CHAPTER 11: Elder Chen Niao
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The carriage jerked hard.
"ow!" Yin Zhe grunted as his head slammed against the bars again. THUD!!. "damnit"
Ren Tie had braced against the sudden jolt. Meanwhile Bao Zi yelped like when someone stepped on a cat's tail.
The system panel vanished from Yin Zhe's view.
He blinked hard.
"What was that…? What's happening now?"
He pressed his ear toward the bars, trying to hear. At first, there was only the sound of rain dripping.
Then soon came muffled Voices. they sounded deep and rough at the same time.
He strained his ears harder. The wooden bars felt wet and cold against the side of his face.
"Hmmm… come on… talk louder…" he whispered. His heartbeat thumped in anticipation. Then he heard a louder sound.
creak… creak... clack…
The sound of a heavy metal lock being opened outside the carriage was heard. Then The door opened. And the cold night air rushed in. It was Mixed with the smell of wet earth.
A man dressed in full black robes stood at the entrance.
Every step he took let out a soft shhhh… shhhh…. His presence filled the small space. The air around him rippled. Then white cold and smooth mist began flowing out of him. The mist Crawled along the floor like a living thing.
Just as the mist reached them, Yin Zhe's system buzzed with a notification.
Ding!!.
[Attacked Reactive Points +1]
The system message made Yin Zhe's eyes widened. "The mist is some kind of attack?" He looked at the man once again. He looked like a high level cultivator. Yin Zhe couldn't detect his cultivation level. That made him feel that this guy must be dangerous. Someone whose aura alone felt like a blade pressing against their necks. Even The others felt it too.
Ren Tie tensed instantly. And His fingers curled into fists. But even he didn't dare move.
Bao Zi was shaking so hard his teeth almost clicked.
Yin Zhe's thoughts scrambled.
"He's also a high rank… very high rank… way higher than Ren Tie…"
The mist crawled up his legs. It felt Cold and somehow Soft. This was Strange. "Isn't this supposed to be an attack?. Is the system wrong?." Soon Yin Zhe started feeling drowsy.
"hmph…" he muttered, trying to hold on to consciousness. But the overwhelming power of the mist was too strong. His vision began to blur at the edges.
Before long Ren Tie dropped to his knees. Bao Zi leaned against the bars. The others slumped where they sat.
The mist wrapped around Yin Zhe's face like a blanket made of air. His eyelids grew heavy. His heartbeat slowed. Everything felt far away.
He thought,
"Not again… don't tell me… I'm blacking… out… for the second time"
And then.
Everything faded.
That night in a quiet room. The air felt warm because of the yellow lamps that were hanging from the wooden beams. Their soft light made the walls glow like old honey. The place wasn't fancy, but it had a kind of pride in it. everything inside had a kind of presence.
There was a huge table standing in the middle of the room. The table looked long enough for ten people to sit around it, yet there were only four men sitting around it. The table was filled with plates, bowls, trays, and pots. There were also dishes like Goose meat, roasted fish, bitter roots, thick soup, and sweet wine. Hot steams rose from the dishes, twisted and curled slowly in the warm air.
Three of the men sitting were eating and drinking. Their chopsticks clicked against bowls as Soft chewing sounds filled the air.
But one of the men wasn't eating at all.
He sat with calm eyes and a straight back, his hands were steady. His name was Elder Xuan Yi. His long dark hair fell neatly behind his back, and his brown robe-like uniform carried the smell of herbs. He wasn't touching the food at all. Instead, he held a small blue pill between his two fingers.
"Hmmm…" he breathed softly as he rolled the pill once between his fingers. The pill had a faint glow inside it, like a tiny drop of frozen lightning trapped in crystal. It was rather beautiful.
He lifted his hand and slowly placed the beautiful pill on his tongue. And chewed.
Crunch!!!... Crunch!!!...
He felt a sharp and cold feeling running down his chest. The feeling made His body shake lightly. He closed his eyes. His breathing slowed.
He focused all his attention on pushing the pill's power down into his core essence. It was a slow and stressful process. His fingers twitched as the medical essence tried to spread. His jaw tightened as a low "tsshhh…" escaped his nose.
This was the way to cultivate faster without spiritual locations. Better than gathering spirit essence from the environment, which took months and months. And not every place had a good quality of spirit essence. Like for example Some valleys were dry. And Some towns were poor. Only special places, like sacred mountains, held strong spirit essences that entered the body easily.
But even that wasn't enough. Everything came back to talent. Even with pills to help speed up the gathering of spirit essence. Talent always decided who rose in level and who stayed stuck.
One of the men that was eating at the table leaned back. He had a sword placed across his lap, he stroked the sword gently. It was almost like the sword was a part of him. His clothes looked messy because he had been eating with too much energy. A piece of goose meat dripped oil down his fingers, but he didn't care.
He smacked his lips and pointed the goose meat on his hand at Xuan Yi.
"Elder Xuan Yi," he called out, with a rough oily voice that always sounded slightly annoying, "why are you mushing on spirit essence pills while the rest of us are eating dinner? Hmmm?"
Xuan Yi didn't reply. His breathing stayed slowed as he continued focusing on the pill.
The swordsman elder raised his eyebrow.
"No amount of seriousness will make you breakthrough. It all comes down to talent. You know this now. You know this before. Your cultivation is already high. So why are you still forcing yourself like this?"
The sword man kept talking. And talking non-stop.
His name was Elder Chen Niao, a man who couldn't even stay quiet for one cup of tea. Every time he opened his mouth, something about swords escaped his mouth. It's either Sword path. Sword will. Sword spirit. Or Sword dao. Anyone near him always heard one thing: "Swords."
And tonight was no different. He waved the goose meat like it was a sword handle.
"You see, cultivation is a deep thing. It is not only about spirit essence. It's about the dao and the great path of all beings. Especially the sword dao. Everything returns to the sword. All swords to the master. Everything can be a sword. When you study the way of the swordless sword even the world cuts for you. When you blink, the air splits. When you...." Chen Niao continued yapping away.