Taking the Bone from the Underground Chamber · Space Jade Talisman

Zhu Zhuqing spent two days recovering from her injuries at the inn.

The Nine Heart Begonia's hemostatic powder worked well. The wound on her left shoulder scabbed over on the second day, and she could move it on the third.

During those two days, Nan Feng went out in the daytime and returned at night. Each attended to their own affairs, occasionally nodding to each other when they met in the corridor.

Zhu Zhuqing also went out once during the day. She returned at dusk, carrying the scent of rain and dust.

Each time she passed his door, her steps paused, but in the end she walked on.

On the evening of the third day, Zhu Zhuqing came to his door.

She stood in the doorway, her black, close-fitting combat outfit clean and tidy, her long hair tied in a neat ponytail. Nan Feng had seen her once from afar outside the teahouse, looking just like this.

"I'm leaving tomorrow," she said.

Nan Feng nodded. He didn't ask where she was going, and she didn't say.

The two stood in silence at the door for a few breaths. Zhu Zhuqing turned her head and glanced at him.

"You stood outside the Great Soul Arena for a long time that day. What were you sensing?"

Nan Feng paused. He had been sensing Shrek Academy outside the Great Soul Arena that day; she had probably been nearby too.

"Something."

"What?"

"There's something underground."

Zhu Zhuqing looked at him for two breaths but didn't press him. She turned and walked toward her room, then paused at the door.

"I'm leaving tomorrow morning. If you run into trouble in the future, you can come find me in the Star Luo Empire. I'm going back there for now."

She pushed the door open and went in, closing it behind her.

Nan Feng returned to his room, shut the door, and sat on the bed, sinking into the space inside the tower. Old Huai poked his head out of the crack and spoke before Nan Feng could.

"You've been sensing beneath the Great Soul Arena these past two days. What exactly is down there?"

Nan Feng spread his Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light toward the Great Soul Arena.

Bolstered by his level thirty-four Soul Power, his senses pierced the ground and caught a point of light about thirty feet below.

The point of light was pale gold and almost transparent. It had the same quality as the golden figure he had seen outside the secondhand shop in Nuoding City, but it was fainter and steadier. Like an object that had been sealed away, resting underground for years.

Old Huai's voice grew grave.

"Space-related. That point of light has spatial properties. It's a sealed Soul Tool or an ancient relic. It's old, and its quality is good. Spirit Hall is looking for it too. If you don't go now, you'll be too late."

Nan Feng withdrew his senses and opened his eyes. He took a piece of black cloth from his bundle, covered the lower half of his face, and climbed out the window.

The night was dark, most of the moon hidden behind clouds, and there were no pedestrians in the streets. He moved along rooftops and through alleys, his Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light locked onto the point of light underground.

A stone wall surrounded the Great Soul Arena. Its main gate was shut tight, and the side gate was locked. Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light helped him find a vent at the foot of the northern wall, hidden by weeds. Its iron grate was mostly rusted and broke with a bend.

He squeezed inside and crawled a dozen or so paces along the ventilation duct. The duct widened and connected to a descending stone staircase.

An iron door stood at the bottom of the stairs, secured with an old lock. Nan Feng tried the key he had taken from that Soul Ancestor, and the lock opened.

He pushed the iron door open, revealing a narrow tunnel. The stone walls on either side were rough, and air flowed overhead. Other vents connected to it.

Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light guided him about a hundred paces and around three bends before he stopped in front of a stone chamber at the end of the tunnel.

The chamber door was unlocked and slightly ajar. Nan Feng pushed it open and entered. A layer of Soul Power swept over him from the doorframe, but it was very weak and shattered under the tower's Power of Mountain Suppression.

The stone chamber was ten feet square, with indistinct patterns and symbols carved into all four walls. A stone platform half a person's height stood in the center, with a black wooden box on top.

Most of the box's lid had rotted away, exposing a layer of dark gold velvet inside. Two things lay on the velvet.

A palm-sized Shadow Leopard leg bone. A pale gold jade talisman the size of a thumb.

Nan Feng approached the stone platform. Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light swept over both objects.

The sphere of light around the Shadow Leopard leg bone was deep cyan, its Soul Power fluctuations steady. It was around five thousand years old. The jade talisman's sphere of light was pale gold, its Spiritual Power faint and its quality pure. It was close to the Primordial World Imprint in his soul, but leaned more toward order and rules.

Old Huai's voice grew cautious.

"The Shadow Leopard Soul Bone is suited to the agility attack type. At five thousand years old, it would put considerable pressure on your meridians as they are now, but you could suppress it. That jade talisman... its presence is far greater than the Soul Bone's. The Divine Realm had a hand in it."

Nan Feng reached for the jade talisman.

The moment his fingertips touched its surface, his consciousness felt as if something had tugged at it. The stone chamber wavered, and an image surged forth.

The image showed an empty void. A massive gate hung in its center, cast from light and radiating a pale golden glow. A blurred figure stood before it, back turned to him, both hands pressed against the gate. The presence around that person was the same as the Primordial World Imprint in his soul.

Just as the figure turned its head, the image shattered. Nan Feng's consciousness was flung back into the stone chamber.

He drew a breath and pulled his fingers away from the jade talisman. The light on its surface was a shade brighter than before.

"A Space Marker Jade Talisman." Old Huai kept his voice low. "The image on it is the spatial coordinates of a certain place. That gate-I've seen it. It's a checkpoint to the Divine Realm."

Nan Feng turned the jade talisman over. Several extremely fine characters were carved on the back. After studying them for a long time, he recognized them as an ancient script: a string of coordinate numbers.

He put the jade talisman into his bundle and stowed the Shadow Leopard leg bone as well.

He was just about to turn when Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light flickered in the background. The Soul Power fluctuations of two people were rapidly approaching from the tunnel entrance, both above level thirty.

Nan Feng glanced around the stone chamber. Apart from the stone platform, there was no other exit. He retreated into the tunnel, pulled the door nearly shut, and moved along the stone wall in the other direction.

Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light helped him find a branching passage in the tunnel's side wall. It was so narrow he could only pass through sideways.

He squeezed inside and found a small storeroom piled with worn-out training equipment and several rusted iron chests.

He crouched in a corner and slowed his breathing to a minimum. The tower's suppressive force covered his whole body, reducing his Soul Power fluctuations to almost zero.

Footsteps came from the tunnel. Two Spirit Hall Soul Masters entered the stone chamber, and one of them exclaimed in surprise.

"Something on the stone platform has been disturbed. The box's lid is open."

The other checked the surroundings. "They only just left. Do we pursue?"

The first was silent for a few breaths. "Pursue. Inform those above that someone has beaten us to the prize beneath the Great Soul Arena. Both the jade talisman and the Soul Bone are gone."

The footsteps retreated toward the tunnel entrance, growing fainter and fainter.

Nan Feng crouched in the storeroom for about the time it took an incense stick to burn. Only after confirming that the two people's presence had disappeared did he squeeze back out of the passage.

He retraced his route, climbed the stone stairs into the ventilation duct, and crawled out through the opening at the foot of the wall.

The night wind rushed against his face, carrying the dampness left by the rain. He pulled off the black cloth covering his face, stuffed it into his pocket, and left through the alleys.

When he returned to the inn, Zhu Zhuqing was standing in the corridor, leaning against her doorframe with her arms folded. She looked him up and down, and only spoke after seeing that he was uninjured.

"Where did you go?"

"Underneath the Great Soul Arena."

Nan Feng pushed open his door and entered, with Zhu Zhuqing following him inside. He took the Shadow Leopard leg bone from his bundle and placed it on the table.

The deep cyan Soul Bone glimmered with a cold light beneath the oil lamp. Zhu Zhuqing's gaze fell on it and lingered for two breaths.

"A five-thousand-year Shadow Leopard leg bone," Nan Feng said. "It's suited to the agility attack type. Your Hell Spirit Cat shares attributes with the Shadow Leopard."

Zhu Zhuqing looked up at him. "You're giving it to me?"

"Your left shoulder is injured, and your Soul Power is at level thirty-one. Absorbing a five-thousand-year Soul Bone is quite risky. With sufficiently strong suppression to help, it can be controlled." Nan Feng pushed the Soul Bone toward her. "Let me be there when you absorb it. Tower Suppression can help you suppress the backlash."

Zhu Zhuqing stared at him for several breaths, then reached out and picked up the Soul Bone, holding it in her palm.

"Why are you giving me this?"

Nan Feng sat on the edge of the bed, took out the jade talisman, and set it on the table. It gave off a warm glow under the lamplight, the string of coordinates carved on its back.

"I'm keeping the jade talisman. I can't use the Soul Bone, and it would be wasted in my hands. Take it, and consider it a favor you owe me."

The corner of Zhu Zhuqing's mouth moved.

"When you saved me in that alley in Suotuo City at night, you said you were just passing by. Now I owe you another favor."

She tucked the Soul Bone into her sleeve and walked to the door, where she paused and turned her head to look at him. Her long black hair fell down, covering half her face.

"When do we start?"

"After your injury heals. Two or three days from now."

Zhu Zhuqing nodded, pushed the door open, and went out. Her footsteps sounded in the corridor as she returned to her room.

Nan Feng picked up the jade talisman and examined it again.

The image from the stone chamber replayed in his mind. The enormous gate cast from light, the figure before it, the presence from the same source.

That gate was a checkpoint to the Divine Realm. The coordinates on the jade talisman were a marker leading there.

He put the jade talisman away, closed his eyes, and sank deep into his consciousness.

The doors to the first and second levels at the bottom of the tower were fully open, while warmth seeped through the crack in the third-level door.