Chapter 45: The Wind And Moon Cross The Rivers And Seas (Part 7)
Preoccupied with his thoughts, Bai Chunsheng quickly bent down and collected all the nearby bloodline crystals into his storage bag. The only troublesome item was the sword, and he wasn’t sure if the array on the ground was complete or not.
Just as Bai Chunsheng was hesitating about whether to study it further, Yan Yi walked over and directly pulled the sword out. The entire sword was a silvery white, and it was unclear what material it was made from. Surprisingly, it felt weightless in his hand. He channeled some spiritual energy into it—enough to make an ordinary magical treasure explode—but it vanished without a trace, like a stone sinking into the sea. It was as if he was holding a glutton that absorbed spiritual energy, clearly an extraordinary artifact.
Yan Yi raised his chin at Bai Chunsheng, signaling him to take it.
Feeling guilty, Bai Chunsheng couldn’t even meet Yan Yi’s gaze. “Didn’t you say your sword was missing? Just keep it.”
Bai Chunsheng still remembered the reason the Yuwen family was hunting Yan Yi—it was because his sword had gone missing. Yan Yi had chopped down the Yuwen family’s Chaoxi tree to carve himself a wooden sword.
Yan Yi’s gaze grew deep. In truth, he had found the sword a long time ago but hadn’t told Bai Chunsheng.
Since Bai Chunsheng had no idea about the mystery of the silver bracelet on his ankle, Yan Yi didn’t plan to enlighten him. His memory loss was a sudden event, and there must have been a reason why he reforged the sword into a silver bracelet and gave it to Bai Chunsheng. Whether it was a gesture of goodwill or a means of protecting him, it would have to wait until his memory returned before explaining it to Bai Chunsheng.
Having figured this out, Yan Yi nodded, “Alright.”
Bai Chunsheng, mistakenly believing that Yan Jingqiu had found out about the bad things he said behind his back, felt a strong sense of urgency. He was eager to return to the cave dwelling arranged for them by Yusheng Sect. With substantial gains from the day, he couldn’t wait to recover from his injuries. In such a dangerous world of cultivation, only by reaching the Dao stage could one barely secure a foothold.
After surveying the surroundings, Bai Chunsheng didn’t find anything else unusual. He completed his final task—placing the old dragon’s corpse into his storage bag.
The mine tunnel leading in another direction lay fully revealed before them.
Having been entirely focused on the blue dragon, both of them now noticed a skeleton crushed beneath the old dragon’s belly. Only after the blue dragon’s corpse was removed did the traces become visible.
The skeleton appeared to be ancient, with faint golden light glimmering on the bones. The clothing was a blue-and-white daoist robe, with what seemed to be a sect emblem on the collar. However, due to severe wear and tear, it was impossible to discern which sect it belonged to.
Bai Chunsheng let out a soft “huh” and walked over, gently waving his hand over the skeleton. He couldn’t determine the cause of death. “This clearly should be a human, but why are the bones golden?” He had seen many beasts with golden bones, but it was the first time he encountered a human skeleton with such a color.
“Five Elements Dao Body.”
Yan Yi stood on the other side of the skeleton and remarked, “The spiritual energy in this skeleton is rich and balanced, even surpassing that of the dead dragon. The individual’s cultivation in life must have been extraordinary.” By extraordinary, he meant at least a Dao cultivator.
The Five Elements Dao Body was an exceedingly rare physique, marking its bearer as a favored child of the heavens. These cultivators were born to pursue the Dao, and those with this physique, though few in history, had achieved unparalleled feats.
Notably, individuals with such a Dao body almost always came from prominent families. Even if their offspring couldn’t inherit this physique, they would possess talents far surpassing ordinary people. Sometimes, the inherited Five Elements affinity could even awaken other rare Dao bodies.
After a moment of silence, Bai Chunsheng said, “He seems to have been dead for a long time.”
He carefully searched the skeleton’s clothing but found no storage bag. However, on the left hand’s ring finger, he discovered a storage ring. Although the skeleton had been crushed under the old dragon, it seemed more like a form of protection. The dragon’s soft belly had preserved the body so well that not even a drop of blood had stained it.
Bai Chunsheng wiped the dust off the storage ring, revealing a faint green glow from the embedded gem. This ring’s enchantments had long been outdated and discarded by the cultivation world. Since its owner was deceased, Bai Chunsheng easily unlocked it.
Inside, there wasn’t much left. Bai Chunsheng took everything out, finding several bottles of pills that had long lost their potency, a token, and a small pouch of high-grade spirit stones. Additionally, there was a pile of treasures that had decayed over time, reduced to useless scraps of metal. A quick glance revealed they were mostly defensive artifacts.
He speculated that the owner must have experienced a fierce battle, depleting all his artifacts, pills, and spirit stones.
The token’s inscription had withstood the test of time. Clearly engraved were three characters: “Ye Jingnian.”
The name felt unfamiliar, and Bai Chunsheng was certain he had never heard of this person.
There wasn’t any prominent family with the surname Ye in the current cultivation world. Bai Chunsheng frowned, realizing that tracing this person through family connections would likely be impossible.
Yan Yi suddenly spoke softly, “Tai Xu Sect.”
“What?” Bai Chunsheng frowned.
Yan Yi explained, “I saw this in Lian Guang Secret Realm. This was the uniform of an inner disciple of Tai Xu Sect from over five hundred years ago.”
He pointed to the faint insignia on the collar, using spiritual energy to outline two intricate ancient characters, forming the words “Tai Xu.”
“This sword also belonged to him,” Yan Yi added.
Just as Bai Chunsheng was about to ask why, Yan Yi continued, “His primary element was metal, making him adept at attack and destruction. Yet, there were no offensive artifacts among his possessions, implying that his most frequently used artifact wasn’t in the storage ring. Assuming it wasn’t taken by an enemy, it should be either in his hand or nearby.”
Yan Yi counted his steps back to where he had previously pulled out the sword. “At that moment, there should have been a dragon in human form standing here, struck by his sword. The dragon pulled the sword from its body and casually threw it, embedding it here. That’s when he fell.”
Bai Chunsheng walked over, noticing the blood pattern on the ground surrounding the sword, resembling a formation.
It carried the scent of the dead blue dragon.
Bai Chunsheng was startled, stammering, “H-how is that possible? Wasn’t the wound on its abdomen self-inflicted?”
“Yes,” Yan Yi said, spreading his hands. “The sword wound should have been a mere scratch to the dragon’s true form. However, this sword cultivator possessed a Five Elements Dao Body with a primary metal attribute, infusing his sword strikes with a law that was difficult to heal.”
“This is a mine filled with metal-element spiritual energy,” Yan Yi said with a smile. “Plus, this was his last desperate strike in life. Although it was just a small wound, the dragon soon realized it couldn’t leave this mine. The sword cultivator had bound it near this sword using metal spiritual energy. It was trapped here forever.”
“With the dragon’s powerful regenerative ability, the wound began to heal, but constrained by the difficult-to-recover Dao law, the wound couldn’t fully close.”
“Over time, it started to fester. Unable to bear the pain, the dragon kept digging out the rotten flesh, causing the wound to remain fresh and grow larger.”
Bai Chunsheng followed Yan Yi’s explanation, contemplating further. If this sword cultivator had reached at least the late stage of the Dao stage and, being a Five Elements Dao Body, had slightly surpassed his peers in the path of attack, then the blue dragon capable of completely killing him must have been at least in the Mahayana stage.
Thinking this way, it made sense that this blue dragon had connections with Yan Jianhang, Grandmother, and others. Bai Chunsheng was shaken to realize that this dragon’s cultivation level had gradually declined due to the endless torment and its desperate desire to survive.
“Low-level cultivators from the Shattered Stone Mortal Realm coming and going wouldn’t have been able to detect the hidden formation set during the life-and-death struggle of a Mahayana cultivator. It wasn’t until the mine’s spiritual stones were fully excavated and abandoned that the binding Dao law weakened. But by then, the dragon’s injuries had persisted for so long that they could no longer heal.”
Yan Yi shared similar thoughts with Bai Chunsheng. “There are only a few dragons in the entire cultivation world at the Mahayana stage. Once we return to the grand world, we can easily inquire about his identity.”
Bai Chunsheng seemed shaken by the cruel manner of death. He asked hesitantly, “And the glowing jade and the black brocade robe?”
Yan Yi shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“However, I believe he intended to hide these two items while his mind was still clear.”
Yan Yi remembered clearly that he hadn’t noticed these two items at first; their appearance had been unexpected.
There was only one explanation: initially, the old dragon had hidden these two items.
In his final moments, as life slipped away, he lifted the concealment spell, almost delivering these items directly into their hands.
Why had the dragon wanted to hand over Bo Yan’s belongings to him? Yan Yi was deeply puzzled.
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
Oh wow
Thank you for the update