"Well... after I studied it carefully yesterday, I discovered that this incense is indeed somewhat special. There should be more materials used in it than I thought. There seems to be some ore powder in it. As for what it is, I haven't figured it out for a while.
I still can’t tell.” Wu Sang sighed.
When Yuan Ming heard this, although he had expected it, he still frowned slightly.
"Hey, don't worry, little friend, my Wusang family has been making incense for generations. With thirty years of experience in making incense, I can always figure out the formula as long as I spend a little more time and continue to research. Today I will teach you how to make incense first.
Basic process. This also requires payment." Wu Sang naturally saw the change in Yuan Ming's expression, smiled awkwardly, rubbed his hands and said.
"Of course, family secrets are also intangible wealth. How much money do you have?" Yuan Ming nodded.
Wu Sang asked for ten silver coins. After paying, one of them started talking and the other listened attentively.
Usang's skills are indeed passed down from his family, and he does have unique insights in making incense. Although he seems a bit scattered, when it comes to making incense, he seems to be a different person. Not only is he eloquent, but his explanations are also excellent.
Quite clear and easy to understand.
Yuan Ming's memory was different from ordinary people, and he made rapid progress in learning. Within two days, he had a general understanding of the incense-making craft inherited from the Wusang family.
Making incense involves drying, steaming, boiling, blasting, frying, broiling, baking, grinding, and finally pressing into shape. Each step requires certain skills. Different materials are used, and these steps are also different. It does take years of study to master it.
.
However, Yuan Ming was a cultivator and could do many things that ordinary people could not do, and he easily mastered the steps of making incense.
Jiuli Temple has a prosperous incense supply, and it has its own incense-making workshop. All kinds of incense-making raw materials are available, and he can just pay for it, which gives him great convenience.
After Yuan Ming tried hard, he made his first incense stick within a few days, which contained several possible materials Wu Sang guessed. As for other parts, he added them based on his own ideas.
This incense stick is earthy yellow in color, and its smell is similar to that of black incense, but its appearance is very different.
Yuan Ming called out the incense burner in the side room, inserted the yellow incense and tried to light it.
The bright yellow flame enveloped the yellow incense, and green smoke rose from the incense head, but the incense burner showed no response, which was no different from the previous attempts.
Yuan Ming didn't have any hope for this, so he pulled out the yellow incense and threw it into the copper basin next to it, and continued to try new recipes.
Half a day later, he made a new incense stick, which was light yellow in color, and tried to light it again, but still failed.
…
In a room of the incense making workshop, Wu Sang carefully poured a red powder into a small bowl, and the bowl contained half a bowl of transparent mucus.
He threw another portion of gray powder into it, and then a third portion of the material.
In a moment, the transparent mucus turned into gray-black color.
Usang nodded thoughtfully, took the burning candle next to him, and let the flame gently touch the mucus.
boom!
The gray-black slime immediately burned with blue flames.
Wu Sang took out a small bag from his arms. Inside was a small piece of black incense, which was Yuan Ming's black incense.
He held the black incense with a clip and placed it close to the flame in the alms bowl.
The blue flames glowed with purple, and there was a faint spicy aroma in the air.
"This black incense should contain a material similar to spicy stone, but it seems to be a little different..." Wu Sang took back the clip and the remaining black incense, a trace of hesitation flashed on his face.
He took a notebook next to him and added something on it.
There are six types of materials recorded in the book, four of which are just rough guesses, and the other two include spice stones. Although they are certain, they feel a little unsure.
"What the hell! This black incense is as hard as iron, and the ingredients in it are so weird. I don't know where that kid got it from!" Wu Sang cursed a few words unwillingly. To this day, regarding the ingredients of black incense,
There was nothing he was completely sure of. This was something that would never have happened in the past.
For the first time in his life, he had doubts about his ability to make incense, which also made him feel a little regretful about the Haikou he had boasted about at first.
"No matter, let's try these six ingredients!" Wu Sang quickly made up his mind after pacing back and forth in the room for several times.
Based on his long-term experience in dealing with spices, there should be about twelve kinds of materials used to make this weird black fragrance. If he can find out half of them, he can start trying to imitate them.
Anyway, now I have made a preliminary judgment. If I don’t try it, how will I know if it can be done? Maybe it is really successful?
But before taking action, he had to go and have a brief meeting with Yuan Ming.
Wu Sang got up and came outside Yuan Ming's residence.
"Yuan Xiaoyou, I already have that black fragrance..." He pushed open the door and said.
Halfway through his words, his voice suddenly became mute.
Inside the room, Yuan Ming was holding a bunch of reddish incense, fumigating it slightly on the candlelight, and doing the final steps of shaping it.
"Did you make this incense?" Wu Sang opened his mouth slightly.
With his eyesight, he could naturally see that the reddish incense stick Yuan Ming was holding at the moment was quite perfect, and the production craftsmanship was not much inferior to his.
"Haha, after reading the book and receiving instruction from famous teachers, I have become somewhat familiar with incense making in the past few days." Yuan Ming said with a slight smile.
Wu Sang was impressed and didn't know what to say.
As a result, when he glanced at the copper basin next to Yuan Ming again with his peripheral vision, he saw four or five incense sticks lying inside. Some of them were broken, but their fineness was very different from the one in Yuan Ming's hand.
Wu Sang's eyes couldn't help but widen. Yuan Ming had already made so many incense, which meant that this person was extremely intelligent.
You must know that although I am not as hard-working as my parents, it still took me a full ten years of hard work since I was young to achieve some success, and it took another twenty years to achieve today's achievements.
Although the process of making incense seems simple, it is actually a technical job that takes time to study. But it only took a few days for it to be mastered by a boy under twenty years old in front of me?
This is the second frontal blow he has received in recent days, apart from being unable to figure out the ingredients of black incense.
"Mr. Wu Sang, what are you thinking about?" Yuan Ming's voice came again, pulling Wu Sang out of his daze.
"Ahem, no...it's nothing. Among the materials for that black incense, six types have been revealed, and two of them are relatively certain. Based on my experience, I can start trying to make them, so let me tell you."
Wu Sang coughed lightly, handed Yuan Ming a piece of paper recording the ingredients, and said.
"Mr. Wu Sang's understanding of spices is indeed extraordinary, but it is better to leave the imitation to me. You can continue to study the ingredients of black incense and strive to make more progress." Yuan Ming was overjoyed and took out a small bag of coins and handed it over.
Give it to the other person.
"That's fine. With your current incense making skills, little friend, there is probably no problem in imitating it. This way I can concentrate on finding out the ingredients of the black incense." Wu Sang weighed the money bag and put it away happily.
I didn’t feel confident for further investigation, so I still had to bite the bullet and answer.
"Then please leave it to Mr. Wu Sang!" Yuan Ming said.
Wu Sang did not stay long and told Yuan Ming his guesses about the six materials and what he learned about Heixiang in the process. He also left some of the six materials before leaving.
That night, Yuan Ming used these two more likely materials and four more speculative materials to make a new incense stick, but still failed.
Yuan Ming was not discouraged and continued to try.
In the blink of an eye, less than half a month has passed.
Yuan Ming's room was filled with the strong smell of spices, and the table beside him was littered with discarded incense sticks, at least hundreds of them.
At this moment, he was concentrating on making a new incense stick.
After this period of exploration, Wu Sang has made some progress in the black fragrance materials and proposed four more possible materials compared to before, but he is only confident about two of them, and the other two are still just guesses.
There is still no material for which we are completely sure.
However, Wu Sang has been immersed in making incense for many years. In view of the appearance, smell and appearance of black incense, he has tried every means to find several rare and high-grade spices, so that the incense he refines is getting closer and closer to black incense.
This also gave Yuan Ming a lot of hope.
The new incense was completed quickly and appeared jet black in color. No matter in appearance or smell, it was no different from the black incense.
Yuan Ming took out the incense burner, quickly inserted new incense, and couldn't wait to light it with candlelight.
The new incense lights up with a little red light, and the Tai Chi pattern on the incense burner shines with light.
Yuan Ming's heart trembled, but his expression remained calm, staring closely at the red light on the top of the new incense.
The red light flashed once and then dimmed and disappeared, like a meteor flashing.
Yuan Ming sighed, a hint of disappointment flashing undisguisedly in his eyes.
After all this time, the incense stick he made was still unable to induce changes in the Tai Chi pattern.
Based on Wu Sang's tips and his own experience, he has continuously changed no less than twenty or thirty kinds of high-end materials. He has tried almost all the incense-making materials in the temple, but still has not made any progress.
However, Yuan Ming also realized his personal cultivation from another angle.
He guessed that the materials used in black incense may not be ordinary things, but the materials here are ordinary common things. It would be impossible to make the same incense in a short time.
If one or two of the materials of Heixiang can be identified, there may be progress.
"What could it be?" Yuan Ming frowned, thinking hard.
The mysterious incense burner was accidentally obtained in southern Xinjiang, and the material for the black incense should also be from southern Xinjiang.
"The Southern Territory is vast. This is the Northern Territory of the Southern Territory, which is close to the Jin Dynasty. The Southern Territory of the Southern Territory is infinitely larger than the Northern Territory. Should we go to the Southern Territory to visit other tribes in the future?" Yuan Ming's mind suddenly popped up.
A thought, and then I shook my head.
There are thousands of kinds of substances in the world, is it impossible to try them all?
This black incense has such power after being ignited. The material must be extraordinary. You can't ask a master who is proficient in weapon refining to help analyze the ingredients. In this way, the secret of the incense may not be kept.
Yuan Ming thought about it for a long time and then took out the black incense stick. However, he did not insert it into the incense burner. Instead, he put it in front of him and looked at it carefully.
He was calm and focused, his eyes fixed on Heixiang, and his consciousness enveloped Heixiang, not wanting to let go of any detail.