Three days of preparation—not exactly long, but not too short to be useful either.
Gu Chengming drew up a list: elixirs, talismans, spirit stones, dry rations, spare magical implements, wound salves, antidote pills, and so on. Most of it had been purchased under the direct guidance of the Red Dust Phantom Body Formula. With an external brain advising him, many blind spots Gu Chengming had overlooked were now covered.
[The Red Dust Phantom Body Formula reviewed the list item by item, and whenever it came across something inappropriate it would give a faint tremor, prompting him to make changes.]
Gu Chengming looked at the list, now rewritten beyond recognition by the Red Dust Phantom Body Formula, and thought to himself just how convenient this external brain was.
Beyond gathering supplies, these three days passed leisurely enough.
When Yu Wenqiu learned that he was going to the Tianque secret realm, she was curled up in her lounge chair gnawing on a candied apple. After hearing the news, her chewing paused for a moment; then, unhurriedly, she spat the core into a saucer and clapped the sugar crumbs off her hands.
"Leaving again?"
Yu the kitty was suddenly struck by that helpless feeling of a mother whose child had grown too big to control. With a pang in her heart, she asked, "When do you set off?"
"In three days."
The kitty let out an "Oh" and said nothing more.
Then she stood up and went into the kitchen, rummaging around and clattering about for a good half-hour before emerging with a plate of fish, fried golden-brown and crisp, and a pot of warmed osmanthus wine.
"Did the Elder make this herself?"
"Why ask so many questions? It won't taste as good once it's cold."
Yu Wenqiu jabbed a pair of chopsticks down in front of him, then took her own wine cup and burrowed back into the lounge chair, hiding her face behind a storybook.
Gu Chengming picked up a piece and tasted it—crisp outside, tender within. The seasoning leaned a touch salty, but the fish's natural freshness had been sealed in perfectly.
"Delicious."
From behind the storybook came a soft "heh heh," impossible to tell whether it was smugness or bashfulness.
That night the two of them sat beneath the osmanthus tree drinking wine. For once Yu Wenqiu didn't talk about her storybooks, nor did she complain about this or that—she just idly popped candied fruit into her mouth now and then, occasionally lifting her head to look at the moon.
The orange cat crouched on the stone table, its plump tail swishing back and forth, every so often stretching out a paw to reach for the fish on Yu Wenqiu's plate, only to be swatted back with just the right amount of force.
...
The following evening, Yu Wenqiu appeared at Gu Chengming's door holding a bundle.
"What's this?"
"Open it and see."
Inside the bundle was a suit of inner armor. At first glance it looked like nothing more than an ordinary black form-fitting soft armor, but the instant it touched his hands Gu Chengming sensed something was off. This inner armor was extraordinarily light—so light he could barely feel its weight—yet his fingertips could clearly detect the spiritual power fluctuations woven into it. At the very least, it could block the full-force strike of a Fourth Realm cultivator.
This thing wasn't cheap.
"Elder, this—"
"Don't overthink it. It's been gathering dust in my storage pouch for years. Leaving it there would just be a waste." Yu Wenqiu crossed her arms over her chest, her gaze drifting elsewhere. "Just wear it underneath. It won't get in the way."
Gu Chengming studied the inner armor in his hands, the pad of his thumb tracing the fine, intricate patterns on its surface.
This thing clearly hadn't been "gathering dust for years"—there were several very fresh stitches along the seams, the spiritual power inscriptions had been retraced by hand, and in some places one could even see traces of repeated corrections. Plainly, a great deal of effort had gone into repairing and reinforcing it.
He raised his head and glanced at Yu Wenqiu. She was pretending to be utterly indifferent, staring at the orange cat in the courtyard—the one that had collapsed halfway through chasing a butterfly and was now panting heavily—but the tips of her ears had gone faintly pink.
"Thank you, Elder."
"What's there to thank me for? You coming back safe is the biggest thanks I could get."
With that, Yu Wenqiu turned and walked away, her steps quicker than usual, as if afraid that lingering even a moment longer might make her say something she shouldn't.
On the morning of the third day, the Night-Watch Bureau sent over the formal transfer orders, along with a roster of those who would be traveling together.
Gu Chengming spread the roster out on the table and read through it one name at a time.
For this Tianque secret realm expedition, the Great Qian had a total of nine slots, divided among three government offices.
The Night-Watch Bureau held three seats. Besides Gu Chengming himself, the other two went to a Deputy Commander named Ma Xiao, and a Chief Banner Officer.
The former was not unfamiliar to Gu Chengming—an old Fourth Realm cultivator, taciturn by nature, but who would give him a slight nod of acknowledgment whenever they met. Gu Chengming had no particular friendship with him, but no grudge either. There were plenty of people like Ma Xiao in the Night-Watch Bureau: no factions, no toadying, just heads-down work—the most worry-free sort of colleague.
As for the Chief Banner Officer, the roster listed the name as "Shen Jinghong."
Gu Chengming pondered this name for a good while and confirmed that he had never once heard it mentioned in any Night-Watch Bureau setting.
That said, the Night-Watch Bureau had a covert division, and some personnel who spent long stretches carrying out secret missions abroad weren't listed on the public roster. Such cases were rare, but not without precedent.
Set it aside for now; deal with it when they met in person.
The Imperial Astronomical Bureau held two seats—naturally Xu Huayi and Zhou Hui. It had only been a few days since they parted at the Harmonious Joy Sect, and already they would be meeting again.
Still, formation-path cultivators were always in high demand for secret realms. Such places were riddled with ancient formations and restrictive arrays, so having someone well-versed in the formation path along was only natural. The Imperial Astronomical Bureau sending Xu Huayi was to be expected.
He wondered whether this meeting would be as awkward as the last.
Thinking of how Xu Huayi, back at the Harmonious Joy Sect, had tried so hard to feign composure while being unable to stop herself from stealing glances, Gu Chengming felt a little strange inside.
The final four seats belonged to the Great Qian's Celestial Survey Bureau.
This was the first time Gu Chengming had seen the name "Celestial Survey Bureau" in an official document.
He had only known before that the Great Qian court had three core institutions overseeing cultivator affairs: the Night-Watch Bureau handled arrests and punitive campaigns, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau managed celestial phenomena and fortune, and the Court of State Ceremonial handled diplomacy and foreign relations. But this "Celestial Survey Bureau" was not among the three.
Gu Chengming flipped through the accompanying annotations and quickly grasped the whole picture.
The Celestial Survey Bureau's function was to survey, assess, and manage the spiritual veins and secret realm resources both within and beyond the Great Qian's borders. In plain terms, it was the Great Qian's secret realm survey team, whose day-to-day work involved mapping the courses of spiritual veins, grading the danger levels of secret realms, and drawing up plans for resource extraction.
Unlike the Night-Watch Bureau, who licked blood off the blade's edge, the Celestial Survey Bureau's people were more like a pack of technocrats wielding rulers and compasses. But anyone dispatched to the Tianque secret realm would certainly be no feeble pencil-pusher.
The roster listed four people. The leader was the Celestial Survey Bureau's Vice Envoy "Chu Heng," an Elder of the Taihao Sect, Fourth Realm, skilled in spiritual vein surveying and formation decryption. His deputy was "Jiang Yun," likewise a disciple of the Taihao Sect, at the peak of the Third Realm.
The other two were Tao Yong and Qin Huaiyuan, both at the Third Realm—one skilled in geomancy, the other well-versed in secret realm ecology.
Having read through the roster, Gu Chengming closed the document, deep in thought.
On the surface it was a joint exploration; in reality each party harbored its own agenda. The Night-Watch Bureau's goal was to gather intelligence on the secret realm to serve the Great Qian's security strategy; the Imperial Astronomical Bureau wanted the ancient formation legacies and celestial data; and the Celestial Survey Bureau had its eyes on the spiritual vein resources and the mineral deposits fit for mining.
Three threads, each running its own course—but in the precarious environment of a secret realm, where survival was never guaranteed, cooperation would be unavoidable.
Most crucial of all, most of them had sect backgrounds. He couldn't help but wonder just what scheme the Great Qian was really plotting.
...
In the afternoon, at the flying-vessel dock south of the city.
The weather wasn't good. The wind was rather strong, sweeping up dust and spinning it into little whirls across the bluestone pavement of the dock.
Gu Chengming did not arrive particularly early. A mid-sized flying vessel was already docked in the open ground—plain in build, but with meticulously crafted formation patterns. The banners of the Night-Watch Bureau and the Imperial Astronomical Bureau hung from either side of the hull.
Beside the vessel, several figures were gathered in twos and threes—some checking equipment, others talking in low voices.
Yu Wenqiu saw him to the dock entrance and stopped there. Today, for a rare change, she'd swapped into that pale-violet formal outfit, her hair neatly combed—but at the last moment, she only patted him on the shoulder.
No sooner had Gu Chengming stepped onto the stone stairs of the dock than someone came forward to greet him.
"Deputy Commander Gu."
The speaker was Ma Xiao, the Night-Watch Bureau's veteran Fourth Realm Deputy Commander. He was not tall, with a gaunt face and a steadiness in his brow forged by years of wind and frost. He wore a Night-Watch Bureau uniform, an utterly unremarkable short blade at his waist—the whole of him like a middle-aged blade-wielder you might find at any roadside tea stall.
But Gu Chengming knew that this very "commonness" was itself a kind of skill. Anyone who could survive in the Night-Watch Bureau to the Fourth Realm while showing neither peak nor edge was either genuinely mediocre, or hiding his sharpness deeper than anyone.
Ma Xiao was clearly the latter.
"Deputy Commander Ma." Gu Chengming cupped his hands.
The two exchanged simple nods and made no further small talk. The Night-Watch Bureau's people were always like this—strictly business, few wasted words.
Not long after the three from the Night-Watch Bureau had gathered, two familiar figures came walking from the other side of the dock.
Today Xu Huayi wore a gray-green combat outfit suited for movement, her long hair bound up, the Judge's Brush tucked slantwise into a brush-pouch at her waist. Compared to how she'd looked at the Harmonious Joy Sect, she now seemed far more capable and businesslike. Behind her followed Zhou Hui.
"Fellow Daoist Gu." Xu Huayi drew near and laughed heartily. "We meet again."
But Gu Chengming noticed that when she said those three words—"Fellow Daoist Gu"—her pace of speech was just a hair faster than usual.
And that gaze of hers, which seemed to be merely sizing him up politely, paused for less than half a breath the instant it swept across the collar of his robe.
—Fellow Daoist Xu, your glancing technique hasn't improved one bit.
"Fellow Daoist Xu, Fellow Daoist Zhou." Gu Chengming returned the courtesy, his gaze falling on Zhou Hui. "Fellow Daoist Zhou has come as well?"
Zhou Hui smiled a little sheepishly. "Vice Director Song said there are many formations in the secret realm, and an extra pair of hands never hurts."
The five of them had just finished exchanging pleasantries when another group appeared at the far end of the long street west of the dock.
At the head was a man in an indigo official's robe, features upright, a short beard cultivated at his chin, his bearing calm and reserved. This was none other than Chu Heng, the Vice Envoy of the Celestial Survey Bureau.
Three people followed behind him. Jiang Yun walked closest—a tall young man with a clean, handsome face and eyes that tilted slightly upward at the corners, giving off an impression of shrewdness that nonetheless retained an easy affability. An ancient-looking compass hung at his waist, swaying gently with each step. Tao Yong and Qin Huaiyuan walked side by side behind them—the former sturdy and reticent, the latter refined and scholarly—both the type who wouldn't stand out if tossed into a crowd.
Chu Heng came up close, let his gaze sweep once over Gu Chengming, then cupped his hands.
"Deputy Commander Gu, I've long heard your name."
"Vice Envoy Chu." Gu Chengming returned the salute.
The two exchanged a few words about the itinerary, and the atmosphere was reasonably cordial.
The first impression Chu Heng gave Gu Chengming was "steady"—measured in speech, orderly in action, neither overstepping nor fawning—a textbook technocrat. The Jiang Yun behind him talked a bit more, volunteering a few remarks about the secret realm's terrain; clearly a man skilled at socializing.
Tao Yong and Qin Huaiyuan, meanwhile, stood quietly at the rear the whole time, occasionally murmuring to each other, their eyes now and then sweeping over the others present.
Everything looked perfectly normal.
And then the last group arrived at the dock.
To be precise, Gu Chengming first sensed their aura, and only then saw the white-robed people.
His Red Dust Art was like the surface of water lightly stirred by something beneath it, rippling out in a single, extremely fine wave.
Gu Chengming cast his gaze over without any change in expression.
At the head was a middle-aged scholar of an effeminate temperament, dressed in the crimson-purple official robe unique to the Court of State Ceremonial, a jade pendant at his waist, a folding fan in his hand. This man was named Lu Mingzhang, Registrar of the Reception Office of the Court of State Ceremonial.
As the Great Qian's office in charge of diplomacy and foreign relations, the Court of State Ceremonial dealt daily with the envoys of the various Six Paths sects and with visiting cultivators from abroad—in plain terms, it was the court's public face. Anyone who could climb to the position of Registrar within the Court of State Ceremonial was no simple character.
Two people followed behind him, one man and one woman.
As the three of them walked over, Gu Chengming's Red Dust Art kept passively picking up their emotional fluctuations.
Placid as still water on the surface, but undercurrents surging beneath.
That hostility was not intense, nor overt—it barely even qualified as malice, being closer to a kind of condescending scrutiny—like a seasoned chess player appraising a piece that wasn't quite obedient, calculating how best to dispose of it.
"Deputy Commander Gu." Lu Mingzhang came up close, unhurriedly folding his fan shut, and bowed. "I've long admired the name of Snowfall Pass, and seeing you today—truly, an air of heroic spirit radiates from you."
He had deliberately used "Snowfall Pass" rather than "murderer," which counted as extending him full courtesy. But Gu Chengming noticed that when he said "an air of heroic spirit," there was not the slightest trace of admiration in those eyes.
"Registrar Lu is too kind." Gu Chengming cupped his hands in return.
"On this joint journey to Tianque, I hope Deputy Commander Gu will look after us." Lu Mingzhang smiled, tapping the folding fan lightly against his palm, his tone amiable.
"Likewise, likewise."
The pleasantries ended there. Both sides took a step back, maintaining a distance that was just right.
That the Court of State Ceremonial had reservations about him came as no surprise.
For one thing, Gu Chengming's slaying of the Jiao at the East Sea back then had rendered years of their diplomatic maneuvering null and void; for another, there was the conflict between camps itself.
A young cultivator hailing from the Wenjian Sect who, in the span of a mere two years, had risen to Deputy Commander of the Night-Watch Bureau and stirred up such waves on the surface of the Capital—to an office like the Court of State Ceremonial, which prized balance and decorum, Gu Chengming's very existence was an affront.
What's more, the Night-Watch Bureau and the Court of State Ceremonial already had friction in their functions—one in charge of killing, one in charge of negotiating—and there had been no shortage of jurisdictional tug-of-wars between them whenever a case involving foreign affairs arose.
Zhou Qingmu's assertiveness had already left the Court of State Ceremonial nursing a belly full of resentment.
And now another Gu Chengming had cropped up.
Still, everyone kept up appearances impeccably—decorous smiles, appropriate wording, all within the bounds of propriety.
As for what lay outside those bounds—that could wait until they entered the secret realm.
With that, eight of the nine had arrived.
But the Night-Watch Bureau had three slots, which meant one colleague had yet to appear.
Gu Chengming glanced at the roster again. The Chief Banner Officer named "Shen Jinghong" still hadn't shown up at the dock.
He looked up at the sky. It was not long until the agreed departure time. Ma Xiao seemed to have noticed this as well, faintly furrowing his brow, but he did not speak up to urge anyone.
The Night-Watch Bureau's people all shared one understanding—a thing like tardiness was impossible under Zhou Qingmu.
Since the person hadn't arrived yet, it meant either there was a legitimate reason, or they were deliberately cutting it close.
Just as he was thinking this, footsteps finally sounded on the stone steps at the east side of the dock. The newcomer was alone, their pace unhurried, carrying the carefree ease of a leisurely stroll through a garden.
Gu Chengming turned to look.
He saw a woman of about twenty-five or twenty-six climbing the stone steps. She wore the deep-black brocade attire of the Night-Watch Bureau, a short blade at her waist. Her features were delicate but unremarkable—the arrangement of them could only be called pleasant enough, the type who wouldn't earn a second glance if tossed into a crowd.
Her long hair was carelessly tied into a low ponytail, a few loose strands drifting lightly in the morning breeze.
Her aura was Third Realm—a rock-steady mid-Third Realm.
Gu Chengming faintly knit his brows.
Mid-Third Realm, a female cultivator, the rank of Chief Banner Officer...
Who was this?
He ran through everyone in the Night-Watch Bureau, high and low, in his mind—those on the public roster, those mentioned in covert-division files, even those he'd only passed once in a corridor and seen a single time—and drew a complete blank.
Gu Chengming was puzzled inside, but showed nothing on his face.
The newcomer had clearly noticed everyone's stares, yet far from being the least bit intimidated, she strode boldly toward them all, an open, hearty smile on her face.
"Sorry to keep everyone waiting! I got held up on the road a bit—came late, came late!"
Her voice was clear and crisp, utterly unlike those Night-Watch Bureau colleagues who were either sinister or silent.
As she spoke, she had already reached the group, pulling a Night-Watch Bureau token from her robe and giving it a shake.
"Chief Banner Officer of the Night-Watch Bureau, Shen Jinghong, greeting all of you."
"I've been on assignment abroad this whole time, so I'm not very well acquainted with the rest of you in the office."
As if seeing through Gu Chengming's confusion, Shen Jinghong offered this explanation of her own accord, then stepped toward the group.
She first cupped her hands in greeting to Chu Heng, then exchanged a few courteous words with Lu Mingzhang, and nodded in acknowledgment to Xu Huayi as well. She attended to every single person, her sense of proportion pitched exactly right—neither too distant nor overly warm.
Having made her round, she finally turned to Gu Chengming.
"This must be Deputy Commander Gu?" Shen Jinghong stepped up before him, beaming, her gaze frank without the slightest evasion.
She was nearly half a head shorter than Gu Chengming, and when she tilted her face up to look at him, those seemingly ordinary eyes carried a few traces of genuine admiration.
"I've long heard of Deputy Commander Gu's great name—slaying demons in the Northern Territory, clearing out demons in the Capital—which of these wasn't a feat to make one slap the table in awe? On this journey together, I do hope Deputy Commander Gu will look after me."
The way she said this, her tone was sincere and forthright, without the least of that stiffness ordinary subordinates showed before their superiors—instead radiating the candor of two who met as equals.
On the surface, this was a young female cultivator of a hearty disposition, skilled at socializing—apart from her murky background and origins, there wasn't a single fault to pick.
And yet, the very moment she came within three steps of Gu Chengming—
The Red Dust Phantom Body Formula within him suddenly gave a faint tremor.
Blade Intent lay hidden beneath that placid smile—something a Third Realm cultivator had no business possessing.
Had it been anyone else, even a Fourth Realm cultivator might not have been able to detect the giveaway beneath that layer of disguise.
Gu Chengming's expression didn't shift in the slightest. Smiling, he extended his hand and clasped Shen Jinghong's lightly.
"Well said, well said. Since Chief Banner Officer Shen is a colleague of the Night-Watch Bureau, we shall of course look out for one another from now on."
Shen Jinghong nodded in satisfaction, her smile radiant.
She clearly hadn't realized she'd already been seen through. Or perhaps—even if she had been spotted, she didn't much care.
Gu Chengming smiled and released her hand, turning around and, without a trace of it showing, taking two steps away. The person before him was none other than—
—Zhou Qingmu.
Hadn't your injuries only just healed? What sort of stunt are you pulling now?!
If those court remonstrance officials found out about this, the memorials impeaching you could be piled from the Capital all the way to the Northern Territory.
This "Chief Banner Officer Shen" before him had her brows curved into a smile, the very picture of a wide-eyed novice, so thrilled at meeting her idol she could hardly contain herself.
She even deliberately edged half a step forward, her shoulder nearly brushing the sleeve of Gu Chengming's robe—that easy familiarity of hers played to perfection, thoroughly convincing.
Gu Chengming, betraying nothing, retreated half a step, leaving a proper social distance between them.
"Since Fellow Daoist Shen was personally assigned by Director Zhou, you must have some extraordinary abilities." Gu Chengming's tone was even, his gaze falling on the short blade at her waist. "This journey is perilous—we'll be counting on the blade in Fellow Daoist Shen's hand."
At his words, Shen Jinghong lifted a hand and patted the scabbard, drawing a crisp sound.
"Well said." She answered with a grin. "Should we run into a strong foe, I'll surely stand before Deputy Commander Gu to shield you."
—You said it yourself, so don't you go back on it when the time comes.
Gu Chengming quietly grumbled this to himself, then set the matter aside for now.
At the moment there were too many ears about—this was not the time to press for answers. And given Zhou Qingmu's temperament, if she had chosen to conceal her identity, she surely had her reasons.
Forcibly exposing her would yield nothing but awkwardness.
Besides, having a Fifth Realm grand cultivator secretly escorting them was, by any measure, no bad thing.
The flying vessel moored at the dock had long been readied for departure, its deck broad enough to accommodate everyone in the party.
The Court of State Ceremonial's Lu Mingzhang was the first to move, gently waving his fan and stepping composedly up the boarding ramp. As he passed Gu Chengming, his gaze did not linger; he merely gave a slight nod to the empty air, counting it as a greeting.
The two attendants, one man and one woman, followed close behind, likewise looking neither left nor right.
"The Court of State Ceremonial's people—putting on airs just as always."
A low murmur came by his ear. Gu Chengming glanced sideways to find Xu Huayi had, at some point, come to stand beside him.
She lowered her voice, her tone carrying a note of warning. "Fellow Daoist Gu, do be careful. That Registrar Lu is a notorious smiling tiger."
With that, she led Zhou Hui briskly up the vessel. Gu Chengming remained where he was, his gaze sweeping over the others boarding in turn.
The Celestial Survey Bureau's Chu Heng was talking in low tones with Jiang Yun beside him, both wearing grave expressions, gesturing at bearings with the compass in hand—clearly already in work mode. Tao Yong and Qin Huaiyuan silently hauled several heavy crates of surveying implements, their movements steady and strong.
Last was Ma Xiao. The reticent old blade-wielder cupped his hands to Gu Chengming in salute, then took his blade in his arms, found a corner to lean against, and closed his eyes to rest.
Gu Chengming withdrew his gaze and stepped onto the deck.
The flying vessel rose slowly into the air, its formations churning up layer upon layer of spiritual power ripples, sealing out the gale winds of the high altitude.
The outline of the Capital gradually shrank in his view, until it was reduced to squares no bigger than a chessboard.
Gu Chengming faintly made out a small figure still standing at the dock entrance—a pale-violet dress fluttering gently in the wind.
He did not look closely. He turned around and walked to the other side of the deck.
The deck was calm and undisturbed.
Gu Chengming found a secluded spot by the railing and stood there, gazing at the sea of clouds streaking past below.
"Fellow Daoist Gu." A gentle, warm voice came from behind and to the side.
Gu Chengming turned to find the Celestial Survey Bureau's Jiang Yun approaching, carrying two cups of hot tea and smiling.
"Fellow Daoist Jiang." Gu Chengming did not reach out to take it, only gave a slight nod.
Jiang Yun wasn't the least bit put off. He casually set one of the cups on the railing and, holding the other himself, stood shoulder to shoulder with Gu Chengming.
"I've long admired Director Zhou." Jiang Yun got straight to the point, his tone earnest. "I've heard that the Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method you cultivate is of great benefit to the deduction of formations. I wonder if Fellow Daoist Gu might offer some guidance?"
Gu Chengming shot him a glance.
The Celestial Survey Bureau's people—truly, three sentences and they were back to their trade.
"Fellow Daoist Jiang flatters me." Gu Chengming replied offhandedly. "The Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method emphasizes cultivating the self and nurturing the temperament; I'm afraid it's of little help to the path of formations. If it's formations you speak of, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's Fellow Daoist Xu is the true expert."
"Fellow Daoist Xu is naturally a master." Jiang Yun sighed, casting his gaze toward Xu Huayi, who was checking blueprints with Zhou Hui not far off. "It's just that Fellow Daoist Xu is cold by nature. I've sought her counsel several times and never found a way in. Fellow Daoist Gu, by contrast, looks approachable, and so I've made bold to come and trouble you."
As he spoke, he drew a jade slip from his sleeve and set it lightly beside the tea cup.
"These are some insights on the courses of earth-veins that circulate within the Celestial Survey Bureau. They don't count as any peerless secret manual, but if Fellow Daoist Gu should roam the jianghu one day, they'd come in handy for locating dragon lines and pinpointing lairs."
Jiang Yun's smile was as warm as a spring breeze. "Consider it a gift for our first meeting—shall we be friends?"
Gu Chengming's gaze swept over the jade slip.
Currying favor for no reason.
But he neither refused nor immediately agreed. He only reached out to pick up the tea cup, his fingertips gently rubbing the rim.
"Fellow Daoist Jiang is too courteous. Since it's a gift from a fellow Daoist, it would be ungracious of me to decline."
"Then in the secret realm hereafter, I hope Fellow Daoist Gu will look after me too."
"Naturally." Gu Chengming nodded. "Since we all share the same vessel, we're travelers on the same road. If Fellow Daoist Jiang runs into any difficulty, just speak up."
Jiang Yun departed satisfied. Gu Chengming watched his receding back, casually tucking the jade slip into his storage pouch without examining it.
The item could be accepted; the debt of favor could be noted for now. As for whether this "fellow Daoist" was sincere or merely making conversation—that would reveal itself in time.
[The Red Dust Phantom Body Formula gave a slight frown: This man has forged a bond of goodwill in but a few words—quite the skill. Yet his purpose may not be pure. I advise Fellow Daoist Gu to keep his distance.]
Gu Chengming nodded, thinking it deeply true.
The flying vessel raced toward the far north at full speed. As the latitude rose, the temperature plummeted sharply. The scenery outside the window shifted from lush plains to gray-brown wasteland, and from wasteland to a vast expanse of white frozen tundra.
The wind grew stronger. The flying vessel passed through a bank of heavy rainclouds, and the hull trembled slightly.
"Everyone, be careful!" A shout came from the bow—Chu Heng. "There's a thunderstorm turbulence ahead!"
Before the words had even faded, a bolt of purple lightning as thick as a water bucket had already torn through the clouds, hurtling straight for the flying vessel.
BOOM—!
The protective grand formation blazed with radiance, holding the lightning back by sheer force, but the violent impact still left everyone on deck struggling to keep their footing.
"Bearing Qian-three, shift to Kun-six!"
The compass in Chu Heng's hand spun rapidly as he directed loudly, "Jiang Yun, stabilize the formation! Tao Yong, go check the spirit stone reserves!"
The Celestial Survey Bureau's people reacted with lightning speed, swiftly taking their positions. Worthy of a professional team that dealt with secret realms year-round—their emergency procedures were even slicker than the Night-Watch Bureau's.
"Fellow Daoist Gu!" In the chaos, Xu Huayi cried out, "There's a breach on the starboard side—lightning spirit power is seeping in!"
Gu Chengming's figure flickered, appearing at the starboard side in an instant.
Sure enough, the protective light barrier had split open a fine crack here, and threads of purple electric arcs were boring in like venomous snakes, scorching charred marks into the deck.
He was about to draw his sword when a figure moved even faster than he did.
Shen Jinghong's short blade left its scabbard, trailing a sharp, cold flash of blade-light.
That blade-light did not slash at the lightning, but sliced with precision into the crack in the light barrier. Spiritual power flowed along the blade, and in an extraordinarily ingenious manner, it guided the lightning spirit power to flow back, sealing the breach shut in an instant.
The finesse of the technique, the accuracy of the judgment—far beyond the level a Third Realm Chief Banner Officer should possess.
Gu Chengming took it all in but did not expose her.
"Fine blade work," was all he said in praise.
Shen Jinghong sheathed her blade, wiped the rain from her face, and flashed Gu Chengming a grin. "Deputy Commander Gu overpraises me—just a paltry little trick."
—Director, you're playing this a bit too convincingly.
Gu Chengming grumbled inwardly, but on his face he nodded in approval.
The crisis was temporarily resolved.
The flying vessel broke free of the thunderstorm zone and steadied once more. Everyone let out a breath of relief.
"Thanks to Fellow Daoist Shen acting in time." Jiang Yun came over and cupped his hands to Shen Jinghong in gratitude. "Had it not been for that one blade of yours, this vessel would likely have suffered no small damage."
Shen Jinghong waved a hand. "We're all ants clinging to the same boat—it's the least I could do."
"Indeed." Chu Heng walked over as well. He looked around, his gaze sweeping one by one over Gu Chengming, Shen Jinghong, Xu Huayi, and the rest, and for a rare moment offered a heartfelt remark: "It seems that to roam the jianghu and have all things go smoothly, one must still rely on those two words—'fellow Daoist.'"
As his words fell, Gu Chengming was just about to chime in with a couple of remarks when a pop-up window suddenly appeared before his eyes.
[The Red Dust Phantom Body Formula watched this scene, lost in thought.]
[The Red Dust Phantom Body Formula has entered a state of epiphany.]
"?"
Gu Chengming was a little stunned.
—You can gain enlightenment from that too?!
Gu Chengming didn't press further, and merely noted down this oddity for the time being.
The Red Dust Phantom Body Formula was a formula of few words, but it had always been reliable.
As for what exactly it had enlightened upon—that could wait until it figured it out for itself.
After the thunderstorm, the flying vessel entered a relatively calm stretch of the route.
Below lay an endless expanse of frozen tundra plains. Across the grayish-white land, a few winding ice rivers could occasionally be seen, glinting with a cold, indifferent light in the last glow of the setting sun.
Everyone found a place to rest.
Chu Heng and Jiang Yun studied maps in the cabin, low murmurs of discussion drifting out now and then. Tao Yong and Qin Huaiyuan repaired the surveying instruments damaged in the thunderstorm, their movements careful and silent. The Court of State Ceremonial's Lu Mingzhang, meanwhile, had claimed a corner of the cabin all to himself, reclining against a cushion with his eyes closed, his folding fan resting on his knee, the two attendants standing guard at the door, one to each side, keeping everyone at bay.
Xu Huayi and Zhou Hui crouched on the deck, mending the breach in the protective formation. The Judge's Brush in Xu Huayi's hand traced runes in the empty air, while Zhou Hui lay beside her passing over materials—whatever his senior sister said, he did, their coordination seamless.
Ma Xiao was still resting with his eyes shut in the corner; from boarding until now he'd spoken no more than ten sentences in total.
As for Zhou Qingmu, she sat cross-legged beneath the mast, having produced a handful of melon seeds from who knew where, savoring the scenery with great relish.
Gu Chengming leaned against the railing, toying with the sachet Yu Wenqiu had pressed on him before he left. It had been tucked into the bundle together with the inner armor, its stitches dense and tight, filled with osmanthus and calming herbs, its fragrance faint.
The sky gradually darkened. In the far north, night came earlier than anywhere else, and grew cold faster too.
Several spirit stone lamps lit up on the flying vessel, their warm yellow light appearing especially feeble in the biting air.
One by one the others returned to the cabin to rest; only Chu Heng, on the night watch, remained at the helm.
Gu Chengming also returned to his own cabin, sat cross-legged on his berth, closed his eyes, and circulated the Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method to comb through his meridians.
The Righteous Noble Breath flowed slowly through his body, washing clean the bits of impurity he'd picked up during the day.
He did not know how much time had passed.
Perhaps half an hour, perhaps a full hour.
Gu Chengming's consciousness sank into the gentle, jade-like righteous breath of Zhouli, his thoughts gradually turning clear and empty.
It was then that a semi-transparent frame materialized in the center of Gu Chengming's vision.
[Red Dust Phantom Body Formula—CG Unlocked]
["Dao Conduit"]
Gu Chengming was taken aback.
Dao Conduit? What the heck kind of name is that?
[When someone genuinely acknowledges, from the bottom of their heart, the "fellow Daoist" relationship between themselves and you, you gain one layer of "Fellow Daoist Karma."]
[Fellow Daoist Karma: Depending on the depth of the Fellow Daoist Karma, you may choose:]
[One: Obtain an opportunity that should rightfully have belonged to the other party.]
[Two: At any time and any place, retreat to behind the fellow Daoist.]
(This effect has no effect on the palace-robed young matron.)
"?"
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