Chapter Eleven: The Sudden Fragrance

  Gu Yinghua asked casually, "By the way, since you used to be an old man of the Gu family, I've been hearing people praise Yan Ruojiang's loyalty and uniqueness over the years. Is he really as extraordinary as the legend says?"

  "In our Gu family, Xu Zhaorong is the first in terms of moral character, integrity and loyalty! " Liu Suoyun, a veteran who participated in the Gu Family Change, evaluated his former comrades without hesitation: "Yan Ruojiang is not worth mentioning."

  Gu Yinghua did not expect that Liu Suizhen would have such an evaluation. Before and after the change in the Gu family, Yan Ruojiang was actually a completely different wind assessment. It is said that he is a good color, a master of making money, and has made the Gu family's reputation bad. The widow Yan only listens to her relatives, which is a big mistake. However, after the Peng family took action against the Gu family, the evaluation changed completely. Everyone praised him for being a strong and unyielding person who did not abandon the Gu family in times of crisis. He was a hundred battles old and a hundred folds unyielding, and the Peng family also suffered unknown losses under his hands. The various famous families in the Han Dynasty all hoped to have such a loyal and dedicated family minister in their own homes.

  However, only those who have experienced the changes in the Gu family would know so much inside information. Gu Yinghua immediately curiously said: "Then why didn't you follow Xu Zhaodi to Tianma Yuan? I heard that he is now the leader of the thousands of righteous thieves in Tianma Yuan and is doing very well!"

  Liu's face showed a hint of pain, he was very reluctant to revisit the past, but still said honestly: "At that time, I was seriously injured, and only the Xuan Yun Jade Tripod Dan could suppress the injury. If you want to recover as before, the recovery medicine will be even more precious."

  Liu Suiyun was still enjoying the faint fragrance in the tent, but couldn't tell whether it was Gu Yinghua's body scent or the spiritual fragrance. He closed his eyes and reminisced: "In the past, I had received great kindness from the Gu family, and could lead dozens of people, almost even stepping into the immortal realm. How could I be willing to go to Tianma Yuan and drag down Old Xu? Besides, I was born a Han person, and will die a Han ghost. We are protecting the Great Han Gu family, not..."

  He suddenly bellowed, his voice echoing in Gu Yinghua's ears for a long time: "It's not the great Jin Valley family at all! I'm Liu Suizhuan, a seven-foot-tall man, and even if I die, I'll die on this land of Great Han! Xu Zhao wants to drag me to Tianma Yuan, I'll make him roll away!"

  Gu Yinghua could hear the deep affection in his heart for this land: "What happened later?"

  "I've become a deserter!" Liu Suizhen regained his initial composure, also with endless confidence: "If they hadn't gone to Tianma Yuan, no matter how dangerous the place was, I would have been willing to go, but leaving the Great Han is absolutely out of the question."

  Gu Yinghua had another question: "Did Yan Ruojiang also go to Tianma Yuan?"

  This loyal and fearless house minister had been missing since the remnants of the Gu family were defeated at Tianma Yuan. Some said he was still in Tianji County, while others claimed he was hiding in Tianma Yuan or even that he had died at the hands of the Pang family. Liu Suoyun replied, "Yan Ruojiang is loyal and brave, but lacks cunning and tolerance. If he were in Tianma Yuan, how could he tolerate Old Xu? Old Xu is our Gu family's number one good minister..."

  He let out a long sigh: "If Old Xi weren't defecting to the Jin people, I would crawl over to defect to him!"

  Xu Zhaori was second only to Yan Ruojiang in fame among the four loyal dogs of the Yan family. He was most famous for killing Pang Tian Shou, a half-step Golden Elixir master and the head of the Pang family, with his mere Qi Refining Middle Period cultivation. At that time, Pang Tian Shou had six cultivators and sixteen martial arts experts by his side. However, everyone thought he was too cunning, and in terms of loyalty and dedication, he was inferior to Yan Ruojiang. Otherwise, he wouldn't have fled to the Tianma Desert and become a pawn for the State of Jin.

  It was just that Gu Yinghua didn't expect this old minister of the Gu family to actually surpass Yan Ruojiang's evaluation: "Is Xu Zhaorong really that good? The people of Jin State have indeed picked up a treasure!"

  "Lao Xu is like the warm sunshine on a spring day, the longer you're with him, the more you feel his preciousness, just like an old wine that gets better and more fragrant with time...". Liu Suiyun said casually: "Just like this scent today, the more I smell it, the more refreshing it is?"

  "What a wonderful fragrance!" Gu Yinghua blurted out: "Huh?"

  She only now realized that she had been tricked by Liu Suoyun, who also laughed and said: "Surprise fragrance? Is this the surprise fragrance of Emperor Wu of Han's time? Miss Gu, may I call you Miss Gu?"

  "My life is in your hands now!"

  The current Great Han is not the original Great Han dynasty that replaced Qin, but a kingdom re-established by the remnants of the Great Han outside its territory with the support of the Shenye Sect. However, it is precisely because of this that these remnants of the Great Han truly admire the magnificent achievements of the two Hans in the past. For example, this "Surprising Fragrance" was an interesting anecdote about Emperor Wu of Han, who was revered as a powerful and awe-inspiring figure throughout the land.

  In the third year of the Yan and He era, in the spring, Emperor Wu of Han visited An Ding. The king of the Xiongnu country sent an envoy to present four taels of incense, as big as a sparrow's egg, black like mulberry fruit. Emperor Wu thought that China was not lacking in incense, so he ordered it to be stored in the outer warehouse. The Xiongnu country again presented a fierce beast, shaped like a fifty or sixty day old puppy, as big as an otter, with yellow fur. When the envoy was about to present it to the Emperor, the Emperor saw him holding it and entering, its air was dull and weak, and he wondered what kind of tribute this was. He asked the envoy: "This small thing, what is called a fierce beast?"

  The envoy of the Moon Clan replied: "One who wields authority over a hundred creatures does not necessarily consider their size. Thus, the divine steed is the king of giant elephants, and the phoenix is the ancestor of large birds; it is not about being big or small. My country, the Moon Clan, is thirty million miles away from here. We have been observing the east wind entering the rhythm, without rest for a hundred days, with blue clouds gathering and not dispersing for months. This indicates that China will soon have a virtuous ruler. Our king will look up to the Central Plains and admire the moral teachings, valuing spiritual things over gold and jade. Therefore, we searched for rare treasures and sought divine incense, walked through heavenly forests and requested fierce beasts, rode fat carriages and crossed weak waters, and rode swift horses to cross flying sands. We traversed vast paths and took arduous shortcuts, for thirteen years now. The divine incense has eliminated the evil diseases that bring death, and the fierce beasts have repelled the hundred evil spirits. These two things are truly essential for saving countless lives and assisting in the transformation to peace. How could we not think of Your Majesty? Alas, it seems our country's observation of the wind was mistaken. Today, looking up at the heavenly signs, I see that you are not a virtuous ruler. Having many eyes leads to greed, having many words leads to trouble, having many movements leads to chaos, and having many desires leads to extravagance. Never has there been a case where using these four excesses led to peace in the world."

  Emperor Wu of Han was displeased and ordered the envoy to instruct the fierce beast to make a sound, to test its hearing. The envoy pointed at the beast and ordered it to make one sound. The beast licked its lips for a long time, then suddenly let out a thunderous roar like a crack of thunder, with eyes shining brightly like burning flames, before finally stopping after a while.

  When the Emperor Wu ascended to the throne, he covered his ears and shook with fear, unable to stop himself. The attendants and soldiers all lost their ceremonial composure. As a result, they became suspicious of it and handed this beast over to the Shanglin Garden, ordering the tigers to eat it. Unexpectedly, when the tigers saw the strange beast, they all gathered around and retreated in fear.

  The Emperor was angry at the envoy's impertinence and wanted to punish him. On the second day, he lost both the envoy and the fierce beast.

  In the first year of the Yuan Dynasty, a great plague occurred in the capital city, and more than half of the people died. Emperor Wu took out the Moon Branch Divine Incense and burned it within the city walls, and those who had been dead for less than three days all came back to life. The fragrance lasted for three months without stopping, and only then did the emperor believe that it was truly divine incense. He secretly stored away the remaining incense, but when he opened the box again later, the incense had disappeared.

  According to the Xianzhuan Guli book, the Moon Branch God Incense is actually called Jingjing Incense. It comes from the Juyuzhou People's Bird Mountain, where there are many trees similar to maple trees. The fragrance can be smelled for miles and is known as the "Return Soul Tree". It can also make sounds on its own, like a herd of cows lowing. Those who hear it will have their hearts shaken and spirits startled. When the tree root is cut down and boiled in a jade cauldron to extract the juice, which is then simmered over a small flame until it becomes black granules that can be made into pills, it is called Jingjing Incense, also known as Zhenling Pills, or Fuhu Xiang, or Zhentan Xiang, or Quisi Xiang. It has six names but is actually a spiritual object.

  Although Liu Suizhen thought that the record of "all those who died within three days were revived" might have been exaggerated, even Yuanying Taoist priests did not have the ability to revive the dead and turn white bones into flesh. However, he personally experienced the miraculous effect of Jingjing Xiang, which was far more precious than ordinary divine medicine.

  Gu Yinghua, I'll give you this life of mine.

  As soon as she thought that she had been tricked by Liu Suoyun into revealing the truth, Gu Yinghua's face showed a hint of thin anger: "It was just one pill of Jingxin Xiang, it doesn't count for much to me. My master Huixiang sat in meditation and thought this Jingxin Xiang was too inferior, so he casually gave me a few pills as a reward. So you don't have to worry about it."

  "It's a rare encounter, to have received such deep affection and righteousness from Miss Gu. I, Liu Suizhen, must carve it in my heart!" However, Liu Suizhen said with a very warm tone: "Moreover, now that my old wounds are all gone, and I've been reborn, how could I dare not repay this kindness?"

  Liu followed the cloud and felt that this shocking fragrance had washed his meridians again and again, now his whole body was light and floating, but if he really wanted to punch, it would be absolutely powerful, his state was even better than before he was injured, and it was possible to go up another level, even the old injuries of the past few years were 70-80% healed.

  Gu Yinghua couldn't persuade Liu Suizhen, so she just smiled slightly: "Think whatever you want, anyway, as long as you escort this young lady to Yuanzhou, that's all the debt you owe me."

  "Miss Gu!" Liu Suizhen's smile was as warm as the sunshine on a spring day: "Don't worry, I, Liu Suizhen, owe no debts - neither monetary debts, emotional debts, debts of gratitude, nor debts of life. I have entrusted my life to you, and even if I have to crawl, I will ensure that you and Huo Xiong are safely escorted to Yunzhou."

  "That's good!" Gu Yinghua was slightly delighted in her heart. No matter how she got this last pill of Jingjingxiang, it was originally a means for her to protect herself. Now that this last pill of Jingjingxiang had been used up, she could only pin her hopes on Liu Suoyun and Huo Qianshu, hoping that Liu Suoyun would be like Gu's Yan Ruojiang, who could devote himself wholeheartedly to her, and not disappoint her for using this one pill of Jingjingxiang.

  Just as Liu was resting for a moment, he suddenly changed the subject: "Miss Gu, may I ask one more thing, did any of my brothers who followed me out suffer any losses?"

  "Haven't you asked before?" Gu Yinghua replied immediately: "Only two were injured."

  "I'm clear in my mind that this time we've come across such a master of the Refining Bone Realm and the Tiger-Beating Realm, it's not just about defeating two people. Tell me the truth!"

  Gu Yinghua lowered his head: "Lost two brave warriors."

  Liu Suiyun didn't know who had fallen this time, and he didn't want to ask in detail. He didn't even have the qualification to let out a soft sigh.

  He told himself, you've seen enough of life and death scenes, now you have to think about the living, you can't let young lives disappear like that, those are your fellow villagers, your closest friends and neighbors, you must let them go home safely.

  He stood up, shook his clothes, and respectfully gave Gu Yinghua a big bow: "Liu Suizhen has an unreasonable request..."

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