Chapter 197: The Fragrance of Dao-Attainment

A scent?

Where was that fragrance coming from?

Lu Ye furrowed his brow and lifted his own arm.

He sniffed carefully—at some point, a faint fragrance had settled onto his skin.

What the hell was this?

He checked his body. At that moment, all the flesh on his body had picked up that same scent.

The fragrance was faint, but it triggered a subtle feeling of hunger inside Lu Ye.

Now that was interesting.

What kind of Dao heart did Lu Ye have?

If even he felt hungry after smelling it, then wouldn’t everyone else who caught a whiff go completely insane with hunger—and pounce on him the moment they saw him?

“System, run a check for me.”

Ding! Simulating...

Ding! This fragrance is the Fragrance of Dao-Attainment.

Shen Xitong’s figure appeared. She extended her snow-white arm toward Lu Ye.

“Smell this,” she said.

Lu Ye leaned in and sniffed.

Hmm. No wonder it seemed familiar—it was similar to the natural scent on Shen Xitong’s body.

“Fragrance of Dao-Attainment?”

Ding! Dao-attained beings must be at least of the Heavenly Sovereign level. This fragrance has only two possible sources: either it’s refined from the corpse of a physical Heavenly Sovereign, or from the body of a Saint.

Ding! This Fragrance of Dao-Attainment drives all living beings mad. They will see you as the Fruit of the Great Dao, as the Medicine of Heaven. It evokes primal, instinctive obsession from all life.

Ding! Lu Ye, you're screwed. From now on, you're passively going to become the enemy of the world. Anyone who smells this fragrance will instinctively want to kill you—to eat you. Even the people closest to you won’t be able to stop themselves.

“Even you?”

Ding! Not me. I’m also fragrant. Smell me again!”

“...And what about these guys?” Lu Ye tapped the Human Emperor Banner.

Ding! The Human Emperor Banner isn’t a living being.

Lu Ye nodded.

“Simulate a solution for me.”

Ding! Simulation started. Estimated completion time: one hour.

As the system began its deduction, Shen Xitong didn’t appear again.

Ding! Fragrant Host, the Fragrance of Dao-Attainment hasn’t fully released yet. At least for now, in the Second Heaven, you don’t need to worry—unless you go fooling around with more women. If they catch a whiff...

Right as she said that, Shen Xitong suddenly froze.

Ding! Ah—it was that lunatic Yin Qingcheng who planted the ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ Fragrance of Dao-Attainment on you!

Lu Ye understood immediately.

He couldn’t help massaging his temples.

In his previous life, if he hadn’t self-detonated—once the Fragrance of Dao-Attainment began to spread, countless creatures across the heavens would’ve gone berserk, throwing themselves at him.

That would’ve directly caused him to fail his tribulation and lose another life.

Even if Lu Ye died, the fragrance wouldn’t dissipate entirely. At most, its spread would slow down.

Meaning—as long as people stayed far enough away, they wouldn’t catch the scent.

But women... absolutely couldn’t get close.

Because the moment they did, they would be overwhelmed by a maddening urge—to devour him.

Yin Qingcheng must’ve had a method to suppress the effect for herself.

Which meant, when the time came, the only person Lu Ye would be able to safely see would be her—and only her.

Lu Ye didn’t even want to imagine how delighted Yin Qingcheng must’ve been when she got her hands on this damn fragrance.

“Crazy bitch...”

Lu Ye couldn’t help cursing aloud.

As of now, it was only because his physical body wasn’t strong enough that the Fragrance of Dao-Attainment hadn’t fully erupted. Still, just this single wisp that had escaped—

Already turned the one-meter radius around Lu Ye into a dead zone!

Any living being—any—

That entered within one meter of Lu Ye would immediately fall under the influence of the fragrance, go insane, and try to attack him in a frenzy of greed.

Lu Ye was deep in thought.

These women... they really could find the most absurd crap.

Fragrance of Dao-Attainment.

A body that had physically reached the Heavenly Sovereign Realm.

Or the remains of a Saint.

Those were the only two ways to produce it.

Across all of the Nine Heavens—no, even in the entire Great Universe beyond—how many people could meet those conditions?

Yet Yin Qingcheng not only found it, she refined it into a toxin.

And she did it so subtly that he never even noticed.

Lu Ye had only one thing to say about that.

Six out of five stars.

Ding! Fragrant Host, you don’t seem as fragrant as me!”

Shen Xitong couldn’t help herself—she leaned in to sniff Lu Ye again, then grinned happily.

“You’re the best. Since you’re so amazing, can you suck the Fragrance of Dao-Attainment out of me?”

Ding! Nope.

“Then you’re not that amazing.”

Ding! Still can’t suck it out—even if I’m not that amazing!

Lu Ye and Shen Xitong squabbled for a bit before he finally closed his eyes and began cultivating again.

Stone Sword and Human Emperor Banner, having overheard their entire conversation, were both trembling in fear.

Holy hell.

Looked like a serious bloodbath was on its way.

These two artifacts were really down bad right now. Stone Sword still couldn’t properly absorb the blood on its blade—Lu Ye had to wipe it with a cloth just to help it get started.

As for the Human Emperor Banner...

Can you blame them?

Well, not entirely.

The souls inside the banner had chatted with the ones in the other Ten Thousand Soul Banners before.

Over there, new souls came in every so often—sometimes a few, sometimes a few dozen.

If they ever got a hundred at once, that would already boost the banner’s power significantly.

And the Human Emperor Banner?

Every few days, hundreds of souls entered. Sometimes thousands, sometimes tens of thousands. And not just any souls—cultivator souls.

Ever since it had been renamed from the Ten Thousand Soul Banner to the Human Emperor Banner, it had forgotten what normal souls even looked like.

Their master? He didn’t kill ordinary people.

Only cultivators.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Ding! Simulation complete!

Lu Ye reviewed the possible solutions.

Option 1: Go to the Place of Extreme Filth and smother the Fragrance of Dao-Attainment in the filth aura.

The Place of Extreme Filth was where all the filth energy of the Nine Heavens gathered. The stench was so vile, it could wipe out all living things.

If not for that place, the Nine Heavens would’ve been permanently drowned in smoke and poison.

Lu Ye skipped that option immediately.

He wasn’t afraid of suffering—but smelling that all day?

Forget it. He’d rather kill people.

Option 2: Use external tribulations to violently shock the physical body and force the Fragrance of Dao-Attainment out at full intensity.

This method required the complete collapse of the body nine times to purge the fragrance.

Complete physical destruction. Nine times.

And it had to be caused by external tribulation.

Because if Lu Ye did it himself, his body would subconsciously brace and protect itself, and the deep-embedded fragrance wouldn’t be flushed out.

So it had to be unexpected. A surprise destruction—rip the body apart with no warning.

Option 3: Return to the Heavenly Sovereign Realm!

At that level, the Fragrance of Dao-Attainment would be laughable. The system had a hundred ways to deal with it.

But between Option 1 and 3...

They might as well have been jokes.

That meant only Option 2 was viable.

Nine full-body deaths.

Yin Qingcheng... you really fucking love me.