0p0 Chapter 190 A New Journey in Incense Making Meets a Nemesis
Chapter 190 A New Journey in Incense Making Meets a Nemesis
Chapter 190 A New Journey in Incense Making Meets a Nemesis
A New Chapter in Incense Making Meets a Nemesis
In the late spring morning mist, the bluestone path was shrouded in fog. As Su Yunlan's embroidered shoes rolled over the damp moss, the white jade twin lotus hairpin in her hair shimmered faintly in the thin light.
The ashes from the river lanterns that burst on the riverbank last night still clung to the hem of her skirt, now stained with her medicinal juice into dark patterns, echoing the newly made garland jelly pills in the sachet at her waist.
&34; Watch out for the threshold. &34; Xiao Yuhan raised his hand to support her lower back, the black iron wrist guard brushing against the spatial jade bracelet hidden in her sleeve.
Today he specially changed into a dark-colored close-fitting outfit, and hidden in the secret compartment of his waist belt were the fragments of the imperial tomb he had pieced together last night. Every three steps he would lightly tap the protrusion with his knuckles, as if measuring some kind of invisible scale.
A warm breeze carrying the scent of sandalwood wafted from the spice market. Su Yunlan's nostrils flared as she precisely identified the locations of cypress and camphor from the thirty-six mixed aromas.
She stopped in front of "Bai Xiang Ge" (Hundred Fragrances Pavilion), which had a sign made of golden nanmu wood, her fingertips tracing the newly arrived Siamese benzoin in a glass jar, when she suddenly heard the sound of porcelain shattering behind her.
"Shopkeeper Su dares to come and buy raw materials?" Master Zhou kicked the shattered celadon incense burner to her feet, his aged fingers clutching half a stick of garland jasmine incense. "Last night, seventeen corpses floated on the river, all of them coincidentally dying after smelling your evil fragrance." He deliberately raised his voice, and with the movement, the black bird-patterned brocade pouch at his waist flicked out gold dust, which landed right on Su Yunlan's sleeve—gold dust the same color as the number twenty-three marked on the imperial tomb map.
The vendors who had gathered around retreated like the tide. The old man selling cliff cypress hurriedly covered the wood with an oilcloth, and the sound of the bronze scale pan hitting the ground startled the carrier pigeons on the eaves.
Su Yunlan felt the twin lotus flowers in the space suddenly tremble, and the seventh pair of buds oozed pale golden liquid, which was exactly the same as the starlight when the river lanterns exploded last night.
&34;This incense requires the refinement of Bodhi dew for a hundred years. &34;She suddenly crushed the garland incense pill in her palm, letting the fragments float into a star map in the astonished gaze of Master Zhou. &34;Does the senior know the property of garland incense that it burns when it comes into contact with corpse oil? &34;As her dark red skirt swept across the porcelain shards scattered on the ground, those shards automatically pieced together half a lotus flower, just in time to catch the bronze door key that fell from her sleeve.
Xiao Yuhan's sword tassel moved without wind, and his dark-patterned leather boots rolled over cinnabar that a merchant had deliberately scattered.
He watched as his wife's straight back cast a long, thin shadow in the morning light, and suddenly noticed that the edge of the shadow had the same deep blue color as the map of the imperial tombs—like the ice crystals that had flowed downstream last night, now seeping into his inner pocket with a chill.
"Shopkeeper!" The young man selling dragon brains suddenly rushed over, holding a brocade box. Inside the box, blood jade marrow pressed down, was the snow mountain sandalwood that Su Yunlan needed.
But when he caught sight of Zhou Xiangshi's sinister gaze, he accidentally knocked over the lacquer mixed with gold powder, the viscous liquid threatening to stain the box of rare spices.
A faint light flashed on Su Yunlan's jade bracelet, and the glue-like substance mysteriously froze in mid-air.
As she tidied her hair, she gently tapped the twin lotus blossoms in the space. The seventh pair of buds suddenly bloomed, releasing wisps of cool fragrance that shared the same origin as the Xuan Tie Lotus Lamp.
Just as he was about to speak, he saw Xiao Yuhan's sword sheath already blocking Zhou Xiangshi's elbow as he tried to overturn the shelf.
As dusk fell, the wind whipped up a tattered ledger bearing the inscription "Twenty-Three," which covered the black bird tail feathers that had fallen from Zhou Xiangshi's sleeve.
As Su Yunlan gazed at the leaden clouds gathering in the sky, she suddenly smelled the bloody scent emanating from the twin lotus blossoms in the space—exactly the same scent that had stained the brocade box the night before.
The morning mist condensed into water droplets that dripped down the green tiles and shattered into tiny ice crystals on Xiao Yuhan's black iron wrist guard.
The sandalwood shelf against which his sword sheath rested suddenly emitted a faint cracking sound, startling Zhou Xiangshi so much that the tail feathers of the black bird in his sleeve trembled and a few gold-dusted down feathers fell out.
&34; Please look, everyone. &34; Xiao Yuhan took out a sheepskin scroll from his bosom with his left hand. The twin lotus patterns embroidered with dark silver thread rippled in the sunlight.
As he unfurled the scroll, thirty-seven vermilion seals appeared one after another, all of which were commendation documents from high-ranking officials and nobles in the city for Garanxiang.
The last inkpad with the phoenix feather pattern was still damp, clearly indicating that it was the Rong Prince's Mansion seal that had just been added this morning.
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd.
The boy selling camphor suddenly snapped out of his reverie at the sight of the solidified glue, and tremblingly pulled a plain handkerchief soaked in galangal fragrance from his clothes: "The incense pills that Shopkeeper Su gave me last month cured my mother's asthma!" The embroidered twin lotus flowers on the corner of the handkerchief were lifted by the wind, revealing half of a tattered map of the imperial tomb route hidden in the dark pattern.
Zhou Xiangshi's withered fingers suddenly gripped the black bird brocade pouch at his waist, his knuckles turning bluish-white from the force.
As he retreated, he shattered the shards of celadon he had kicked away, and suddenly shouted: "Who can guarantee that these seals are not the product of sorcery?" Before he finished speaking, seven red-eyed black birds suddenly sprang out from his sleeve, their sharp beaks aimed straight at the cinnabar seal on the sheepskin scroll.
Suddenly, a cold light flashed from the hairpin in Su Yunlan's hair, and the seventh pair of lotus buds in the spatial jade bracelet suddenly bloomed.
The suspended fragments of galangal incense condensed into a pale golden barrier, completely enveloping the black sparrow within.
She lightly touched the air with her fingertips, and the trapped bird suddenly exhaled wisps of black smoke, which turned into gold powder identical to the one in Master Zhou's brocade pouch upon landing.
&34; Senior, do you recognize the Thousand-Faced Buddha Incense from Siam? &34; Xiao Yuhan suddenly took half a step forward, his dark-patterned leather boots crushing the gold powder on the ground, revealing the dark red cinnabar inside. &34; This incense turns gold when it encounters good, and red when it encounters evil—it seems these black sparrows have indeed verified the hearts of men for Elder Zhou. &34;
The vendors who had retreated to the end of the street began to stir.
The old man selling cliff cypress suddenly lifted the oilcloth, revealing a double lotus pattern secretly carved on the bottom layer of wood: "The method of identifying agarwood taught to me by Manager Su last month saved my family's ten acres of agarwood forest!" He slapped his rough palm on the bronze scale pan, causing the weight to roll off and reveal the number 23 hidden at the bottom.
As Zhou Xiangshi stumbled, he knocked over the incense table behind him, his black brocade robe stained with various incense powders.
The moment his murky glass jar shattered, Xiao Yuhan spun around and pulled his wife into his arms, his dark-colored outfit stained with strange star patterns from the spices.
"Watch out!" Su Yunlan suddenly grabbed Xiao Yuhan's wrist.
The twin lotus flowers in the space trembled violently, and the golden sap seeping from the seventh pair of buds resonated with the scattered benzoin.
Using her husband as cover, she swiftly ran her fingertips along the inside of the jade bracelet, channeling the impending surge of energy into the sachet at her waist.
Xiao Yuhan looked down at his wife's pale face and suddenly grasped her slightly cool fingers.
The fragments of the imperial tomb he had pieced together last night were burning hot in the dark pocket, and the winding lines of them even overlapped with the lines on his palm at this moment.
He whispered close to her ear: "Under the locust tree in the southeast corner, the third blue brick."
Su Yunlan's heart trembled slightly.
That was the location where they buried the medicinal seeds together when they first met, and now it was responding to the warning from the twin lotus flowers in the space.
While adjusting her hairpins, she lightly touched the jade bracelet and indeed saw that the roots of the locust tree were entwined with black energy of the same origin as the Xuan Que.
"I've taken note of what happened today!" Zhou Xiangshi's hoarse voice shattered the gradually warming atmosphere.
He flung the brocade pouch from his waist and smashed it against the incense table, where a few ice crystal petals were mixed in with the exploding gold dust.
As the dust settled, the figure in black had already disappeared at the end of the alley, leaving only the melting ice water on the paving stones shimmering with a pale blue light.
Xiao Yuhan gently brushed away the gold powder from Su Yunlan's shoulder, only to find that the powder turned into a dark pattern of twin lotus flowers when it touched her fabric.
The black iron lotus lamp hanging from his sword tassel suddenly emitted a soft hum, creating a wonderful harmony with the vibration of the spatial jade bracelet.
"Shopkeeper!" The sandalwood-selling boy suddenly knelt down, holding a brocade box. "This is what Master Zhou forced me to mix into the incense three days ago." He unwrapped the blood-stained bundle, revealing half of a bronze box engraved with a black bird pattern.
A sweet, fishy smell emanated from the hidden compartment inside the box, which was exactly the same as the bloody aura of the twin lotus flowers in the space.
Just as Su Yunlan's fingertips touched the bronze box, the blue bricks under the locust tree suddenly emitted a muffled sound.
She saw the imperial tomb fragments in Xiao Yuhan's hidden pocket glowing with a faint blue light, the broken lines slowly piecing together with the patterns on the bronze box.
As the leaden clouds of dusk finally shed their raindrops, the drops froze into ice crystals upon touching the hair ornament in her hair, mirroring the starlight that had shone when the river lanterns burst open the night before.
As the rain intensified, no one noticed the locust tree branches in the southeast corner swaying gently.
In the gap between the third blue brick, half a petal of ice crystal is soaking up rainwater and slowly unfolding into the shape of a black bird's tail feather.
Deeper in the soil, a root system carrying the smell of rust is spreading wildly toward the imperial tomb.