"Well... After careful study yesterday, I realized that this incense is indeed quite special. It seems to be made from more materials than I had imagined, including some mineral powder, but as for specifically what it is, I can't tell immediately." Wu Sang sighed.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming, though he had anticipated it, still frowned slightly.

"Hehe, don't worry, young friend. My family has been making incense for generations. With my thirty years of experience, I'm confident that with a little effort in continued research, I'll be able to decipher its formula. Today, I'll start by teaching you the basic process of incense making. Of course, this also comes at a cost," Wu Sang said with a somewhat embarrassed smile as he rubbed his hands together, noticing the change in Yuan Ming's expression.

"Of course, a family's secret art is an intangible asset. How much will it cost?" Yuan Ming nodded.

Wu Sang asked for ten silver coins. After paying, one began to teach and the other to listen attentively.

True to his heritage, Wu Sang's insights into incense making were unique. Despite seeming a bit scattered, when it came to incense making, he was as if a different person—eloquent and clear in explanation.

Yuan Ming had an exceptionally good memory and progressed quickly in his learning. Within a couple of days, he had almost completely grasped the Wu Sang family's incense-making techniques.

The process included drying, steaming, boiling, popping, stirring, searing, baking, grinding, and finally pressing into shape. Each step required mastering certain skills, and the materials used varied, making the process truly something that took years of learning to master.

But as a cultivator, Yuan Ming was capable of things ordinary people could not do, and he easily mastered the steps of incense making.

Jiuli Temple was well-attended, and with its own incense workshop stocked with a variety of raw materials available for purchase, he found it very convenient.

After some experimentation, Yuan Ming soon made his first stick of incense, incorporating a few of the materials that Wu Sang had guessed, while the rest he added based on his own ideas.

The incense was earthy yellow and had a smell somewhat similar to the Black Incense, though the appearance was quite different.

In his room, Yuan Ming brought out an incense burner and attempted to light the Yellow Incense.

The bright yellow flames enveloped the Yellow Incense, and a wisp of blue smoke rose from the tip, but the incense burner showed no reaction, no different from his previous attempts.

Yuan Ming had not harbored any hope to begin with and discarded the Yellow Incense into a copper basin nearby, continuing to try new formulas.

Half a day later, he produced a brand new stick of incense with a light yellow hue. Attempting to light it once more, he again met with failure.

...

Inside a room of the incense workshop, Wu Sang carefully poured some red powder into a small bowl, which already held half a bowl of clear gel.

He then threw in a portion of gray powder, followed by a third ingredient.

In a moment, the clear gel turned to a gray-black color.

Wu Sang nodded thoughtfully, took a burning candle from nearby, and let the flame gently touch the gel.

Boom!

The gray-black gel immediately caught fire, bursting into azure flames.

Wu Sang took a small packet from his chest, containing a small section of black incense, precisely the Black Incense from Yuan Ming.

He used tongs to hold the Black Incense, bringing it close to the flames in the bowl.

The azure flames flickered with streaks of purple, and a faint, spicy fragrance filled the air.

"This Black Incense must contain something like Spicy Stone, but it seems there are some differences..." Wu Sang withdrew the tongs along with the remaining Black Incense, his face showing a trace of hesitation.

He picked up a notebook nearby and added a note to it.

The notebook listed six materials, four of which were mere speculation, while the other two, including Spicy Stone, were more certain, though not confidently pinpointed.

"Damnation! This Black Incense is as hard as iron, and its ingredients are so bizarre. I wonder where that kid got it from!" Wu Sang grumbled discontentedly, his confidence in identifying the components of the Black Incense shaken. This uncertainty was unprecedented in his experience.

For the first time in his life, he began to doubt his ability in incense making and regretted the bold claims he had initially made.

"No matter, let's try with these six materials and see!" After pacing back and forth in the room for a while, Wu Sang quickly made up his mind.

With his years of experience handling incense ingredients, he estimated that about a dozen materials were needed to produce the odd Black Incense. If he could identify half, he could start attempting to replicate it.

Regardless, he had made a preliminary judgment. Without trying, how could he know if it would work? Perhaps he might really succeed.

However, before starting, he needed to let Yuan Ming know.

Wu Sang stood up and went outside Yuan Ming's residence.

"Young friend Yuan, I have some thoughts about that Black Incense..." he began as he pushed open the door.

His voice trailed off midway.

Inside the room, Yuan Ming was holding a slightly red stick of incense over a candle flame, performing the final shaping step.

"You made this incense?" Wu Sang asked, mouth agape.

With his expertise, he could clearly see that the slightly red incense stick in Yuan Ming's hand was near perfect, its craftsmanship rivaling his own.

"Hehe, having read the books and received guidance from a famous teacher, I've become somewhat familiar with incense making these past few days," Yuan Ming said with a slight smile.

Wu Sang found Yuan Ming's words gratifying but didn't know what to say in response.

However, when his peripheral vision swept past the copper basin next to Yuan Ming again, and he noticed the four or five sticks of incense lying inside, some broken, but with a level of finesse not much different from the one Yuan Ming held in his hand.

Wu Sang's eyes couldn't help but widen—Yuan Ming had already made so many sticks of incense, which meant that this person must be extraordinarily intelligent.

It must be known that although he wasn't as diligent as his parents, he started from a young age and it took him a full ten years to achieve a little success, and another twenty years to accomplish what he has today.

Although the craft of incense making seems simple, it is indeed a technical job that truly requires time to delve into. And in just a few days, this boy, not even twenty years old, had mastered it?

This was the second major blow he had received in the past few days, apart from his inability to identify the components of Black Incense.

"Mr. Wu Sang, what are you thinking about?" Yuan Ming's voice came again, bringing Wu Sang back from his reverie.

"Ahem, nothing... nothing at all. Regarding the ingredients of the Black Incense, there are six that we have some clues about, two of which we are more confident about. With my experience, we can start trying to make it, so I wanted to let you know," Wu Sang said with a slight cough, as he handed over a piece of paper with the ingredients listed to Yuan Ming.

"Mr. Wu Sang's understanding of spices is truly extraordinary. However, it might be better to leave the replication to me while you continue investigating the components of Black Incense, aiming for more progress," Yuan Ming said, his face lighting up as he handed over a small bag of coins to Wu Sang.

"That's fine. With your current skill in incense making, I don't think there will be any problem with replicating it. This way, I can concentrate on identifying the components of Black Incense," Wu Sang said as he weighed the bag of coins, happily tucking it away. Though he wasn't very confident about further investigations, he still responded resolutely.

"Then I'll leave it in your capable hands, Mr. Wu Sang!" Yuan Ming said.

Wu Sang did not stay long, telling Yuan Ming about his guesses concerning the six ingredients and his understanding of Black Incense so far and leaving some of each of the six ingredients behind before taking his leave.

That very night, Yuan Ming used the two most likely ingredients, along with the four speculative ones, to make a new stick of incense, but once again, it ended in failure.

Yuan Ming did not get discouraged and continued trying.

Before long, a little over half a month passed.

Yuan Ming's room was filled with the rich aroma of spices, and a table nearby was cluttered with discarded sticks of incense—at least a hundred of them.

At this moment, he was concentrating deeply on crafting a new stick of incense.

Over this period, Wu Sang had made some progress with the Black Incense materials, proposing four more possible ingredients in addition to the previous ones. However, he was only more confident about two of them; the other two were still just conjectures.

As for the ingredients he was completely sure about, there were still none.

But Wu Sang had immersed himself in incense making for many years and, by various means, had managed to find several rare, high-grade spices that made the incense he refined increasingly similar to Black Incense.

This raised Yuan Ming's hopes considerably.

The new incense was soon finished, presenting a glossy black color, and in both appearance and scent, it was indistinguishable from Black Incense.

Yuan Ming took out the incense burner and skillfully inserted the new incense, eager to light it with candle fire.

A red glow lit up on the new incense, and the Tai Chi Pattern on the incense burner brightened in response.

A surge of emotion passed through Yuan Ming's heart, but his expression remained calm as he fixed his gaze on the red glow at the tip of the new incense.

The red glow flickered and then dimmed immediately, as fleeting as a shooting star.

Yuan Ming sighed, his disappointment unmistakable in his eyes.

Despite all this time, the incense he made never managed to trigger any change in the Tai Chi Pattern.

He had, following Wu Sang's hints and combining them with his own summarized experience, tried more than twenty or thirty different high-grade materials, almost exhausting all of the temple's incense-making materials, yet there was still no progress.

But as a Cultivator, Yuan Ming also had some insights from another perspective.

He speculated that the ingredients of Black Incense were likely not ordinary objects, and that the materials available here were common and mundane; making incense just like it was impossible in a short time.

If they could determine just one or two of the ingredients of Black Incense, perhaps there would be some progress.

"What could it be?" Yuan Ming furrowed his brow, deep in thought and meditation.

The Mysterious Incense Burner had been obtained by chance in the Southern Border, so the materials for Black Incense should also be from the Southern Border.

"The Southern Border is vast; this place is part of the Southern Border and Northern Territory, close to Da Jin. The Southern Domain of the Southern Border is many times larger than the Northern Territory. Should I visit other tribes in the Southern Domain later?" A thought suddenly crossed Yuan Ming's mind, only for him to shake his head afterwards.

There are thousands of substances in the world; surely he can't try them one by one?

Given the potency of Black Incense once it is lit, the materials must be extraordinary. He couldn't just go to a master of Artifact Refining to help analyze the components—that would hardly keep the secret of the incense safe.

Yuan Ming pondered back and forth for a long time before taking out the stick of Black Incense again, but instead of inserting it into the incense burner, he placed it in front of him and observed it carefully.

He focused his mind and breath, his eyes fixed on the Black Incense, and his Divine Sense enveloped it, not wanting to overlook any detail.

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