flstandardbreds Chapter 182 Shining Brightly in the Finals
Chapter 182 Shining Brightly in the Finals
Chapter 182 Shining Brightly in the Finals
Shining in the finals
Su Yunlan's skirt unfurled with lotus patterns in the morning breeze, and the silver bell on her wrist jingled melodiously as she flicked her sleeve to serve tea.
The gilded box with a handle, steaming with spiritual spring water, trembled slightly on the table. Snow-capped jade mixed with ice crystals was ground into jade powder in the bronze tea grinder, and suddenly a faint fragrance wafted from the southeast corner.
&34; Manager Su, you must be careful with the heat. &34; Tea Master Wu's nail-painted fingers traced across the lid of the purple clay teapot, and crimson steam seeped from the lotus scroll pattern.
Suddenly, the pearl hairpin hanging from her hair burst open, releasing three thousand Gu worms that, along with the tea smoke, attacked Su Yunlan.
Ice crystals fell softly from the leaves of the sycamore trees by the field, and the tassel on Xiao Yuhan's sword hanging from the vermilion railing moved erratically without wind.
Suddenly, the silver hairpin in Su Yunlan's hair reflected the light trail of the Big Dipper, and the ice curtain formed by the spiritual spring water froze all the Gu worms into tiny frost flowers.
With nimble fingers, she sprinkled frost flowers into the teacup, which then bloomed into seven layers of snowy waves in the boiling water.
"This tea is called 'Thousand Mountains at Dusk'." Su Yunlan touched the rim of the celadon cup with her fingertip, and an unusual phenomenon of stars and the moon shining together appeared on the surface of the tea soup.
Suddenly, a thin crack appeared in the third boxwood chair on the judges' panel, and the veins on the back of Judge Zhao's hand, which was gripping the blood jade pendant, bulged.
Tea Master Wu suddenly lifted the lid of the red clay stove, and nine crimson gold Gu Kings emerged from the tea cake.
Suddenly, the Jianzhan teacup she held overflowed with a bloody mist, the aroma of tea mingled with a rotten, sweet-smelling stench: "Please, sirs, savor my phoenix rebirth."
Just as the scarlet tea soup condensed into a phoenix rising from the ashes in the cup, half a piece of puppet talisman ash suddenly drifted down from Su Yunlan's sleeve.
While tidying the tea whisk, she poured the spiritual spring water into the inkstone, dipped it in cinnabar, and wrote the Big Dipper pattern on the tea mat—the moment the map of the Rouge Shop from last night reappeared on the Xuan paper, all thirty-six tea stoves simultaneously emitted a dragon's roar.
"The tea is getting cold." Xiao Yuhan's deep voice, imbued with sword energy, pierced through the noise, and the silver bell on Su Yunlan's wrist suddenly played a calming mantra.
She scattered the tea dust mixed with Snow Peak Emerald and Ice Soul Silver Needle into the air, and with her left hand she made a hand seal to draw the mist from the spiritual spring, which actually drew a sixty-four hexagram array in mid-air.
The moment boiling water was poured into the teacup, a unique aroma, a blend of hot and cold, swept through the entire room.
A black crane formed from tea smoke, carrying starlight, swept across the judges' table, and the deadly Gu hidden in Judge Zhao's sleeve suddenly froze into ice shards.
As the seventh layer of tea aroma unfolds on the tongue with the fragrance of cedar, the blood-red corpse of a Gu worm floats to the surface of the copper basin that the servant Sun accidentally knocked over.
"This tea..." The white-haired judge trembled as he removed his glass mirror. "It can actually break a witch's blood curse?"
Tea Master Wu staggered and overturned the tea table. All the pearls in her hair shattered, revealing the face-changing Gu curled up inside.
Without making a sound, Su Yunlan condensed the spiritual spring water into silver needles and nailed them into the blue bricks. Following the trajectory of the fleeing Gu worms, she looked towards the sandalwood screen behind the judges' seats—there, the cold light reflected from the scales of the black armor could be faintly seen.
As the scoring gong struck its ninth note, the last divination mark on Su Yunlan's teacup vanished into the morning light.
Judge Zhao was about to speak, clutching the cracked Blood Jade Pendant, when suddenly a leaf bearing sword marks fell from the sycamore tree by the side of the arena, covering the remains of the Fatal Gu in front of him perfectly.
&34; The beauty of tea competition lies in the principle of breaking down and establishing. &34; Su Yunlan brushed away the ice crystals from her sleeve, and the gilded box with its handle suddenly rippled.
The second cup of tea she presented contained a star map drawn with the ashes of a puppet talisman, which startled the tea master Wu so much that he knocked over his rouge box—the Gu worm, nurtured by virgin blood, was frozen inside the ice talisman before it could even crawl out.
Suddenly, the neighing of warhorses came from outside the arena, and sword energy mixed with ambergris swept past Su Yunlan's ears.
The silver hairpin in her hair seemed to sense something and suddenly became hot, causing a blood jade pendant on the judges' table, which was almost repaired, to crack again.
The moment the morning mist was pierced by the rising sun, the reflection of the rouge shop in the south of the city appeared in the celadon cup containing Lingquan tea.
A crisp sound of a teacup falling to the ground came from behind the judges' table. Su Yunlan sensed a familiar sword aura breaking through the scarlet mist in the southeast corner.
She lowered her eyes to hide the smile in them, and the Big Dipper pattern on the gilded box suddenly emanated warmth—a warmth that belonged only to someone, mixed with the scent of snowflakes falling from the armor scales.
The dragon scale patterns on Xiao Yuhan's black battle robe flickered in the morning light, and his knuckles, gripping the vermilion railing, turned white from the force.
As the scent of the seventh layer of cedar wafted past his nose, this war god, who had single-handedly broken through the eighteen strongholds of the Northern Barbarians, suddenly stood up, his black iron sword striking the railing and causing ice crystals to fall in a flurry.
Yunlan!
A low shout, imbued with sword energy, pierced through the clamor of voices. Su Yunlan's fingertips trembled slightly, and the tea in the cup, reflecting the star map, rippled with fine lines.
She turned around following the scent of ambergris and looked right into those eyes that reflected a thousand stars.
The old scar on Xiao Yuhan's brow bone gleamed with a pale gold hue; it was a mark left from when he shielded her from the poison last night.
Suddenly, the leaves of the sycamore trees by the field moved without wind, and the flames in the thirty-six bronze lamps all tilted towards Su Yunlan.
The silver hairpin in her hair suddenly became hot as if sensing something, and the silver bell on her wrist jingled, resonating with the clear and melodious sound of the Big Dipper jade pendant hanging on Xiao Yuhan's sword sheath.
&34;Beware of the southeast. &34; Xiao Yuhan's lips moved slightly, and the cold light reflected from the scales of his armor swept across the third wooden chair in the judges' panel.
Su Yunlan understood and crushed the Ice Soul Silver Needle in her sleeve, using the action of tidying up the tea whisk to condense the spiritual spring water into an ice trigram.
The Big Dipper pattern on the gilded box suddenly emanated warmth, mingling with the scent of snowflakes clinging to his battle robe, and quietly healed the wound on her wrist caused by the Gu worm.
Suddenly, Wu, the tea master, smashed the Jianzhan teacup, and the scarlet blood of the Gu splattered onto the blue bricks with a sizzling sound.
Judge Zhao stood up, clutching the cracked blood jade pendant, a sinister glint flashing in his cloudy eyes: "Manager Su's tea has a unique flavor, but it has violated the taboo of 'not boiling properly three times'..."
Before he finished speaking, the neighing of warhorses suddenly came from outside the arena.
Xiao Yuhan took off his black cloak and flicked it, the ink satin embroidered with the Big Dipper swept across the judges' table, covering the pool of writhing Gu blood perfectly.
The dragon scale gold thread lining the cloak ignites upon contact with poison, and the star map from the rouge shop last night emerges from the ghostly blue flames.
&34; Has Old Zhao forgotten? &34; Xiao Yuhan lightly tapped the hilt of his sword with his fingertips, the sword energy causing the celadon cups on the tea table to hum: &34; The thirty-first rule of the tea competition is that comments should be accompanied by the original text of the *Classic of Tea*. &34;
Taking advantage of the situation, Su Yunlan slammed the ice talisman into the blue brick, and the spiritual spring water flowed down the crack in the ground to the feet of the judges' seats.
The moment Judge Zhao opened the "Classic of Tea," a star chart she had drawn with the ashes of a puppet talisman suddenly appeared between the pages, and the scene of accepting bribes the previous night was vividly revealed in the tea smoke.
The white-haired judge's glass mirror suddenly frosted over, and he pointed tremblingly at the reflection of the rouge shop in the south of the city appearing in the tea: "This...this is the core of the witch doctor's blood curse?"
The sycamore tree by the field crashed down, and the face-changing Gu, curled up inside the tree, let out a shrill scream.
The silver bell on Su Yunlan's wrist suddenly rang, and the ambergris scent mixed with sword energy wafted towards her.
She looked up and saw the afterimage of Xiao Yuhan's battle robe as it swept past; the man had already drawn the Big Dipper Barrier in the southeast corner with his sword energy.
"Please savor this 'Breaking the Formation' tea." Su Yunlan lightly raised her hand, and seventy-two ice crystal tea leaves flew out of the gilded box.
Each tea leaf is wrapped with a hexagram formed by the spring water, which transforms into the Thirty-Six Heavenly Generals Formation when it comes into contact with water.
As the last tea leaf fell into the Yixing teapot, the sandalwood screen behind the judges' panel suddenly cracked with a spiderweb pattern.
The pearls in Master Wu's hair burst open, and the Gu worms hidden inside were frozen into ice beads before they even hit the ground.
Suddenly, the blood-red jade pendant in Judge Zhao's sleeve exploded, and the flying fragments were pinned into the shape of the Big Dipper by Xiao Yuhan's sword energy.
Before the crimson mist could spread, it was completely dispelled by the cedar fragrance in the tea smoke, leaving only the clear luster of the tea soup reflecting the stars and moon on Su Yunlan's table.
As the scoring gong sounded, the morning light pierced the last wisp of gloom in the southeast corner.
Su Yunlan lowered her eyes to arrange the tea set, and the spiritual spring water reflected Xiao Yuhan's well-defined profile in the inkstone.
The dragon scale patterns on his armor flickered with his breath, much like the light trails of the Big Dipper across the rouge-paved eaves when he was guarding her last night.
A chorus of exclamations rose and fell from the judges' panel, but Su Yunlan stared at the hexagram on the edge of the celadon cup, which was about to dissipate.
A chill suddenly emanated from the gilded box with its handle. She ran her fingertips over the sword mark on the lid, a mark left by Xiao Yuhan to protect her when he broke through the blood curse array.
The warhorses outside the arena neighed again, mingling with the sounds of clashing armor.
Su Yunlan sensed a familiar sword aura clashing with some kind of chilling energy outside the barrier, and the silver hairpin in her hair suddenly became incredibly hot.
As the scorekeeper carried the mahogany tray toward the judges' table, the Ice Soul Silver Needle in her sleeve had already solidified into a sixty-four hexagram array.