8: Chapter 8 Coolness

The chill from the bone fragment did not dissipate all night.

Lu Chen lay on the hay, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. The spot on his chest felt like it had a piece of ice stuck to it, so cold he was shivering. He took the bone fragment off and set it aside, and the chill vanished. He put it back on, and the chill returned.

"What is this thing?"

He held up the fire-starter and leaned in to look at the bone fragment.

It was still those characters. Crooked, dense, like little worms crawling on the bone.

The firelight shone on it, making the writing flicker in and out of view.

Lu Chen stared at it for a long time and suddenly noticed something—the handwriting of the characters on the bone fragment was different from those on The Cave wall, but the shape of the characters was very similar.

"Did one person write them?"

No. The handwriting was clearly different, so how could the character shapes be similar?

He couldn't figure it out, so he placed the bone fragment on the hay and closed his eyes.

The chill was gone, but he still couldn't sleep.

His mind was full of today's events—the new characters in The Cave, the Person in Black at the foot of the mountain, the white object taken by the Gray-robed Man, and the chill of the bone fragment.

One thing after another, like knots tied in a rope that couldn't be untied.

Early the next morning, Lu Chen went to The Cave again.

This time he didn't enter The Cave; he first circled around it.

The footprints were still there, but they were covered by a layer of fresh snow and hard to see. The footprints where the Person in Black had stood were also blurry; one could only make out a rough outline.

Lu Chen squatted down and looked carefully.

The footprints of the Person in Black were very deep, much deeper than those of an ordinary person.

"Not a Mortal."

Ordinary people wouldn't leave such deep footprints after standing in the snow for so long. To be able to leave such deep impressions, one must either be very heavy, or—have great strength.

A Cultivator.

Lu Chen stood up and looked in the direction where the Person in Black had disappeared.

They were heading down the mountain.

Not up the mountain, but down.

"Coming from outside the mountain."

He stood on the hillside and looked down. The entire Qingniu Ridge was at his feet, a vast expanse of white, making it impossible to distinguish where the mountain ended and the sky began.

The wind was strong, blowing painfully against his face.

Lu Chen stood for a while, then turned and entered The Cave.

It was very dark inside. The fire-starter was almost used up, so he was frugal with it, blowing on it only once to let the light shine for a short moment.

Borrowing this bit of light, he looked at the characters on The Cave wall.

"You will regret it."

The four characters were still there. Dark red, dried, but the strokes were very clear.

Lu Chen reached out and touched them.

They weren't carved; they were written. Written stroke by stroke, with fingers dipped in blood. Touching them, he could feel the indentation of the strokes, as if the person who wrote them had used great force, pressing their fingertips into the texture of the stone.

"Whose blood?"

He didn't know.

Lu Chen pulled his hand back and wiped it on his pant leg.

Then he walked to the groove, pried the stone open, and looked inside.

The bone fragment had been taken by him, so the groove was empty. But deep in the groove, there was something else.

Very small, buried in the ash.

Lu Chen reached in and took the object out.

It was a piece of bone.

A finger bone.

Very slender, like a woman's finger. A character was carved on the bone—'Repay'.

Lu Chen stared at this character for three seconds.

"Repay."

He remembered what Mo Wen had said— "What the price is, is different for everyone."

Repay. Repayment. Compensation.

Who owed whom?

He didn't know.

But this finger bone, along with the "Longevity is Death" on The Cave ceiling, Wang Qishan's "Never Cultivate," and those characters on the bone fragment, were all connected.

They were all saying the same thing—Longevity has a price.

But what the price was, no one had made clear.

Or rather, those who had made it clear were all dead.

Lu Chen put the finger bone back into the groove and plugged it with the stone again.

He stood up and brushed the ash off his hands.

Then he bent down and crawled out of The Cave.

Back at the Ruined Temple, Lu Chen sat cross-legged and began Qi Channeling.

It wasn't that he wanted to Cultivate; it was that he needed to think some things through.

Spiritual Qi surged into his Dantian, circling round and round. He closed his eyes, breathing slowly, but his mind was racing.

Mo Wen had said that he was the third one.

The two before him—Wang Qishan and that unknown person—had both died.

Wang Qishan had Cultivated for seven years, reached Qi Refining Level 3, and before he died, his cultivation regressed and his memories were lost.

That unknown person died in The Cave, leaving behind the four characters "Longevity is Death."

Now Mo Wen was missing.

The Gray-robed Man had come.

The Person in Black had appeared.

With the bone fragment worn on his body, the chill kept seeping inward.

"Am I the fourth one?"

Lu Chen opened his eyes.

The fire was still burning, the wood crackling.

He looked down at his hands.

His palms were still red. But now the redness didn't look like blood, but more like something was burning under his skin.

"If I stop here, what will happen?"

Mo Wen had said that people who had Cultivated had Spiritual Qi in their bodies. The process of the Spiritual Qi dissipating would take away their lifespan.

If he stopped now, how much longer could he live?

He didn't know.

But if he continued to Cultivate—

What was the price?

Losing memories? Losing cultivation? Becoming something that wasn't human?

What Wang Qishan lost were his memories and cultivation.

What did that unknown person lose?

Lu Chen didn't know.

But he knew one thing—he didn't want to be like Wang Qishan, dying in The Cave, leaving behind a few characters, with not even anyone to collect his corpse.

"Then don't die."

When he said this, he felt it was laughable himself.

Not die? Who could not die?

Even those legendary Immortals had died.

Lu Chen leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

The chill from the bone fragment came again.

This time it wasn't one needle, but many. Starting from his chest, it spread in all directions, like ice water poured into his blood vessels.

He didn't take it off.

He endured it.

The chill moved downward, reached the position of his Dantian, and stopped.

It collided with the Spiritual Qi.

The Spiritual Qi in his Dantian had been circulating just fine, but once the chill arrived, it was as if something had stirred it up, and it suddenly became chaotic.

Lu Chen opened his eyes abruptly.

His stomach was churning, as if something were fighting inside.

He gritted his teeth and endured it for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

The chill retreated a little, and the Spiritual Qi stabilized again.

But in the position of his Dantian, there was one more thing.

It wasn't Spiritual Qi, and it wasn't the chill; it was a third thing—like a new thing born from the two mixed together.

Lu Chen looked down at his stomach.

He couldn't see anything.

But his body knew.

In his Dantian, besides the Spiritual Qi, there was something else.

At night, Lu Chen had a dream.

In the dream, there was a white Void Realm, the same as what he had dreamt the first time he held the stone.

White, with nothing at all.

But this time, there was someone.

Not a shadow, but a real person.

A woman in white clothes was standing in the Void Realm, with her back to him.

Her hair was very long, hanging down to her waist.

"Who are you?" Lu Chen asked.

The woman didn't turn around.

"You shouldn't have worn it." The woman's voice was very soft, as if it came from a very distant place.

"Worn what?"

"The bone fragment."

Lu Chen looked down at his chest.

The bone fragment was still there, stuck to his skin, emitting a faint white light.

"What is this?"

"You shouldn't know."

"Then why did you appear in my dream?"

The woman was silent for a few seconds.

"Because I want you to know—"

She turned around.

Lu Chen saw her face.

Very white, as white as paper. Her eyes were empty, with no pupils, only two black holes.

"The price."

The voice came from where there was no mouth.

Lu Chen opened his eyes abruptly.

Dawn.

The fire had gone out, and the temple was very cold.

He sat up and looked down at his chest.

The bone fragment was still there. Was it shining with white light? No—there was no light; it was just an ordinary bone.

"A dream."

He touched the bone fragment; it was cold.

As cold as before.

But this time, the chill was different.

It wasn't seeping into his body, but emerging from within his body.

It was as if something was being sucked from his flesh and blood into the bone fragment.

Lu Chen stared at the bone fragment for a long time.

Then he took the bone fragment off and placed it on the hay.

The bone fragment lay quietly, its surface grayish-white, with no light, no change in the handwriting, nothing at all.

Like an ordinary bone fragment.

But Lu Chen knew it wasn't ordinary.

"You shouldn't have worn it."

The voice of the woman from the dream was still spinning in his mind.

"The price."

Lu Chen took a deep breath and hung the bone fragment back around his neck.

Then he stood up, built a fire, and boiled water.

When the water boiled, he threw in the herbs Mo Wen had left behind, boiled a bowl of soup, and drank it.

Bitter.

After drinking it, he sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began Qi Channeling.

The same as yesterday.

Spiritual Qi surged into his Dantian, circling round and round.

But the chill was also there.

The two things coexisted in his Dantian, neither giving way to the other.

Lu Chen ignored them.

He just continued Qi Channeling.

Continuing to channel.