Chapter Summaries

After the old king died, a Netherworld Sect agent tried to use the succession to start a rebellion, while Luo Qiyin refused to join him. The plot was exposed and crushed, and Luo Qiyin left the capital intending to abandon his life as a hidden pawn and become a rogue cultivator.

• The old king of the White Gull Kingdom died, and Luo Qiyin’s fellow Netherworld Sect agent urged him to support the Eighth Commandery Prince’s rebellion.
• Luo Qiyin refused, warned that the Incense Accumulation Sect would intervene, and secretly watched the wealthy merchant’s preparations.
• The Eighth Commandery Prince and the wealthy merchant marched on the King’s Palace, where the Imperial Preceptor and the kingdom’s divine protectors were waiting.
• The Imperial Preceptor’s forces defeated the rebellion, captured the wealthy merchant, and publicly executed him and hundreds of his followers.
• Luo Qiyin left the execution ground, packed his belongings, and departed the capital to live as a rogue cultivator.

Mo Qingheng inspected Nine Orchid Fields Academy and advanced reforms designed to give more disciples a chance to establish their foundations. Li Ling explained to Nie Yingzhi that strengthening the sect’s ranks was essential to surviving the coming cataclysm, and the reforms continued under Mo Qingheng’s leadership.

• Mo Qingheng inspected the academy’s teaching and urged its leaders to prioritize giving more disciples the opportunity to establish their foundations.
• Mo Qingheng returned to the sect and convened the Court of Celestial Observations’ elders to address the academy’s needs.
• Nie Yingzhi told Li Ling about Mo Qingheng’s inspection, then asked why Li Ling was focused on increasing the number of Foundation Establishment disciples.
• Li Ling explained that a strong, growing community of disciples could help the sect withstand the coming cataclysm and carry the Incense Path forward.
• Mo Qingheng and the other leaders replaced older academy methods with newer Incense Path teachings and expanded efforts to nurture disciples across the lower ranks.
• The Incense Accumulation Sect began weighing disciples’ broader potential when allocating advancement resources, rather than judging them by aptitude alone.

Shang Minglan rushed to obtain Wengwu Incense for her critically ill great-aunt, Shang Yuxian, while Li Ling and Mu Qingsi visited the dying elder and honored her wish to let nature take its course. Years later, Madam Zhao also died of old age, prompting Li Ling to recognize the impermanence of all things and seek an answer in Incense Emptiness and Clarity.

• Shang Minglan arrived at Nine-Wan Island and asked the Incense Accumulation Sect to stop the auction so she could obtain Wengwu Incense for Shang Yuxian.
• Nie Yingzhi set aside the incense for the Shang Family and arranged a replacement so Shang Minglan could take it back immediately.
• Li Ling and Mu Qingsi visited Shang Yuxian, who declined their offers to extend her life and asked them to look after Shang Minglan.
• Mu Qingsi spoke with Li Ling about death and their eventual separation, and Li Ling wondered whether Supreme Forgetfulness awaited every mighty cultivator.
• Decades later, Madam Zhao died peacefully, and Li Ling agreed to help care for the conch maidens before realizing that all things were impermanent.

Li Ling created Flavorless Incense, a new Incense Path art that drew on memories and could reproduce the powers of remembered fragrances, and began to glimpse the key to mid Spirit Transformation. Decades later, as the North Sea remained stable under the Incense Accumulation Sect, the Heavenly Demons finally left Gathering Grotto Continent, though its suffering was only beginning.

• Li Ling used two nearly identical paintings to show Mu Qingsi how perception could mistake a sketch for a colored image when attention was diverted.
• Li Ling refined Flavorless Incense, explaining that it could evoke remembered fragrances and their divine abilities without producing any actual scent.
• Li Ling distributed strands of Dharma power to his disciples, who used them to produce Flavorless Incense and create Incense Ancestor avatars that strengthened his influence and cultivation.
• Li Ling foresaw that orchids and Flavorless Incense would let beings across worlds see and remember the Incense Ancestor, and he glimpsed a path toward mid Spirit Transformation and a Dharma body.
• Several decades later, the North Sea remained stable under the Incense Accumulation Sect while chaos and disasters worsened elsewhere.
• Disciples of the Hundred Flavors Gate reported that the Heavenly Demons had completely departed Gathering Grotto Continent, but the land's suffering was about to enter a new stage.

Li Ling decided to expand the Incense Accumulation Sect’s presence on Gathering Grotto Continent now that the heavenly demons had left, sending disciples and the Heavenly Fox Race to support the Hundred Flavors Gate. The returning fox demons joined the welcoming feast, while Yan Ji’s memories of her former life stirred as she set foot on her ancestral homeland.

• Li Ling told Nie Yingzhi to send Song Yang and Luo Ying reinforcements and redirect the sect’s disciples to train on Gathering Grotto Continent.
• Song Yang and Luo Ying welcomed news that the sect would support the Hundred Flavors Gate, and the Three True Ones of Incense Accumulation arrived with the reinforcements.
• The Hundred Flavors Gate’s Song Cheng greeted the Three True Ones and invited them to a grand culinary spirit banquet.
• Yan Ji and Hu Gou returned to Gathering Grotto Continent with fox demons, dog demons, and half-demon guards; Yan Ji felt her past-life memories awaken as Hu Gou reflected on their return.
• Yan Ji and her people joined the Three True Ones and Song Cheng, then met Song Yang and Luo Ying as the welcoming banquet began.

The factions at the Hundred-Flavors Banquet negotiated a campaign against the former Bashan Demon Kingdom, and the Three True Ones of Incense Accumulation departed to work with the Lion Race. As Yan Ji and Hu Gou traveled toward the Heavenly Fox Race’s ancestral lands, Yan Ji heard a call that might have come from the Demon Queen.

• The Hundred Flavors Gate, Longevity Hall, merchant associations, and Heavenly Fox Race negotiated their roles in a joint campaign and divided its objectives.
• Song Yang sent Han Zhen, Ye Zhen, and Luo Zhen with King Golden Mane to Shen Mountain Plain to support the Lion Race’s advance into Bashan.
• Li Ling discussed the weakened demon races and the Heavenly Fox Race’s uncertain prospects with Nie Yingzhi, then sensed Yan Ji might find an opportunity.
• Yan Ji and Hu Gou traveled toward the Heavenly Fox Race’s former sacred ground, where Yan Ji heard someone calling her and Hu Gou suspected it was the Demon Queen.

Yan Ji and Hu Gou followed a call resonating through their Fox Clan bloodlines to a hidden cave heaven guarded by Ma Qiong and the horse demons. Yan Ji bewitched Ma Qiong and infiltrated his territory, where her followers prepared to investigate the source of the call.

• Yan Ji, Hu Gou, and the Fox Clan demons followed the bloodline call into a newly discovered blessed land near Black Valley.
• They found Ma Qiong and his horse demons guarding a settlement built over a minor cave heaven, where they were excavating a treasure left by a mighty cultivator.
• Yan Ji charmed Ma Qiong at the hot springs and used an illusion to keep him under her control, while Hu Gou watched over him.
• Ma Qiong welcomed Yan Ji's party as guests and ordered a grand banquet, allowing her followers to enter the horse demons' territory.
• Yan Ji's followers reported that they had scouted the area and found several checkpoints, while Yan Ji planned to find a chance to enter the cave heaven.

Yan Ji discovered that the ruins were the Heavenly Fox Palace, but its barrier rejected her, so she sought help from Li Ling and the Incense Accumulation Sect. With their support, the Fox Demon Race built strength and connections near Giant Pillar Peak before returning to Black Valley to try again.

• Yan Ji and Hu Gou learned that the ruins held the Heavenly Fox Palace, but Yan Ji could not pass its protective barrier.
• Yan Ji and Hu Gou discovered that the Horse Demon Race planned to break the palace's array by force and decided to ask the Incense Accumulation Sect for help.
• Li Ling ordered his allies to help Yan Ji obtain the Demon Queen's legacy, and the Three True Ones of Incense Accumulation helped draw the Horse Demon Race into war with the lion demons.
• Yan Ji and her companions settled near Giant Pillar Peak, traded goods, formed connections with other tribes, and gathered scattered members of their race.
• After nearly half a year, Yan Ji and the other demons returned to Black Valley to make another attempt at the palace.

Yan Ji and the other fox demons performed a full-moon ritual at the Heavenly Fox Palace and summoned Yue Ling, who revealed that Yan Ji carried the Demon Queen’s aura and was suited to inherit the palace. The ceremony was interrupted when their sentry warned that Ma Qiong and his forces were attacking.

• Yan Ji drugged Ma Qiong with incense and wine, then led Hu Gou and the other fox demons to explore the palace while he was unconscious.
• Yan Ji and the fox demons performed a Moon-Worship Ceremony, summoning a spirit-resonance figure who identified herself as Yue Ling, the Demon Queen’s attendant.
• Yue Ling told the fox demons that the Demon Queen’s true spirit had been destroyed, but recognized the Queen’s aura in Yan Ji and said she was suited to inherit the Heavenly Fox Palace.
• A fox demon sentry warned Yan Ji and Hu Gou that Ma Qiong and his men were attacking, leaving them shocked that Ma Qiong had not been bewitched.

Yan Ji and Hu Gou sheltered the Fox Demon Race in the Heavenly Fox Palace, but Ma Qiong attacked with Thunderclap Bombs and a Demon Emperor Avatar. They summoned Li Ling, who destroyed the avatar and defeated Ma Qiong’s forces, leaving the palace safe from the immediate assault.

• Yan Ji had Madam Yue Ling open the Heavenly Fox Palace’s array so the Fox Demon Race could take shelter from Ma Qiong.
• Ma Qiong ordered his men to use Thunderclap Bombs, while a Demon Emperor Avatar battered the palace’s damaged defenses.
• Yan Ji and Hu Gou led their people outside to fight, then retreated when the Horse Demons proved more battle-hardened.
• Yan Ji and Hu Gou lit spirit incense and summoned Li Ling to help defend the Heavenly Fox Palace.
• Li Ling confronted the Horse Clan Demon Emperor, destroyed his avatar, and forced the distant Demon Emperor to sever his connection to it.
• Li Ling crushed the weakened avatar and struck down Ma Qiong and his forces as Ma Qiong tried to flee.

Li Ling helped the Fox Demon Race secure the Heavenly Fox Palace, and Yan Ji began creating a cultivation path that combined the Demon Queen’s spirit resonance with incense cultivation. As human and demon factions carved up the Gathering Grotto Continent, Yan Ji completed the fragrant fox path decades later.

• Li Ling advised the fox demons to settle in the Heavenly Fox Palace and leave the weakened horse demons to their troubles.
• Madam Yue Ling explained the Demon Queen’s nine-tails path, and Yan Ji resolved to develop an incense-based lineage of fox demons.
• The Horse Clan Demon Emperor faced a Lion Race invasion supported by the Incense Accumulation Sect, and Yang Kui led the Lion Race to victory.
• Human sects, merchant associations, bandits, and rogue cultivators expanded across the Gathering Grotto Continent as the demon factions lost territory.
• Decades later, Yan Ji condensed three snow-white fox tails and completed the fragrant fox path.

Yan Ji forged a new Incense Path cultivation method for the Fox Demon Race and began establishing the Fragrant Fox Clan. When other incense-producing demon tribes asked to become vassals of the Incense Accumulation Sect, Li Ling agreed to accept them and set rules to protect intelligent species.

• Yan Ji mastered a new path by combining the Demon Queen’s spirit resonance with the Incense Path, creating a fragrant fox power that could stir love in those who smelled it.
• Yan Ji invited Madam Yue Ling to cultivate the fragrant fox method, and other fox demons began learning its arts as Yan Ji planned to establish the Fragrant Fox Clan.
• Musk deer and fragrant muntjac envoys asked Yan Ji to help their tribes pledge allegiance to the Incense Accumulation Sect, and she agreed to contact Li Ling.
• Li Ling and Nie Yingzhi agreed to accept the tribes and establish protections against exploiting intelligent demons for incense materials.
• The Bashan tribes celebrated the sect’s decision, pledged themselves to the Incense Path, and promised to share the fruits of their cultivation with the Incense Accumulation Sect.

The Netherworld Sect and Ma Tu’s Horse Demon Race attacked Black Valley, threatening the Fragrant Fox Clan and the Heavenly Fox Palace. Yan Ji prepared to resist while Li Ling worked to counter the Netherworld Sect’s interference and send support, leaving the defenders facing Ma Tu’s assault on their protective array.

• The Netherworld Sect persuaded Ma Tu that its Nether River and sludge scheme could block Black Valley’s connection to Li Ling and urged him to attack the Fragrant Fox Clan.
• Yan Ji learned that the Netherworld Sect was contaminating Black Valley’s waterways and building an array to channel foul energies toward the region, so she prepared to destroy it and summoned her allies.
• Yan Ji mobilized the tribes, sought allied support, and prepared for war while Li Ling secretly warned her that the Netherworld Sect’s sludge could disrupt Incense Path assistance.
• Ma Tu led the Horse Demon Race into Black Valley, forcing Yan Ji’s forces to abandon their outer holdings and defend the Heavenly Fox Palace.
• Ma Tu attacked the palace’s protective array, and Madam Yue Ling and allied Demon Kings briefly held him back before he resumed his assault.

Yan Ji risked her life to advance to the Demon Emperor realm while defending the Fragrant Fox Clan, drawing strength from her people’s incense prayers and awakening the Fragrant Fox Emperor Tail. After she drove Ma Tu into flight, the Netherworld Sect’s forces were left trapped inside the cave heaven.

• Li Ling told Nie Yingzhi that the Fragrant Fox Clan could turn the battle around by awakening its own potential and explained that the Incense Path’s deeper realm was permeation and assimilation.
• Yan Ji, badly wounded by Ma Tu, decided to force her divine soul out of her body and attempt to become a Demon Emperor before the reinforcements arrived.
• Madam Yue Ling urged Hu Gou to use the Incense Path, and Hu Gou called on the demons to burn incense and pray for Yan Ji.
• The prayers transformed the cave heaven into a divine domain that supported Yan Ji’s soul projection, allowing her to absorb Ying Spirit, master laws, and awaken the Fragrant Fox Emperor Tail.
• Yan Ji became a Demon Emperor, wounded Ma Tu with her control of the cave heaven’s power, and forced him to flee.
• With Ma Tu gone, the Horse Demon Race’s subordinates and Netherworld Sect disciples were left trapped as the battle turned against them.

After Ma Tu’s forces fled, Yan Ji asked Chi Yingting to pursue him and presented her insights into combining demonic bloodlines with incense offerings. Li Ling refined those insights into methods for fragrant demons and began developing a human cultivation path based on an innate incense body.

• Yan Ji’s forces routed the invaders, and Hu Gou ordered everyone to stay inside the boundary rather than pursue them outside.
• Chi Yingting arrived with reinforcements, promised to hunt Ma Tu, and learned that Yan Ji had devised an inheritance method combining bloodline power with incense offerings.
• Yan Ji urged her allied tribes to shelter their elites at the Heavenly Fox Palace and promised to seek methods that could help them advance.
• Li Ling studied Yan Ji’s method and concluded that it could strengthen the Incense Accumulation Sect’s cultivation inheritance, though its innate fragrance requirement limited its reach.
• After more than a month of work, Li Ling adapted the method for fragrant demon races and began developing an Incense Offerings Marvels Scripture and an Innate Incense Body Method.

Chi Yingting’s search uncovered Netherworld Wells whose foul silt suppressed Incense Path cultivators, prompting Li Ling to seek their secrets. Fang Lin answered Li Ling’s summons and left the Netherworld Sect camp with Hundred-Eyed Boy’s plans for the wells, while Chi Yingting and Tong Daquan sensed a powerful enemy approaching their camp.

• Chi Yingting’s group found a Netherworld Well and discovered that its bloody water was transforming the land into netherworld soil.
• As the group encountered more wells, Chi Yingting ordered the samples recorded and sent back, and the sect’s tests showed that the silt damaged Incense Path cultivation.
• Li Ling ordered an investigation and summoned Fang Lin through Zhao Ziren to uncover the Netherworld Wells’ secrets.
• Fang Lin told Madam White Bone he had to repay Li Ling’s past kindness, and Hundred-Eyed Boy agreed to let him go while giving him the wells’ plans and secret arts.
• Madam White Bone tried to follow Fang Lin, but Hundred-Eyed Boy restrained her to prevent her from meeting Chi Yingting and Tong Daquan.
• That night, Chi Yingting and Tong Daquan sensed a powerful enemy approaching the Incense Accumulation Sect’s frontline camp and called everyone to form ranks.

Fang Lin revealed himself to Chi Yingting and delivered intelligence about the Netherworld Sect’s scheme against the Incense Accumulation Sect. Later, Nie Yingzhi reported that the sect had used the Netherworld Well’s spirit resonance to cultivate a countermeasure, which Li Ling named the snow-reflecting orchid.

• Fang Lin fought Chi Yingting with opposing Dao arts, and Chi Yingting recognized him as a fellow disciple after their powers countered each other.
• Fang Lin told Chi Yingting that Netherworld Sect figures were targeting the Incense Accumulation Sect and that the Netherworld Well was an artificial creation made to contaminate the land.
• Chi Yingting secretly distributed Fang Lin’s intelligence to the relevant sects and sent information about the Hundred-Eyed Boy to Li Ling.
• Nie Yingzhi presented Li Ling with a new orchid cultivated using spirit resonance from the Netherworld Well, explaining that it could provide incense ingredients and reverse Netherworld Soil transformation.
• Li Ling named the new orchid snow-reflecting orchid.

The Incense Accumulation Sect planted snow-reflecting orchids across northern Black Valley, halting the spread of netherworld soil and forcing the Netherworld Sect to respond. After learning that his delayed reaction had allowed the countermeasure to take root, Elder Shan received orders to drive out the Incense Accumulation Sect and destroy the plants, leaving him to prepare for a decisive battle.

• Chi Yingting and the other Incense Accumulation Sect leaders watched their disciples begin planting snow-reflecting orchid seeds across northern Black Valley.
• The snow-reflecting orchids took root at thousands of sites and began drawing energy from the ground, checking the spread of netherworld soil.
• Netherworld Sect cultivators reported the Incense Accumulation Sect’s unusual activity, but Elder Shan admitted he had previously told them not to act rashly.
• Elder Shan learned that the orchids were difficult to eradicate and that the Incense Accumulation Sect had planted them to counter the Netherworld Wells.
• The Netherworld Sect ordered Elder Shan to drive out the Incense Accumulation Sect and destroy the spirit plants.
• Elder Shan summoned his divisions, called for Ma Tu, and prepared to seek a decisive battle with the Incense Accumulation Sect’s main force.

The Netherworld Sect’s forces repeatedly attacked the Incense Accumulation Sect’s well-supplied defenses, eventually taking ground before an Inner Court ambush reversed their advance. Elder Shan then ordered Ma Tu and the Horse Demon Race into battle, and Ma Tu prepared to sacrifice his people in hopes of regaining power and wealth.

• The Incense Accumulation Sect used arrows, spirit incense, and spirit beasts to repel successive Demonic Path assaults, while Netherworld Sect commanders sent more rogue cultivators into the fight.
• The Demonic Path forces broke through the eastern hill and advanced for several days, but concealed Inner Court disciples ambushed them and reclaimed territory.
• Elder Shan of the Yellow Springs Sect blamed his commanders for missing the ambush and ordered Ma Tu to attack with the Horse Demon Race.
• Ma Tu accepted the order, resenting the Netherworld Sect’s treatment of his people as expendable but needing its promised payment and resources.
• Ma Tu mustered his troops, intending to use the battle to shed dependents he could no longer support and pursue his own rise to demon god.

The Incense Accumulation Sect trapped the Horse Demon Race on the Black Valley front, while Chi Yingting cornered Ma Tu in a minor cave heaven and defeated him. The Horse Demons’ appeal for help went unanswered as the chapter ended with Ma Tu dead.

• A Foundation Establishment cultivator led demonic path reinforcements safely to a Netherworld Sect camp, where they learned the Horse Demon Race had suffered heavy losses and was asking for aid.
• Elder Huang delayed responding to the Horse Demons’ request, while camp members doubted that their allies would risk themselves to help.
• The Incense Accumulation Sect ambushed the Horse Demons in a valley, trapping their forces as a Core Formation demon king waited desperately for reinforcements.
• Chi Yingting trapped Ma Tu inside a minor cave heaven with the Water-Moon Mirror, and Ma Tu revealed his full strength.
• Chi Yingting matched Ma Tu’s Nascent Soul middle-stage power, overwhelmed him with the Seven Emotions Incense Deities, and killed him after a fierce battle.