Chapter 192: The Jade Pendant

The instant the old man lost his breath, countless clusters of fire ignited from within his body, using his bones, flesh, and Qi as fuel, intent on reducing everything to ash.

But this time, they failed to complete their task.

The youth raised a hand, and the sparks escaping from the corpse instantly halted, as if frozen. The next moment, they obediently flew out and surged into the youth's palm.

The burning was terminated as if by a decree. Although a portion of the old man's corpse had already carbonized, it was, after all, preserved.

Not until the last trace of flame burrowed into his palm did all the high heat on the field dissipate without a trace. Pei Ye slowly lowered his hand.

A calm voice came from his abdomen: "No, what does it have to do with you?"

All control related to fire was accomplished by it through the half-cocoon formed of blood in the youth's dantian; the youth himself did not yet have the ability to mobilize this organ.

"I'm just practicing." Pei Ye showed no shame. "It'll be convenient for casting in the future."

He sheathed his sword: "How are things on your end?"

"The friend in the green skirt ran into a heavily wounded Seventh Life. I was going to help, but something happened on your end, so I couldn't look after her," the black cat said.

Pei Ye's heart sank, and his movements froze: "Then what about now? Why... why aren't you going to help her?"

"..."

"Speak."

"I'm watching," the black cat said. "Alright... now she's killed that person."

"... Oh."

"Go rummage through what this person left behind; I'll be back soon."

"Alright." Pei Ye nodded slightly and walked toward the old man. Only after taking a step did he remember that there was another person standing on the martial field.

He looked up. Yang Yan was standing right behind the old man's corpse, his long saber propped against the ground, his whole body standing stiffly.

In front of him, the Zhanxin Liuli hovered and swayed slightly, as if curious about this person.

"Yang Yan?"

"..."

"Yang Yan?"

"... What the hell is that thing of yours?!" Yang Yan shouted, his tone carrying a rather sharp, youthful pitch.

He stared at the long sword floating before him, which looked like ice-crystal snow jade, his expression like that of someone seeing a pig that could talk.

This was not the first time Zhanxin Liuli had been revealed in front of outsiders. Back in Fenghuai, Pei Ye had once proactively displayed it before the children, reaping a chorus of gasps and admiration.

But Yang Yan was actually far more shocked than those children.

Because children lacked basic cognition of the world; even if you led them through the Great Wilderness, they might suddenly scream, "Wow, that bug is so fat!"

But Yang Yan had a basic understanding of cultivation.

He certainly didn't recognize this sword, but the phenomenon of "a sword floating on its own," while not non-existent in the cultivation world, was always at a level impossible to touch.

It should have been placed alongside those terms from above the clouds; how could it appear in this remote, blood-stained place?

Yang Yan stared with wide eyes at Pei Ye, as if trying to find an answer on his face.

"A sword that can fly, haven't you seen one before?" Pei Ye glanced at him, reached out and beckoned, and the Liuli turned and drifted back to his side.

"..."

"Thank you for coming to help." Pei Ye squatted down beside the corpse. At the time, it had seemed like a certain-death situation, yet the youth had still fought forward with his saber, truly not failing the words "let's kill this old thief together."

"However, if not for that extra saber strike you added, I would have killed a Seventh Life head-on by myself," Pei Ye sighed.

Yang Yan rolled his eyes, just about to curse him, but the scene of the youth breaking through the fire and the sword shadow flying past flashed through his mind again. He pursed his lips and ultimately said nothing.

Indeed.

Pei Ye reached out and rummaged through the old man's body for a while, untying a cloth bag. Its surface had been scorched quite badly by the overflowing flames, but the items inside were basically preserved.

Fortunately, the little cat had been quick-witted enough to stop those evidence-destroying flames in time.

As Pei Ye untied the string, a bead rolled onto the ground with a "clink" and flipped a few times.

Pei Ye frowned, picked it up, and brought it before his eyes to examine it closely. One side of this bead was cast of iron, the other polished amber. The iron side was engraved with a ring, which was now filled with a faint fluorescence, and in the center of the ring was a dot, also filled with a faint light, though it was somewhat dim and not glowing clearly.

The other side was a material like amber resin; through this hazy, translucent layer, one could see the iron-black of the other side.

"This should be that soul-snatching magic tool." The voice of the Chi shadow came from his abdomen.

"How does this thing snatch Wu Gong?" Pei Ye frowned in thought. "Is there such a logic?"

"It's nothing more than some operations on the Mind-Spirit Realm. As for how it's specifically implemented, you'll need an artificer to take it apart," the black cat said. "Actually, regarding the fire from just now, go take a look at what's going on."

"Do I need to dissect the abdomen?"

"Just put your hand on the corpse."

Pei Ye reached out and remained silent for a moment.

"How is it?"

"There's nothing left," the black cat said. "When that fire appeared, only the fire remained. The thing that gave birth to it was the first to be burned away."

"Oh."

At this moment, Yang Yan suddenly said from the side: "Can you let me see that bead?"

Pei Ye remembered that when he had wanted to kill this old man, it was precisely because he wanted to investigate something, so he reached out and handed it to him.

"Do you recognize it?" Pei Ye watched as he turned it over in his hands for a while.

Yang Yan frowned, not yet answering, when suddenly the black clothing at his waist bulged.

Both of them were stunned for a moment.

Then there was another bulge at the waist, pushing against the youth's clothing from the inside out, as if something wanted to rush out.

"Are you carrying a toad in your stomach?"

Yang Yan reached out to cover it, only then realizing what it was, so he was stunned again, then loosened his belt and took it out.

A snow-white jade pendant.

Pei Ye showed a slight look of realization—he had seen it before. When they first met, this pendant had been revealed from the waist of the disheveled youth, and Pei Ye had even kindly suggested he trade it for silver.

At this moment, Yang Yan held it by its string, and the jade pendant moved without wind, sticking toward the soul-snatching bead.

Both of them were silent for a moment.

"This... should I let it touch it?" Yang Yan controlled the distance between the two, speaking only after a good while, looking up to seek Pei Ye's opinion.

"... Try it, it's not like it'll explode, right?"

"..." Yang Yan swallowed his saliva. This was a very difficult decision for him—the jade pendant was extremely important to him, and he absolutely could not let anything happen to it before solving the mystery, but now, the clue was right before his eyes.

Yang Yan gritted his teeth and slowly pressed the jade pendant against it. The jade-white and iron-black approached bit by bit, and the jade pendant flew more violently, on the verge of making contact.

Pei Ye took two steps back.

With a "ding" sound of collision, nothing happened.

This jade pendant seemed to have touched just for the sake of touching; it had gone up full of enthusiasm, but after making contact, it seemed to discover it had recognized the wrong person, and immediately hung down, calm as an ancient well.

Yang Yan was stunned for a while, took it and tried to stick it on again, but there was no reaction at all.

"... What's going on?" he asked blankly.

"I don't know." Pei Ye frowned. This scene just now had also left him astonished and suspicious, his eyes wide open. "What is that thing of yours?"

Yang Yan glanced at him and said dully: "A jade pendant that can fly, haven't you seen one before?"

"..."

"..."

The two stared at each other with wide eyes.

"Fine, I'll let you see." Pei Ye reached out and grasped the Liuli sword hilt at his side, handing it before Yang Yan. "But don't touch it randomly; it doesn't like that."

Yang Yan looked down without a word, his hands gradually twisting together. Even if Pei Ye hadn't said it, he wouldn't have dared to touch it much.

"This is..."

"A famous sword."

"..." Yang Yan perhaps already had a guess, or perhaps he hadn't had time to guess yet; in any case, he stared stiffly at Pei Ye.

He swallowed three times before he could speak, looking even more nervous than when he was facing the enemy just now: "Is... is it which one?"

"Zhanxin Liuli."

"... What?"

"It's called Zhanxin Liuli."

"Wait a minute, I remember this one... doesn't it have an owner? It's that one with the number one sword path talent in the world, a woman..."

"Ming Qitian."

"Oh, right! Ming Qitian! The successor of Yunlang Mountain!" Yang Yan clapped his hands.

"You don't even know Ming Qitian?"

Yang Yan lowered his head in slight embarrassment: "I've heard of her... but I practice the saber, and I didn't think of it for a moment."

"Then you must have grown up in the mountain boondocks."

"..." This time Yang Yan didn't refute, curling his lips. "Then how did you become its owner?"

"I'm not its owner, I'm just its..." Pei Ye tilted his head, deliberating.

"What?"

"... Physician." Pei Ye found a suitable word. "I had the fortune to meet the Sword Master, and she entrusted me to look after this sword for a period of time."

"How can you look after it?"

"Don't worry about so much."

"... Fine, dog-shit luck."

"Without this dog-shit luck, the two of us wouldn't have been able to leave a whole corpse today." Pei Ye gently patted the Liuli, and it returned to its sword case on its own. The youth pointed a finger. "It's time to talk about your jade pendant."

"The jade pendant is my own," Yang Yan said in a low voice. "I brought it out from my sect."

After saying this, the youth was truly silent for a while. Pei Ye waited quietly. Yang Yan looked up: "Something happened to my sect, and I haven't figured it all out yet. In short, my master died, and I escaped with this pendant... someone wants to snatch it."

"Who? Someone like him?" Pei Ye gestured toward the corpse at his feet.

"... I think so."

"But, from what I've seen, he doesn't seem to care much about you," Pei Ye said. "If they wanted to snatch this item, the pursuit you faced should have been much more intense—we shouldn't even have had the chance to meet."

"... They don't know this is in my hands."

"That's not right either," Pei Ye said. "If they can't find it, they should be even less likely to give up on every clue. You are such a conspicuous clue; there's no reason for them to ignore you."

"... You're right, so I think—" Yang Yan was silent for a moment, then suddenly lifted this jade pendant. "Do you know? It... can be opened."

Pei Ye was stunned for a moment and looked up. This snow-white pendant was much larger than an ordinary pendant, nearly the size of a small plaque. At this moment, it hung in the air, swaying slightly, and the intricate patterns on it flowed with a greasy, moist light in the moonlight and drizzle.

"Opened?"

"Yes."

"..."

"So I want to open it and see." Yang Yan scratched his hair, continuing his previous sentence. He took a deep breath. "Anyway, this jade pendant is really important. I knew about it before the incident happened."

"What is it?"

"I don't know either. In short, it's a very precious thing, passed down through generations in our sect," Yang Yan said in a low voice. "I know how to open it."

Pei Ye nodded, not asking any further, intending to change the subject. Because in truth, speaking up to the previous point, Yang Yan's disclosure was no longer just a "secret" like the Zhanxin Liuli; it began to involve the youth's handle on life and death.

And reaching this point, it was even more of a secret treasure of his sect, and Pei Ye felt it inappropriate to continue listening.

But before he could speak, Yang Yan had already continued: "Do you want to know how to open it?"

Pei Ye was stunned. The youth in front of him pursed his lips and looked at him, as if having made a great determination.

"Are you asking me for help?"

"Mm." Yang Yan nodded, continuing to look at him silently.

"Tell me, let me think about it," Pei Ye said with a composed expression.

"This jade pendant needs two martial arts from our sect to be unlocked," Yang Yan said slowly. "One is called 'Swallowing the Sea,' which is the saber technique I learned; the other is called 'Collapsing Snow.'"

Pei Ye looked up abruptly.

"What?"

"'Collapsing Snow,' it's that 'Collapsing Snow' rewarded to the champion," Yang Yan said. "This sword technique was passed down from my sect... you've already seen a bit of what it looks like."

Pei Ye suddenly remembered the explosive sword from extreme stillness to extreme movement in the youth's hands.

"... What do you mean?" He didn't understand for a moment. "Isn't your sect... more than two thousand miles away?"

"Yes, but this sword technique is right here," Yang Yan said. "Just like... the secret line used by the sect to escape also reached here."

"..."

"In short, I only know a little bit of this sword technique and can't unlock this jade pendant," Yang Yan said in a low voice. "And, I don't have the sword manual on me."

"... Your own sect's sword, you have to get it at the martial competition?" Pei Ye couldn't help but feel it was a bit strange.

"... Yes. I practice the saber, and this sword technique has always been kept in the library; I could look at it whenever I wanted. I didn't expect such a day."

He was just a fifteen-year-old disciple who should have been learning his craft step by step. Under the sudden change, escaping alone with a heavy treasure had already exhausted all his strength. To get back the sect's things, he could only replan.

"So, that's why you're participating in this martial competition?"

"Right," Yang Yan said. "After getting this sword manual, I hope you can learn it, and then help me open this jade pendant."

"..." Pei Ye was thinking about something else. "You won't be caught as soon as you get on the field, will you?"

"No, the wanted notice from the west is hard to reach here, and you also said they don't care much about me," Yang Yan said. "And this is an identity prepared here in Bowang; it's clean."

"As for the reward... I can't come up with anything else. Originally, 'Collapsing Snow' itself is a very strong sword, which could count as a reward, but now it seems I can't beat you and won't get this championship," Yang Yan said in a low voice. "The sect's secret treasure... I can't give it to you, so let it count as me owing you a favor, is that okay?"

Pei Ye smiled: "I thought you were going to ask me to help you kill some Seventh Life or Eighth Life—it's just learning a sword, a mere lift of the hand, and it doesn't need any reward."

"That won't do, one thing is one thing," Yang Yan said dully. "... And, 'Collapsing Snow' is still quite hard to learn."

"Fine." Pei Ye smiled, looking at this mysterious jade pendant. It was jade-moist and whole, really not looking like something that could be "opened."

"I also want to see what can be put inside."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 193 =====