Chapter 70 (Patreon)

From then on Chen Haoran took off Phelps’s blindfold every night after the sun fell and made sure he was awake to watch the first light of the sunset before putting the blindfold back on. He would gradually let the sloth watch the mornings until he was sure his eyes were adjusted. Until then Phelps contented himself watching the shifting phases of the moon. It was to the extent that he wondered if Phelps would have been a wolf had he not been a sloth.

On the eve of the full moon, they finally broke out of the forests and found the road leading to Clearsprings City. Although it was popular for its hot springs the city was otherwise alone amongst the mountains. Here they finally met other travelers, merchants, tourists, and caravans. For those coming from the city all they spoke of was the Lan family. It seemed that rather than offer any explanation to his erstwhile allies Patriarch Lan slipped out of the city instead. After not appearing in the following weeks the City Lord seemed to realize something and came down on the remaining Lan family with thunderous force following some kind of trumped-up charge. Without Patriarch Lan being in contact and looking more like he had run off every day the Lan family’s erstwhile allies didn’t intervene at all and indeed joined in on scavenging what remained of the Lan family’s business.

“Crazy how quickly things changed isn’t it?” Xie Jin had said after hearing the story from someone who claimed to deliver spirit herbs to the Lan family. “You’d think they’d have more caution.”

“How so? The Lan family was defenseless. I was lead to believe this is pretty in character for them.”

“Who can guarantee the Patriarch won’t return and exact revenge? These people really must be fearless to go and destroy his family.”

Chen Haoran could only awkwardly smile. “I don’t think they’re too worried about him.”

Lan Fen had probably dropped the City Lord a hint before she left and he probably informed the other families of the Patriarch’s likely fate.

“Is something like that a common concern?” Chen Haoran asked Xie Jin later that night around their fire. Phelps, following some ancestral instinct perhaps, had hung himself on the branch of a nearby tree and gazed at the full moon in a trance.

Xie Jin shrugged. “It depends? There are plenty of stories of some minor relative growing into a powerful cultivator and avenging their families but that’s really all they are. Stories. If people were really scared of some unknown weakling becoming strong and coming for revenge then it wouldn’t be long before everyone killed each other.”

“Isn’t that possible though? Say someone finds a treasure trove or the inheritance of a powerful cultivator?”

“That’s just luck at that point,” Xie Jin said. He poked a stick around the smoldering coals of the flame. “The strong are only concerned with the strong. A Liquid Meridian elder like the Lan Patriarch is far more deserving of caution than Qi realms like us.”

Chen Haoran flexed his fingers on the hand he used to spear a Liquid Meridian to death. Would he not be one of the only Qi realms to kill a Liquid Meridian? It was a pointless thought. Xie Jin’s point still stood and Chen Haoran could justify it with every futile effort he put up against Liquid Meridians prior.

“I really have to advance,” he said, sighing.

Xie Jin snorted. “You and every other cultivator.”

——————

Outside of the Clearsprings province they traveled across blessedly flatter ground and started coming across villages along the road. Xie Jin proved to be a worldly traveler and they could at least get a roof over their heads every night till they reached a large town. It was a much humbler affair than Clearsprings City. Smaller buildings, smaller walls, more dirt roads. The place was more pitstop than anything else accentuated by the fact that it seemed like almost every other building was an inn or bar of some sort. The one notable feature was the coursing yellow river the town bordered. Riverboats arrived and departed from the wooden quays built into the water while fishermen pulled in the last of the day’s catch in their nets.

Chen Haoran felt a hitch in his qi when they approached the river looking for a boat. While Xie Jin was haggling for a ride with a tanned captain dressed in simple leathers; he stood at the end of a pier and stared into the muddy water. Phelps looked sniffed the air curiously from his shoulders and squealed at the new scents.

Chen Haoran stretched out his sense, the river wasn’t any more spiritual than the air around him. Nothing about it particularly riveted his attention or unconsciously drew his eye. It was just a river, the whole of it couldn’t compare to even a single pool in the Spa Cavern.

Even so, his qi had a reaction here it did not there.

He cycled his qi but both it and the river flowed as normal. Just as he was about to sit down and meditate a hand slapped his back.

“Water roots will really swim anywhere huh?” Xie Jin asked.

Chen Haoran was grateful for the interruption. This was no place to cultivate. “What is this river called?”

Xie Jin rubbed his chin in thought. “Does it have a name?”

“It’s a tributary young lord,” said the captain Xie Jin had spoken with. He stepped away from directing the crew of a nearby boat and approached them. “Folks around here call it the Goldwater, it feeds directly into the Machu river. Us river men call them the Dragon’s Veins though.”

“Dragon Veins?”

“You’ll see it properly once we ship out,” Xie Jin said after the captain returned to work. “The Machu river is the biggest in the Empire. We’ll stay the night here and set off tomorrow morning.”

Ah right. The boat.

“Is there a place to sell jewelry here?” Chen Haoran asked. “I don’t have any money on me right now.”

Xie Jin scoffed and waved him off. “Brother Chen don’t think me a poor man, I had my own fortuitous encounter.” He pulled off the thick satchel on his back and opened it to reveal that it was filled with gold taels. “When I was searching for you I found this mountain of gold just lying in the mountains. We won’t have to worry about money with me here.”

Chen Haoran slowly shifted his gaze from the taels to Xie Jin’s proud face. Briefly, he considered telling him the truth but decided against it. No need to spoil his good mood. Instead, he cupped his hands. “I’ll be in your care then Brother Jin.”

“That’s the spirit!” Xie Jin cheered. “Let’s go drink!”

——————

They didn’t go far. Xie Jin, out of consideration for him, was initially going to go to the nicest inn in town. Chen Haoran hadn’t wanted to go far from the river however and so Xie Jin settled on the place that had the best drinks in town instead. They toasted saucers of warm milky rice wine surrounded by rowdy sailors and fishermen. A plate stacked with steaming pork cutlets sat between them. Phelps had his own chair and chowed on a plate of greens and glowing blue moss. Chen Haoran traced the wine’s warmth with his qi as he drank and felt the heat spread through his core. It was a relaxing drink after a long day’s travel.

“It won’t be long now,” Xie Jin said. “We’ll be traveling by boat through the Central region till we reach Whiteridge City from there it’s a straight shot down the official road into the south.”

“Looking forward to it,” Chen Haoran said. He cupped his saucer between both hands and traced the rim with his finger.

“Did you sense something when we were at the river?” Xie Jin asked.

Startled, Chen Haoran nearly dropped his saucer. Had he been that obvious? Xie Jin looked at him with concern and he forced a smile to his face.“I’m fine. Just thinking.” He grabbed the bottle and poured more wine for them both.  “Is there something special about the Machu river?”

“So I was told,” Xie Jin said, bringing the saucer to his lips. “I heard it was unlike any river in Zumulu and not just for its scale although I don’t know much more than that. I thought that you might have felt something because of your affinity.”

Chen Haoran swirled the wine around before raising the saucer and downing it in one go. “Do you know how cultivation techniques are made?”

“Are you trying to be a sage or something?” Xie Jin joked and reached for the bottle. “They’re made the same way anything is. Based on something greater than ourselves.” He was just about to refill Chen Haoran’s saucer when he suddenly stopped.

Chen Haoran sighed and looked down at his plate. Things seemed to always go wrong when he ordered pork.

Six men rose from where they had been watching the two drink and surrounded their table. The lowest among them was a Sixth-Layer. The strongest, an Eighth, pulled out a chair and rudely sat himself down. He leaned back and leered at Xie Jin. “Lo traveler. Could you kindly spare some poor brothers a few taels?”