Chapter 5 — Three Spirit Stones

CHAPTER 5

Three Spirit Stones

“Three spirit stones, and I guarantee you'll reach Yunze Town alive,” Tang Jiu said, holding up three fingers.

Shi Feng looked at the cart behind him. One wheel leaned outwards. The mule was chewing a strip of its own harness.

“Does the mule know?” Shi Feng asked.

Tang Jiu turned, slapped the mule's mouth, and quickly hid the broken strap.

“That's why it's so cheap!” Tang Jiu replied.

The western road ran between green hills. Qingshi Town was already out of sight, and the morning mist still hung over the fields. Shi Feng's shoulder ached beneath his pack. Eighteen months ago, he could've run this road without sweating.

Now a mule was deciding whether he deserved to sit down.

“Can you guarantee the cart will reach Yunze Town?” Shi Feng asked.

“Young Master Shi, you're asking for too much,” Tang Jiu said seriously.

So this fellow knew his name.

Shi Feng wasn't surprised. News of a fallen genius spread faster than news of a new one. People enjoyed hearing that someone above them had fallen into the mud.

Tang Jiu's narrow eyes dropped to the short spear tied beside the pack.

“I heard your meridians are ruined,” Tang Jiu said. “A lonely road isn't kind to a man in your condition.”

“Then lower the price,” Shi Feng replied.

“The price is already pitiful!” Tang Jiu protested.

“So is the cart,” Shi Feng said.

Tang Jiu's mouth twitched. He was about to speak when hoofbeats came from behind.

Four freight wagons rolled around the bend. A woman in a dark green robe walked beside the leading horse. Her saber hung at her hip, and a black scar crossed her left eyebrow.

The wagon drivers straightened when she looked their way.

“Lin Shuang! Sister Lin!” Tang Jiu called eagerly. “There's a customer here!”

“I'm not your sister,” Lin Shuang replied without slowing.

Tang Jiu immediately lowered his voice.

“Bone Refinement,” Tang Jiu whispered to Shi Feng. “She's refined more than a third of her bones. She can break your spear with two fingers.”

Shi Feng watched Lin Shuang's footsteps. Her boots barely sank into the soft roadside mud despite the heavy saber.

Bone Refinement strengthened the body itself. A cultivator at that realm didn't need to show qi to frighten ordinary men.

“Two spirit stones to walk behind the wagons,” Lin Shuang said to Shi Feng. “Three if you want to sit.”

“Three,” Tang Jiu repeated at once. “Give them to me. I'll arrange everything.”

Lin Shuang held out her hand.

Tang Jiu's expression fell.

Shi Feng paid Lin Shuang directly and climbed onto the last wagon. Tang Jiu climbed up beside him without paying anything.

“You're not charging him?” Shi Feng asked.

“He owes me twelve,” Lin Shuang said.

“I'll pay you after the autumn market!” Tang Jiu shouted.

“You said that last autumn,” Lin Shuang replied.

Tang Jiu raised his voice toward the driver instead.

“Brother Hu De! Tell Sister Lin how I fought bandits on this very road!” Tang Jiu called.

“You told them where I hid the fare box,” Hu De replied.

“They had knives!” Tang Jiu protested.

“So did she,” Hu De said, pointing at Lin Shuang.

Tang Jiu sat down. Lin Shuang tapped her saber against his boot once. He tucked both feet beneath him.

By noon, the road narrowed beside a bamboo grove. Shi Feng ate half a dry cake while Tang Jiu spread a collection of coloured papers across his knees.

“Heilu Marsh entry permits,” Tang Jiu said. “Without one, the guards won't let you hunt. White costs five spirit stones. Blue costs eight. Red costs twelve.”

“What's different?” Shi Feng asked.

“Red looks more impressive,” Tang Jiu said.

Shi Feng picked up a red paper. Two names were written under a large seal, followed by a promise about sharing a marriage bed.

“This is a marriage certificate,” Shi Feng said.

Tang Jiu snatched it back.

“Wrong bundle,” Tang Jiu muttered.

“Whose wife were you going to sell me?” Shi Feng asked.

“For twelve stones, don't be so picky!” Tang Jiu replied.

The driver, Hu De, burst out laughing. Even Lin Shuang glanced back.

Shi Feng put away his cake. These people were greedy, but at least their greed was easy to understand.

An instant later, the lead horse screamed.

Something black burst from the bamboo. Two curved tusks struck the wagon's front board, and the driver flew backwards into the grain sacks.

“Black-Tusk Boar!” Lin Shuang shouted. “Get behind the carts!”

The beast was as large as an ox. Its thick hide carried a faint brown glow. A spirit beast with that much qi could tear apart an ordinary hunter before he lifted his bow.

Tang Jiu jumped off the wagon and disappeared underneath it.

Shi Feng reached for his spear.

“Put it down!” Lin Shuang snapped. “Do you want to be skewered along with it?”

Her saber flashed. The boar twisted, and the blade cut a long wound across its shoulder instead of its throat.

Blood splashed against the bamboo.

The beast roared and charged the smaller gap beside the last wagon.

Straight towards Shi Feng.

He jumped down, but his right leg gave way when he landed. A sharp pain shot from his knee to his waist. His meridians remained silent.

Damn it! Shi Feng thought. His old instincts were faster than this useless body.

The tusks lowered.

There wasn't time to climb back onto the cart. Shi Feng caught the corner of a sack and dragged it down between himself and the beast.

White powder burst into the air.

The boar's charge didn't stop. It smashed through the sack, but its eyes closed against the lime. Shi Feng threw himself sideways into the ditch.

A tusk tore his sleeve.

The wagon shook above him. Wood cracked, and the mule shrieked. Lin Shuang landed on the wagon roof and drove her saber down with both hands.

Bang!

The blade split the boar's skull.

Its legs thrashed twice before going still.

For a while, nobody moved.

“It's dead?” Hu De asked from the grain sacks.

“Do you want to check with your head?” Lin Shuang replied.

Shi Feng climbed out of the ditch. His hands were muddy, and his torn sleeve hung from his elbow. Lin Shuang looked from him to the burst sack.

“You knew it was lime?” Lin Shuang asked.

“The driver complained about the price when we stopped,” Shi Feng replied.

“You listened to that?” Lin Shuang asked.

“He complained for half an hour,” Shi Feng said.

The driver shut his mouth.

Lin Shuang wiped her saber clean. Shi Feng understood what saved him. The lime blinded the beast for a breath, and a Bone Refinement cultivator used that breath to kill it. He couldn't have done it himself.

He didn't enjoy admitting that.

Tang Jiu crawled out from beneath the cart, brushed his robe, and pointed proudly at the corpse.

“Good thing I guarded the wheels!” Tang Jiu declared.

“You were holding my ankle,” Hu De said.

“Then I guarded you too,” Tang Jiu replied.

The broken wagon couldn't continue. The merchants argued over the lost lime while Lin Shuang cut the beast's valuable tusks free.

“You can walk from here,” Lin Shuang told Shi Feng. “Yunze Town is six li ahead.”

Shi Feng held out his hand.

“What?” Lin Shuang asked.

“I paid to sit,” Shi Feng said.

“You sat,” Lin Shuang replied.

“To Yunze Town,” Shi Feng added.

Lin Shuang stared at him, then tossed him one spirit stone.

“You're troublesome for a cripple,” Lin Shuang said.

“Being crippled is expensive,” Shi Feng replied.

Tang Jiu hurried after him with the coloured papers tucked away.

“I also sell maps!” Tang Jiu called.

Ahead, Yunze Town's dark walls rose beyond the trees. Above the gate hung six enormous beast skulls, their jaws open over the road. Under them, a painted board promised rich rewards for anyone who entered Heilu Marsh.

Someone scratched another sentence beneath the promise.

Dead men didn't need collecting fees.

Tang Jiu followed his gaze and smiled.

“Don't believe everything written on a wall,” Tang Jiu advised.

Shi Feng looked at the coloured papers under his arm.

“Only things written on your papers?” Shi Feng asked.

“Those cost money,” Tang Jiu replied. “Naturally, they're more trustworthy.”