Luo River Abyss
A month passed in the blink of an eye. During that month, Xiao Yan had barely left the stone platform in the middle of the lake.
Luo Tianshen did not spar with him again. Only at dusk, he would occasionally stand with his hands behind his back at the edge of the bamboo grove by the lakeshore, watching from afar for a while before quietly leaving. Xiao Yan did not seek him out either, simply practicing what he had comprehended that night over and over on the stone platform.
The "connection" of the third layer of the reverse scale had allowed him, for the first time, to truly sense the flow of Spiritual Energy through this world. Those invisible rivers of Spiritual Energy flowed over the lake, through the bamboo grove, and past his fingertips. Before, they had been nothing more than a cold force seeking to assimilate him. Now, he could see their course clearly, guide them along their flow, and borrow their power.
He tried using that method to unleash Flame Splitting Wave Ruler. As the Heavy Xuan Ruler swept across, waves of fire surged out along the flow of Spiritual Energy between heaven and earth. They were several times more concentrated than before, yet consumed only half as much power. He also tried using that method with his bone wings. In this world, where space was as solid as steel, he could, for the first time, ride the flow of Spiritual Energy and fly freely through the air. He no longer felt as though he were carrying a mountain on his back every time he flapped his wings, as he had when he first arrived.
He also tried to imitate Luo Tianshen's finger technique, Spirit Immobilization. Of course, he could not. It required a mastery of Spirit Marks far beyond his current level. Still, he at least understood the principle behind it, and how the experts of this world wielded their power.
His assimilation slowly advanced from fifty to sixty percent, while the words "Mysterious Yin Ice Flame" continued to linger in his mind.
On the night before the Luo River Abyss opened, A Heng came. Carrying her familiar bamboo basket on her back, she stood outside the courtyard gate for quite a while before gathering the courage to knock. Once inside, she pulled a small cloth bundle from the basket and, blushing, pressed it into Xiao Yan's hands.
"These... these are what I've gathered these past few days," she said softly. "Some stop bleeding, some counter poison, and there are a few that Sister Luo Su said could calm the mind... I don't know if you'll need them in that secret realm, but... but..."
She could not go on. She lowered her head, her fingers twisting the hem of her clothes. Xiao Yan opened the bundle and looked inside. The herbs had all been carefully sorted, each kind wrapped in clean leaves, with their names written on them in crooked charcoal strokes. Several characters were wrong.
"Hehe, I'll need them." Xiao Yan smiled and tucked the bundle into his robes. "Thank you."
At that, A Heng raised her head, a glimmer of brightness passing through her eyes. Then she lowered it again and said softly, "Brother Xiao, you have to... come back soon."
"Seven days," Xiao Yan said. "I'll be back in seven days."
After A Heng left, Xiao Yan sat in the courtyard for a long time, taking out the four Soul Jades and examining them one by one. Cai Lin's mark was still faint, but it had not grown any dimmer these past few days. It was as though that proud woman, somewhere far away, was gritting her teeth and holding on. Xiao Yan held the jade tablet and said softly, "Soon."
Once he returned from the Luo River Abyss, once Xiao Yi woke up, and once his assimilation advanced another step, he would leave Luo Shen City and head south to find her.
The day the Luo River Abyss opened was overcast. From early morning, not a single ray of sunlight had broken through above Luo Shen City. Leaden clouds hung low, and the broad Luo River running through the city's center gleamed a deep, dark green beneath the gloomy sky. Not a breath of wind stirred its surface, which lay as still as an enormous mirror.
A crowd had gathered on the eastern bank of the river in Luo Shen City, before the white jade altar where a statue of Luo Shen was enshrined.
Among the younger generation of the Luo God Clan, twenty-three members under the age of thirty whose cultivation had reached the Spirit Wheel Realm or above had qualified to enter the Luo River Abyss. Clad in close-fitting silver outfits and carrying weapons on their backs, they stood below the altar. Their young faces showed excitement, nervousness, and undisguised anticipation.
Luo Feng stood at the very front. The foremost member of the Luo God Clan's younger generation wore silver armor and a longsword at his waist, his expression calm and composed. He was the leader of this expedition into the Luo River Abyss, and the young clan members all looked to him for direction.
Luo Lan was among them as well. He had only broken through to the Spirit Wheel Realm Peak half a month ago, barely meeting the threshold for entering the Luo River Abyss. Now he stood at the back of the group, his face full of excitement as he looked back from time to time. When he saw a slender figure emerge from the crowd, his eyes lit up at once, and he waved vigorously.
Xiao Yan wore an ordinary long cyan robe, with neither armor nor weapons. The small cloth bundle A Heng had given him was tucked inside his robes. He walked unhurriedly to the back of the group and stopped beside Luo Lan.
Below the altar, the twenty-three young Luo God Clan members turned their heads in unison to look at him. Their gazes held curiosity and awe, though a few showed faint signs of disapproval.
Word of the ten thousand lights at the family banquet a month ago and the unmasking of the traitor in the medical cottage had long since spread throughout the Luo God Clan's younger generation. But no matter how extraordinary the stories became, to these proud and arrogant geniuses, there was still something not quite right about an outsider from a Lower Plane entering the Luo God Clan's ancestral secret realm alongside them.
Luo Feng turned and cast Xiao Yan a calm glance. A moment later, he gave Xiao Yan a slight nod, and the disapproving gazes quietly withdrew. Xiao Yan smiled and nodded back.
After losing that night at the family banquet, Luo Feng had come to see him three times, carrying the Thirty-Six Forms of Pill Pattern on every visit. His questions had grown more profound each time. On the third visit, the two had spent an entire afternoon arguing about Spirit Marks on the stone platform in the middle of the lake. In the end, neither had convinced the other, but as Luo Feng left, he had shown a rare trace of a smile.
"The clan leader has arrived!" A stir suddenly ran through the crowd. Immediately afterward, everyone fell silent and bowed in unison.
Luo Tianshen walked slowly out from behind the altar, still wearing his drab gray cloth robe. Luo Yan, Luo Qing, and several Luo God Clan elders followed behind him.
He walked to the center of the altar and raised his head to look at the tranquil surface of the Luo River. Then he raised his right hand, and a palm-sized white jade token slowly appeared in his thin, bony palm. Carved upon it was a sword-bearing goddess. It was the Luo Shen Token.
Luo Tianshen casually tossed the token toward the river. It flipped several times through the air before coming to a hover three feet above the water. A soft white light spilled from it and sank into the dark green river.
The next moment, the mirror-still surface of the Luo River abruptly began to churn!
Ring after ring of ripples spread swiftly outward from the token. The river began to spin, faster and faster, more and more violently. In the blink of an eye, a huge whirlpool formed on its surface. At its center, the water parted to either side, revealing a bottomless fissure. Faint blue light flickered within it, and an ancient, vast presence slowly spread from its depths.
That presence carried a trace of piercing cold, which rushed toward them. Several Luo God Clan members standing at the front could not help shivering and instinctively circulated their Spiritual Energy to protect themselves. Xiao Yan's eyes, however, brightened slightly.
Deep within that chill, his soul caught an extremely faint fluctuation. It was the fluctuation of a flame, yet that flame was so cold it made the heart tremble. At that moment, the slumbering wisp of pink flame deep within his heart meridians flickered as well.
"Luo River Abyss, open," Luo Tianshen's voice rang out calmly. "Remember, within the secret realm, your lives and deaths are your own responsibility. Seven days from now, the abyss entrance will open again. When that time comes, no matter where you are, you must return to the entrance. It will not wait for latecomers. Go."
The twenty-three young Luo God Clan members shouted their assent in unison. Then, led by Luo Feng, they leaped one after another into the center of the whirlpool. Their figures vanished into the deep blue fissure. Luo Lan excitedly slapped Xiao Yan on the shoulder and jumped in after them.
Xiao Yan walked to the riverbank and was just about to leap in when Luo Tianshen's calm voice suddenly came from behind him. "Boy."
Xiao Yan turned around. Luo Tianshen stood on the altar, looking at him, a meaningful glint in his cloudy old eyes. "That flame won't be easy to obtain."
Xiao Yan grinned and said no more. He simply cupped his fists to him, then turned and leaped into the deep blue fissure. The whirlpool on the river slowly subsided, and the fissure closed again. The Luo River returned to its mirror-like stillness, as though nothing had happened.
On the altar, Luo Tianshen stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the tranquil river without moving for a long time.
On the opposite bank of the Luo River, behind a half-open window on the top floor of a distant restaurant, a pair of dark red eyes watched it all in silence.
The owner of those eyes watched the river close again, the corners of their mouth slowly curling into a cold smile. Then they turned to several figures standing in the shadows of the room and said in a low voice, "They've gone in. It's time for you to set out too."