Schemes

(Chapter free)

Because it was still and clear, it was therefore sensitive. Yu Ci did not know how long he had been in that dim, hazy state when his mind suddenly stirred. A faint thought arose, and the scene of bright moon and colorful clouds dispersed of its own accord. He opened his eyes.

This visualization method had been taught to Yu Ci in his youth by the Crimson Yin Female Immortal. It was called the "Nine Palaces Moon Bright True Return Marvelous Method," also known by the name "Colorful Clouds Chasing Moon." As the name implied, one took the spirit as the moon and the breath as the clouds. While visualizing, one willed spirit and breath to unite, massaging the crown and channeling through the meridians, using this as the path of advancement.

Such a technique was nothing extraordinary, only easy to start and moderate in its approach. Yu Ci had cultivated it for twelve years, reaching the stage where spirit and breath responded to each other, opening his spiritual apertures. He could now regularly nourish his soul with true qi, which counted as some achievement.

But he had no mood to marvel at his own progress. Because outside the house now, some figures were approaching. By scent alone, Yu Ci knew these people were not Xuanqing's group, only he could not guess their intentions.

He tucked the bronze mirror into his sleeve and gripped the longsword in his hand, slightly adjusting his state, ready to respond to any change with stillness.

After a short wait, shadows flickered outside the house, but no one entered. Instead, someone knocked on the doorframe through the missing door panel: "Friend inside, we are herb gatherers heading to Sky Rift Valley. Is it convenient?"

Yu Ci let out a slight breath, relaxed his grip on the sword, and laughed loudly: "In this wild wilderness, there's no first-come-first-served. Please, come in."

A straightforward and bold demeanor was undoubtedly the best way to ease others' suspicions. That night, the place grew lively again.

In the mountains, there were no sun or moon to mark time; only the changes in weather revealed the passage of days.

Before long, it was summer. Mountain flowers bloomed everywhere, and greenness soaked into nearly every corner. Yet atop the peaks of the eastern mountain range of Sky Rift Valley, snow still lay unmelted, ice and rock piled high.

Yu Ci stood at the edge of a cliff, gazing into the distance. What he saw was nothing but boundless mist, stretching without end. The wind howled and roared like the tide, pushing clouds and fog, slapping against the rock face beneath his feet, as if it would sweep the man on the cliff into that endless sea of clouds.

Could this be the edge of the world?

Knowing the thought was absurd, Yu Ci still could not help thinking it. Because from where he stood, stretching thousands of li north and south, it was all the same—ahead, it seemed to have no end. This he had measured over months with his own legs, and it was no falsehood.

This endless sheer cliff, though it had some undulations in the mountain terrain, was as smooth as a mirror across the vast region of thousands of li, as if a god had struck down with a sword, cleaving the earth in two.

"Sky Rift Valley, Sky Rift Valley... A spring flowing through a channel makes a valley. I wonder if one day, when this sea of clouds disperses, I will be able to see the full shape of this valley?"

A very natural thought. But during this time, he had traveled up and down the endless cliff hundreds or even thousands of times. Whether the weather was clear or overcast, he had never seen the sea of clouds part.

Yu Ci had been at Sky Rift Valley for five months now. Every day, he was busy, with hardly a moment of leisure. Sharing the same experience were the tens of thousands of herb gatherers nearby, all seeking Shrimp Whisker Grass—or more precisely, the generous reward promised by Bai Ri Mansion.

Bai Ri Mansion was the top-tier power in Juebi City, a key stronghold in the Duanjie Mountain Range. It firmly controlled a vast area tens of thousands of li around the city, far surpassing the Twin Immortals Sect where Yu Ci had once stayed.

Ten years ago, Bai Ri Mansion issued a long-term mission: no time limit, no quantity limit, unlimited purchase of the unique Shrimp Whisker Grass from Sky Rift Valley, with a hefty reward attached.

The rewards included gold and silver, real estate, treasures, and spiritual medicines. This had endlessly fueled the dreams of wealth for all kinds of people nearby. For ten years, countless herb gatherers, wandering martial artists, and even common folk had swarmed to the area around Sky Rift Valley, climbing up and down the sheer cliffs and bottomless abysses, risking their lives for the treasure in their hearts.

Yu Ci was one of them. Half a year ago, while wandering to Juebi City, he had set his eyes on one of Bai Ri Mansion's promised rewards: the unique sword crafted by their artisans, the Three Yang Talisman Sword. This sword combined the strengths of both talisman arts and weapon crafting. Its power was secondary; more valuable was the design philosophy behind it, which might provide excellent inspiration for Yu Ci's talisman studies, which had hit a bottleneck.

To obtain a Three Yang Talisman Sword, one needed a full thousand stalks of Shrimp Whisker Grass.

So Yu Ci had joined the ranks of the herb gatherers. The journey from Juebi City to here was over twenty thousand li, taking a full month. Searching and gathering herbs had taken another five months, and it was easy to imagine that even more days would be spent here.

"A thousand stalks... I might not finish before winter arrives."

Shaking off these stray thoughts, Yu Ci steadied his mind. He took another step toward the cliff's edge, facing the howling wind. He half-closed his eyes, cutting off his mouth and nose breathing. The true qi within his body began to circulate on its own, slowly adjusting the rise and fall of his qi and blood. When his overall state reached a higher level, he suddenly reached out, gathered something from the void, and brushed it past his nose, opening his sealed nasal passages at the same time.

This was the Wind Catching Technique, a miscellaneous skill Yu Ci had picked up during his wanderings. Guided by the technique, the mixed scents filtered in, and his mind sorted them like sifting sand for gold. In no time, he had results. Yu Ci opened his eyes and grinned: "Lucky today."

With that smile, he leaped down.

Sky Rift Valley, torn open by heavenly force, stretched endlessly in length and plunged into unfathomable depths. Yu Ci had not found its beginning or end, nor had he probed its depths. As he jumped from the cliff, he plunged into the clouds in an instant. Branches and jagged rocks growing from the sheer wall flickered past him.

Using various obstacles to lightly push off, Yu Ci's descent slowed. Finally, he spotted a protruding rock ledge and landed on it as lightly as a feather. Here, the unique fragrance of Shrimp Whisker Grass grew stronger, but with the thick fog, pinpointing its exact location would take some time.

After resting on the stone ledge for nearly a quarter of an hour, the surrounding fog showed no sign of dissipating. But Yu Ci had already locked onto his target. Without hesitation, he pushed off with his calves, shooting like an arrow into the thick fog to the side.

Using the cliff face for leverage, he crossed seven zhang in an instant, just as he had predicted—no obstacles in between. Through the mist, the image of a giant pine slanting in a rock crevice grew clearer. Yu Ci slid along the rock wall, landing lightly at the tree's roots, as nimble as a cat.

As he landed, a strong wind blew through the canyon. The powerful gusts made the giant pine creak and groan, and the surrounding fog began to flow rapidly.

Yu Ci strained his eyes, peering through the thinning mist. To his delight, he saw dozens of hair-thin shadows drifting among the layers of pine branches near the trunk, rising and falling as if they might be torn away by the wind at any moment. But most were tangled around the trunk and branches.

That was the Shrimp Whisker Grass.