Chapter 68: A Three-Inch Jade, A Three-Foot World

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nBeneath everyone’s gazes, the girl said bitterly, “I… I’m sorry. Just now, I was overly presumptuous…” ．

nThis was her first time lowering her head and apologizing like this. She felt conflicted about that, as well as a bit dazed.

nWas this the price of growing up?

nWhen he saw this, Uncle Yong sighed in relief, looking somewhat gratified.

nHe then turned to Su Yi and said respectfully, “Mystic Master, everyone in the family has spoiled the young miss since she was a baby. She’s never experienced wind or rain; a little recklessness is almost inevitable. I humbly request your forgiveness!”

nThe other guards followed suit, each of them requesting his forgiveness.

nSu Yi merely glanced at the girl, but he said nothing. Instead, he went up to the?Six-Severings?Yin?Corpse and looked it over carefully.

nHe’d never planned to make things hard on the girl in the first place.

nIt was just as he’d said; he’d come here for the purpose of killing the?Six-Severings?Yin?Corpse. He’d just happened to save the girl and her guards while he was at it.?He?disdained demanding?their everlasting gratitude.

nWhen he saw this, Uncle?Yong?and the guards finally relaxed. They realized that Su Yi wasn’t about to take the young miss to task over her poor manners.

nThey weren’t sure when, but the downpour had silently tapered off. The tense, dark clouds had dispersed. Light returned to what had been darkness mere moments before.?They could even dimly discern faint, rosy hues just over the horizon.

nDusk was approaching.

nThe floor of the dilapidated temple was already nothing but rubble, yet weeds flourished in its soil. The hall was a scene of both life and death, like the outline of a desolate, unbridled scroll painting.

nThe uniformed girl and her guards returned to the hall to treat the wounded.

nOnly Su Yi remained in the courtyard, examining the folding fan he’d picked up from the ground.?Its edges and ribs were forged of a spiritual material, “Ink-Splattered Spirit Iron.” The cloth was Blood Yin Silk, with crudely painted clouds and the outlines of eighteen mountain ghost totems.

n“This is most likely a product of the Deathbringer’s Gate. The craftsmanship is coarse and shoddy; it’s not even worth looking at. What a waste of quality spiritual materials,” said Su Yi with a hint of regret.

nThe fan was heavily damaged, practically ruined. Otherwise, he could have extracted the materials and used them to make a decent sword.?He casually tossed it aside. Then, his gaze returned to the?Six-Severings?Yin?Corpse.

nBut in the end, he found nothing.

nHe couldn’t help but furrow his brow.?The corpse had gained sentience, and he’d even recruited several members of the Deathbringer’s Gate as his subordinates. It was highly likely that he’d already plucked both the Six Yin Grass and the Extreme Yang Flowers. Su Yi couldn’t even eliminate the possibility that the corpse had already gotten his hands on the inauspicious yin spirit vein.

nYet there were no treasures of any kind on its corpse.

nDon’t tell me this wicked creature has a nest somewhere out there, and that it’s long since hidden its treasures inside??Su Yi pondered for a moment, then took out a flame stick. Sparks fell into the dirt, and the?Six-Severings?Yin?Corpse’s remains instantly burst into flame.

nDense black smoke billowed into the air.

nSoon, the entire corpse was nothing but ash. Su Yi was just about to rejoin the others in the hall when his eyes lit up.

nHe’d just noticed a jade pendant amidst the ashes. It was about the size of a baby’s fist, dark and non-reflective. It was extremely difficult to notice unless you were looking carefully.

nSu Yi immediately picked it up and examined it. Soon, he couldn’t help but smile.

nThe pendant was smooth to the touch, its surface carved with mountains and rivers. It was inky black, with a simple, stately elegance.

nMore importantly, this was actually a storage treasure!

nAccording to Su Yi’s memories of his current life, spatial treasures were incredibly rare within the Great Zhou’s borders. Even some Grandmasters weren’t fortunate enough to possess them.

nIt wasn’t that they were so expensive so much as that they were overly rare.

nSu Yi wouldn’t have guessed?this?Six-Severings?Yin?Corpse would possess a treasure of this caliber.

nAfter examining it briefly, Su Yi exerted strength through his fingers and brushed the inky black pendant’s surface. This instantly dispersed the layer of weak seals protecting it.

nHe sensed its interior, and discovered that the space inside was extremely narrow, only about three square feet. It was only barely enough to fit a large wooden chest.

nThe storage space was already full of numerous items: scattered jade bottles, spiritual medicines, spirit stones, scrolls, etc.

nThis was undoubtedly the sum total of the?Six-Severings?Yin?Corpse’s possessions. Everything was here, including the Six Yin Grass and Extreme Yang Flowers Su Yi had come here in search of.

nHowever, he didn’t find that inauspicious yin spirit vein. He wasn’t sure if the corpse had already refined it, or if it were still hidden somewhere within Mother Ghost Ridge, undiscovered.

nBefore long, Su Yi took inventory of his spoils: nine stalks of spiritual medicine: five tier-one, two tier-two, and three tier-three.

nIt’s worth noting that although the Six Yin Grass and Extreme Yang Flowers were both tier-three, they were prime supplements for Inner Furnace Realm cultivators, far beyond what normal tier-three spiritual medicines could compare with.

nIt was for this reason that the Martial Dao Grandmaster, Xiao Tianque, had come here in search of Six Yin Grass.

nAside from the spirit medicines, there were fifty-five spirit stones and about a dozen bottles of various types of cold yin medicines. Ghost cultivators used them to temper their abilities, but they weren’t useful to Su Yi. Still, he could at least give them to Qing Wan.

nFinally, there was a scroll. It was made of leather, but it was so old and worn that its pages were yellowed.

nIt described a secret cultivation method called the “Nine Devils Profound Yin Technique.”

nAs impressive as the name sounded, after Su Yi flipped through it, he couldn’t help but shake his head in disappointment.

nThis was nothing more than a “corpse refining” technique, an aberrant branch of ghost cultivation.

nEven if you practiced it to its highest limit, you could at most “borrow corpses to condense a body” and “undergo metamorphosis to become more?human-like.” At best, you’d barely be on par with an Origin Dao cultivator.

nIt couldn’t even begin to come close to the Ten Directions Asura Sutra he’d given Qing Wan, and it wasn’t worth so much as a second look.

nAt my current level, my regular daily cultivation alone burns through a tier-one spiritual medicine. Even with all the herbs I acquired today, I’ll at most be able to support my expenditures for another two weeks….

nBut if I want to reach the pinnacle of ‘Refining Bone’, I’m afraid half a month won’t be enough.

nGoing forward, I’ll have to keep searching for spiritual medicines….

nBut then, finding this dark jade pendant means I didn’t make this journey in vain.

nHe set those thoughts aside, then hung the pendant from his waist.

nWith a storage treasure, he’d have no need to drag around heavy luggage during his upcoming journeys.

nThis was what pleased Su Yi the most.

nWhen it came to cultivation, he was confident that he was more diligent and assiduous than anyone.

nBut when he wasn’t cultivating, he was as lazy as could be. If he could leave something to other people, he would. He wouldn’t so much as lift a finger if he didn’t have to.

nDarkness spread, and night fell.

nThe group lit a new campfire within the dilapidated great hall.

nWhen Su Yi walked back inside, Uncle?Yong?and the others hurriedly rose to greet him.

n“Mystic Master Su, it’s already gotten late. We’ve prepared a modest meal to express our gratitude. Please, take a seat.” Uncle Yong invited him with a smile.

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nSu Yi glanced at the fire and saw a sumptuous array of food and drink. Furthermore, they’d cleared a wide, comfortable space, and it was obviously intended for him.

n“Don’t mind if I do.” Su Yi wasn’t the type to put on airs. He simply sat down and stretched.

nWhen he saw that everyone else was still standing, he casually ordered, “Sit down, all of you. No need to be reserved. I’ve never cared about these sorts of details.”

nOnly then did Uncle?Yong?and the others?smile?and?sit?down.

nFrom beginning to end, the armored girl looked as if her soul had left her body. Her head was lowered, her pretty face pallid, and she said nothing. It seemed she’d yet to recover from her earlier shock.

nBut she didn’t have any of her former domineering, prideful temper, either.

nSu Yi certainly didn’t care how she felt. He ate and drank as he pleased, ignoring her completely.

nWhen they saw Su Yi’s disregard for the details, the guards gradually relaxed. They started toasting him and making small talk.?Su Yi didn’t refuse, but he barely spoke, either.

nEven so, this level of amiability was a huge comfort to Uncle?Yong?and the rest of the guards.?They’d been truly terrified that this mighty existence capable of cleaving a?Six-Severings?Yin?Corpse directly in two would hold a grudge. If so, it would be a nightmare far greater than any of them could bear.

nGuo Bing was delighted too.

nEverything he’d seen today had expanded his horizons. He was increasingly convinced that with Su Yi’s abilities, he could easily cure the yin poison afflicting him.

nAs they conversed, Uncle Yong no longer kept their origins a secret. Intentionally or unintentionally, he revealed their identities one by one, as well as the purpose of their expedition.

nOnly now did Su Yi learn that they hailed from another of Cloudriver Prefecture’s four peak-level factions, the Yuan Family.

nThe girl in military attire was called Yuan Luoxi. She was the youngest daughter of Family Head Yuan Wutong, the apple of his eye and the pearl of the family. Everyone doted on her.

nUncle Yong’s full name was Cheng Wuyong. He was an elder, albeit one with an outside surname, and he’d accompanied Yuan Luoxi as the leader of her guards.

nThe guards were all elites with cultivations in the Blood Circulation’s Refining Sinew or Refining Bone stages. They were valiant and capable on the battlefield.

nThey’d come to Mother Ghost Ridge in search of Six Yin Grass. Yuan Luoxi wanted to give it to her father, Yuan Wutong, as a birthday present.

nWhen he heard that, Su Yi’s eyebrows shot up. “How did you learn that Six Yin Grass grew in Mother Ghost Ridge?”

nHe’d first heard from the Spiritjade Marchioness, Zi Jin, that almost no one in Cloudriver Prefecture knew that Six Yin Grass grew here.

nThe uniformed girl, Yuan Luoxi, had sat there in silence throughout their conversation. This time, she spoke up. “A little while ago, Grandpa Xiao visited our family home. He mentioned it in passing while discussing something with my father, and I secretly committed that information to memory.”

nEven as she spoke, she hung her pretty head. She sounded dejected.

n“Xiao Tianque?” asked Su Yi.

nYuan Luoxi was briefly stunned. She finally raised her head, her pretty eyes blank. “You… Mystic Master, you know Grandpa Xiao too?”

nEven the way she addressed him had changed.

nThis was indirect proof that she now saw Su Yi in an entirely different light.

n“Of course I know them. Not long ago, he led his granddaughter into Mother Ghost Ridge, only to suffer grave injuries at the hands of that?Six-Severings?Yin?Corpse. If he hadn’t bumped into me, I’m afraid he would be long dead by now,” said Su Yi casually.

nCheng Wuyong and the other guards’ visibly started.

nAll of them were well aware of just how lofty Xiao?Tianque’s?status was. When he visited the Yuan Family, the family head had personally gone out to greet him!

nMeanwhile, something seemed to occur to Yuan Luoxi, who blurted, “Mystic Master, don’t tell me you’re that ‘lofty expert’ Grandpa Xiao told me about?”

nThe way she looked at Su Yi had now changed completely. Her eyes brimmed with shock, disbelief, bewilderment, as well as a hint of awe.

n“If he was talking about the person who saved his life, yes. That was me,” said Su Yi, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

nHe’d already understood. They’d learned of the Six Yin Grass from Xiao Tianque. That was what prompted Yuan Luoxi and the others to undertake this expedition.

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Chapter end