The two of us walked in silence for a while. Unable to bear the quiet, I cast about for a topic. "By the way, you didn't even know what I really looked like. How did you recognize me?"
"Your clothes."
"Don't the disciples of your sect use swords? Why do you use a saber? It's a beautiful blade, though!"
"Not all of us use swords." Seeing my curiosity, Wei Qingming unfastened the saber and handed it to me, sheath and all. "Swords are merely for show; they aren't necessarily the most practical in a real fight."
The saber was longer than an arm. When it wasn't glowing, it looked reserved and understated, its shape not much different from a standard goose-quill saber. Near the guard, the characters for "Still Water" were engraved on the spine. I carefully drew the blade and gave it a few experimental swings. "It looks so thin and light, but it's actually quite heavy."
Wei Qingming chuckled. "That's considered light. For a top disciple of Mount Ancient Dream, it might be a bit dangerous if you don't practice body tempering."
I patted her shoulder and said shamelessly, "My master says that having others fight for you is the mark of true ability. Oh, is your senior brother here too? Is that why you left Wen Shu behind?"
"Mhm. So it really was a little cat eavesdropping."
I let out a cry of protest. Wei Qingming continued, "Don't misunderstand the situation with Wen Shu. She sent me a letter yesterday saying that a maid had lost her clothes during a banquet at the end of last year. Cao Chengshuo was using that to blackmail her into a private meeting, so she had no choice but to ask for my help..."
I looked at her, puzzled. "What is there for me to misunderstand? I already knew Wen Shu was innocent. I even gave Cao Chengshuo's lackeys a good thrashing."
Wei Qingming pressed a hand to her forehead. "Good."
I told her about how I had evaded capture and fallen into the tomb. Suddenly, I pointed toward a shimmering blue light ahead and gasped, "What's that over there?" I ran forward a few steps, then stopped, feeling a bit apprehensive, and looked back at her for confirmation.
She smiled. "Go see for yourself." Only then did I race toward it.
It was like a blue crystal submerged in the deep sea, or a massive block of ethereal ice. Before me lay a place of dreamlike beauty. Passing through a mist so thick it felt like liquid, the air suddenly became fresh and clear. The ground was carpeted with tiny, glowing specks of light, round and fluffy like dandelion seeds or willow catkins. When my feet touched them, they swirled into the air, shattering into crystalline dust against the tips of my shoes. Blue flowers, shaped like bellflowers, bloomed slowly, exhaling small orbs of light. Though there was no wind, the orbs drifted everywhere. I looked up to see a massive, transparent dome of light overhead. When the orbs reached the highest point, some merged into the dome, while others were bounced back, drifting down to the ground like falling snow.
Wei Qingming stepped through the mist and joined me. "It's incredible," I said. "I can feel how dense the spiritual energy is here."
Wei Qingming leaned down and plucked a blue flower with her fingertips. Before I could take it, it dissipated into the air. She then cupped her hands, manifesting a faint silver barrier that gathered the scattered specks of light. Before long, the specks reorganized themselves, returning to the shape of the flower.
"These are Flowers of the Nether Spring. they have no physical form; they are merely pure nether energy mixed with spiritual energy." Her face, illuminated by the blue light, held a trace of sorrow I had never seen before. It caused my heart, which had never known the taste of grief, to skip a beat.
She extended her hand, offering the flower to me. I reached out and touched it gently. The silver barrier popped like a bubble, and the flower dissolved into fine blue powder, drifting softly to the ground.
"That's not the only interesting thing. Try jumping."
I gave a forceful leap and unexpectedly soared over ten feet high. My descent was slow and gradual, a sensation more akin to swimming in water. Wei Qingming walked a few steps and caught me. "This is one of the many eyes of the tomb's protective arrays," she explained. "The spiritual energy leaking from the burial goods gathers here, making it incredibly dense. As cultivators, our bodies have partially transitioned into spirit forms, allowing us to float within it."
"Wow! Let me see you swim."
I thought she would refuse, but she stepped back several yards and, following a specific footwork pattern, suddenly flew toward me. She caught me by the waist and tossed me into the air. I screamed in fright, yet found it thrilling and fun. I was halfway through a scolding when I couldn't help but burst into happy laughter. As I laughed, I realized I was about to collide with the high wall of the tomb. I flailed my arms in the air, trying to change direction, but Wei Qingming was already there. I plunged not into cold stone, but into her embrace, which carried a faint, refreshing fragrance.
"Careful. Does the kitten not know how to tread water?"
"If you call me a cat again, I'll scratch that handsome face of yours!" I threatened, waving my "claws" in front of her.
She let out a soft laugh, then turned and led me higher. The dome, showered in blue light, felt close enough to touch. The drifting orbs of light shattered against her clothes, her face, and her lowered eyelashes, enveloping us in a hazy halo.
I swam four or five laps, reluctant to leave, and only touched down when I had finally had my fill.
"Done playing?"
I pursed my lips. "Aren't you supposed to have serious business to attend to?"
Wei Qingming spoke nonchalantly. "With my senior brothers here, nothing major will go wrong."
"...With a junior brother like you, something major is bound to happen sooner or later."
As we continued forward, the atmosphere became a bit subtle. Although we had been playing happily just moments ago, Wei Qingming stopped holding my hand once we stepped out of the array eye. She simply led the way without looking back. Neither of us spoke. Instead, Yangyang, having gorged herself on spiritual energy, couldn't resist coming out for a stroll. She sat comfortably on Wei Qingming's shoulder, and the two of them conversed in the Spirit Language. Back at Wei Qingming's house, I had asked her how she knew the Spirit Language. She said it was because many ancient texts were written in it; it was essentially the original language used by the gods to create the world, so she had learned it.
Just as I was grumpily plotting to force Yangyang to learn the Demon Language, the little spirit hopped down nimbly and landed on my hand. Wei Qingming raised her sleeve slightly to greet her unfortunate senior brother.
This senior brother's appearance was the exact opposite of what I imagined a Daoist disciple to be. He wore a coarse black tunic, and despite the spring night, his arms were bare. His lower half was clad in a pair of dingy, baggy grey trousers with leg wraps—the typical outfit of a dockworker. He was leaning lazily against a corner with his legs crossed. Seeing us return, he brushed back a stray lock of hair, shifted the straw stalk in his mouth, and cursed, "Old Third Wei, where did you go to take a nap? There's such a thing as taking slacking too far!"
Thinking of how we had lost track of time playing, I felt quite guilty. Wei Qingming, however, remained composed. "I accidentally disturbed a nest of Yin-corroding beasts. It delayed me." She glanced back slightly. "Furthermore, I had to rescue my cousin."
"Cousin?" The senior brother sat up in surprise. I quickly and politely bowed. "Greetings, Senior Brother."
"Heh, my surname is Feng, name's Feng Baili." Senior Brother Feng rubbed the straw stalk and said with a grin, "Why call me 'Senior Brother'? You aren't a Daoist disciple. Call me 'Big Brother'."
I wanted to roll my eyes at him. Suddenly, Wei Qingming's saber flashed out in a thrust, the tip striking the stone wall exactly one inch from Feng Baili's left temple with a sharp *ding*. Feng Baili just kept grinning, neither dodging nor flinching.
She withdrew her blade and squinted at a colorful spider on the tip. "There are many venomous insects in tombs," she said slowly. "Senior Brother should be careful."
Feng Baili replied with a smirk, "Spiders eat mosquitoes, mosquitoes eat Old Feng. Spiders are good bugs; why'd you have to kill it?" He scratched his leg, let out a yawn, and stood up. "It's about time. Senior Brother Bai should be finishing up."
He picked up a massive ring-pommel saber from the ground, shoved it diagonally across his back, and began to lead the way with long, rapid strides.
I tugged on Wei Qingming's sleeve and used a specialized illusionist technique to transmit my voice. *What are you all doing here?* She glanced at me. I pouted. *I'm going to see it in a moment anyway. You can't keep it a secret!*
"Killing," Wei Qingming dropped the single word.
I punched her in annoyance. Only then did she explain, "Among the valuables we intercepted from Prince Xuan's Manor, there were some pale green glazed stones. Do you remember?" I thought back. In the cosmos bag stolen by the Divine Thief Gu Shuguan, there had been some rough, unpolished stones that looked out of place among the delicate jewelry and artifacts. I had even scraped my hand on those jagged things while digging for treasures.
"Those are called Flying Feather Stones. If you use a piece that is large and pure enough, you can travel a thousand miles in an instant. The flying carriages you took to Pingjing are equipped with them."
I gasped. "No wonder they're so fast! There's no way a Luan-horse could cover six or seven thousand miles in a single day and night on its own!"
"Exactly," Wei Qingming continued. "Because of their unique properties, these minerals have always been strictly regulated by the government. Officials can only obtain a very small number of small stones, which are used to speed up short-distance travel. Merchants who build long-distance flying carriages and ships can buy them with mining scrip, but the quantity is limited. Flying Feather Stones are rare; those that circulate on the market are usually already embedded in artifacts. For Prince Xuan's Manor to have five or six medium-sized raw stones in a single bag of stolen loot... isn't that suspicious?"
I asked, puzzled, "If Prince Xuan is the problem, you should just arrest him. What does that have to do with digging up someone's ancestral tomb?"
Wei Qingming smiled faintly. "What is rare above ground might not be so rare below."
It clicked. "The burial goods!"
As we spoke, we reached the core area of the tomb. I could feel the spiritual energy becoming even denser. We were in a box-shaped corridor. The walls were no longer smooth, unadorned Profound Sinking Stone, but were instead inlaid with lifelike reliefs, forming a series of meaningful scenes. Having just read about the tomb owner Zhong He's life, I guessed these might be the most important moments of his journey. Unfortunately, these sculptures—clearly the work of a master—were splattered with blood. Over a dozen bodies lay scattered across the floor; it seemed Wei Qingming and her group had already done their work.
The smell of blood made me cover my nose in discomfort. I tiptoed across the floor,
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