Harvest

(This chapter is free.)

When the long course of one's life had but a single clear goal, and years of hardship still left it visible yet unreachable, anxiety was inevitable, hesitation inevitable, despair inevitable. Yu Ci had merely forced it all down with his will, propping himself up with the courage of a lone and desolate soul, like a wolf traveling alone down a road that seemed never to end.

The pressure had never lessened; it had merely been buried deeper. Over all these years, it had accumulated day by day, until at last, beneath the joy of today's harvest and within this nearly crazed roar, it erupted completely.

A Spirit cultivator—this was Yu Ci's newest identity. The world he now faced was utterly different!

An emotional outburst was always temporary. In the end, one still had to return to a steady course.

Utterly exhausted, Yu Ci collapsed onto the ground without caring about the muddy water beneath him. His limbs sprawled out as he stared blankly at the rain-shrouded sky. Fine threads of rain brushed across his cheeks, gradually calming his overly turbulent emotions.

The Storage Ring in his palm felt undeniably real, but it was already completely empty inside.

Once reason regained the upper hand, heartache immediately followed: Too much, too much! In his wild joy just now, he had actually dumped everything out of the ring, then kicked it all into a complete mess. The spoils that had been clearly sorted were now in utter disarray. If anything valuable had been damaged, would that not be a crushing loss?

Still, what Yu Ci most wanted to know was this: what did the belongings of a Spirit cultivator look like? Perhaps they would open a window onto an unknown world for him, and perhaps they could temporarily satisfy his curiosity.

Driven by that thought, Yu Ci rolled over and sat up. Seeing the miscellaneous objects scattered across a radius of more than ten zhang, he groaned, then burst into laughter. The subtle complexity of his state of mind was beyond words.

The rain gradually eased, but after soaking in mud, nearly half the spoils had already been ruined beyond recognition. Yu Ci did not care whether there were valuable items among them. Out of sight, out of mind—he swept them directly aside before beginning to sort the remaining things into categories.

The first valuable item Yu Ci found was the stone box containing Shrimp Whisker Grass. When he opened the lid, he clicked his tongue softly. Several layers of Shrimp Whisker Grass were packed densely inside, each plant complete with roots and stems, all of excellent quality. Daoist Yan had probably picked through them carefully after making his move.

A rough count showed at least seven or eight hundred plants in the stone box. Added to Yu Ci's own haul, it was more than enough to exchange for a Three Yang Talisman Sword. This item alone made him feel that risking his life in that battle had been more than worth it.

The next things he picked out were eight jade items. One was a jade slip, roughly four cun long and two fingers wide, its color a cloudy yellow. Yu Ci set it aside first. Then there were seven exquisite little jade plaques, each only palm-sized. The material was ordinary, but complex patterns had been carved onto them using a typical talisman-making method. Yu Ci immediately thought of the talisman forms commonly used among cultivators.

Jade Talismans—these had to be Jade Talismans! Made from jade, with talisman patterns carved into them beforehand to store talisman power, they could be activated in battle to achieve instant talisman casting. They were an extremely useful tool. Since this involved his specialty, Yu Ci paid particular attention. After examining them carefully for a while and identifying the talisman systems inscribed on each one, he cautiously put them into his Storage Ring.

The last item that particularly caught his attention was a miniature dagger no more than an inch long. It looked like a piece of craftsmanship, yet it had a complete blade, hilt, and everything else. But at such a size, let alone a burly man like Daoist Yan, even a newborn infant likely could not use it.

Yu Ci had initially thought it was merely a trinket, but after testing it lightly, he discovered that its blade was extraordinarily sharp, capable of cutting stone as though it were mud. Its material was also exceptionally tough—even the edge of the Nine Yang Talisman Sword could not damage it. He studied it for a long while without grasping its secrets, and could only put it away for the time being.

By then, he had finished sorting through the entire pile. The useful items were the seven Jade Talismans, the jade slip left at hand, and the Nine Yang Talisman Sword he had seized earlier. Was this the entire fortune of a Spirit cultivator?

Yu Ci felt both excited and disappointed, but he quickly dismissed such insatiable greed. Calming his mind, he waited until his emotions settled, then focused his attention on the jade slip in his hand.

Back at the Twin Immortals Sect, he had seen such objects more than once. He also knew that cultivators used them to store all kinds of information and cultivation arts. Yet just like Storage Rings, ordinary people without the ability to Differentiate Consciousness, Transform Thought could not probe their mysteries at all. Otherwise, when he had stormed Great Immortal Purple Thunder's bedchamber years ago, he would never have taken only a bound copy of the "Shangqing Juxuan Xing Shu Mi Shou Fu Jing."

With a slight movement of thought toward the jade slip, a string of highly organized information flowed into his mind, far faster than reading any book. Yu Ci soon learned that the jade slip did not contain a cultivation method, but rather the "fusion refining" method Daoist Yan had mentioned—the complete process of refining a Three Yang Talisman Sword into a Pure Yang Talisman Sword.

This was quite interesting. Yu Ci had endured such hardship to come to Sky Rift Valley in order to exchange for a Three Yang Talisman Sword, hoping to draw inspiration from it for advancing his own talisman arts and ultimately improve his cultivation. Yet after this bitter battle, he had gained not only a talisman sword, but also the method to forge one—and the latter was of an even higher grade. More importantly, he had broken through the barrier of the Three Mortal Gates in a single stroke and become a true cultivator. The wonders of fate were nothing less than this.

Yu Ci did not continue reading. He merely placed the jade slip and the Nine Yang Talisman Sword into the Storage Ring, then moved all the various items on his person into it as well, including the bound volume of the "Shangqing Juxuan Xing Shu Mi Shou Fu Jing" and his portable treasure pouch. He immediately felt much lighter.

Only then did he shift his gaze, sweeping it over Daoist Yan's headless corpse. He had no intention of cleaning up this place. He would leave the body here for wild beasts and fierce birds to tear apart and devour. If he had died in battle, Daoist Yan would likely have given him no better treatment.

After that, Yu Ci returned to the mountain forest clearing where it had all happened.

The rain had doused the bonfire. Daoist Yan had been too busy chasing Yu Ci to deal with this place, and the twenty-two mangled corpses still lay as they had at the moment of death. The heavy stench of blood lingered in the air. No other people had come to investigate yet, but several wild beasts had arrived, ready to enjoy this feast fallen from the heavens.

Yu Ci drove the beasts away with a swing of his sword, but when he turned back to look at the corpses, he stood stunned for a moment.

Yet he was ultimately a decisive man. He quickly gathered the bodies together, piled dry branches and kindling around them, and placed Daoist Yan's head in front.

Once everything was prepared, he stood beside the heap of corpses. After steadying his breath, he drew in the air with his hand. Starting from above, he formed the Soul-Guiding Immortal Crane; to either side came the sun and moon; below trailed clouds and mist; then a coiling dragon took flight, bearing the souls back to heaven. In an instant, he completed a soul-soothing talisman. Spiritual light flashed brilliantly and scattered over the corpses.

Only then did he step forward. Raising the Nine Yang Talisman Sword and pouring true qi into it, he sent scarlet flames surging forth. In the blink of an eye, a great fire sprang up, wrapping the mortal remains in flame as they slowly turned to ash.

In these desolate mountains and wildernesses, where wild beasts roamed everywhere, there was almost no possibility of being laid to rest in the earth. He could only employ the ancient rites of shamans, hoping that their heavenly souls and spirits might find peace.

The flames blazed fiercely. Yu Ci stood to one side, with twenty-two stone boxes neatly arranged at his feet. Holding his sword in salute, he prayed silently for a moment before picking up one of the boxes and lifting its lid, revealing the neatly arranged Shrimp Whisker Grass inside.

After hesitating slightly, he finally grabbed the precious herbs and threw them all into the flames. Where there was one, there would be another. Soon, all twenty-two stone boxes were opened in turn, and handful after handful of Shrimp Whisker Grass were cast into the fire.

There were as few as several dozen plants in some boxes and as many as two or three hundred in others, adding up to some fifteen hundred in all. Just like that, he tossed them into the flames, where they turned to ashes alongside their former owners.