journey, Li Ling began probing how he might help the Fox Clan by asking Hu Lao about conversion power.

• Li Ling secretly followed Hu Lao and overheard him and Hu Gou grieve over their people's oppression and discuss the Heavenly Fox Race's hopes of revival.
• Li Ling told Mu Qingsi what he had discovered and considered intervening in the Gathering Grotto Continent's affairs.
• Li Ling asked to accompany Hu Lao to Partridge Ridge, and Hu Lao accepted while warning him about the dangers of demon territory.
• Li Ling and his companions traveled with Hu Lao through the Ten Thousand Great Mountains toward Partridge Ridge, while Hu Lao kept his sister and the fox maids apart from them.
• During a roadside rest, Hu Lao questioned Li Ling about the Fox Clan's predicament, and Li Ling asked whether he had heard of conversion power.

Li Ling guided Hu Lao to understand the Heavenly Fox clan’s enchantment as a power that could influence all things, leading Hu Lao to abandon his old approach and cultivate transcendent allure. After reaching Partridge Ridge, Li Ling and his companions met Demon King Yu Kai, whose enthusiastic attention focused on Li Ling.

• Li Ling explained conversion power to Hu Lao, then prompted him to pick a wildflower, which led Hu Lao to realize that thought and intention could influence reality.
• Hu Lao told Hu Gou that enchantment’s true essence could affect all things, not merely stir attraction between men and women, and warned against repeating the Demon Queen’s mistakes.
• Hu Lao changed his manner, thanked a Great Demon for his service, and developed an alluring presence; Li Ling recognized his rapid progress and hoped to learn from him in turn.
• On the journey, Li Ling told Hu Lao about the Immortal-Demon War, the Heavenly Court, and the Underworld, leaving Hu Lao wondering how Li Ling knew so much.
• Hu Lao secured Li Ling and his companions an audience with Demon King Yu Kai at Partridge Ridge.
• Li Ling greeted Yu Kai, who welcomed him warmly, ignored his companions, and looked at him with feverish interest.

Li Ling built connections in the Bashan Demon Kingdom and arranged a trade in human goods, including hundred-flavors incense, while identifying golden leaf orchids as a possible substitute for a rare incense ingredient. Yu Kai granted Li Ling a Travel Permit, and Li Ling left to return to the borderlands, promising another shipment in a year to a year and a half.

• Li Ling spent nearly half a month befriending demons and learning about local resources, while he and Mu Qingsi decided to focus first on trading for golden leaf orchids.
• Li Ling offered Hu Lao exclusive distribution rights for hundred-flavors incense in the Bashan Demon Kingdom without lowering its price, hoping Hu Lao would find a way to develop the business.
• Yu Kai and the other demons enjoyed food seasoned with hundred-flavors incense, and Hu Lao and the Demon Kings urged Yu Kai to grant Li Ling trading rights.
• Yu Kai gave Li Ling a sheepskin Travel Permit, allowing him to enter and leave Partridge Ridge freely.
• Li Ling promised to bring another shipment within a year to a year and a half, then traveled east back to the borderlands.

Li Ling and Mu Qingsi discussed the demon kingdom’s feudal structure and how the Hundred Flavors Gate might influence demons through food. After finding Ju Huang, Li Ling asked her to help him attend the Myriad Demon Gathering’s Spirit Banquet, and she agreed in exchange for more Blood Orchid Incense, even offering to help uproot the divine tree.

• Li Ling examined the Travel Permit and explained to Mu Qingsi that its authority applied only within Partridge Ridge because the demon kingdom’s fiefs operated independently.
• Li Ling described how the Hundred Flavors Gate could use tailored incense and food to influence demon cultivators over time.
• Li Ling sensed Ju Huang nearby and entered her secluded building while Mu Qingsi waited outside.
• Ju Huang objected to Li Ling’s plan to enter the Spirit Banquet, but Li Ling exposed her desire for more Blood Orchid Incense to advance her cultivation.
• Ju Huang agreed to help Li Ling and Qing'er attend the banquet in exchange for enough incense, then offered to help uproot the divine tree, leaving Li Ling surprised.

Li Ling built up an Incense Market in Xuguang Town and prepared supplies for his planned entry into the Myriad Demon Gathering, while continuing his trade across Partridge Ridge. During a visit to Yu Kai, he witnessed the demon king’s elite troops slaughter three tax-defying demons and learned that the survivors would feast on their remains.

• Li Ling told Mu Qingsi that Ju Huang would help him enter the Myriad Demon Gathering, where he hoped to win a place at the feast or trade Blood Orchid Incense for sacred fruit.
• Zhan Li and the Incense Path disciples opened a trading depot in Xuguang Town, drawing local cultivators and merchants despite competition from Li Ling’s growing business.
• Li Ling gathered supplies for making Blood Orchid Incense, made repeated trips to Partridge Ridge, and developed a small merchant guild to deliver goods to the Demon King Caves.
• Yu Kai showed Li Ling his three hundred drilled elite troops and explained that demon kings and their underlings would compete for territories at the coming Myriad Demon Gathering.
• Zonggao brought three tax-defying wild Pig Demons before Yu Kai, who ordered them to fight the elite troops; the soldiers killed all three at the cost of dozens of casualties.
• Yu Kai ordered the fallen soldiers prepared as supplemental food and declared that the three defeated demons would be served at a victory feast, inviting Li Ling to attend.

Li Ling and Mu Qingsi attended Yu Kai’s feast and saw how Hundred-Flavors Incense had intensified the demon cultivators’ practice of eating their own kind. Hu Lao then asked Li Ling to help free captured fox demons, and Li Ling agreed after realizing the rescue could support Hu Lao’s ambitions.

• Li Ling explained to Mu Qingsi how demon cultivators used the flesh of their own kind to strengthen themselves, and how Hundred-Flavors Incense had made the practice more enticing.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi attended Yu Kai’s banquet, where demon cultivators eagerly ate food seasoned with Hundred-Flavors Incense and later gambled.
• Hu Lao privately asked Li Ling to attack a slave-hunting party and rescue captured little fox demons, offering his private fortune in return.
• Hu Lao revealed that some captives were descendants of the Heavenly Fox lineage and tested whether Li Ling understood the significance of his words.
• Li Ling agreed to help Hu Lao, then told Mu Qingsi that Hu Lao likely planned to use the rescued clanspeople to build power after becoming a Demon King.

Li Ling used the Will-Consent Incense to take a group of captured Fox Clan demons from their slavers and bring them back to Hu Lao and Hu Gou. Hu Lao confirmed they were his kin and promised to repay Li Ling, who said their cause and effect would bring a chance to do so later.

• Li Ling projected his soul into the wilderness and used his affinity to find the demon slavers carrying Fox Clan captives.
• Li Ling clouded the slavers’ minds with Will-Consent Incense, persuaded them to hand over the captives, and took a share of their supplies.
• The slaver leader recovered his clarity and found the cages empty after Li Ling disappeared with the fox demons.
• Li Ling used a Minor Cave Heaven portal and Shrinking Distance to Inches to return the captives to Partridge Ridge.
• Hu Lao and Hu Gou recognized the rescued fox demons, and Hu Lao thanked Li Ling and promised to help him in the future.

Li Ling concealed Hu Lao’s fox demons by transforming them into humans and sent them to Xuguang Town to work in the Incense Market. As Hu Kua and the other foxes prospered selling incense, Hu Lao began to consider whether the Fox Clan could thrive among humans rather than in the Demon Kingdom.

• Hu Lao worried that Yu Kai and slave hunters would discover the fox demons, so Li Ling used his flesh-law power to disguise them as humans and gave them Transformation Incense.
• Hu Kua and Hu Si offered to follow Li Ling, but he declined and sent them with the other fox demons to Xuguang Town.
• Hu Gou regretted that Li Ling would not take the sisters in, while Hu Lao warned her against relying on powerful figures and focused on gaining freedom through his own advancement.
• At the Incense Market, Elder Fang recruited Hu Kua and the fox women to promote spirit incense to local cultivators’ families.
• Hu Kua and the others made strong sales, prompting Hu Lao to realize that working with humans might offer the Fox Clan a better future than remaining among demons.

Over five years, Li Ling built trade and friendships with Bashan’s Demon Kings while advancing his understanding of conversion power. As the Myriad Demon Gathering approached, he arrived at Ju Huang’s territory, where Ju Huang prepared to honor their ten-year agreement.

• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi traded Hundred-Flavors Incense and fragrant honey with Xiong Ba, then exchanged supplies with Lu Ding and other Demon Kings.
• Li Ling used incense and his growing understanding of the Wisdom Dao to build trust with Demon Kings across Bashan’s domains.
• Near Bashan, Li Ling heard the spiritual sparks in ordinary plants and realized his conversion power was close to reaching the level of laws.
• Li Ling led his party toward Ju Huang’s territory and formally requested entry as the human merchant Li Zhen.
• Ju Huang ordered his gates opened and invited Li Ling in, recognizing that their ten-year term had arrived.

Li Ling and Mu Qingsi traveled with Ju Huang to Bashan for the Myriad Demon Gathering, where Li Ling learned about the World-Building Tree and entered Bashan City under his false identity as Li Zhen. General Hound recognized Li Ling’s hidden Nascent Soul cultivation but chose not to expose him, leaving Li Ling inside the demon gathering with his cover intact.

• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi journeyed through Bashan with Ju Huang, who explained the demon race’s gathering and its history.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi discussed the World-Building Tree, its relationship to other divine trees, and the dangers that had led to the original tree’s destruction.
• Ju Huang guided Li Ling and the others to Bashan City, where General Hound inspected the newcomers and allowed them to enter after detecting their auras.
• Ju Huang and Qing Ji wondered why General Hound had admitted Li Ling so easily, and Li Ling said it was because he was a good person.
• A Hound Race demon brought General Hound the visitors’ records, and General Hound ordered him not to cause trouble because Li Ling was a Nascent Soul cultivator.

As the Myriad Demon Gathering approached, Yu Kai visited Lord Bashan and received a rare flame-baleful-qi yin soul from Ye Lianyi of the Ghost Soul Sect. Ye Lianyi learned that Li Zhen had ties to many demon kings, while Hu Lao and Hu Gou secretly moved to warn him; Li Ling sensed that someone was looking for him.

• Yu Kai met Lord Bashan, who displayed his powerful Chang Ghosts and lamented his stalled cultivation.
• Ye Lianyi offered Yu Kai a rare yin soul with flame baleful qi and explained how he could refine it into a Chang Ghost.
• Ye Lianyi warned Yu Kai that Li Ling had killed a Tiger Race descendant and that the Incense Path was connected to him, prompting Lord Bashan to tell Yu Kai to avoid those ties.
• Ye Lianyi asked Yu Kai to introduce her to Li Zhen, and Yu Kai revealed that he knew several demon kings who might be with him.
• Hu Lao learned about Ye Lianyi and urged Hu Gou to warn Li, while Li Ling sensed someone was seeking him.

Li Ling learned that a Netherworld Sect envoy had appeared beside Lord Bashan, warned the Heavenly Court through incense, and avoided Ye Lianyi while Ju Huang explained why the Demon Kingdom was unlikely to ally with the Underworld. At the Myriad Demon Gathering, two new Demon Emperors were welcomed and territorial contests began, leaving Li Ling considering how a wild demon could claim territory.

• Li Ling heard that Ye Lianyi and a Netherworld Sect envoy were with Lord Bashan, then sent word to the Heavenly Court and chose not to meet Ye Lianyi.
• Ju Huang misdirected Ye Lianyi by claiming Li Zhen had left the city, and later told Li Ling that the Demon Race had little reason to ally with either the Underworld or the Heavenly Court.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi disguised themselves and attended the Myriad Demon Gathering, where Lord Bashan announced the ascension of Demon Emperors Kui Xing and Yu Dou.
• Lord Bashan opened the gathering with rites and introduced the Beast-Fighting Platform, where Demon Kings could settle disputes over territory through combat.
• Ti Hun challenged Huan Feng and defeated him, then won the ensuing subordinate battles to expand his territory.

Li Ling examined and ate the Sacred Fruit, discovering that its spirit resonance could preserve a soul on the verge of dispersal. At the Myriad Demon Gathering, Hu Lao revealed himself as a Demon King and publicly sought independence from Yu Kai, leaving the crowd enthralled and his future uncertain.

• Li Ling sensed that the Sacred Fruit nourished the soul and could temporarily preserve it when it was close to scattering, though its power faded quickly after harvest.
• Yu Kai searched for Hu Lao and his attendants, then heard that Hu Lao had ascended to Demon King and requested formal investiture.
• Hu Lao appeared in the arena in a striking white robe, revealing three fox tails and captivating the demon cultivators with his enchantment.
• Li Ling and Ju Huang recognized signs of Hu Lao's powerful Heavenly Fox bloodline, while Yu Kai realized he could no longer control him.
• Li Ling explained that Hu Lao had challenged Yu Kai publicly to gain freedom and hoped to establish a refuge for oppressed fox demons around Giant Pillar Peak, Jade Mountain, and Black Valley.

Hu Lao reclaimed Giant Pillar Peak after defeating its current ruler with a powerful soul-targeting ability and drawing a crowd of demons to his aid. His victory drew the attention of hostile Demon Emperors and Yu Kai, who watched him with a sinister smile.

• Lord Bashan, Yu Lan, and Chi Ji discussed the Heavenly Fox bloodline and its supposed threat to the Demon Kingdom, while Cun Ya accused their races of fabricating the Demon Queen’s wicked reputation.
• Hu Lao defeated the leopard demon with a soul attack, leaving him dazed and unable to resist.
• Li Ling recognized that Hu Lao’s tails could also kindle specific impulses in others, and he analyzed the ability as a form of transmutation distinct from his Will-Consent Incense.
• Hu Lao called for help, and his influence drew enough powerful Great Demons to the arena that the leopard demon conceded.
• The presiding Bashan expert declared Hu Lao the victor, and Yu Kai watched him reclaim Giant Pillar Peak with a sinister smile.

Hu Lao reclaimed Giant Pillar Peak and drew the interest of Zi Lian, whose sudden love for him came from the power of his third fox tail. Lord Bashan secretly ordered five Demon Kings to kill Hu Lao, and Li Ling found him under attack after answering his plea for help.

• Hu Lao revealed that he had become a Demon King and confronted Yu Kai over his past betrayal and threats against Giant Pillar Peak.
• Zi Lian challenged Yu Kai, defeated him in the arena, and pursued Hu Lao after the power of his third fox tail kindled her love for him.
• Li Ling sensed the supernatural power behind Zi Lian's feelings and collected its lingering essence while noticing a jackal- or wolf-featured Great Demon watching Hu Lao with murderous intent.
• Lord Bashan ordered Hei Biao and his four brothers to kill Hu Lao in Bashan City and planned to draw Zi Lian away.
• Li Ling received Hu Lao's urgent plea for help, went to the outskirts of the city, and found Hu Lao in mortal danger against five mighty Demon Kings.

Li Ling rescued Hu Lao and Hu Gou from the Five Brothers, Hei Biao, and treated Hu Gou while attempting to resurrect the slain fox-demon maids. After learning the tiger demons had come on Lord Bashan’s orders, Li Ling concealed himself as a Leopard Race Demon Emperor arrived.

• The Five Brothers, Hei Biao, ambushed Hu Lao, held Hu Gou captive, and wounded Hu Lao inside their Void Cave Heaven.
• An unseen rescuer cut the fourth brother in half, freed Hu Gou, and repelled the second brother, forcing the Five Brothers to flee.
• Hu Gou began to die from her injuries, but Li Ling appeared and used healing medicine to restore her body while preparing to revive the slain maids with Reverse-Flow Incense.
• Hu Lao told Li Ling that the Five Brothers were Lord Bashan’s experts and had been sent to kill him.
• Li Ling told Hu Lao to hide and protect the healing process, then concealed himself as a Leopard Race Demon Emperor arrived.