Chapter 19 — The Spring Belonged to an Ape

CHAPTER 19

The Spring Belonged to an Ape

“Take the small medicine bottles,” Sun Mao said. “You'll run faster when the ape comes.”

Shi Feng looked at the stoneware bottles on the roadside stall. Two of the small narrow-necked bottles would fit easily inside his pack. The largest would need both arms to carry.

He took two of the small bottles.

“Two spirit stones,” Sun Mao said. “No refund if you drop them.”

“I won't bring the pieces back,” Shi Feng replied.

The peddler accepted the payment and pointed toward Yunlu Hill. A narrow path climbed between low pines. Farther up, pale rock showed where water had cut through the slope.

“The spring's around that rock,” Sun Mao said. “If you hear stones breaking, you're close enough.”

“Does anyone else gather there?” Shi Feng asked.

“A few tried,” Sun Mao replied. “They came back with broken bottles.”

“What does the dew look like?” Shi Feng asked.

“Pale where it's thin. Darker where it gathers under the rock,” Sun Mao said. “Don't fill a bottle with spring water and call it medicine. Qian Rui already does that.”

Shi Feng glanced at the vessels on the stall.

“Did you sell him those too?” Shi Feng asked.

Sun Mao looked offended.

“He bought the big ones,” Sun Mao replied. “And I told him not to call them ancient jade vessels!”

Sun Mao scraped his thumbnail over a bottle’s base. His own potter’s mark showed beneath a smear of green paint. He scrubbed harder, offended by the bad disguise rather than the dishonest medicine.

“Carry it by the neck,” Sun Mao said. “If you carry it by the lip, it’ll break before the ape gets a chance.”

Shi Feng thanked him and started climbing. The two small bottles would be enough. He wanted genuine medicine, not a heavy load of water.

He'd left Yunze Town at dawn. The path from the north road took him past vegetable plots and an abandoned charcoal stack. Now the trees hid the town, and the spring lay less than half an hour ahead.

He wanted Jade Marrow Dew, not another argument with a shopkeeper.

Buying enough cultivation medicine to fill his body's enormous capacity would eat through money faster than he could earn it. Hunting gave him strength directly. A useful spring could supply something different: medicine for the bones he would soon refine.

He wouldn't rush that change before his qi was ready. The first sign of the ape was a broken tree.

Its trunk lay across the path with tooth marks in the bark. Beyond it, stones had been thrown down the slope. One was larger than the roadside peddler's whole stall.

Shi Feng set his spear against a tree and tightened his sword belt. He didn't need the damaged shaft in this fight.

A Blackback Stone Ape stood beside the spring with both hands in the water. Gray hide covered its arms. The fur along its back was black, and its shoulders rose higher than Shi Feng's head.

It lifted a flat stone, sniffed beneath it, and smashed it against the bank.

Sun Mao's directions were accurate.

A mature beast of this kind had strength comparable to a Bone Refinement cultivator. Its hard limbs and thick skull were what kept ordinary hunters away.

Shi Feng stepped into the clearing.

The ape turned at once.

He drew his sword.

“I'm taking some dew,” Shi Feng said. “You won't agree, so let's save the discussion.”

The ape roared and threw the broken stone.

Shi Feng moved left. The stone struck a pine behind him and snapped two branches. Before the fragments fell, the ape charged across the clearing with both fists raised.

He met the first swinging arm with his palm.

Bang!

His boots cut two grooves in the soil. The ape's arm jerked sideways.

Shi Feng felt the force, but his elbow held. Refined qi supported his body instead of scattering at the impact.

He'd fought weaker beasts since his breakthrough. This was the first time he'd properly tested the strength of perfect meridians against an opponent above his realm.

It was enough.

The ape swung its other fist.

Shi Feng stepped inside the blow and drove his shoulder into its chest. The beast stumbled backward. He followed, cutting across the soft place beneath its jaw.

Blood darkened the gray hide.

The ape roared louder and grabbed his sword arm. Shi Feng turned his wrist before the fingers closed. He struck the inside of its elbow with his free hand, then kicked the knee as its weight shifted.

The huge body fell to one side.

He didn't give it room to stand.

His sword went beneath the collarbone and deep into the chest. The ape seized the blade with one hand. Shi Feng planted his foot against its shoulder and pulled the edge free before the grip tightened.

A second thrust entered the throat.

The fingers opened.

Shi Feng stepped back and waited until the body stopped moving. His left palm stung. Otherwise, he was unhurt.

He was happy with the result. Stronger cultivation made a difference, but so did knowing where to stand and putting force into a clean movement. He didn't have to survive every fight by falling through a hole.

A shout came from the trees.

“Is it dead?” Sun Mao called.

Shi Feng turned. The peddler stood well below the clearing, peering around a trunk.

“Come look,” Shi Feng said.

“No need!” Sun Mao replied quickly. “I believe you!”

“Then why are you here?” Shi Feng asked.

“My stall's still down the road,” Sun Mao said. “I wanted to know whether I should move it!”

Shi Feng pointed downhill. Sun Mao took the advice and hurried back.

He hadn't seen the fight. He'd arrived after the final roar and still wouldn't come close enough to inspect the corpse. Shi Feng waited until the peddler was gone, then knelt beside the ape.

The All-Devouring Physique answered his palm.

A thick rush of vitality entered his body. He stopped drawing after a few breaths and sat beside the spring while it settled. The beast was stronger than the fox, and there was no reason to let greed make the process harder.

He repeated it slowly through the afternoon.

When the body finally collapsed into brittle scraps, more qi remained within him. The currents were denser and easier to hold together. He guided one through his arm without feeling it spread where he didn't want it.

Qi Condensation was reaching the point described in the manual. He still hadn't entered Bone Refinement. That would require a deliberate change, with refined qi entering and strengthening an actual bone.

First, the dew.

Shi Feng washed his hands upstream of the blood and examined the spring hollow. Water ran clear over the upper stones. Beneath a low shelf, thick amber drops clung to a mineral crust.

He touched one with the clean tip of a wooden spoon.

Jade Marrow Dew.

There wasn't a whole pool of it. The good substance gathered slowly, one drop at a time. The ape had claimed the spring, but it hadn't known how much a pair of small bottles could sell for.

Shi Feng scraped carefully. He left mud and loose grit behind, collecting only the thick drops. By the time he finished, he had filled two small bottles with the thick amber dew.

That was enough for a start.

He stoppered both bottles, wrapped them in cloth, and recovered his spear from the tree. At the roadside stall, Sun Mao stared when Shi Feng tucked the two filled bottles into his pack.

“You came back,” Sun Mao said.

“You sound disappointed,” Shi Feng replied.

“I was worried!” Sun Mao protested. “About my stall too, but I was worried!”

Shi Feng bought a cup of water and sat upon a stone. The peddler kept looking toward the hill.

“The ape won't come down?” Sun Mao asked.

“Not unless somebody carries it,” Shi Feng said.

Sun Mao stared for a moment, then moved his stall a little farther from the path anyway. Shi Feng returned to Yunze Town before the evening lamps were lit.

Inside his room, he placed the two small bottles beside the blue manual and spread his right hand upon the table.

The forefinger bone would be first.