After releasing the soul crows, Yuan Ming walked back to his room, closed the door, and began to meditate with his eyes closed.

Through the perspective of the four soul crows, he felt as if he was soaring high in the sky, looking down at the entirety of Zhenling Sect.

Yuan Ming's actions weren't spontaneous but had been premeditated.

When Gu Qiuming invited him to his Sect, Yuan Ming had already set his sights on the incense of their Ancestor Hall, which he urgently needed now.

Zhenling Sect, unlike the talent-scarce Xuanhua Temple, wasn't a powerful large-scale sect, but had an orderly heritage and was clan-based, which he guessed meant their tributory incense's desire power might be purer.

The only trouble was the highest cultivation level within Zhenling Sect was around late-stage Core Formation, which Yuan Ming had already investigated. Making a move here, with the cloak given by Xi Ying to cover him, as long as he was careful, the risk was still within a controllable range.

After all, to ordinary cultivators, incense ashes were nothing more than trash. Likely, it even took some manpower to clean it up every so often.

On the way here with Gu Qiuming, although they didn't talk much, Yuan Ming had managed to indirectly inquire and roughly determine the Ancestor Hall's location within the Zhenling Sect.

Thus, it didn't take him much effort to locate the Ancestor Hall.

Zhenling Sect, like most sects, placed their Ancestor Hall on the highest terrain within their sect's grounds though their terrain wasn't very high overall, so it was merely on a small hill to the southeast of their grounds.

Their Ancestor Hall's structure was also similar to many southern Da Jin clan temples, with white walls, black tiles, and high firewalls adorned with various beautifully carved statues symbolizing auspiciousness.

Yuan Ming controlled the soul crows to get closer to observe the Ancestor Hall, but before they could get close, a white light shot towards them like a flying blade, nearly cutting the soul crows in half.

Startled, Yuan Ming hastily controlled the soul crows to flap their wings awkwardly, flying upwards in disarray.

It was then that he saw a middle-aged man in a blue robe, sweeping the ground with a broom, cursing in the direction of the soul crows as "ominous."

"To think there's a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator on guard, this is troublesome," Yuan Ming concluded from the attack, realizing the middle-aged man's cultivation level and felt it might be somewhat difficult now.

With his current level of cultivation, it was quite difficult for the soul crows to steal incense ashes right under the nose of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

"Since I still need to stay here for a while, it's best not to startle the snake but to plan thoroughly," Yuan Ming thought to himself.

Deciding, he stopped letting the soul crows get recklessly close and recalled them all, then took out an elixir and swallowed it, before closing his eyes to cultivate the "Nine Elements Technique."

...

The night deepened, and the sound of insects began to rise.

Outside, the crescent moon had clearly tilted to the west; it was the latter part of the night.

Yuan Ming sat by the window cultivating the "Moonlight Technique", when suddenly, some rustling noises came from outside his window.

He frowned slightly and opened his eyes, looking toward the source of the sound.

Suddenly, by the window had grown a small tree, and a fresh twig stretched in through the window, topped with a dark-purple, enchantingly beautiful vine flower.

"Hua Zhi..."

Yuan Ming whispered to the dark-purple vine flower, his hand covering his mouth, while the branch with the flower nodded as if in agreement, quivering up and down.

After a moment, the small branch slowly withdrew from the window and, along with the whole sapling, receded into the ground.

Yuan Ming waited a while, estimating that the time was about right, then donned the grey cloak given by Xi Ying and climbed out the window.

He released four soul crows to patrol the high airspace, scouting for any guards on patrol, easily avoiding anyone along the way and smoothly made his way close to the hill where the Zhenling Sect's Ancestor Hall was located.

Once there, he didn't let the soul crows get close to the Ancestor Hall but instead carefully concealed his energy and found a hidden spot nearby to hide.

Then, Yuan Ming took out the Stealing Heaven Tripod, inserted a seductive scent stick, and lit it by pinching the incense head between two fingers.

Next, Yuan Ming immediately used the Exorcism Technique to control the incense burner, causing it to float slowly towards the Ancestor Hall.

The Stealing Heaven Tripod spun and flew out, resembling a flicker of firelight suspended half a foot off the ground, quickly arriving near the Ancestor Hall's front door.

At that moment, through the vision of one soul crow high above, Yuan Ming was surprised to find that compared to during the day, there was now a beast resembling a hunting dog with unusually large ears sitting outside the Zhenling Sect's Ancestor Hall.

This creature sat between the two stone lions at the door, its ears twitched, and immediately detected the stealthily floating incense burner.

The large-eared beast's eyes flashed red, and it was about to bark a warning.

However, at this instant, Yuan Ming had already used his Divine Thought to control the incense smoke, which rapidly entered its nostrils.

The large-eared beast's cry halted abruptly, its eyes rolled back, and it passed out on the spot.

Inside the Ancestor Hall, the blue-robed middle-aged man meditating with crossed legs suddenly opened his eyes, sensing something unusual and planned to get up to check.

However, just as he stood, he was hit by a wave of intense drowsiness and, like the large-eared hunting dog, fell into a deep sleep.

A moment later, beneath an old pine tree in the Ancestor Hall's courtyard, the soil bulged outward, and a branch slowly emerged, then it spread and branched out into more and more twigs.

These twigs gradually gathered together outside and eventually formed a densely branched Tree Man.

It was naturally Hua Zhi, looking as if that tree had originally been there.

Clutching a clay jar in her arms, Hua Zhi glanced over at the main hall of the Ancestor Hall. Seeing that the cultivator had already fallen asleep, she shook off the soil clinging to her feet and tiptoed slowly towards the inside.

Upon entering the Ancestor Hall, she noticed the floor tiles and walls were made of the same materials as Yuan Ming's rented house. Bypassing the middle-aged man, her eyes immediately caught sight of an extraordinarily large incense table and the mountain-like stacked ancestral tablets behind it.

On both sides of the main hall, long-burning lamps in staggered rows still burned. The unknown oils within them produced exceptionally stable flames, emitting a faint fragrance.

Hua Zhi swept her gaze over them and quickly averted her eyes, squinting slightly, she focused her attention on the table.

There, three exquisitely inlaid gold-carved, three-legged incense burners were placed, filled to the brim with incense ashes accumulated over many years.

Remembering her mission, Hua Zhi immediately stepped forward, placing the clay jar on the table.

Then, she extended her tree branch hands, shaping them into a shovel-like form, scooping from the burners one by one, and collecting all the incense ashes into a storage bag hanging at her waist.

Afterwards, she opened the clay jar and poured ordinary incense ashes she had scavenged from elsewhere into the three incense burners on the table.

Having completed all this, Hua Zhi then retreated towards the outside of the Ancestor Hall.

When reaching the courtyard, she stretched out a hand to create a broom made of fine twigs, sweeping the soil she had brought into the area back under the old pine tree.

Afterward, she retracted back into the ground and disappeared from sight.

Much later, the middle-aged man in a blue shirt gradually awoke, startling when he realized he had somehow fallen asleep, immediately dispelling all traces of drowsiness.

He immediately stood up, extended his Divine Sense, quickly scanning the surroundings while also looking around, and spoted nothing out of the ordinary.

He then methodically searched inside and outside the hall, yet still discovered nothing.

He knew the arrangement of the Ancestor Hall so well he could navigate it blindfolded. Not to mention if something was missing or added, even a slight movement of any object would have been instantly noticeable to him.

But incense ashes, something he deemed utterly useless, weren't worth his concern.

Finding nothing amiss, the middle-aged man went outside the Ancestor Hall.

As he pushed open the door, he realized that the Police Ear Beast was also lying on the ground, deeply asleep.

His eyebrows instantly furrowed, and he stooped down to give it a hefty slap.

The Police Ear Beast jolted awake from the slap, but its eyes still shimmered with a confused look.

Seeing it like this, the middle-aged man could only sigh, carefully inspecting once more, but naturally to no avail, and thus he let the matter go.

...

Elsewhere, back inside his house, Yuan Ming gazed at the newly acquired incense ashes on the table, in high spirits.

"Well, that ought to do it, should last me a while," he said.

The incense ashes obtained from Xuanhua Temple had already been used up, even the Black Incense made from it had been exhausted, leaving him just a few sticks made from Jiuli Temple's incense ashes.

These few incense sticks not only had a shorter possession time but also lacked the psychological inducing effects, belonging to those that could only be looked at and not used for anything else. Hence, the newly acquired incense ashes were a timely relief for Yuan Ming's urgent needs.

Now, all he had to do was get back to Little Lake City's Square Market and purchase some spirit wood materials to produce another batch of Black Incense. Given Zhenling Sect's resources, he speculated that the effects would definitely be stronger than those of Xuanhua Temple, and could even surpass those of Liu Xin Sect.

Yuan Ming looked forward to this with great anticipation.

...

Two days later, Yuan Ming, planning to continue practicing the Nine Elements Technique at noon, spontaneously lit a stick of Black Incense and attached his Divine Thought to Guoguo's body, once again encountering Xi Ying.

At that moment, Xi Ying was sitting beside an elegantly decorated boudoir desk, her hand propping her chin, the other holding a writing brush, deep in thought, occasionally scrunching her nose, looking exceedingly charming and attractive.

Guoguo sat obediently beside her on a stool, squinting as she napped, only occasionally glancing up at her.

After performing the Divine Soul Possession, Yuan Ming wanted to prompt Guoguo to open her eyes and interact with Xi Ying; however, due to the limited effect of the Jiuli Temple incense, Guoguo could not sense his subtle hints and remained in a half-drowsy state.

Yuan Ming was both anxious and annoyed, but there was nothing he could do.

"Knock, knock, knock,"

At that moment, a knocking sound came from outside the door, and Xi Ying turned her head to look.

"Didn't I say not to disturb me unless it's important?" Xi Ying frowned and asked, clearly annoyed that her thoughts had been interrupted.

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