Chapter 394: Incense and the Marvels of the Dragon Whale

"Could Lord Long also have studied the Proper Rite of Worship?"

Watching the mist drifting in midair, Li Yuan couldn't help but murmur to himself—he'd been brushed off when he asked before, clearly this one had noticed something.

But he was long used to it.

The small temple consisted of three connected rooms: the main hall enshrined the ancestral tablets and incense burners of past Longmen Masters, while the left and right rooms were Long Xi's quarters, housing the ancient Spirit Dragon Deva Mace and the Azure Dragon Robe respectively.

Li Yuan knew the temple's layout intimately, but he'd never entered the left or right rooms in daily life; now, with Lord Long's permission, he glanced around.

On the bookshelf in the left room, he spotted a yellowed volume bearing four small characters:

"Little Biography of Incense."

Li Yuan reached out, picked it up, and glanced—it was one of over a dozen volumes on the shelf, new and old alike, none martial scriptures, but miscellaneous texts.

"Little Biography of Incense," "Biography of Yuanqing," "Biography of the Martial King," "Ancestral Master's Daily Records," and others.

Li Yuan didn't leave; he opened the "Little Biography of Incense" right there.

"The human foundation: the Three Treasures—essence, qi, and spirit."

"Incense is divine power, originating from the human heart; only through special rituals and methods can it be transformed into incense, usable for elixir forging, weapon crafting, and indispensable in all rites."

"Burning incense gathers fire, sustaining the divine's immortality."

The opening lines captivated Li Yuan—the ancient text was clearly old, its script unmistakably bearing the style of the previous dynasty.

"At least a thousand years old—and this tone… connected to the Worship Sect?"

Li Yuan pondered, leveraging his photographic memory to memorize every word.

After the opening, the volume mentioned the method of gathering incense—exactly as he suspected: the Worship Rite.

"Incense is spiritual power; only the 'Divine' can attract it. One must attain mastery of the Worship Rite, touch the Dao, before incense can be condensed."

Attain mastery?

Li Yuan mused.

Though he only possessed the introductory section of the Worship Rite, his visualization practice had never lapsed for a single day—he had deep reserves, and the Dragon Whale Qi's nourishment of his spirit clearly met the condition.

"Intense emotions more easily generate incense."

In the volume, Li Yuan found confirmation of his suspicions—Longhu Temple had long mastered the secrets of incense, centuries ago.

He wasn't surprised; after all, incense still drifted in the main hall.

The volume then explained the relationship between statues, tablets, and incense—simple enough: they were merely conduits.

By leaving one's spiritual imprint as a foundation, one could draw in incense within a certain range.

"The fastest way to gather incense: build a temple…"

Li Yuan wasn't surprised; he kept reading.

The volume mentioned the 'Divine,' and as he'd learned before, divided the gods of the Great Yun Pantheon into three ranks: Dharma Lords, Attendants, and Senior Masters.

"Nine Dharma Lords, thirty-four Attendants, eight hundred Senior Masters."

Li Yuan noted the numbers, and couldn't help recalling the Nine-Headed Sky God he'd seen—such demonic deities numbered eight hundred?

"No—this volume is ancient. In these past thousand years, countless sects have hunted them down; there can't be this many left."

On the shelf was a volume titled "Anecdotes of the Gods"; Li Yuan glanced at it, then continued reading.

Next, the volume recorded intelligence on the Nine Dharma Lords—most mentions went to the Hundred-Armed Daoist, fewest to the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva.

"Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva, one of the Nine Dharma Lords, suspected to be the oldest deity, possibly from beyond the heavens; legend says its birth coincided with a similar tale…"

Li Yuan instinctively looked up—only the ceiling met his gaze.

"Hmm… matches what Emperor Gan said. So the Thousand-Spirit Dharma Lord—or Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva—also fell from the sky?"

After a moment, Li Yuan closed the volume, returned it to its place, and after brief thought, left the other books untouched.

If he couldn't maintain this sense of distance, how could he soothe the old man?

"Incense has three grades."

Li Yuan returned to the main hall, lit incense before each ancestral tablet, still pondering the "Little Biography of Incense."

Dharma Lord, Attendant, Senior Master.

This ancient text divided incense into three tiers, each with upper and lower sub-ranks; based on the descriptions, Li Yuan felt it matched his own classification closely.

There was no mention of ungraded incense.

"A devout believer yields one thread of lower-tier Senior Master incense per year—ah, first-rank incense; it takes three to five years to gather one thread of second-rank incense…"

Li Yuan realized incense was even rarer than he'd thought.

What was a devout believer?

Three prostrations morning and night, one incense offering daily, serving one deity with sincerity, reciting its name and scriptures day and night—such followers were rare; most people merely offered a casual bow now and then.

Such believers might not yield even one thread of first-rank incense per year.

"By this calculation, a single devout believer would need 129,600 years to gather one thread of seventh-rank incense…"

The numbers in the ancient text were precise; Li Yuan was startled, but then realized the number wasn't actually that large.

After all, no deity had only one follower.

Find thirteen thousand devout followers, and you'd gather one thread per year; one hundred thirty thousand, and you'd get one per month; one point three million…

"Thirteen thousand devout followers? Only the Nine Dharma Lords might have that—or maybe not even them?"

Li Yuan thought.

Hengshan City had millions of households, but those even considering worship might not number a million; devout followers surely weren't tens of thousands, let alone divided among hundreds of deities.

Calculated this way, the number seemed enormous.

"Too scarce. If Dharma Lord-grade incense is this precious, using it to convert Chu Xuan Kong would be a waste… or is there another plan?"

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes, sensing the Thousand-Spirit Soul-Transforming Stele; he'd known incense was precious, but now, with context, he realized he'd vastly underestimated it.

So much incense—wouldn't even the Thousand-Spirit Dharma Lord feel the pain?

At this thought, Li Yuan's heart tightened:

"This stele must never be taken outside!"

BOOM!

Suddenly, Li Yuan heard a faint, distant roar—like a beast's bellow, or a dragon's cry, or thunder exploding.

"What's that?"

Startled, Li Yuan rushed out and leapt onto the roof.

Night was deep, but he instantly saw the source: a blazing crimson dragon, wreathed in radiant light, erupted from somewhere in Hengshan City,

Like a divine sword piercing the night's depths:

"ROAR!"

As the dragon's cry rolled through the air, lights flared across Hengshan City; within Longhu Temple, multiple whooshing sounds pierced the night—figures flashed across mountaintops and rooftops.

"That's the Flame Dragon Form!"

"Crimson Flame Dragon King—one of the Four Guardian Dharma Kings of the Demon Worship Sect—he's in Hengshan City?!"

"Worse! Alert Lord Long immediately!"

Shouts erupted across the mountains; the flaming dragon blazing into the night was too brilliant—its scattered firelight visible dozens of li away.

"Crimson Flame Dharma King?!"

On the roof, Li Yuan's heart jolted—he instantly thought of Long Xi, who'd just descended the mountain:

"There's another big fish?!"

Li Yuan was stunned—he realized he had a fisherman's instinct, always stumbling upon monsters ready to devour him.

"Long Xi!"

In the night, miles away, Li Yuan heard a roar of shock and disbelief:

"You—you actually…"

BOOM!

The enraged cry vanished instantly.

Li Yuan looked up—there, soaring through the night, was a familiar azure dragon: Lord Long's "Wind Tiger Cloud Dragon Form."

"Lord Long also descended the mountain?"

The cloud-dragon danced through the sky, crushing the hundred-zhang fire dragon with a single claw, dissolving it into a shower of sparks; then, the cloud-dragon let out a long roar, echoing through the night, awakening the entire Hengshan City.

Completely drowning out and covering the Crimson Flame Dharma King's final cry.

"The martial world is deeper than I thought."

Li Yuan wiped sweat from his brow, feeling a surge of relief.

If he hadn't always been cautious, striking first whenever he spotted the Demon Worship Sect, he might've suffered dearly.

The Crimson Flame Dragon King wasn't an ordinary Grandmaster…

"This old man hides too well."

Li Yuan winced.

Over the past two years, Longhu Temple had purged the Demon Worship Sect three times; Lord Long had monitored two of them—and yet this Crimson Flame Dragon King still dared to hide, even evade detection?

This…

"Phew!"

After a brief tremor, the night calmed—though lights blazed across Longhu's mountains.

Li Yuan turned to see an unremarkable old man stepping forward, landing on the eaves.

"Master Cang."

Li Yuan quickly bowed in greeting.

The old man was Cang Xianzhi, Deputy Head of Humen.

That was just a faint wisp of true gang taking shape; the old villain doesn't have the courage to come himself.

Cang Xianzhi gazed into the night, his face as dark as water.

"Follow me."

Before Li Yuan could reply, his shoulder was gripped; in the next instant, wind howled, scenery blurred past on either side, and he was dragged toward Hengshan City.

True qi formed a shield, engaging with heaven and earth.

Li Yuan was filled with envy.

In terms of lightness and speed, when he pushed himself to the limit, he was slightly faster than Uncle Cang—but this outward projection of true gang still stirred his longing.

"Huh!"

After a few leaps and landings, the two touched ground—they were already inside Hengshan City.

Li Yuan glanced and spotted the old man he'd seen at dusk; now, he sat slumped in a courtyard, legs trembling violently, as if he'd seen a ghost.

"This old villain has audacity!"

Li Yuan had never seen Dragon Daozhu look like this—his long eyebrows flicked, his face dark as water, his killing intent surging.

"He deserves to die!"

Long Xixiang's voice was low and heavy.

The killing intent of two Grand Masters—even a single wisp—made Li Yuan's heart race and flesh tremble; Yu Banzhou, slumped on the ground, was nearly paralyzed with terror.

He'd never dreamed that stepping out at night would bring him face-to-face with these two titans; the Grand Masters' strike had nearly shattered his liver and gallbladder with fear.

"Dragon Daozhu, spare my life!"

Suddenly, as if sensing the gaze of the group, Yu Banzhou snapped back to awareness, fell with a thud, his legs shaking so badly he couldn't even kneel:

"He forced me to sneak into Hengshan City…"

"Who are you?"

Long Xixiang swept him with a cold glance.

"Yu, Yu Banzhou, Deputy Head of the Youzhou Branch, Head Lin Chonghu…"

"Lin Chonghu?"

"T, the one who, a few days ago, guarded Fang Chaotong together and was captured by Dragon Daozhu…"

"When did you infiltrate Hengshan City?"

Long Xixiang interrogated; those in the courtyard were surprised—Sect of the Dark God rarely had such weaklings; previously, Fang Chaotong and Lin Chonghu had both refused to cooperate even under torture.

"This time, only over ten days ago."

Yu Banzhou's body went limp.

"Oh? This time?"

Long Yingchan frowned slightly.

"R, return, Dragon Daozhu—three times total, all forced by that old devil…"

Yu Banzhou cooperated fully, answering everything without hesitation.

"What was the old villain's purpose in sneaking here repeatedly?"

Long Xixiang asked.

"T, to find the Split-Sea Whale Hammer…"

"…"

Li Yuan's heart jolted—was this again aimed at him?

Yu Banzhou gasped for breath: "... and the Lord of the Star-Picking Tower, Qin Shixian!"

"Qin Shixian?"

"Lord of the Star-Picking Tower?"

A blade of light pierced the sky, then vanished; Nie Xianshan landed in the courtyard, his brow deeply furrowed:

"Does this old villain think the Lord of the Star-Picking Tower is hiding in Longhu Temple?"

"... Yes."

Under the scrutiny of four titans, Yu Banzhou's voice trembled as he stammered:

"H, he said the sect had secret messages—said the Deputy Sect Master divined that the Split-Sea Whale Hammer and the Lord of the Star-Picking Tower are both in Longhu Temple!"

Lord of the Star-Picking Tower?

Li Yuan frowned, instantly recalling the Bronze Tower Master; after a moment's thought, his heart thundered.

Born from the Star-Picking Tower, recognized Wang Wen yuan, wounded by the Subdue-Demon Dragon God Blade…

'Everything matches!'

Li Yuan clenched his fingers—could the Sect of the Dark God really pinpoint the whereabouts of a Grand Master like the Lord of the Star-Picking Tower, someone deliberately hidden?

"Are there still others of your sect in the city?"

"Yes!"

Yu Banzhou struggled to answer, naming over a dozen individuals and their traits.

Long Yingchan glanced at Nie Xianshan, who frowned and turned away.

"Take him back to the mountain for further interrogation—bring Lin Chonghu and Fang Chaotong as well!"

Long Yingchan seized Yu Banzhou; without any visible motion, he vanished into the night, followed by Cang Xianzhi.

Long Xixiang reached out, gripped Li Yuan's shoulder, lightly tapped the ground, and shot across the night like a streak of rainbow light.

"A Grand Master's speed is far greater."

Li Yuan heard no sonic boom, yet this speed far surpassed his own; one blink, and he was back at the small temple.

"Master…"

f

He wanted to ask more, but Long Xixiang merely waved his hand and vanished; the Crimson Flame Dragon King appeared, stirring Li Yuan's killing intent—so fierce he couldn't suppress it.

"Lord of the Star-Picking Tower, Whale Hammer…"

Li Yuan quietly shut the temple door, frowning; just imagining that members of the Sect of the Dark God might still be watching from the shadows filled him with unease.

"The Bronze Tower Master must be the Lord of the Star-Picking Tower—but after drawing the blade, I never saw him again…"

After a long while, his mind calmed; Li Yuan returned to his room, glanced at the sleeping cat and rat, felt weary, and lay down fully clothed.

Hum~

Within the Armory Space, a faint red glow pulsed.

Since the Whale Hammer had recognized him, theoretically he could now wield it externally.

But…

"I need to find a way to conceal it—if I use it and cause a commotion, I'll only invite trouble." f