At dawn, Shi ZhenXian arrived at the prison.
"Change."
He said, throwing blue clothes to the prisoner inside the cell.
The young man stood up in the cell but remained still.
"Ah."
Only then did Shi ZhenXian realize that the other was still tied up and would have no way to change. He drew his sword and held it with his right hand, while with a movement of his left he started to untie the rope.
"Don't play any tricks." He said issuing a warning, tightening his grip on the sword.
The boy slowly removed the black coat, too dark and characteristic of a Demonic cultivator, revealing the layer of snow-white inner clothes. With a fluid and quick movement, he adjusted that blue vest.
It took a handful of seconds before Shi ZhenXian realized that he had been dazed. He blinked twice and refocused the image. In front of him, the cultivator held out his wrists, his head slightly tilted to the side to indicate that he was waiting for something.
"Ahem," Shi ZhenXian said as he went back to tying his wrists and sheathing his sword. The new clothes had sleeves wide enough to hide the presence of that unusual rope.
"Good, we are ready to go."
He opened the door to the cell and stopped. He felt like he had forgotten something.
"Ah," he paused briefly, "What's your name?"
"Lin JingYu." The cultivator enunciated his syllables carefully. "How should I address…"
"Shi ZhenXian."
There was a moment of silence as their eyes quickly met.
"Good, enough pleasantries. Come out and walk in front of me."
From the now open door, Lin JingYu took his first steps out of it, following the orders.
In a few minutes, they were already outside.
Coming out of the cave, the light of dawn hit them along with the crisp morning air. It took Lin JingYu, who had been locked up in that dark prison for all that time, a while to get used to the light.
He squinted a few times and started to look around. Two days ago, when he and his companions arrived on the mountain, he hadn't paid attention to the surrounding landscape. Ginko trees extended along the entire avenue that went down the mountain. The entrance to the cave was located higher than the other buildings, whose pointed roofs could be seen from afar.
The green of the leaves was slowly giving way to the autumn yellow, merging with the warm color of the sky. Casting your eyes beyond the trees, you could make out the high mountains that surrounded Mount Qiyun, lower than the others, creating a natural fortress. Their snow-capped peaks were lost in the clouds while their sides faded into the fog.
A scenery that in a different situation would surely have been appreciated by both poets and ordinary people. And Lin JingYu was no exception.
He thought that the founder of the Mount Qiyun Sect, when he chose the place to found his sect, must have also been pleasantly impressed by that scenery.
Shi ZhenXian followed him just a step behind, keeping an eye on him and dictating from time to time the direction to take.
The path that led down the mountain was a long descent of steps. It took at least fifteen minutes just to get to the main square.
"SHIXIONG!"
A shout was heard as soon as they set foot there.
"Shidi what are you doing here?" Shi ZhenXian saw the young Xu Xinyi running towards him at an incredible speed.
"Shixiong, here you are finally... the Sect leader told me everything, be careful, and don't worry about us. You can leave everything in my hands."
Shi ZhenXian looked at his Shidi with apprehensive eyes. They had grown up together and had many a hard time giving each other strength. Shidi had never been a brave person although his martial skills were far from mediocre. However, in the shadow of his Shixiong, he had often been left aside and underestimated. At least until he was given the chance to show off his skills.
Shi ZhenXian had always believed in him and his Shidi had never felt any kind of rivalry or envy despite what others thought.
"Then I rely on you," Shi ZhenXian said as he patted him lightly on the shoulder.
"Have a good trip Shixiong and be careful. If you need reinforcements, you know who to count on."
Shi ZhenXian nodded with a slight smile. Xu Xinyi clasped her hands in greeting while glaring at Lin JingYu.
He moved out of their way and the two continued their descent into the valley.
**
The two had arrived at the foot of Mount Qiyun. Now all that separated them from the outside world was a long road beyond the mountain range.
"We need to take the long road." Shi ZhenXian said.
Shi ZhenXian actually used to use his lightness skills to make that journey with a few jumps up and then down the mountains, taking advantage of their natural conformation rich in passes. For an ordinary cultivator, not at his level, it would have been practically impossible.
Instead, the long road involved a slow journey by boat through a narrow tunnel dug into the rock.
From the foot of Mount Qiyun, in fact, flowed fresh water from an underground spring, which along its path was enriched by various tributaries from the surrounding peaks, thus creating a river of modest size.
Its course gradually widened, reaching a depth of at least three meters. Over the centuries, what in the beginning was only a stream, had dug deep into the rock and formed a crack long enough to re-emerge on the other side of the mountain range.
The tunnel they had now was built by the Founder of the Sect, more than five hundred years before.
For all these reasons, this was the only way to access the fortress.
Or at least that was the case for the past five hundred years.
A few days ago, the Laughing Mist Sect had managed to create a breach at an altitude quite a bit lower than Shi ZhenXian was used to passing through; thus making it possible for even those who did not have the same skills to sneak in without too many problems.
At that very moment, some disciples could be seen on the spot, trying to figure out what to do to restore the mountain.
Lin JingYu was meanwhile bound with that artifact, so all of his spiritual powers, including his ability to lighten, were sealed.
This was the only reason why they were forced to take the long way round.
Shi ZhenXian approached a small pier on the riverbank, still pushing Lin JingYu in front of him.
"Jump on." He motioned for him to get on a small wooden boat.
The other man complied.
After he too jumped up, Shi ZhenXian grabbed a long wooden pole and sank it to the bottom of the river, to give the boat an extra push.
By doing so, he began to steer the boat towards the outside world.
His eyes remained fixed on the young cultivator in front of him, who was sitting quietly without saying a word.
Lin JingYu occasionally glanced at the cultivator in front of him, every now and then he was instead captured by the movement of the falling leaves.
In fact, thick vegetation filled the area along the edges of the river. Sporadic flowers, still resisting the impending cold were letting themselves be lulled by a light breeze.
In a short time, the tunnel appeared in front of them.
As soon as the bow peeked out, dim lights on the walls turned on, continuing to illuminate as they passed.
Shi ZhenXian withdrew the pole and sat down in front of the other.
"Lower your head, the passage narrows a bit," Shi ZhenXian told him.
Lin JingYu listened to the advice, bowing his head slightly.
The damp ceiling barely touched his hair.
He's so fucking tall.
He couldn't help but notice how much taller Lin JingYu was than him even when sitting down.
After a while the light coming from outside became more intense, until they re-emerged from the long tunnel.
The two got off the boat and without wasting time Shi ZhenXian took the old map from his sleeve.
It mostly reported the morphology of the desert they were headed to but it also left space for the directions to reach it from where they were.
Looking at it, it was clear that they would have to cross almost the entire country transversally.
The first step was to go further north, towards the regions of the Yang sect of Jilin. Once in those areas, they had to move a long way west.
"Let's start going north."
"Mm"
The two traveled for the whole day when, as evening was falling, they were looking for some village or they would have to spend the night in the open. The journey had been very silent.
Every now and then Shi ZhenXian would leave a few comments about the weather or the place, to try to lighten the heavy air created by those strange circumstances.
Lin JingYu would leave a few lines to assert without ever really answering or feeding a conversation.
I know it's not the best of situations, but it feels like I'm dealing with a stone wall. I hoped you would bore me less during the journey but I was wrong again!
Shi ZhenXian rolled his eyes.
He finally breathed a sigh of relief when he began to see roofs and smoke from chimneys in the distance.
"A village! Let's stop here for the night." He said perhaps a little too excitedly. After that torture of a journey he was happy to be able to interact with someone.
Lin JingYu just nodded.
They entered a tea house that also served as an inn and sat down at one of the tables.
"What can I bring to the gentlemen?" The innkeeper soon approached. His hands clasped together and occasionally rubbed together, his face pleased. He probably didn't often see people so handsome and composed.
"Two side dishes and some win-…" old habits died hard.
"Some tea" Shi ZhenXian quickly corrected himself, trying to maintain his composure. He didn't wear his Taoist robes when he came down from the sect and this time was no exception.
He wanted to try to attract as little attention as possible and not be recognized as a cultivator. Although usually the habit of masking was aimed at going to drink in the villages near his sect without anyone recognizing him.
But on this occasion, he had done it only because Lin JingYu knew that he was a Taoist disciple, so it was unwise to reveal his secrets.
In the meantime, the innkeeper had set the table. Lin JingYu took the teapot and poured tea into the cup with both hands, holding them very close together to prevent the rope from sticking out from under his sleeves.
He's so careful. If I were him, I would have drawn attention to myself to create confusion and take advantage of it to escape.
As he thought about it, he played with the cup, swinging it by running his finger along the rim. The faint clinking was imperceptible but enough to transfer calm to him.
"I tell you, it's all true!" the calm was shattered by the slamming of a glass on the wood.
Shi ZhenXian's ears became attentive. Lin JingYu also seemed to have noticed and started listening.
"Da-ge is just a legend" Said a man in his forties, sitting in front of the one who had slammed the cup.
"I thought so too until recent but I saw it with my own eyes! It was definitely real!" the man who spoke was completely red and was gesticulating wildly as he told his story.
"Da-ge, I bet you were drunk again"
"Hey, I assure you I was completely lucid. You always call me crazy! Come on, look at this!" the man pulled up his sleeve, revealing deep red scratches.
"How else would I have gotten this? It's a scratch from that beast, I tell you!"
"Did a beast really do this to you? Seriously, I don't want to listen to your jokes-"
"It's all true! He must be the reason for the disappearances! I would never joke about this story. My brother-in-law never came back home!"
"And how did you escape?"
"I don't know, I walked away from the forest and at a certain point he stopped chasing me" he replied, proud of his escape.
"So you think that all the people who have disappeared in the last year ended up like this? Captured by a beast?"
"Yes! It must be! And no one paid attention to me! I went to complain to the Yang Sect's disciples but they kicked me out! Where will we end up…" the still excited man almost snorted steam from his nose, while he downed more liquor.
"Ah, it's really terrible, there are already seven woodcutters who have disappeared in the last month alone and if that's really what you're talking about-"
"You!" The innkeeper butted in on the conversation "You'll scare the outsiders, tone it down" he continued in a low voice, glancing at the table occupied by the two cultivators.
Shi ZhenXian shifted his gaze from the scene. He and Lin JingYu exchanged a glance before changing their focus once again. Two men were now entering the inn.