Black Marks

Even as everything changed, an ancient tree still slumbered beneath the bluestone avenue of Black Stone City.

The young man in black transformed into a crow and flew around Black Stone City, circling it again and again.

The black cat licked its paws, stars shining in its bright eyes.

Qu Hongxiao stood in the doorway, a gentle breeze swirling around her and stirring her dark hair.

The handsome youth with a vermilion mark between his brows casually pinched a scarab beetle to death on his shoe, then smiled and said, "You're still not worthy of me."

Hu Xiaomei kicked off her quilt and slept sprawled on her back. A strange new rune had appeared between her brows.

In the Three Flavors Study, a shoot of green bamboo had just poked its head out of a corner of the courtyard when a pear blossom pressed it back into the soil. A faint, imposing presence emanated from the pear tree. It seemed to be declaring that it alone was permitted to exist as a spiritual being in the Three Flavors Study.

Qin Sanyue woke from a nightmare in the middle of the night and hurriedly checked whether any of the money hidden beneath the stone slab was missing. Only after finding that not a single coin was gone did she go back to sleep in peace.

From far and wide around Black Stone City, countless flying swords, spirit beasts, and flying boats sped toward it. Vast, terrifying presences converged from every direction, each intent on seizing the first opportunity in Black Stone City. They knew that a new sage had been born in the city.

In his sleep, Ye Fu was still savoring the movie "Design of Death."

Chapter 34: Black Marks

Water dripped from the eaves by the door, pattering like a tinkling spring.

Qu Hongxiao changed back into her white robes, neatly folded Qin Sanyue's clothes, and placed them in a long box.

She stood in the doorway and looked at the rain falling through the thin mist outside. Then she stirred her Dantian, trying to circulate her Spiritual Qi, but there was no response.

"Just as I thought. Once the grand curtain opens, spiritual power can no longer be used."

Just as she was about to open her umbrella, she suddenly noticed another warm current passing through her meridians. She focused her attention and saw that it was a faint, milky-white stream of Qi.

"Vast Righteous Qi! No, that's not right. Even Vast Righteous Qi can't be mobilized under the rules of the grand curtain. Could the Vast Righteous Qi I cultivated be different?"

Unable to make sense of it, Qu Hongxiao kept her doubts to herself.

After standing there for a while, she opened her oilpaper umbrella and stepped onto the avenue.

It was still early, and ordinarily there would have been few people on the road, but it was different today. Many more people were out, and most of them dressed somewhat differently from the city's natives.

Qu Hongxiao knew that all these people were her competitors, known as tree cutters. Before the grand curtain opened, whenever tree cutters met, only one could survive. Thus, most of those who had entered Black Stone City ahead of time had lain low, unwilling to expend their cultivation fighting before the grand curtain opened.

Only tree cutters of Qu Hongxiao's caliber had dared to move about freely before.

But things were different now. Everyone's cultivation was bound by the rules, putting them all on equal footing, so they had all come out to seek fortuitous opportunities.

Most people on the road wore bamboo hats or covered their faces, doing their best to conceal their appearance so that the others would not recognize them. If they attracted someone who bore them a grudge, that person might make a move against them.

After five days of reading, Qu Hongxiao's outlook had changed greatly. She no longer held back over such concerns and walked openly along the road to the Three Flavors Study.

Many people's gazes lingered on her along the way. As Camel Bell Mountain's mortal-world envoy, Qu Hongxiao was well known. Even those who had never seen her face had seen her portrait.

Qu Hongxiao had been recognized, and wherever she walked, people unconsciously made a wide path for her.

Even with cultivation restricted, few of the tree cutters on the road dared claim they could withstand a few moves from Qu Hongxiao.

So they did their best to stay out of her way.

The rain grew a little heavier.

Qu Hongxiao raised her eyes. Through the thin mist and rain, she could just make out many stars twinkling in the sky, linked to one another like pieces on a chessboard.

Those were the cores of this grand curtain's formation. To use the stars in the sky to lay a formation-such mastery of formation techniques was beyond the imagination of anyone on this path.

During the half month that the grand curtain remained open, the tree cutters had to search for objects of fortuitous opportunity and contend for fate.

Today was the first day, and relatively peaceful. But the farther along things went, the fiercer the fighting would become, because the restraints on cultivation would gradually weaken with time.

Besides the tree cutters already here, quite a few people could enter Black Stone City only after the grand curtain opened. Qu Hongxiao knew that she would face a great deal of trouble in the days to come.

For now, everyone respected her as Camel Bell Mountain's mortal-world envoy. But in the face of a truly great fortuitous opportunity, status was an illusion; only strength reigned supreme.

After walking a little farther, Qu Hongxiao saw a familiar figure in green through the rain. She approached and called softly to the figure, "Sanyue."

Qin Sanyue turned around, carrying a container of soy sauce, and immediately broke into a smile. "Sister Hongxiao, you're here so early!"

Qu Hongxiao stepped closer and tilted the umbrella toward Qin Sanyue. "Why did you come out without an umbrella?"

Qin Sanyue looked up and smiled. "It's close by, and I only came out to get soy sauce, so I didn't bring one. But the rain got heavier just after I bought it. I was thinking of making a dash straight back when you showed up, Sister. I'm so lucky."

Though Qu Hongxiao's expression remained calm, her gaze softened despite herself. She felt at ease in the girl's company and was very fond of the clean, pure air about Sanyue.

"If I'd gotten up a little later, wouldn't you really have had to dash back?"

"Then I'd just have had to run back."

Qu Hongxiao gave her a sidelong glance. "Could you bear to get the clothes Sir made for you dirty?"

"Oh!" Qin Sanyue looked a little flustered. "I hadn't thought of that! I couldn't bear to get the clothes Teacher Ye made for me dirty."

The corners of Qu Hongxiao's eyes curved. "All right, they haven't gotten dirty, have they?"

Qin Sanyue pinched the hem of her clothes and lifted it a little, afraid it would touch the water on the ground. She gave a silly little smile.