AUBTN -Chapter 138 Bliss Incense

This scent…

She opened the oil-paper package. It was the sample of Bliss Incense that Madam Qian had given her.

The two scents were about seventy percent similar, though the fragrance on the invitation was lighter—yet far more seductive.

She opened the invitation. Inside were only a few brief lines. The handwriting was wildly cursive, exuding an air of arrogant flamboyance:

“I have heard that you have developed the Jade Beauty Divine Ointment and possess miraculous healing skills.
Three days from now, at the hour of Xu, by the banks of the Jinshui River, at the Worry-Free Boat, a fragrance-tasting gathering will be held.
With this blissful incense, with this blissful realm, I await your honored presence.”

At the signature was a drawing of a bewitchingly beautiful red spider lily.

Inside the folded layer of the invitation was also a small pinch of pale pink powder.

It was Bliss Incense of a much higher purity than the sample Madam Qian had given her.

“What’s this?” Yu Qing leaned over and sniffed it.

“Smells really good.”

Shen Jue’s expression changed instantly. He snatched the invitation away and pulled Yu Qing behind him, murderous intent flashing in his narrow phoenix eyes.

“Don’t smell it.”

“This thing is poisonous.”

Lu Yan also drew his blade, using the tip to pick up that tiny pinch of powder and hold it over the candle flame.

Sizzle—

The powder instantly turned into a wisp of green smoke. There was no ash left behind. Instead, it released a sweet fragrance that induced hallucinations, making even the surrounding air seem to warp for a moment.

“Western Illusion Grass.”

Lu Yan said in a low voice, his expression extremely grim.

“This is a banned drug. It was outlawed twenty years ago. Once discovered, the punishment is execution of the entire family.”

“How could it appear in the capital?”

Su Hewan stared at the gold-stamped invitation, the unease in her heart growing stronger.

Minister Qian’s strange behavior…
The mysterious invitation…
And this Bliss Incense, powerful enough to ruin a person.

Could there be some unspeakable scheme behind all this?

“Worry-Free Boat…” Su Hewan murmured.

“Just hearing the name, it sounds like a den for burning money.”

Shen Jue tightened his grip slightly on her hand.

“You’re not allowed to go.”

He said coldly, “There’s no need for you to risk yourself in a filthy place like that. The Eastern Depot will investigate.”

Su Hewan lifted her head and looked straight into Shen Jue’s eyes, her gaze clear and unwavering.

“Shen Jue, this isn’t just about investigating a case. It also involves business… and a woman’s intuition.”

She shook the invitation in her hand.

“Besides, they’ve already delivered the challenge right to my doorstep. If I don’t go, wouldn’t that make me—the head manager of Huaxiangrong—look like a coward?”

Yu Qing timidly raised a hand from the side.

“Um… even though I’m really afraid of dying, the direction of this plot clearly feels like a new dungeon opening. If we don’t go, won’t we miss out on the experience points?”

Lu Yan shot her a glare.

Su Hewan smiled and held Shen Jue’s cool fingers in return.

“Relax. I know my limits. And besides…”

She glanced at the two fully armed big shots beside her.

“I have the two best bodyguards in the entire capital. What’s there to be afraid of?”

A few days later.

Inside the study at Yuyuan, several dossiers marked with red brush corrections were slammed heavily onto the desk by a large, well-defined hand.

“These past few days, the Northern Command Office of the Imperial Guard has received five consecutive reports.”

Lu Yan’s voice was cold and stern, a heavy hostility pressing between his brows.

“All of them are young sons of wealthy merchants or collateral descendants of powerful aristocratic families in the capital. Before disappearing, every one of them had been frequenting brothels and pleasure quarters. And in their accounts, there are records of large purchases of Bliss Incense.”

“Five people—no bodies, no traces.”

Shen Jue sat in the grand armchair, his fingertips lightly rubbing the jade thumb ring on his hand. A mocking curve lifted at the corner of his lips.

“The Imperial Guard has always preferred killing the wrong person over letting one slip away. What’s wrong? You can’t even find a few spoiled young masters now? Has the Commander’s hound-like nose stopped working?”

Lu Yan shot him a cold glance, the pressure around him instantly dropping.

“Shen Jue, this isn’t the time for us to argue.”

Turning to Su Hewan, Lu Yan said in a deep voice, “The trail ends at a pleasure boat on the Jinshui River called Wangyou.”

The air froze for a moment.

Su Hewan was wearing a pair of thin, cicada-wing gloves she had made herself. Using silver tweezers, she carefully prodded the small pile of pale pink powder, her expression completely focused.

Hearing this, she looked up.

“The Wangyou pleasure boat again. Looks like we’ll have to pay it a visit.”

A moment later, she removed her gloves. A glint of cold light flashed through her clear eyes.

“This Bliss Incense is even more complicated than I imagined.”

She looked up and swept her gaze across the people present.

“Datura pollen for hallucinations, poppy husks for addiction. But there’s also a herb from the Western Regions mixed in—Soul-Severing Grass. It can infinitely amplify a person’s desires, making them burn through their life force in extreme excitement.”

“Simply put, it’s basically an ancient version of a high-purity hallucinogen mixed with a stimulant.”

Su Hewan’s expression, however, remained calm and unruffled.

“With prolonged use, the mild cases lose their sanity. The severe ones… suffer brain death. In other words, they become living corpses.”

“Living corpses?” Yu Qing shrank back in fright.

“How did this plot suddenly jump from business warfare to a zombie apocalypse?”

Shen Jue narrowed his phoenix eyes, killing intent surging in their depths.

“The Wangyou boat… Since they were the ones who sent the invitation, then I shall go and see this so-called paradise of bliss.”

“I’m going too!” Yu Qing raised her hand. Seeing everyone looking at her, she immediately straightened her back.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m a core member of the team too! Besides, when it comes to gathering information, how can you men who spend all day shouting about killing compare to us women?”

The next afternoon, private room on the second floor of Huaxiangrong.

A noblewoman dressed in a sapphire-blue brocade robe threaded with gold was sitting before a mirror, while Yu Qing personally applied the shop’s newly released Peach Blossom Drunken Rouge for her.

“Oh my, Shopkeeper Yu truly has amazing skills! My complexion looks ten years younger!”

This woman was the wife of the Prefect of Jingzhao. She loved gossip and was practically the information hub of the capital’s noblewomen circle.

Yu Qing smiled sweetly, her eyes curving as she gently massaged the woman’s temples.

“Madam is naturally beautiful—anything would look good on you. It’s just that I recently heard that there’s a boat called Wangyou on the Jinshui River. Apparently the ladies there use incense powder even better than ours. I wonder if it’s true.”

The moment the noblewoman heard the words Wangyou boat, her expression changed slightly. Then she lowered her voice and leaned mysteriously toward Yu Qing.

“Shopkeeper Yu, you shouldn’t talk about that place so casually. It’s… very strange.”

“Oh?” Yu Qing blinked her big eyes, looking completely innocent.

“How strange?”

“My useless brother-in-law went there once and came back like he’d lost his soul. I heard that if you want to board that boat, money alone isn’t enough.”

The woman glanced around before lowering her voice even more, as if afraid of being overheard.

“You need an invitation introduced by someone you know—and you must match the secret code for the day! The code changes every day, and only the most core members know it.”

【Bingo! Hidden mission triggered!】

Yu Qing was secretly delighted, though she put on a regretful expression.

“So mysterious? Then people like us who honestly run businesses probably won’t get to see it.”

“Of course not,” the woman said proudly, lifting her chin slightly.

“But I did overhear something. Apparently today the boat girls changed their phrase. It’s something like… ‘When clouds break, the moon appears, and flowers play with their shadows.’”

Night fell.

Jinshui River.