Calculations

Because of its stillness and clarity, it was sensitive. Not knowing how long had passed, Yu Ci was originally in a state of dimness and trance when suddenly his mind sensed something and his thoughts stirred. The scene of the bright moon and colorful clouds spontaneously dissipated, and he also opened his eyes.

This set of contemplation methods was taught to Yu Ci in his youth by Crimson Yin Female Immortal, called the Nine Palaces Moon Bright True Return Marvelous Method, and it also had another name called Colorful Clouds Chasing Moon. As the name implied, it was to use spirit as the moon and qi as the clouds. During contemplation, the intent caused the spirit and qi to unite, rubbing the crown and piercing through the meridians, using this as a path of advancement.

Such a method did not have anything out of the ordinary; it was simply easy to pick up, and the approach was also upright and balanced. Yu Ci had diligently cultivated it for twelve years, reaching the stage of spiritual and qi resonance, opening the spiritual apertures, and being able to constantly nourish his soul with true qi. This could be considered having achieved something.

Only now he was in no mood to sigh over his own cultivation progress. Because at this moment outside the house, some figures were approaching. Solely by their scent, Yu Ci knew these people were not Xuanqing's gang, only not knowing what their intentions were.

He put the bronze mirror away into his sleeve, gripped his long sword in his hand as well, and slightly adjusted his state to counter the changing with the unchanging.

After a short wait, human figures were already flitting about outside the house, yet no one entered. Instead, someone knocked on the door frame through the front door that already lacked a door panel, saying, "Friends inside, we are medicine-gathering travelers heading to the Sky Rift Valley, is it convenient?"

Yu Ci let out a slight breath, released his grip on the sword blade, and then laughed aloud, "In these wild and desolate mountains, how can there be any first-come, first-served? Please enter."

A straightforward and bold posture undoubtedly best eased the doubts of others. This night grew lively once again.

There are no suns and moons in the mountains; only by the changes of natural time could one tell the clues.

In the blink of an eye it was already the summer season. Flowers bloomed all over the mountains, and greenness then dyed almost every corner. Yet on the peaks of the eastern mountain ranges of the Sky Rift Valley, the snow still did not melt and icy rocks were piled high.

Yu Ci stood at the edge of the cliff, gazing into the distance with all his might. What he saw was entirely boundless cloud vapor, without a trace of a border. Even more, the sound of the wind was fierce and churning, roaring like the sound of tidal waves, pushing aside the clouds and fog, and slapping against the rock face beneath his feet, seemingly about to sweep the person on the cliff into this boundless sea of clouds.

Could this perhaps be the boundary of heaven and earth?

Knowing full well that this thought was absurd, Yu Ci still could not help but think this way. Because starting from the place where he stood, thousands of li extended to both north and south, all looking just like this, and what lay ahead seemed even more endlessly eternal. This was what he had measured with his own two legs over the past several months, and it was definitely not false.

Although this stretch of boundless precipice also had protruding and receding mountain formations, placed within the vast region thousands of li in length, it was already as smooth as a mirror, just like a heavenly god hacking down with a sword to split the earth cleanly in two.

The Sky Rift Valley, the Sky Rift Valley... Springs emerging and flowing through to become a valley. I wonder if there will be a day when this sea of clouds disperses, allowing me to see the full appearance of this valley clearly?

It was a very normal thought, yet during this period of time, he had gone up and down the boundless precipice countless hundreds or thousands of times. During this time, regardless of whether the weather was cloudy or sunny, he had never once seen the sea of clouds disperse.

Yu Ci had arrived at the Sky Rift Valley for five months already. During these days, he was busy every single day, with hardly a moment of leisure. Having the same experience as Yu Ci were also tens of thousands of medicine-gathering travelers nearby. They likewise came for the Shrimp Whisker Grass, or more accurately, for the considerable reward promised by Bai Ri Mansion.

Bai Ri Mansion was the premier and most powerful force within Juebi City, an important town in the Duanjie Mountain Range. It firmly held the vast region within a radius of ten thousand li around Juebi City, far surpassing the Twin Immortals Sect where Yu Ci had stayed, by who-knows-how-many folds.

Ten years ago, Bai Ri Mansion issued a long-term task: regardless of the time limit, regardless of the quantity, they would without restriction acquire the Shrimp Whisker Grass unique to the Sky Rift Valley, and set up heavy rewards for it.

Among the rewards were gold and silver, properties, treasured tools, and spiritual medicines, which infinitely ignited the get-rich-quick dreams of all kinds of people in the surrounding area. For the past ten years, countless medicine-gathering people, jianghu travelers, and even ordinary commoners flocked to the surroundings of the Sky Rift Valley, disregarding the mountains towering ten thousand fathoms high and the bottomless abysses, climbing up and down among the cliffs and precipices to wager their lives for the sake of the treasure in their hearts.

Yu Ci could also be considered one of them. He had wandered to Juebi City half a year ago, and at a single glance he took a fancy to a reward promised by Bai Ri Mansion, namely a unique sword forged by the mansion's artisans: the Three Yang Talisman Sword. This sword combined the strengths of both talisman arts and weapon crafting. Its might was secondary; what was more precious was the train of thought behind its formation, which might serve as an exceptionally good reference for Yu Ci's talisman arts progress, which had already fallen into a bottleneck.

As for exchanging for a Three Yang Talisman Sword, it required a full one thousand stalks of Shrimp Whisker Grass.

Therefore Yu Ci had also joined the ranks of the medicine-gathering grand army. From Juebi City to here was more than twenty thousand li, and he had walked a full month on the road, with searching and gathering medicine taking another five months. One could imagine that there would inevitably be even longer days consumed here.

"A thousand stalks... Before winter arrives, I might not be able to complete it."

Waving away these distracting thoughts, Yu Ci slightly steadied his mind, took one more step closer to the cliff edge, and faced the roaring wind blowing straight into his face. He slightly closed his eyes, cutting off the breathing of his mouth and nose, whereupon the true qi within his body automatically circulated, slowly adjusting the rise and fall of his vital qi. When his whole-body state reached a higher standard, he suddenly reached out, probed and gathered a handful in the empty air, and then swept it across his nose, the sealed nasal apertures also opening at this moment.

This was the Wind Catching Technique, a miscellaneous study that Yu Ci mastered concurrently while wandering everywhere. Guided by the Wind Catching Technique, the mixed scents penetrated in, and were then classified by his mind like panning for gold from sand, yielding results in the blink of an eye. Yu Ci opened his eyes and grinned broadly, "Good luck today."

Amidst the smile, he leaped straight down.

The Sky Rift Valley was generated by being torn apart by heavenly might; the long ones had no visible ends, and the deep ones had no visible bottoms. Yu Ci had not found the beginning or end of this valley, and naturally could not fathom the depth of this valley either. He jumped down from the cliff edge, and in the blink of an eye penetrated into the clouds and mist, where the uncanny branches and strange rocks growing horizontally from the precipice were hazy and indistinct as they flowed past his side.

Borrowing force slightly upon various obstacles, Yu Ci's speed of descent became slower and slower, finally spotting a protruding mountain rock crossbeam on the cliff face and landing lightly upon it. In this place, the unique fragrance of the Shrimp Whisker Grass grew even thicker, yet separated by the heavy fog, wanting to confirm the exact location still required some time.

Staying on the stone beam for a brief quarter of an hour, the surrounding fog showed no signs of dispersing whatsoever, yet Yu Ci had already locked onto his target. Without any hesitation right then, his calves exerted force, and his body shot like an arrow toward the side into the dense fog.

Borrowing force on the cliff face, in the blink of an eye he swept horizontally across a distance of seven zhang. Just as he had predicted, there were no obstacles in the middle. Within the fog, the image of a giant pine standing obliquely among the rock crevices grew clearer and clearer. Yu Ci slid up against the rock wall, landing lightly at the base of the tree with movements as light as a cat's.

At the very moment of landing, a strong wind blew up in the canyon, the forceful wind power causing the giant pine to creak and groan, and also making the surrounding fog flow rapidly.

Yu Ci exerted his visual power to the fullest, and through the thinning fog barrier, he was very pleasantly surprised to see that at the front end of the giant pine's trunk, amidst layers of pine branches, dozens of fine shadows like human hairs were drifting and fluttering, rising and falling at intervals as if they would be torn apart by the strong wind at the next moment, yet more of them were still entwined around the trunk and branches.

That was the Shrimp Whisker Grass.