Chapter 9
Chapter 9.
Usually, you don't get many chances in life to feel overwhelmed.
But right now.
“Holy shit.”
I was overwhelmed.
A world encircled by the east, wrapped in something like cloth woven from countless cracked shards of glass.
Anyone who saw this and wasn't overwhelmed would be the strange one.
“What on earth...”
A formation? A ward?
I couldn't close my mouth at the sight, which was hard to describe.
It rippled in the wind, so it looked like smoke or cloth, but it still had that distinctive glassy texture.
The soft light pouring down from the sky shattered against this glass veil. The scattered sunlight broke apart as it shone down, so even the slightest breeze made the sunbeams shift in every direction, casting all kinds of shadows.
The unfamiliar scenery was fascinating, but my first thought was that it was beautiful.
The scent of grass, gifted by nature.
Sunlight carried by the wind, and the countless scents of mountains and flowers.
A jiaolong's sense of smell really did seem to pick up a wider variety of scents than a human's.
I could sense such a rich variety of scents in a single handful of wind.
“This can't be a natural phenomenon... right?”
I barely held back the urge to take a screenshot and post it on the Yao Immortal Gallery.
‘I could give them a clue to track down my home... I should hold off today.’
I gazed for a while at the thing that might have been glass or cloth, fluttering in the wind, then suddenly realized my spiritual sense was being blocked.
Since it was blocking my spiritual sense, I wondered if it was some kind of seal, but that didn't seem to be the case.
“My body can pass through?”
Because my body could pass through it.
Judging by how it felt to pass through, it seemed more like water than cloth.
But I didn't get wet.
What on earth was this?
It interfered with spiritual sense.
But it let my physical body pass through.
Then perhaps it wasn't something deliberately made by someone, but a naturally occurring phenomenon.
“But then again...”
Something about it was strange.
Since it interfered with my spiritual sense, it seemed like there had to be some kind of intent behind it, but I couldn't tell.
It was only a vague impression.
“Well, maybe it's a device meant to block the spiritual sense of powerful cultivators like Nascent Soul or Deity Transformation cultivators. If so, blocking spiritual sense alone would be enough to make it useful.”
I set aside my doubts, thinking that was probably it.
Later, I'd have to casually ask around on the Yao Immortal Gallery and fish for information.
“Well, shall I get going?”
It didn't seem to be having any harmful effect on me.
For a moment, I'd wondered if it was something that had sealed me away, but it wasn't.
Nothing stuck to me when I passed through, and it had no effect on me at all.
I decided to ignore it and keep walking.
Sunlight and wind after a hundred years.
The various scents of grass created by nature kept lifting my spirits.
I felt so good I almost didn't need to open the Yao Immortal Gallery.
I walked for a long while, savoring the lighthearted feeling of being out after a hundred years, when...
“Hmm... I smell people.”
I just knew instinctively.
The smell of people.
And quite a few of them.
There were other scents mixed in, but it was the smell of a group. Iron and all sorts of other smells were mixed in, too, none of them particularly pleasant.
“Concealment Talisman! Scent-Concealing Talisman!”
Startled, I tried to use a Concealment Talisman, then tapped my spirit insect pouch instead.
At that, five Talisman-Wing Insects came out of the pouch and clung to my body. I channeled yao energy into the ones inscribed with the Concealment and Scent-Concealing Talismans.
As I channeled yao energy into them, the talisman script on the insects' wings turned red, and their effects began to take hold.
In an instant, my appearance grew slightly blurry, and my presence and scent vanished, too.
‘These are the Talisman-Wing Insects that ate the Concealment and Scent-Concealing Talismans I've made. There's no need to worry. Stay calm.’
They were only first- or second-tier, but the talismans they'd eaten gave them concealment and scent-masking effects comparable to third-tier talismans.
They should be able to fool the eyes of most low-realm cultivators.
‘With spiritual sense blocked, it's hard to get a sense of the situation.’
It was a good thing I had a yao beast's body and a keen nose. If my sense of smell weren't sharp enough to distinguish each person, I might have walked right into whatever was ahead without even realizing it.
I crouched for a moment, fiddling with the saber at my waist as I watched the situation.
The insects' concealment and scent-masking effects were holding steady. They'd probably last for about one shichen (2 hours).
I could stay hidden like this, or simply turn around and hide in the cave abode instead.
But this was my first outing in a hundred years.
I didn't want to turn back now.
I had my reasons.
‘It sounds like they're arguing.’
A jiaolong's sense of smell and hearing easily surpassed the limits of a human's.
And my physical abilities, having reached the third realm of yao cultivation, were several times greater still.
I'd even reached the first star of the Purple Cloud Divine Thunder, a body-and-magic dual cultivation technique.
From the voices of people who seemed to be quite far away, I could make out that they were arguing.
‘I can't make out what they're saying clearly, though...’
They were about 100 zhang (300 m) away.
Since the only sound around me was the wind, I could hear them especially well.
I closed my eyes and focused on my nose and ears. The source of the faint sounds and scents slowly took shape.
‘They aren't moving.’
It didn't seem to be just because they were arguing.
I couldn't say for sure, but I had that feeling.
‘Should I get a little closer?’
With the glass veil blocking spiritual sense, they couldn't gauge me at all. I figured it would be fine to get a little closer.
They were busy fighting amongst themselves and didn't seem to know I was there, so now was the perfect time.
I decided to put a little more faith in the Talisman-Wing Insects.
I moved about 10 zhang (30 m) closer.
Then I could hear them and smell them more clearly.
-The Silver Veil Desert is a ward that damages your spiritual energy and true essence just by touching it. So why are you suggesting we pass through it?!
-Calm down, Fellow Daoist Ma. Isn't that why I've pursued this female yao beast? The Silver Veil Desert isn't an impassable ward. Even amidst the fluttering silver veil, there is a path of the Dao.
-Are you really saying this mere yao beast can help us pass through the Silver Veil Desert, a place even Nascent Soul cultivators fear?
There were about fourteen people.
The Silver Veil Desert, which even Nascent Soul cultivators feared.
They were probably talking about this fluttering glass veil.
‘They fear it? Why? Nothing happened to me when it touched my body.’
A ward that damages spiritual energy and true essence.
But there was nothing wrong with my body.
‘Could this ward be for my sake, too?’
That seemed likely.
Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for it to have no harmful effect on me.
Maybe it was because I'd walked here from inside the cave abode.
Or else...
‘Maybe it's because of the teleportation token.’
The jade tablet had a dragon depicted on it, and even at a glance, I could tell it held some unfathomable mystery.
Maybe it was both a teleportation token and an entry token that let me pass through this ward.
I took the jade tablet from my clothes and held it against the Silver Veil Desert. I felt a strange ripple.
‘I knew it. The teleportation token was also an entry pass.’
A shiver ran down my spine.
If I hadn't brought this jade tablet with me, just touching the Silver Veil Desert might have severely damaged my true essence—or killed me outright.
Now that I knew how terrifying it was, even the sunlight breaking apart, which had looked so beautiful, seemed strangely grotesque.
“Uh... Anyway. Even Nascent Soul cultivators fear this ward, so they can't get in. That's the situation.”
The me from just a moment ago, holding my breath.
Sayonara! The fearless Gyo Ran is making her entrance!
“The Silver Veil Desert is a ward made from layers upon layers of glass cloth. Since it flutters in the wind, even knowing the way won't make it easy to get through.”
Of course, the situation wasn't particularly good.
Either way, this was proof that human cultivators outside were coveting my home.
Thump!
I heard a dull sound.
I focused again. Now they weren't fighting so much as shouting threats.
-Want me to cut your flesh open myself? If not, spill your own blood and open a path. You two know what you need to do.
I thought I'd smelled two yao beasts, and it seemed they were the ones.
‘Looks like they've been captured by a bunch of human cultivators and are being threatened.’
Their situation was pretty pitiful.
Of course, that was as far as my sympathy went.
I wasn't kind or pure enough to help yao beasts whose faces I didn't even know just because I felt sorry for them.
And besides, where was I?
This was a xianxia world, where sinister schemes lurked everywhere.
And I was supposed to approach a group of human cultivators alone and face them?
That was ridiculous.
There was no need to take that risk.
‘Maybe it's paranoia, but this could also be a ploy to draw me out. I have to suspect every situation. That's how you survive in the cultivation world.’
Even so, I decided to watch a little longer for now.
But I was still uneasy about them passing through the Silver Veil Desert without a hitch.
If they got through the Silver Veil Desert, my cave abode was right ahead.
Of course, the part of the Silver Veil Desert I'd crossed was dozens of zhang wide. It might take days or even months to find a way through and reach it.
But the fact that they might eventually get there really bothered me.
‘If they're bringing up Nascent Soul cultivators, then their realms must be below Nascent Soul.’
The realms of human cultivators were as follows.
Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Soul Formation, and Nascent Soul.
And finally, Deity Transformation.
Their realms were probably below Nascent Soul.
There was a very high chance they were cultivators below the fourth realm, Soul Formation.
“They have different but similar scents. Does that mean they're at the same realm?”
I never thought I could gauge a cultivator's realm by smell alone.
But a few of them had strangely similar scents. They were probably low-realm cultivators.
Putting them together...
Of the fourteen, two were yao beasts.
The other twelve were human cultivators.
Six were at Qi Refining, four at Foundation Establishment, and two at Core Formation.
‘Maybe there are also Soul Formation cultivators, above Core Formation and in the fourth realm.’
I was still uneasy about judging realms by scent alone.
The situation wasn't clear, so there was no need to jump to conclusions.
Of course, I could also ask someone who could give me a definite answer.
[Baby Jiaolong: Is this... the smell of humans?]
-I came outside, and there seem to be humans outside the ward. They have a similar kind of smell. Is that a distinctive scent that comes with their cultivation realm?
I waited a moment.
└Yao Immortal (178.1): Yeah. Human cultivators train in similar ways, so those who reach the same realm have a certain quality to their scent.
└LotsaTails: Baby!! You promised your big sis you wouldn't go near humans!
└Baby Jiaolong: I did?
└LotsaTails: Yep!
└HumansSuck: You promised me you'd chop off their heads as soon as you saw them.
└LotsaTails: What? Really?
└Baby Jiaolong: I never said that.
└HumansSuck: Then are you saying you'll get along with humans???????
└Baby Jiaolong: Not that, lol;;
The replies weren't very useful, but there was some helpful information, too. It seemed I wasn't the only one; yao beasts with good noses could sense the pattern of a cultivator's realm from their scent.
If so, I could trust my nose.
‘That doesn't mean I'm planning to do anything, though. I still don't have enough information.’
If they were going to try to break through here someday, I needed information.
In the end, if they made it around the ward and came to my cave abode, I'd have no choice but to fight them.
I listened again.
-Don't try anything funny. If you so much as try, I'll shove your little sister straight into the ward.
-Please, I'll do anything you ask, so just spare my little sister...!
-Big sis!
-What a fortuitous encounter. Who would've thought those yao beasts happened to possess Heavenly Blood?
-That must be why they had the confidence to come here, too.
I could smell blood.
The smell of yao beast blood.
“...Is that the smell of a rat?”
I could smell rat's blood.
A yao beast spilling blood to find a path.
Heavenly Blood.
And the secret realm, Golden Ring Immortal Paradise.
The more I heard, the more information I gathered.
‘As I thought, it was a secret realm.’
I couldn't imagine a place like this just existing anywhere.
I was born in a secret realm called Golden Ring Immortal Paradise.
That meant Golden Ring Immortal Paradise was my home.
It was precious information.
Even if I lost the jade tablet, I could now find my way back home.
‘Useful information. Let's keep listening.’
I had plenty of time, anyway.
The more I listened, the more information I pieced together, so there was no reason not to.
The ward of the Silver Veil Desert was safer for me than anywhere else.
.
.
.
Quite some time later, I got to my feet and drew my saber.
-The laws of the secret realm are absolute. The Golden Ring Immortal Paradise has a rule that no being of the Third Realm or higher can enter. There can't be any beings above that level inside, either!
-Exactly! There's nothing to fear. If we can dispel the ward, a heaven-reaching fortuitous opportunity awaits us beyond it! Hahaha!
There was no reason to wait any longer, and no need to.
It was time to punish these thieves.
The draft repeated the idea of hearing and smelling more clearly in the same sentence; I tightened that phrasing. I also avoided guessing the gender of the captured yao beasts where the context leaves it unclear.