Chapter 101: Obtaining the True Essence Flower
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“Esteemed senior, I am Gong Sha, daughter of King Gong Tian of the Zongshang Kingdom’s expert corps. Thank you for coming to my aid. I shall repay this great kindness at a later time.”
Gong Sha was the first to clasp her hands in thanks. Although Hu San appeared extremely young—perhaps even younger than she was—the astral energy he displayed and his formidable combat ability inevitably brought to mind a supreme master of the martial path. His single strike that had slain the giant bear demon, and the successive arrows that had slowly extinguished the peacock demon’s life force, especially convinced her that Hu San must be an elder of extraordinary standing.
Though Hu San might be accused of standing by while she faced death, allowing the supreme expert Black Uncle, whom her father had sent to protect her, to perish beneath the peacock demon’s attack, Gong Sha was carrying an important mission and did not dare harbor the slightest resentment toward him.
“This junior is Purple Bronze of Spirit Wind Mountain. I pay my respects to you, Senior, and thank you for your aid.”
Gong Sha was no fool, and neither was Purple Bronze. The deaths of her six junior sisters did not cause her to show the slightest resentment toward Hu San. After all, Hu San was now the strongest person present. If he conceived any malicious intent, Purple Bronze had no second Supreme Clarity Talisman to rely upon.
Moreover, judging from Hu San’s act of extracting the demons’ vital essence blood, this expert was not necessarily a senior of the orthodox path. He was far more likely to belong to the demonic path. People of that sort generally followed their moods, and no one knew when their wild nature might suddenly erupt.
In particular, Spirit Wind Mountain, where Purple Bronze came from, was a sacred ground of the orthodox sects. That made the situation all the more worrisome.
“Spirit Wind Mountain? Where did you obtain that blue protective armor?”
Hu San had no interest in the complicated thoughts running through the two women’s minds. Instead, he was intrigued by the protective talisman they had used earlier, which had seemed more like demon magic than a proper spell.
From the course of the battle, that talisman’s defensive power was inferior to the orthodox immortal talismans in his possession, such as the Spirit Water Talisman or the Waterlight Barrier. Yet it could be activated by someone without the slightest trace of magical or shamanic power. That made it rather unusual.
Either Spirit Wind Mountain was supported by a powerful cultivation sect, or there was some half-trained cultivator within Spirit Wind Mountain who had modified these talismans by means unknown to Hu San.
“This talisman is the Supreme Clarity Talisman, the spirit talisman bestowed by my master and used to guard Spirit Wind Mountain. It rarely appears in the martial world, so it is only natural that you have never seen one, Senior. I possess only this single talisman. If you are interested, why not pay a visit to Spirit Wind Mountain? Given your status, my master would certainly welcome you with the utmost courtesy.”
Purple Bronze hesitated only briefly before revealing everything she knew, seeming not to worry in the least that the man before her might harbor ill intentions toward Spirit Wind Mountain.
“The Supreme Clarity Talisman? Heh. Spirit Wind Mountain, is it? I shall visit if I have the opportunity.”
Hu San merely smiled. He naturally saw the confidence this young woman had in the strength of her sect. Still, he had asked only in passing; he was not interested in the talisman itself, but in finding traces of the cultivation world. Once he obtained the Bear Fist mentioned by Black Bear, if he still failed to discover any clues regarding that world, then Hu San might have no choice but to pay Spirit Wind Mountain a visit.
“As for Miss Gong, if I heard correctly earlier, I am afraid your journey will be far from easy.”
Hu San changed the subject and turned his gaze toward Gong Sha.
At his words, the color drained from Gong Sha’s face, though she forced a smile. “To be honest, Senior, my purpose in coming here is to inform the king of the demons’ plot. It concerns the lives and fortunes of countless people throughout my kingdom. Please forgive me for not being able to say more.”
“No matter, no matter!”
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Hu San plucked the bowstring of his Nine-Bull Bow, producing a delicate metallic chime like the sound of a lute, and said, “I am merely passing through and have no wish to interfere in your affairs. However, I have saved Miss Gong’s life this time. Ordinarily, since these demons were the ones who provoked me, I would not ask for payment. But if Miss Gong happens to possess a True Astral Flower, then that would be another matter.”
“Miss Gong, let me warn you first: the demons who ambushed this caravan are not limited to these few. There is even a powerful great demon whom I could do no more than flee from if I encountered it. I imagine they will soon finish dealing with the other three groups. If you do not leave at once, you will soon find yourselves in trouble. I do not wish to repeat myself.”
Hu San’s hand, which had been lightly brushing the bowstring, came to a halt. The Nine-Bull Bow leaped upright. Before the two women across from him could see what he had done, they found three black, glossy arrows already nocked upon the string, their tips aimed directly at them. Though they stood several yards away, they could still sense the chilling aura radiating from the arrows.
Neither woman was stupid. From Hu San’s movements, they immediately understood his meaning.
Purple Bronze blinked her bright eyes and cast a rather complicated glance at Gong Sha. The delight she had felt upon first hearing news of the True Astral Flower vanished completely. After a moment’s thought, she leaped to one side and put distance between herself and Gong Sha, clearly signaling Hu San that she would not interfere.
As for Gong Sha, her brows drew tightly together, and an uneasy smile surfaced on her face. No matter how one looked at it, she seemed to be suffering.
She wanted to claim that the True Astral Flower was not on her person, but when she saw the young man’s calm expression, her heart suddenly tightened. For some reason, she felt that if she uttered even a word of evasion, she would be shot full of holes the very next instant.
She had seen that sort of indifferent gaze only in the eyes of a few generals who had slaughtered countless men on the battlefield. Even her father did not possess such a gaze.
It was a gaze that treated life with contempt, a gaze centered entirely upon itself.
In other words, in his eyes she was neither a great personage of the Zongshang Kingdom nor a graceful and beautiful woman. She did not even count as a human being—only an insignificant blade of grass.
“Indeed, the True Astral Flower is in my possession. If you wish to have it, Senior, Gong Sha naturally would not dare refuse. However, it is a treasure of my kingdom, and its importance surpasses even my own life. Of course, compared with the news of the demons’ invasion, it is far less valuable. If you agree to escort me back to the Zongshang Kingdom, I shall present it to you with both hands. Otherwise, although I know my cultivation is weak, I can still leap into the Sea of Clouds before you kill me.”
After turning the matter over in her mind again and again, Gong Sha hardened her heart and gritted her teeth as she spoke.
“Very well. But only as far as the Thirty-Six Linked Cities. After that, you are on your own.”
Hu San frowned slightly. After a moment’s thought, he put away the Nine-Bull Bow. He was confident that he could kill Gong Sha in an instant, but since even Purple Bronze possessed a Supreme Clarity Talisman as a hidden trump card, it was difficult to say whether Gong Sha had one as well. For the sake of caution, he did not mind escorting the woman for part of the journey.
By then, a trace of impatience had appeared in Hu San’s expression. Gong Sha saw that she had not obtained all she wanted, but she no longer dared say anything more. She could only nod and agree, then bring out the True Astral Flower with both hands.
Hu San took the box and opened it for a look. Inside was a jade cup about the size of a bowl, its rim sealed with an unknown metal. Within the cup lay a small flower shimmering with five-colored radiance.
When he gently turned the cup, the five-colored glow within turned with it. Gradually, countless flower shapes condensed upon the inner wall of the cup, forever suspended between blooming and withering.
“It truly is a True Astral Flower!”
Hu San nodded. Its appearance matched the descriptions in the books exactly, so there was no need to worry that Gong Sha had tried to deceive him with a counterfeit. Before setting out, after hearing news that a True Astral Flower was to be auctioned, Hu San had already studied the forms of several famous heavenly treasures, including the True Astral Flower, in preparation for unforeseen circumstances.
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“Senior is indeed learned. Very few people have even heard of the True Astral Flower. If I had not received it from my father, I would not have recognized it either.”
Seeing Hu San put away the True Astral Flower, Gong Sha and Purple Bronze both breathed a sigh of relief. Even so, they did not dare approach him too closely. Gong Sha stepped forward and asked in a soft voice, “What should we do next? Please give us your instructions, Senior.”
“Search the battlefield. We cannot leave these corpses behind.”
Having obtained what he wanted, Hu San had no intention of killing them to silence them.
Purple Bronze was his stepping stone toward Spirit Wind Mountain, so naturally it was better for her to remain alive. As for Gong Sha, Hu San had gained some understanding of the conflict between humanity and the demons. If Gong Sha survived, the enemy would shift its attention directly toward her rather than pursue him relentlessly, sparing him considerable trouble.
“You may remove the belongings from the bodies of your relatives and friends and give them to their families or keep them yourselves. Let them serve as mementos. Everything else must be thrown into the ravine.”
“Yes. We shall obey your command, Senior.”
With Hu San’s permission, the two women—having only now escaped their immediate crisis of life and death—finally had time to take in the deaths of their fellow disciples and elders. Their eyes reddened as they began tending to the bodies.
Hu San, meanwhile, searched through the caravan’s goods and the White-Bone Scholar’s possessions. Aside from obtaining a few gold notes accepted throughout the various kingdoms, he found nothing else of value.
During the process, he did collect a little more of the demons’ vital essence blood. Though these demons were not as highly cultivated as the giant bear and the peacock, their essence blood was still a rare spiritual elixir to Hu San. He also retrieved all the meteor arrows he had shot earlier, leaving the ordinary iron arrows where they lay.
After a short while, Gong Sha and Purple Bronze had finished collecting the belongings and restored their appearances. Together with Hu San, they threw all the corpses on the field—including those of the demons—into the ten-thousand-foot precipice beside them.
Purple Bronze then took a bottle of corpse-dissolving water from her robes. After diluting it with a little of the water they had stored, she used it to erase the bloodstains scattered across the surrounding rocks. Only then could the battlefield be considered thoroughly cleaned.
Although the traces of battle could not be completely concealed, in the darkness, an enemy who failed to inspect the area carefully would probably have difficulty discovering what had happened there.
Once everything was ready, Hu San left Viewing River Pavilion with the two women and continued along the Sky-Sea Road toward the Thirty-Six Linked Cities. It was already past midnight, and the sky was gradually brightening. Though the terrain had grown increasingly treacherous, freed from the burden of the caravan and its ordinary guards, the three of them moved much faster. With their exceptional skills, and no longer needing to worry about falling from the cliffs, their progress had actually accelerated.
In the brief span of time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the three had completely entered the clouds and mist, leaving Viewing River Pavilion far behind. They had entered the latter half of the Sky-Sea Road—the Sky-Sea Immortal Route mentioned by the White-Bone Scholar.
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