10: Chapter 10 The Mountain Top

Three days later.

Lu Chen woke up before dawn.

It wasn't because he was frozen awake—he had already grown accustomed to the cold of the Ruined Temple. It was the bone fragment that was burning hot. It wasn't the same chill as before; it was heat, as if someone had pressed a piece of red-hot iron against his chest.

He sat up and looked down.

The bone fragment was still gray-white, showing no changes. But the side pressed against his skin had a distinctly different temperature.

"Today?" Lu Chen touched it. "Urging me?"

He didn't think too much about it, stood up, and tidied his things.

He stuffed the bamboo slip into his robes, tucked the jade into his pocket, and fastened the firewood knife to his waist. The bone fragment was already hanging around his neck and couldn't be taken off—it wasn't that the string was knotted, but that the bone fragment was stuck too tightly, as if it had grown into his skin.

Lu Chen tried, but couldn't pull it off, so he stopped worrying about it.

Qingniu Ridge was not high, but he had never been to the mountain peak.

Before, when he entered the mountain, he had only gone as far as The Cave. The Cave was halfway up the mountain; there was still a stretch of road further up, obscured by dense forest, and the peak was invisible.

Lu Chen walked upward, stepping on the snow.

The snow was melting—not all at once, but in patches. In some places, the snow was still thick, crunching when stepped upon; in other places, the ground was already exposed, with mud and stones mixed together, making it very slippery.

He didn't walk fast.

It wasn't that the road was difficult to walk, but that he was moving slowly. Every few steps, he would stop and look around.

After seeing that Person in Black at the foot of the mountain last time, he had developed a habit—whenever he walked, his eyes would constantly scan his surroundings.

No one.

The forest was very quiet, unnaturally quiet. The forest in winter was naturally quiet, but today it was exceptionally so. There was no birdsong, no sound of wind, and even the branches were not swaying.

It was as if the entire mountain was waiting for something.

After walking for about an hour, the forest began to thin out.

The trees became shorter and thinner, as if the soil at the mountain peak was too thin to support large trees. The shrubs also decreased, revealing stones—dark greenish-black stones, piece by piece, as if they had been piled up by someone.

Lu Chen stopped and squatted down to take a look.

There were markings on the stones.

These were not natural stone patterns; they were carved. Arrows pointing towards the mountain peak. The carvings were old and covered in moss, but the direction could still be made out.

"Someone has been here."

He stood up and continued to walk upward.

After walking for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the forest disappeared completely.

Before his eyes was an open space.

The mountain peak was flat, about ten zhang square, paved with bluestone slabs. The slabs were very old, their edges worn smooth, and grass grew in the cracks, but overall it was still level.

In the middle of the open space stood a person.

Black clothes.

Lu Chen recognized him—the Person in Black who had been standing at the foot of the mountain watching him seven days ago.

As he got closer, Lu Chen could clearly see his appearance.

Around thirty years old, thin, with a very pale face—unnaturally pale, as if he hadn't seen the sun for years. His eyes were black, as black as ink, without luster. His lips were thin and pressed into a line, revealing no expression.

A short blade hung at his waist; the scabbard was black and had no patterns.

"You've come," said the Person in Black.

His voice was very flat, without inflection, as if he were speaking of something he had long known would happen.

"You invited me," said Lu Chen.

"Yes." The Person in Black glanced at him. "You were slower than I thought. I expected you to come yesterday."

"The road was difficult to travel."

"It wasn't that the road was difficult," said the Person in Black. "It was that you didn't want to come."

Lu Chen didn't speak.

The Person in Black was right. He indeed did not want to come. It wasn't because he was afraid, but because he knew that after coming, some things could not go back to how they were.

But he had come anyway.

"Did you kill Mo Wen?" Lu Chen asked.

The Person in Black looked at him for two seconds.

"No."

"Then who was it?"

"Himself," said the Person in Black. "He died from the cost."

Just like what was written on The Cave wall.

"What exactly is the cost?" Lu Chen asked.

The Person in Black was silent for a few seconds, then said one sentence.

"The cost is something you choose yourself."

Lu Chen didn't understand.

The Person in Black saw this and pointed to the stone slab beside him: "Sit. This is a long story."

Lu Chen didn't sit; he stood.

The Person in Black didn't mind; he sat down on the stone slab himself and took an item from his robes, placing it on the ground.

It was a bowl.

An earthenware bowl, very old, with a chip in the rim. There was nothing in the bowl; it was empty.

"Do you know what this is?"

Lu Chen shook his head.

"This is Wang Qishan's bowl," said the Person in Black. "He lived in The Cave for seven years, and he used this bowl to eat. When he died, there was still half a bowl of porridge in it, cold."

Lu Chen looked at the bowl.

The bowl was very old, but washed very clean. There was a crack at the bottom of the bowl, splitting from the center to the edge, but it hadn't cracked all the way through.

"Did you know Wang Qishan?"

"I did," said the Person in Black. "He was my Senior Brother."

Lu Chen stared at the Person in Black for a few seconds.

"Are you a Cultivator?"

"Qi Refining Stage 2," said the Person in Black. "One level higher than you. But my Spiritual Root is better than yours, and my speed to Cultivate is faster than yours."

"Then why did you come here?"

"Waiting to die," said the Person in Black.

These two words were spoken very calmly, as if he were saying "The weather is nice today."

Lu Chen didn't respond.

The Person in Black continued: "When Wang Qishan came to Qingniu Ridge, I tried to persuade him. I said don't go; there is something there. He wouldn't listen. He said he wanted to find longevity."

"Did he find it?"

"He did," said the Person in Black. "He found the truth."

"What is the truth?"

The Person in Black looked at him.

"The truth is—longevity exists. But there is a cost. The cost is something you choose yourself. You can choose to lose your memories, or you can choose to lose your cultivation base, or you can choose to lose... something else. But you must choose one thing."

"Who made that rule?"

"No one made it," said the Person in Black. "It is a rule. A rule of the Heavenly Dao."

Lu Chen was silent for a few seconds.

"What did Mo Wen choose to lose?"

"Mo Wen didn't choose," said the Person in Black. "He didn't believe in the cost; he thought he could trick the cost. So he died."

"How did he die?"

"When he had Cultivated to Qi Refining Level 3, he discovered he was starting to lose his memory. He refused to stop and continued to Cultivate. By Level 4 Qi Refining, his cultivation base began to regress. By Qi Refining Level 5, he had even forgotten who he was. Then one day, he walked out of The Cave, walked to the edge of the cliff, and jumped."

Lu Chen remembered Mo Wen's appearance.

That old man with unnaturally bright eyes, his face full of wrinkles like a walnut when he smiled.

Jumped off a cliff?

It didn't seem like him.

But Lu Chen had never seen what Mo Wen looked like when he was young. Perhaps when the old man was young, he was a different person.

"What about you?" Lu Chen asked. "What are you waiting for here?"

"Waiting for an answer," said the Person in Black. "Before Wang Qishan died, he left me a letter. The letter said there was something on the peak of Qingniu Ridge that could allow one to avoid the cost. But he died before he could find it."

"So you came to look for it?"

"Yes," said the Person in Black. "I have looked for three years and haven't found it."

"Then why did you invite me here?"

The Person in Black looked at him, with something indescribable in his gaze.

"Because you are the third one. Mo Wen said you are different."

"How am I different?"

"You can hear the 'cost'," said the Person in Black. "Wang Qishan couldn't hear it, and I can't hear it either. Mo Wen said that only those who are truly not afraid of the cost can hear it."

Lu Chen remembered the dream he had the first time he held the stone.

"Longevity. Cost."

He had heard it.

"So what?" Lu Chen asked.

"So—" The Person in Black stood up and brushed the dust off himself. "I want you to help me find it."

"Why should I?"

The Person in Black's hand paused.

The gaze he turned toward him changed—it wasn't surprise, but astonishment. It was as if he hadn't expected Lu Chen to ask this.

"What did you say?"

"Why should I?" Lu Chen repeated. "Helping you find it, what good does it do for me?"

The Person in Black stared at him for three seconds.

Then he smiled.

It wasn't a big laugh; it was just the corners of his mouth moving, as if smiling, and yet also as if smiling bitterly.

"Mo Wen was right; you are indeed different," said the Person in Black. "When Wang Qishan heard about this back then, his first reaction was 'Okay.' You didn't say okay; you asked why."

"So, what is the benefit?"

"I will tell you a secret," said the Person in Black. "About the bone fragment."

Lu Chen subconsciously touched his chest.

"Do you know what this is?"

"I do," said the Person in Black. "This is Wang Qishan's finger bone."

Lu Chen's hand stopped.

"Wang Qishan's finger bone?"

"Yes," said the Person in Black. "Before he died, he cut off his left little finger, carved words onto it, and hid it in a crevice in The Cave. He said that if one day someone found it, that person would be the second him."

"The second him?"

"Someone willing to pay the cost," said the Person in Black. "The words on the bone fragment were written by Wang Qishan before he died. He carved all the secrets he knew about the cost onto his own bone."

Lu Chen looked down at the bone fragment on his chest.

The chill was still there.

Emerging from within his body.

"It is absorbing me," Lu Chen said.

"Yes," said the Person in Black. "It is absorbing your memories. Not all of them, but a part. The words Wang Qishan carved require memories to activate. However much memory you give it, that is how many secrets it will tell you."

"How do you know all this?"

"Mo Wen told me," said the Person in Black. "Mo Wen also wore this bone fragment. He wore it for three months, then took it off. He said he couldn't stand it—every time the bone fragment absorbed memories, he could feel his brain shrinking."

"What happened after he took it off?"

"The bone fragment became ineffective," said the Person in Black. "It needs someone wearing it all the time. If no one wears it, it will just become an ordinary bone."

Lu Chen was silent for a long time.

The wind blew from the mountain peak, cold. He wrapped his cotton-padded jacket tighter.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"The secrets on the bone fragment," said the Person in Black. "Those words Wang Qishan carved, I cannot understand. Mo Wen couldn't understand them either. But you can—because the bone fragment is absorbing your memories, it will slowly translate those words for you."

"Translate for me?"

"Yes," said the Person in Black. "Every time you lose a segment of memory, the words on the bone fragment will change. They will turn into content you can understand."

Lu Chen looked down at the bone fragment again.

Still those crooked, dense characters, impossible to understand.

But the Person in Black said they would change.

"What do you want me to do?" Lu Chen asked.

"It's simple," said the Person in Black. "You continue to Cultivate. When the words on the bone fragment change, tell me the content. I will help you find a way to avoid the cost."

"How will you help me?"

The Person in Black drew a circle on the stone slab.

"Under this mountain, there is something. Left behind by an ancient Cultivator. Wang Qishan said it could allow a person to avoid the cost. But he didn't find it."

"How do you know it is under the mountain?"

"Because—" The Person in Black paused. "I have been down there."

Lu Chen looked at him.

"Are there caves under the mountain?"

"Yes," said the Person in Black. "Very deep. I didn't reach the end. There is something down there that moves."

"What kind of thing?"

"I don't know," said the Person in Black. "But it can speak. It said one sentence—'The third one, come in.'"

Same as what Mo Wen said.

The third one.

Lu Chen was the third one.

"So you want me to go down?"

"Not now," said the Person in Black. "You are too weak right now. Level 1 Qi Refining, going down there is just seeking death. Wait until you are Qi Refining Level 3, and the words on the bone fragment have changed at least once; then you can go down."

"Will you accompany me?"

"Yes."

Lu Chen thought about it.

"Okay."

He extended his hand.

The Person in Black took his hand.

His hand was very cold, different from the chill of the bone fragment. The chill of the bone fragment radiated outward, while the Person in Black's chill seemed to absorb inward.

"My name is Qin Wu," said the Person in Black.

"Lu Chen."

"I know," Qin Wu let go of his hand. "Mo Wen told me about you. He said you were the person least afraid of death he had ever seen."

"He was wrong," Lu Chen said. "I am afraid of death. I just am not afraid of the cost."

Qin Wu looked at him and smiled again.

This time the smile lasted a bit longer, the corners of his mouth lifting upward.

"It's the same," Qin Wu said. "Being afraid of death and being afraid of the cost are the same thing."

"No," Lu Chen said. "People who are afraid of death will run. I don't run."

Qin Wu didn't say anything more.

He took a piece of paper from his robes and handed it to Lu Chen.

"This is for you."

Lu Chen took it.

There was a map drawn on the paper. It wasn't an ordinary map of mountains and rivers, but of under the mountain—layer upon layer, like an inverted tower.

"What is this?"

"A structural map of under the mountain," Qin Wu said. "I drew it. It's incomplete; I didn't draw what's below."

"Why give it to me?"

"Because you might need it," Qin Wu said. "If I die."

Lu Chen looked at Qin Wu.

"You will die?"

"Everyone will die," Qin Wu said. "But people like me who look for answers die faster."

He stood up and brushed the dust off himself.

"I'm leaving. Three months from now, I will come back to find you."

"Where to?"

"To find some things," Qin Wu said. "Things that can make you Cultivate faster."

He turned and walked down the mountain.

After a few steps, he stopped without looking back.

"Lu Chen."

"Yeah."

"Mo Wen said you 'once you have paid, do not look back.' I want to know, when you say this, is it sincere, or are you saying it to yourself?"

Lu Chen thought for two seconds.

"Both."

Qin Wu nodded.

Then he left.

He disappeared into the forest, just like last time, very quickly, vanishing in a few steps.

Lu Chen stood on the mountain peak, holding the map in his hand; the wind blew, and the paper rustled.

He folded the map and stuffed it into his robes.

Then he turned and walked down the mountain.

When he reached the middle of the mountain, he stopped and glanced in the direction of The Cave.

The entrance was covered by snow and could not be seen.

But he knew that Mo Wen's body was not in The Cave.

The old man had jumped off a cliff.

Died at the bottom of the cliff.

Lu Chen stood there for a while.

Then he continued to walk down the mountain.

Returning to the Ruined Temple, it was almost dark.

He didn't light a fire, sat directly on the dry grass, and tried to take off the bone fragment—no, he couldn't take it off. The bone fragment was stuck to his chest, as if it had grown into his flesh.

He pulled at it twice; it hurt.

So he didn't pull anymore.

"Then I'll just wear it."

Lu Chen closed his eyes and began to Qi Channeling.

Spiritual Qi surged into his Dantian.

The chill was also there.

Just like before, the two things were in Fusion.

But this time, he felt something different—the bone fragment was absorbing.

Not absorbing Spiritual Qi, but absorbing memories.

There were some images in his mind that were slowly fading.

Like a painting soaked in water, its colors fading bit by bit.

He didn't know what was fading away.

But he knew that those things would never come back.