Chapter Fifty-Four: Defense

“How can you say that Water Swirl Art doesn’t count as a true technique? I paid three Black Crystals for it—it’s still a lower Black-tier spell!” Youzhong’s face flushed as he argued. He looked at the pool of water beneath Su Yuanbai’s feet, which had returned to normal, and genuinely could not understand why his technique had failed to affect this handsome man even in the slightest.

“A water technique, but your control over water is rather weak,” Xi Chunxue said softly as she floated to the entrance of the dungeon, gazing at the now vanished water vortex.

“It’s not weak for most people—if it were anyone else, they’d never stand their ground in that whirlpool. The suction would drag them straight down into the water. The water may be shallow, but it’s enough to leave them floundering,” Lin Lan shook his head.

“But you needed to buy a spell of this level with Black Crystals?” Xi Chunxue frowned slightly, not quite understanding.

“These cultivators are nothing like the Qi practitioners. They do not walk the path of the Great Dao. If one were a Qi practitioner skilled in the way of water, he could comprehend water techniques from rivers, lakes, mountain rains, and brooks. With time, he could further refine and advance those techniques, steadily increasing their power and attuning himself to the water path. But these cultivators lack such insight and affinity for the Dao. That’s why they must purchase all manner of spell manuals and rely on the prescribed methods within those texts to cast their spells,” Lin Lan replied with a gentle smile.

“So rigid?” Xi Chunxue asked.

“It’s not rigidity; it’s a lack of insight. They could fall into madness at any moment. When you recited the Daoist classic Yellow Court atop the mountain, did you dare to chant it carelessly? Besides, cultivators are but ordinary folk touched by fortune. Some stumble across the cave of an immortal and partake of its pills and arts; others might meet a benevolent fox spirit or dragon maiden and receive a breath of essence—thus stepping onto the path of cultivation. Their senses are clouded, their passions unbroken. If not for this rare era when immortal energy seeps into the world and spiritual energy is abundant, most would have merely ended as madmen, babbling nonsense,” Lin Lan said, his eyes narrowing with a smile.

“You said you came down the mountain on your master’s orders? What sort of order was that?” Xi Chunxue looked at Lin Lan, trying to read his true feelings, but his eyes betrayed nothing.

“Your memory is rather good. But do you really think I’d tell you?” Lin Lan’s eyes narrowed to slits as he looked down at Xi Chunxue, smiling as he turned the question back on her.

“No,” Xi Chunxue answered after a moment’s silence.

Lin Lan gave a light chuckle, his eyes opening just a little, their blue depths glinting as he glanced at the gaunt man shrinking back into the torrential rain, then lifted his gaze to Su Yuanbai.

Would he kill them?

Lin Lan looked down at the burly man now crippled in both hands and a leg, and wondered.

“Black Crystals, lower Black-tier?” Su Yuanbai frowned. In his vague memories, he could find no mention or recollection of such terms; they were utterly unfamiliar to him.

“Ten Black Crystals and a lower Black-tier artifact—buy our lives, me and my brother both,” Youzhong said, forcing a pained smile as he glanced at Nanming, still writhing and howling in the water.

Su Yuanbai tilted his head, looking at Youzhong in puzzlement.

“Twenty Black Crystals, and a mid Black-tier artifact! That’s the most I can offer. The reward for this Earth Black List mission from the Lofty Cloud Pavilion is just twenty Black Crystals!” Youzhong gritted his teeth, desperation in his eyes.

But what Su Yuanbai wanted was not these.

“Lofty Cloud Pavilion? I’ve heard that at court there’s a tower open to the people of all twelve provinces, with a similar name,” Xi Chunxue remarked, turning to Lin Lan as she heard the gaunt man mention the pavilion.

“His Majesty would never pit one hand against the other. What you speak of is the Heavenly Tower in the capital. The Heavenly Tower preserves all the world’s manuals, but unlike the so-called Lofty Cloud Pavilion, it does not post any Earth Black Lists. The Heavenly Tower is not open to the people, but only to the Forbidden Army at His Majesty’s side. The soldiers must complete tasks assigned by His Majesty or the Secretariat to earn Forbidden Points. Only with enough points can they enter the Heavenly Tower to exchange for manuals,” Lin Lan explained, shaking his head.

“How can you two chatter so much? The Exalted One is really something, dawdling like this instead of opening the dungeon door,” Duan Lingqi’s dragon form spun in the air, rain passing through his earthy yellow, ethereal body.

“Say that to his face, if you dare,” Qu Hanchen whispered, tugging on Xi Chunxue’s sleeve, fearing his own soul might suddenly depart.

“Boy, you’re getting cheeky, daring to mock me in here?” Duan Lingqi was about to teach Qu Hanchen a lesson when he suddenly remembered Qu Hanchen’s still tightly closed left eye—and those two monsters that lurked behind it. A chill ran through his heart, and the dragon’s coiled body withdrew.

Youzhong could bear Su Yuanbai’s silence no longer. He formed a spell sign and hurled it at the handsome man whose strength he could not fathom. The water pooled on the ground suddenly shot out two thin streams, like arrows loosed from taut bows, aimed at Su Yuanbai’s ears.

Su Yuanbai scratched his ear, calmly gazing at the increasingly pale, gaunt man before him.

“What do you want, then?! Take this book, if you must!” Youzhong finally broke, his face twisting in a crazed smile as he realized even his Water Arrow spell could not harm the man’s delicate eardrums. He flung the book in his hand, which glimmered with a faint blue light, toward Su Yuanbai.

Today, it seemed, he would not escape death.

Murder and theft for treasure were not so common.

Su Yuanbai calmly took the glowing book. His dark eyes could clearly see the four ancient, obscure characters inscribed in the upper right corner.

The Gongqin Prison Codex.

He opened the first page, running his fingers over the parchment as if stroking the bark of an old tree.

“What is the Exalted One reading?” Duan Lingqi wondered aloud. To his eyes, the book in Su Yuanbai’s hands had no title, and the open pages were utterly blank, save for a few creases.

Lin Lan and Xi Chunxue said nothing.

Qu Hanchen was equally puzzled, but seeing that Xi Chunxue chose not to answer, he too held his tongue, watching Su Yuanbai leaf through the book.

“That’s at least a Spirit-Light artifact! And you just open it like that? Is your Appraisal Art at the Immortal Aura tier?! But if there were such a master appraiser, how could I never have heard of you?!” Youzhong stared in horror as Su Yuanbai so casually flipped through the book.

Just who was this man?