Spirit Spring Stone

The river valley was deathly silent, with only the babbling rush of water.

"Dragon-Serpent Hide, Falcon-Taming Secret Art... Old Hound really did leave me quite the surprise."

As the light of the soul in his palm continued to dissipate, Jiang Chen obtained the information he wanted.

Old Hound's family had been hunters for three generations. His original name was Jiang Bieshan. His great-grandfather had once stumbled upon a fortunate encounter and accidentally acquired a piece of Dragon-Serpent Hide. It contained a strange power; using it to protect himself, he ranged freely through the mountains and forests, built up a fortune, and became a minor celebrity. From then on, the Jiang Family flourished.

But as time passed, the Dragon-Serpent Hide's mystical properties steadily faded. By Old Hound's generation, the Jiang Family had already fallen completely into ruin. Later, disaster struck them, and it was precisely because of this that Old Hound joined the River-Sweeping Bandits.

Even so, the Dragon-Serpent Hide's inherent defensive power still made it a rare piece of soft protective armor in the martial world. It had shielded Old Hound from many calamities—until he encountered Jiang Chen.

"What a pity. If it had been in the past, this Dragon-Serpent Hide should have been a spiritual item of quite decent quality, enough to refine into a magical artifact. After all, though a dragon-serpent is not a true dragon, it still bears the word 'dragon.'"

He stripped the Dragon-Serpent Armor from Old Hound's body. Looking closely at the armor in his hand, as smooth and supple as a shed snakeskin, Jiang Chen could not help shaking his head.

Though he had only just set foot upon the path of immortality, he could still see that, lacking the proper means of preservation, this Dragon-Serpent Hide had been worn away by time until all its spiritual charm was gone.

"I'll keep it for now. Perhaps it has other uses. At the very least, it's not bad for protecting myself at this stage."

With a thought, Jiang Chen rolled the Dragon-Serpent Armor into a ball and tucked it against his chest.

After doing all this, he glanced once more at Old Hound's corpse before drifting away. Deep in these mountains and forests, there was never any shortage of tigers, leopards, wolves, and jackals. Once he was gone, living creatures would naturally take care of Old Hound's body. Born in the wilderness, dying in the wilderness—perhaps for a hunter like Old Hound, that was not such a bad resting place.

Early the next morning, relying on the fragmented memories left behind by the White Deer, Jiang Chen successfully found its nest. It was a mountain cave. The air within was warm and gentle, and many flowers and grasses grew there, lending the place a certain delicate beauty.

"The vitality here truly is much richer than in ordinary places."

Calming his mind and focusing his spirit, Jiang Chen carefully sensed the atmosphere within the cave.

"My impressions through the White Deer's memories were not clear before, but now I can basically confirm that there is indeed a spiritual item here."

After a moment, Jiang Chen reached his conclusion.

"But where exactly is this spiritual item?"

His gaze flashed like lightning as Jiang Chen finally fixed on the spring source deep within the cave. A stream of water bubbled forth there, nourishing the entire cavern.

After a careful search and examination, Jiang Chen eventually removed a stone from the spring source. It was shaped like a pebble and had the texture of white jade, though without white jade's translucent luster. Flowing red and yellow patterns ran across its surface. It did not appear particularly extraordinary, yet with the strength of his own soul, Jiang Chen caught the restrained spiritual charm concealed within.

"A Spirit Spring Stone. Though this one is of low quality and does not even rank as an item, it is still a fine treasure for me at this stage."

After carefully examining the Spirit Spring Stone, Jiang Chen confirmed its origins.

Such spiritual items were naturally endowed with spiritual charm and contained the mysteries of water veins. Placing one in spring water could transform the water into a spirit spring, making it quite precious.

"This can be considered a complete success."

He pocketed the Spirit Spring Stone, searched the cave thoroughly once more, and, after confirming that nothing had been overlooked, turned and left.

Another day later, Jiang Chen emerged from Rooster-Cry Mountain and returned to Wooden Fish Island.

Yet unlike his silent departure, his return drew the attention of quite a few people. Over the past few days, the frequent movements of people between his hill and Old Hound's hill had already made others vaguely sense that something was amiss.

Jiang Chen did not care about this. Upon returning, he immediately shut himself away in his small courtyard, rarely stepping outside and completely ignoring external matters. To him, the most important thing now was to cultivate the Bloodflame Art as quickly as possible. Everything else was insignificant.

Seeing Jiang Chen act this way, many among the River-Sweeping Bandits grew suspicious. A few days later, news spread that Old Hound and the two Feng Family brothers under his command had completely lost contact and were suspected of having perished in Rooster-Cry Mountain. At once, undercurrents began surging within the River-Sweeping Bandits.

Many clever people immediately connected it to the struggle for the position of Fourth Leader and turned their eyes toward Jiang Chen.

The fourth seat involved considerable benefits, and no one was not tempted by it. Jiang Chen and Old Hound happened to be the two greatest rivals, and both had entered Rooster-Cry Mountain. One emerged alive, while the other vanished without a trace. It was not difficult to guess what had happened.

Once they understood this, many people began to entertain their own little schemes. Some started gathering information and eagerly moved closer to Jiang Chen's hill. Others were unwilling to accept it, reluctant to watch Jiang Chen rise to power so easily. For a time, people's hearts grew ever more restless.

Yet no matter how turbulent the outside world became, Jiang Chen, standing at the eye of the storm, made no response. He maintained an attitude of neither fighting nor scrambling, simply letting nature take its course. That only raised more doubts, because by all normal expectations, he should have been aggressively winning people over and building momentum for his ascent.

"He is a clever one, after all."

Within a two-courtyard residence, Second Leader Zhou Quan, the Sky Eagle Claw, enjoyed a maid's massage as he listened to his confidant's report, then let out a cold laugh.

Even when beating a dog, one had to look at its master. Jiang Wang had killed Old Hound, one of Zhou Quan's men, and Zhou Quan was naturally displeased. But he had no intention of avenging Old Hound personally.

With the fourth seat vacant, it was perfectly normal for the underlings to fight. Anyone could die, and this was something they tacitly permitted. Indeed, he himself had risen through just such struggles. Under such circumstances, as leaders, they only needed to watch from the sidelines and would never enter the fray themselves. Besides, Old Hound was merely his subordinate, not a beloved relative or close friend.

"These River-Sweeping Bandits belong to the First Leader. Who gets to sit in the fourth seat is ultimately decided by a single word from him. If he does not agree, then no amount of fighting will matter. Jiang Wang must have seen through that, which is why he is behaving so obediently."

"In that case, perhaps he truly might be chosen by the First Leader. I just wonder what Third Leader thinks, seeing as Jiang Wang is his man."

Shaking his head, Zhou Quan gave a few instructions to his confidant and stopped concerning himself with the matter.

He was getting on in years and had grown indifferent to many things. Now he only wanted to enjoy himself properly. In truth, quite a few people had openly and secretly urged him to deal with Jiang Wang over the past few days, but he had ignored them all. So long as his fundamental interests were not threatened, he did not care about the affairs below.

Most importantly, though the River-Sweeping Bandits appeared to have three leaders, the one who truly called the shots had always been the First Leader alone. As long as the First Leader remained, no matter how much chaos erupted below, the skies over the River-Sweeping Bandits could never be overturned.