Chapter 82 (Patreon)

“Junior Brother,” the Liquid Meridian said. Though Wang Xiao called him Senior he didn’t seem much older than any of them. He looked similar to Wang Xiao, in the way people raised in the same circumstances do. Their demeanors couldn’t have been more different however. Where Wang Xiao had drawn eyes like a proud bird showing off his feathers his Senior Brother had no need for such displays. It was like comparing a parrot to a falcon.

He nodded to Chen Haoran and Xie Jin. “Hello. I didn’t mean to intervene like this but I require these men alive.”

Chen Haoran gripped his sword tightly. Xie Jin hid his hands within his sleeves while a thing purple film spread over his Gu. A subtle peach scent wafted through the air.

“No worries.” Chen Haoran said. “We’ll be leaving now. "

The entrance of a Liquid Meridian Realm made their already bad situation worse. He kept his qi cycling in a raging torrent. Unlike before he had no more cores or mammoth tusks to harm a Liquid Meridian with. He didn’t know if drawing his scimitar would do anything to him. They had to get out.

The Liquid Meridian did give them a chance. “Please hold if you will. I’d like a moment of your time.” He waved his hand and the peach-colored liquid qi covering the poachers dissipated. “Junior Brother Wang, please secure the prisoners.”

Wang Xiao clasped his hands and bowed. “Senior Brother, these are the people who interfered with my hunt for the criminals. Please allow me to settle this grievance now.”

An ugly scowl crossed Xie Jin’s face and Chen Haoran didn’t think his own was any better. Now that this bastard had backing he was getting bold again.

“Interfered you say?” The Liquid Meridian chuckled. It was not a pleasant sound.  “Wang Xiao, do you really think I haven’t kept you in my sight?”

“Senior Brother Jiang-”

“Destruction of property, losing the target, disrupting the public, picking pointless fights.” Senior Brother Jiang ticked off his fingers with each offense.

Chen Haoran and Xie Jin shared a look. They might not be in so much trouble after all?

“You would have lost the target completely and wasted our time had one of the men you involved not been a shaman.”

“I still found it,” Wang Xiao retorted. It was a weak defense. It was clear he was grasping for straws.

“You were lucky.”

“Luck is a talent.”

The air shifted, and Chen Haoran felt a weight on his chest. Xie Jin grimaced. Wang Xiao, who bore the brunt of it, paled.

Senior Brother Jiang spoke quietly. “Are you worthy of that luck?” He held his hands behind his back and walked over, yet for all that Chen Haoran never took his eyes off him he still didn’t see when exactly the Liquid Meridian realm stood in front of Wang Xiao. “What are our goals here, Junior Brother?”

Wang Xiao did not meet his senior’s eyes. “To do good and protect order.”

“And you have failed,” Jiang mercilessly said. “You will be rectifying these mistakes after dealing with the prisoners.” He regarded his Junior with cool eyes. “You have disappointed me already with your actions. For your sake do not add to it.”

Wang Xiao hung his head. “Yes, Senior Brother.” He bowed and like a beaten dog scurried away to deal with the captured poachers.

The breath Chen Haoran had been holding flew back into his lungs when the Liquid Meridian realm then turned to them and walked over.

“Do not come any closer,” Xie Jin warned.

Jiang stopped before stepping back with his hands raised and helplessly smiling. “I just wish to convey my thanks. I’ve no intention of being on the bad side of a Black Bone Shaman.”

Even a Liquid Meridian Realm considered his Gu threatening. Chen Haoran had the feeling Xie Jin had left some parts out when he’d been describing his home. He could only hope it would be enough.

“My name is Jiang Lei. My junior and I have been tracking this particular group for quite some time. Their familiarity with the area gave us a difficult time cornering them.” He clasped his hands and bowed. “For that I would like to thank you, as well as apologize for the actions of my junior.”

“It’s water under the bridge now. There was no real harm caused,” Chen Haoran said.

“Still you’ve done us a great favor.” Jiang Lei reached into the storage back at his waste and pulled out two palm-sized blue crystals. He tossed them to Xie Jin who merely glanced over them and stowed them away.

“Excuse us then,” Xie Jin said, backing away.

“May I know your names?” At Xie Jin’s suspicious look Jiang Fei smiled. “I enjoy learning the names of the young heroes of the South.”

“I’m not from the South,” Chen Haoran blurted out and instantly regretting it. Where his nerves got the better of his his mouth decided to do the thinking.

“You’re here now,” Jiang Lei said, still smiling.

They shared a look.

“Xie Jin.”

“Chen Haoran.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Jiang Lei bowed once more. His eyes flickered over Chen Haoran. “You have a bright future ahead of you when you enter the Liquid Meridian Realm.”

Chen Haoran shivered. What did he see? “Thank you.”

After waiting for Jiang Lei to say anything else they nodded their heads and slowly backed out of the camp. When the reached the tree line the cycled their qi to the fullest and broke into a run.

He really needed to advance.

——————

Chen Haoran didn’t know and didn’t care what direction Xie Jin had taken them. Just that they were far away from Wang Xiao and his powerful Senior Brother. He let out a long, anxiety-breath and a weight be lifted off his shoulders. That situation could have gone so, so very wrong if Jiang Lei had been hostile.

“You weren’t kidding about the resources in the south huh? I didn’t think they were common enough we’d meet one so soon.”

Xie Jin’s face was pinched with confusion. “We shouldn’t have met them. They had no business being this far out.”

“What?”

“Those cultivators we met are from the Peachwine. The fact their operating in Snake’s End is suspicious.”

Chen Haoran was about to ask what Xie Jin was going on about when Phelps shifted in his arms and yawned. They skidded to a stop and watched Phelps blearily open his eyes. For a brief moment their was nothing but drowsiness in them but they suddenly sharpened and he let loose an aggressive scream and swung his claws.

“Easy Phelps! Easy!” Chen Haoran flared his qi and Phelps stopped, finally registering where he was. He dove into Chen Haorans’s with a squeal. “Can we take a break?” He asked Xie Jin.

“We should be fine here.”

Chen Haoran sank to the ground and cradled Phelps. He stroked the sloths fur and finally felt exhaustion take him as his adrenaline died down. Xie Jin waved his Gu to patrol the jungle and sat down next to him.

“What were you talking about before? Peachwine? Are they related to those Reservoir Town cultivators we met before.”

“Yes,” Xie Jin said before frowning and shaking his head. “But maybe no.”

Perhaps his dissatisfaction was showing because Xie Jin hurriedly clarified.

“Remember when I told you Zumulu has its own special rivers? The Peachwine is one of them. It’s waters are poisonous to drink.”

He hadn’t been joking about that?

“I’m guessing people still live near it despite that?”

Xie Jin nodded. “For others it’s poisonous. To the tribes who live along the river’s banks, the water is an important cultivation resource.”

“Is this… a big river?”

“It’s smaller than the Machu but it’s bigger than the tributary we sailed down.”

Chen Haoran’s mind wandered at the implications. For him cultivating in the Machu was beneficial only because the river deliberately helped him, otherwise it wasn’t anymore special than the other places he’d trained. Even drinking it’s water hadn’t noticeably benefited him. What if it did though? If he could just reach down and drink his fill of cultivation supplements?

“It can’t be that easy.”

“Jealous much?” Xie Jin had damnably seen through his thoughts. “It’s not that easy thankfully. Even if the Peachwine is safe for them to drink it’s still poison, their bodies are so adapted to it that most other cultivation supplements are near useless.”

“And cultivators being cultivators they don’t want anything to interfere with their progress so they don’t easily leave the river.”

Xie Jin sighed. “Exactly. Which is why those two are so suspicious. It doesn’t seem like they work for the Pacification Committee and yet they’re this far from the Peachwine hunting criminals.” Xie Jin pulled out one of the blue crystals Jiang Lei gave him and handed it to Chen Haoran.

“What’s this?”

“A Spirit Stone.” Xie Jin shook his head. “Whoever those guys were they belong to a group and one with big coffers if they just hand out low-grade Spirit Stones like that.”

Chen Haoran turned the crystal around in his palm. Through his sense he could feel the qi trapped within it. That didn’t exactly tell him what he could do with it, however. He showed the Spirit Stone to Phelps, who took one sniff and then started licking it. Seeing this, Chen Haoran let Phelps have it and held him while the sloth grasped the Spirit Stone in his claws and continuously licked and bit it.

“There are cultivators who’d fight to have your pet’s treatment,” Xie Jin said, shaking his head ruefully.

He was joking but if Chen Haoran had his way then soon enough that might become reality.

Received Hundred-Fold: Middle-Grade Spirit Stone

He just had to do it one reward at a time.