Chapter 689: Sandalwood and Ilan, Daoist and Buddhist Incense Duel

"Amitabha!"

The old monk chanted a Buddhist name, moved a scripture desk out of the incense shop, and brought over several bottles and jars. He was actually going to make incense on the spot!

The tall, thin and black, burly monks saw this and hurriedly went up to help, bringing an incense rack from the incense shop. On it were placed various incense boxes, all hanging with sandalwood signs, inscribed with the names of various incense ingredients.

From common herbs and trees like calamus, orange peel, atractylodes, and mint, to rare ones like agarwood, qinan, and sandalwood... all were listed on it.

Xiao Yu looked twice and couldn't help but be moved.

He had been to that incense shop and had seen rare incense treasures like Ox-Head Sandalwood, which was why he had the idea to sell incense sticks to scrape together money to buy incense.

But this small incense rack seemed to be the old monk's personal collection. The hundreds of incense ingredients on the rack were all supreme products. Incense materials like orange peel, calamus, and mint were not valuable, but the quality of incense ingredients only depends on the medicinal properties and essential oils within them.

For such ordinary materials to have such full essential oils and to remain fragrant after being stored for so many years, the incense must have been processed bit by bit by a master of the incense Dao.

To say that these ordinary incense ingredients were not as precious as Ox-Head Sandalwood, the essential oil content could be adjusted by just changing the ingredients used.

Why would a master of the incense Dao need to process them personally?

But only someone like Xiao Yu, who is deeply immersed in the incense Dao, knows that the incense Dao is different from the pill Dao. The pill Dao is about combining medicinal properties, prioritizing the technique of manipulating fire and blending medicinal properties. But in the incense Dao, the fragrance is just a carrier; the subtle thoughts within are what truly matter.

Incense is to use a fragrance to entrust a person's thoughts, vows, and even the subtle understanding of the Great Dao.

Using incense as a letter, it clears the complex thoughts of sentient beings and transmits them to the gods and Buddhas...

The Pure Fortune Incense used by the black, burly monk was made by a master of incense making in the Buddhist sect who was proficient in Buddhist Dharma, rolled into incense sticks, and then offered before the Buddha.

It absorbs the devout, pure vows of believers, filled with beautiful wishes and expectations.

Therefore, once lit, this vow power containing the simple and beautiful thoughts of believers can be emitted through the fragrance.

The ghosts and gods of the Heaven Curse Sect use this as food, and Buddhist disciples can also use this vow power to bless the Buddhist Dharma! Supernatural powers such as body protection, demon subduing, and Dharma images are all equivalent to the blessings of thousands of believers chanting scriptures.

Therefore, if ordinary cultivators cannot borrow this vow power, this incense Dao is of little use to them.

Ordinary cultivators lighting a pillar of Pure Fortune Incense can only calm their hearts and use the beautiful prayers of sentient beings to suppress internal demons. Unless it falls into the hands of ghosts and gods, or sects like the Heaven Curse Sect and the Buddhist sect that rely on the power of Yin spirits and gods to cultivate and cast spells, it has little use!

Xiao Yu's Cloud-Rising Incense takes another path. The materials used do not contain vow power, nor are they offered before gods and Buddhas. Instead, like the method of refining pills, it combines the medicinal properties within the incense ingredients, using the fragrance as an excellent carrier to combine the medicinal properties.

The Cloud-Rising Incense contains water essence, cloud essence, and various spirit herbs. Xiao Yu refined them into Cloud-Rising Incense. When lit, clouds rise.

This is a method of incense pills!

Xiao Yu knows that when the old monk personally processed these materials, his pure heart and mind were like pill fire, washing and refining these incense ingredients, infecting them with their fragrance, and refining these incense materials with his own Zen heart and Buddhist nature.

This is a supreme technique of heart refining.

The old monk didn't even use magic power or supernatural powers, just relying on a pure concentration of body and mind, using this thought fire to wash and refine the incense ingredients once.

The technique of incense making—processing incense materials, grinding incense powder, blending incense ingredients, and shaping with heart fire.

The old monk didn't see any open fire in these steps, but he could use the fire of his heart and mind to refine and shape them. The Buddhist incense formed naturally contained a very deep Buddhist nature.

After being stored and offered, the Buddhist incense absorbs the vows of sentient beings, making it a very precious product of heavenly incense.

The old monk organized the scripture desk, knelt before it, and nodded to Xiao Yu: "Benefactor, you entered my incense shop earlier and looked at several incense ingredients for a long time!"

"For the sake of the Buddhist sect's reputation, the old monk had to force the benefactor to try the incense Dao, which has already offended the benefactor. Therefore, if the benefactor wants to use any incense ingredients, you can take them from this incense shop, which is the old monk's compensation to the benefactor!"

Xiao Yu came to the incense rack and smiled: "There is no need to give it to me! Although I do not give alms to the Buddhist sect, there is no reason for me to beg from the Buddhist sect!"

"I cannot afford the karmic connection of the Buddhist sect!"

He stood before the incense box and considered for a while, took a piece of Ox-Head Sandalwood, and opened the small box next to it, pinching a little dark red powder.

He then put down five hundred Three-Mountain Talismans as payment for the incense and retreated gracefully.

The old monk didn't look at what Xiao Yu took, but seeing that he would rather spend a lot of money than accept his kindness, he sighed slightly.

It was the tall, thin monk who specifically looked at the two incense boxes and reminded loudly: "One piece of Ox-Head Sandalwood, weighing eight liang and three qian, and one qian of Ilan powder..."

The old monk frowned slightly, displeased with his scheming.

But he was still slightly surprised and said: "Ox-Head Sandalwood is a supreme treasure of the incense Dao, and it is reasonable to take it, but Ilan is a foul-smelling grass. Buddhist scriptures often use sandalwood to metaphorically represent the Buddhist Dharma and Ilan to metaphorically represent the troubles of sentient beings. This Ilan grass tree grows in the Ox-Head Mountain together with sandalwood. When I picked the sandalwood, I saw Ilan surrounding it, so I picked some together, preparing to refine a kind of evil incense, trouble incense, to test disciples."

"But what does he want Ilan for?"

The old monk was a bit puzzled. The fragrance of Ilan is extremely foul, and when lit, it disturbs people's nature. It can be used to refine trouble incense, making people suddenly arise in ignorance, to test the disciples' determination. Besides that, it has no other use. What does this external sect cultivator want it for?

His thoughts turned; perhaps he hadn't seen this rare incense herb, or perhaps he was using it to cultivate external sect spells. Thinking too much was useless.

Ning Qingchen sat upstairs with a faint smile on her face, her eyebrows like a painting, looking at the two and saying: "The two monks were so rude just now, which is truly annoying. I thought the Buddhist sect had a different style in Northern Wei and overseas! Now that I see this old monk, he finally looks like a high monk, although for the sake of the Buddhist sect's reputation, he spoke to keep people for a competition, which is inevitably a bit utilitarian!"

"Whether it's utilitarian or not, that's not important."

Qian Chen said lightly: "He does look like a high monk, but whether he is truly a high person is another matter! Perhaps it is my petty view! He invited that little Xiao Yu to take incense ingredients, not necessarily out of kindness, and of course not necessarily out of malice, but his selfishness is extremely heavy!"

Ning Qingchen was surprised: "How so?"

"The incense ingredients that the old monk has been storing for a long time are indeed of better quality than those in the incense shop, but it may not be suitable for Xiao Yu to use them to refine incense! Those incense ingredients were washed and refined by the old monk's heart and mind during processing, containing Buddhist nature. If Xiao Yu uses these incense ingredients to refine incense, who wins or loses is not certain. This old monk has an advantage in refining incense with these things that are deep in Buddhist nature, that is certain."

"Moreover, if Xiao Yu follows along to refine, the incense refined will naturally be deep in Buddhist nature, and I fear it will manifest strange phenomena like Buddhist light, heavenly flowers, etc.!"

"Refining spirit incense against the Buddhist nature will naturally greatly damage the incense nature..."

"This old monk is competing for the sake of the Buddhist sect's reputation. This time, the Buddhist incense Dao has such twists and turns, not because it is inferior to others in the incense Dao, but because it doesn't allow others to sell incense, belittling their own incense, which has a suspicion of being slightly overbearing! In this way, the spirit incense refined by the opponent becomes Buddhist incense. Isn't that better than winning on the surface but still being discussed by others?"

"Yan Yan Shixiong's words also make sense!" Ning Qingchen smiled: "Xiao Yu took a piece of incense material, and it was the main material of sandalwood. In this way, isn't the Buddhist sect sure to win?"

Ning Qingchen heard Xiao Yu report his sect and immediately determined that the Louguan Dao True Person who taught him the incense Dao was her own Yan Yan Shixiong!

Therefore, she was vaguely biased toward him and prepared to speak up to remind him...

Qian Chen waved his hand: "If he couldn't even see this point, he wouldn't dare to call himself my Louguan disciple. I would have punished him heavily long ago! Wait and see. He naturally has a way to refine that Buddhist nature for other uses."

Ning Qingchen's eyes turned, and she smiled: "I just hope he doesn't refine it into magic incense! Otherwise, the Louguan Dao is the orthodox sect, but the disciple refined magic incense, which would inevitably make people laugh..."

Qian Chen was stunned when he heard this. At this moment, he didn't have his previous confidence!

A look of hesitation couldn't help but appear on his face, and he seemed a bit anxious... Qian Chen thought to himself: "If he really refines a kind of magic incense for me, I can only destroy my relatives for the sake of righteousness and beat this unworthy disciple to be a non-registered disciple of the True Transmission Dao!"

At this moment, the old monk took down a few pieces of incense material and knelt before the scripture desk. A solemn and quiet atmosphere naturally flowed from him.

This sitting was at least two hundred years of meditation foundation.

Regardless of posture, momentum, or the old monk's own heart and mind, everything was adjusted to the best state in one sitting.

At this moment, even if Yin demons were pouncing on his face, I fear it would be difficult to shake the old monk's heart and mind. This Zen meditation skill made 99% of the cultivators present feel ashamed, and even Qian Chen upstairs was restless, wanting to manifest his magic nature and test the old monk's Zen heart!

"Forget it! There's no need to bully people like this..." Qian Chen shook his head slightly and gave up this idea.

In the bustling city, but the heart is in the Spirit Mountain!

The old monk took a piece of Ox-Head Sandalwood, looked up, and smiled at Xiao Yu: "These pieces of Ox-Head Sandalwood were personally picked by me from the White Ox Mountain in the Western Buddhist Land when I went to the Western He Continent to worship the Buddha and seek scriptures many years ago."

"I still remember the Dharma Master of the Lantu Temple in the Western Land leading a big white ox king, carrying me up the Ox-Head Mountain, and under the spirit sandalwood tree personally planted by the Sandalwood Cloud Bodhisattva, looking for parts damaged by insects."

"We didn't dare to hurt this spirit tree personally planted by the Bodhisattva with knives and axes, so we sat under the tree and chanted scriptures, from morning to night, for three days, before the Sandalwood King broke off the rotten wood damaged by ants and gave it to us!"

"The piece the benefactor picked is the same as the one in my hand, both are incense materials from that Sandalwood King tree."

The old monk sighed slightly, which explained why this Ox-Head Sandalwood had such a dense Buddhist nature.

This Ox-Head Sandalwood actually came from the Ox-Head Mountain in the Western Buddhist Land... and it was obtained from a Spirit Sandalwood King at the Transformation God level. No wonder it contained golden threads. In the eyes of the old Daoist, it even emitted a faint golden light, and a distant Zen chant came from it.

A look of hesitation appeared on Xiao Yu's face, and he stammered: "So, do I need to pay more?"

He did see the extraordinary nature of this incense material at a glance, but he didn't expect the origin to be so great. In this way, the incense payment he paid seemed a bit inappropriate!

Although the three of them often dug graves and robbed tombs, their harvest was not small, but they only took three burial items each time, and their own cultivation accumulated Yin virtue, which was also expensive. They were often penniless, but now they couldn't afford a higher price.

The old monk originally wanted to tell him the origin of this sandalwood to make him retreat, but at this time, hearing this answer, he couldn't help but smile: "Since I said it was a gift to the benefactor, and the benefactor paid for it! Then our karmic connection is over. How can I go back on my word!"

Qian Chen upstairs heard this and was already sharpening his knife, eyeing that spirit sandalwood tree.

He sighed: "No wonder this piece of Ox-Head Sandalwood is better than the one I use!"

The one he used was a five-thousand-year-old Ox-Head Sandalwood heartwood oil grid, which he swindled from the Kunlun Mirror. Five thousand years of Ox-Head Sandalwood was nothing to the Kunlun Mirror. The Kunlun Mirror shook its body, traveled through time and space, and could easily create a forest of sandalwood trees, with as much age as one wanted!

But to specify the place of origin, it had to be a Buddhist holy land like Ox-Head Mountain.

To let a spirit treasure of the Immortal Dao go to Ox-Head Mountain to plant trees would be too difficult for others!

Not to mention that those sandalwood trees on Ox-Head Mountain must have many monks devoutly offering and chanting scriptures to bless them. Each one is deeply imbued with Buddhist nature, not a wild natural treasure!

"There must be many Gandharvas in that place. Burning Gandharva corpses with Ox-Head Sandalwood, I fear it could burn out supreme incense materials!"

Qian Chen was still thinking about the Gandharvas...

After the old monk explained the joints to Xiao Yu, he finally put down the last obstacle in his heart, then whispered the scriptures. Accompanied by a sound like thunder, at first it was just a wisp of clear stream, then gradually turned into the Zen chant of Sanskrit with thunder sound. The old monk's thoughts manifested, turning into golden true words falling on that piece of Ox-Head Sandalwood.

His magic power and thoughts intersected, and the true words, word by word, seemed to be hammering that piece of sandalwood, making it gradually fade away the black and gray wood quality.

Wisps of golden threads were revealed, wandering on that piece of sandalwood, weaving into a Bodhisattva image sitting cross-legged with his back against the sandalwood tree!

At this time, the incense ingredients had been completely washed and refined. The gloomy and turbid aura of storage completely dissipated, fading away the dead wood quality and dead silence. Wisps of faint, mysterious spirit incense lingered around, making it difficult for the gloomy aura to get within ten feet of the scripture desk.

In the eyes of cultivators who can cast Dharma eyes, the fragrance is like wisps of golden threads falling, and the whole street has extraordinary phenomena.

"Boom!"

With a muffled sound, the Bodhisattva image suddenly burned with a golden flame. Suddenly, incense powder fell down with a rustle.

The incense powder falling on the desk was like gold, flashing with dots of divine light...

There was also white resin-like milk incense melting, milky white viscous juice flowing, dripping drop by drop into the golden bowl engraved with scriptures...

And Xiao Yu here just quickly ground the incense ingredients, then took a bone knife and carefully scraped an ounce of powder from that piece of Ox-Head Sandalwood.

Then he also took out a small bowl and poured a bit of viscous suspicious liquid into the bowl.

That bit of viscous liquid was like grease.

It was blended in the bowl by Xiao Yu, actually turning into a small cloud, rolling freely, with a trace of spirit.

Qian Chen recognized this thing at a glance and smiled: "Although Cloud-Spraying Beast saliva is also an excellent material, it is not a rhinoceros horn for incense, far inferior to that piece of Ox-Head Sandalwood, so it cannot be the main medicine!"

"Even as a secondary medicine, there is a possibility of being suppressed by Ox-Head Sandalwood. After all, that sandalwood was taken from a Sandalwood King at the Transformation God level, while this Cloud-Spraying Beast is just a little guy who has just formed a core!"

"Unless you slightly suppress the sandalwood fragrance, you can't match it! But in this way, you can't compare with the old monk's complete mobilization of the Buddhist nature in the sandalwood. You lose a move in materials."

"But he took the strange ability of Cloud-Spraying Beast saliva to contain cloud Qi as an auxiliary material to bind the incense ingredients, using this to combine the incense ingredients!"

"This is adapting to local conditions..."

"All things in heaven and earth have their uses! Refining pills has monarchs and ministers to assist, not all spirit medicines are better the more precious they are!"

"Sometimes some ordinary spirit medicines have irreplaceable uses. If used well, even a pinch of dust can refine a Nine-Turn Golden Pill. If not refined well, even if you take all the immortality medicines in the world, you can only make them into mud..."

Qian Chen nodded slightly, obviously very approving of Xiao Yu's choice. ===== CHAPTER 690 =====