flstandardbreds Chapter 178 First Showdown at the Tea Competition
Chapter 178 First Showdown at the Tea Competition
First competition in the tea-tasting arena
Su Yunlan stood before the thirty-six square jade tables, the gold patterns on her wrists appearing and disappearing amidst the swirling tea smoke.
She lowered her eyes to look at the gilded tea grinder on the table, and heard Wu, the tea master, deliberately raising her voice and saying, "Boss Su, is this grinder an old artifact from the previous dynasty?"
How come it's so rusted that even a tea cake can't be crushed?
Whispers rippled through the crowd as Judge Zhao stroked his goatee and sneered.
Su Yunlan ran her fingertips over the hidden nine-curved patterns on the edge of the tea grinder. The lapis lazuli powder, which had been soaked in spiritual spring water the night before, fell onto the tea cake and shimmered with a blue glow in the morning sun.
“Miss Wu’s tea spoons with their gold-threaded floral design are quite exquisite.” She looked up and chuckled, as a wisp of cold water, hidden in her sleeve, trickled down the corner of the table and seeped into a crack in the floor. “But the threads are wrapped too tightly; be careful not to damage the delicate fragrance of the Phoenix Dancong tea.”
Suddenly, the silver bracelet on Wu's wrist emitted a faint buzzing sound, and the set of Yue kiln secret-color porcelain on the tea table, worth a thousand gold pieces, began to exude a faint fishy smell.
She hurriedly wiped the teacup with a brocade handkerchief, only to see wisps of smoke rising from Su Yunlan's tea grinder, and thirty-six ice-crack patterns blooming with golden stamens on the jade table.
"This is... Misty Mountains!" someone in the audience exclaimed.
Judge Zhao's teacup suddenly tilted, and the scalding tea spilled onto the third bronze sparrow lamp base.
The gilded divine bird's eyes suddenly turned blood red, but the moment they touched the water in the cold pool, they froze into frost.
Su Yunlan spun around and took the bamboo tea whisk. The moment the silver hairpin in her hair brushed against the tea pot, the tender buds of the newly sprouted tea tree in the space unfurled into a green dragon in the spiritual spring water.
Wu, the tea master, suddenly ripped off the silver bracelet from his wrist. The dark red Gu worm, which had just pounced on Su Yunlan's tea whisk, was burned to ashes by the rising steam.
"The tea is not yet boiling, why is Miss Wu in such a hurry?" Su Yunlan tapped the teapot lightly with her fingertips, and the ashes of the Gu worms gathered at the bottom of the pot to form half of a hexagram.
Suddenly, the ancient banyan tree by the field rustled, and the blood lines on Xiao Yuhan's palm seeped into the lines of the tree trunk, locking all the Southern Frontier incantations within its gnarled roots.
As the first wisp of tea fragrance wafted over the gilded incense burner, the thirty-six celadon cups simultaneously shimmered with a moonlit glow.
Sun Xiaosi's hands trembled as he held the tea tray. He clearly saw that what floated in Su Yunlan's tea was not tea leaves, but rather the outstretched wings of emerald butterflies.
“This tea…” Judge Zhao had just begun to speak when he suddenly tasted the icy coldness of snow mountain pine needles on his tongue.
He was surprised to find that the teacup in his hand was covered with frost, and his sense of taste, which should have been influenced by bribery, was clear as a mirror in the misty pool.
Tea master Wu slammed her tea spoon down, and her carefully prepared "Golden Peony" tea faded to the color of withered leaves amidst Su Yunlan's tea aroma.
Suddenly, the charcoal braziers on the sidelines exploded all at once, and sparks formed new hexagrams on the blue bricks where Su Yunlan's embroidered shoes had stepped. The unburnt Gu worm eggs in the hidden compartment suddenly turned and bit the hem of Wu the tea master's skirt.
"The essence of tea lies in clarity and purity." Su Yunlan poured the last drop of tea into the Tianmu teacup, and the gold patterns on the bottom of the cup complemented the mark on her wrist.
Seven clear chimes rang out from the judges' panel, and the birthmark on the back of her neck suddenly burned like a branding iron—it was the constellation carved by Xiao Yuhan with his sword energy, echoing the Heavenly Net Array set up outside the arena.
As the first rays of sunlight fell upon the gilded plaque, Su Yunlan gazed at her reflection in the tea.
The teapot that Master Wu had overturned spread blood-red at her feet, but the moment it touched the dark pattern on her embroidered shoes, it was vaporized by the sap of the phoenix wood and turned into a shower of golden dust.
The rustling rhythm of the ancient banyan trees outside the venue was clearly the requiem Xiao Yuhan had taught her on a snowy night in northern Xinjiang.
(Setting the stage for the ending)
The purple smoke rising from the gilded incense burner condensed into half a crane's shadow in the air. Su Yunlan stroked the back of her slightly warm neck, and suddenly a faint golden ripple was reflected in the tea soup, indicating a certain spot in the audience.
The fangs of the venomous insects strung on the sword tassel were cracking at an angle she couldn't see, like a smile hidden beneath someone's cold, stern brow.
Xiao Yuhan leaned against a vermilion pillar, his fingertips stroking the hilt of the black iron sword at his waist.
The fragrance of osmanthus wafting from the audience mingled with the steam from the tea, spreading tiny gold spots on his dark blue robe.
Through the three layers of gauze curtains, he saw the light reflected from the silver hairpin in Su Yunlan's hair fall precisely on the third bronze sparrow lamp base of the judges' table, and the barrier-breaking talisman that he had carved into the gilded feathers with sword energy last night lit up silently.
"The forty-ninth turn." He silently counted the number of times Su Yunlan's wrist trembled as she ground the tea, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly with the rhythm of the whisk.
The moment the emerald dragon burst through the teapot, he flicked his finger onto the eye of the dragon head relief on the scabbard. The sword tassel, which had been soaked in phoenix blood the night before, trembled and shattered the Gu worms that were trying to climb onto Su Yunlan's skirt.
Su Yunlan suddenly felt a warm sensation behind her ear, as if someone used the wind of a sword to gather her scattered hair.
She didn't need to turn around to know that Xiao Yuhan must be standing under the century-old pomegranate tree in the southeast corner—that was the auspicious spot he had divined with twelve copper coins last night.
The jade butterfly wings floating in the tea suddenly turned, gathering the pale golden ripples spreading across the audience into their veins.
"Mr. Su's tea reminds me of the wild tea I saw in Zhongnan Mountain twenty years ago." Judge Zhao suddenly tapped the jade cup with a silver spoon, and the frost-like pattern at the bottom of the cup shattered into seven petals.
The red agate thumb ring hidden in his sleeve began to heat up; it was the "service fee" that the Wu family had sent to him that morning.
As Su Yunlan gazed at the rising steam from the judges' table, her pupils, tempered by the spiritual spring water, suddenly caught an anomaly—the purple smoke from the three-legged toad incense burner in front of Judge Zhao condensed into an inverted umbrella shape when it touched her tea.
This is the "Deceitful Heavenly Treasure" recorded in ancient spatial texts, which is most adept at confusing the five senses.
"My humble skills are no match for the immortal tea of Zhongnan Mountain." She smiled as she picked up the Tianmu cup, and suddenly fine branches sprouted from the golden patterns on her wrist.
Last night, the essence of the thousand-year-old tea tree hidden in the space followed the aroma of tea and entered the cup, twisting the purple mist of the Heavenly Canopy into strands of silk.
The clear sound of jade chimes came from the judges' panel. She saw Xiao Yuhan's sword tassel swaying gently in the third row of the audience, like a battle flag waving.
Suddenly, Wu, the tea master, knocked over a gilded tea spoon, the sound of it falling to the ground startling the copper bells on the eaves.
Judge Zhao's goatee trembled suddenly as the taste-detecting bead hidden under his tongue tasted the icy chill of snowmelt.
He hurriedly reached for the judgment pen on the jade table, but the cinnabar at the tip of the pen condensed into ice crystals—Xiao Yuhan's sword energy traveled along the earth's veins, freezing the agate thumb ring in his sleeve into cold jade.
"In this round of tea competition, Su's Yunlan..." As the chief judge drew out the last syllable, thirty-six bronze sparrow lamps simultaneously burst into flames.
As Su Yunlan gazed at her swaying reflection in the tea, she suddenly saw the cinnabar ink from Judge Zhao's pen transform into the shape of a Gu worm.
She lightly tapped the corner of the table with her fingertips, and the phoenix tree that had been watered with spiritual spring water the night before suddenly bloomed in full glory behind the judges' table, burning the remaining purple mist of the Heaven-Deceiving Canopy into blue smoke.
When the scoring gong struck for the seventh time, Su Yunlan smelled the distinctive cool pine scent emanating from Xiao Yuhan's clothes, mixed with the tea smoke.
She stroked the back of her slightly feverish neck, where the star map etched by sword energy was flowing beneath her skin.
The rustling sound of papers turning over came from the judges' panel, like a venomous snake slithering through withered autumn leaves.
"There should be twelve perfect score tea cups." Sun Xiaosi's hand holding the scorebook suddenly trembled. He clearly saw that where Judge Zhao's pen swept across, Su Yunlan's tea score was strangely fading on the Xuan paper.
The copper bells under the eaves tinkled without wind, and Xiao Yuhan's sword, unknowingly drawn three inches from its sheath, sliced off half a ginkgo leaf that was drifting toward the scorebook.
Su Yunlan gazed at the fading crane shadow in the incense burner, and suddenly the frost that had formed on the edge of the tea table cracked.
The direction of the cracks surprisingly matched the Big Dipper on Xiao Yuhan's sword sheath, and a sudden unease welled up in her heart—the real competition of this tea contest might only be beginning now.