The old city of Yu'an was first built during the period of the ancient kingdom of Niexuan. It was formerly known as Huimu, named after the Fuxi wood that produced it.
Fuqie means to consult a planchette.
Fu means to support; Ji means to divine by asking questions.
In ancient times, the practice of using a planchette would involve the person seeking divination sacrificing their own body to become a phoenix spirit, inviting the desired spirit to descend upon them. Using their body to spread the power of the spirit, they would reveal the secrets of heaven. However, few people understood its profound meaning, leaving only a few records in ancient books and a variety of jokes, generally referring to it as "descending spirits."
The wood used is mostly peach and mulberry.
Peach drives away evil spirits, while mulberry guides away ghosts and gods. One is positive and the other is negative, one is yang and the other is yin, neither of them can be missing.
In ancient times, all states practiced sorcery and divination. Thus, the ancient city of Huimu was once covered in peach trees and mulberry trees. During its heyday, the Niehyun royal family personally established it as an independent county. Registering in the city was incredibly expensive, and everyone said, "Huimu hides gold." It was a truly glorious time.
However, about a hundred years ago, the celestial phenomena changed dramatically, and the temperature on the northern Gelete Plateau plummeted. The warm air that annually flowed from the South China Sea could no longer cross the mountains north of Yu'an, and instead gathered on the plains surrounded by these mountains. The once warm and dry Huimu region began to experience continuous rain, and the rain accumulated in the soil, causing the peach trees, which are particularly sensitive to waterlogging, to rot and die.
In just three years, vast tracts of peach trees across the mountainside died, reduced to withered branches, resembling silent tombstones from afar. While the peach trees perished, the mulberry trees survived. Over time, a sorcerer advised that the city's feng shui was already unbalanced, as the yin of obscured trees was predominant and the yang was weak. The mulberry trees needed to be felled to achieve stability.
At the command of the authorities, all the mulberry trees in the city were uprooted and burned overnight.
The yin and yang of Huimu Ancient City have been balanced, but the glory of "Huimu's hidden gold" has become history and no one mentions it anymore.
Those dead peach trees and mulberry trees that turned to ashes in the fire eventually became thick black silt, which has become the fertilizer of Yu'an City today, nourishing batches of flowers, plants and trees to thrive and multiply on it.
A-choo.
Xiao Nanhui sneezed violently.
The spring rain was really unfriendly to her.
The air is filled with the fragrance of various unknown flowers, which cannot be driven away or avoided.
Shrike didn't like the smell either. She only liked the smell of Xin Hengji Roast Goose on Dingyu Street.
Jixiang's hooves stepped on the ground covered with dead branches and moss, making a "crunching" sound, as if the entire old city of Yu'an was lying under their feet.
Under their feet was once the most prosperous central street in the city.
However, today, the entire Yu'an has been swallowed up by lush vegetation, and the traces of civilization have been obliterated by nature.
In the darkness of night, abandoned and uninhabited houses are pierced by trees, vines as thick as bowls emerge from behind window bars and door panels, and flowers compete to bloom in every gap, waiting for the new year to plant seeds and occupy this uninhabited soil again.
Xiao Nan turned her gaze back to the shrike that was riding on the horse with her and sitting on its butt.
"Since when have you followed me?"
The Shrike snorted and shifted his position on the horse's rump.
"From the moment you left Quecheng."
Thinking of himself wandering around in circles in that maze-like villa last night, Xiao Nanhui frowned.
"It's easier to get out of Yulin Villa than to get in. How did you get in?"
The Shrike snorted again, and a few proud hairs popped out of the smooth bun on his head.
"Look down on me? I am at least a famous swordsman on the Jianghu list. If you can't even do this, what's the point of being in the Jianghu?"
Xiao Nanhui glanced at her and spoke slowly.
"Since you wanted to come this early, why didn't you just leave together? Why did you have to go through all this trouble?"
This sentence really hits the point.
Shrike scratched his head, looking a little unnatural.
"There's someone in your convoy I don't want to see."
Xiao Nan thought about it and felt about 70% certain.
"You mean Mr. Zong?"
Shrike's face froze, then he pretended to be calm.
"He's from An Daoyuan. You know I hate that place. Even Old Man Xie has been hiding from me for several years."
This answer seems fine at first glance.
But even someone as slow-witted as Xiao Nanhui, as soon as he recalled the big-headed kid's expression in the backyard of Prince Xuanyuan's mansion that day, he felt that things were not that simple.
"When you were hiding from Xie Li, you didn't leave me alone and run for your life."
Shrike was a little angry and embarrassed when his previous cowardly history was exposed.
"Who ran away?! I was just doing it as a temporary solution!" But she knew she was in the wrong and quickly tried to make amends, "I won't do it next time! Isn't it okay if I don't do it next time?!"
Xiao Nanhui smiled secretly, but he didn't want to make things too awkward for her, so he changed the subject to something else.
"Who gave you the key in your hand?"
She asked this because she assumed the key must have been obtained by someone in the underworld through extraordinary means. After all, she had searched the Xiao Mansion thoroughly and there was no corner where she had left it.
Speaking of this, Shrike's face instantly showed a look of satisfaction that was hard to conceal.
"After you left, I went to Yukun Street again."
Xiao Nanhui was stunned for a moment, then looked incredulous. "I've been to Yukun Street at least ten times. I've even turned over the millstone in the kitchen. How did you find the key?"
"A wing room in the old mansion. Perhaps you're guilty of your crime, and you're not as diligent and conscientious as I am. Have you really tried all fourteen copper keys?"
Xiao Nanhui was a little confused.
Did she really forget it? She still remembered burying herself in a sea of letters and dust, sifting through the information one by one. Perhaps she was too focused on the letter from Blackwood County and missed the key.
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