Lost, Cliffside

Within the gorge, tigers roared and apes cried. Lu Xiaotian rode on the Leopard's back, a bulging pack slung over his shoulders. As usual, it contained salt, but this time there was also a small iron pot, as well as a large bundle of rope. A month ago, he had vaguely spotted a spiritual herb on a distant mountain peak. It had been too far away to harvest, but after what had happened, Lu Xiaotian had woven the wild vine strips he had gathered into a long rope, which he now carried whenever he went out.

The black bear was the black-robed old man's spirit beast and would not allow Lu Xiaotian to ride it. The Leopard was much smaller than the black bear, but it could still carry an eleven-year-old boy at a brisk trot, moving quite quickly.

It seemed that trading that Qi-Gathering Pill for the gray wolf spirit beast had been entirely worthwhile.

After passing beyond the area he had searched before, Lu Xiaotian considered for a while, then climbed down from the Leopard's back to search on foot, lest he miss any spiritual herbs he needed.

The black-robed old man was truly stingy. He would not even teach him how to identify spiritual herbs. Other than the White Gleam Grass used to refine Spirit Beast Pills, he would not speak of anything else. Lu Xiaotian searched through the grass and shrubs along the way for nearly two hours, finding nothing. Such a search was troublesome as well, and he could not help feeling dissatisfied with the black-robed old man. Sharpening the knife did not delay the chopping of wood. If the old man were not so miserly, Lu Xiaotian could cultivate faster. The higher his cultivation, the more he could do for the old man.

But thoughts were only thoughts. Lu Xiaotian also understood that pies did not fall from the sky. When he had first come to the valley, he had regarded the black-robed old man as someone he could rely on. Yet the days he had spent in the gorge had taught him that only he himself was dependable. The old man had saved him merely because he wanted someone to handle the trivial matters in the cave abode. He had never truly intended to teach him.

Having understood this, whenever circumstances allowed during the black-robed old man's absence, Lu Xiaotian would come out to search for spiritual items. Though this method was like fishing for a needle in the sea, it was still better than dryly waiting in the cave abode.

The deeper he went into the gorge, the thicker the fog became. Had he not cultivated the Primordial Unity Scripture and gained eyesight several times stronger than before, he would probably have been able to see only two or three zhang ahead. After going more than ten li deeper into the gorge, his vision had narrowed to perhaps two zhang. Lu Xiaotian frowned slightly. At this rate, his search efficiency was far too low. Unfortunately, although cultivating the Primordial Unity Scripture had produced primordial qi and made him a Qi Refining cultivator, aside from giving him greater strength and sharper eyesight, it seemed not to have brought any other major changes.

Could primordial qi really have no other uses? Though the black-robed old man had not said anything, he should try it himself. With that thought, Lu Xiaotian took a breath and silently guided the primordial qi in his dantian toward his eyes. As a thread of primordial qi circulated, a hazy whiteness suddenly clouded his vision, as though something had covered his eyes. It was even worse than looking with his naked eyes normally. Could primordial qi not be used this way? Startled, Lu Xiaotian was about to withdraw the circulating qi when a sudden coolness washed over his eyes. His vision cleared again, and everything within nearly a hundred zhang became incomparably distinct. Even the fine, dense fur on the black bear and gray wolf was plainly visible. It was truly marvelous.

So primordial qi really could be used this way. Lu Xiaotian was immediately delighted, not merely because he could see farther, but because the success of this experiment made him feel that even without anyone to teach him, he could slowly figure out ways to use primordial qi in the future.

Having successfully used primordial qi for the first time, Lu Xiaotian found himself unable to get enough of it. His searching speed increased by more than tenfold. After an hour, he had gone ever deeper into the gorge, completely unaware that the surroundings around him were quietly changing.

It was not until the black bear carried over a yellow goat it had bitten to death and tossed it at Lu Xiaotian's feet that he shook his head with a smile. If he did not serve the black bear well, it would probably throw a great tantrum. When the black bear made a fuss, he truly had a hard time handling it.

Yet while gathering firewood, Lu Xiaotian saw a small forest before him, and his expression changed at once. He had just searched all the way here from this direction. There had not been a forest here.

Perhaps he had remembered wrong. Clinging to a trace of hope, Lu Xiaotian summoned the Leopard, mounted its back, and rode in another direction for a while. His face soon turned extremely grim. Since becoming a Qi Refining cultivator, his memory had improved greatly. He clearly remembered that the place he had passed earlier was a small earthen hill, with a clear stream less than five chi wide on its eastern side. But now, both the hill and stream had vanished, replaced by a dense forest.

"Go back. Find the black bear." Lu Xiaotian patted the Leopard's neck. Suddenly thrown into an unfamiliar environment, his first thought was to reunite with the black bear and avoid encountering other demon beasts later. With only himself and the Leopard, his ability to protect himself in this complex gorge was still sorely lacking.

But when Lu Xiaotian retraced his path for one or two li, the place he had just passed through had turned into a sea of pale blue-white flowers. There was not a trace of the black bear anywhere.

Had he not seen it with his own eyes, Lu Xiaotian would never have believed that things growing from the ground could actually move. Yet what he saw before him left him utterly baffled.

"Awooo!"

A familiar howl rang out, followed by the echoing responses of wild wolves rising one after another. Lu Xiaotian's heart tightened. Another wolf pack—and there were far more of them than the one he had encountered before.

"Go!" Lu Xiaotian hurriedly urged the Leopard into a light run in another direction. One reason was to conserve strength; another was that the terrain where they stood left them exposed on all sides and was utterly unsuitable for defense. The black bear was not present either. Once they fell into the wolves' encirclement, the trouble ahead would be enormous.

The Leopard appeared restless and uneasy as it carried Lu Xiaotian deeper into the fog.

After running for roughly five or six li, Lu Xiaotian looked back and saw a bottomless precipice behind him. Before him, more than a dozen wild wolves howled as they pressed toward him.

Judging from the fluctuations of Killing Intent around the wolves, most were ordinary beasts. Only a very few possessed Killing Intent that made one's heart quail. Yet even that aura was weaker than that of the Leopard beneath Lu Xiaotian, and they were nearly a third smaller than his Leopard spirit beast. There were simply too many wolves, and they were still constantly calling nearby members of their kind to gather.

Lu Xiaotian climbed down from the Leopard's back and rushed to the cliff edge. Even with primordial qi circulating and his sight extending about a hundred zhang, clouds and mist still shrouded everything below that distance, making the bottom impossible to see. However, roughly twenty zhang below, he spotted a small platform formed by a protruding slab of rock, about a zhang wide. A few green vines grew upon it.

A way out in the midst of utter desperation—Lu Xiaotian's heart leaped with joy. While the wild wolves still feared the might of the Leopard spirit beast and hesitated to advance, he quickly opened the pack he carried, took out the rope, and tied one end around the thick trunk of a tree at the cliff's edge.