Chapter 211: Chaos in Jingchu

"What the hell is that?" Sha Lifei's eyes widened with curiosity.

He had followed Li Yan in searching for heavenly treasures before, like when they had entered the mountains with Zhao Luzi in search of lightning-struck wood. Back then, they had also witnessed a strange phenomenon! Back then, it had been a streak of lightning leaping through the forest, lighting up the skies.

However, compared to the scene before them now, that had been nothing worth mentioning.

Points of white spiritual light appeared one after another within the pitch-black mountain forest, like countless lanterns suspended in midair. They floated up and down as though imbued with life.

Li Yan frowned and looked at Lin Yu. He knew a little about treasure-hunting as well. Finding the target was only the first step. Without a method to restrain it, a heavenly treasure would immediately disperse its accumulated fortune and even flee.

Fatty Lin Yu truly lived up to his treasure-hunting inheritance. At that moment, he was exceptionally calm, staring intently as he spoke in a deep voice, "Master never told me the method for restraining this particular treasure, but I've already spotted something unusual.

"The hour of the rat belongs to yin. If these things are manifesting at this time, either they're buried underground, or they themselves are yin treasures from a tomb. Either way, they correspond to the position of the Earth.

"The dragon and ox represent damp Earth, while the goat and dog represent dry Earth. The dragon exhibits the yang attribute of damp Earth while the ox exhibits the yin attribute of damp Earth. The dog stands for the yang while the goat stands for yin in dry Earth...

"That Earth Dragon was originally a Chinese alligator that encountered a fortuitous opportunity and gained cultivation. Its blood and qi are vigorous and yang in nature, while its scales are hard and resilient. Its nature is most likely of the yang dry Earth!

“According to astrology: the tiger represents growth; the rabbit is cleansing; the dragon is a symbol of authority; the snake is representative of taking office; the horse is the peak of one's authority; and everything is reborn as the rat. The treasure can only be taken during the hour of the rat! By my calculations, the elements of fire and wood can restrain the treasure!

"Quick! Find dry firewood. Light it and surround the area!"

No one wasted any words arguing. They immediately went to gather firewood, lit it, and began closing in from every direction.

Sure enough, treasure-hunters had methods of their own. As they approached holding torches, the white lantern-like spiritual lights did not disappear. Instead, they were driven inward, converging on a single point.

As the space grew increasingly crowded, all the spiritual lights actually began merging together. In the end, they transformed into a white sphere of light the size of a giant vat. Hazy radiance swirled through it, and a vague silhouette could be seen within the glow.

Everyone was startled at the sight. The silhouette somewhat resembled the Earth Dragon from earlier, yet it had powerful hind legs, slender forelimbs, an enormous head, and a mouth filled with sharp fangs.

Lu San frowned deeply, inexplicably feeling a sense of revulsion. "What kind of monster is this now?"

Lin Yu, meanwhile, looked somewhat bewildered. "This... It isn't a dragon."

A strange look flashed through Li Yan’s eyes. He had seen something like the creature in his previous life. It was clearly some kind of dinosaur!

While everyone was still puzzled, the sphere of spiritual light abruptly sank into the ground and vanished.

"Quick, pile up the firewood!"

Lin Yu did not panic. Instead, he led everyone in piling all their firewood over the spot where the sphere of light had disappeared.

A roaring bonfire sprang to life. Everyone continuously gathered firewood from all around and threw it onto the flames. Once the hour of the rat had passed, they immediately extinguished the bonfire, scraped aside the charcoal and ashes, and began digging downward.

Their digging tools had all been taken from the bandits they had killed. Evidently, those people had also prepared to come here and excavate the treasure.

Li Yan yelled suddenly, "Stop!"

He had his divine ability activated the entire time. After they had dug less than three chi down, he hurriedly waved for everyone to stop. He carefully brushed away the surrounding soil and picked out an object.

It turned out to be a pottery vessel with a round mouth and three hollow legs.

Sha Lifei's eyes lit up as he started to gawk at it. "This is the treasure?"

Li Yan's expression was solemn as he shook his head. "No. This thing was already buried underground. It's an ancient vessel."

He had seen such things in museums in his previous life. The ancient vessel had existed by the late Stone Age, while both clay and bronze had been used to cast it during the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

Li Yan suddenly raised his head and looked at Tian Qilang. "Those people said this place was once a sacred site for the ancient Chu shamans?"

"Mm." Tian Qilang nodded and smiled. "Fellow Daoist Li is interested in these things? We have plenty of them around Mount Me. Sometimes, when we find one, we just use it to give water to the livestock. If you want them, I can give you eight or even ten of them."

Li Yan stared at him in astonishment before letting out a long sigh. "Forget it."

Perhaps in that ancient era, this place had once witnessed countless splendors. But now, all of it was nothing more than a handful of yellow earth.

With that, they continued digging downward. Li Yan’s divine ability was now strong enough that he could detect things buried up to three zhang underground, so he already knew what the treasure beneath them was.

Sure enough, after digging down a little more, a large number of stone eggs appeared before them. Once rinsed clean with water, some were yellowish while others had a greenish tint.

"Stone eggs?" Lin Yu immediately looked somewhat dejected when he saw them. "So that's what they are. Plenty of people back where I'm from have dug these up too. They're fossilized eggs of primordial beasts from the ancient wilderness, not true dragons."

"Primordial beasts?" Sha Lifei immediately became interested. "What did those primordial beasts look like?"

Lin Yu shook his head. "They've all turned to stone. You can only vaguely make out the shapes of their skeletons. If you're interested, smash a few open and take a look."

"Don't!" Li Yan hurriedly stopped him. He picked up a nearby stone and cracked it, revealing the fossil of a small dinosaur embedded within it. "They looked something like this."

Sha Lifei immediately lost interest after taking a look. "Doesn't seem like anything special."

Of course, they certainly could not overlook the dinosaur egg that had transformed into a heavenly treasure.

Li Yan and the others continued digging. The dinosaur egg fossils were extremely densely packed, and not buried particularly deep. In his previous life, a discovery like that would undoubtedly have shocked the world. Yet here, nobody cared.

Finally, they found the special fossil. The egg they eventually found was entirely different from the others. It was actually embedded within a whole piece of rock and was crystal clear, almost like jade. Even the dinosaur skeleton inside could be seen distinctly.

Li Yan could not help marveling to himself. This world truly contained countless wonders. A dinosaur egg that had transformed into jade! If he brought such a thing back to his previous life, probably no one would believe it was real.

Excitement rose in his heart as he placed his hand on it. In an instant, waves of scorching energy surged into his dantian and were completely absorbed by the Great Luo Dharma Body.

The cracks that had previously appeared in the Great Luo Dharma Body had already been completely repaired after absorbing the accumulated fortune from the coal essence in Shangjin City. Once the new energy was absorbed, pale blue spiritual light first began gathering over his previously empty left shoulder. Then, with a soft whoosh, ghostly blue flames ignited, churning and spiraling before burning quietly upon it.

The extinguished Soul Flame had been lit once again!

Li Yan was thrilled and hurriedly removed his hand. The accumulated fortune contained within this heavenly treasure of a dinosaur egg was extraordinarily vast. Consuming only thirty percent of it had been enough to ignite one flame.

A conjecture suddenly arose in his mind. The fortune contained within the treasure was probably related to life itself. Perhaps the Earth Dragon had transformed after absorbing energy from this object and obtaining its fortuitous opportunity.

Furthermore, the first time he had repaired and ignited a Soul Flame, he had also absorbed the fortune from the Mountain God in the mass grave. The two had one thing in common. Both contained immense vitality!

Igniting a Soul Flame was undoubtedly connected to the power of life!

Those pieces of coal essence had likewise been trilobite fossils. Perhaps dinosaur eggs were the same, and their accumulated fortune replenished itself extremely slowly.

If that were true, then he had gained another life!

Even if his guess was wrong, allowing the remaining fortune to slowly accumulate would at least prevent the heavenly treasure from being destroyed.

Li Yan did not dare be careless. He hurriedly had Sha Lifei bring over a leather pouch, then carefully chiseled the jade-like dinosaur egg free and placed it inside. With that done, everyone else lost interest.

To them, this crystal-clear dinosaur egg fossil was no different from an unusual gemstone. It was nowhere near as useful as the earth dragon's hide. What puzzled them was that Li Yan called everyone over and had them rebury the vessel before filling the excavated earth back in.

"Brother Yan, why go through all this trouble?"

"Don't sever the roots. It might be useful to people in future generations..."

By the time everyone returned to the boat, the sky was already beginning to brighten. Li Yan asked Fast Boat Zhang to turn the boat around and drop Tian Qilang off on the riverbank several li outside Yunyang Prefecture.

"Fellow Daoist Tian, take care!"

"Don't worry. Everyone, until we meet again!"

Tian Qilang bade them farewell solemnly before turning to walk away. Before long, his figure disappeared along the official road. He was heading to the City God Temple in Yunyang Prefecture to sound the alarm.

This time, they had uncovered a conspiracy between the Heavenly Saint Cult and the native barbarians. It had to be reported as soon as possible. If they acted quickly enough, they might be able to save many lives.

There was also the Earth Dragon's carcass, which they had left behind on Azure Dragon Mountain and buried beneath the soil. They had also cleaned up every trace left by the gunpowder explosions. Tian Qilang needed to hire men as soon as possible to dig the carcass out and transport it back.

"Senior Zhang, let's go."

Watching Tian Qilang's figure disappear into the distance, Li Yan's expression also grew solemn. War in Yunyang Prefecture was unavoidable. In a large-scale war like that, the strength of an individual was almost negligible. There was no telling how many lives would be lost.

Moreover, they were nothing more than specks of dust within it all...

"Set sail!"

The sails immediately billowed at Fast Boat Zhang's command. The wooden boat cut across the water, leaving ripples in its wake as it disappeared into the morning mist...

As noon rolled around, the boat reached Wudang County.

It was time for another farewell.

This time, the one leaving was the wealthy young master Lin Yu. He would have to travel overland, pass through the White Cloud Mountain Pass to Luoyang, and from there continue on to the capital.

Lin Yu cupped his hands solemnly in gratitude. "Everyone, many thanks."

He had changed back into his scholar's robes and once again wore his ebony spectacles, making him look frail, honest, and exceedingly easy to bully.

Sha Lifei chuckled. "Young Master Lin, remember the jianghu experience you gained. When dealing with people, only reveal thirty percent of what's on your mind. If you hear the codes used by those in the jianghu, it's good enough to understand. Don't go around replying to them."

Sha Lifei had constantly struck up a conversation with him throughout the journey and had long since thoroughly investigated Lin Yu's background. Naturally, he was extremely courteous toward such a potential customer. Along the way, he had also casually taught him some interesting things.

Unexpectedly, Lin Yu possessed a photographic memory. Sha Lifei only had to repeat the cants twice before Lin Yu memorized them.

Both were imperial examination candidates, yet compared with Yan Jiuling, Lin Yu actually seemed much more like someone from the jianghu.

"Don't worry. I remember everything." Lin Yu cupped his hands again and smiled. "If any of you ever visit Jiangsu or Zhejiang in the future, you must come to the Lin Family's residence as my guests. I will certainly rush out to welcome you personally."

"The roads of the jianghu are long. Until we meet again!"

"Until we meet again!"

Everyone clasped their fists in farewell, and the wooden boat gradually pulled away.

Lin Yu stood on the shore watching Li Yan and the others getting smaller and smaller in the distance.

Only after the boat had vanished from sight did he sigh and mutter, "Master once said that for people of the jianghu, meeting and parting are merely commonplace. In the future, I'm afraid we may never have another chance to meet..."

With that, he picked up his luggage and headed back on the official road.

***

Back on the boat, once they were some distance from shore, Fast Boat Zhang left the deck and entered the cabin.

He cupped his hands toward Li Yan. "Young Hero Li, we were too busy earlier for me to bring this up. There's something this old man needs to discuss with you."

Li Yan nodded. "Please, Senior."

The old man quickly took out an old leather map. It was ancient and already badly worn, yet it was densely covered with outlines of mountains, terrain, and waterways.

He asked. "Young Hero Li, do you wish to take the main route, or would you rather take a shortcut?"

Li Yan cocked his head. "What difference is there?"

Fast Boat Zhang explained, "If we take the main route, we'll follow the Han River. After passing Xiangyang, we'll travel for several days until we reach Hanyang Prefecture, then turn into the Yangtze River. From there we'll double back past Hong Lake and Dongting Lake before entering Jingzhou and Yichang.

“This is a major grain-transport route. The waterways are broad; plenty of vessels travel back and forth; and River God Temples have been built all along the way. Aside from river bandits in a few dangerous stretches, there's basically no danger. But we'll have to make a huge detour. Even moving as fast as possible, the journey will still take more than ten days."

Li Yan frowned slightly. "What if we take the shortcut?"

"If we take the shortcut, then after passing Xiangyang and reaching Jingmen, there are several waterways that can take us directly to Jingzhou."

Fast Boat Zhang sighed. "Those waterways are complicated and pass through quite a few mountain valleys and dangerous stretches, but this old man knows them all extremely well. In the past, I could have navigated them with my eyes closed. But lately, things have been happening along those waterways. Water ghosts, water beasts... all sorts of things have started showing themselves. There are also some outlaws taking advantage of the chaos to rob travelers.

"I only agreed to this trip because I heard Elder Han say that you gentlemen were powerful cultivators. But whether we take the risk still depends on your choice."

"More than ten days?" The moment Sha Lifei heard that, he hurriedly shook his head. "We don't have time to spend that long stuck on a boat. We wouldn't be able to get anything done."

He was right. They needed to deal with the firearms; Wang Daoxuan needed to establish an altar as soon as possible to ritually refine the spirit that was captured; and Li Yan needed to practice martial arts and cultivate. If they remained on the boat the entire time, none of that could be done.

Li Yan nodded as well. "Senior Zhang, we'll take the shorter route. If we run into anything along the way, we can just deal with it. Besides, we picked up a few tasks from the City God Temple anyway."

"Good!" A trace of delight appeared in Fast Boat Zhang's eyes. He then respectfully cupped his hands and proclaimed, "Since that's the case, this old man won't stand on ceremony any longer. You gentlemen can probably tell that I've made my living on the water for many years. Although I know some taboos and precautions, when I actually encounter certain unclean things, I still don't know how to deal with them.

"This old man is willing to waive all passage fees. I'll take you wherever you wish to go. But if we encounter those things, could you perhaps give me some guidance?"

This had been his ulterior motive behind agreeing to make the journey. Ordinary people might not possess supernatural abilities, but when they encountered certain things, they did not simply stand there waiting to die. There were still ways to respond, like techniques for avoiding taboos.

Since ancient times, the sects of the mystic path had never existed solely for cultivation. Their true traditional specialties lay in using divination to determine fortune and misfortune, avoiding taboos, warding off disasters, and resolving calamities.

From the shamanic rites of ancient times to the sects of the present day, or from imperial and state sacrifices to village witches and spirit mediums, the principle was the same.

The reason Fast Boat Zhang had earned his title was not merely because of his exceptional skill at handling boats. He had also transported a number of cultivators over the years, treating them courteously and respectfully asking for guidance, thereby accumulating quite a few skills of his own.

Whenever danger appeared, he could often avoid it at the earliest opportunity.

By now, he had already seen something of his newest passengers’ abilities. People who could make an elder of the Canal Gang treat them with courtesy and a cultivator of the Mount Mei Faith behave with respect were obviously no ordinary men. If he could learn even one or two tricks from them, those skills would be worth passing down through generations.

Li Yan could not help laughing. "Senior Zhang, there's no need to be so polite. We won't short you a single coin of the passage fee. We're all people of the jianghu struggling to make a living. How could we take advantage of you like that?

“Don't worry. Daoist Wang is the best among us at such things. He's kindhearted and already teaches these methods to ordinary people. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask him."

Old Zhang's face immediately lit up with delight. "Many thanks!"

With the plan settled, no one delayed any longer. The boatmen hauled the sails taut, using the wind to speed along the river.

The scenery on both banks was beautiful. Li Yan would occasionally come out onto the deck to enjoy the view, but he spent most of his time inside the boat cabin studying texts on Qimen Dunjia and numerological arts.

Fast Boat Zhang and the boatmen under him were also going all out. To them, the broad Han River was no different from a major road on land. They knew exactly where the hidden reefs were and where the dangerous shoals lay. They moved incredibly fast and reached Xiangyang early the following morning.

Xiangyang was an ancient city with a history stretching back a thousand years, known as the "First Fortress of the Divine Continent." Naturally, it was extraordinary. Even before they drew close, hundreds of vessels could already be seen weaving across the water.

Although Li Yan wanted to explore the city, treating Yan Jiuling’s mother was more important. They had already been delayed far too long in Yunyang, so they had no intention of staying long. They would simply replenish some supplies at the ferry landing and leave.

However, the moment Li Yan stepped ashore, he sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere. Many people wore worried expressions and hurried about.

Li Yan glanced over, and Sha Lifei immediately understood. He quickly headed toward a tea stall at the ferry landing. After only a few words, he had already thrown an arm around the boat owner's shoulders, calling him brother as though they were old friends.

After making a few inquiries, he hurried back and clicked his tongue. "Something really has happened. News has come from the city. The natives of the Jingchu region, under the leadership of the Heavenly Saint Cult, have already risen in rebellion. The barbarians in the southwest have responded as well. They no longer acknowledge Great Xuan as their sovereign. This has really blown up..."