Chapter 459: The Poison of Incense Fire

Since he had decided to upgrade the Mysterious Astral Mortal Dust Barrier, Jie Ming’s train of thought immediately became clear.

Simply increasing the reserves of Flower God Baleful Qi and Mortal Dust Qi was merely treating the symptoms, not the root cause—the improvement would be limited.

To make it truly worthy of his current level of strength and a reliable asset in the upcoming wizard war, reinforcement had to begin at the fundamental level of the materials themselves.

His gaze swept across the mountain-like piles of baleful-qi storage jade urns in the warehouse, then toward the hazy storage units containing Incense Divine Power and Mortal Dust Qi nearby, before finally returning to the ever-shifting Mysterious Astral Mortal Dust Barrier in front of him.

“Materials…” Jie Ming pondered for a moment. Suddenly his eyes lit up as an idea struck him.

With a wave of his hand, the black giant priest waiting silently outside the warehouse immediately hurried over.

“Where have all the ‘impurities’ accumulated by the filtration system during the operation of the Incense Fire Divine Dao over these years been stored?” Jie Ming asked directly.

The black giant priest lowered its head slightly in deference and replied respectfully, “Master, please follow me.”

It led Jie Ming away from the main storage district, through several corridors interlaced with complex energy conduits, to an isolated warehouse door located in a far more remote area. The defensive measures here were visibly stricter.

The massive alloy door was not only densely engraved with suppression and sealing runes but was also faintly covered by a network of pale-golden Incense Divine Power, forming a double lock.

The black giant priest activated its authority. With a low hum, the door slid open to both sides.

The interior space of the warehouse was not particularly large, but at its center stood an extremely complex multi-layered composite array.

The array shimmered with flowing light, emitting a powerful binding force field that firmly locked down the strange existence at its core.

At first glance, the thing looked similar to Incense Divine Power—golden and radiant.

Under the intense compression of the array’s force field, it had condensed into a near-solid, slowly writhing liquid state.

Yet the feeling it gave was the complete opposite of the warm, sacred, orderly nature of Incense Divine Power.

Within this golden liquid, it was as though every color of paint had been overturned—countless twisted, discordant, dazzling spots of multicolored light swirled chaotically.

These spots constantly shifted and merged, radiating an aura of extreme disorder, madness, venomous malice, and seductive temptation.

Merely looking at it from a distance unsettled the mind, as though countless whispers filled with ill intent were murmuring directly into one’s ears.

“This is… the ‘impurities.’” Jie Ming stood at the edge of the array, staring intently at the writhing golden liquid. A trace of excitement appeared in his eyes.

According to the records in the Great Dao Book Pavilion, the so-called Incense Divine Power was essentially the aggregated “afterglow” that spilled from the wills, inspirations, and thoughts of intelligent beings under the coverage of the Incense Fire Divine Dao in their daily lives.

Faith and sacrificial rituals could effectively increase both the yield and concentration of this “afterglow,” but they were not strictly necessary.

Since it was a product of intelligent beings’ thoughts, it inevitably contained a mixture of positive and negative, order and chaos, benevolence and malice.

In the early days of the Incense Fire Divine Dao, when the technology was crude and effective separation and purification methods were lacking, all collected mental afterglow was indiscriminately processed into “Incense Divine Power” for use.

The divine power produced this way might not be inferior in energy intensity or functionality, yet it concealed enormous dangers.

The most common consequence was that long-term use or exposure to this unpurified divine power would subtly erode the user’s emotions, soul, and even fundamental will through the chaotic impurities within.

In mild cases, it led to drastic personality changes and the proliferation of inner demons. In severe cases, the user would completely lose their sense of self, becoming a puppet driven by stray thoughts or a will-less “answering machine.”

Ancient cultivators referred to this terrifying side effect as “the Poison of Incense Fire” and spoke of it with dread.

As eras advanced and technology improved, later cultivators continuously refined the Incense Fire Divine Dao system.

One of the most important advancements was the addition of powerful filtration and purification systems before producing Incense Divine Power.

This system could effectively strip away excessively strong personal will imprints, extreme emotional fragments, and all manner of harmful negative and chaotic information impurities from the mental afterglow.

And the “dregs” filtered out were precisely this mass of golden liquid exuding a bizarre aura—the pure, highly concentrated “Poison of Incense Fire”!

As an automatic protective treasure capable of counterattacking its assailants, the defensive and retaliatory strength of the Mysterious Astral Mortal Dust Barrier depended heavily on the nature of its core refining materials.

Since it was to be used against enemies… naturally, the more “toxic,” the more “ruthless,” the harder to defend against or dispel, the better the effect!

“How has the accumulated yield and storage of the Poison of Incense Fire been over these years?” Jie Ming turned to the black giant priest beside him, his tone carrying a hint of anticipation.

The priest immediately pulled up the relevant data and projected it onto a light screen. “In reply to Master: since the main framework of the Incense Fire Divine Dao stabilized and began full operation, the filtration system has run at maximum capacity without interruption.”

“Initial yields were low, but as the black giant population expanded and social activities grew more complex, impurity production increased year by year. Current daily average yield is stable at approximately 3,700 standard strands. After array compression and purification, total stored volume is as shown…”

The light screen displayed a clear curve graph and the current storage figure.

Seeing the already considerable stockpile and the steadily rising daily production data, Jie Ming couldn’t help but curl his lips into a satisfied smile.

This was highly purified and compressed “Poison of Incense Fire”!

Although the black giants’ thoughts were relatively simple at present, their sheer numbers were immense.

What was stored in this warehouse was the distilled essence of the stray thoughts, negative emotions, and chaotic wills accumulated day after day by billions of black giants!

Its “toxicity,” its corrosiveness, and its affinity for the soul were absolutely top-tier materials for curse-type and mental pollution attacks!

Using it to upgrade the Mysterious Astral Mortal Dust Barrier could not have been more perfect!

However, Jie Ming did not let excitement cloud his judgment.

“Good stuff… but applying it to the Mysterious Astral Mortal Dust Barrier requires extremely precise refining techniques and a stable carrier structure. Otherwise, it will injure the user before the enemy,” he analyzed calmly. “Moreover, the nature of the Poison of Incense Fire is special. It must be perfectly fused with other materials to maximize its effect while ensuring controllability.”

He glanced once more at the writhing golden venom locked within the array and forcibly suppressed the urge to begin immediately.

“Before that…” Jie Ming turned around, his gaze turning toward the direction of the laboratory, “…I need to finish the modifications to 【Causal Trace Shadow Technique】 and 【Great Void Step】 first.”

One must eat a meal one mouthful at a time; one must walk a road one step at a time.

With the successful experience of modifying 【Return to Ruins Armor】 and a deeper understanding of the Spiritual Qi Law, Jie Ming was confident he could, in a shorter time, successfully integrate these two unique mechanism-based spells into his combat system as key components.

After that, he would use the Flower God Baleful Qi and Mortal Dust Qi from these three great warehouses, along with this mass of Poison of Incense Fire as the core, to carry out a complete, earth-shaking upgrade of the Mysterious Astral Mortal Dust Barrier!