Ghost Gate Gully was deeper than Jiang Fa had imagined.
After entering through the gap and walking for nearly an hour, the cliffs on either side grew taller and the passage narrower, until only a thread of daylight remained overhead, as though someone had slashed an opening in the sky with a blade.
The pebbles underfoot had been scoured mirror-smooth by flash floods. They were slippery to step on, and the slightest lapse in attention could send him tumbling.
Occasionally, he spotted a few yellowing bones in the cracks between the stones. Some were animal bones; others were too small and slender to identify.
Jiang Fa did not look closely.
Along the way, he occasionally saw people coming out of Black Wind Ridge.
Some had reaped a rich harvest and looked delighted, while others were covered in wounds, their expressions desolate.
Most hurried along with wary eyes, never taking the initiative to strike up a conversation and keeping their distance from him.
Some people dressed in martial school training clothes approached to invite him to travel with them, but Jiang Fa turned them down one by one.
He walked another two or three li, carefully watching the ground underfoot the whole time.
Lin Feng had said that the greatest dangers in Ghost Gate Gully were not ferocious beasts, but landslides and hidden pits.
When flash floods came, the entire gully would be submerged beneath a roaring yellow dragon, and the stones along its floor would be scattered every which way.
Some places looked perfectly level on the surface, but beneath them lay deep pits hollowed out by water. One step into those, and a person would be gone.
The floor of the gully gradually widened, and the cliffs on either side receded by more than ten zhang, letting daylight spill down overhead once more.
A stretch of jumbled rocks appeared ahead. They varied in size, the largest like houses and the smallest like fists, heaped haphazardly together like a stone yard some giant had casually dumped there.
Jiang Fa stopped before the rocky stretch.
Someone lay sprawled among the rocks.
More precisely, it was a dead man.
He lay facedown in the gap between two boulders, utterly motionless.
He wore a ragged gray cloth tunic, and three claw marks on his back cut deep enough to expose bone.
They ran from his left shoulder blade to the right side of his waist. The wounds had already blackened, and ants swarmed over the curled flesh along their edges.
A longsword snapped in two lay beside his hand, the blood on its blade long since dried.
Jiang Fa did not recklessly approach. He simply stood where he was and scanned the surrounding ground, then circled the corpse from a distance.
He found nothing.
He withdrew his gaze from the corpse and continued forward.
After a dozen or so steps, he stopped again.
A cave lay hidden at the foot of the cliff at the far end of the rocky stretch.
Its entrance was small, only half a person's height, and thoroughly concealed by loose rocks and withered vines. Had the angle not been just right, he would never have noticed it.
Tightening his grip on his saber's hilt, Jiang Fa crept over.
Five paces from the entrance, a strong stench of blood struck him in the face.
It was not human blood.
The smell was ranker, gamier, with the pungent stink peculiar to wild beasts.
Jiang Fa pressed himself sideways against the cliff and gently pushed aside the withered vines with his saber tip.
The cave was shallow enough to see all the way to the back at a glance.
Claw marks densely covered its walls. The deeper ones could fit a finger, while even the shallow ones were over an inch deep.
Shattered bones and blackened fur littered the ground in great patches. Some bones still bore tooth marks left by gnawing.
An enormous black-furred beast lay curled in a corner.
Its body was a size larger than the jackal king outside, covered in black bristles as thick and stiff as steel needles. Those around its neck stood straight on end.
It lay on its side, a horrifying wound across its abdomen stretching from its chest to its hind leg. The flesh curled outward, exposing stark white ribs.
Blood was still seeping out, staining the earth beneath it a deep black.
It was not quite dead yet.
At the sound, the black-furred beast abruptly raised its head. Its bronze-bell-sized eyes fixed on the entrance, and a low, hoarse whimper rose from its throat.
An Iron-Claw Savage Bear.
A first-tier high-grade ferocious beast.
Jiang Fa's heart gave a sudden jolt. He recognized this beast.
An adult Iron-Claw Savage Bear rivaled a late-stage Ming Jin martial artist in strength. Its hide was tough, its flesh thick, and its strength immense. Its iron claws could easily rip through iron armor half an inch thick.
Under ordinary circumstances, with Jiang Fa's current cultivation, the outcome of a fight against it would be uncertain.
But things were different now.
This Iron-Claw Savage Bear was clearly gravely wounded. The gash across its abdomen exposed bone, its blood covered the ground, and it could no longer even stand.
The savage light in its bronze-bell-sized eyes was dimming little by little.
Jiang Fa tightened his grip on his saber and walked into the cave one step at a time.
The Iron-Claw Savage Bear struggled to rise, letting out one last roar that shook loose stones from the cave walls.
But its body could no longer hold out. Its forelegs had barely lifted it halfway before it crashed heavily back to the ground, blood surging even more fiercely from its wound.
Jiang Fa did not hesitate.
He knew how tenacious the vitality of such beasts was.
Lin Feng had said that before an Iron-Claw Savage Bear died, it would go through a period of exceptionally ferocious death throes.
It was even more dangerous then than usual, because it no longer cared whether it survived and wanted only to drag its enemy into death with it.
He walked up to the Iron-Claw Savage Bear, gripped his saber with both hands, aimed the tip at its heart, and drove it down.
The instant the blade pierced its flesh, the Iron-Claw Savage Bear's body convulsed violently.
Its eyes flew wide, and a muffled wail escaped its throat. Its forepaws scrabbled wildly at the ground a few times, gouging two deep furrows in the earth, before it stopped moving altogether.
Jiang Fa pulled out his saber, wiped the blood off on the bear's hide, and crouched down. His gaze swept over the carcass, and a thought stirred faintly within him.
Holding his saber in a reverse grip, he inserted its tip into the wound on the Iron-Claw Savage Bear's abdomen and cut a few inches farther down along the gash.
The flesh parted, revealing an earthy-yellow bead the size of a longan among the organs beneath its ribs, its surface smooth as new.
It felt warm to the touch.
A faint current of energy slowly flowed inside the bead. It was quite marvelous.
A beast core!
Joy stirred in Jiang Fa's heart.
Though this beast core was only the size of a longan and its quality was not particularly good, it was still the core of a first-tier high-grade ferocious beast.
This one core alone would sell for at least thirty taels of silver at an apothecary in Qingshan County.
Jiang Fa carefully tucked the beast core into his robe, then walked to the bear's head and crouched down.
The Iron-Claw Savage Bear's pelt was also quite valuable, but by the time he arrived, the wound across its abdomen had already ruined the most valuable fur on its back.
The remaining portions were in such poor condition that skinning them would not earn him much.
In the end, he decided to take only the bear paws and some meat from its thighs.
Iron-Claw Savage Bear paws were excellent medicinal ingredients. A pair of forepaws could sell for ten taels of silver at an apothecary.
The iron claws beneath the paws were likewise materials blacksmiths favored for forging weapons, and could fetch another few taels of silver.
After removing the bear paws and meat, he did not linger in the cave.
By the time he emerged, the sky had already grown mostly dark.
The light in Ghost Gate Gully was dim to begin with, and now it was darker still.
Jiang Fa glanced up at the sky and decided to spend the night among these rocks.
The rocky stretch offered an open view and routes for both advance and retreat.
Most importantly, the Iron-Claw Savage Bear's carcass was still in the cave, and its scent was enough to deter most of the nearby first-tier low-grade ferocious beasts.
Nothing else would dare approach for the time being.
He found a sheltered corner in the gap between two boulders.
He cleared away the loose stones, spread a layer of dry grass, then gathered some dead branches and built a small fire.
He set the pieces of bear meat he had taken over the fire to roast.
Before long, the bear meat was sizzling, glistening with grease. Its mouthwatering aroma made Jiang Fa swallow involuntarily.
The wind passed through the gully with a mournful wail.
Sitting beside the fire, Jiang Fa ate every last shred of the roasted bear meat.
Warmth spread throughout his body, and even his Qi and blood seemed to have increased slightly.
The flesh and blood of ferocious beasts were highly nourishing to begin with. Outside, they would cost at least several taels of silver per jin.
This meat suited martial artists' appetites best. The only regret was its steep price-not everyone could afford to enjoy it.
With his belly full, Jiang Fa lifted the front of his robe where the Azure-Maned Jackal had torn it and lowered his head to inspect the scratches along his waist.
The flesh had already scabbed over, with only a few traces of blood remaining beside the deepest scratches. They did not hurt, but itched a little.
The protective effects of the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art were even better than he had expected.
An ordinary Ming Jin martial artist struck head-on by an Azure-Maned Jackal would, at the very least, have their skin split and flesh torn, yet he had suffered only a few shallow claw marks.
He leaned against the rock wall, closed his eyes, and sank his awareness into his mind.
The panel quietly appeared.
[Mountain-Breaking Stance, second level: 303/500], up 7 points. [Mountain-Breaking Fist · minor achievement: 407/500], up 6 points. [Cloak Saber Technique · entry: 108/200], up 6 points. [Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art · first level: 342/1000], up 2 points.
Jiang Fa opened his eyes and gazed at the thread of sky overhead, stained black by night. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
Once he returned from this trip and sold the beast core and pelts, the silver he received would not only be enough to pay off his debt to the Black Tiger Gang,
but leave him with a fair amount to spare.
Jiang Fa closed his eyes.
Once I reach An Jin, I'll be able to earn even more silver.
Then I'll buy a little courtyard house near the martial school and bring Father, Mother, and Xiao He into town to live.
He continued thinking this way until drowsiness came over him.