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

Beneath everyones gazes, the girl said bitterly, I Im sorry. Just now, I was overly presumptuous

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

Was this the price of growing up?

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

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

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

Su 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.

Hed never planned to make things hard on the girl in the first place.

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

When he saw this, Uncle?Yong?and the guards finally relaxed. They realized that Su Yi wasnt about to take the young miss to task over her poor manners.

They werent 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.

Dusk was approaching.

The 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.

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

Only Su Yi remained in the courtyard, examining the folding fan hed 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.

This is most likely a product of the Deathbringers Gate. The craftsmanship is coarse and shoddy; its not even worth looking at. What a waste of quality spiritual materials, said Su Yi with a hint of regret.

The 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.

But in the end, he found nothing.

He couldnt help but furrow his brow.?The corpse had gained sentience, and hed even recruited several members of the Deathbringers Gate as his subordinates. It was highly likely that hed already plucked both the Six Yin Grass and the Extreme Yang Flowers. Su Yi couldnt even eliminate the possibility that the corpse had already gotten his hands on the inauspicious yin spirit vein.

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

Dont tell me this wicked creature has a nest somewhere out there, and that its 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?Corpses remains instantly burst into flame.

Dense black smoke billowed into the air.

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

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

Su Yi immediately picked it up and examined it. Soon, he couldnt help but smile.

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

More importantly, this was actually a storage treasure!

According to Su Yis memories of his current life, spatial treasures were incredibly rare within the Great Zhous borders. Even some Grandmasters werent fortunate enough to possess them.

It wasnt that they were so expensive so much as that they were overly rare.

Su Yi wouldnt have guessed?this?Six-Severings?Yin?Corpse would possess a treasure of this caliber. Expplre ptodte stories at no/el//bin(.)cm

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

He 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.

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

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

However, he didnt find that inauspicious yin spirit vein. He wasnt sure if the corpse had already refined it, or if it were still hidden somewhere within Mother Ghost Ridge, undiscovered.

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

Its 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.

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

Aside 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 werent useful to Su Yi. Still, he could at least give them to Qing Wan.

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

It described a secret cultivation method called the Nine Devils Profound Yin Technique.

As impressive as the name sounded, after Su Yi flipped through it, he couldnt help but shake his head in disappointment.

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

Even 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, youd barely be on par with an Origin Dao cultivator.

It couldnt even begin to come close to the Ten Directions Asura Sutra hed given Qing Wan, and it wasnt worth so much as a second look.

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

But if I want to reach the pinnacle of Refining Bone, Im afraid half a month wont be enough.

Going forward, Ill have to keep searching for spiritual medicines.

But then, finding this dark jade pendant means I didnt make this journey in vain.

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

With a storage treasure, hed have no need to drag around heavy luggage during his upcoming journeys.

This was what pleased Su Yi the most.

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

But when he wasnt cultivating, he was as lazy as could be. If he could leave something to other people, he would. He wouldnt so much as lift a finger if he didnt have to.

Darkness spread, and night fell.

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

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

Mystic Master Su, its already gotten late. Weve prepared a modest meal to express our gratitude. Please, take a seat. Uncle Yong invited him with a smile.

.

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

Dont mind if I do. Su Yi wasnt the type to put on airs. He simply sat down and stretched.

When he saw that everyone else was still standing, he casually ordered, Sit down, all of you. No need to be reserved. Ive never cared about these sorts of details.

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

From 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 shed yet to recover from her earlier shock.

But she didnt have any of her former domineering, prideful temper, either.

Su Yi certainly didnt care how she felt. He ate and drank as he pleased, ignoring her completely.

When they saw Su Yis disregard for the details, the guards gradually relaxed. They started toasting him and making small talk.?Su Yi didnt refuse, but he barely spoke, either.

Even so, this level of amiability was a huge comfort to Uncle?Yong?and the rest of the guards.?Theyd 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.

Guo Bing was delighted too.

Everything hed seen today had expanded his horizons. He was increasingly convinced that with Su Yis abilities, he could easily cure the yin poison afflicting him.

As 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.

Only now did Su Yi learn that they hailed from another of Cloudriver Prefectures four peak-level factions, the Yuan Family.

The 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.

Uncle Yongs full name was Cheng Wuyong. He was an elder, albeit one with an outside surname, and hed accompanied Yuan Luoxi as the leader of her guards.

The guards were all elites with cultivations in the Blood Circulations Refining Sinew or Refining Bone stages. They were valiant and capable on the battlefield.

Theyd 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.

When he heard that, Su Yis eyebrows shot up. How did you learn that Six Yin Grass grew in Mother Ghost Ridge?

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

The 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.

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

Xiao Tianque? asked Su Yi.

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

Even the way she addressed him had changed.

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

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 hadnt bumped into me, Im afraid he would be long dead by now, said Su Yi casually.

Cheng Wuyong and the other guards visibly started.

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

Meanwhile, something seemed to occur to Yuan Luoxi, who blurted, Mystic Master, dont tell me youre that lofty expert Grandpa Xiao told me about?

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

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

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

Chapter end