165: Chapter 165 Old Things

After Uncle Chen finished that sentence, the room was quiet for a moment.

The bowl of medicine on the stove had already cooled, and a thin film had formed on its surface. He walked over, picked it up, drank it all in one gulp, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"Wait a moment."

He walked into the inner room, and the sound of rummaging through boxes and cabinets drifted out—a dull sound of wood hitting wood. After a while, he came out, holding a cloth bundle in his hands.

The cloth bundle was dark blue, washed until it had faded to white, and the edges were frayed.

He placed the cloth bundle on the table and untied the cord.

Inside was a short blade. The scabbard was made of wood, blackened and dark, its original color indistinguishable.

The hilt was wrapped in hemp rope, wrapped very tightly, and the places where fingers had gripped it were shiny and oily.

Zhou Rui leaned in to take a look.

"This blade... it's been around for quite a while, hasn't it?"

"It was left behind by my father."

Uncle Chen drew the blade. The edge was dark gray and non-reflective, as if it had been sharpened many times.

He took a look at it, then sheathed it back.

"He was the one who used this blade to reinforce the Seal back then."

Chen Zhen watched the blade.

There were no runes or carvings on the scabbard; it didn't look special in any way.

But within his Anomaly Perception, the blade was slightly warm, as if it had just been taken away from a heat source.

"Can this blade sense the Seal?" Chen Zhen asked.

Uncle Chen shook his head.

"It cannot sense it. It can stabilize it. By piercing the edge of the Seal with the tip of the blade and channeling spiritual energy into it, it can hold for a while."

He put the blade back into the cloth bundle and tied it up.

"It's not like those jade plaque of yours. This is a clumsy method, but it works."

Zhou Rui took out a notebook to record this.

"Pierce the edge of the Seal with the blade and inject spiritual energy. What about the frequency? How often should it be pierced?"

Uncle Chen glanced at him. "It's not fixed. Pierce it when it loosens. No need when it's tight."

"Then how do you know if it's loose or tight?"

"Feel." Uncle Chen pointed to his own chest. "A Mountain Guardian can feel it."

Chen Zhen remembered the sentence in Shen Zhiyuan's notes—'Intuition is a warning.'

Uncle Chen strapped the cloth bundle onto his back, then took out a coil of rope, a folding shovel, and a military canteen from the inner room.

Everything was very old, but kept very neatly; each item was wrapped with cloth strips and placed in a fixed position.

"We leave at five tomorrow morning. Eat a full meal before we go." He placed the items in the corner and turned to enter the kitchen.

Dinner was dough drop soup.

Uncle Chen had kneaded the dough himself; the drops were neither too big nor too small, very uniform.

The soup contained greens and eggs, and was sprinkled with a handful of chopped green onions.

Zhou Rui ate two large bowls.

"Uncle Chen, your cooking is really good."

Uncle Chen didn't reply, just lowered his head to drink the soup.

His bowl was smaller than the others, and he drank very slowly, sip by sip, as if he were counting.

Yun Xi took a bite, then looked up at Uncle Chen.

"How long has it been since you went up the mountain?"

"Ten years." Uncle Chen put down his bowl. "The last time I went was the third year after that old man passed away. The Seal loosened once, so I went to stabilize it. I haven't been back since."

"Why?"

Uncle Chen was silent for a moment. "If I go, I will think of my father."

Chen Zhen put down his chopsticks. "I will walk in front tomorrow."

Uncle Chen glanced at him. "Do you know the way?"

"I do. It's on Shen Zhiyuan's map."

Uncle Chen nodded and said nothing more.

He cleared the bowls and took them to the stove to wash.

The sound of water rushed, and the bowls clinked against each other, making a crisp sound.

At night, Chen Zhen didn't sleep well.

The kang was hard, and when he turned over, he could hear the straw beneath him rustling.

He lay on his side, watching a sliver of moonlight leaking through the gap in the curtains—a white strip lying horizontally across the floor.

In the next room, Zhou Rui was snoring.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was very rhythmic, like a water pump in the distance.

Further down, Uncle Chen's room was very quiet.

He might be awake, or he might not be.

Chen Zhen closed his eyes.

Using Internal Vision on his Dantian, the seed was still spinning.

The patterns were glowing.

The four jade plaque were stacked together into a small pile at his chest, warm.

Before the sky was fully bright, Uncle Chen came to knock on the door.

"Get up. Eat."

Breakfast was rice porridge and pickled vegetables, along with the reheated leftover dough drop soup from yesterday.

Uncle Chen also boiled three eggs, one for each person.

The eggs were farm-raised, with very yellow yolks, and they tasted more fragrant than the ones bought at the supermarket.

Zhou Rui peeled his egg, broke it into two halves, and threw one half into his porridge. "Uncle Chen, could I borrow that blade of yours to take a look?"

Uncle Chen took the short blade out of the cloth bundle and handed it over.

Zhou Rui took it and examined it back and forth for a long time.

"Did you wrap the hemp rope on this hilt yourself?"

"My father wrapped it. He never told me how to wrap it."

Zhou Rui returned the blade.

"There is a technique to how this rope is wrapped. It wasn't just wound casually. Look at the angle of these crossings; every single one is the same, with uniform spacing. This is a specific method."

Uncle Chen took the blade, glanced at it, and didn't speak.

After eating, Uncle Chen strapped on his cloth bundle, Chen Zhen strapped on his backpack, Zhou Rui carried his hiking backpack, and Yun Xi carried her military canvas bag.

The four of them stood in the courtyard.

The sky had just brightened, and the clouds in the east were light red.

The fruit on the persimmon tree swayed in the morning breeze but didn't fall.

"Let's go." Uncle Chen locked the door and put the key into his pocket.

The four of them walked north along the dirt road behind the village.

On both sides of the road were farmlands; the rice had already been harvested, leaving only the stubble. The fields were empty, revealing deep brown soil.

After walking for about half an hour, the road began to incline.

The dirt road turned into a gravel road, and the gravel road turned into a mountain path.

Zhou Rui walked in front, looking at the map on his phone while walking.

"Turn left in five hundred meters, and follow the creek northward."

"No need to look at the map."

Uncle Chen walked in the middle, his pace not fast, but very steady. "I know the way."

Zhou Rui put his phone away.

The four of them walked in silence for a while.

Yun Xi spoke up: "Uncle Chen, can that blade of yours sense how the Seal is doing now?"

Uncle Chen didn't stop walking.

"I can sense it. It's beating. Like a heartbeat."

"Is it beating faster than before?"

"Faster than yesterday." Uncle Chen paused. "Someone has touched it."