Chapter 383: The Flying Palace Minor Qimen and the Incense Dividing Technique

"Old man, have you gone mad?" Long Qi said, leaning forward and pressing the back of his hand against Chiyanzi's forehead. "You seem fine, so why are you talking nonsense?"

Long Qi's lack of respect was not a one-time occurrence, and Chiyanzi had long since grown accustomed to it, merely brushing Long Qi's hand away with composure.

"This journey of yours is extremely perilous; why not count this old man in? It might provide some assistance."

Indeed, Chiyanzi was older than everyone present, his experience was naturally broader, and having long dealt with the Demon Race, he would certainly provide much help, but...

But what was the meaning of bringing the eldest Miss Liu along?

The eldest Miss Liu was a young lady from a prestigious family; although she came from a family of military generals, she had never practiced martial arts, let alone possessed any cultivation. With someone so powerless, what could she do by tagging along?

Not to mention whether that person was Lingxiang or not, or whether they were friend or foe, if any conflict were to arise, there was no guarantee they could look after her.

Liu Xia agreed deeply and tried to persuade Liu Lan not to risk her life, but Liu Lan only glanced at Chiyanzi and did not respond.

What was this supposed to mean?

The group was puzzled, but then they saw Chiyanzi smile.

"Girl, don't hold back anymore; take it out."

Liu Lan smiled, and from her Storage Bag, she took out several bamboo tubes of varying thickness and an incense burner covered in smoke oil.

Looking at these items, the group became even more confused—what kind of riddle were this old man and young woman playing at?

Compared to these clueless men, Lianqiao seemed to understand a little.

"Could this be..."

Lianqiao looked at Liu Lan, asking with her eyes, though she had already guessed it eight or nine times out of ten.

Liu Lan smiled radiantly, nodded, and said, "That's right, it is the Flying Palace Minor Qimen."

Flying Palace Minor Qimen?

What on earth is that?

The men were even more confused, but they did not know where to begin asking.

As practitioners of the Dao, they all knew a little about the arts of Qimen, but what did that have to do with this incense burner?

Actually, it was normal for them not to understand.

After all, people like Long Qi and Xin Yi had struggled in the mud since childhood and had never seen such things, so naturally, they knew nothing; Zhao Wuyang had entered the Daoist Sect at a very young age and had not yet had the chance to learn Incense Art; Liu Xia had been obsessed with cultivation since he was small and would not pay attention to these things; as for the escort agency, it was a life of licking blood from the blade, and they certainly wouldn't teach Chengkai such things.

Lianqiao, however, was a woman from a noble family, so she would naturally have been exposed to these things, and having seen relevant books during her cultivation, she roughly knew what it was.

"Miss Huang knows this too?" Liu Lan's voice was soft, her face full of smiles.

"No, no, no, I only know a little; I have never studied it."

Hearing Lianqiao's reply, Liu Lan breathed a sigh of relief, stopped asking, and turned to explain to Long Qi and the others.

"This is the Incense Dividing Secret Technique of the Flying Palace Minor Qimen; it can harmonize Yin and Yang, dispel evil spirits, and determine directions."

"Sounds impressive, but what does this have to do with you coming here?" Long Qi really couldn't figure it out.

Liu Lan knew Long Qi's temperament well and did not argue with him, only slowly putting the bamboo tubes and incense burner back into her Storage Bag.

"You are going to search for the tracks of that mysterious person, but if you arrive at the place and cannot find a single clue, what will you do then?"

Long Qi had not thought of this point and was momentarily at a loss for how to answer. He glanced at Liu Xia to the side and caught sight of the red tassel on the Eight Trigrams Plate at his waist.

"Isn't there still Liu Xia? He has a Eight Trigrams Plate there."

Long Qi remembered that Banxia often used the Eight Trigrams Plate to find the way; although he didn't understand the methods behind it, he assumed Liu Xia knew.

But Liu Xia only scratched his head in embarrassment.

"I am ashamed, I am ashamed; I do not know how to use this Spirit Treasure."

It was strange; when this plate was in Banxia's hands, it was clearly very obedient, but in his hands, it had no reaction at all—it really gave him no face.

This was only natural; the Eight Trigrams Plate was ultimately Banxia's Spirit Treasure, and since the Spirit Artifact had recognized Banxia as its master, it would naturally ignore others. This also fully proved the fact that Banxia was actually still alive.

Hearing this, Long Qi was extremely surprised, but before he could recover, he saw Liu Lan take a small booklet out of her Storage Bag.

The booklet was very thin, about the size of a common storybook, but the cover was somewhat worn, showing it had been flipped through often, and four ancient characters were printed on the cover.

Long Qi and the others did not recognize these characters, but Zhao Wuyang did.

"Incense Dividing Secret Technique..."

The Zhao City Lord Mansion had many ancient books, and Zhao Wuyang had read through many since he was young; although he couldn't be called well-read, he could recognize the gist of it.

"It was given to me by Miss Lingxiang three years ago."

Liu Lan said only this one sentence and said nothing more.

In fact, when Lingxiang entrusted the "Incense Dividing Secret Technique" to Liu Lan, she had intended for her to give it to Zhao Wuyang later, but after learning that this strange art could be practiced without cultivation, she kept it for herself.

Liu Lan had never told anyone about this, naturally having her own selfish motives.

When Lingxiang went to find Luoli back then, although she did not state the reasons, she did say some things; besides what would happen in the human world over these three years, she also calculated that Long Qi and the others would make this journey.

Therefore, for these three years, Liu Lan hid this matter and studied it diligently; while she couldn't say she had fully mastered it, she had learned seven or eight parts of the book.

The reason she did this was that she wanted to accompany her younger brother; as long as she could be with them, perhaps she would be able to see Sangmu.

Sangmu! The man she had waited for for many years and could not forget.

Long Qi was still secretly complaining about Liu Xia's uselessness and suddenly remembered Xin Yi, who couldn't use escape techniques, and glared at the two of them with resentment. But after hearing that this book was a gift from Lingxiang, his thoughts became chaotic.

What exactly did Lingxiang mean? Didn't she not want to involve others? She told Luoli, and she told Miss Liu Lan, but she told him, the person closest to her, nothing at all.

Xin Yi was stared at without knowing why, but Liu Xia didn't take it to heart, nor did he think too deeply about it; his heart was now filled more with worry for his stubborn sister.

Liu Xia knew what Liu Lan was thinking, and he understood the pain in his sister's heart, but the road ahead was dangerous, and the situation with Sangmu was unknown; he only feared that when the time came, the truth would only make Liu Lan even more heartbroken.

"Sister..."

Liu Xia intended to persuade her again, but at the thought of Banxia, the words on the tip of his tongue could not be spoken.

How could Liu Xia not understand the pain of being separated from a loved one?

Moreover, he understood his sister; once she had set her mind on something, even ten cows couldn't pull her back.

Since Liu Lan had already decided, Liu Xia could not stop her; if it really came to a point of no return, he could only look after her more.

Seeing the varied expressions of the crowd, Chiyanzi stroked his long beard: "The Junior Martial Sister has a plan in mind for her actions, so you all need not worry. As the saying goes, the boat will naturally straighten when it reaches the bridge; taking it one step at a time is also a perfectly good method."

That is right, there is only one day of travel left until the destination; at worst, once we arrive there, we can deliberate further then.

Hearing Chiyanzi's words, the group put away their individual thoughts, waiting only to find an inn to pass the night so they could set off early.