nycdaug Chapter 188 A Strange Encounter at the Incense Shop: The Old Recipe Reappears
Chapter 188 A Strange Encounter at the Incense Shop: The Old Recipe Reappears
Chapter 188 A Strange Encounter at the Incense Shop: The Old Recipe Reappears
A serendipitous encounter at the incense shop reveals an old recipe.
As dusk painted the mountains a bluish-green hue, Su Yunlan's embroidered shoes were already covered in decaying leaves and mud.
She raised her hand to brush away the stray hairs that fell across her forehead, and the wooden beads peeking out from her sleeve brushed against her nose, still carrying the sweet, metallic scent of blood that lingered from the bronze gate.
&34; The kalanchoe trees within a radius of thirty miles had all been cut down prematurely. &34; Xiao Yuhan used his sword sheath to push aside a clump of thorns, his dark gold wrist guard gleaming coldly in the setting sun.
The man following behind him was pouring the last half-bag of wild mint seeds into a bamboo basket, the leaves still covered with the white ash from the new grave.
Su Yunlan gazed at the winding mountain road, which resembled a snake's molt, and unconsciously stroked the jade pendant in her spatial dimension with her fingertips.
The blue smoke seeping from the bronze door last night still lingers in my memory, and those fabric fragments that turned into gray butterflies are now intertwined with the purple bamboo tube map in the spatial brocade box.
"Young mistress, there's a shop with a Five Poisons Banner hanging up at the fork in the road ahead!" the servant suddenly exclaimed, pointing towards the valley.
Three thatched huts stood askew in the thin mist, with faded sachets hanging from the eaves of copper bells, and the distinctive bitter fragrance of kalanchoe wood wafting through the air when the wind blew.
Xiao Yuhan pushed the sword guard open by three inches with his thumb, and the sword reflected a fleeting hunched figure behind the window of the thatched hut.
Su Yunlan, carrying a medicine basket, strode forward. As her skirt swept across the threshold, the young master Xiao, the 23rd young master in her arms, suddenly convulsed and grabbed her clothes, his scaly birthmark oozing pale yellow pus.
"Shopkeeper, do you have any galangal balm?" She settled the boy on the bamboo chair, her gaze sweeping over the antique shelf covered in incense ash.
Half a scroll of "The Heavenly Fragrance Manual" was tucked diagonally between the pottery jars in the corner, and the handwriting on the edge of the pages was exactly the same as the runes on the purple bamboo tube map.
An elderly woman with white hair emerged from behind the counter, her withered hands holding a gilded and silver-inlaid incense burner: "Miss, would you like some 'refreshing incense'?" Wisps of smoke rose from the burner, condensing into the shape of an infant's hand between the beams and pillars.
The silver toad in Su Yunlan's sleeve suddenly became hot, an unusual phenomenon that had never occurred since the poisonous fog from the Bronze Gate was examined this morning.
&34;This incense requires the core of a kalanchoe tree to be mixed with the first hair of a seven-month-old infant...&34;Before the old woman finished speaking, the neighing of horses suddenly came from outside the door.
Master Zhou, accompanied by four burly men, barged in. The jade pendants at their waists jingled, bearing the insignia of a family of incense makers from the previous dynasty.
&34; Lady Su, how clever. &34; Master Zhou's withered fingers pressed on the cover of "The Heavenly Fragrance Manual," and half a purple bamboo tube slipped from his sleeve, looking like a twin to the one in Su Yunlan's arms. &34; I heard you used Snow-Topped Emerald in yesterday's tea competition?
That tea tree was burned to the ground by Zhou's grandfather twenty years ago. &34;
Xiao Yuhan's sword sheath was already positioned between the two of them, and the wooden beads on the sword tassel suddenly burst open, sending wood chips flying into the incense burner.
The infant hand, formed from the wisps of smoke, suddenly clenched into a fist. The old woman screamed and overturned the incense burner, leaving a trail of bloodstains on the ground ashes.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Su Yunlan pulled out the "Heavenly Fragrance Manual," and among the yellowed pages was a half-length silk scroll.
When the pus from Young Master Xiao's Twenty-Third Year dripped onto the edge of the silk scroll, the blurred characters actually bleed out vermilion color—"The Fragrance Recipe of Garan"—the five seal characters meandered like tears of blood.
"This item should belong to the Zhou family!" Zhou Xiangshi's forehead veins bulged, and the burly man behind him overturned the antique shelf, from which dozens of crimson centipedes crawled out of the pottery jar.
Xiao Yuhan spun around and shielded Su Yunlan under his cloak, his sword severing the sachet hanging from the beam, the realgar powder spreading like golden mist.
Su Yunlan stared at the silk scroll in deep thought.
Just as Master Zhou's hand was about to touch the tattered scroll, she suddenly raised the silver toad: "Do any of you recognize this?" The toad held in its mouth the broken wing of a gray butterfly from the bronze gate last night, which gleamed with an eerie blue light in the fragrant mist.
&34; Twenty years ago, on the fifteenth of the seventh month, thirty people from the Zhou family's medicinal garden died suddenly, their corpses all showing scaly ulceration. &34; She lightly touched the birthmark on the neck of the twenty-third young master Xiao, and the boy suddenly opened his eyes and murmured: &34; Mother said... the garland jasmine incense must be mixed with human blood... &34;
In the silence of the room, the hidden door behind the antique shelf suddenly opened.
Collector Zhao slowly emerged, leaning on his snake-headed cane. The garland laurel beads inlaid on the cane's head resonated and vibrated with the beaded bracelet on Su Yunlan's wrist: "I didn't expect anyone to still remember the 'Blood Incense Case.'" His cloudy gaze swept over the pale face of Incense Master Zhou, "Back then, Old Master Zhou didn't burn down tea trees."
Xiao Yuhan's sword tip was still pointing at Zhou Xiangshi's throat, but he felt his clothes being gently tugged.
Su Yunlan's hands, behind her back, were overlapping the tattered silk scroll with the purple bamboo tube map, and bloodstains spread out in the pattern of phoenix tail feathers on the spatial jade pendant.
Suddenly, a night owl outside let out a mournful cry, shattering the last wisp of smoke in the incense burner.
(End of this chapter) The realgar mist inside the thatched hut had not yet dissipated, and a slight tremor of the Garan wood beads could be heard from under Xiao Yuhan's black cloak.
Su Yunlan's fingers, gripping the silk scroll, turned slightly white. Through the fabric, she could feel the crescent-shaped old scar on Xiao Yuhan's lower back—a wound inflicted three days ago by a poisoned arrow while protecting her.
"What a wicked woman!" Zhou Xiangshi suddenly flicked her sleeves and retreated swiftly, the twelve jade pendants at her waist striking the ground with a piercing shattering sound.
He pulled a gilded sachet from his robes and ripped it open. Crimson powder flew out with the wind from his sleeves and hit the onlookers. "This witch stole my Zhou family's ancestral incense recipe, and today she's going to use evil magic to harm people!"
Suddenly, a baby in swaddling clothes burst into tears in the crowd, and the young woman was horrified to discover scaly red marks on the baby's neck.
Twelve strong men simultaneously struck the bronze gongs at their waists, causing the bronze bells on the beams to fall off.
Su Yunlan smelled the scent of red scorpions floating in the air; this was meant to solidify her guilt with a mind-controlling, poisonous fragrance.
Xiao Yuhan's sword trembled slightly, and the remaining shavings of garland cypress wood on the sword tassel fell off in a flurry.
When the seventh gong sounded, he suddenly thrust his sword into the blue brick with his backhand, and the sword emitted a clear and melodious dragon's roar like an ancient zither.
The wooden beads on Su Yunlan's wrist burst open with a sound, and pale blue smoke, wrapped in realgar powder, condensed into a crane spreading its wings above everyone's heads.
&34; Look, everyone! &34; Su Yunlan took the opportunity to raise the silver toad, and the gray butterfly's broken wings in the toad's mouth suddenly emitted a golden light.
Those people who had been bewitched by the red scorpion incense suddenly awoke from their daze, and the red marks on the baby's neck gradually faded away.
Zhou Xiangshi's withered face trembled violently, and he suddenly grabbed a pottery jar from the antique shelf and threw it at Xiao Yuhan.
Dozens of crimson centipedes twisted into a foul-smelling web in the air, but then a cold glint appeared—Xiao Yuhan's sword had somehow returned to his hand, its tip holding a tattered piece of sachet cloth, pinning the centipedes to the beam.
Twenty years ago, on the fifteenth of July. Suddenly, Zhao, the collector, struck a spot on a blue brick with his snake-headed staff. Blood beads seeping from the cracks in the brick congealed into a divination image. The thirty members of the Zhou family hadn't died suddenly; they had been turned into human candles while still alive. His withered fingers stroked the wooden bead at the top of the staff, and the outline of a curled-up infant appeared on the bead's surface.
Su Yunlan felt the space jade pendant burning in her palm, and the broken wings of the gray butterfly that she had put into the brocade box last night suddenly flew out on their own.
The fragments swirled around Zhao's wooden staff, gradually piecing together half of a fragmented incense recipe—the very same "Incense Recipe for the Temple of Heaven - Fragrance" marked in cinnabar on the silk scroll.
&34; The surviving recipe from the Blood Incense Case should have been in Old Master Xiao's hands. &34; Collector Zhao suddenly turned to Xiao Yuhan, a glint of light flashing in his cloudy eyes, &34; Fourth Brother, do you know why your father's study has a hidden compartment containing half an infant's finger bone? &34;
The veins on the back of Xiao Yuhan's hand, which was gripping the sword, bulged as his father's parting words from three days ago, "Protect the Su family," echoed in his ears.
Su Yunlan suddenly grabbed his waist belt and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear: "Incense burner in the southeast corner, 34:34 PM."
Suddenly, Zhou Xiangshi lunged at the silk book, and the purple bamboo tube that slipped from his sleeve struck Xiao Yuhan's sword.
The moment the tube split open, the broken wings of twenty gray butterflies shot towards the crowd like sharp blades.
The collector Zhao slammed his wooden staff heavily on the ground, and the snake eye on the staff suddenly opened, sucking all the gray butterflies into its belly.
&34;This item does indeed complement the young lady's silver toad. &34; Collector Zhao stroked the snake-headed staff, his gaze falling on the jade pendant at Su Yunlan's waist, &34;If you wish to know the complete incense recipe, bring the core of the Garan wood to Songtao Pavilion in the west of the city in three days. &34;
Suddenly, a thunderclap struck outside, illuminating the dark pattern on the lining of Zhao's collector's clothes—it was the black bird totem unique to the Xiao family army.
Su Yunlan's fingertips trembled slightly. Last night, in the pile of corpses she saw in front of the bronze gate, an old man had also been clutching this kind of cloth in his palm.
Xiao Yuhan suddenly grabbed her waist and took three quick steps back, his sword sweeping away the spider webs hanging from the beam.
The spider silk, stained with realgar powder, fell to the ground and formed characters: "Leave quickly."
Zhou Xiangshi had long since disappeared, leaving only a pool of foul-smelling pus and blood on the ground.
&34; Young Madam!
The twenty-third young master has started to have a fever again! &34; The servant's exclamation broke the deadlock.
The boy on the bamboo chair was burning hot, and the scaly birthmark began to peel off, revealing tender new flesh underneath.
Su Yunlan pressed the silver toad against his brow and discovered that the star pattern on the toad's back quietly overlapped with the pattern on the jade pendant.
Suddenly, the collector Zhao shoved a brocade pouch into her hand, his withered fingers drawing a broken circle in her palm: "If you want to save the entire Xiao family, exchange what you obtained last night in front of the bronze gate." As he turned, the wooden beads on his staff flashed with a bloody light, reflecting on Su Yunlan's suddenly pale face.