"What... what kind of help?" Wu Sang was somewhat uneasy from Yuan Ming's smile and hesitated to ask.

"I want you to collect all the incense ashes from the incense burner on the altar in the grand hall of the temple. Once the task is completed, I am willing to give you ten silver coins. How about it?" Yuan Ming asked.

He could have secretly collected the ashes himself, but he didn't want to waste too much time. Besides, to him, gold and silver from the Mortal World weren't of much value, especially since he had recently received compensation from Old Smoke Bag.

"What do you want the incense ashes for?" Wu Sang's heart beat faster at the mention of "ten silver coins," but recalling what had happened during the day, he frowned and asked.

"Where I come from, when someone gets sick, they drink incense ashes mixed with water. This morning, I suddenly had a stomachache," Yuan Ming admitted generously.

"Drinking incense ashes to cure sickness? There are such folk remedies here too," Wu Sang said noncommittally, though inwardly he was quite skeptical about Yuan Ming's method of treatment.

"If you're unwilling, I can go directly to the temple priest Galong. I believe he would be happy to help cure illnesses and save people," said Yuan Ming, his eyes shifting.

"Haha, that would be too troublesome. Besides, Senior Brother Galong is still angry. You better not provoke him. When everyone is resting tonight, I will handle this matter for you. There's no need for you to trouble others. Take care," Wu Sang laughed heartily and quickly said.

After sending Wu Sang away, Yuan Ming returned to his room and began to circulate his mana, infusing it into the incense burner once more.

Suddenly, he thought of the Emperor, who was focusing intently on practicing the "Fireball Technique," and the more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

He subconsciously imitated the Emperor's stance, spreading his legs into a horse stance.

Closing his eyes, he carefully recalled the process of how mana had circulated through his body at that time, as well as the spells, and then opened his eyes, extended his arm, and raised his index finger to start channeling mana.

Soon enough, a glint of firelight appeared above his fingertip and, with a "sizzling" sound, a fireball about the size of a walnut kernel materialized from thin air.

Although the fireball was small, the intense heat it emanated filled the whole room as soon as it appeared.

Yuan Ming looked at his first successful execution of the "Fireball Technique" with a glint of joy in his eyes. It seemed his talent for learning spells was not bad at all.

He fixed his gaze on the small fireball at the tip of his finger, observing it closely and comparing it to the one Chen Wan had cast from memory. Other than the size, there seemed to be no difference.

Was the key to this spell that the Emperor continuously injected mana into it, making the fireball grow larger to increase its power?

This speculation was quickly suppressed for the time being.

First, because he was currently in the Mortal World, it was not convenient to continue researching the Fireball Technique. Second, he wanted to figure out the key to incense possession and did not have much energy to consider other details.

In the wee hours of the night, Wu Sang gingerly arrived like a thief, carrying a heavy cloth bag and carefully found his way over.

Yuan Ming checked and found that the incense ashes were indeed the same as what he had collected during the day, certainly the accumulation of years on the altar. He handed Wu Sang the ten silver coins.

After Wu Sang expressed concern about Yuan Ming's illness, he left with great joy, "Indeed, the pharmacy business is the most profitable, no mistake. After repaying my debts, should I consider this line of work? Can't starve to death, can't save lives, no risk, guaranteed income whether in drought or flood!"

Yuan Ming had no interest in Wu Sang's musings and continued to practice his cultivation while infusing mana to help the incense burner recover.

In the following seven days, he barely left his house, and Wu Sang also did not come to visit him.

That morning, the Tai Chi pattern on the incense burner finally shone with a faint glow.

Unable to wait, Yuan Ming picked up a piece of Black Incense as thick as a thumb from the table and inserted it into the incense burner.

To extend the duration of his possession, he had mixed three times the amount of incense ashes into this stick of incense, and also increased the amounts of the other materials.

After locking the door, Yuan Ming lit the Black Incense.

As the blue smoke rose, that familiar feeling came over him again. Yuan Ming rubbed his hands together, full of anticipation.

When he awoke from the darkness once more, he immediately opened his eyes and looked around.

This time, he did not see the splendid halls or smell the fragrance of awakening spices. Instead, he was met with the scent of cosmetics infiltrating his nostrils.

What he saw was a bedchamber veiled in gauze.

He had a bad feeling and subconsciously wanted to touch his cheek, only to find that the body he had possessed did not move. It seemed he had no control over this body's movements, just like last time.

He couldn't even turn his eyeballs, and all he could see was what this body could see.

Fortunately, at this moment, the body's owner looked down, allowing Yuan Ming to see two peaks and part of a snowy arm resting on a table. Based on the dress, it was unmistakably a woman's attire.

"Not the Emperor, nor the Coachman, but a woman..." Yuan Ming muttered under his breath.

At that time, the body's owner got up but accidentally made a loud clang by hitting the table.

"Little Yuan, what are you doing?" A voice, slightly reproachful, immediately came from outside.

Little Yuan? Was that the name of this body's owner?

Following that, Yuan Ming heard a crisp voice coming from "himself": "It's nothing, I just knocked my foot..."

Then, as the beaded curtain outside was lifted, a lovely-looking woman walked in. She was dressed just like Yuan Ming was at the moment.

Yuan Ming took a moment to size up the situation before he realized that they were all dressed as maids.

"Little Yuan, you were supposed to fetch a silk fan for the young lady. What are you doing idling here? Young Master Lin will be here any moment now. Why are you still dawdling?" the beautiful maid chided.

"I don't know why, but I suddenly felt a bit dizzy…" Little Yuan said in a weak voice.

"You, you always like to slack off." The beautiful maid, with her orchid finger raised, gave her a light tap and said.

"I…"

Who would have thought, before Little Yuan could finish her sentence, Yuan Ming truly started feeling dizzy again.

The next instant, his consciousness sank into darkness.

When he woke up again, he was still sitting in the side room of the temple and the thick Black Incense in the incense burner before him had completely burned out.

"It doesn't seem like much time has passed; it hasn't extended by much from last time…" Yuan Ming picked up the incense burner, his face showing resignation.

As for the Tai Chi Pattern on the incense burner, it had naturally extinguished once again.

"It seems I must keep trying," Yuan Ming adjusted his mood and said so.

...

Over the next month, Yuan Ming continued to use different materials combined with incense ashes to make Black Incense.

In total, he tried four times, including one possession that occurred with Wang Shun; but each time the result was the same: the possession was brief and abrupt, and he was unable to control the host's movements freely, leaving him no time to investigate and verify his own identity.

This left Yuan Ming speechless.

Seeing that the time to return to his Sect was drawing near, he decided to make one last attempt before leaving.

He took out a Spirit Stone from his Storage Ring, smashed it into powder, and mixed it into the incense spices.

With the addition of spirit stone powder, a faint aura of Spiritual Power emanated from the incense spices.

Next, Yuan Ming took out some incense ashes and also mixed them into the spices.

As various materials were mixed and stirred together, a new batch of incense sticks was successfully crafted by Yuan Ming.

This time, he returned to making them in standard sizes, without making those exaggeratedly thick incense sticks again.

However, once the incense was made, Yuan Ming curiously found that he could no longer sense the Spiritual Power fluctuations within it.

"Could it be that the Spiritual Power has dissipated?" Yuan Ming wondered in his heart.

But he didn't think too much about it and lit the Black Incense once more.

This time, before lighting the incense, he continually murmured "Emperor" in his heart, hoping to possess the Emperor's body again.

Of all the times he had used incense for possession, it was while possessing the Emperor that he gained the most.

Apart from channeling Mana into the incense burner to help it recover, Yuan Ming also couldn't help but ponder the peculiar "Fireball Technique" in his spare time over the past few days.

Because when he possessed the Emperor's body, he had truly observed the process of casting Spells and even felt the flow of Mana inside the Emperor while he cast them. Therefore, after coming back, Yuan Ming closely reflected upon it, and combined with his previous experience, quickly learned it.

Only, he had not yet reached the level of proficiency that the Emperor had achieved while casting the Spell.

Nevertheless, Yuan Ming still hoped to possess the Emperor again and preferably witness the process of him casting Spells once more.

"It must be the Emperor, it has to be the Emperor…" Until his consciousness completely fell into darkness, Yuan Ming was still inwardly crying out.

The next instant, his vision finally lit up again.

He saw an intricately carved dragon throne and a desk piled high with memorials.

"Your Majesty, perhaps you should rest for a moment before continuing?" At that moment, a somewhat sharp voice rang out.

Upon hearing the voice, Yuan Ming's host turned his gaze and saw a young eunuch, dressed in eunuch attire, presenting him with a bowl of ginseng tea.

"It really is the Emperor, I've actually possessed the Emperor again..." After confirming this, Yuan Ming was immediately engulfed in immense delight.

It meant that one of his longstanding conjectures had been preliminarily validated.

His possessions weren't truly random and disorderly, but were intimately related to the things or people he yearned for in his heart, inseparable from them.

"Dealing with these state affairs is utterly dull; cultivation is much more enjoyable. I was truly foolish before, unwilling to cultivate. The next time the State Preceptor comes, I'll surely surprise him with my Burning Explosion Skill." At that point, the Emperor spoke.

Yuan Ming could distinctly feel his host's excitement, and even he himself began to feel eager to try it.

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