lcionline Chapter 186: Clues Begin to Emerge, a Glimmer of Hope Appears
Chapter 186: Clues Begin to Emerge, a Glimmer of Hope Appears
Chapter 186 A Glimmer of Hope Appears
Clues are beginning to emerge, and a glimmer of hope is appearing.
Dark purple incense shavings, lifted by the tip of a silver hairpin, fell softly into the celadon cup. Su Yunlan watched as the lotus array devoured the last trace of fragrance, her fingertips tapping out the rhythm of "Ding Feng Bo" on the table.
Amidst the sound of the night watchman's drum outside the window, she suddenly whispered to the empty room: "Miss Qian, your sachet embroidery is even more exquisite than that of the embroiderers in the Zhao family."
The soft tinkling of jade pendants came from behind the carved screen. Qian, the maid, emerged with a pale face, but Su Yunlan caught her before her knees even touched the ground.
A subtle fragrance wafted from the overlapping sleeves of the two, a calming scent of sandalwood.
"I truly do not know..." Before Qian, the maid, could finish speaking, she suddenly gasped in surprise as she stared at the lingering fragrance in the celadon cup on the table.
The incense shavings that should have been swallowed up actually condensed into half a blood-red peacock feather, fitting perfectly with the pattern of the porcelain shard in her sleeve.
Su Yunlan pushed the warmed goat milk over: "Last month, during the Cold Dew season, the Garuda flowers you were drying in the west courtyard were knocked over by the cat. Did you save them with giant clam shell powder from the South China Sea?" Seeing the other person's pupils tremble, she picked up a piece of Poria cocos cake and chuckled: "If you can use ancient Indian methods to this extent, why bury them in the kitchen?"
As the candle wick crackled and sparks flew, the maidservant finally pulled a piece of indigo cloth from her inner purse, her hands trembling.
The edges of the fabric were charred black, but the Western Region script embroidered with gold thread was still clearly visible—it was the armlet gold bracelet totem that Su Yunlan had seen in the illusion of the Zhao Mansion.
&34; In the hidden compartment of Mr. Zhao's study... on the first day of each month, dragon brain from the snow mountain is burned to appease the soul. &34; The maid Qian's fingertips traced the dried bloodstains on the tattered cloth. &34; When she went to the Shengge Pavilion three years ago to deliver that gilded incense burner, the bottom of the burner was inlaid with this very fabric. &34;
As dawn broke, Su Yunlan stood before the piles of snow dragon brains in the warehouse, her eyebrows curving into a smile.
She specially selected the first snow with ice crystals as the seal material, and paired it with a bronze inlaid gold Boshan censer in the style of the previous dynasty.
When Zhao, the collector, saw the phoenix-shaped smoke rising from the incense burner, his teacup clattered against the table.
&34;This is...the lost art of the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Incense? &34;The old man's withered fingers trembled as they hovered above the cigarette, &34;Twenty years ago, on the Emperor's birthday, it was a tribute presented by envoys from the Western Regions...&34;
Su Yunlan handed over the jade box containing the snow mountain dragon brain at the right time. As the other party absentmindedly stroked the dragon pattern on the box, he said casually: "I heard that the Rebirth Pavilion is best at restoring ancient prescriptions, but it's a pity that the peacock blue glaze of that gilded incense burner..."
"It's just a fake!" Collector Zhao suddenly became excited, pulling out half a yellowed silk scroll from a hidden compartment in the display shelf. "The real secret formula is here!"
Back then, in order to cover up the truth about the Incense-Changing Spell, they even tried to use Western Region illusion magic... &34;
The words stopped abruptly.
The old man stared in horror at the blood-red patterns that suddenly appeared on the silk scroll; those patterns were exactly the same as the totems on the tattered cloth of the maid Qian.
Su Yunlan's fingertips silently released golden mist across the silk scroll as she spoke gently: "I happen to have learned some methods for removing stains."
As dusk painted the windowpanes red, Miss Sun rushed into the inn carrying her bundle, looking just like a sparrow soaked by the rain.
She still had the red marks from being burned by the incense burner on her forehead, but she carefully protected the oil paper package containing her incense-making notes.
"My master said that a woman who learns incense making will eventually get married..." The girl choked back tears, raising her notebook above her head. "But I want to learn the lady's skill in using heavenly incense to heal the sick and save lives!"
Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Xiangshi’s furious shouts came from outside the door.
An old woman in an ochre robe swung a brass incense spoon at Sun's head, but was stopped by a medicine hoe just as it touched the hem of Sun's clothes.
As Su Yunlan's wide sleeves fluttered, dozens of medicinal herbs spontaneously condensed into a barrier, separating the master and disciple on opposite sides of a dazzling, colorful enchantment.
"Master Zhou, have you ever heard of the Garan Bird?" Su Yunlan stroked the golden light flowing over the barrier. "If someone forcibly interrupts the fire-breathing process of this divine bird, it will trigger a backlash of karmic fire." She smiled as she looked at the other person's suddenly changed expression. "It's like some forbidden techniques that forcibly alter someone's fate, don't you think?"
When the copper bells on the eaves rang in the night wind, warm yellow lights lit up on the second floor of the inn.
Su Yunlan stood by the window, holding Miss Sun's incense-making notes, her unbound black hair swirling in the wind around the jade pendant at her waist.
Unaware that at the corner of the corridor, the hem of her dark robe brushed against the newly opened white plum blossoms, Xiao Yuhan gazed at her profile outlined by the candlelight, and gently draped the prepared cloak over the railing.
Moonlight spilled over the silver cloud patterns along the edge of the cloak, and those patterns unexpectedly overlapped with the incense-changing spell totem that Su Yunlan had deciphered during the day.
As Xiao Yuhan silently approached in the moonlight, Su Yunlan was frowning at the pieced-together silk scroll on the table.
The candlelight gilded her falling hair, casting trembling shadows on the yellowed pages.
&34; Do Garanwood and Snow Mountain Dragon Brain require human blood as a catalyst? &34; A warm breath suddenly brushed past her ear, and a black cloak, carrying the crisp scent of the first snow, covered her thin shoulders.
Su Yunlan leaned back into the familiar embrace, her fingertip pointing to a spot on the silk scroll: "Look at these blood curse runes; they bear a striking resemblance to the witchcraft totems we saw in Miao territory."
Xiao Yuhan's slender fingers slid down her dark hair, and suddenly hooked a strand of hair around the gilded dragon-patterned thumb ring.
The moment the golden threads intertwined with the black hair, the jade pendants at their waists simultaneously emitted a faint light, completing the incomplete totem into a soaring blue phoenix.
"Lan'er, do you remember the snow fox we hunted last month?" He let out a low laugh, tapping the table lightly with his thumb. "The little thing's tail blood just happened to get on your medicine hoe."
Su Yunlan suddenly turned around, her nose bumping into the silver cloud pattern on his chest.
Inside the ice jade box held in Xiao Yuhan's palm, a bead of blood, like a cinnabar mole, resonated with the jade pendant.
She suddenly remembered that day when she scolded him for letting the snow fox steal medicinal herbs; it turned out that she had been harboring such thoughts all along.
"Is General Xiao going to use the Thirty-Six Stratagems in the boudoir?" She deliberately put on a stern face and poked his chest armor with her fingertips.
Suddenly, she was lifted into the air by an iron arm around her waist, and in a dizzying moment, she landed on the chaise lounge behind the screen.
Xiao Yuhan's black iron wrist guard brushed against the red string on her wrist, shattering the silence of the room with a clinking sound: "Madam, do you know that the Garan bird has another name?" His burning lips brushed against her earlobe, and he murmured amidst the rustling of pages turning: "It's called... the Twin Phoenix."
A branch of winter plum blossom outside the window snapped off, startling the medicine spirit that was dozing on the desk.
Su Yunlan blushed and pushed away the person on top of her. A gilded hair ornament inlaid with jasmine wood had appeared in her hair without her noticing.
When she touched the cold jade bottle in the hidden compartment, she suddenly froze—it contained the blood that had seeped from the wound Xiao Yuhan had sustained three days earlier while suppressing bandits.
Before the morning mist had dissipated, Miss Sun knocked on the door, holding a freshly made calming incense stick.
With dark circles under her eyes, the young maidservant unfolded the medicine-stained Xuan paper as if presenting a treasure: "Madam, look!"
Last night, while I was calcining Garuda flower pollen using the ancient method, I was surprised to find some glittering golden fragments! &34;
Su Yunlan used a silver hairpin to pick up the dust and held it up to the light; her pupils suddenly contracted.
The incense ash, which should have been indigo blue, had an eerie golden-red hue, clearly indicating that it had been mixed with blood sand from the northern desert—the key material for making the Incense Changing Spell.
"Good child, would you like to accompany me to the medicine market in the west of the city today?" She smiled and slipped a rose pastry into Miss Sun's purse. As she turned around, the gold thread in her sleeve had already wrapped around a certain part of the beam.
Half a piece of ochre clothing fluttered down, its edges still stained with unburnt Garuda pollen.
As they passed by Zuixianlou on the still-frosty ground, the sound of porcelain shattering suddenly came from the second floor.
Su Yunlan instinctively shielded Miss Sun behind her, and when she looked up, she saw Zhou Xiangshi's sinister face flash past from behind the carved window.
The spilled tea flowed in a winding line on the bluestone slab, faintly revealing the missing section of the incantation from the silk scroll.
"Madam, be careful!" Miss Sun suddenly exclaimed.
The carriage that suddenly appeared from the side startled the medicine basket, causing it to overturn. As Su Yunlan helped the staggering old herbalist, her fingertips touched the purple bamboo tube that was half-exposed in his arms.
The familiar peacock blue glaze on the cylinder made her gasp; it was exactly the pattern on the gilded incense burner that Qian had described!
The herbalist's cloudy eyes suddenly flashed with a sharp light, and his withered fingers gripped her wrist tightly: "The Rebirth Pavilion wants me to pass on a message..." He let out a strange chuckle, and green smoke rose from the purple bamboo tube, condensing into a ghostly face: "Now that you've accepted the invitation of a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix, are you prepared for the gift of ten thousand birds devouring your heart?"
The moment the golden mist surged from Su Yunlan's sleeve, the ghost mask was suddenly shattered by the flying arrow.
Xiao Yuhan's black cloak swept across the long street, and the blade of his sword ripped open the herbalist's clothes—the blood-red peacock feather tattoo on his chest was still bleeding.
"It's the puppetry technique of the Rebirth Pavilion." He picked up the ashes formed from the green smoke on the ground with the tip of his sword. "These Gu worms take form when they encounter Garan wood..." His voice trailed off as the gold dust floating in the ashes was exactly the same as the incense ash that Miss Sun had found.
Su Yunlan gazed at the rising sun at the end of the market and gently grasped Xiao Yuhan's blood-stained hand.
The jade pendant at her waist reflected the morning light, merging the two shadows into a phoenix spreading its wings.
Where the medicine basket had been overturned, several crushed plants of northern desert blood sand were quietly blooming with eerie golden-red buds.