Hidden Moth-Chapter 547 - 311: Fragrant Incense Sustained for a Thousand Years

As soon as He Kao entered the portal of the Flower Shocking Grotto Heaven, he heard Wei Luo’s voice in his Primordial Spirit, filled with unconcealable delight: "You’re here?"

He Kao immediately realized that at this moment, Steward Wei was stationed in the Grotto Heaven holding authority over the Array Core, thus capable of remote communication, simulating techniques akin to those mastered only by Tier Six Cultivators.

He nodded at the air and smiled, "How have you been lately?"

Wei Luo: "Pretty good, just waiting for you. I heard you’ve broken through to Tier Five Cultivation?"

He Kao: "How did you know?"

Wei Luo: "Elder Li reported it yesterday, you were attacked in the Ba Mountain Medicine Garden, but ended up killing the assassin... are you alright?"

He Kao: "Not a scratch, I’m fine."

Wei Luo: "I only breathed a sigh of relief when I saw you just now; it turns out there really wasn’t any trouble. Yesterday Elder Li mentioned you claimed to have suffered serious internal injuries..."

At this point, a very abrupt voice cut in, like a phone call crossing lines, Jiang Daozhen said with Divine Thought: "You two are chatting quite merrily, have you forgotten why you’re here?"

Wei Luo hurriedly said, "Oh, Elder Jiang and Grandmaster Guo are waiting for you in the Ancestral Hall!"

He Kao did not employ instant teleportation divine techniques; under Wei Luo’s watchful remote attention, he couldn’t perform it anyway. Yet as a Fifth Realm Cultivator, he wasn’t slow, traveling through the narrow path between the two mountains, entering the plain basin among the hills, and arriving before the Ancestral Hall.

The disciples of Lingxi Sect over generations were few; though some cave mansions and medicine fields had been crafted, most blended cleverly with the natural surroundings, scattered inconspicuously within the vast Grotto Heaven.

On his way, He Kao didn’t encounter any other Sorcerers; they might have been cultivating in the deep mountains, or possibly sent away deliberately by Elder Jiang.

The structure and scale of the Sect Ancestral Hall were similar to those of the other Seven Great Magic Sects. The main door was open, and Elder Jiang guided him with Divine Thought to the central hall to first pay homage by lighting incense for the ancestral masters.

Although He Kao was not a disciple of the Lingxi Sect, he could nonetheless be considered a descendent of Jiang Daozhen.

Passing through the two gates into the central hall, there stood two elders. He Kao first bowed in respect before stepping forward to pick up three sticks of Awakening Incense on the table and light them as an offering.

The altar in the center of the hall was sparsely furnished, displaying only a single tablet inscribed with "Position of the Ancestral Masters Through the Ages."

The standard way to ignite Awakening Incense is not with a lighter but with mana. It is smokeless, with effects that only Divine Sense can detect, gradually released and surprisingly absorbed by the Ancestral Master’s Tablet worshipped on the altar.

Once the Awakening Incense was lit, Jiang Daozhen flicked his sleeve, and several rows of chime-like ritual instruments hanging on racks on both sides of the hall began to resonate on their own, playing a complete sacrificial tune, an ancient melody He Kao had never heard before.

He Kao stepped back three steps, knelt on the mat to perform a grand obeisance. As the music entered his ears, his Primordial Spirit became tranquil, and a Divine Thought Heart Seal was implanted within him.

The majority of the content of this Divine Thought Heart Seal had already been imparted to He Kao, including the Spirit Rhinoceros Technique Formulas and the various application techniques of the Lingxi Sect.

Typically, such a rite of imparting techniques occurs when a disciple breaks through to a high tier and is inspired to seek out the Grotto Heaven, known as the Secondary Inheritance. Jiang Daozhen took the opportunity to arrange this for He Kao today.

Although He Kao was not a disciple of the Lingxi Sect, the ancestral masters hadn’t said it wasn’t permissible, and if anyone had questions, Jiang Daozhen’s answer was always that it was the blessing of the ancestors.

Hmm, it seems there might be something additional?

After receiving the transmission of the Divine Thought Heart Seal, Wei Luo took the chance to whisper a few words, explaining some of the nuances related to this Secondary Inheritance ceremony and the Awakening Incense.

Last time Li Xiuyuan asked He Kao what reward he wanted; besides the Spirit Awakening Pill and Transformation Pill for research, what He Kao requested was Awakening Incense, which benefits his personal cultivation.

Today, during He Kao’s ancestral worship, he happened to be lighting Awakening Incense too.

Using Awakening Incense to aid the cultivation of Magic Sect disciples is rare because it requires years to show significant effects. Its advantage is nourishing the Primordial Spirit, but the downside is its high cost.

During cultivation, a Third Realm Sorcerer needs only one stick each time, while a Fourth Realm Sorcerer requires three sticks.

As for breaking through Tier Five and beyond, Awakening Incense still has beneficial effects, but no more are needed; there is no notion of increasing to six or nine sticks, as it remains just an auxiliary item. The mainstay of cultivation relies on the Cultivator themselves.

In the Ancestral Hall, there is a dedicated team responsible for refining Awakening Incense, maintaining a certain inventory year-round. Otherwise, Elder Li could never give He Kao that many at once.

However, the Awakening Incense refined by the Ancestral Hall rarely circulates outside because it is a necessity used specifically for ancestor worship in the Ancestral Hall.

While He Kao was offering incense earlier, there were already three lit sticks of Awakening Incense in the incense burner. Wei Luo informed him that ensuring the hall’s incense continuously burns 24 hours a day is one of the daily duties of guarding the Grotto Heaven.

Its purpose is to refine and nourish the Divine Control Thought left by the ancestral masters in the Grotto Heaven; the Divine Thought Heart Seal "seed" that He Kao just experienced comes from this Divine Control Thought.

Divine Control Thought was left by the ancestral masters using great divine power and mana, but over long ages, it will gradually dissipate.

Even though this process is extremely slow, potentially lasting for millennia, the more activity and fluctuations of divine qi and mana occur in the Grotto Heaven, the faster it dissipates.

Among the factors affecting it the most is the Secondary Inheritance ceremony. If conducted over a hundred times consecutively, the Divine Control Thought left by the ancestors may eventually be completely obliterated.

Therefore, the Magic Sect established specific ritual procedures, using Awakening Incense to nourish and refine, protecting the inherited Divine Seal from being weakened... All major Magic Sects stipulate that the incense in the Ancestral Hall must burn continuously year-round.