Chapter 101: Brown Stone
Defence talismans, invisibility talismans, attack talismans, teleportation talismans, camouflage talismans, ...
When Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen had replenished their stock, their money bags were considerably lighter, but neither was complaining.
Although talismans were external to the body, they played a role in keeping them safe in the secret realm.
"Fellow Daoists, take care of yourself in the trade valley." The yellow-robed stall keeper said when the four were about to leave her stall.
Yu Nianzhen narrowed his eyes and turned back to see her smiling at them.
"We have heard rumours but nothing concrete. Can you tell us what is going on?" Jiang Yue asked.
The woman’s smile widened, and her expression softened.
She looked at Jiang Yue before she said, "the Death Flower Ascension Front likes to target cultivators who visit the trade valley."
"However, the valley is protected by the border guards and the BlueStar Treasure Pavilion. You will be fine if you don’t leave, but if you do, they will likely target you."
"Is that so?"
This was information they already knew from the information trader.
However, Jiang Yue didn’t reveal it in his expression, hoping the woman would continue talking.
He hoped she would eventually reveal something they didn’t know, but everything turned for nought.
"We will thank you for your advice." The four gave the yellow-robed woman a slight bow.
"No need, no need. The Death Flower Ascension Front is a problem for everyone."
"We still have things to buy. We will meet again if fate permits."
After that, the four continued to visit other stalls in the valley.
However, most of everything on sale was generic and not attractive to any of the four.
It wasn’t until the fifth last stall that Jiang Yue found what he was looking for.
The fifth last stall was a trader of oddities.
It had everything from herbs to weapon shards.
When the four arrived, Jiang Yue knew whatever treasure he was looking for was in the stall.
However, he didn’t know what it was or how it looked.
Fortunately, there weren’t too many items for sale, and his eyes eventually landed on a stone.
The stone was ten centimetres long and looked like a rock collected from the bottom of a river.
It was smooth as if all its edges had been smoothened by years of water erosion.
Although it wasn’t distinctive, Jiang Yue knew it was precious.
’What is it though?’ He wondered as he looked at the brown stone.
So far, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue had two treasures they couldn’t identify.
One was the hourglass bought in Fengying city which they hadn’t managed to identify even after five years.
The other was the herb they found in the rock crack.
They now referred to it as the formation herb, but they still didn’t know what it was and what it could do.
Adding a third unknown was frustrating, but Jiang Yue paid for it without hesitation.
"Why did you buy that?" Bai Ruyue asked after they walked away from the stall.
Wang Xue’er was also curious.
Unlike Bai Ruyue, she was a little more observant.
Although the other had made it look like he was just buying the stone for curiosity, she could tell that wasn’t the case.
She had seen his reaction the moment his eyes landed on the stone.
She didn’t know how but she reckoned that Jiang Yue had been looking for the stone in that stall.
"There is nothing to it. I was just surprised and curious when I saw a stone on sale."
"Let’s check the remaining stalls and find a place to rest." Jiang Yue said to interrupt Bai Ruyue’s next question.
When she heard that, Wang Xue’er looked upwards.
The sky was getting dark, and the night was quickly approaching.
Once they finished checking the remaining stalls, it would already be night.
"We shouldn’t stay overnight." Yu Nianzhen suddenly said.
They had been travelling for a long time and were looking forward to a comfortable place to rest.
However, safety came first.
Rather than stay overnight, he wanted to sneak out of the trade valley in the dark.
There was no guarantee that someone would not follow them out, but the pursuers would be fewer than if they left during the day.
If they stayed for a few days, they would give members of the Death Flower Ascension Front a chance to organise.
After considering everything, he felt it was best to leave right away.
In this way, the enemies would be caught by surprise and may not be organised enough to mount a decent pursuit.
"Fellow Daoists Jiang is right." Wang Xue’er agreed.
She initially planned to stay for a few days before finding an opportunity to sneak away from the valley.
However, she changed her mind as soon as she heard Yu Nianzhen’s rationale.
"Let’s follow Jiang Zhen’s plan." Bai Ruyue said.
"Alright, but we can’t be too obvious."
After checking out the remaining stalls, the four found a place to rest.
The place was twenty metres from the valley exit and a tent inn run by a business-minded cultivator.
Although they called it an inn, it was more rudimentary than that.
It was just small tent rooms with a stone bed, a qi gathering array, and a protection array.
Nonetheless, it was more comfortable than resting on the ground with only a defence array plate for protection.
Still, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue erected a defence array before they could relax in their shared tent.
"Is the brown stone..." Yu Nianzhen started, and Jiang Yue nodded before he could finish.
"It’s because of the treasure compass." He removed the stone from his storage ring and began to examine it.
However, the result was the same as before.
The stone had no distinctive qualities, and neither his qi nor consciousness could penetrate it.
"See if you can find anything."
Yu Nianzhen took the stone and began to run his fingers on its surface.
It was as he was doing this that he felt a strangeness within him.
"What’s wrong?" Jiang Yue asked.
Yu Nianzhen frowned but didn’t answer.
Instead, he closed his eyes and sunk his consciousness into his body.
After three breaths, he opened his eyes with a puzzled look on his face.
’It’s nothing in my body.’ He thought as he continued to search for the source of the disturbance.
Finally, he realised it was the jade box.
The jade box was warmer than usual, and its green surface glowed with a soft light.
’What is this?’ He wondered and removed the jade box from his robe sleeve.
"The jade box seems to like this brown rock." Yu Nianzhen said.
"Put it in the box and see what happens."
"En."
Yu Nianzhen didn’t hesitate.
He tossed the stone into the jade box, and the box reacted immediately.
A large clump of soil rose upwards and engulfed the rock.
When the entire stone was engulfed, the soil fell down, and everything returned to usual.
However, that didn’t last long.
Soon after, there was a sucking sound within the box.
The jade box’s heaven and earth aura began to spiral and rush to where the stone had fallen.
"What is it?" Jiang Yue asked.
He had been watching the other and could see the complex look on his face.
"See for yourself."
Yu Nianzhen made space for the other, and Jiang Yue sunk his consciousness into the jade box.
By then, the brown stone had sucked all the heaven and earth qi in the jade box.
Without an alternative, it had begun to steal from the other herbs, and they were regressing at an alarming rate.
The only herb that wasn’t affected was the tree of life at the centre of the jade box.
"This won’t do. I will throw in some spirit stones."
Yu Nianzhen did the deed as he said the words.
At first, he threw in ten thousand spirit stones.
However, ten thousand spirit stones were like a drop in the ocean.
They disappeared as soon as they entered the jade box, and the sucking continued.
Without delay, he threw in one million, and Jiang Yue did the same.
This time, the sucking stopped, and the two sighed in relief.
When preparing for the secret realm, Yu Nianzhen had changed five million contribution points into five million low-grade spirit stones.
Since arriving in the secret realm, he had used one million to maintain the jade box and buy things in the trade valley.
Now that they had used two million, they had less than two million remaining from the original amount.
Fortunately, they had another million from their combined adventures in the thousand herbs garden.
"It needs more." Jiang Yue said, and there was a hint of despair in his voice.
After putting in the spirit stones, the sucking had stopped, but the aura in the box was too thin.
The damaged herbs had yet to recover, and the brown stone hadn’t shown any changes.
