Dean Dong's small courtyard.
The third Dao vortex was on the verge of being established, and Jiang Chen worried not at all over whether he would forge his first minor Zhou Heavenly circulation. That was simply a matter of water finding its level, and he carried that confidence about him now.
But the instant-cast Dao art he would imprint once he stepped into the Cycle realm still gave him pause.
It would be the first instant-cast Dao art a cultivator ever imprinted, and such an art could decide the course of a fight.
Until one had completely dissected the art itself, no matter how fluent, no matter how swift, a Dao art still took a few breaths to summon into being. And in the white heat of combat, a single breath's hesitation was enough to prove fatal.
That was precisely why Jiang Chen's magic sword was so precious — it had a Golden Light Arrow imprinted into its very blade. The Golden Light Arrow was nothing out of the ordinary, yet the sword's inscribed runes let it fire nearly in an instant, which lent it real meaning on the battlefield.
Its drawback, no less undeniable, was a cooldown far too long.
Once his minor Zhou Heavenly circulation was complete, the Celestial Palace could support the imprinting of a single instant-cast Dao art.
And among the low-grade Dao arts he had learned so far at the academy, none truly satisfied him. There was nothing quite like the Three-Fold Rising Tide of Riverview City's academy, so fruitful in its applications.
Dean Dong could hardly pour his energy into developing and refining low-grade Dao arts. That sort of harvest came from years of slow accumulation on the part of an academy itself, and the Maple City Academy had not stood for long enough to have built up such depth.
"Between fire-element and wood-element Dao arts, which do you lean toward?" Dean Dong asked.
As his teacher, he naturally knew well the paths Jiang Chen was cultivating in parallel.
Wood-element Dao arts tended to bind and restrain; fire-element Dao arts struck with far more violence.
Jiang Chen had long since made up his mind. "For my first instant-cast art, I would have it be fire-element. The more violent the strike, the better it will blend into the fighting system I have built."
Dean Dong nodded. "Convenient. The State Academy just happened to crack open a superior third-grade Dao art."
He extended one finger, and a single spark leapt up from it.
That spark was lively and nimble. It twisted slightly, then bloomed into a flower of flame at his very fingertip.
Dean Dong himself might be most at home with wood-element arts, but a low-grade fire art posed him no difficulty at all.
Jiang Chen could feel the scorching heat of that flame flower, serene and lovely as it seemed.
"Flamebloom." Dean Dong explained, "Ever since Zhuo Lie created the Blossomfire art, powers across every nation have been trying to crack it open, and the State Academy only reached its answer a short while ago. This Flamebloom was born from Blossomfire. It is the very finest of the third-grade arts."
Jiang Chen could not have been more satisfied — there was no imagining it better. Leaving aside those blessed with rare talent, third-grade arts represented the ceiling of an eighth-grade cultivator in the Cycle realm.
This art was already the cream of the third grade, and above all, it was a Flamebloom, the very foundation of the Blossomfire art.
"Master Dean, this is the art," Jiang Chen said at once.
Dean Dong produced a small handbook and tossed it over. "Within is the seal formula, and, hmm, a few of my own thoughts on the art. Take it home and read it yourself. It'll drain whatever merit you have left."
Spending merit was only right and proper — the academy freely taught a number of standard Dao arts for nothing. But an art of Flamebloom's grade was hardly standard fare. Many a man would break his skull scheming to trade for it, yet it never even appeared on the merit rankings.
The State Academy had only just cracked it open, and for now it circulated only among cultivators of Dean Dong's rank. That he would pass it on to Jiang Chen spoke plainly of how much he valued the young man.
Since Three Mountain City, Jiang Chen's merit had already been near exhausted. This time he had got far the better of the deal.
Dean Dong might carry himself stiff and upright, often seeming cold and unfeeling, but his care for his disciples was never a sham.
Jiang Chen accepted the small handbook with all due respect and tucked it into his bosom.
By all custom, his purpose in coming had been served, and he ought to take his leave.
But against all reason, he sat back down again, cross-legged. "Master Dean..."
"Speak plainly if you have something."
"Master... do you know of people seizing water folk and draining their Dao meridians?" Jiang Chen watched Dean Dong's expression warily.
Given his usual caution, he would never have asked such a question. But of late, Dean Dong had built up a certain trust in his heart.
"And then?" Dean Dong did not so much as raise an eyebrow.
"Don't you find such a thing hateful?"
"Hateful to whom?" Dean Dong looked at him. "The water folk have devoured humans too, did you know? Shall I have the Justice Enforcement Bureau's case records brought for you to look at?"
Driven back by Dean Dong's gaze, Jiang Chen grew nervous, and for a moment could only stammer.
"Ai." Noting Jiang Chen's unease, Dean Dong softened his eyes. "We all know these are but isolated cases. Just as the human race itself has its man-eating devils — does that mean all humans feed on their own kind?"
His tone gentled as well. "But anything that touches upon two races is no simple matter once it comes to that. This sort of thing is hard to speak of. However close to kin the humans and the water folk may seem, in the end they are not one family."
Jiang Chen steeled himself and pressed on. "The trouble is, master, it is no longer a few isolated cases. I have discovered that certain people of the Justice Enforcement Bureau..."
"Insolence!" Dean Dong barked. "Is that a thing for you to say?"
His face grew stern. "Mark my words, Jiang Chen. The most pressing thing for you right now is to cultivate well and build your minor Zhou Heavenly circulation to perfection. Then sit for the county academy, then the state academy. I care not where you heard such things — they are not the concern of a city academy disciple!"
"Yes, master." Jiang Chen lowered his head in admission. "Your disciple understands."
...
In that same mountain cave floored with white bones. The appointed hour had long since passed, yet the skeleton upon the bone throne had still not shown itself.
"How much longer must we wait?" Miao Qing still wore her red robe, but her expression had grown impatient.
"Let it go for today." The Bone Mask Messenger said. "The Grand Elder must be caught up in something. He will not appear today."
"Heh heh heh heh..." Today a gaunt old man had joined them in the cave, plainly of no lesser standing than messenger or Holy Maiden. Facing the direction of the bone throne, he folded his hands and said, "Hefting the Ghost Gate phantom about with him, what could possibly waylay the old man now?"
"Does not the Grand Elder have some grand move brewing in the State of Yun?" The Bone Mask Messenger spoke with a smile in his voice. "What is there to be found in the cloud-bound country above, Second Elder, what do you think?"
One Holy Maiden, one messenger, the three elders, and the twelve bone masks. These comprised the upper ranks of the Bone Path's power today.
In standing, the Holy Maiden held the most aloof eminence. But in simple strength, the Grand Elder was the true hand at the helm.
The Third Elder had offered up his very self in sacrifice, fulfilling the phantom of the Ghost Gate. Today, if anyone within the order could contend with the Grand Elder at all, it would be the Second Elder.
"Heh heh heh heh..." The Second Elder chuckled darkly. "Could it be that Ye Ling has emerged from seclusion? It has been years since I watched him act. I wonder if his bones have gathered any rust."
"Then why not go and see for yourself, Second Elder?" Miao Qing parried with a smile, then swept her long sleeve. "Since the Grand Elder cannot come, I will go on ahead."
"In such a hurry, Holy Maiden?" The Second Elder turned his head, a smile clinging to his lips. And in his two eyes could be seen only the whites.
Miao Qing's smile blossomed like a flower. "I am in a rush to get home and question the spy in our midst."
"Oh?" The Second Elder waved a hand and cackled oddly. "Go on, then, go on."
...
The Bone Mask Messenger hurried a few steps to catch up with Miao Qing, and spoke with great familiarity. "And he has the nerve to ask whether Ye Ling's bones have gathered rust — Ye Ling is far younger than him! That doddering old fool, as though the two of them had ever crossed swords! Who does not know that when Ye Ling walked the wide world, the old man's master and senior brother were both beaten to death, and he only survived by playing dead?"
Then he shifted his tone. "But you're one to talk too. Let him blow his horn if he likes. One mess of old bones — why squabble with him over it?"
Miao Qing glanced sidelong at him. "Since when did you turn into such a gossip, chattering like the old women at the street corner? And keep your distance. We are not close."
"My, my, Miao Qing. How you have changed. You were never so cold to me before. Out with the old love, in with the new, is it..." The Bone Mask Messenger pressed closer, his voice dropping low. "Have you, by any chance, found the Dao Child?"
Miao Qing whirled about with a start!
The Bone Mask Messenger leapt far back at once, striking a wary pose.
But Miao Qing only broke into a smile of a thousand alluring graces.
"I would gladly treat you better — in any way you like. But would you dare to accept it?"
Her eyes shimmered with the power to steal a soul, her voice soft as melting butter.
"Ai!" The Bone Mask Messenger clapped his hands together. "Now that is more like it!"
"Keep your little sweetheart hidden well, and let no one find you out..."
He finished laughing, then let himself fall backward, and vanished into the cave.