Lightly Touching

Looking back at Ye Bin, Yu Ci saw that she seemingly had not moved at all. Her robes and gauze sleeves fluttered like those of an immortal, though a hint of regret showed on her jade-like face. "Rakshasa Illusory Power truly lives up to its reputation. I lured it forward and gathered my strength, yet still failed to strike a vital point... But for the next ten-odd years, that beast should be unable to wreak havoc in this valley."

Yu Ci finally understood. The ghost beast had gone and returned, intending to kill with a backhand blow, only for Ye Bin to turn its own scheme against it and grievously wound it with a single sword strike. Unfortunately, he still had not seen how Ye Bin had drawn her sword.

At that moment, the female cultivator smiled again. "I struck twice, yet achieved less than you did with one stroke. You severed this Heart-Pulling Horn, so take it back as a memento."

Naturally, that was a joke. Ye Bin extended her hand, and the severed horn rested upon her fair palm, still gleaming softly. Yet her jade-like hand was far more pleasing to the eye than that broken horn. Yu Ci did not stand on ceremony and reached out to take it.

Ye Bin added, "Hold this horn in your mouth, and it can ward off most Illusionary Arts 'bewildering' mists in the world. It is even more effective against those released by ghost beasts themselves..."

The two of them were truly within arm's reach now. Even the wind in the gorge seemed to turn before the female cultivator's peerless grace, wrapping itself around a faint, fragrant scent as it lingered beneath his nose.

Yu Ci suddenly realized that he was somewhat nervous. Naturally, he did not wish to embarrass himself. Forcing himself to remain calm, he pinched the broken horn between three fingers.

That should have been the end of it, but in that instant, for some unknown reason—though it was certain that he was emboldened enough to grow fur—Yu Ci deliberately or inadvertently brushed the female cultivator's palm with his fingertips. The delicate warmth traveled back through his fingers, faint yet branded deeply into his memory.

Neither of their expressions changed. Yu Ci took the broken horn and bowed again in thanks.

Ye Bin gathered up her unconscious disciple and prepared to leave. It seemed she did not intend to let Ye Tu bid Yu Ci farewell again, but before departing, she suddenly asked, "You like swords as well?"

Yu Ci recalled the exhilarating feeling of holding a sword, when hand, eye, heart, and courage became one. Naturally, he nodded.

The female cultivator's eyes were like a lake, a faint smile rippling within them. "I see that your courage is astonishing and your mind is keen. You must be one who delights in walking dangerous paths. Why not take a look at that patch of mist..."

Her fair hand indicated the sea of clouds where the ghost beast had been wounded again. Just as Yu Ci fixed his gaze upon it, sword light flashed, and the female cultivator and Ye Tu had vanished. Turning his head, Yu Ci saw only a wisp of pale water mist curling upward. At a touch of his finger, it dispersed.

Where had her fragrant trail gone? Almost instinctively, Yu Ci summoned the Zhaoshen Map and looked east toward the edge of heaven. Yet apart from boundless emptiness, he saw nothing at all. A range ten li high and fifty li across was already exceedingly vast, but beneath Ye Bin's sword flight, such a range was meaningless.

"This is a true cultivator!"

Yu Ci keenly felt that only someone like Ye Bin, who parted the clouds, entered the blue void, and drifted like an immortal, was a goal worth pursuing. Daoist Yan, Poisonous Snake Monk, Xu Lao Er, and their ilk were nothing more than earthen chickens and pottery dogs, needlessly tarnishing the name of cultivators!

Yet who knew what year or month it would be before he could reach such a realm?

Putting away the Zhaoshen Map, Yu Ci raised his head and let out a long sigh. He lamented the vast length of the road to immortality, yet never considered whether he possessed the strength to climb it. Rather than waste effort doubting himself, it was more practical to steady his heart, calm his mind, and proceed step by step.

Thus, he quickly came back to himself and turned, as Ye Bin had instructed, to look at the rolling clouds by the cliffside. To his senses, this sea of clouds was no different from those elsewhere. He did not know why Ye Bin had specifically pointed it out.

If there had to be a difference, it was that Ye Bin's Sword Qi had pierced through these clouds and grievously wounded the ghost beast. But after so much time had passed, no trace should have remained... Hm?

The instant he thought of whether traces remained, the mist blowing toward him carried an unusual aura. Sensing the anomaly, Yu Ci reached out and brushed the rolling clouds at the cliff's edge. When his fingertips touched a certain point, the sensation abruptly became clear. It was as though a layer of relatively unchanging coolness had seeped into these ever-shifting clouds. That coolness had clearly entered later, yet it permeated every particle of mist without affecting its original form in the slightest. It was difficult to imagine what kind of technique this was.

Yu Ci sensed it. That layer of coolness was unmistakably the lingering ripple of the Sword Qi Ye Bin had used to grievously wound the ghost beast. Ye Bin had shown him this clearly not to flaunt her power, but to tell him of a method of wielding the sword, a philosophy of wielding the sword, a direction for wielding the sword. In short, it was a kind of sword intent!

Without realizing it, Yu Ci stretched his arm farther forward, hoping to sense the subtleties of that sword intent more clearly. He did not seek immediate comprehension; in truth, that was impossible. He merely wished to remember this sword intent clearly and engrave it deep within his heart, so that over the long years ahead, he could carefully ponder and comprehend it. At that very moment, a humming sword cry suddenly rang beside his ear!

This was no illusion. The cool Sword Qi within the clouds seemed to have been stirred by some trigger, erupting with a boom at that instant. Yet even in eruption, it did not possess the earth-shaking force of the ordinary sort. Instead, it transformed into something like mist, both real and unreal, and passed directly through Yu Ci's body.

The distance was simply too close. Yu Ci had no time to react before the fine mist catalyzed by the Sword Qi had already pierced through his body and scattered away behind him. No similar sword intent remained in the sea of clouds ahead. At that moment, Yu Ci's face turned pale, and cold sweat burst uncontrollably from every pore of his body, draining all his strength in the blink of an eye and leaving him nearly collapsed.

The mist-like Sword Qi had existed within his body for only one-tenth of a breath, but it contained the full power of the sword intent Ye Bin had left behind. It was equivalent to that unfathomable female cultivator swinging a sword at him. Her control of the measure had been exquisite, but the sensation was truly terrible.

He had indeed remembered it, and far more deeply than he had imagined, but this method...

His whole body powerless, Yu Ci fell onto his back and gazed at the clear sky, spotless and free of dust. He seemed to see Ye Bin's tranquil, lake-like eyes again, along with the chilling Sword Qi hidden within them. After a long silence, he suddenly let out a long sigh. Before it had faded, he burst into hearty laughter.

Within that laughter, the woman in the goose-yellow jacket and skirt transformed from an unreachable goal into a deep mark left upon the still-distant road to immortality, temporarily obscured by thick clouds and impossible to see clearly.

It was late summer. As the unique source of the world's two great rivers, the Duanjie Mountain Range remained covered in verdant peaks, brimming with life. In the southern offshoots of its mountains, separated from the main peak by countless thousands of li, lay a region formed of black earth and iron rock. The tallest mountain nearby was called Dan Cliff, soaring a thousand ren high, though its main body had long since broken away from the Duanjie Mountain Range. Between them lay a basin with fertile soil, suitable for human settlement. Juebi City had been built upon this land, becoming the undisputed hub within a radius of ten thousand li.

A torrential rain had just passed. The accumulated water poured down along the mountains on either side, thoroughly washing the city district. The distinctive rocky roads were not muddy at all; instead, they had become much cleaner in an instant.

Zhao Wu hurried down the road, stepping through the shallow puddles gathered on the stone stairs without stopping. Although the post-rain air was cool, a layer of greasy sweat quickly formed on his body. He pressed one hand against the stone box inside his robe. The box was not heavy, yet it weighed down his heart like a boulder.

Zhao Wu was an utterly ordinary resident of Juebi City. Blessed with swift legs and a quick mind, he usually did odd jobs for others to earn some spending money, and his days were fairly decent. Having run all over the city year after year, he knew that certain so-called "immortals" came and went through Juebi City. Such people were difficult to serve, but if a task was handled properly, they were not stingy with rewards. His neighbor, Sun Lao Er, had once run an errand for someone and received no small amount of silver, becoming wealthy overnight. Envious though he had been, Zhao Wu had never imagined that such good fortune would one day fall upon his own head...

Yet with a single stray thought, good fortune could become disaster!

He shuddered, strangled the instinctive flicker of greed in his heart, and hurried two more steps before entering the territory of the "New City."

Over its thousands of years of development, Juebi City had naturally formed three districts: the "Upper City," first built upon Dan Cliff; the "Lower City," within the central basin; and the "New City," developed relatively late and connected to the Duanjie Mountain Range.

This was not some artificially imposed division, merely a customary one. Yet in the minds of commoners like Zhao Wu, a fixed pattern had long taken shape: the Upper City was where the immortals of Bai Ri Mansion lived, mysterious and unfathomable; the Lower City was the nest of mud-legged folk like themselves; and as for the busiest and most expensive area, it was naturally none other than the New City.

The shop where Bai Ri Mansion purchased Shrimp Whisker Grass stood at the border between the New City and the Lower City. Its storefront was enormous, but at present only a small door was open, with a shop clerk sitting lazily inside.

There was nothing strange about that. It was currently the off-season for purchasing Shrimp Whisker Grass. Shrimp Whisker Grass sprouted in spring and withered at the end of autumn, so Juebi City's vast army of herb gatherers departed in early spring and did not return until late autumn or early winter. Added to that was the long journey; the truly bustling days would not arrive until close to year's end.

Zhao Wu entered quietly. When the clerk behind the counter saw him, he seemed momentarily unable to react and merely stared. Zhao Wu knew full well that any random clerk from this shop could easily chop down ten men like him, so he became even more cautious and softly asked:

"Um... do you still buy Shrimp Whisker Grass here?"

"We do. Why wouldn't we?"

The shop clerk rose to his feet, even forcing a bit of a smile onto his face. He tapped the counter, signaling the dozing pharmacist inside to get ready. The pharmacist stood up and quickly took out an exchange form and a brush heavy with ink, placing them before Zhao Wu. Zhao Wu carefully took the stone box, nearly warmed by his body heat, from his robe and set it on the counter. The pharmacist and clerk's gazes immediately fell upon it.

Zhao Wu could recognize a few characters. First, he circled the "consignment sale" entry on the form. Then he quickly found the topmost and most conspicuous entry in the item list and circled it as well. Finally, he signed his name before nervously handing the form back.

The pharmacist and clerk saw the black circle behind the words "consignment sale," and their faces immediately stretched long. When they saw the category before the second black circle, their faces turned even greener. Zhao Wu had been watching their expressions all along. Seeing this, his heart began to panic, but thinking of the generous reward, he timidly asked, "Will you exchange it?"

"We will. Why wouldn't we?"

The pharmacist's tone was exactly the same as the clerk's. He took back the form, stared fiercely at it twice more, then suddenly asked, "Three Yang Talisman Sword?"

"Yes, the Three Yang Talisman Sword."

Zhao Wu's heart was filled with unease, but he forced himself to reply calmly. Though he had already examined the goods before this, when the pharmacist questioned him, his heart still pounded wildly. Yet he was also bewildered. Why were the pharmacist and the clerk reacting so strangely?