“Flying artifacts are ultimately just auxiliary artifacts. In the Southern Region, people prefer to directly control flying spirit beasts, while in the Central Plains, they prefer flying artifacts. The so-called Sword Immortals who can fly are just using swords to travel,” explained the Third Master.

“I see,” Yuan Ming suddenly understood.

After speaking, he took Huo Chan’er off his shoulder and placed her on the ground.

“Third Master, I will be going into seclusion in the mountains soon. I will take my leave now,” he said, and then turned and left.

The Third Master was distracted by the flying artifact and didn’t realize until Yuan Ming had left that she had not yet paid him the reward of Bai Yan Jing Jin.

“Flying artifacts…” the Third Master murmured.

Yuan Ming went to the Fire Workshop and informed Senior Brother Fang Ge before returning to his place to pack up. He then headed back to the Ten Thousand Mountains to cultivate in seclusion.

During this seclusion, besides improving his cultivation, Yuan Ming also wanted to try incorporating the various materials he had recently found into making incense.

He believed that as long as he found the right spiritual materials to replace the ordinary materials, the time for the incense to take effect would definitely become longer, and the effect would be closer to that of the original Black Incense.

After setting up a cave in the mountains and building a treehouse on an ancient tree outside, Yuan Ming began a new round of incense experiments.

He gained a lot this time and brought back a variety of spiritual materials, making it difficult for him to know where to start.

After much consideration, he decided to first take out the Yellow Springs Tree he had brought back from the Snake King Valley and scrape off half a cup of powder from it, adding it to his incense ingredients.

Once the incense was completed, Yuan Ming couldn’t wait to light it.

The Yellow Springs Tree itself was related to the soul, so Yuan Ming had high hopes for this incense.

“Liu Tianming…”

Yuan Ming watched as the smoke rose and silently recited the name of the Little Emperor in his heart, envisioning his appearance. His vision gradually became blurry until he fell into endless darkness.

But after a moment, Yuan Ming’s vision brightened again, and he immediately saw a large table covered in bright yellow silk and a pair of fair hands resting on the table.

The owner of the hands was wearing a bright yellow dragon robe and was looking down at a letter on the table.

Yuan Ming confirmed that he had once again possessed the body of the Little Emperor of Da Jin, but he was still in a state of being an observer and could only feel the emotions of the Little Emperor without being able to control his actions.

However, at this moment, Yuan Ming felt a very strong excitement and exhilaration. He could even feel the trembling of the Little Emperor’s arm resting on the table.

Following the Little Emperor’s gaze, Yuan Ming saw a middle-aged man in court attire standing in front of the main hall. He had thick black eyebrows, sharp eyes, a high nose bridge, a circle of black stubble around his lips, and a tall and sturdy figure. He stood there with a calm and steady demeanor, like a stone monument.

Before seeing this face, Yuan Ming’s impression of him was vague, but when he saw this face, his image immediately became clear and vivid in Yuan Ming’s mind.

However, compared to the father in his memory, this person’s temples had a few strands of white hair.

“Father…” Yuan Ming couldn’t speak at this moment, but the voice in his heart calling out to him was trembling.

The upright General Yuan had a much calmer expression on his face compared to the Little Emperor, but there were still faint traces of redness in the corners of his eyes, indicating that he was not as carefree as he appeared.

“Your Majesty, please don’t worry. In the letter, my son did not mention his whereabouts, only that the letter was sent from a military town in the Southern Region under the Ka Si Clan. I have already sent trusted soldiers to investigate with the scouts from the Southern Region. Once we have reliable results, we will send someone to bring him back,” General Yuan said respectfully.

“This guy, he clearly sent a letter back, why didn’t he mention where he is? What’s even more annoying is that there isn’t a single word for me in the letter,” the Little Emperor put down the letter, somewhat dissatisfied.

“He probably had no choice,” General Yuan sighed.

Upon hearing this, the Little Emperor thought of the hardships Yuan Ming might have suffered in the Southern Region and couldn’t bear to blame him anymore.

The reason Yuan Ming didn’t tell his family about his whereabouts was partly because he hadn’t recovered his complete memory of being murdered, and partly because he wanted to wait until his strength improved and he had the ability to protect himself before returning.

“General Yuan, about Ming ge still being alive…”

“Your Majesty, besides informing you, I haven’t told anyone else,” General Yuan immediately reassured him.

“That’s good. When he comes back, I want him to be…,” the Little Emperor stopped halfway and didn’t continue.

But Yuan Ming heard his thoughts: “I want him to be my right-hand man, just like before…”

After General Yuan took his leave, the eunuchs and maids who had been waiting outside the hall cautiously returned to the palace, and the Little Emperor returned to the hall.The eunuch who served the young emperor closely noticed that His Majesty seemed to be in a good mood, so he asked, “Your Majesty, the ministers from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue are seeking an audience. They wish to discuss the matter of resuming trade with the Southern Border. Shall I let them in?”

“I will not see anyone today. All matters will be discussed tomorrow.” The young emperor waved his hand dismissively without giving it a second thought.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The eunuch acknowledged and was about to leave to dismiss the two ministers.

At that moment, the young emperor suddenly spoke, “Bring me my treasure box.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The eunuch immediately complied.

In a short while, a two-foot square purple-red wooden box was brought to the young emperor’s desk.

He waved his hand again, driving everyone out.

Then, the young emperor unlocked the golden lock on the purple-red wooden box and slowly lifted the lid.

Inside the box were many small items: a black and white tiger plush toy, a finely carved small wooden sword, a crescent-shaped jade pendant, and many hand-bound books…

Looking at these small items, a nostalgic expression appeared on the young emperor’s face.

“Ming, you haven’t finished drawing the illustrations for ‘The Journey of the White Horse Youth’ yet. I’ve been waiting for a long time…” After a while, he picked up a book with a blue cover from the box and said with a hint of sadness.

Yuan Ming could empathize with the sadness in his words.

In an instant, he felt as if he had been hit hard on the head. His mind was filled with tumultuous thoughts, and fragments of memory began to emerge vaguely.

But at the same time, the scene in front of Yuan Ming became blurry again. His time of possession had come to an end.

As his vision cleared, Yuan Ming looked at the burnt-out incense in front of him, but his pupils couldn’t focus for a long time.

In his mind, an image was flashing like a floating scroll.

He saw his young self and the equally young emperor in the royal garden pavilion of the palace. One was drawing with a brush, and the other was grinding ink. Together, they were creating a painting.

“‘The Journey of the White Horse Youth’… I remember now. It was a comic book that I created with the Sixth Prince, no, with His Majesty.” Yuan Ming murmured to himself.

Back then, one of them was a young prodigy known throughout the capital for his calligraphy and painting skills, as well as his talent for writing fables. The other was the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin Dynasty, known for his exceptional talent.

They were of the same age, both with open minds and wild imaginations. They considered each other close friends. Their ideas collided and together they created a story about a young prince who ran away from the palace, became sworn brothers with martial arts disciples, and roamed the martial arts world together.

This story was “The Journey of the White Horse Youth”.

As these memories continued to return, Yuan Ming became increasingly excited.

The feeling was complex, like piecing together a broken porcelain bottle. Yuan Ming was also piecing together a complete self with the recovered memories.

He didn’t even notice that his personality was changing bit by bit in this process.

When he calmed down, Yuan Ming reached out to take the incense burner, but his movement suddenly paused.

“The duration of this possession… seems to have greatly extended!” Yuan Ming suddenly realized.

This time, he had experienced the entire process of the young emperor’s conversation with his father and the eunuch bringing the treasure box. The duration was more than twice as long as before.

“The wood powder of the Underworld Tree can greatly extend the duration of possession. The incense must contain rare spiritual materials!” Yuan Ming was overjoyed and came to this conclusion.

Although it was far from the original Black Incense’s level and couldn’t control the actions of the possessed person, such a long duration increase was already a great gain.

This experiment further stimulated Yuan Ming’s determination to continue trying. He added all the spiritual materials he had purchased into the incense-making materials and began a long experiment.

While waiting for the incense burner to recover, Yuan Ming sealed himself in the cave and began to cultivate in seclusion.

He lit a stick of Qingxuan Incense on the incense burner in front of him.

As a wisp of green smoke rose and slowly swirled around the room, the sense of connection between him and the smoke emerged in Yuan Ming’s mind again.

Within a few breaths, Yuan Ming felt a sense of clarity permeating his lungs, and all his fatigue was swept away.

He immediately took out a white porcelain bottle, poured out a yellow Peiyuan Pill from it, and put it in his mouth.

As soon as the pill entered his mouth, it melted before he could swallow it. Yuan Ming immediately felt his mouth watering and couldn’t help swallowing. He then felt a warm current flowing down his throat into his abdomen.

In the next instant, this warm current gathered around his Dantian and seemed to be nourishing it.

Feeling this wonderful sensation, Yuan Ming immediately closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and began to recite the Nine Elements Formula, starting his cultivation.

As the mana in his Dantian began to move and tried to flow into his meridians, the warm current surrounding his Dantian also moved and dispersed into his meridians.

Yuan Ming felt the mana flowing in his meridians suddenly surge, and the speed of his circulation increased involuntarily.

Using Qingxuan Incense and Peiyuan Pill at the same time, under this double boost, his cultivation efficiency had almost doubled.

He was even startled by this.

Yuan Ming quickly adjusted his mindset, seized this opportunity, and began to concentrate on cultivation.