Chapter Summaries

Li Ling tracked Lord Bashan through the ruined northern forests by sensing his distinctive incense essence, then led Venerable Longevity and Hong Lei to his hidden tiger form. Their surprise attack wounded Lord Bashan, but he fled into the forest and vanished from their spiritual consciousness.

• Li Ling, Venerable Longevity, and Hong Lei surveyed the devastation left by Lord Bashan and learned that he was slaughtering demon tribes to gather soul quintessence.
• Li Ling used his exceptional sense of incense essence to identify Lord Bashan’s trail and follow it through the mountains.
• Li Ling detected that Lord Bashan had doubled back and was hiding near a stream, disguised as a tiger among a herd of deer.
• Venerable Longevity and Hong Lei attacked Lord Bashan with an Azure Feather Skyhawk and a Qiongqi, wounding him before he fled into the forest.
• Lord Bashan disappeared from their spiritual consciousness, leaving Venerable Longevity and Hong Lei unable to find him in the suddenly ominous forest.

Li Ling and his allies struggled to catch Lord Bashan, whose tiger abilities let him frighten and evade them before he escaped. After Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang revealed Lord Bashan’s likely plan to reach Mount Gaiwang, the chapter ended with Netherworld Sect reinforcements arriving in Bashan, including a figure who awed Demon Emperor Yu Lan.

• Li Ling resisted Lord Bashan’s fear-inducing tiger might, shielded Venerable Longevity and Hong Lei, and helped locate him in the mountain forest.
• Lord Bashan ambushed Hong Lei’s Qiongqi, then vanished using the Tiger Race’s Veiling Technique and evaded his pursuers.
• Chi Ji and Ze Chi joined the hunt, but Lord Bashan slipped away; they later left to recruit more allies while Li Ling and the others continued searching.
• Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang warned that Lord Bashan might be heading to Mount Gaiwang to restore the Worry-Free Tree, and ordered the group to prepare an ambush there at month’s end.
• Demon Emperor Yu Lan welcomed Ye Hengsheng and two other Netherworld Sect cultivators, then trembled when their Venerable arrived.

Li Ling discovered that Lord Bashan’s feeding ability could be exploited and crafted a fragrant soul spirit from the foul remnants of his victims. Li Ling, Venerable Longevity, and Hong Lei reached Mount Gaiwang ahead of Lord Bashan, who smelled the bait upon arriving and was drawn toward it.

• Li Ling studied the ghost souls left by Lord Bashan’s attacks and realized the Tiger Race’s feeding ability transformed victims’ essence into spirit resonance.
• Li Ling proposed disguising harmful soul dregs as a fragrant delicacy that Lord Bashan would willingly consume, and Venerable Longevity and Hong Lei helped gather remnants.
• Li Ling used soul-incense methods to shape the dregs into a fragrant soul spirit resembling the aura of a Sacred Fruit, then gave Formless Incense to Venerable Longevity and Hong Lei so they could conceal themselves.
• Lord Bashan slaughtered a group of lesser demons, absorbed their souls, and decided to return to Mount Gaiwang to claim the reserves buried beneath the site.
• Lord Bashan reached Mount Gaiwang using several doubles, then caught the bait’s fragrance and found himself irresistibly drawn toward it.

Lord Bashan followed a strange scent to a bone branch of the Worry-Free Tree, where he ate a transformed demon soul and was ambushed by Li Ling’s allies. The coalition weakened him with Li Ling’s incense array, and Li Ling finally severed his control over the Chang Ghosts and captured them.

• Lord Bashan found a rabbit-headed demon soul sheltering by the rooted bone branch and devoured her, only to suffer a foul contamination that clouded his mind.
• Qiongqi, the Azure Feather Skyhawk, Venerable Longevity, and Hong Lei attacked Lord Bashan while Li Ling’s Spirit-Bewildering Incense obscured his senses.
• Chi Ji, Ze Chi, Yinwu, Cun Ya, and Kui Xing joined the fight, and Cun Ya and Chi Ji revealed that Lord Bashan had secretly killed promising members of their races to create Chang Ghosts.
• Li Ling concealed himself and spread Spirit Incense around the battlefield as the coalition fought Lord Bashan and waited for the incense’s effects to weaken him.
• Cun Ya and the other fighters grievously wounded Lord Bashan, allowing Li Ling to block his perception of the Chang Ghosts and capture them all.

Lord Bashan used the Tiger Race’s laws to transform his soul and nearly became a Demon God, but Li Ling trapped him so the assembled experts could destroy his unstable form. After the battle, the allies divided the spoils, and Li Ling gained ideas for forging a Dharma Body through the Incense Deity Method.

• Lord Bashan survived Chi Ji’s killing blow by using his innate power over Chang Ghosts to transform his soul and form an incomplete Dharma Body.
• The experts’ attacks failed against Lord Bashan’s law-bound form until Li Ling trapped him with the Evil-Repelling Incense.
• Li Ling directed the experts to disrupt Lord Bashan’s sustaining laws, and their combined power destroyed him; Li Ling collected the scattered origin substance.
• Chi Ji claimed Lord Bashan’s corpse, while Li Ling kept Lord Bashan’s Chang Ghosts and selected other spoils, including White Bone Tree branches and the Netherworld Sect’s secret arts.
• Li Ling drew inspiration from Lord Bashan’s transformation and considered forging a Dharma Body through the Incense Deity Method.

Li Ling transformed Lord Bashan’s Chang Ghosts into Guardian Incense Deities and learned about some of their abilities. The arrival of the Spirit Transformation cultivator Venerable Lianwu turned the aftermath into a new confrontation, and Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang appeared to face him.

• Li Ling used the Will-Consent Incense to convert most of the Chang Ghosts, spending extra cultivation to subdue the five Demon Emperor-realm spirits.
• Li Ling, Venerable Longevity, and Hong Lei discussed how to command the converted Chang Ghosts and identified the caracal’s soul-tearing power and the snow leopard’s lightning speed.
• A signal announced the Netherworld Sect’s reinforcements, while Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang fought an enemy in the distance.
• Venerable Lianwu arrived, saw Lord Bashan’s corpse, and revealed the overwhelming presence of a Spirit Transformation cultivator.
• Venerable Longevity recognized Venerable Lianwu as a renowned corpse-refinement master from thirty thousand years earlier, and Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang arrived to confront him.

Venerable Lianwu demanded Lord Bashan’s remnant soul, but Li Ling refused despite warnings from Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang and the threat of retaliation. The chapter ended with Lianwu preparing to attack Li Ling while Sichen Yuan Guang watched.

• Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang and Venerable Lianwu traded insults about their cultivation, age, and prospects for immortality.
• Venerable Lianwu conceded that he had lost the current contest and asked for Lord Bashan’s remnant soul in exchange for ending the matter.
• Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang privately explained that returning the soul could satisfy Lianwu, but warned Li Ling about the consequences of refusing.
• Li Ling refused to hand over Lord Bashan’s remnant soul, explaining that he had a use for it and would not trade it away.
• Venerable Lianwu demanded the soul from Li Ling, who again refused and declared he was not afraid of the senior.
• Venerable Lianwu threatened to deal with Li Ling and told Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang to stand aside.

Li Ling refused to surrender Lord Bashan’s remnant soul and fought Venerable Lianwu with the Xiyi Illusory Body and his guardian incense deities. After the deities wounded Lianwu’s avatar, Li Ling targeted the Savage King and began converting the corpse puppet with Will-Consent Incense.

• Li Ling refused to hand over Lord Bashan’s remnant soul, and Venerable Lianwu summoned the Corpse Immortal Dao puppet called the Savage King to attack him.
• Li Ling used the Xiyi Illusory Body to evade the Savage King’s attacks, then used Dust-Transcending Incense to erase his presence from the mortal world.
• Li Ling sent his guardian incense deities, the Chang Ghosts he had subdued, to fight Lianwu’s corpse puppets.
• Li Ling coordinated four guardian incense deities, which used Phantom Floating Fragrance to evade Lianwu’s attacks and wound his avatar.
• Li Ling shifted behind the Savage King and used Will-Consent Incense to begin converting the corpse puppet.

Li Ling used the Three-Eyed Ghost Tiger’s Soul Devouring to seize the Savage King’s soul essence and gain insight into his destructive power, discovering a new path to Dao Attainment. Venerable Lianwu detonated the Savage King to stop Li Ling from taking control, but Li Ling captured some of the resulting power and Venerable Lianwu withdrew.

• Venerable Lianwu fought to retain control of the Savage King as Li Ling’s Will-Consent Incense and golden kasaya weakened his hold.
• Li Ling summoned the Three-Eyed Ghost Tiger, whose Soul Devouring ability tore into the Savage King and revealed memories and insights about his power.
• Li Ling filtered the soul essence through his Fragrance-Sensing Talent and realized it offered him a direct way to comprehend the Dao.
• The Savage King resisted the incense and broke free, but the Ghost Tiger bit him again while Li Ling gathered more spirit resonance.
• Venerable Lianwu made the Savage King charge Li Ling’s Chang Ghosts and detonated him, but Li Ling protected his ghosts and captured some of the released Dharma Power and law essence.
• Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang confronted Venerable Lianwu, who left after warning Li Ling.

Li Ling received Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang’s warning about threats from powerful law users, then protected his wife and studied the gains from Lord Bashan’s remnant soul. He mastered destruction law and discovered techniques that could help him complete the Incense Deity Path, while uncovering a possible connection between Lord Bashan and the Ghost Tiger he controlled.

• Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang warned Li Ling about Venerable Lianwu, Yu Jiu, and Dharma Body Realm experts who could counter his methods through law power.
• The righteous-path experts divided their spoils, while Li Ling found Mu Qingsi in Xuguang Town and sent her back to the North Sea with Mystic Traversal Talismans.
• Li Ling refined the remnant soul’s origin power into Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom Incense and used it to grasp the true meaning of destruction law.
• Li Ling classified his levels of mastery over law power and dao fruits, distinguishing acquired law insight from innate powers drawn from his primordial spirit.
• Li Ling extracted Lord Bashan’s techniques for controlling Chang Ghosts and realized they could help preserve remnant souls and advance the Incense Deity Path.
• Li Ling found the Ghost Tiger’s soul-devouring power within Lord Bashan’s remnant soul and suspected the Ghost Tiger might have originated as a portion of Lord Bashan’s severed soul.

Li Ling absorbed new powers, repelled Huang Qifeng and Pang Shou when they came to threaten his disciples, then withdrew the Incense Accumulation Sect’s personnel from Xuguang Town. Meanwhile, Ye Hengsheng reached the Heavenly Gate to report Lord Bashan’s death to Demon God Yu Jiu.

• Li Ling refined the powers of Chang Ghosts and Soul Devouring, bringing both to the level of true intent.
• Venerable Lianwu sent Ye Hengsheng to inform Demon God Yu Jiu of Lord Bashan’s death and ordered Huang Qifeng and Pang Shou to target the Incense Accumulation Sect.
• Li Ling intercepted Huang Qifeng and Pang Shou near Xuguang Town, and they abandoned their mission after he demonstrated his destructive power.
• Li Ling told his disciples to withdraw from the area and shift to a model that relied on local agents.
• Ye Hengsheng climbed the World-Connecting Tree at Bashan and called for an audience with Yu Jiu, whose will soon answered him.

Ye Hengsheng reported Lord Bashan’s death to Demon God Yu Jiu, while Venerable Lianwu postponed recovering the remnant soul and sent his followers to aid the embattled Tiger Race. As Chi Ji assembled allies against the tigers, Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang explained how grotto-heavens could shelter their occupants from the Great Tribulation, and the gathering resolved to destroy the Tiger Race.

• Ye Hengsheng told Yu Jiu that Lord Bashan had died and the Netherworld Sect had failed to recover his soul, and Yu Jiu demanded that Lian Wu provide an answer.
• Ye Hengsheng met Huang Qifeng and Pang Shou, who reported that Li Ling had defeated them, and the three later gave Venerable Lianwu their accounts.
• Venerable Lianwu excused Huang Qifeng and Pang Shou’s failure, set aside Lord Bashan’s remnant soul, and ordered them to assist Yu Lan against the Lion Race’s growing coalition.
• Chi Ji and allied demon emperors rallied against the Tiger Race, while Venerable Longevity and Hong Lei advised the Lion Race with Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang’s mediation.
• Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang explained that grotto-heavens served as refuges from the Great Tribulation, and Chi Ji declared that he would become Lord Bashan and end the conflict.
• The assembled experts agreed that every tiger demon must be exterminated to prevent the Tiger Race from returning.

The Incense Market party withdrew from Xuguang Town as Gathering Grotto Continent faced growing instability, and Zhan Li questioned Li Ling about abandoning their frontier foothold. Li Ling agreed to let the disciples return within three to five years, then received a confidential letter from the Longevity Hall.

• Zhan Li welcomed Elder Zhang and the Incense Market party as they arrived from Xuguang Town, and Elder Zhang asked why their plans had been halted.
• Zhan Li reported their safe return to Li Ling and challenged his decision to retreat from the frontier.
• Li Ling explained the Incense Path’s progression from implements and arts to methods and the Dao, then revealed that he feared a Spirit Transformation cultivator from the Netherworld Sect.
• Zhan Li told Li Ling that many disciples wanted the chance to advance despite the danger, and Li Ling promised they could return within three to five years.
• Li Ling ordered Zhan Li to distribute generous cash gifts to the disciples, then received and read a confidential letter from the Longevity Hall.

Li Ling perfected the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art into the Incense-Transformation Method during more than a year of secluded cultivation, then assessed the growing conflict in the Bashan Demon Kingdom. As he weighed the Incense Accumulation Sect’s position, a Rotting Corpse Calamity swept across the Gathering Grotto Continent.

• Li Ling considered whether the Incense Accumulation Sect should enter the Bashan Demon Kingdom’s conflict and contacted Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang before beginning secluded cultivation.
• Li Ling used Soul-Devouring Power to improve the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art, enabling practitioners to transform spiritual intent into incense essence and establishing the Incense-Transformation Method.
• Li Ling counted his law-level Dao Fruits, fed Lord Bashan’s remnant soul to the Ghost Tiger, and emerged from seclusion.
• Zhan Li reported that Longevity Hall had joined the Lion Race’s offensives, while no demon emperors had personally entered the fighting and the Heavenly Court had made no recent contact.
• Li Ling warned Zhan Li against coveting Longevity Hall’s territory and explained that reputation and virtue could be turned into practical benefits.
• Li Ling sensed the Rotting Corpse Calamity as a vast gray haze and understood that it threatened the entire Gathering Grotto Continent and all living beings beneath Vast Heaven.

Li Ling negotiated with Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang to send the Incense Accumulation Sect into the Gathering Grotto Continent in exchange for territory and support for its disciples. The chapter ended with Sichen Yuan Guang revealing that the World-Connecting Tree atop Bashan had suffered a calamity omen: the withering of the immortal root.

• Zhan Li told the sect’s stewards and elders that Li Ling had ordered them to wait, then received Li Ling’s order to prepare for the Gathering Grotto Continent’s turmoil.
• Li Ling surveyed the region and sensed that the Rotting Corpse Calamity was spreading from Bashan as the workings of heaven grew murky.
• Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang contacted Li Ling and offered him port cities and three middle-grade blessed lands if the Incense Accumulation Sect helped the Lion Race and Longevity Hall.
• Sichen Yuan Guang offered Nine-Turn Golden Elixirs to help Li Ling’s people form cores, and the two agreed that the sect would intervene in the conflict and receive a share of the gains.
• Sichen Yuan Guang told Li Ling that the withering of the immortal root had appeared, and Li Ling learned that something had gone wrong with the World-Connecting Tree atop Bashan.

Li Ling learned that the Demon Gods planned to abandon the Gathering Grotto Continent and escape the coming era’s upheaval on a raft made from the World-Connecting Tree. As the tree began to decay and mutate, Venerable Lianwu failed to persuade Demon God Yu Jiu to join his plans, so the Netherworld Sect prepared to act on its own.

• Star Lord Sichen Yuan Guang told Li Ling that the Demon Gods intended to leave the continent on a raft made from the World-Connecting Tree and explained the ten omens of doomsday.
• Li Ling discussed preparations with Zhan Li and sent letters to key figures in the North Sea as he considered spreading the incense path westward.
• Ye Hengsheng and Venerable Lianwu observed the decaying World-Connecting Tree and found tumor-like growths forming on its branches.
• Venerable Lianwu urged Demon God Yu Jiu to descend the mountain and exploit the tree’s imminent mutation, but Yu Jiu refused and demanded that Lianwu answer for Lord Bashan’s fate.
• Venerable Lianwu and Ye Hengsheng left, and more than ten thousand corpse puppets and Corpse Immortal Sect disciples appeared in the Tiger Race’s territories.

Li Ling recognized that war stirred up scattered spiritual essence across the Gathering Grotto Continent, creating an opportunity for the Incense Path to flourish. He summoned the Hundred Flavors Gate to expand westward and gave Song Yang and Luo Ying a new path through spirit cuisine, leaving them with gourmet Dao seeds to cultivate.

• Li Ling observed the Lion and Tiger Races' war and realized that conflict brought scattered spiritual essence to the surface, making the Gathering Grotto Continent an ideal place for the Incense Path.
• Li Ling decided to send the Hundred Flavors Gate to spread the Dao and compiled the Gathering Grotto Spirit Cuisine Compendium.
• Song Yang and Luo Ying arrived at Dragon Abyss Market, and Li Ling explained that the compendium could help them develop spirit cuisine and strengthen the Hundred Flavors Gate.
• Li Ling gave Song Yang and Luo Ying gourmet Dao seeds, each formed from sixty years of his dharma power, and urged them to cultivate the cuisine path.

Luo Ying discovered that her gourmet Dao seed let her turn local ingredients into food that strengthened cultivation and revealed the meaning of laws. Li Ling gave Song Yang and Luo Ying two Nine-Turn Golden Elixirs, but the chapter ended with news that the Heavenly Court had been defeated and Luo Dao had died in battle.

• Senior Brother Zhang caught a spirit-resonant wild rabbit, and the disciples returned to Dragon Abyss Market with local specimens to study.
• Luo Ying prepared a Hundred-Treasure Delicacy Pot and found that eating its spirit resonance improved her body, cultivation, Dharma power, and understanding of laws.
• Li Ling told Song Yang and Luo Ying to develop the gourmet Dao and share its Dao seeds with their disciples.
• Li Ling gave Song Yang and Luo Ying two Nine-Turn Golden Elixirs to help them reach Core Formation, while worrying that he had only one elixir left for Luo Dao and Yang Ziying.
• An urgent message from the East Sea reported that the Heavenly Court had been routed and Luo Dao had fallen in battle.

After learning that Luo Dao had died in the East Sea, Li Ling used a ritual and his Soul-Summoning Method to retrieve Luo Dao’s remnant soul from the Corpse Kun. He left Song Yang and Luo Ying protected in Dragon Abyss Market and began his return journey.

• Zhan Li reported that the Netherworld Sect had destroyed the Heavenly Court’s army in the East Sea and that Luo Dao was presumed dead.
• Li Ling ordered Zhan Li to gather materials for a ritual to summon Luo Dao’s remnant soul before the forty-ninth day.
• At the altar in Dragon Abyss Market, Li Ling opened a passage toward the Netherworld Ghost Domain and confronted Xin Yue beside the Corpse Kun.
• Li Ling used Soul-Reaping Incense to kill attacking demon insects, then drew Luo Dao’s remnant soul out of the Corpse Kun and took it with him.
• Xin Yue let Li Ling leave with Luo Dao’s soul and ordered his subordinates to set aside captured souls from the Incense Accumulation Sect.
• Li Ling gave Song Yang and Luo Ying Formless Incense and two ghost beasts for protection, advised them to seek help if needed, and departed.

After the East Sea defeat, Li Ling returned to the North Sea to organize support for the displaced East Sea Immortal Alliance and help the Heavenly Court recruit new leaders. He also arranged for the recently deceased Luo Dao and Hu Lao to be reincarnated, beginning a search for suitable unborn bodies.

• The Heavenly Court asked Li Ling to help relocate the East Sea Immortal Alliance and guide neutral powers toward its camp, while Yellow Cloud told him Shu Changsheng might rise to become the Plague Division’s Desolate Baleful Heavenly Lord.
• Li Ling urged the injured Shu Changsheng to seek intelligence and prepare for the Heavenly Lord position, promising that Yingzhi and the sect would support him.
• Li Ling returned to the North Sea, where Nie Yingzhi and the local powers welcomed him; he pledged support to East Sea Immortal Alliance leader Guo Yuanchi and Spirit Emperor Sect elder Dongfang Ming.
• Mu Qingsi asked about Luo Dao, and Li Ling explained that he intended to reincarnate him alongside Hu Lao, though the process carried risks.
• Li Ling explained the reincarnation plan to Hu Gou, who accepted it, and ordered his disciples to search the mortal world for suitable mothers for Hu Lao and Luo Dao.