Chapter 184: Pathway Seed

Hearing Yan Jing's words, Wei Nantian paused with his wine cup in hand, then smiled.

"Of course I went."

"Wasn't that what we agreed on?"

Yan Jing smiled.

"I was just worried you hadn't gone, Commander Wei. When Boss Bai threatened to kill me today, I didn't flinch because I was counting on you standing behind me."

"I didn't go? Hahaha, Advisor, what kind of man do you take me for?"

Wei Nantian burst into laughter.

But as he looked at the smile on Yan Jing's face, his laughter trailed off. He caught a hint of something wrong.

Wei Nantian might be a brute, but he knew the man sitting across from him was smart.

Over the years, he had slowly figured out a rule for dealing with smart people: always look for the hidden angle.

And so, even as he laughed, his mind raced through the possibilities. He felt he might have slipped up somewhere.

Finally, it hit him.

It had to be Yan Jing's comment about Boss Bai threatening to kill him.

The moment he returned today, he had grabbed a Killing Cultivator to ask about the situation, but...

There was no way the Killing Cultivator could have memorized every single word. The man only reported that Bai Qiu and Yan Jing had exchanged some heated words. Come to think of it, Bai Qiu had probably never threatened to kill Yan Jing at all.

Realizing this, he narrowed his eyes at Yan Jing.

Since Yan Jing didn't spell it out, he certainly wasn't going to bring it up himself.

As things stood, Yan Jing was useful to him. Tremendously useful, in fact.

Over the past few days, he had come to trust Yan Jing almost completely.

The reason he hadn't gone to Heaven Stealing Alley today was because he still harbored one last trace of doubt.

Any other time, he could rest easy with Yan Jing. He had the confidence to know that even if Yan Jing did something behind his back, it could never threaten him. But today was different. Today, Bai Qiu was involved.

Back when Yan Jing had arranged to set off a firecracker if Bai Qiu showed up, he had been thinking.

He wondered if it might be a trap.

A trap meant to take him out.

During his last encounter with Bai Qiu, he had been severely outmatched and suffered serious injuries. If this was a setup to kill him, he would be in grave danger.

Because of that, he couldn't go.

Logically and reasonably, he wasn't wrong to stay away.

Even if it meant Yan Jing might be in trouble.

But... how should he placate Yan Jing now?

After today's test, he knew for sure that Yan Jing harbored no ill will toward him. Not only had Yan Jing helped him vent his frustrations on Bai Qiu, but he had also brought back a ballot.

Therefore, he had to smooth things over.

"Advisor, come, drink!"

Wei Nantian downed his wine in one gulp. "Advisor, even though you're only staying with us for seven days, there are some rules of conduct in Minhu I want to share with you, just to make sure you don't run into trouble if you ever come back."

"Please, Commander Wei."

"If you want to survive in Minhu, there are three things you need to keep in mind."

"First."

Wei Nantian set his cup down in front of him.

"You have to be ruthless!"

"You can't accomplish anything without ruthlessness! Whether it's people or things, when it's time to cut ties, you cut them, or you'll regret it!"

With that, Wei Nantian filled his cup to the brim and downed it in one shot.

Yan Jing reached over to pour for him, but Wei Nantian held up a hand to stop him. He refilled it himself and continued, "Second."

"You have to be selfish!"

"Always put yourself first, no matter what. Otherwise, you'll regret it when you lose something important!"

Saying this, Wei Nantian tossed back another cup.

Then, he poured a third.

"Third."

"You cannot break the rules."

"Under no circumstances can you violate the rules I told you about before, Advisor. If you do... your enemies will raise the banner of righteousness, and you'll become a target for everyone. When that happens, you'll regret it."

With those final words, Wei Nantian drained his cup for the third time and showed the empty bottom to Yan Jing.

"Advisor, life comes down to three words: have no regrets."

"I'm full, Advisor!"

Wei Nantian stood up, patted Yan Jing's shoulder, and left the table.

Watching Wei Nantian walk away, Yan Jing kept the smile on his face. He knew this was Wei Nantian's way of apologizing and placating him.

The first two rules were his way of explaining why he couldn't go.

The last rule was him teaching Yan Jing something, signaling that he considered the advisor one of his own.

Even though Yan Jing was hardly satisfied with such an apology.

He couldn't ask for much more.

Bai Qiu was right.

With his current status, he didn't even qualify for a seat at the table.

Offering three cups of wine as an apology and sharing a bit of wisdom was already giving him face.

So he walked out of the courtyard, found a secluded corner, and switched his identity.

Opening his eyes, he found himself in a dim cavern. Black stones were embedded in the walls, emitting a faint purple glow for illumination.

He walked out of the cavern and looked at Fei Yu, who was waiting outside out of sheer boredom.

"Are you planning to go for a stroll?"

Fei Yu stood up and looked at Yan Jing.

A hint of excitement showed in her eyes, despite her calm face.

"Yes, I'm heading out."

Yan Jing smiled.

"Which way are we going today?"

Fei Yu slung a packed bundle over her shoulder.

It contained food and water, just in case Yan Jing wanted a snack on the way.

"Let's keep heading east,"

Yan Jing said with a smile.

"Alright."

Fei Yu nodded.

The two of them walked away from the cavern.

They continued along the route they had been exploring for the past dozen days.

A bright moon hung high in the sky, casting its moonlight to illuminate their path.

They hadn't gone far when...

An eerie, deathly pale face emerged from the grass beside them. Its hollow eyes stared at the two of them as its mouth opened and closed.

Yan Jing's expression remained neutral as Weird Energy surged in his hand, writing words in the air.

"I didn't bring any food today."

"..."

The face kept opening and closing its mouth. It rose completely out of the grass and drifted close to Yan Jing.

But the moment Fei Yu raised her fist, the face immediately retreated a few steps in fear.

This was a mountain spirit visage they had encountered five days ago.

It had been beaten into submission by Fei Yu.

The two continued onward.

A short while later, a crane with two Buddha-like ears flew over from the distance and crouched in front of them.

Its massive body blocked their path.

"No food today."

Yan Jing repeated the same phrase.

As Fei Yu raised her fist again, the crane obediently stood up and followed behind them.

As they ventured deeper, more and more Eldritch Creatures trailed behind them.

But the two completely ignored them, not exchanging a single word with the creatures along the way.

It was as if Yan Jing was merely taking an aimless stroll, and Fei Yu was simply following him.

Wherever he went, Fei Yu followed.

They kept walking like this, passing through a jungle hung with corpses, crossing pools hiding writhing masses of tentacles, and walking past a village filled with people whose mouths had been sewn shut...

Just relentlessly pushing forward.

Just as the two were about to pass the Silent Cultivator village, a frail figure looked left and right at the village entrance before sprinting toward them upon spotting the pair.

The moonlight illuminated his face—it was the Youth that Yan Jing had saved during the thunderstorm.

The Youth showed obvious fear as he looked at the Eldritch Creatures behind them.

But he eventually gathered his courage, stepped forward, and shoved a piece of paper into Yan Jing's hand.

A crooked route was drawn on the paper. It looked bizarre, featuring numerous intersections that resembled a roadmap of cross streets from a past life.

But Yan Jing focused his mind, channeling a surge of power from within to slowly sense the direction indicated on the map. Finally, he nodded and actually led Fei Yu in that direction.

After walking for several dozen minutes, they reached the first intersection. Yan Jing looked at the terrain in front of him, understanding flashing in his eyes.

No wonder he hadn't been able to find it before.

Because, true to its name, the terrain of Tranquil Valley wasn't flat.

The terrain before them, for instance, formed a sunken path hidden among the brush. Even with Weird Energy detection, one careless glance and it would be missed completely.

He and Fei Yu stepped onto the sunken path.

The Eldritch Creatures behind them watched this unfold, fear suddenly creeping into all their eyes.

Clearly, there was something inside that they dared not touch.

A creature with tentacles for a lower body and branches for an upper body hopped onto Yan Jing and began gesturing wildly.

"%...&&¥#"

The gist of it was that something inside was slowly maturing, and it was best not to approach. If anything caused it to malfunction, this entire Domain would be in trouble.

Yan Jing looked at the creature and found it quite amusing, so he placed it on his shoulder and continued walking forward.

Naturally, Fei Yu also understood what the creature was trying to say.

However, since Yan Jing intended to keep going, she would follow.

She had been following the man before her for a very, very long time.

Before arriving in Bianliu County, they had already walked a long, long road together.

Oftentimes, she couldn't figure him out. She didn't understand why he wanted to return to this remote county where no good people lived, nor did she understand why he wanted to rebuild the Luo Family. She didn't know what he meant when he constantly spoke to her about reaching the Summit, nor did she understand why he had saved her in the first place.

She didn't understand, and she didn't know how to figure it out. So, she just stayed by his side, waiting for the day he would explain it to her on his own.

"Xiao Yu, the road ahead is full of perils."

"Are you still going to walk it, then?"

"Only by walking forward is there a chance to reach the Summit."

"Is the view from the top that good?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I've never seen it."

"Then why do you want to go so badly?"

"That's exactly why I want to see what this place—the one that so many people lay down their lives to reach—actually looks like."

Those words had stoked her curiosity as well.

She also wanted to know just what kind of scenery could leave the man in front of her so utterly captivated.

The two of them continued walking forward like this.

The terrain gradually sank lower and lower.

On Yan Jing's shoulder, the tiny creature wriggled constantly, signaling for them to stay quiet.

Yan Jing noticed that sweat was dripping from the creature's trunk-like upper body; it seemed exceptionally nervous.

Finally, their footsteps halted as they stopped in front of a dirt wall.

Embedded in the dirt wall was a gray Crystal that resembled a sprouting seed. Countless threads spread out from around it, diffusing through the earth as streams of eerie energy flooded into it from the threads.

He had found it. Yan Jing let out a long breath.

Finally.

The Pathway Seed inside his body—the one he had traded from Yi Ji—was almost impossible to suppress any longer.