Undercurrents in Chang'an and the First Appearance of the Star Map

The biting cold winds of the Northern Continent of Jizhou were left behind. When Su Yan set foot once more on Vermilion Bird Street in Chang'an, with its endless traffic and bustling crowds, he felt as though a lifetime had passed. The city's clamor and vitality stood in stark contrast to the deathly silence and destruction of the ice cavern, slightly easing the lingering exhaustion and chill in his body.

Rather than rushing to find a place to stay, he first visited a clinic, spending a considerable sum to have a high-level NPC physician skilled in treating internal injuries examine him thoroughly. He also purchased a large quantity of premium medicinal herbs. His clash with the Ice Flame Core and the final explosion had severely damaged his meridians, and he needed careful recuperation. He also took Little Big Dipper to a pet healer for a complete examination. Only after confirming that it had merely overexerted itself and suffered no damage to its foundation did he finally relax.

"Next time, I can't risk my life like that." Su Yan rubbed his still-stifled chest and silently warned himself. His strength—he still lacked strength. If not for that sudden inspiration involving the [Turbulence Talisman] and the Compass protecting him in time, he would already have returned to the respawn point alongside Drunken Spring Breeze and his group.

After tending to his injuries, Su Yan rented a secluded residence with a small courtyard in the relatively quiet Two Forms Ward of Chang'an. He needed time free from disturbance to process what he had gained on this trip and plan his next move.

The first thing was to take stock of his gains.

The most important item was naturally the [Heart of the Ice Flame Shard (Pure)]. Holding the crystal, where icy blue and silver-white intertwined, he could clearly sense the vast yet gentle power contained within. It carried both the ultimate cold of ice and a sense of "order" that soothed unrest and purified chaos. This was undoubtedly an invaluable treasure that could only be encountered by chance.

"This would be too wasteful to absorb directly. Using it to enhance a piece of equipment might be the best choice." Su Yan pondered. His first thought was of his weapon. The Bronze Short Sword that had accompanied him for so long was already nearing its limit. Yet using such a precious material on a low-level weapon would undoubtedly be a terrible waste. Then he thought of the Compass. It seemed to crave the shard, but repairing it clearly required more specific conditions or items. Blindly merging them might not be a good idea.

In the end, he decided to store the shard away for the time being and wait for the right opportunity. Perhaps it could be used to forge a truly top-tier accessory? He recalled the legendary Master Lu in Chang'an, a man said to be elusive as a divine dragon. Rumor had it that he could turn decay into wonder, though the conditions for asking him to act were exceedingly harsh.

Next was the [Damaged Compass], whose repair progress had reached 25%. Su Yan held it in his hand and focused his senses. After the increase in repair progress, not only had the range and clarity of its "Anomaly Marker" improved, but he could now vaguely sense the approximate "strength" and "attribute" of marked locations. For instance, he could now distinguish that most of the nodes he had cleared before possessed "weak-chaotic" or "weak-corrosive" attributes, while the enormous marker deep in the Netherworld possessed an "extremely strong-destruction/termination" attribute.

More importantly, when he highly concentrated his Spiritual Power and poured it into the Compass, the ancient runes on its surface would faintly glow, projecting a more intricate Star Map into his mind, as though it were formed from countless fine strands of light. The anomalous points marked on the Star Map resembled dim stars, while certain smaller nodes that had originally been hidden or obscured by some force began to flicker into view. He could even vaguely see extremely subtle trails of energy flowing between these "stars," forming an invisible, diseased "network" that covered the entire world.

"This Compass... really isn't just a marker. It's more like a diagnostic tool for the world..." Su Yan understood. As its repair progress increased, the truths it revealed would likely become more and more shocking.

Then came the increase in his own strength. Su Yan's level had stabilized at Level 14, with his experience bar more than halfway full. He continued assigning the potential points gained from leveling up primarily to Strength, with Agility as a secondary focus. After a succession of fierce battles, Mount Fangcun's talisman arts had greatly increased in proficiency, especially the [Body Double Technique] and [Soul Chasing Talisman], both of which he now used with far greater ease. He had even begun trying to integrate the Power of Stars from the Star Qi Drawing Art into his talisman arts with greater precision. Progress was slow, but he could feel that the power of his talismans had increased by an almost imperceptible amount.

Little Big Dipper's changes were even more obvious. After reaching Level 13, it seemed to have grown larger, and the star-speckles on its shell had become deeper and brighter. They occasionally flowed on their own, absorbing the faint energy in the air. Both its appetite for and resistance to that dark-blue anomalous data had increased. Su Yan could sense that some kind of transformation was brewing within the little fellow. He tried feeding it some low-level inner cores. It ate them, but showed little interest, clearly favoring those anomalous "snacks."

"Being a picky eater isn't a good habit." Su Yan helplessly tapped its head. The little fellow haughtily turned away and brushed his wrist with its tail.

After resting for several days, Su Yan began moving with purpose. He did not rush to clear the new nodes marked on the Compass. Instead, he frequently visited Chang'an's taverns, teahouses, markets, and the offices of guild administrators.

He was gathering information.

On one hand, he wanted to learn about Drunken Spring Breeze's movements. In the battle at Ice Flame Palace, Fleeting Life, Dreaming and his core team had been completely wiped out. That was undoubtedly a devastating blow to a guild. Sure enough, news soon arrived that Drunken Spring Breeze was facing considerable internal turmoil. The vice guild leader, Silent Moon, had temporarily taken over as guild leader and pulled back their sphere of influence. Although the wanted notice for Su Yan had not been withdrawn, its enforcement had visibly weakened. They seemed temporarily unable to trouble him.

"Looks like they've suffered serious damage." Su Yan let out a breath of relief. This had bought him precious time to develop. But he did not lower his guard. He knew full well that he and Drunken Spring Breeze had already become irreconcilable enemies, and there would inevitably come a day of reckoning.

On the other hand, he was also watching for news of other "anomaly" incidents, as well as any clues related to the "Calamity of the Era" and the "Breath of the End."

At a tavern, he heard merchant players complaining that certain official roads in the southern regions of Great Tang had recently become unsafe. Not only had bandit activity become frequent, but they occasionally encountered "unkillable skeletons covered in black mist," which they suspected were hidden monsters.

At a teahouse, some lifestyle players mentioned that while gathering certain high-grade medicinal herbs lately, they had sometimes found a faint, unsettling gray mist lingering nearby. Prolonged exposure caused dizziness and disorientation.

Even at the guild administrators' offices, Su Yan saw several newly issued, highly rewarded guild missions. Most involved investigating abnormal spiritual-energy disturbances in certain locations or eliminating mutated demonic beasts. The issuers included not only NPCs from the major sects, but even some mysterious "reclusive masters" who belonged to no known faction.

These scattered pieces of information faintly corresponded with some of the weak new marker points Su Yan had sensed through the Compass. Clearly, the world's "disease" was accelerating, its effects spreading ever wider. It had already drawn the attention of some native factions and high-level players.

One day, Su Yan wandered through Chang'an's general goods market, hoping to find useful materials or clues about Master Lu. He stopped before an inconspicuous stall that specialized in all kinds of "strange stones."

The stall owner was a thin man in a bamboo hat, his face hidden from view. His stall was covered with oddly shaped stones that gave off weak Energy Fluctuations, most of them flashy but useless. Yet Su Yan's attention was drawn to a dull black stone about the size of a fist in the corner.

Its surface was rough and without any luster, but the Compass in Su Yan's robes gave off an extremely faint pull, completely different from the sensation it gave when detecting anomalous nodes. This pull... felt more like guidance than a warning.

Without revealing anything, he crouched down and picked up a glowing Moonshadow Stone beside it, casually asking, "Boss, how much for that black stone?" He pointed at the black stone.

The stall owner lifted the brim of his bamboo hat, revealing a pair of shrewd eyes. He glanced at the black stone and lazily said, "That's Sea-Sinking Iron. It's useless except for sinking, and it's just taking up space here. If you want it, take it for ten taels of silver."

Su Yan's heart stirred. Sea-Sinking Iron? The name was ordinary enough. He did not haggle, paying directly and taking the black stone into his hand. It was cold and heavy to the touch, but otherwise unremarkable.

However, when he returned to his rented courtyard and tried infusing a thread of Star Power into the black stone, something unexpected happened!

The rough outer shell of the black stone began to fall away in flakes under the stimulation of Star Power, as though it were weathering away, revealing a crystalline interior! It was clearly a strange ore, black as ink throughout, yet filled with tiny flickering points of silver light, as though it contained a miniature starry sky!

At the same time, the Compass in his hand began to tremble violently, bursting with silver light! The specks of silver within the Sea-Sinking Iron seemed to answer a summons, flying out one after another and merging into the Compass! A fine crack on the Compass's surface visibly healed by a small amount! Its repair progress rose from 25% to 26%!

[System: Discovered and absorbed rare material 'Star Iron.' [Damaged Compass] repair progress increased by 1%.]

[System: [Damaged Compass] ability enhanced. 'Anomaly Marker' range expanded by 5%. 'Star Map' manifestation clarity slightly increased.]

Su Yan was both shocked and delighted! He had never expected a casual stroll to uncover a special material capable of directly repairing the Compass! Star Iron? It seemed that repairing the Compass required not only absorbing anomalous data, but also specific ores containing the Power of Stars!

This discovery showed him a new path toward repairing the Compass. He immediately began recalling where similar ores might be found and which texts might contain relevant records.

Over the next few days, Su Yan practically lived in Chang'an's bookstores and the libraries of major guilds. With the Wind and Snow Pavilion guest elder token, he had gained a certain level of reading access. He consulted vast numbers of texts on minerals, celestial phenomena, and ancient ruins.

Combining the Star Map displayed by the Compass with scattered fragments from those texts, he gradually narrowed his target to two places. One was Meteorite Valley, located Outside Great Tang, where meteorites were rumored to have fallen. The other was the waters near the mysterious and unfathomable Aalai Country, far beyond the Eastern Sea, where "Star Sand" was said to appear with the tides.

Both places were undoubtedly full of danger. The monsters in Meteorite Valley were of no low level, and the terrain was complex. Aalai Country, meanwhile, was an area crowded with high-level players, and the sea spirits in its waters were incredibly powerful.

"Looks like living peacefully and farming is impossible after all." Su Yan closed the ancient text in his hand and looked into the distance through the window. The improvement of his strength and the repair of the Compass were both urging him to set out once more.

He stroked Little Big Dipper, which was dozing on his knee, its star-speckles faintly brightening and dimming with each breath, and softly said, "Buddy, you've rested enough. Next, let's go get ourselves some 'stars' to play with."

Should he try his luck at Meteorite Valley first, or find a way to reach Aalai Country? He needed to make a choice. And no matter which path he chose, it would mean new challenges and opportunities.