16: Chapter 16 Leaving Qingniu Ridge

When Lu Chen came out of the Inverted Tower, it was already dark.

He didn't know how long he had stood in front of the wall inscribed with "Longevity is Death."

In the darkness, there was no concept of time, only that sense of emptiness when the coldness of the bone fragment flowed into his body — like a dried-up riverbed suddenly washed over by water; the water left, the riverbed remained, but it was deeper than before.

The words on the wall were still there.

"The one who dies is the person. The one who lives is the Dao."

He stared at these eight characters for the last time, then turned and walked back.

The stairs were very dark, the bone fragment no longer glowing.

He felt his way along the wall, climbing up step by step.

His fingers pressed against the cold, damp stone, and he could feel the patterns carved into the surface — not words, but some kind of design, like circles of ripples spreading out from deep within the stone.

He climbed for a long time.

When he reached the end of the stairs, he saw light.

It was not firelight, but moonlight.

It leaked down from a crack above the hall, painting a pale, bright spot on the ground.

He crossed the hall, walked past the fallen stone door, and entered the narrow passage.

The passage was very quiet, only the sound of his own footsteps, one after another, echoing back and forth between the stone walls.

The entrance to The Cave was still there.

Moonlight shone in from the entrance, connecting with the light at the passage opening, like a white road paved all the way to his feet from the outside.

Lu Chen bent down and squeezed out.

The air outside was different.

The air in the Inverted Tower was cold and heavy, like stagnant water that had been sitting for a long time.

The air outside was warm, carrying the scent of summer grass and trees, and the sound of a stream in the distance.

He stood at the entrance and took a deep breath.

Then he turned around and looked into the depths of The Cave.

The Cave was very dark; he couldn't see anything.

But he had stood in that darkness; he knew there were things in there.

Those bone frames, those skulls with names carved on them, Mo Wen's skull — they were all there.

Lu Chen did not go back.

He squatted down and felt around in the cracks of the stone next to the entrance.

He found it.

That finger bone.

He had hidden it in a groove earlier, plugging it with a stone.

Now the stone was still there, and the finger bone was still there.

He took it out and held it in his palm; it was small and light, and the character [Repay] carved on the bone was clearly visible in the moonlight.

Repay.

Repayment.

Who owed whom?

Lu Chen did not know.

But he tucked the finger bone into his robes.

Then he stood up and walked down the mountain.

The Ruined Temple was still there.

Half of the hay hanging on the door frame had been blown away by the wind, and the remaining few strands swayed back and forth in the moonlight, as if someone were waving.

Lu Chen walked in and sat on the pile of hay.

The fire had been out for a long time, and the ashes were cold.

He didn't start a fire, just sat in the darkness, reached into his robes, and touched the finger bone.

Then he touched the bone fragment on his chest.

The bone fragment was still warm.

It wasn't the warmth of body heat, but a warmth radiating from within, as if something was slowly burning deep inside the bone fragment.

The words on the bone fragment were all gone.

Clean, like an ordinary piece of bone.

But Lu Chen knew it wasn't ordinary.

Because those words hadn't disappeared — they were in his mind.

"Use blood as a guide, use life as a bridge."

"Use the body as a furnace, use the soul as fuel."

"Refine. Refine oneself. Refine until heartless."

"Heartless is longevity."

Every line, every character, he remembered.

More clearly than he remembered his own parents' names.

Early the next morning, Lu Chen began to pack his things.

Not much. Bamboo slips, jade, a firewood knife, that finger bone.

And the wooden plaque left by Mo Wen — "Don't remove the bone fragment. It can save you."

He flipped the wooden plaque over and looked at it again, then tucked it into his robes.

The bone fragment was still hanging around his neck.

He tried it; he could take it off.

Before, it felt like it had grown into his skin, but now it was just a bone hanging on a string against his chest, swinging back and forth.

But he didn't take it off.

Mo Wen said don't remove it.

Then he would wear it.

He also dug out the things under the hay pile — the map given by Qin Wu, the jade plaque given by Su Qing, and the porcelain bottle with three qi gathering pills (empty, but he didn't throw it away).

There weren't many things, but they made his chest bulge.

Lu Chen stood at the temple entrance and took one last look at the Ruined Temple.

Half a wall, half a roof, hay on the ground, branches stuffed into the cracks of the wall.

He had lived here for nearly a year.

From autumn to summer, from a Mortal to Qi Refining Stage 2.

In this temple, he had lost his family, put on the bone fragment, had those dreams, and heard about the "price".

Now he was leaving.

He would never come back.

Lu Chen turned around without looking back.

After walking for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, he heard footsteps.

Not coming from behind, but from in front.

Someone was standing in the middle of the road, waiting for him.

Black clothes.

Qin Wu.

Lu Chen stopped and looked at Qin Wu.

Qin Wu was thinner than he had been three months ago, his face was paler, and his lips were chapped, as if he hadn't had water for a long time.

But his eyes were still as black, so black they lacked luster, like two stones soaked in water.

"Are you leaving?" Qin Wu asked.

"Yes."

"Where to?"

"Danding Sect."

Qin Wu was silent for two seconds.

"Did Su Qing find you?"

"She did."

"Do you trust her?"

"No," Lu Chen said, "but she can give me a path."

Qin Wu looked at him, the corners of his mouth twitching, not like a smile, but more like he was biting his lip.

"I know a shortcut," he said, taking a piece of paper from his robes and handing it to Lu Chen.

"From here to the Danding Sect, taking the mountain path, three days. Taking the official road, five days. Don't take the official road; people from the Ten Thousand Sword Sect are over there."

Lu Chen took the paper and glanced at it.

It was drawn very sloppily, but it was legible.

Mountains, rivers, bridges, and fork roads were all marked with small characters.

"Why are you helping me?" Lu Chen asked.

Qin Wu didn't answer.

He took something else out of his robes, a grey-white stone — a Spirit Stone, the size of a fingernail, with cracks on the surface, as if it had been used but not fully drained.

"The last one," Qin Wu said. "Use it on the way."

Lu Chen took the Spirit Stone.

"You still haven't answered my question."

Qin Wu looked at him, silent for a long time.

"Because my Senior Brother also wore a bone fragment," Qin Wu said.

"His name was Qin Buyan. He wore it for three years, then died. Before he died, he said one sentence — 'The third one, don't let him die.'"

"I am the third one?"

"Yes," Qin Wu said. "You are the third person to wear the bone fragment. The first two both died. Qin Buyan was the second. He said don't let the third one die. So I can't let you die."

"Where did Qin Buyan die?"

"The Inverted Tower," Qin Wu said. "The third level."

Lu Chen's hand tightened.

"Did I see his skull on the shelf?"

"I don't know," Qin Wu said. "I've never gone down. I don't dare."

When he said those two words, his voice was very flat, without shame, without unwillingness.

He was just stating a fact — he didn't dare.

"Then why are you still at Qingniu Ridge?"

"Waiting for you to come out," Qin Wu said. "Waiting for you to come out, tell you this, and then I'll leave."

"Where to?"

"I don't know," Qin Wu said. "The Loose Cultivators Alliance has plenty of places that will take me in."

He turned to leave.

"Qin Wu." Lu Chen called out to him.

Qin Wu stopped without looking back.

"If I get to the Danding Sect and find the path doesn't work out — can I come back and find you?"

Qin Wu stood there for a few seconds.

"I might not be there."

"Then where can I find you?"

Qin Wu didn't answer.

He tore a thread from his clothes and placed it on a stone by the side of the road.

"Wear it on your hand. When the thread breaks, I will return."

Then he left.

He disappeared into the woods, vanishing in a few steps.

Lu Chen stood in place, looking at the thread on the stone.

It was black, very thin, as if pulled from the edge of his clothing.

He walked over, picked it up, wrapped it around his left wrist, and tied a knot.

Then he continued walking forward.

After walking for about two hours, he arrived at a bridge.

The bridge was small, made of wood, spanning a small river.

The river was shallow, and he could see the stones and fish at the bottom.

A person stood at the head of the bridge.

Grey robes.

But not the grey robes of the Ten Thousand Sword Sect — there was no [Sword] character.

It was the grey robe of the Danding Sect, the same as what Su Qing wore.

The person was very young, looking less than twenty, with a round face and small eyes that squinted into slits when he smiled.

He held a cloth bundle in his hand, and a jade plaque hung from his waist, the same as the one Su Qing had given him.

"Lu Chen?" the person asked.

"Yes."

"My name is Zhao Ping. Senior Sister Su sent me to pick you up."

He handed over the cloth bundle. "This is your token for entering the sect."

Lu Chen took the cloth bundle and opened it.

Inside was a jade plaque, different from Su Qing's.

This one was larger and thicker, with [Danding] carved on the front and [Outer Sect] on the back.

"Outer Sect Disciple?" Lu Chen asked.

"Yes," Zhao Ping said. "Grey Spirit Root can't enter the Inner Sect. Senior Sister Su was able to fight for the Outer Sect for you; that's the limit."

"Where is she?"

"Waiting for you inside the sect," Zhao Ping said.

"Let's go. We need to reach the sect gate before dark; if we're late, we can't get in."

Lu Chen hung the jade plaque on his waist and followed Zhao Ping across the bridge.

After a few steps, he stopped and looked back at the road he had come from.

Qingniu Ridge was in the distance; the mountains were green, and the summer trees covered the entire mountain, making it impossible to see the location of The Cave or the Ruined Temple.

But he knew they were there.

They were all there.

It was just that he would never go back.

"Let's go," Lu Chen said.

Zhao Ping nodded and walked in front to lead the way.

The road was a mountain path, paved with pebbles, not wide, but easier to walk than the road at Qingniu Ridge.

On both sides were trees, and there were birds singing in the trees; the calls were crisp, like someone tapping stones with a small hammer.

Lu Chen walked behind, the black thread on his left wrist swaying with his steps.

He was thinking about what Qin Wu had said.

"The third one, don't let him die."

Qin Buyan said that.

Qin Buyan was the second person to wear the bone fragment.

He died on the third level of the Inverted Tower.

Lu Chen was the third.

He was still alive.

But he didn't know how long he could live.

The words on the bone fragment were gone, but the content was carved into his mind.

He remembered every single character.

"Heartless is longevity."

He touched the bone fragment on his chest.

Warm.

It was still warm.

"We're here," Zhao Ping's voice came from the front.

Lu Chen looked up.

In front was a mountain gate.

Built of stone, very high, with words carved on the pillars on both sides — "Danding heart reflects the sun and moon, cauldron Qi pierces the heavens and earth."

Behind the mountain gate was a cluster of buildings.

White walls and black tiles, layered upon one another, built from the foot of the mountain up to the mountainside.

Smoke rose from between the buildings; it wasn't cooking smoke, but a blueish smoke that carried a medicinal scent.

Danding Sect.

Lu Chen stood before the mountain gate, looking at the complex of buildings.

He was thinking about a question —

Would the answer he wanted be in here?

He didn't know.

But he knew that from the moment he walked through this mountain gate, there was truly no turning back.

"Let's go in," Zhao Ping said.

"Senior Sister Su is waiting for you in the Inner Sect. She told me to tell you — once you enter the gate, don't trust anyone. Including her."

Lu Chen looked at Zhao Ping.

Zhao Ping smiled, squinting his eyes, his expression hard to read.

"Those were her exact words," Zhao Ping said.

Lu Chen didn't speak.

He stepped through the mountain gate.

Qingniu Ridge behind him grew further and further away.

The road ahead grew deeper and deeper.

The bone fragment pressed against his chest, warm.

The black thread on his left wrist swayed gently.

Tianxuan Era · Taiping Year 18, Summer.

Lu Chen, Qi Refining Stage 2, Grey Spirit Root.

Entered the Danding Sect.