Chapter 114: The Blood-Stained Spirit Stone
Chapter 114: The Blood-Stained Spirit Stone
Screech!
A clear bird cry was heard just as several people were about to leave the gorge entrance. The other side of the Thread of Sky Pass now seemed bursting with vitality.
After turning the first bend of the Thread of Sky Pass, one could see the exit. Similarly, a distance of about a hundred zhang led out of the gorge.
Though this total distance of roughly two hundred zhang wasn’t great, the cumbersome wagons meant it took nearly a quarter of an hour to traverse.
Fortunately, they encountered no mishaps. Captain Wang had initially worried that bandits might ambush them at the exit. Now that they emerged, he felt his tension slightly ease.
Clatter! Clatter!
With the entire convoy safely through the Thread of Sky Pass, not just Captain Wang, but nearly everyone’s expression grew visibly more relaxed.
“Heh, young brother. If nothing goes wrong, we’ll travel another fifty li today. We’ll rest twenty li outside Chuyun City tonight and enter at first light tomorrow. I wonder what your plans are? Will you stay with us? Or will you… make your own way ahead? At your speed, you could reach Chuyun City and rest in less than two hours.”
Leaving the Thread of Sky Pass behind, the nervousness and vigilance on Captain Wang’s face eased somewhat as he spoke to Tang Jinbiao beside him.
“Alright. Then I’d better enter Chuyun City today. Thank you, Brother Wang, for your hospitality. I’ll repay the favor when possible in the future!”
Tang Jinbiao turned to look back at the Thread of Sky Pass. The gloomy entrance gave him an eerie illusion – it looked like a giant beast with a gaping maw, waiting to swallow anyone who approached.
He hadn’t felt it so strongly when entering, but now, outside, this unease grew more intense, though he couldn’t explain why.
“Hmm?”
As Tang Jinbiao looked toward the gorge mouth, his gaze shifted slightly sideways. He spotted several small, sparrow-like corpses and frowned involuntarily.
For some reason, near the mountain gorge, not far away, many sparrow carcasses lay haphazardly on the ground. They appeared freshly dead.
Screech!
Tang Jinbiao’s frown deepened as he noticed the sparrows. At that moment, a piercing bird cry emanated from the distant sky. Immediately after, a hawk could be seen, soaring and circling high above.
Moo!
Moo!
The water buffalo pulling the carts bellowed upon exiting the Thread of Sky Pass, seemingly celebrating their relief.
The deep, resonant bellows of the buffaloes, swelling as they voiced them, made Tang Jinbiao’s eardrums ache.
Roar! Roar! Roar!
As the buffalo calls echoed out, the fierce cries of wild beasts answered from the Dense Forest several li away; the sound resembled the roar of tigers.
“Hmm?”
Tang Jinbiao’s brow furrowed even tighter. Though just one gorge separated them, the worlds on either side felt drastically different.
On one side of the gorge, lush greenery thrived, yet it felt devoid of living creatures. But here, beyond the Thread of Sky Pass, vitality pulsated everywhere.
Tang Jinbiao couldn’t understand it – why such a bizarre contrast existed?
“Hmm? Young brother? What is it? Still not fully recovered?”
Seeing Tang Jinbiao frown, Captain Wang assumed he was reluctant to leave the convoy and asked with a hint of displeasure flickering on his face.
“Oh, no. It’s nothing!”
Tang Jinbiao snapped out of his thoughts with a slight start and spoke.
Then Tang Jinbiao immediately recalled Captain Wang’s words earlier, sensing the subtle hint of dismissal. Feeling slightly embarrassed, he said, “Brother Wang, I appreciate your kindness. May we meet again if fate allows. I’ll take my leave now!”
“Hmm, may we meet again!”
Though Captain Wang was kindhearted, he was no pushover. His earlier decision to let Tang Jinbiao travel with the caravan through the Thread of Sky Pass had been deliberate.
Outwardly, he’d trusted Tang Jinbiao, but inwardly he’d remained vigilant throughout the journey. His casual chatter had masked careful observation. Had Tang Jinbiao, possibly an accomplice of bandits, made any suspicious move, he’d have struck immediately. As for Tang Jinbiao being a Body Refiner, Captain Wang wasn’t intimidated—the young man appeared barely twenty, and he was confident he could overpower him.
“Hmm, I won’t see you off. Farewell!”
Though Tang Jinbiao couldn’t fully grasp Captain Wang’s thoughts, he sensed enough. After thanking him, he broke into a sprint, racing toward the distance.
“Ah, right! My thanks to the Young Lady in the carriage for your aid! Hope our paths cross again!”
After running a dozen meters, Tang Jinbiao suddenly remembered something. He turned back, shouting loudly toward the Carriage beside Captain Wang.
“May we meet again!”
The faint, melodious voice of the woman drifted out from the Carriage once more.
“Farewell!”
Tang Jinbiao clasped his fists. His gaze, whether deliberate or not, flicked toward the dead sparrows by the valley. Without lingering, he surged forward along the broad road.
Clatter, clatter!
Tang Jinbiao’s arrival and departure seemed insignificant. The caravan continued rolling forward unhurriedly.
“Hmm?”
Captain Wang noted Tang Jinbiao’s glance. He too turned his eyes toward the dead sparrows at the canyon’s mouth.
Such sights were familiar to him. He shook his head, unperturbed, and kept pace with the caravan.
…
An hour passed in a blink. Following the wide road, Tang Jinbiao maintained his rapid sprint, covering thirty li in that short time, leaving Captain Wang and the others far behind.
Huff… huff…
Slightly breathless, Tang Jinbiao finally stopped. Since he wasn’t rushing to reach Chuyun City, he slowed to a walk.
Chirp, chirp!
Growl, growl!
Beyond the Thread of Sky Pass, the journey changed. Tang Jinbiao passed two or three tiny villages—twenty households at most—but having no need, he simply glimpsed them from afar.
The starkest difference, however, was the wildlife. Crossing that canyon felt like stepping into another world—a dividing line between life and death. The other side, though lush with greenery, held stifling silence, utterly devoid of animals. Here, even without large beasts, distant cries echoed, and small animals and birds abounded.
Without this divide, Tang Jinbiao wouldn’t have starved for three days. Those days remained vivid in his memory, making the rice cake he’d eaten then taste, forever after, like the most delicious food.
Growl, growl!
Chirp, chirp!
“Hmm? Something’s off… very off. But what?”
His pace slowed as he scanned the surroundings—dense forest hemming the three-zhang-wide road. Yet this sudden liviness didn’t make him feel at ease; an unsettling sense of eeriness seeped through everything.
Flap! Flap!
While Tang Jinbiao was lost in thought, a goose-like bird burst from the roadside. A few powerful wing beats carried it into the distance.
“Fuck! Scared the hell out of me!”
Tang Jinbiao jumped, cursing when he realized it was just a large bird.
“Forget it! Who cares what’s off? Better to reach Chuyun City first, look for a map, and figure out how to get to Divine Wind Academy. Need to head there anyway. Wonder how much time has passed.. How are Tang Yilin and Tang Song?”
After a moment’s hesitation, he decided this newfound clamor wasn’t worth alarm. He set off again, sprinting eastward along the great road.
…
Two hours later, in a guest room inside an inn at Chuyun City, Tang Jinbiao sat cross-legged on the bed. With mixed emotions, he examined the objects in his hands.
His left hand held an egg-sized Spirit Stone. His right held the Black Pearl. Beside him lay a small Jade Slip.
The Black Pearl was covered in cracks, seemingly having increased by a few over time. Tang Jinbiao cared little; Huang Biaozi had explicitly called it a treasure. He’d kept it, even after some… rather compromising incidents involving it.
Though Huang Biaozi wasn’t with him, Tang Jinbiao carried it diligently, half-expecting the Old Charlatan to crawl out of it again. Indeed, without this pearl, that Azure Dragon would surely have destroyed him.
“I’ve carried this Yin Pearl all along, but that old charlatan Huang Biaozi never told me how to use it! Damn him!”
He briefly considered discarding the Black Pearl, but the thought quickly vanished. He placed it back into his Storage Pouch.
“And this… what precisely is it?”
After storing the Black Pearl, Tang Jinbiao focused on the Spirit Stone in his hand, deep in thought.
The stone, egg-sized and seemingly ordinary, was distinctive only because of the dark red bloodstain marring it. Tang Hu had originally given this Mid-grade Spirit Stone to Tang Bu, who, seized by fear, had flung it away. Tang Jinbiao had snagged it midair. Back then, he’d paid it little heed, casually pocketing it. Now, the fact it had survived mystified him.
He wasn’t shocked by its Mid-grade quality, but by its retained Spiritual Energy. Though depleted, it still held energy—exactly as it had when he’d first acquired it.
His shock stemmed from this: after leaving that “Peach Blossom Spring,” everything spiritual on him had lost their power. His Elixirs became useless. His other Spirit Stones turned inert. Even the jewels on Wang Hanyu’s Qingyang Eight Trigrams dimmed into worthless husks. Wang Ruhai’s Token seemed unchanged, but honestly, it had always felt mundane.
Truly, he was penniless now—he’d even paid for this room with money Captain Wang had given him the previous night.
Yet discovering this one Spirit Stone still held its Spiritual Energy… How could he not be stunned?
“Phew! Whatever it is… it feels unusual. I’ll keep it for now. Still, how pathetic—after all this, these few trinkets are all I have to my name!”
After a long silence, he reluctantly shook himself from his reflections. He stored the Spirit Stone, then picked up the Jade Slip besides him. A complex expression crossed his face as he looked at it before finally tucking it away…