Chapter Fifty-Five: Observation

Su Yuanbai did not hear the gaunt man’s startled question before him, nor could he see the look of fear on the man’s face. At this moment, he was wholly absorbed in the book he held. Or rather, it was not so much that he was immersed in the book, as that the book had drawn him into its depths.

Across a boundless wilderness, towering wooden cages, each nearly thirty feet high, held within them ferocious and intimidating beasts. Beneath the cages, massive prison wagons were tethered with hundreds of ropes, each one grasped by a bare-chested, muscular man.

He had become an elderly man with a face chiseled like a gourd, his long beard tied with a jade crown atop his head. He stood upon a colossal stone platform, nearly thirty-three feet tall, holding a sheet of aged, dark-brown bark in his left hand and a sharpened bamboo sliver in his right.

Beside him was a wondrous beast, as large as an ox, shaped like a qilin, its entire body covered in dense, jet-black fur. The creature’s eyes shone with intelligence, and a single horn jutted from its brow.

“Heaven ordains rituals.”

“Heaven bestows virtue.”

“Heaven punishes guilt!”

Beneath the sea of clouds in the firmament, glowing azure characters emerged, wreathed in mist, descending onto the fierce beasts imprisoned within the wooden cages.

Some beasts howled in agony, while others knelt in reverence.

Suddenly, these wailing, prostrated beasts dissolved into grains of drifting sand, scattering to nothingness, and the empty wooden cages gradually transformed into towering ancient trees.

The entwined canopies nearly blotted out the sky, letting through only stray beams of sunlight that filtered down through the leaves, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow upon the grass.

Those shifting patterns fell upon Su Yuanbai. He gazed at the gathering crowd before him, among whom two people on either side were arguing. The jet-black beast gently touched one of them with its sharp horn.

Then it turned its head, fixing its bright, intelligent eyes on him.

Within those luminous beastly eyes, Su Yuanbai saw his own reflection, his appearance shifting from the elderly, long-bearded sage with a jade crown, slowly reverting to his own features.

His handsome face was now covered in dense, golden runes.

Abruptly, the strange beast charged at him, horn lowered. Instinctively, Su Yuanbai raised his hand to fend it off. The scene before his eyes dissolved into a blur, rapidly receding.

At last, everything stilled before a pitch-black gate, pounded by relentless rain.

Youzhong’s right hand was already at Su Yuanbai’s throat. His steady gaze turned to panic when he saw Su Yuanbai’s dark eyes, still tinged with confusion, looking back at him.

“This... this...”

Youzhong hesitated briefly, then withdrew his hand, nodding repeatedly as he looked at Su Yuanbai, unsure what words to say.

Su Yuanbai paid him no heed, lowering his gaze to the book in his hands.

“I never imagined this book truly was a surviving fragment left behind by the Azure-Faced Sage. Such a priceless treasure was here in the prison, and I knew nothing of it,” Lin Lan murmured as the azure glow from Su Yuanbai’s book slowly faded.

“If even you, a deputy warden, knew nothing, how did these outsider practitioners discover it? And their clothes—clearly prison garb,” Xi Chunxue said, looking at Youzhong, who moments before had tried to kill Su Yuanbai, and then at Nan Ming, whose moans of pain were gradually subsiding.

“Haven’t you already guessed the answer? There is an insider among them,” Lin Lan replied calmly.

“Who is it?” Xi Chunxue asked.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be in this state now,” Lin Lan said softly, glancing at his wounds. His black robe was caked with yellow earth, and his face had lost all color. “I’m heading to the Stone Bamboo Mound to try and recover my physical body. If I can’t find it, then I’ll have no choice but to pursue the path of a ghostly immortal.”

Knowing now was no time for idle talk, Lin Lan’s soul drifted away from his body, floating out of the prison, soon vanishing into the pouring rain.

Qu Hanchen felt a chill in his heart. Hearing Lin Lan speak of an insider, he couldn’t help but recall Tang Changhong sneaking off during his shift and the crazed look on Tang Changhong’s face when he revealed the white dagger.

Could it be him?

“What are you thinking about?” Xi Chunxue asked, noticing Qu Hanchen’s pensive silence.

“It’s nothing,” Qu Hanchen forced a weak smile.

“Is the Lord finally going to kill the one who offended him?” Duan Lingqi had had enough of these humans’ idle chatter. He had been watching the Lord’s every move. When he saw the Lord close the book and approach the gaunt man, excitement welled up within him.

The Lord finally remembered what needed to be done!

“What is a Profound Crystal?”

Su Yuanbai closed the book. Though he had only read the first page, he felt invigorated, the chaotic memories in his mind now set aside.

“You must be a Qi Refiner, sir? Profound Crystals are the currency used in transactions between cultivators, just as gold and silver are in the mortal world. Spirit Stones are slightly less valuable, while Profound Crystals are worth more.

Spirit Stones are mined from lodes rich in spiritual energy, typically found at the bases of your cultivation abodes. Profound Crystals, however, are usually only found in special blessed lands or hidden realms. Their formation requires the gathering of celestial essence, and the few mineral veins that can produce them are exceedingly rare.

That’s why Profound Crystals are more valuable than Spirit Stones,” Youzhong explained, relieved to hear Su Yuanbai speak. When someone spoke, there was still room to negotiate; silence meant a fight to the death.

“And what is Lower Profound?” Su Yuanbai asked evenly.

“It’s the ranking system we cultivators use for manuals, techniques, and talismanic scripts. There are five major grades: Yellow, Profound, Earth, Spirit, and Immortal. Each grade is divided into upper, middle, and lower tiers,” Youzhong patiently explained.

Qi Refiners are known to be reclusive once they ascend the mountains. This handsome man might well be some ancient monster come down from the peaks. If he could win favor with such a being, perhaps he might obtain some treasures.

Nan Ming, pale and drenched in cold sweat, lay in the puddles, biting his lip so hard the skin broke and blood welled out. His hands were limp and powerless in the dirty water. The muddy yellow puddles seeped into his wounds, the water around him turning crimson with his blood, only to be quickly washed away by the rain.

Compared to his severed hands and ruined foot, as long as he still lived, there was hope. Within Lingyun Tower, there were pills and spells said to revive the dead. Restoring hands and feet was surely not beyond possibility—so long as he could survive.

Thus, Nan Ming endured, refusing to draw the attention of the old monster who must be a Qi Refiner, no matter how the pain from his broken bones was aggravated by filthy water.

But what one dreads is often what comes.

“You’re both wearing prison garb. Why aren’t you shackled with Profound Chains?” Su Yuanbai glanced down at Nan Ming, who dared not meet his gaze, then turned to Youzhong, who struggled to maintain his forced smile.