Chapter 167: Accumulating Incense

"Jing Jing Shuhu!"

In the tunnel network reaching every direction, Su Su Wanxiong coughed up several mouthfuls of blood; his injuries had just improved before worsening again.

He tore open his shirtfront; the faint finger marks turned purple and kept expanding.

"A failure at the very last moment!"

Su Su Wanxiong's face twitched, his eyes red as if about to drip blood.

The injuries he had barely suppressed after half a year of bitter suffering erupted again; this finger mark tugged at his entire body's bones, tendons, and organs, every movement bringing a bone-piercing, marrow-deep stabbing pain.

He took multiple pills in succession, barely managing to suppress the injuries, his face pale as paper.

"How did that old thing find its way to our door?"

Su Su Wanxiong sat cross-legged with difficulty, circulating his internal Qi; only after a long while did he spit out a mouthful of black blood, his expression still hideously ugly.

In these half a year, he had not left his house; the one-eyed temple keeper, his sole link to the outside world, had been lying low in Fucheng for over forty years—how had he suddenly been found?

Hush~

Suddenly, his body shrank, hiding into the shadows; moments later, footsteps approached from afar.

"Yuan Brother Qiao?"

Su Su Wanxiong narrowed his eyes slightly, recognizing the subordinate walking briskly past as his capable underling, yet he still held his breath, hidden, regulating his breath to suppress the injuries.

Only after a long while did he exhale deeply, then pursued, revealing himself voluntarily.

"Helmsman!"

The gray-robed blade-wielder bowed respectfully, handing over a letter: "Elder Xiao Xiao Zongyuan of Sanyuan Wu has sent someone with a message, wishing to see the Helmsman."

"Xiao Xiao Zongyuan?"

Su Su Wanxiong tore open the letter and couldn't help but sneer coldly: "They want me to stir up chaos at this opportunity, to act as their inside agent?"

"Helmsman, this subordinate believes this is a good opportunity!"

The gray-robed blade-wielder said hatefully: "The Divine Weapon Valley killed so many of our brothers; we should take this chance to avenge this grudge!"

"The grudge must be avenged, but..."

Su Su Wanxiong pressed his chest, steadying his breath, daring not to easily stir his anger: "Our manpower is already insufficient..."

How could it be merely insufficient?

Just thinking of it made Su Su Wanxiong's heart twist like a knife; through several previous engagements, his elite subordinates had been nearly wiped out, leaving only a handful of usable men.

If another batch were slaughtered, there truly wouldn't even be enough hands to hold the 'Thousand Spirit Sacrifice'.

"You shall merely Zhou Shan Xuan with them."

Su Su Wanxiong ordered in a deep voice; after seeing him depart, he turned and headed toward the tunnel leading outside the city.

He was powerless to act, but Meng Zhan had been waiting for a long time.

Buzz!

The incense burner landed on the gray stone platform, emitting a loud buzzing sound.

After taking out the two smaller incense burners and tossing them outside, these two burners, nearly equal in size, perfectly filled one side of the gray stone platform.

On the other side stood the Divine Fire Weapon-Forging Furnace.

"The space is still too small; the promotion of the Weapon Ledger must be accelerated..."

Li Yuan sorted various weapon items into categories, placing each one carefully.

The Weapon Ledger can only hold weapons; miscellaneous items such as gold and silver require a medium to be stored.

After tossing the small incense burner out and pouring the items back in, the gray stone platform inevitably became somewhat crowded again.

Although the gray stone platform doubles in width with each promotion of the Weapon Ledger, the weapon items he has now gathered far exceed those from before.

Setting aside knives, spears, staves, and the like, there are over a hundred hammers and forging hammers alone, not to mention gold, silver, hundred-refined steel, and other miscellaneous items.

"The incense on this burner can at least ignite the Weapon-Forging Furnace eleven times, and it is Third-Rank incense!"

Feeling the incense lingering undispersed on the burner, Li Yuan calculated in his heart: if the Weapon-Forging Furnace fails to forge weapons, it consumes incense and gold.

But he has roughly figured out the pattern; the success rate is high. Eleven times, he can at least forge eight or nine Third-Rank weapons.

However, he has accumulated many low-rank weapons; this amount of incense is far from enough.

"Huff!"

Li Yuan waved his hand, pulling the gray stone sphere wrapped in 'Snake Eye' into his hand;

the incense upon it was thin, but it was Fifth-Rank incense.

"Pity, it can only ignite the Weapon-Forging Furnace once; this requires careful consideration!"

Li Yuan carefully placed the stone sphere down, pondering in his heart.

Fifth-Rank incense is too rare; if he fails, he might vomit blood.

"The best choice is the Thousand-Jin Heavy Hammer forged by my own hands; if I can gather three, the success rate of weapon forging will be greatest..."

Li Yuan had formed a plan in his heart.

Over the past few months, he forged many famous artifacts; the Divine Fire Hundred-Forged Armor, a top-grade famous artifact, was naturally the best.

Next was the Red Dragon Fish Skin Armor; the Thousand-Jin Heavy Hammer was the last, with two forged, but Jing Jing Shuhu reprimanded him thoroughly, deeming it a waste of materials.

"First, accumulate incense."

After counting all the various weapons and items on the gray stone platform, Li Yuan finally opened his eyes.

This is already the third day's noon after the annihilation of the Remnant God Temple; the disciples of the Surveillance Hall are highly skilled; to this day, no one knows this news.

They only think the Remnant God Temple is undergoing repairs.

"Has Old Jing Tou not returned yet?"

Li Yuan frowned slightly; after that night, Jing Jing Shuhu left a few words of advice and departed the city, and has not returned since.

He opened the door; the sunlight was fierce. The cold of the New Year had gradually receded, and the old tree in the courtyard was beginning to show greenery. In the distance, vendors called out their wares, and the clang of blacksmiths echoed.

Yu Jin squatted in the courtyard eating noodles. Seeing him emerge, he went to the kitchen, fetched another bowl, and handed it over:

"Here, eat."

The noodles were chewy, the topping bright red. Li Yuan stirred it a few times, slurped a mouthful, and immediately felt his appetite awaken. He finished three large bowls before putting down his chopsticks.

"Old Yu, you've only come down the mountain once in a while—why not go out and take a stroll?"

Li Yuan wiped his mouth. Though Jing Jing Shuhu might already have left the city, Lei Lei Jingchuan was still here, and the fishing wasn't over yet.

This was a rare opportunity; he also wanted to gather the incense offerings in full.

"Hmm, alright."

Yu Jin was somewhat worried, but then remembered that Lei Lei Jingchuan had also descended the mountain, so he nodded in agreement.

Fucheng was already under martial law, and with the four of them guarding, even a Meridian-Opening expert need not be overly cautious.

Li Yuan washed his face, slung the long-handled hammer over his back, and stepped out.

Zhe Long City had many people and many temples; not counting those outside the walls, there were roughly twenty inside.

Li Yuan picked up Wang Wang Peiyao, and they rode in a carriage through the streets. He first went to the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple—the temple with the strongest incense offerings in the inner city.

But after wandering around, he found the incense was too strong, harvested too often; the newly installed statue was only second-rank, worse than the incense burner in front of the hall.

Li Yuan asked about donating an incense burner. Several temple attendants smiled and politely refused:

"Your noble patron's heart is in the right place, but our temple does not accept donations beyond silver and gold. As for the temple's old artifacts, only the most devout believers may take them into their homes."

As he spoke, he pointed to the temple wall, covered with stone steles listing donations from past years. The three-meter-wide wall was densely packed with names.

At the very bottom, it read: "In the year of ____, devout believer Wang Sheng donated two hundred taels of silver." That was the last entry.

At the very top…

"Thirty thousand taels!"

Li Yuan's eyelids twitched violently.

He had underestimated the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple's wealth and power; the top donor was none other than the head of the Zhe Long Merchant Guild, "Golden God of Wealth."

Donating thirty thousand taels, he had covered the temple's statue replacements and repairs for years, and in return, he once took a statue home.

"Noble patron, take care as you leave."

"The Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva represents compassion, childbearing, fortune, and other auspicious symbols. In most counties and prefectural cities, it is among the temples with the strongest incense offerings."

Outside the main hall, Wang Wang Peiyao, though unable to understand his peculiar obsession with incense burners, still explained:

"The incense offerings at the Broken God Temple rank among the lowest in the city. Brother Li, if you truly want an incense burner, you must go to these few places…"

"Hmm."

Li Yuan nodded, but still visited every temple, starting with the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple.

Aside from

hoping for luck, he was also searching for traces of the Xieshen Sect, or San Yuan Weng, or Qian Jun Cave.

People can disguise themselves, but weapons cannot. If he found any weapon tied to the Wu Gong of these three groups, he could pinpoint the enemy.

Then, let Old Lei make his appearance.

Unfortunately, after visiting seven or eight temples, night was falling, and he found no other clues—except one temple willing to accept donations.

"Lock Bone Bodhisattva Temple."

Inside the main hall, candles burned brightly; amid swirling incense smoke stood a Bodhisattva statue with nine arms and a gentle face.

After growing accustomed to monstrous deities, suddenly seeing this gentle Bodhisattva made Li Yuan feel uneasy; he kept glancing at it.

This statue had also been harvested; now it was only third-rank. But the incense burner outside the door was fourth-rank—not inferior to the one at the Broken God Temple.

Wang Wang Peiyao negotiated the donation with the temple attendant. Li Yuan felt slightly satisfied—some gain meant no loss.

…

In the following days, Li Yuan wandered between temples, covering more than half the city.

He found no spies from the Xieshen Sect or San Yuan Weng, but collected six incense burners—ranging from second-rank to fourth-rank—a major haul.

One morning, Li Yuan practiced two sets of Bing Ti Shi, crouched brushing his teeth, when he heard hurried footsteps.

Liu Zheng rushed in, expression solemn: "Brother Li, something's happened!"

"They say the San Yuan Weng army has reached hundreds of li away!"

"So soon?!"

Li Yuan's heart leapt.

Zhe Long City's territory was vast, and with winter still harsh and roads impassable, even if San Yuan's troops were all cultivators, they should take at least a month to arrive.

How could they arrive so early?

No matter how lightly they marched, it shouldn't be this fast.

He suddenly remembered Old Jing—he had left in a hurry, likely because he received some intelligence.

"Impossible!"

Yu Jin frowned deeply; he was a veteran soldier who knew the distance between San Yuan Weng and Shenbing Valley:

"Last winter, snow fell continuously. Commander Duanmu had already set up defenses along every key route. How could they arrive so many days early?"

"Unless…"

The other veteran soldiers rose, expressions solemn: "Unless the San Yuan Weng army had already broken into small units and lain hidden outside Fucheng before even setting out!"

"That must be it."

Li Yuan's face was solemn.

Zhe Long City had dominated Fucheng for over a thousand years; its intelligence network was already highly refined, with Disciples of the Surveillance Hall scattered throughout all prefectures.

There were secret agents in multiple gathering places outside Fucheng.

If Sanyuan Wu wanted to hide from the eyes and ears of the Divine Weapon Valley, it was obvious that someone must be covering for them.

And the one capable of doing this...

"The imperial court?!"

Yu Jin and the others exchanged glances, each seeing the Solemnity and shocked anger in the other's eyes.

"Hmm, why does the Divine Weapon Valley have a flavor of being an enemy to the whole world?"

Li Yuan's heart tightened slightly.

When things are abnormal, there must be something sinister, and the thing that could make people remember the Divine Weapon Valley so much...