Death… and me

Sword Spirit nagged with hidden bitterness. He chattered in a somewhat nervous manner. Chu Yang was shocked by this. The Sword Spirit had used only a bit of his spiritual power in the past, and he had come close to dying due to cardiac pain. And, now he had mentioned to use half of his spiritual power to accelerate the ripening of the Heavenly Orchid…

However, Chu Yang turned a deaf ear to him. And, he continued to follow after Young Master Yu. At present, his strongest desire was to upgrade the Nine Tribulation Sword, and to treat Mo Qing Wu as quickly as possible. So, he pretended not to hear to this ‘presumptuous’ request…

[Um, wait for me to finish the main business first. Then, I might mention about it later… but, the hope of getting it depends on Young Master Yu …]

The Sword Spirit was distraught in the Nine Tribulation Space. In fact, he was rolling and revolving in madness. He grabbed his hair and muttered to himself, "But, this is a Heavenly Orchid, ugh. I really want to eat a Heavenly Orchid…"

"Heavenly Orchid… will give me an eternal soul… Oh my God… I will die… this kind of enticement… is indeed fatal, ah…"

The Sword Spirit nervously revolved in circles. Then, he suddenly jumped in Chu Yang’s mind. He bellowed loudly in a rhythm, "Heavenly Orchid! Heavenly Orchid! I want to eat the Heavenly Orchid! I want to eat the Heavenly Orchid!"

Chu Yang became frustrated. And, he was aware that he couldn’t close his space of consciousness. So, the Great Master Chu kept on enduring… and enduring… and enduring… [I have had fu*king enough… wait until I get all the pieces of the Nine Tribulations Sword… the first thing I would do is to throw this guy out…]

[Dammit! How is this fair?! This residual spirit that is residing here temporarily is being so arrogant…]

…

"Here is my practicing room. This is my meditation room. This room is for breakthrough. This is my study room. This is my music room. This is my music room for playing zither. This is my bedroom… This upper floor is to keep ancient books and records. And, the top-most place is my sightseeing platform.

"However, I can’t see anything except for ice and snow from there…"

Young Master Yu introduced his palace to Chu Yang in a soft voice while they walked. His tone had a warm meaning to it. In fact, this warmth was difficult to describe even though his tone was light.

"My hidden treasure-house is up-ahead," Young Master Yu softly smiled and said, "There are a few things in the so-called hidden treasure-house. But, I can promise to give you only one to take away."

"What about your White Crystal ore?" Chu Yang was obviously the most concerned about the White Crystal Ore because that was the most needed thing for the Nine Tribulation Sword at the moment.

"I will obviously give you… the White Crystal Ore!" Young Master Yu looked at him with a smile. Then, he earnestly asked, "The White Crystal is only for forging ware things as far as I’m concerned. It doesn’t have much of a use otherwise. You might have noticed that my bed, my seat, my desk, my bookshelves… well, almost all of them are made up of White Crystal. It’s genuinely not that extraordinary. So, I don’t understand why you are so interested in such a low-level item?"

Chu Yang touched his nose and replied, "Well, this is a secret. It would be inconvenient to tell you that."

Young Master Yu crossed his arms in front of his chest. He then said with a smile that contained a deep meaning, "Please! Come inside the hidden treasure-house."

The voice hadn’t faded yet when a door opened up-ahead. Both of them went in. And, Chu Yang was startled when he looked inside.

[Can this also be called a hidden treasure-house?]

This place was very big. It had the large space of dozens of houses combined. It was very spacious!

There were five shelves made up of White Crystal inside the treasure-house. But, the thing was… Every shelf was a big lotus flower-like platform. And, one item was kept on each petal of the blooming lotus that was made up of white crystal!

In other words, this so-called hidden treasure-house of Young Master Yu’s had a total of five types of treasure!

This was very different than what Chu Yang had imagined!

Young Master Yu’s black robe fluttered. It seemed as if he had sensed Chu Yang’s doubt. He walked slowly with his hands crossed behind his back and said, "Hidden treasure-house… is obviously a place to store treasures! And, how can a person of my level treat ‘junk’ as treasured objects? Obviously, I put only those items here that can be regarded as treasures in my eyes!"

He continued with a proud smile, "But, I only found these five items over the past many years. Only these items are worthy of being put here!"

Young Master Yu slowly walked forwards and said, "Come, I will show you!" he walked to the first shelf as he spoke. Chu Yang looked clearly and saw three black sand granules. They seemed average. In fact, they seemed very ordinary.

"This is the Heavenly River Sand!" a thunderbolt resounded in Chu Yang’s heart as soon as Young Master Yu spoke out these three words!

Heavenly River Sand!

The legends stated that the Heavenly River Sand was capable of changing something rotten into something magical! One grain of the Heavenly River Sand could transform a martial arts loser into an incomparable genius! It could increase one’s strength hundreds-and-thousands of times… regardless of one’s aptitude or comprehension ability!

The Heavenly River Sand was something otherworldly! The legends stated that this was an object that had been left behind by that extraordinary man who had created the Nine Heavens. So, nothing could be said about its origins.

However, the Heavenly River Sand had many other functions as well. The Heavenly River Sand was capable of changing anything rotten into something magical. Let’s say that… one granule of the Heavenly River Sand was mixed with an ordinary iron while making a weapon. Then, the said-weapon would be able to cut iron as mud with ease!

Let’s say that… one was lucky, and could assimilate one grain of the Heavenly River Sand into one’s meridians. This individual wouldn’t face any bottleneck… regardless of one’s cultivation level! But… the assimilation of this item needed an incredible luck and opportunity.

In fact, one couldn’t assimilate it even if one was to be a Supreme Level Expert and didn’t have the stroke of luck on their side!

And, Young Master Yu had three granules here!

"I originally had four granules of this thing. But, I have already refined one of them. So, there are three left now. That is why I could make a comeback in a short period of time after I had been crippled." Young Master Yu looked at Chu Yang, and said with a smile, "I was only three years old when I refined this thing."

"I see!" Chu Yang suddenly had a realization.

"Well, you only understand half of it." Chu Yang hadn’t told him what he had understood, but Young Master Yu had still said that he had only understood half of it with affirmation in his tone.

"Oh? Then, what’s the other half that I didn’t understand?" Chu Yang asked.

"You only understood that refining this Heavenly River Sand requires a pure and innocent heart without any distracting thoughts. But, what you don’t know is that… it not only requires pure and innocent heart, but it also requires an innate spiritual body!" Young Master Yu insipidly said, "For example… like mine!"

"So, that’s how it is." Chu Yang suddenly had a realization. But, he didn’t have any interest in this thing. It was a good thing indeed… there was no doubt about it. It wasn’t surprising that Young Master Yu’s cultivation was so quick. But, this thing was worthless to Chu Yang. [Not everyone has life experiences like Young Master Yu’s. The pure and innocent heart along with the innate spiritual body that Young Master Yu spoke about… is perhaps more difficult to find… than the Heavenly River Sand itself…]

"It seems that you’re not interested." Young Master Yu smiled and arrived in the front of the second shelf, "This is Purple Crystal Jade Essence. It is quite inferior to the other things that are present here. But, this is a treasure of the Nine Heavens, and it is very difficult to find."

Purple Crystal Jade Essence!

These words made Chu Yang’s heart jump in a wild frenzy. Wasn’t his identity pendant made up of Purple Crystal Jade Essence? He went forwards to look and held that in his hands. Be it the color or the touch… this Purple Crystal Jade Essence was the same as the one that Chu Yang had!

Moreover, he recalled the shape of that jade token. It seemed that it could be fused together with the piece that was kept in front of him. It seemed as if they completed each other…

"It seems to be missing a piece. It doesn’t feel complete," Chu Yang probed a little.

"Your vision is really very keen. Well, this Purple Crystal Jade Essence has a backstory." Young Master Yu smiled. He exposed the expression of recollection in his eyes. He felt somewhat warm, "I was travelling in the Upper Three Heavens in the past. And, there happened to be a family that had bought Heavenly Crystal Stone. They had spent a large amount of money on it! So, there was a auction of this item at that time. There were several other people in the bidding; including me. But, there was a guy who obtained it. This Young master didn’t have enough property. Moreover, I didn’t wish to use my treasures to buy it… he he…

"After that, that man and I drank alcohol on the same desk by chance. And, we got along very well. He then invited me to go and have a look at the opening of the Heavenly Crystal Stone with my own eyes. At that time, I was also very curious towards that stone. So, I went. You must know that there is always a blue crystal, a purple crystal, or a white crystal inside the Heavenly Crystal Stone. But, nobody can see it before they’ve cut the stone open. I had a little certainty that there would be a good item inside that chunk of the Heavenly Crystal Stone. But, I too couldn’t determine what it was. So, I went to test and verify my vision.

"However, that large chunk of stone turned out to be useless since it was variegated Purple Crystal. That old chap became very disappointed by this." Young Master Yu recalled the affairs of those days and happily smiled, "But, I had sensed that there was something profound trapped inside. So, I suggested him to rub and polish the variegated Purple Crystal…

"He listened to my words and rubbed the crystal. After that, he unexpectedly took out a rarely seen and rarely heard of Purple Crystal Jade Essence! It was actually this!" Young Master Yu said, "Then, he divided that Purple Crystal Jade Essence into two, and presented me half in order to thank me. And, his granddaughter was about to get married at that time. His great-grandson was soon to be born. Therefore, he halved his own piece and made two jade pendants out of it."

"Two jade pendants…" Chu Yang’s heart throbbed like a drum. Suddenly, even his eyes somewhat blossomed as he sank in deep thought…

"Then, that old man requested me… to carve names on both of the jade pendants! One piece was for his grandson, and the other was for his great-grandson… I still remember that I used my magical power and Saint level strength, and carved one word into the jade essence of each of the pendants without harming the surface of the pendants."

"What words?" Chu Yang anxiously asked.

"I carved ‘Yang’ on one piece… and ‘Chu’ on the other!" Young Master Yu leaked a smile on his face.

Chu Yang’s whole body shivered a bit. The origin of the pendant that he possessed had been a secret. However, this secret had been fully revealed today. [Of course, my maternal grandfather gifted this to me. But, it was unexpected for me that Young Master Yu had engraved this letter with his own hands…]

[What is wrong with this world… Things are going nuts all of a sudden…] Chu Yang was grumbling in his heart. His eye-socket had started to give off heat…

"Obviously, I did it as per the request of that old chap. I too put a little effort, and set up a prohibition. In fact, I had jokingly said… Brother, I’m carving this letter today. Later, you have to drip the blood of the newborn baby from the tip of its tongue on this jade pendant once he is born. Then, it will be linked with the surname of the family. The connection will slowly get stronger and stronger five years later. And, I’ve put my prohibition in place. So, the child wouldn’t be able to go missing even if he would want to once these five years had passed…"

Young Master Yu burst into laughter. Obviously, he had recalled the strange expression on the face of his old friend of those days. He felt very pleased in his heart. It was no longer surprising that his ‘old friend’ had been waiting with all of his heart to hug his great-grandson… to hug his granddaughter’s son. And, this Young Master Yu had actually cursed that man to lose his descendant in a weird manner…

This was too unpleasant!

Chu Yang’s lips twitched several times. He raised his head, and bitterly looked at this man who had made an auspicious remark. [Motherfu*ker… perhaps I wouldn’t have gone missing if you hadn’t spoken these words in the past…]

…