Wang Jun then focused on Cha Ming. “Cha Ming, you have crafted and sold talismans, correct?”
Cha Ming nodded as he finally realized the implications of his trade.
“Every single talisman crafted contributes to taking lives,” said Wang Jun. “Whether the lives of spirit beasts, demons, devils, or humans. Even a defensive talisman will be used to avoid the repercussions of fighting with someone in the first place. Usually if the defensive talisman does its job properly, the person that was saved will turn around and kill their opponent! Countless humans and beasts die this way every single day!
“Even alchemists and spirit doctors have blood on their hands. Every pill they make that ensures a breakthrough will lead to the death of another, weaker cultivator. Their pills cause fighting wherever they go. Spirit doctors heal many people every day and save many lives. However, their patients will often take their new lease on life and continue fighting and killing!
“Ultimately, there are only two ways to avoid fighting and killing. The first way: Give up all choices and don’t achieve anything. In this way, you can lead a pitiful but peaceful life. You can’t avoid every conflict, but you can minimize your impact.
“The other way is to become stronger! Only the strong can show mercy, or they prevent those around them from fighting in the first place. This is a path paved in blood, and by the end of the journey, you will find that while you have a lot of impact, there is only so much that you can do.”
After making his speech, Wang Jun got up and walked out toward the woods. “I suggest you all get some sleep. I’ll take the first watch for the night.”
Cha Ming continued observing the fire until it finally burned out. Once the last ember faded into darkness, exhaustion took over. He quickly grabbed a blanket from his bag of holding and rested on the soft forest floor.
His nightmares were filled with blood and ashes.
A few days later, Cha Ming and the rest of the group were walking merrily along a path in the forest. It was a chilly morning, and the gold and red leaves, which never fell, were coated in their usual frost. In Green Leaf Forest, there was neither rain nor snow in the winter.
The yellow grass was also frosted, and it seemed like tens of thousands of yellow and white daggers were piercing out from the frozen ground. These stalks of grass did not stay frosted all day, as the heat of the earth would thaw them out by noon. Winter was actually a very good time to be hunting for medicinal herbs, as medicinal herbs would rarely turn yellow with the cold; their bright colors would appear in sharp contrast to the surrounding dry, yellow grass.
Cha Ming, who had been keeping his sharp eyes constantly alert, spotted a blue glint in the distance. Their group approached what seemed to be a plant covered in bluebells. This bluebell frost flower was an herb that flowered only in the winter. In most other countries, it would be difficult to find, as the ground was covered in snow. This forest was the perfect place to look for the frost flower, and groups of adventurers would often get into fights over them. Although their group had had a fair number of fights with both spirit beasts and humans, they had not encountered any particularly strong groups. The groups that could pose a problem to them were mostly in the middle region of the forest.
Cha Ming carefully bent down to pick the delicate bluebell flowers. He was careful not to touch the flowers directly. After carefully clearing the nearby plants, he withdrew a small clear sickle that had been provided by his teacher. This clear sickle was made of a mysterious precious material called soul alloy. Soul alloy was a mysterious material that was not formed from the five elements and was especially sensitive to soul force. This same material was used to forge soul pearls and other soul-force-related objects.
Shortly after plucking the bluebells, he used his soul force to carefully transport them to a small opaque box; the bells would only keep their freshness for twelve hours after picked, unless they were stored with special means. The box was made from a special material called soul jade. Soul jade was much more affordable than soul alloy but very brittle. Fortunately, his teacher had lent him many such boxes and a bag of holding to store the many herbs that they had been tasked to gather.
While Cha Ming was hard at work, Wang Jun seemed more like he was on a vacation. He seemed to dote on Hong Xin, giving her advice on things they came across or picking particularly beautiful flowers and leaves to show her. While most people would just assume that he was showing a romantic interest, things seemed a little more complicated to Cha Ming. Often, when Wang Jun was looking at Hong Xin while she ran around playfully, Cha Ming could see a tinge of sadness and nostalgia in his eyes. He didn’t ask why; he would wait until Wang Jun was ready to share his secrets.
After cutting off and storing the last of the nine tiny bluebells, Cha Ming frowned and stood up and looked off in the distance. They were fairly close to the middle forest region, and the possibility of a group of powerful beasts was constantly on his mind. Off in the distance, he could barely make out the figure of a large black hound.
Their small party had fought off many groups of spirit beasts over the past few days, and Cha Ming and the rest were finally accustomed to the smell of blood and fire. Cha Ming had experienced a drastic change in temperament. Perhaps, deep down inside, a rage that he had kept hidden away deep down inside had started to surface. When he fought, his eyes would take on a baleful, reddish glow.
Their group often didn’t need to fight at all, as Cha Ming’s newly found baleful aura inspired fear in man and beast alike. Even the girls were afraid of Cha Ming when he started fighting. Was this one of these legendary cases where a kind Buddha became a vicious demon? Only time would tell. It was apparent that Cha Ming himself didn’t notice this change.
Seeing that only a single black hound was running toward them, their group drew out their weapons. It was not the first time that they had fought a lone midnight spirit hound in these woods. Their enthusiasm was short-lived, however. Shortly after the first wolf came a second, and after the second came a third.
Before they knew it, over fifty midnight spirit hounds were charging in their direction.
Chapter 20: The Black Dog
The fifty black midnight spirit hounds were rushing madly toward them, threatening to overtake them in less than a hundred breaths. A black miasma surrounded these hounds, spreading outward and causing the red and gold tinged leaves to crumble into dust.
“Run to the east!” shouted Cha Ming.
The group of black hounds was heading from the south, and he did not want to run north in case they accidentally intruded on a larger beast’s territory. He was also hoping that the hounds were not targeting them. Such a large group of hounds could not possibly have them, a small group of cultivators as their target! Although each hound was only a second-level spirit beast, a few pack leaders could be seen among them. These pack leaders were probably fifth- or sixth-grade spirit beasts.
After only a few minutes of running, they noticed that another group of hounds was heading toward them from the south. They hastened their pace toward the east, only to find yet another group of fifty hounds. They quickly set off toward the northeast, hoping to evade both groups. Finally, after a few minutes, they encountered yet another group heading north. A hundred and fifty midnight spirit hounds! They had no choice but to begin fleeing toward the north.
Although Cha Ming had a variety of talismans at his disposal, he was at a loss on how they would be able to avoid a hundred and fifty midnight spirit hounds. He could do nothing but direct their fleeing group in such a way that they would be surrounded.
Seeing that their situation was quite dire, Wang Jun withdrew a sheet of paper from his bag of holding. It was a talisman! In this case the talisman only had two characters, which together symbolized “obscure.” There was no “lesser” or “mid-level” before the characters. Given the power undulations from the talisman, Cha Ming was fairly sure this talisman was a high-grade talisman. The power level of such a talisman couldn’t be qu
estioned.
“Everyone, keep running!” yelled Wang Jun. “This is an obscurity talisman with a duration of one hour. It will shield us from being seen, smelled, or heard for a total of one hour. However, it has a major weakness: if we make physical contact with any of these spirit hounds, the spell will instantly fade!”
The group paled as they kept running through the tall yellow grass. Although their group wasn’t particularly physically fit, the threat of death kept them pushing their limits.
They continued running north, and while the gap between them and the hounds was closing slowly, the trailing beasts had slowed their pace significantly and were tracking them using only visible imprints in the yellow grass. After a full hour, they had still not lost the group of hounds.
Suddenly, when it seemed like the hounds were about to catch up, they heard a loud crash as the leading hounds crumpled to the ground. The group of chasing hounds suddenly stopped. It was as though they had hit a wall, and the hounds spread out to the east and the west like a river hitting a dam. They weren’t sure what caused this to happen, but one thing was certain: If it wasn’t for this strange barrier, all that would have awaited them was death.
Their party collapsed several hours later, gasping for breath. The woods here were no longer the same vibrant woods with green, gold, and red leaves. Instead, they were surrounded by white, gray, and black tree trunks that were fully devoid of life. They would not have picked this desolate land, but they had no choice. They felt guided by an invisible hand, unable to go to the east or the west. Was it fear that guided them, or was it fate? Regardless of what it was, they were incapable of resisting the urge to continue north and fought through their exhaustion.
The obscurity talisman had faded long ago. A side effect of it was that the world took on a grayish hue. They had thought their desolated surroundings were due to this modified perception, but they quickly realized that all the trees in this area were truly dead. In other parts of the forest, they saw shrubs and leaves on the ground. All they could see now was a thin dust that swept across the forest floor in seemingly random patterns.
Any attempts at seeing farther into the woods were impeded by a white mist spanning in all directions. Before long, Cha Ming realized they were lost. Wang Jun, who normally had an impeccable sense of direction, also felt completely lost and disoriented. After some exploring, they realized that they could still proceed through the desolate woods, but only on the winding path that the mists allowed.
Time lost all meaning. When they felt tired, they would pitch camp and rest. They continued until about a day had passed, then they set up camp and rested again. There was no sun; there was no moon. There was neither light nor darkness, only desolation and the white mist.
After what they thought might have been three or four days, their group finally began to see color. The color was a red-and-black liquid that didn’t seem to follow the laws of nature. Instead of pooling into low-lying areas, the red-and-black liquid flowed uphill and accumulated on small hills and protrusions. The soil here did not seem to show any interest in soaking up the liquid, leaving it to aggregate in small puddles.
At one point, Cha Ming reached out toward the bloody stream to confirm its contents. He was stopped by Wang Jun just in time for them to see a lonely bird come down for a drink of “water.” As soon as the bird contacted the puddle, it melted and burned, letting out a sharp cry in stark contrast to the silent woods. Their group never tried touching the mysterious liquid again.
As they traveled further, a small hill was growing in their line of sight. The hill was black, but the details were obscured by the mist pervading their surroundings. This hill was surrounded by many black rocks. This was the first change in scenery that they had seen in the past few days. Excited, they sprinted toward the hill and reached it in only a few breaths.
Once they reached the hill, they realized that it was not a hill at all—it was a fifty-meter-long black dog! The many black rocks surrounding it were larger midnight spirit hounds. Compared to the pack leaders they had previously encountered, these beasts were clearly twice as big. The five of them stood before the large dog in somber silence. Wang Jun was the first to break the silence.
“Cha Ming, these midnight spirit hounds all seem dead, and what you see in front of us appears to be a mid-foundation-establishment midnight spirit hound. Such a beast is very rare and very useful to my clan. Could I perhaps take it? I would split any profit with the group…”
Take it? If their entire group combined their storage, perhaps they could take away their claws and teeth. How could they take away an entire gigantic beast like that?
Cha Ming shook his head. “Wang Jun, if you can take away this beast, I don’t think any of us will argue with you. But we don’t have the ability to take away something so large. Besides, you’ve incurred a great expense using the obscurity talisman. If you want to let your clan know about the location, perhaps they could come by and pick it up later…”
Cha Ming then went over to a few smaller beasts, storing five beasts in the bag of holding he had borrowed from his teacher. “This is all I can hold…” He shook his head helplessly. He and Feng Ming then proceeded to cut out beast cores and teeth. Meanwhile, Wang Jun continued to stare at the large corpse as if he was trying to think of a way to move it.
After a short while of pondering, Wang Jun threw up a group of nine oddly shaped black coins. Instead of the usual round coins, these were shaped like rectangles pierced with a square hole. These coins floated for a few breaths, and as Wang Jun pulled away the power supporting them, they fell to the dusty forest floor. After observing the coins for a few moments, Wang Jun brightened and picked up the coins.
He first made his way to the remaining fifty smaller beasts that had had their beast cores extracted. They disappeared one by one, until every one of them had disappeared. Feng Ming, Gong Lan, and Hong Xin, who knew nothing of his origins, shot him a shocked look. Not even their clan patriarch had such a large storage treasure! Their shock didn’t last long, because Wang Jun did something even more astonishing.
He slowly walked up toward the mouth of the foundation-establishment beast. As he approached, he was buffeted by the foundation-establishment strength pressure that billowed out from the corpse. When it didn’t seem like he could continue, he spit out a mouthful of blood, which immediately blacked and turned into a mist. This mist surrounded him, and his figure turned dark and blurry. He then continued to walk nonchalantly; the pressure that had previously caused so much trouble seemed to ignore him, as if he didn’t exist. He then made his way to the dead hound until he was less than a foot away.
Just when Cha Ming thought he would try cutting off a tooth or claw, Wang Jun instead took out a small chest. He opened the chest, and the large beast disappeared into the chest, leaving behind a bloody lake. Then the lake disappeared, and the forest floor returned to its original dusty gray color. The blood could no longer stand the desolation in the forest once the supporting power of the large hound disappeared.
Their whole group was stunned. While Hong Xin didn’t realize it, Feng Ming, Gong Lan, and Cha Ming were much more experienced than her. To take all of the objects in, he needed at least five hundred cubic meters of storage space. The bag that was lent to Cha Ming by his teacher had a tenth of that amount of space. Such a storage space was something that perhaps only foundation-establishment elders would have, and it would be one of their most precious treasures. The value of a portable storage device increased exponentially with the available space. It was no exaggeration to say that the city lord’s estate might not be worth as much as Wang Jun’s small chest.
Looking back to his friends, Wang Jun let out an embarrassed cough. He was not one who liked exposing his wealth. He whisked away the small chest into one of his sleeves and said, “Should we get going?”
Not wanting to make things difficult for his friend, Cha Ming charged ahead in front of the group, nodding and patting him on the back.
The sounds of shattering ice sounded once more as Cha Ming walked over a frozen puddle. The frozen puddle was surrounded by many others, forming the outline of deep tracks along a clay road. He knew this was a dream, yet he made sure to break every puddle as he wandered down the frozen clay road. He did not get to indulge in this innocent pleasure for long. In the distance, he saw that familiar gray smoke rising from a small burning house.
Time was of the essence. Cha Ming quickly ran toward the familiar house and the familiar fire. As he focused his burning eyes, he noticed that this fire was a little different. The fire seemed concentrated on a single side of the house, and it burned with a lower intensity than in prior dreams. He didn’t ponder on this fact for very long. The temperature was still within reasonable limits, and the house could still be approached.
He quickly touched the doorknob with the back of his hand. After confirming that the door could be opened without provoking a violent burst of flames, he wrapped his hand in his long-sleeved garment and slowly opened the door, just like he always did. A violent cloud of smoke billowed out as the hot and cold air equalized.
Not wanting to waste any time, he opened the door the rest of the way and ran inside the house, looking through his familiar surroundings and checking for any casualties. It was dark, but he quickly made his way around the many rooms in the house. His familiarity became his advantage as he used up precious seconds, eventually making his way up a narrow flight of carpeted stairs.
He didn’t think twice, relying on his sense of hearing to barely make out two sets of sounds. To his left were the sounds of the barking dog, and on the right, the screaming child. The sounds pierced through his soul as he made a quick decision, heading toward the right to grab the screaming child out of his fenced bed. By now, his eyes had turned completely red, and tears were screaming down his cheeks. It was difficult to say if his eyes were red because of the heat and smoke or if he was overwhelmed by the sadness of the situation.
Clear Sky Page 19