As Xu Ziqing proceeded cautiously along the way, he could hardly help feeling tense and apprehensive. He had cultivated for less than a year and was only at the first layer of Qi Refinement, while that Mottled Demon Snake had around a hundred years of cultivation. Even with talismans in hand, he had been deeply wary of it.
He could hardly be blamed for feeling uneasy. In his previous life, he had died young at eighteen after spending his entire life confined to the tiny world of a hospital room. In this life, only thirteen years had passed, all of them spent in a little village much like an earthly paradise, so at heart he could still only be called a youth. Even if that made him somewhat steadier than others his age, it was not by very much. That demon snake had been the first vicious creature of its kind he had ever seen, so how could he not have been afraid? Yet the two cultivators he met afterward had looked not much older than he was, and killing the demon snake had been effortless for them. Seen that way, the snake that had seemed so ferocious to him was apparently nothing exceptional in the eyes of ordinary cultivators.
Thinking this, Xu Ziqing could not help smiling bitterly. His strength truly was meager. Here in the secret realm, even that demon snake could be dealt with so easily by others. Who knew how many fiercer and more terrifying demon creatures still lay ahead?
He sighed. Now that he had been separated from Steward He, there was no use dwelling on it. Better to move slowly and avoid other people where possible.
Xu Ziqing therefore chose places where the woods were sparse and the grass not too deep, probing his way forward. In his hand he kept a red talisman that could conceal his aura. Unfortunately, its effect lasted only four hours. Since he had not yet encountered any great danger, he merely kept it ready for now. If he ran into something that truly threatened his life, he could activate it at once and try to escape.
After hiding and moving this way for a while, Xu Ziqing encountered a new problem.
At his current Qi Refinement cultivation, he was nowhere near capable of going without food. After walking for most of the day, although fortune had spared him another encounter with a demon beast, hunger had caught up with him.
Pressing a hand to his aching stomach, Xu Ziqing gave a wry smile and prepared to find something to eat.
Fortunately, the secret realm was rich in spiritual energy, which nourished a great many plants. They were not all spiritual things, but any fruit they bore tended to be large, plump, and brightly colored. So long as Xu Ziqing first checked the surroundings for danger, he could pick some to eat.
Just ahead, a patch of grass was dotted with many slender fruits about the size of a thumb. Xu Ziqing hurried over, but first sent out a burst of spiritual power to test the area. Only after nothing unusual happened did he slowly approach.
At the edge of the grass, he waited a little longer before carefully using spiritual power to pull down one fruit and scrape it open against the ground. A faint fruity fragrance immediately drifted out, and the scent seemed somewhat familiar.
Xu Ziqing thought carefully. Then inspiration struck. He studied the plant’s leaves, stem, and roots more closely and finally remembered reading about it in Illustrated Guide to Spiritual Herbs. This was Coral Grass.
According to the record, Coral Grass was merely an extremely ordinary spiritual herb and contained very little spiritual energy. In the mundane world, it counted as an excellent medicine for stopping bleeding quickly, but in the eyes of cultivators it was practically useless. Illustrated Guide to Spiritual Herbs had included it only because it did, in fact, contain spiritual energy, and offered little further description.
For Xu Ziqing at the moment, however, Coral Grass was still useful. Its fruit was sweet and nonpoisonous. It could not increase cultivation the way some spiritual fruits could, but there was no harm in using it to fill his stomach.
Since there appeared to be no danger, Xu Ziqing immediately picked all the fruit and gathered it in the front of his robe. Then he sat down on the ground and ate quickly. Time was short and he still had to remain alert to his surroundings, so he merely rubbed each fruit briefly with his hand before stuffing it whole into his mouth. There was little dust in the secret realm anyway, so it did not matter much.
Before long, he had eaten every last fruit. Only then did his ravenous stomach feel somewhat satisfied. Xu Ziqing brushed off his hands, stood, and continued forward.
According to what he had been told before entering, the secret realm would remain open for three days. During those three days, the cultivators would gather as many benefits as they could. Once the time was up, the secret realm would eject everyone and close again.
That was actually advantageous for Xu Ziqing. With his meager strength, how difficult would it be to reunite safely with the others? But if he could find a way to hide inside the secret realm for a few days and simply wait for it to close, that would be far easier.
With that in mind, Xu Ziqing considered finding a cave to hide in. Yet countless deadly dangers were concealed throughout the secret realm, and he had no idea where the demon beasts made their lairs. Deep mountains and clear waters would surely conceal many of them, so caution still had to come first.
Once he had decided, Xu Ziqing treated the whole thing as a solitary hike. He picked out a mountain peak that did not look particularly treacherous and made his way toward it. Along the way he found some wild fruit that could stave off hunger, so naturally he gathered plenty, wrapping it securely in sturdy leaves he found. He truly did not dare waste a moment.
But things could not always go as one wished. While Xu Ziqing was climbing the peak in search of a cave, he ran into a Tiger Rabbit the size of a small calf!
The Tiger Rabbit had a marking like the character for “king” on its forehead, tiger stripes covering its body, and sharp teeth in its mouth. Though thick-bodied, it still possessed the nimble jumping ability of a wild rabbit. It appeared to be a man-eating beast. The moment it saw Xu Ziqing climbing the mountain, it pounced, treating him as prey.
Xu Ziqing had never imagined that even the rabbits in this secret realm could be so terrifying. As he dodged in a panic, the Tiger Rabbit’s claws tore through his sleeves and trouser legs, narrowly missing his skin. With no other choice, he sent out a red talisman, an Explosive Flame Talisman.
The red talisman floated in midair. In the next instant, a mass of scarlet flame shot straight toward the Tiger Rabbit! Startled, the creature immediately leaped aside, but the edge of the flame still caught it. The fire suddenly burst apart with a sharp bang!
The Tiger Rabbit wailed and rolled frantically across the ground, but the sparks did not go out. In moments, it had been burned until its skin split and flesh showed, and it was completely dead.
Xu Ziqing had not expected the Explosive Flame Talisman to be so powerful and felt a pang of pity. But in this place, it was either kill or be killed. No matter how terrible the Tiger Rabbit’s death looked, he had had no other choice. Letting out a breath of relief, he had no intention of using its carcass as food. He simply kept another talisman ready and hurried farther up the mountain.
After the encounter with the Tiger Rabbit, his luck improved and he met no further danger for a while. Xu Ziqing searched around the mountainside but found no cave, leaving him somewhat discouraged. Dusk was approaching, and he could not help growing anxious. After thinking it over, he climbed higher.
After carefully searching for roughly another hour, he finally spotted a cave opening on a rocky face to his right, about three chi above the ground. The opening was only a little taller than a person and narrow enough that only someone slim could squeeze through. Xu Ziqing was overjoyed. He was only thirteen and still small in stature, so he found a stone to use as a foothold, gripped the cave mouth with both hands, hoisted himself up, and squeezed inside.
Elio’s Notes: Chi (尺) is a traditional Chinese unit of length whose exact historical value varied. I’ve retained the source unit here rather than force a precise modern conversion.
Once inside, Xu Ziqing found everything dim and indistinct, making it difficult to see what was in the cave. Because this side of the mountain faced away from the sun, the light was even weaker. He thought little of it and felt along the cave wall with one hand. It was somewhat damp. When he touched the ground, he found traces of mud there as well.
That made Xu Ziqing uneasy. A cave in the mountains was fine if it had no owner, but if a demon beast lived inside… Still, the cave was narrow, and with darkness already falling outside, remaining in the open might be even more dangerous. He could only take the risk.
Having made up his mind, Xu Ziqing stood and walked step by step deeper into the cave, one hand braced against the wall. Fortunately, there was no rank smell inside, so no large beast seemed to be living there. Nor was there any scent of blood, suggesting that no large predator had been feeding inside.
From outside, the cave had not looked especially large, but it was surprisingly deep. Xu Ziqing walked a full fifty or sixty meters before finally reaching the end. There were no branching passages, only this single path. It was not straight, either, but bent around several turns. Still, the cave did seem safe. Xu Ziqing smiled faintly and, reassured, sat cross-legged to meditate.
At first, he remained somewhat uneasy, but gradually his mind settled. He was, after all, someone who could adapt to circumstances, and his temperament was mild. He did not dare attempt to force open any acupoints here, but there was no harm in taking the opportunity to absorb more spiritual energy.
The night passed into dawn in complete silence.
Light brightened outside, and a little of it filtered into the cave. Xu Ziqing opened his eyes. A green gleam flickered within them, a sign that his wood-attributed spiritual power was circulating.
After his spiritual power had made eighteen minor heavenly circuits through his body, the acupoints that had yet to open seemed to soften somewhat. He was still far from opening them, but at least there was now a glimmer of hope.
At last the green gleam faded, revealing Xu Ziqing’s clear, gentle eyes. He glanced around and was somewhat surprised. To his left lay a pile of pitch-black material. Naturally he had been unable to see it the night before, but now, in the extremely faint light, he could just make out its outline.
He was still a boy, after all, and curiosity drew him closer. He reached out to touch it, then reconsidered and stopped just before his fingers made contact.
Who knew whether it was poisonous…
His heart lurched. Touching it was out of the question, but looking should be safe enough. Xu Ziqing crouched to inspect it and discovered that scales were reflecting a black sheen.
Looking more closely, he realized that the pile was long and narrow, with the scales still attached to a layer of skin that seemed to have come away whole. A possibility immediately occurred to him.
Could it be… shed snakeskin?
Then he clicked his tongue in astonishment. Such an enormous piece of snakeskin, with individual scales half the size of his fist. Just imagining it, the snake itself had to be enormous. It might even be a demon beast!
Then could this cave actually be a snake den?!
Xu Ziqing was horrified. He thought of the cave’s narrow opening and twisting passage, and suddenly every detail matched his suspicion. He sprang to his feet in alarm and immediately hurried toward the entrance.
Perhaps his luck had been good and the demon snake had simply not returned during the night, but who knew when it might suddenly appear? He did not dare delay even a moment longer. There was absolutely no question of staying in this cave.
The farther out he went, the more clues appeared. When Xu Ziqing had entered, he had kept to the right with one hand against the wall, so he had failed to notice that many dry bones lay scattered across the ground on the left. Judging by their age, it was no wonder there had been no foul smell.
Serpentine tracks wound across the ground, and a few scales lay scattered in the corners. Xu Ziqing walked faster and faster until he finally broke into a run, rushing straight out of the cave!
But at that very moment, a powerful rank odor suddenly swept toward him. Sand and stones flew through the air, and above him, a violent wind abruptly began to howl.