163: Chapter 163 Notes

The wind at the high-speed rail station exit was strong, blowing into his collar, making Zhou Rui shrink his neck in the cold.

He zipped his windbreaker all the way up, burying his chin into the collar.

"Master, are we going straight to the Secret Base?"

"Mm." Chen Zhen walked quickly toward the taxi waiting area.

Yun Xi lagged behind, looking down at her phone.

"Old Lin asked if we're back yet. He said he has something to give me."

"What is it?"

"He didn't say. He's being all mysterious."

The three of them squeezed into a taxi.

Zhou Rui sat in the passenger seat, hugging his hiking backpack on his lap; the zipper pull dug into his chin as he tilted his head to look at his phone.

Chen Zhen leaned back in the seat with his eyes closed, and Yun Xi leaned against the window on the other side.

"That Seal," Yun Xi suddenly spoke up, "it has a fifty-meter radius and is three meters deep. It's not big, but it's locked very tight."

Chen Zhen didn't open his eyes.

"Mm."

"How do you plan to investigate?"

"The notebook. Shen Zhiyuan stayed at Beishan for so long; it's impossible that he didn't record anything."

The driver glanced at them through the rearview mirror, said nothing, and stepped on the gas.

The lights in the Secret Base were on.

Shen Nian and Liu Yang were squatting in front of the Mutant Seedling; one held a magnifying glass, the other a phone flashlight, their heads huddled together, almost touching the leaves.

Hearing the door open, Shen Nian looked up.

"You're back? How did it go?"

"There is something. We didn't dig it up."

Chen Zhen put down his bag and walked over to the flowerpot.

The second leaf of the new sprout had already unfurled halfway; it was tender green, and the golden veins on the edges were a circle thicker than yesterday.

The light at the center of the flower had completely extinguished, and the petals had all fallen, landing on the soil, withered and curled like dried-out paper.

The new sprout at the base of the calyx had already grown to two inches high, its two leaves uneven in height, looking like two little hands.

Liu Yang climbed up from the floor and pushed up his glasses.

"This thing grows too fast. When I came this morning, the second leaf had only just appeared, and now it's this big."

"It's normal," Chen Zhen said.

He reached out, his fingertips gently touching the sprout's leaf.

The leaf trembled slightly, and a faint thought came through—it was saying: I have grown up.

Zhou Rui had already sat down at the workbench, pulling things out of his hiking backpack.

A shovel, rope, first aid kit, water bottle, and compressed biscuits were piled on the table, one by one.

Finally, he pulled out a notebook wrapped in a plastic bag.

Shen Zhiyuan's Beishan notebook.

"Master, is this it?"

Zhou Rui unwrapped the plastic bag. The notebook's cover was heavily worn, its edges curled, and the paper yellowed.

Chen Zhen walked over and picked up the notebook. He opened it.

On the first page, the date was written as April 1985.

The handwriting was still quite clear, in blue-black ink, with some parts smudged.

He flipped through the pages quickly, finding the section marked "Beishan."

"I arrived at Beishan, saw the stone tablet, and knew it was the pivot of the ancient Seal. There is something under the tablet, its spiritual power is very strong. However, the Seal has loosened; it seems someone has tampered with it."

Below it was a sketch, a floor plan of the Seal.

It was circular, with the radius marked, and a cross at the center.

"I dare not dig deep. It is not that I lack the strength, but I feel someone is watching. In the mountains, in the shadows, at my back. Every time I want to act, my hair stands on end."

Chen Zhen looked at these lines.

Shen Zhiyuan was at Qi Refining Level 6, and he was afraid.

It wasn't cowardice; it was intuition.

When cultivation reaches a certain level, intuition serves as a warning.

He continued flipping through.

"I checked the county annals and visited the village elders, learning that the Beishan Seal has existed for a long time. Some say it was set in the Yuan Dynasty, others say even earlier. The person who set the Seal cannot be traced, but there is one thing to follow: around Beishan, there have been Mountain Guardians through the generations. The Mountain Guardians do not practice Buddhism or the Dao; they are passed down through one successor per generation, dedicated solely to guarding the Seal."

Mountain Guardian.

Zhou Rui leaned in.

"Master, could Uncle Chen be a descendant of the Mountain Guardians?"

Chen Zhen didn't answer and kept reading.

"I wanted to find the descendants of the Mountain Guardians, but they are hidden very deeply, or perhaps the lineage has ended."

Shen Zhiyuan hadn't found them.

But Chen Zhen thought of one person—Uncle Chen.

He said "That old man said it couldn't be dug."

He called Shen Zhiyuan "that old man," which showed he knew Shen Zhiyuan was a cultivator.

He let Chen Zhen stay, gave him directions, and finally said, "At my age, don't try to know what you shouldn't."

He knew everything.

Chen Zhen closed the notebook.

"Tomorrow, we go to Shiqiao Village."

Zhou Rui was stunned for a moment.

"Again?"

"To find Uncle Chen."

Zhou Rui opened his mouth but didn't ask why; he put the notebook back into the plastic bag.

"Alright. I'll go buy the tickets."

Yun Xi straightened up from the wall.

"I'll take care of the matter Old Lin mentioned tomorrow. After I'm done, I'll go to Shiqiao Village to meet up with you."

Chen Zhen nodded.

Liu Yang was squatting in front of the flowerpot, holding a spray bottle, watering the sprout.

He watered it very slowly; the water sprayed out from the nozzle in a mist, landing on the leaves and forming tiny water droplets.

"Don't water it too much," Chen Zhen said, walking over.

"The roots haven't fully grown yet; too much water will cause them to rot."

Liu Yang looked up.

"You know the condition of this seedling's root system?"

"I'm guessing."

Liu Yang stared at him for two seconds and put down the spray bottle.

"Alright. Then I'll water less."

Shen Nian was writing a few notes in the logbook beside them.

"Master, the leaf veins on the new sprout increase by one line every day. Today is the second leaf, one line. Tomorrow, there will probably be two."

"At this speed, it will mature in a month," Liu Yang interjected.

"It won't take a month," Chen Zhen said, looking at the sprout.

"It's in a hurry."

Shen Nian and Liu Yang exchanged a glance; neither dared to ask who was in a hurry.

At eleven o'clock at night, Zhou Rui was still at the workbench drawing talismans.

He was drawing a Tracking Talisman, using ink mixed with new Materials—anshen flower powder, Mint juice, cinnabar, and a bit of spiritual plant ash ground by Shen Nian.

"Master, look at this one."

He handed over the newly drawn talisman.

The lines on the talisman paper were very fine, the flow of spiritual power was stable, and the center point was especially bright.

"Adding the spiritual plant ash has expanded the tracking range again. It used to be five kilometers, now it's about seven."

Chen Zhen took the talisman and examined it back and forth.

"Not bad."

Zhou Rui smiled and carefully put the talisman into a box.

"I'll bring these new ones to test when we go to Shiqiao Village tomorrow."

Chen Zhen walked to the flowerpot and squatted down.

The two leaves of the new sprout glowed faintly under the light, the golden veins flowing slowly across the leaf surface.

He reached out to touch it gently, and that thought came again, clearer this time.

It was saying: I have awakened.

Chen Zhen withdrew his hand and stood up.

Outside the window, the city lights were extinguishing one by one; the night was very deep.

He turned and walked back to the center of the formation to sit down.

Four jade plaques were stacked in his palm: Beishan, Xishan, Nanshan, and Dongshan.

The original Beishan plaque was placed to the side, and the one with the inscription was kept in his Storage Space.

The key was missing one piece.

But the jade plaques told him that it wasn't a missing key, but a missing person.

The person who set the Seal didn't require a key to open it; they required a Bloodline.

The Bloodline of the Mountain Guardian.

Uncle Chen.

He put the jade plaques away, lay down, and closed his eyes.

Tomorrow, he would go to Shiqiao Village again to find Uncle Chen.

He would ask him about the Mountain Guardians.