Chapter 312: White Mist and Crane Shadows

Duan Rong and the others were led by four people, walked out of the Lower Courtyard, and along the mountain path, walked into the desolate and misty mountain forest...

The stone steps disappeared after the Lower Courtyard.

At this moment, there was only craggy, foot-bruising mountain rock beneath the few people's feet...

Among the mountain rocks were quite a few mosses and ferns poking out from the stone crevices; many ferns had been trampled into the rocks.

In just these past few days, this desolate and bleak mountain path had been trampled over by who knows how many Registered Disciples.

A faint mist permeated the forest, and visibility was slightly poor.

Duan Rong and that old man surnamed Qin walked at the very front.

Duan Rong carefully looked around, fearing that the baboon would suddenly leap out from the forest again to cause trouble.

Duan Rong tightened the pack on his back; besides the bundle he had carried himself, the old man had just issued each of them a fur blanket and a set of Daoist robes back at the Lower Courtyard.

From the stone crevices and grass, poisonous snakes and scorpions crawled out from time to time.

Upon seeing human figures, these venomous creatures would get startled and bite toward Duan Rong's feet; with a flicker of his footwork, Duan Rong kicked the leaping snakes and scorpions into a pulp.

Duan Rong cleared the way by killing as they went, so Xiao Yu and Shen Mizhi, walking behind, were spared the harassment of the poisonous insects.

Xiao Yu was fine; having spent years out on the road as a guard, she did not pay much attention to these things.

Shen Mizhi was most afraid of such snakes and insects; as she walked behind Xiao Yu, she would look with gratitude from time to time toward Duan Rong, who was not far ahead.

Their group walked in the forest for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense before they gradually emerged from the dense forest and arrived at the edge of a cliff.

Beyond the cliff was a bottomless abyss, but at this moment, thick fog filled the air, and only a vast expanse of white was visible; the black shadows of a few mountain peaks in the distance appeared and disappeared in the mist, like beasts lurking and watching.

They suddenly stopped their footsteps at a certain spot beside the cliff.

A thin, lean youth looked at Shen Mizhi and said, "Sliding down this Cableway is the way to the Elder Council. Let's go."

Only then did Duan Rong and the others notice that not far from the youth's feet, there was actually an iron chain as thick as an arm extending from the cliff wall, stretching straight into the vast, white, thick fog...

Shen Mizhi bit her lip, her eyes turned red, and she turned her head to look at Xiao Yu, saying, "Sister Xiao..."

The two had accompanied each other along the way, and now that they were to separate, Shen Mizhi suddenly felt reluctant.

Seeing Shen Mizhi looking like she wanted to cry, Xiao Yu walked over, took Shen Mizhi's hand, and said, "Look at you... it's not like we won't see each other again..."

Shen Mizhi said, "Sister Xiao, I will come to see you."

Xiao Yu nodded, her eyes also turning slightly red.

At the cliff area not far from the iron chain, a stone pit had been chiseled out, and the thin, lean youth took two wraps made of animal hide out from the stone pit.

The youth handed one wrap to Shen Mizhi.

He then took the other one himself, looked at Shen Mizhi, and said, "Do as I do."

The youth tied the thin vine ropes attached to both sides of the animal hide around his waist, then grabbed the sides of the hide tightly with both hands, squatted at the edge of the cliff, placed the hide onto the iron chain, and leaped with his body.

The iron chain shook for a moment, and the youth slid into the vast, white, thick fog, his figure disappearing.

Shen Mizhi also squatted at the edge of the cliff; she pressed her lips together tightly, turned her head to look at Xiao Yu, Duan Rong, and Ximen Kankan, then suddenly slid off, and following the shaking of the iron chain, Shen Mizhi disappeared into the white mist.

Duan Rong and the other two watched Shen Mizhi enter the white mist, their expressions all filled with sorrow.

Although they were all within the Taiyi Sect, the mountains were vast, and after this parting, they did not know when they would meet again.

The four of them had accompanied each other all the way, and their bond was already quite deep. Especially Xiao Yu, who had always regarded Shen Mizhi as a younger sister.

The others had already lifted their feet to walk forward, but Xiao Yu was still standing there in a daze; Duan Rong walked over and patted Xiao Yu's shoulder, saying, "Let's go."

Xiao Yu came back to her senses and caught up with Duan Rong and the others' pace.

The group walked another few yards along the edge of the cliff and then stopped at another spot.

There, at the edge of the cliff, not far apart, were four iron chains tied to the cliff wall, piercing into the white mist.

The two people leading Xiao Yu and Ximen Kankan each pointed to an iron chain and said, "Slide down this iron chain."

Xiao Yu turned her head and stared at Duan Rong; the two looked at each other in silence, and Duan Rong's lips moved, not knowing what to say.

Xiao Yu paused and said softly, "I'm leaving."

"Mm." Duan Rong looked at Xiao Yu and said, "Be careful."

Xiao Yu nodded, tied the vine rope, and followed behind the person leading her, sliding into the white mist.

Ximen Kankan squatted at the edge of the cliff, turned his head to look at Duan Rong, and said, "Duan Rong! You remember, I'm forging iron at the Weapon Workshop. Make sure to come find me..."

Duan Rong gave an 'mm', but his gaze was fixed on the iron chain where Xiao Yu's figure had disappeared.

Ximen Kankan noticed Duan Rong's gaze and said, "You guy who values romance over friendship!?"

"Are you going or not? If you don't go, I'll kick you down!" Duan Rong said, and he actually kicked toward Ximen Kankan.

Ximen Kankan was startled and immediately jumped from the edge of the cliff into the mist.

As the white mist rolled, Ximen Kankan's cursing voice came through. "Duan Rong, you wait! When you come to find me, I'll definitely kick your butt to pieces..."

Duan Rong stood at the edge of the cliff and smiled, but the next moment, his eyes could not help but turn red; he looked at the iron chain shaking in the vast white mist and murmured, "Xiao Yu, Kankan, take care of yourselves."

The old man surnamed Qin walked to the front and paused his body; Duan Rong caught this out of the corner of his eye and immediately followed.

Now at the edge of the cliff, only the two of them remained; on one side was the sheer, thousand-fathom precipice, and on the other was the vast, white, thick fog; both of them walked silently with their heads down.

After walking for nearly half the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the old man still showed no sign of stopping.

Duan Rong turned his head to look to his side at the vast, white fog; along the way, they had already passed more than twenty iron chains, and these iron chains were clearly all leading to different places in the Sect.

Duan Rong's expression shifted, and he asked tentatively, "Old Qin, the iron chains that Ximen Kankan and Xiao Yu slid down were quite close to each other!"

The old man walked with his hands behind his back, sneered upon hearing this, and said, "One of them is going to the Stone Workshop, and the other is going to the Weapon Workshop. Both the Stone Workshop and the Weapon Workshop are managed by the Taipu Hall. They are on two adjacent mountain peaks, so of course the iron chains are close."

"Taipu Hall?!" Duan Rong's heart skipped a beat; this term was very unfamiliar to him. "Then Old Qin, where am I going as a Medicine Boy?"

"You are going to Pharmacist Shang."

Duan Rong's expression shifted, and he continued to ask, "Where does Pharmacist Shang's place belong to?"

"Pharmacist Shang is a Registered Pharmacist of the Sect's Medicine Pavilion. But his place is managed by himself."

"Sect Medicine Pavilion? Registered Pharmacist? Managed by himself?" Duan Rong pondered for a moment, thinking about the meaning of the old man's words, his eyes flickering, wanting to continue asking. "Qin..."

Duan Rong had just spat out a single word when the old man suddenly turned his head, a cold light like a blade flashing in his eyes as he stared at Duan Rong and said, "Kid, you are just a Registered Disciple, so just do your own business well. The Sect is so big, stop asking about this and that!"

After the old man finished speaking, he continued walking forward.

Duan Rong looked at the old man's back and let out a soft, turbid sigh, thinking to himself: Within the Taiyi Sect, there are actually so many institutions. He had only arrived for a short while, and he had already heard the names of several institutions. There was the Elder Council, the Lower Courtyard, the Taipu Hall, and the Medicine Pavilion, and that so-called Pharmacist Shang even had his own place.

For a Sect with over ten thousand years of history, the bureaucracy is indeed bloated!

Qin Laotou walked in front, yet he was quite critical of Duan Rong behind him.

He usually never gave these Registered Disciples a good look, let alone chat with them about the Medicine Pavilion or the Taipu Hall.

It was only because he saw that this kid knew when to advance or retreat, spoke politely, and lacked the foul habits of those aristocratic family disciples, plus the fact that this kid had recognized the three poisonous herbs Pharmacist Shang had left in his care, that he had looked at him with new eyes and chatted a few words; he hadn't expected this kid to actually push his luck and try to pry information out of him.

Duan Rong naturally understood why the old man was angry, so along the way, he just kept his head down and walked without saying another word.

In this way, the two of them walked along the edge of the cliff for a long time on the mountain path before finally stopping in front of a steep cliff face.

Near that cliff face, there was only one iron cable, hanging lonely in a vast expanse of white fog.

Qin Laotou took two pieces of Beast Skin Wrap from a stone cave in the cliff face and handed one to Duan Rong.

Because Duan Rong had obediently walked afterward without saying another word, Qin Laotou's expression toward Duan Rong had softened a lot by now. "Tie the vine rope tightly around your waist. During the slide, no matter what situation you encounter, hold onto the beast skin and you will survive!"

Duan Rong took the Beast Skin Wrap, gave Qin Laotou a grateful look, and tied the vine rope tightly around his waist.

Just as Duan Rong finished tying it, Qin Laotou had already leaped at the edge of the cliff and disappeared into the vast white fog.

Duan Rong crouched at the edge of the cliff, gripped the beast skin with holes at both ends in his hands, placed it on the iron cable, leaped, and slid into the vast fog as well...

Duan Rong's body whistled through the fog in the valley, and the mist in the valley quickly soaked his face, hair, and clothes.

Watching the rolling fog, Duan Rong had the illusion of being suspended in the void, walking through the mist.

As Qin Laotou slid across the iron cable, he seemed to have thinned out the fog along the way; otherwise, the moisture on Duan Rong's face would likely have been even worse.

As Duan Rong slid, he suddenly saw a white shadow standing on the dark iron cable not far ahead, and there was a red crest the size of a fist on top of the white shadow's head.

It was actually a crane, standing calmly on the swaying iron cable, preening its feathers with its beak; seeing Duan Rong sliding over from the white fog, it didn't seem panicked at all.

Only when Duan Rong got close did it suddenly spread its large wings, flap them once, and shoot out like an Arrow, flying straight into the clouds and white fog.

When the crane leaped into the air, several feather tips of its wings even brushed against Duan Rong's cheek.

Watching the crane's shadow disappear into the vast white fog, Duan Rong smiled; the crane's shadow, the white fog, the cliff, and the iron cable—such a marvelous sight gave him a sudden, dreamlike feeling of having stumbled into a celestial blessed land...

Duan Rong didn't know how long he had been sliding through the vast white fog when he saw a large black shadow ahead, its color growing deeper, gradually revealing a mountain peak from the white fog.

Duan Rong slid off the iron cable, jumped, and landed on the edge of the cliff at that mountain peak.

Standing at the edge of the cliff, Duan Rong saw that Qin Laotou was already there, wringing out his soaked sleeves, and there was already a wet puddle of water at his feet...

Duan Rong placed the Beast Skin Wrap in his hand into the stone cave nearby and, following Qin Laotou's example, wrung out his own sleeves and clothes a bit.

Qin Laotou wrung out his clothes and then lifted his feet to walk forward; Duan Rong immediately followed.

As Duan Rong walked, he circulated his Internal Breath, standing in a horse stance with his feet bobbing up and down; in less than half an incense stick of time, the heat from the Internal Breath had dried the clothes on Duan Rong's body.

Duan Rong glanced sideways and saw that Qin Laotou's clothes were still sticking to his body, soaking wet.

Duan Rong's gaze shifted, sweeping toward Qin Laotou's temples.

Qin Laotou's temples were as flat as before, with nothing unusual.

Because he was inside the Sect, Duan Rong did not use Divine Sense Projection to penetrate Qin Laotou's dantian, but through the appearance of Qin Laotou's temples and his movements along the way, Duan Rong had already judged that this Qin Laotou was a mortal who had never practiced martial arts.

A mortal who was not a Martial Artist inside the Sect was actually in charge of the distribution of the Registered Disciples' destinations in the Lower Courtyard.

There must be a trick to this. Could this old man have some background?

The look in Duan Rong's eyes toward Qin Laotou was not only devoid of contempt but had become even more solemn.

The two walked and walked until they suddenly stopped in front of a cave on the edge of the cliff.

Qin Laotou turned his head to look at Duan Rong and said, "We're here. That is Pharmacist Shang's place. Follow me."

While following behind Qin Laotou, Duan Rong stared at the cave not far ahead.

He saw that in front of the cave, there was a rather large platform, clearly carved out by human hands.

The platform was on the edge of the cliff, and it seemed that stone railings had been carved out from the local material to surround the platform.

At this moment, in one corner of the platform, there were four black dots busy doing something; from a short distance away, one could hear the faint, miscellaneous sounds of various stone and iron tools.

When Duan Rong followed Qin Laotou closer, he finally saw those four black dots clearly.

They were three men and one woman, four youths, all wearing green Daoist robes, their faces dark and gloomy, with an expression of "strangers keep away."

Duan Rong took a glance; the Artifacts in their hands were actually all tools for processing herbs. However, in this one sweep, Duan Rong had already discovered that there were several tools he had never seen before.

One must know that he had devoured the ancestral Spirit Tool of Gu Suxiu, as well as the Spirit Tools of almost all the Artifacts Shen Ping had left in the Wild Boar Mountain cave stronghold; in principle, he should have seen every tool in the world for processing herbs.

But there were a few tools that, at a glance, Duan Rong could determine had absolutely never appeared in the Spirit Tools he had devoured and digested.

Qin Laotou looked at the four Medicine Boys busy in the corner and asked, "Pan Yong, is Pharmacist Shang in?"

A youth with a square face and bright eyes looked up, smiled honestly, and said, "Old Qin is here. Master Shang is in. You go on in, old man."

Qin Laotou nodded, pointed to the flat ground at the cave entrance, and said, "Put your pack here first, and come into the cave with me."

Duan Rong put down the pack he was carrying on his back and followed Qin Laotou into the cave.

The moment Qin Laotou turned to enter the cave, the other two men and one woman who had been working with their heads down suddenly looked up, sweeping their gazes over Duan Rong's back with strange expressions.

The woman among them, who was quite attractive, had a flushed face from sweating while working; she looked at Duan Rong's profile, snorted coldly through her nose, and muttered, "Another fool has come!"

Hearing this, Pan Yong's face sank, and he said angrily, "Tang Zhu, stop talking nonsense."

The woman named Tang Zhu knew she had spoken out of turn, so she immediately pressed her lips together tightly and lowered her head to work.

The others also started working again, and various faint, miscellaneous sounds began to ring out in the corner of the platform once more...

(End of chapter)