Spots

The layout of the buildings atop Dan Cliff was actually very simple. From the foot of the mountain to its waist were the residences of servants, retainers, and their families. After several centuries of development, it had already reached the scale of a self-sufficient small town.

Bai Ri Mansion's main estate spread down from the mountaintop, built according to the terrain, with many precipitous stretches unsuitable for ordinary people to live in. Cultivators, however, had no such problem. Yu Ci saw clearly that this arrangement was not because the cultivators of Bai Ri Mansion were devoted to self-tormenting asceticism, but because its builders had used the structures to seal up the most valuable spiritual vein apertures on the cliff, making cultivation more convenient.

Thus, these perilous buildings became the places Yu Ci most enjoyed "visiting." Here, he could always find the important figures of the mansion, watch how they cultivated, and observe all their various dealings. He never tired of it.

But before that, he needed to ignore the ugly spot that was gradually forming on the Zhaoshen Map.

The spot appeared somewhere deep within Dan Cliff. Calling it a spot was not quite accurate; it was actually a blurry area roughly a li across. It was not that one could not see what lay within, but that some immense force had forcibly twisted it. Every image of light and shadow was severely distorted and deformed, making it impossible to discern the truth.

Yu Ci was not at all surprised by this sight, because any similar emotion had been completely dissipated two days ago. He knew perfectly well what was hidden within that patch of warped light and shadow.

The old fellow was still cultivating there. That blurry region was precisely the private meditation chamber of Tu Du, Bai Ri Mansion's chief elder.

Most people in the mansion knew that this old monster, rumored to have lived for three hundred years, would enter seclusion for three to five years at a time in order to prolong his life. Some servants in the mansion might never see him even once in their entire lives. Naturally, they regarded the old monster as the number one mysterious figure in the mansion. Countless tales surrounded him, and some even spread beyond the estate, growing ever stranger and more bizarre with every retelling.

Juebi City's most powerful cultivator was, of course, Bai Ri Mansion's Mansion Lord, Jin Huan. Yet its most mysterious cultivator was certainly Bai Ri Mansion's chief elder, Tu Du. This was the consensus among Juebi City's residents.

But for Yu Ci, the only thing required to meet the mysterious chief elder was a little patience.

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, the distorted region of light and shadow began to move.

It started rising. Its area of influence remained a li in every direction, with no sign of spreading outward. It was also extremely fast. In one flash, it reached the surface; in another, it was a hundred zhang up in the sky. At that point, the full appearance of the meditation chamber was revealed. Its furnishings were very simple, and the only thing that caught the eye was the figure lying flat on the couch with closed eyes.

This person was Tu Du.

No one would believe it if told that Bai Ri Mansion's chief elder was such a dried-up, corpse-like old man, barely clinging to life. He was small and thin; draped in a black robe, he looked as though he had covered himself with a blanket. If not for the Zhaoshen Map's image revealing every detail, Yu Ci might not even have been able to see the rise and fall of his breathing.

After several days of observation, Yu Ci believed that what remained in the meditation chamber was merely a shell. The thing causing the distorted light and shadow should have been the old monster's yin spirit. The old monster's lifespan had likely run out, and his fleshly body had weakened to the extreme. Thus, he had no choice but to enter seclusion constantly to recuperate against unforeseen circumstances. For his usual activities, he simply used his yin spirit leaving the body in its place.

It was from him that Yu Ci had truly seen what a yin spirit leaving the body looked like. It had broadened his horizons. There was nothing worth seeing in the meditation chamber, so Yu Ci turned his attention to the sky. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not pierce through that layer of warped light and shadow to see what was inside.

This was the limitation of the Zhaoshen Map.

Through his observations over the past few days, Yu Ci discovered that when the Zhaoshen Map investigated experts with astonishing cultivation, such as Tu Du, it suffered extremely powerful interference, causing its images to become blurry and unclear. There had been warning signs of this long ago. Back in the Sky Rift, whenever night fell, the Zhaoshen Map's range of illumination shrank by over forty percent. Considering that nighttime was when terrifying birds of prey and savage beasts were most active, that was likely an even more thorough form of interference.

And this... was good!

This was by no means self-consolation. Yu Ci did not fear such variables. On the contrary, if the Zhaoshen Map had truly remained unchanged, that was when he would have felt genuinely uneasy. Things that did not change had no spirituality; without spirituality, they had no possibility of further development. Now that he had seen the Zhaoshen Map being limited, he had likewise seen the infinite possibilities hidden within those limits!

Only through change could he uncover the deeper secrets of the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror. Naturally, it could also settle his inflated thoughts somewhat.

Yu Ci did not intend to waste time here. He temporarily let off the spot high in the air, shifted his focus, and settled it elsewhere. The Zhaoshen Map clearly displayed a large pill-refining chamber twenty zhang beneath the mountainside of Dan Cliff. Inside stood a metal sphere roughly a zhang in diameter, placed at the center of the room. Its surface was covered in intricate patterns, elaborate yet beautiful, while a circle of steel supports fitted closely around its outer contour. The metal sphere floated suspended within them, slowly rotating and rolling. It was quite wondrous.

The last time Yu Ci had come, he had learned that this thing was called the Water Pill Furnace, distinguished from ordinary pill furnaces that used fire. Inside was the legendary medicinal liquid used to soak Shrimp Whisker Grass.

His timing was perfect. The shop purchasing Shrimp Whisker Grass had already delivered today's only haul—Yu Ci's thousand-odd stalks of Shrimp Whisker Grass—to this place. After another inspection in the pill-refining chamber, someone carried a stone box up the supports, found the Water Pill Furnace's medicine inlet, and poured all the Shrimp Whisker Grass inside.

Nearby, eight apothecaries stood in a circle, their expressions grave as their hands began forming seals, activating the complex talisman formations on the pill furnace and stimulating the medicinal liquid's potency.

After many days of investigation, Yu Ci finally understood that Bai Ri Mansion could not control the growth of Fish Dragon Grass either. It could only use its unique medicinal liquid to stimulate the vitality of Shrimp Whisker Grass, then passively wait like gamblers throwing dice and hoping for fortune, waiting for one or several stalks of Shrimp Whisker Grass inside to "suddenly awaken," devour the life force of their own kind, and ultimately become Fish Dragon Grass.

Therefore, Bai Ri Mansion had to have enough Shrimp Whisker Grass as a foundation to ensure enough chances of producing Fish Dragon Grass, though in the end it still depended on luck. It was said that the mansion had been terribly unlucky last year. Of the nearly three hundred thousand stalks of Shrimp Whisker Grass they collected, only eight were successfully activated, falling short of the minimum standard of "ten stalks." As a result, they failed to obtain the Cold Jade Heart Cleansing Pill, greatly displeasing Mansion Lord Jin Huan.

Exchange? That was right. This was Yu Ci's greatest discovery from monitoring Bai Ri Mansion for several days. In the end, Bai Ri Mansion did not know the true use of Fish Dragon Grass either. After producing it, they had to send it somewhere to exchange it with others. What they received in return was the Cold Jade Heart Cleansing Pill Yu Ci had once heard of.

From this perspective, the lofty cultivators of Bai Ri Mansion were no different from those herb gatherers whose lives were as insignificant as ants.

Setting aside such differences in status, Bai Ri Mansion had rather good fortune today. Not long after the thousand-odd stalks of Shrimp Whisker Grass were tossed into the pill furnace, the medicinal liquid inside suddenly began bubbling and churning. This was the reaction of a stalk of Shrimp Whisker Grass being activated and rapidly absorbing the life force of its kind. The apothecaries and servants outside were first startled, then the place erupted into chaos. At once, a swift-footed servant dashed out to report the good news to the immortal masters above.

To them, the formation of any single stalk of Fish Dragon Grass was exceedingly precious, because luck was not in their hands. Every success was a gift from Heaven's Will.

Yu Ci cast one last glance inside the Water Pill Furnace. Its thin metal walls might as well have been nonexistent before the Zhaoshen Map. The temperature of the medicinal liquid inside remained as cool as before, yet it boiled endlessly as if set over a fire. Among the tangled Shrimp Whisker Grass within, three stalks were slowly swelling. In the blink of an eye, they grew from hair-thin strands to the thickness of wheat stalks. Dense, tiny scales rapidly spread across them, while their leaves twisted in the churning medicinal liquid like living creatures.

This was it!

With a slight movement of Yu Ci's thoughts, the light and shadows before his eyes shifted again on the Zhaoshen Map. Bai Ri Mansion naturally had methods for rapidly transmitting news, but even so, they could not compare to the speed of his shifting thoughts. Very quickly, he focused his attention on an independent courtyard beneath the eastern peak of Dan Cliff.

This was the residence of Lu Yang, Bai Ri Mansion's chief steward. His status was second only to Bai Ri Mansion's Mansion Lord Jin Huan and chief elder Tu Du. He was indisputably the third most important person in the mansion, in charge of all its daily affairs. He could be called Bai Ri Mansion's head butler. Any report sent upward regarding this matter would certainly have to pass through Lu Yang first.

Yet the moment Yu Ci shifted his attention over, he saw Lu Yang hurrying out while giving some instructions to his disciple. Yu Ci was slightly startled. Bai Ri Mansion truly deserved to be a regional overlord; even its transmission of information was highly efficient. But he soon realized he had misunderstood. The courtyard gate creaked, and a servant hurried over and dropped to his knees. Judging by the movement of his lips, he was clearly shouting, "Master Lu, great joy! The Fish Dragon Grass has formed!"

Lu Yang was short and fat, with a square face and thick lips. He rarely smiled, and he looked quite imposing. Yet upon hearing this news, he was overjoyed as well, and his face lost some of its severity. Turning to his disciple, he smiled. "The Mansion Lord has just returned, and such good news has arrived. Your matter has more hope now... But do not celebrate too soon. Settle your heart and cultivate diligently. When I return, I will test your lessons."

The disciple repeatedly voiced his assent.

Jin Huan had returned? Yu Ci read that meaning from his lips. He had learned two days ago that Jin Huan had gone far away on business several months earlier. Over the past few days, Yu Ci had seen nearly every important figure in Bai Ri Mansion, with only its lord absent. He had not expected the man to return at such an opportune time.

It was not as if Yu Ci had never seen core formation cultivators. He had served Purple Thunder and Crimson Yin at close range for many years, and had long ceased to find them remarkable. After arriving in Juebi City, he had also used the Zhaoshen Map to carefully observe the old monster Tu Du, who had remained in seclusion. Yet that withered old man, practically on the verge of death, had disappointed him somewhat. So what would this cultivator, said to be only one step away from the Void Treading realm, look like?

Unable to suppress his curiosity, Yu Ci raised his viewpoint and switched to a panoramic view of Bai Ri Mansion, searching for Jin Huan's whereabouts.

What he saw was another "spot." It was similar to the interference caused by Tu Du's yin spirit, but its range was nearly fifty percent larger. This "spot" slowly moved from the front court to the central courtyard, then finally stopped in the largest discussion hall in the mansion and remained motionless. The surrounding buildings warped along with it, forming a chaotic vortex of light and shadow without any pattern whatsoever, enough to make one's eyes jump at the sight.

At this moment, Yu Ci clearly saw several mansion stewards led by Lu Yang converging there from all directions and entering that warped patch of light and shadow.

Yu Ci thus confirmed that at the center of the spot was undoubtedly Bai Ri Mansion's Mansion Lord, Jin Huan! Was this not precisely the procedure of convening a hall meeting after returning to the estate?

Having understood this, Yu Ci no longer wasted effort. He withdrew his thoughts from the area around the discussion hall, intending to take a look elsewhere and wait until these Bai Ri Mansion higher-ups finished their deliberations before finding a way to gather information. Yet at that moment, he saw someone emerge from the blurry light and shadow, hurrying along.