Chapter 126 Incense Workshop

"In different regions, the spices used to make incense are similar, but the craftsmanship and fragrance are different. However, due to different regional production, there are often some subtle differences, and some local materials will be added. If you know where it is produced, I may be able to guess it." The old man said slowly.

Yuan Ming nodded at first, but then shook his head.

"Then I'm sorry I can't do anything." The old man shook his head with regret.

"If I break off a small piece, scrape out the powder, or burn it, can you help me distinguish the materials inside?" Yuan Ming suddenly had an idea and asked.

"You think too highly of me. To reach this level, I'm afraid only a master who has been making incense for decades can do it. I don't have this ability." The old man shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"Stores often do this incense and candle business. Do you know such an incense master?" Yuan Ming heard this and asked with a move in his heart.

The old man frowned slightly and fell into deep thought, but before long, a strange expression suddenly appeared on his face.

He seemed to be a little hesitant and hesitant.

"Shopkeeper, don't be in a hurry, think slowly. Give me a handful of each of these incense on the table." Yuan Ming said when he saw this.

"That's right!" The old man heard this, and a hint of joy flashed in his eyes, and he couldn't help but exclaimed.

"When you say that, I really think of someone. His family has been making incense for generations, and the ancestral incense workshop has been opened for hundreds of years. If there is really someone who has that ability, it must be him."

"May I ask where this person is now?" Yuan Ming was also refreshed and asked.

"His incense workshop is in Tiehu Town, dozens of miles away from here. You can go there and ask, and you will definitely find it. But I haven't been there to get goods for more than half a year, and I haven't seen him for a long time." The old man said while packing the incense on the table neatly.

When he finished speaking, the bundled incense was already placed in front of Yuan Ming.

After paying the money, Yuan Ming asked the old man about the situation of the incense workshop in Tiehu Town, and then turned around and left.

Yuan Ming did not rush to leave the town, but found an inn in the town to stay.

It is called an inn, but it is actually a row of wooden houses with railings. The style is simple and the furnishings are simple. Fortunately, there are not many people staying on weekdays, so it is quiet.

Yuan Ming chose a room at the innermost part to stay, and then began to test the incense again.

In the past half month, he has lit incense no less than a hundred times. Almost every time he went to a place, he bought all the types of incense he could buy and came back to try them one by one.

But the results were all failed without exception. The incense burner did not respond at all from beginning to end.

In the second half of the night, the moon shadow was setting in the west.

Yuan Ming watched the incense with cloud patterns in the incense burner burn out completely, and did not pull it out, letting the smoke fill the whole room.

After repeated failures, he no longer felt anything about it.

On the contrary, if he suddenly succeeded at this moment, he might have an illusion of unreality.

"It seems that I can only try my luck in Tiehu Town. If it doesn't work, I can only return to the sect first." Yuan Ming had already begun to think of retreating.

He felt that he might have made a mistake in direction. This black incense was not an ordinary thing at all, but some kind of consumable magic weapon. Was it the output of some special sect?

Although there was no such thing in Qingfeng Hall, and he himself had never seen it in various unofficial historical books, this did not mean that the black incense was definitely not a magic weapon. At most, it could only mean that it was not produced by the Nanjiang sect.

Or, in the process of refining this incense, some unknown spiritual materials were mixed in it, which had such a special effect of possessing people?

"I don't know if the silver cat has come with me. I haven't seen it for a long time. It said before that this incense burner is not an ordinary thing. Maybe it knows something? Speaking of which, this silver cat is really a bit special." Yuan Ming gathered his chaotic thoughts, got up and opened the window to let the moonlight shine into the house.

He himself sat cross-legged in the bright moonlight and began to practice the Dark Moon Art with his eyes closed.

It was only a short while after he closed his eyes that Yuan Ming suddenly opened his eyes and realized that the Tiehu Town mentioned by the old man today sounded a bit familiar.

But when he thought about it carefully, he couldn't remember where he had heard of it.

Yuan Ming's mind was stirred up, and he couldn't calm down. He had to give up practicing the Dark Moon Art, and instead meditated for a while to calm his mind and practice the Nine Yuan Art.

Early the next morning, Yuan Ming rode out of the town on horseback and headed straight for Tiehu Town according to the instructions of the old man in the incense shop.

…

The two towns are only a few dozen miles apart, and they are quite different in size and terrain.

The terrain around Tiehu Town is flat and open, with a large river in the north. The city is built on a large scale, and even fortifications have been built on the river side, making it impassable.

Yuan Ming took a detour to cross the river on a wooden bridge upstream. In the evening, he turned to the south of the city and finally saw an open city gate.

Compared with the villages and towns he encountered before, this place seemed much more prosperous.

There were many people coming in and out of the city gate, and there were even soldiers from Southern Xinjiang wearing heavy armor guarding the gate.

Yuan Ming dismounted and led the way, and soon arrived at the city gate.

Those soldiers from Southern Xinjiang just glanced at him casually, then looked away without questioning him.

Yuan Ming successfully arrived in the city, and immediately saw a notice board on the side, with some notices and documents posted layer by layer.

The latest one clearly stated that a curfew was imposed in the town. After the beginning of the night of Xu, anyone who wandered outside would be arrested and beaten with thirty military sticks unless they had the lord's handwritten order or the commander's token.

Yuan Ming looked up at the sky, and it was not far from the night of Xu.

He was about to leave when his eyes were suddenly attracted by a weathered and faded missing person notice covered by two layers of notices. It could be vaguely seen that the accompanying personnel of some regiment of Dajin were missing, but the handwriting and the portraits were blurred.

"Dajin... people missing?" Looking at the broken content, Yuan Ming was puzzled.

But he was only attracted by the word "Dajin" and did not care too much. He led the horse into the town.

Not long after entering the town, the sky darkened.

The pedestrians on the street walked hurriedly, obviously afraid of the cost of violating the curfew, and were already in a hurry to get to their residence.

As a cultivator, Yuan Ming was naturally not afraid of the rules of the secular world, but he didn't want to cause any trouble, so he planned to find an inn to stay, and wait until the next day to find the incense workshop.

Coincidentally, before he walked far, he saw a shop with a string of big red lanterns hanging on the street, and a sign made of green cloth hanging outside, with the word "inn" written in white paint on it.

Under the sign, leaning against the threshold, sat an old man wearing a satin robe and a square feather hat, but judging from his outfit, he looked like a wealthy man.

But his skin was rough and dark, and his face was full of ravines. He held an old pipe in his hand and was smoking it "puff puff". Under the white smoke, the old face showed a bitter look.

"Look at this face, he should be a local rich man who suddenly became rich..." Yuan Ming gave the answer in his heart.

When Yuan Ming saw the old man, the other party also saw him.

The old man, who had a sad face just now, immediately smiled and came up to greet him.

"Dear guest, you are from afar, right? You have been exhausted all the way." The old man asked.

"Are you the shopkeeper of this inn?" Yuan Ming asked suspiciously.

"Yes, yes. You are a traveler. You just came to our Tiehu Town. You should not know that there is a curfew here? Do you have a place to stay? If you don't mind, you can rest in my little shop?" The old man said enthusiastically with concern.

Yuan Ming looked into the lobby of the inn. The lights were on inside. It looked bright and tidy. The most important thing was that it looked empty and quiet, and there didn't seem to be anyone.

"Are there any rooms that are not facing the street and are secluded?" Yuan Ming asked.

"Yes, yes, we have a house in the backyard. Not only is it not facing the street, but there is also a bamboo forest outside. I can guarantee that it is the quietest room in this town." The old man patted his chest and recommended it.

Yuan Ming glanced at the back of the street. There was no other inn at the end of his sight, so he nodded:

"Then I'll have to trouble the shopkeeper to arrange something."

"Don't worry, I guarantee you'll be satisfied."

The old man smiled and responded, then turned and shouted to the inn: "Tu Le, come out quickly to lead the guest's horse."

Soon, a young man with the same dark skin and a look that was seven points similar to the old man came out trotting, lowered his head and took the reins from Yuan Ming, and led the horse from a path next to the inn to the backyard.

"Remember to wash the guest's horse and feed it with the best hay." The old man did not forget to remind him loudly.

The young man didn't know if he heard it or not, and didn't respond at all.

"Hehe, my son, he has been like a piece of wood since he was a child, don't mind it, sir." The old man said with a smile.

"It's okay." Yuan Ming waved his hand.

"Please come in." The old man called Yuan Ming to walk into the inn.

Yuan Ming stepped into the threshold of the inn and asked casually: "Shopkeeper, how long have you been running this inn?"

"Dear guest, please don't call me shopkeeper, it's too polite, just call me old pipe..." The old man was still talking familiarly, but when he entered the house and saw Yuan Ming's appearance clearly in the light in the hall, he was suddenly stunned.

Yuan Ming saw that the old man suddenly stopped talking halfway, which was a bit strange. He turned his eyes to the old man and saw that the old man was staring at him in astonishment.

"Shopkeeper, what's wrong with you?" He touched his cheek subconsciously and asked immediately.

The old man seemed to wake up suddenly, with an embarrassed smile on his face, and said: "Oh, I didn't see it clearly outside just now, and I realized it when I came in. It's been so many years, and I haven't seen such a fair-skinned young man in Tiehu Town."