Nether Spring Scale Stone

"The Gui Water lineage..."

Jiang Yang repeated the words twice, then suddenly remembered something.

"Could it be 'Moistening Drizzle'?"

As far as the Gui Water Dao Lineage went, that Immortal Foundation was the only one Jiang Yang knew of.

Bai Tang was still observing the Celestial Phenomena. At his question, she said:

"It doesn't quite look like it. A fine drizzle nourishes all things and brings them to life, which doesn't match this phenomenon. These black clouds spread like an imperial canopy, broad as a heavenly lake. It looks more likely to be 'Poolside Dusk.'"

With her true spirit missing, Bai Tang could not identify the Immortal Foundations of the various Dao Lineages out of thin air. Only through direct contact could she draw on her cultivation to gain a faint sense of them.

"Hmm... 'Poolside Dusk.'"

Jiang Yang said nothing more, merely committing it to memory.

The immortal Dao was exalted, its divine powers manifest. Such was a cultivator's standing that heaven and earth felt their death, hence this tremendous disturbance.

A little while later, the Celestial Phenomena dispersed, and the surrounding curtain of rain began to ease.

It was regrettable that an elder of the Sect had failed to break through, but such matters were far too remote from Jiang Yang. He picked up his sword and returned to the clearing, intending to try finding his rhythm again.

Just then, Bai Tang suddenly spoke up to remind him:

"Wait a moment..."

"Though this person failed to break through, they did manage to form divine powers before dying. When their body returned to heaven and earth after their death, it should have scattered quite a few Spirit Treasures. Search the surrounding area. You might find something."

"Huh?"

This was the first Jiang Yang had heard of such a thing, and he froze for a moment.

"What, isn't your master a Violet Palace True Person? You don't even know this?"

Bai Tang mischievously teased the youth, a rare departure from her usual manner.

"Ah... ha... hahaha. I was only joking before."

Jiang Yang laughed awkwardly, his face flushing with embarrassment, then simply told the truth:

"I was afraid you might possess me, Senior, so I made up a master's name to hide behind. There wasn't... there wasn't any such person."

With Jiang Yang's impoverished circumstances—no spiritual resources for cultivation, no attendants at his beck and call, and no carriage to travel in—he hardly enjoyed the treatment of a Violet Palace direct disciple. How could Bai Tang not have known?

But worried that the youth might be sensitive, she did not tease him too much. Instead, she resumed her gentle tone and began explaining.

When cultivators here established their foundations, they had to consume the spiritual baleful energies of heaven and earth to succeed. Choosing a particular spiritual energy also meant choosing the corresponding Dao path. This was why there could be no regrets once an Immortal Foundation was laid.

The many Dao paths of heaven and earth came together to form the various Dao lineages, Sects, and schools of immortal cultivation. When cultivators died, their bodies often returned to heaven and earth, dispersing into Spirit Treasures of their respective Dao paths that fell to the ground.

The treasures' grades depended on the cultivator's cultivation. The death of someone with great divine powers could even permanently bring about a Transformation in the terrain of an area.

Jiang Yang kept walking, sword in hand, through the Pine and Cypress grove, listening to Bai Tang's explanation while sweeping his spirit sense along the way.

His little patch of land was not large. Farther uphill lay the other disciples' cave abodes, so Jiang Yang followed Bai Tang's instructions and only wandered within the bounds of his own.

This search actually did turn up a Spirit Treasure: a palm-sized blue-green stone with layers of speckles and grooves across its surface.

Jiang Yang found it in a pile of fallen leaves in the Pine and Cypress grove. It glimmered with a clear, white light in his spirit sense, but in broad daylight, he would not have spotted it without looking carefully.

Holding it close to examine and sense it, Jiang Yang could only determine that it was a Spirit Treasure of the Water Virtue Dao. He had no idea which particular path it belonged to.

Fortunately, Bai Tang was right there. Whenever he encountered something he did not understand, he could simply ask her, and he immediately did so:

"Senior Bai, what Spirit Treasure is this?"

Bai Tang did not disappoint him. After briefly sensing it, she answered:

"This is [nether spring scale stone], though it's only a Qi Refining Level One Spirit Treasure."

"Ah, I know that one."

The moment he heard it, Jiang Yang remembered. Though he had not recognized the Spirit Treasure itself, he had heard its name. Just a few days ago, he had read an entry about it in Miscellaneous Records of the Netherfrost Marsh.

"[Nether spring scale stone] belongs to the Ren Water Dao path. The grooves on its surface overlap like scales. It is most often found beside secluded pools and springs where aquatic plants flourish, though small quantities can also be found beneath stalactites along earth veins."

The Jade Slip had recorded complete information about this Spirit Treasure, but its uses were rather limited. It could not be crushed for medicine or smelted into artifacts. It could only be shaped and finely polished into mystic artifacts such as seals and pendants.

A palm-sized piece was neither large nor small. If he found a good buyer, it might fetch eighty to a hundred Spirit Stones.

This was money he had merely bent down to pick up off the ground. Jiang Yang certainly did not disdain it. He wiped the stone clean and tucked it into his Storage Bag as though it were a precious gem.

Bai Tang watched without saying anything, though she was inwardly amused.

Having gained Long, he now coveted Shu. Jiang Yang had found something good and no longer wanted to return right away. Wondering whether he had overlooked anything earlier, he hoped he might pick up another piece.

As he walked, something suddenly occurred to him, and he murmured to himself:

Does this count as profiting off the dead?

He searched the surrounding area once more, but in the end, only that single piece had fallen here. Jiang Yang did not dwell on it and had no intention of searching further.

By now, quite a few disciples were traveling through the sky. Presumably, they all hoped to pick up a windfall. None seemed to care who in the Sect had died, concerned only that something might get in the way of their chance to make a fortune.

Shaking his head, Jiang Yang headed back. The terrifying, apocalyptic scene from earlier still left him deeply shaken. Cultivators were not merely exalted in life, with tremendous power gathered within them; even in death, they received the utmost mourning and honor, to the point of shaking heaven and earth.

After leaving the Pine and Cypress grove, Jiang Yang stopped. Suddenly realizing something, he asked:

"Senior Bai, according to what you said, the person who died was clearly a cultivator of the Gui Water path. Why, then, did they disperse into Spirit Treasures of the Ren Water path?"

Bai Tang had grown accustomed to Jiang Yang's endless childlike curiosity and answered casually:

"Spirit Treasures aren't immutable either. When Gui Water encounters cloud qi, the two blend and undergo a Transformation, turning into Ren Water.

"Of course, that only applies to the portion that was blended. At the true core, the Spirit Treasures scattered around the place of death will still belong to the Gui Water path, and they'll be Foundation Establishment-grade treasures."

"Oh... so that's how it works."

Listening to the faint, cheerful clamor from the sky, Jiang Yang nodded silently.

As the saying went, when one whale fell, myriad things flourished. One household's sorrow had bought a sky full of laughter.

The Celestial Phenomena had covered a vast area, scattering Qi Refining Level One Spirit Treasures everywhere and giving a few lucky disciples a windfall. Still, there were presumably disciples at the place of death helping gather the deceased's garments for burial.

I wonder which Dao Lineage's cultivation method I'll practice in the future. Still, it'll probably be one of the Water Virtue paths.

Jiang Yang's thoughts turned to himself as he slowly returned to the entrance of his cave abode and resumed practicing his swordsmanship.

Water arts flourished in Rain Xiang Mountain. Even those disciples who did not cultivate Water Virtue paths mostly followed Dao Lineages related to water.

This little incident had no effect on Jiang Yang, nor did the Sect send anyone to recover the scattered Spirit Treasures. Everything passed quietly, just like that.

In the blink of an eye, another five days passed.

Jiang Yang went nowhere during those days. Aside from his daily meditation and cultivation, he spent almost all his Surplus time on swordsmanship.

Though the Sword Spirit Bai Tang normally spoke softly and gently, she seemed to become an entirely different person whenever swords came up.

She was stern and serious about the sword Dao. No matter what Jiang Yang said, she would not relax her standards in the slightest, putting him through no small amount of torment.

The intense expenditure of magic power day after day meant that regulating his breathing alone was no longer enough to replenish what he spent. To avoid affecting his progress, he was now preparing to take Elixir during one of his nightly sessions to supplement it.

Still, he had brought this on himself. Though Jiang Yang was exhausted enough to want to beg for mercy every time, after a night's rest, he always threw himself back into practice full of vigor.

Bai Tang did not say so, but inwardly, she was quite pleased with the youth's performance.