256: Chapter 256 The False Infant's Summoning, Traces of Spiritual Marrow

That evening, Elder Wei Changfeng's voice transmission arrived. The encrypted spiritual energy pulse contained four words: 'Now. East Gate.'

Lu Changyuan left Chu Yunfei in the stone building, with the Formation Plate and data sheets laid out on the table. Chu Yunfei did not ask too many questions—he pressed down on the Seal talisman on the mouth of the jar once more. 'Go on. I won't pry into your business—but remember to let me know you're still alive when you get back.'

The east gate of the inner city of Zhenhai Fortress. This city gate was not open to ordinary soldiers. Embedded in the lintel was a solid piece of dark bronze-cast Wei Family dark-gold sword-pattern family crest—unlike the sword-pattern reliefs on the other gates of the fortress. The patina on the edges of the family crest had been eroded by sea breezes for hundreds of years, gleaming with an extremely deep dark green under the cold light stone lamps. The hinges of the two doors were as thick as thighs, and the door panels were densely engraved with ancient array Restriction patterns—the trajectory of each line was the handiwork of at least someone at the Late Golden Core Stage or above.

Elder Wei Changfeng was already waiting in the gateway. He had changed his clothes—into the standard deep-gray training robe of the Wei Family Private Soldiers, with no sword-pattern on the cuffs and no rank markings on the belt. When entering the secluded cultivation chamber of the Wei Family's Old Ancestor, whatever rank one wore was meaningless.

'Inside, the density of the Spirit-Suppressing Array is nearly double that of the military prison.' Elder Wei Changfeng pushed open the door, the hinges grinding out an extremely deep and low friction sound in the stone socket. 'Below the Golden Core Stage, with every step, your spiritual energy will be suppressed by five percent. By the time you reach the entrance of the secret chamber, the circulation speed of your internal spiritual energy will be suppressed to less than half of normal. If you can't adapt, stop—don't force yourself.'

Behind the door was a flight of stone steps extending deep underground. Every few steps along the stone walls on both sides of the steps, a cold light stone lamp was embedded—the color of the light was nearly two shades colder than elsewhere in the fortress, changing from warm yellow to cold white. Stepping onto the stairs, the Spirit Stone sensing array underfoot automatically activated—with each step down, the circulation of spiritual energy in the body would drop by a small fraction. The Spirit-Suppressing Array squeezed in from all directions—unlike water pressure, which only presses down from overhead, the Spirit-Suppressing Array exerted force from every direction simultaneously.

Lu Changyuan followed Elder Wei Changfeng down. After walking nearly thirty steps, the circulation speed of his internal spiritual energy had dropped to less than seventy percent of normal. But he did not stop. After the marrow-cleansing with spiritual wine, the openness of his Meridians was nearly twenty percent higher than before—this advantage of over ten percent was magnified under the pressure of the Spirit-Suppressing Array. Although the speed of spiritual energy circulation had slowed down, it was not sluggish. As every thread of spiritual energy flowed past the inner walls of his Meridians, there was no longer the feeling of being stuck at blockages like before.

They walked down another fifty steps. The color of the cold light stone lamps on both sides of the stone steps changed from cold white to an extremely faint ice blue—with every consumption of Spirit Stones, the ice-blue wicks emitted an extremely light and fine tremor, like ice cracking muffled under water, unlike the crisp 'pop' of ordinary cold light stone lamps. Spiritual Pressure appeared in the air, permeating the entire stone staircase passage—like immersing a person in an invisible liquid nearly twice as dense as seawater.

Elder Wei Changfeng glanced back at Lu Changyuan. Lu Changyuan's breathing was nearly half as slow as usual—but his stride and pace with each step remained unchanged. There was no sweat on his forehead. The veins on the back of his hands did not bulge. Elder Wei Changfeng turned back and continued walking down.

The stone door at the end of the steps had no lintel, no family crest, and no Array Patterns. It was a solid block of deep-sea basalt mined from the seabed of the Dragon Burial Trench—there was nothing on the stone surface except for a few natural water-flushed patterns. There was no handle on the door, and no pull ring. The entire door was so heavy that even Elder Wei Changfeng had to use both hands to push it inward—the sound of the hinges grinding in the stone socket was deep, a low-frequency muffled sound that rippled outward layer by layer from the deepest part of the hinge.

The secret chamber was not large, less than three Zhang across. The four walls were made of raw deep-sea basalt—the stone surfaces were unpolished, retaining the natural curved patterns washed out by the seabed currents. Embedded in the ceiling of the secret chamber was a fist-sized Cold Light Spirit Stone—the quality of the Spirit Stone was High Grade, and the cold light was steady and not glaring, so constant that it seemed as if time had been drained from the secret chamber. Directly beneath the Cold Light Spirit Stone on the ceiling was a cold light stone platform.

An elderly man sat cross-legged on the stone platform.

Lean—every muscle on his skeletal frame was contracted to its tightest state, like a sheathed sword. His hair and beard were completely white—the white hair hung from the top of his head all the way to the edge of the stone platform, the strands gleaming with an extremely faint silver-white shimmer under the Cold Light Spirit Stone. His eyes were closed. The clothes on his body were a training robe of ordinary coarse spiritual cotton. The cuffs were frayed, and the cotton threads at the collar were loose by nearly half an inch. He had worn this garment for at least thirty years.

He did not exude any Spiritual Pressure around him. But from the first step Lu Changyuan took into the secret chamber, the circulation speed of his internal spiritual energy instantly dropped to less than half of usual. False Infant-level Spiritual Pressure permeated the entire secret chamber—unlike the squeezing of the Spirit-Suppressing Array, the Spiritual Pressure did not attack; it was simply there. Just as deep-sea water pressure does not attack fish—it is simply there. Creatures that were not qualified would flee on their own.

Elder Wei Changfeng knelt on one knee, placed the black crystal on the edge of the stone platform, and then stood up, retreating to Lu Changyuan's side.

He reported Lu Changyuan's information point by point: the source of the black crystal—a fragment that broke off when the stone door at a depth of twenty-seven hundred Zhang in the Dragon Burial Trench was unsealed by the Haiyuan Clan pouring blood; the spiritual energy frequency perfectly corresponded to the three-month records of the seventeen fixed array points of the Military Monitoring Department; the deduction of the Seal's disintegration acceleration—at the current rate, only a few days remained at most; Elder Mo was using the Shattered Mirror Rejoining Method to reverse-engineer the entry and exit array paths from the crystal fragments; Lu Changyuan held a token of the ruins—the key to entering and exiting the ruins. As he reported each point, his voice was lowered by nearly half, and the lingering resonance of his Late Golden Core Stage Spiritual Pressure was suppressed to the point of being almost inaudible in this secret chamber.

The Old Ancestor kept his eyes closed and listened quietly until the end. From beginning to end, he showed no expression, did not nod, and did not interrupt.

Then, he opened his eyes.

His pupils were an extremely faint grayish-white—a grayish-white so clear that even the textures of his pupils could be seen distinctly. The eyes of a False Infant Stage Cultivator—every thread of pupil texture was a line of spiritual energy, contracting and expanding at an extremely slow tempo deep within the pupils. His gaze did not fall on the black crystal.

He was looking at Lu Changyuan.

His gaze swept downward starting from Lu Changyuan's brow—sweeping between his eyes, down the bridge of his nose, past his chin, pausing for less than a breath at his throat, and then continuing downward. It swept past the Shanzhong point on his chest, down to the lower abdomen where the Dantian was located, pausing at the Dantian for nearly two breaths. Then he withdrew his gaze—as he did, his eyes paused again for less than half a breath on the fingertips of Lu Changyuan's hands. Then, he closed his eyes once more.

The secret chamber fell silent for nearly ten breaths. The constant light of the Cold Light Spirit Stone on the ceiling pressed everyone's shadow to within less than half a foot beneath their feet.

'Your spiritual energy—it was not piled up by Medicinal Pills.'

The Old Ancestor's voice was not loud. But the tail end of each word carried an extremely faint lingering resonance of Spiritual Pressure—unlike Commander Tie Zhan's voice. Commander Tie Zhan's lingering Spiritual Pressure was like a blade—the tail end of each word was like the back of a blade striking an anvil. This Old Ancestor's lingering Spiritual Pressure was like water—the tail end of each word was like bubbles rising as seawater slowly receded from the crevices of reefs.

'Late Foundation Establishment Stage—yet the smoothness of your spiritual energy circulation is close to a False Core. There is no deposition of Medicinal Pill residue on the inner walls of your Meridians.' His eyes remained closed, but the extremely fine vertical line between his brows contracted inward by nearly half an inch. 'However, there is an extremely faint residue of cold energy that does not belong to a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator. It is not from a Spirit Pill—the cold residue of a Spirit Pill would form frost on the inner walls of your Meridians. There is no frost on the inner walls of your Meridians—only an extremely thin, even film of cold. This is the trace of Deep Sea Spirit Marrow.'

Elder Wei Changfeng was stunned beside him. His mouth opened by less than half an inch, then closed. He had never heard Lu Changyuan mention anything about Spirit Marrow. Back in the warehouse on Blue Moon Island—Lu Changyuan had shown him Ore, bone armor, and Inner Cores—but had not mentioned a single word about Spirit Marrow.

'You have cultivated beside Spirit Marrow,' the Old Ancestor continued, his eyes still closed, but the vertical line between his brows deepened by another half-inch. 'More than once. It lasted for at least several months. Each cultivation session was not long—the thickness of the Spirit Marrow's cold energy residue on the inner walls of your Meridians is less than a millimeter, but there are many layers. At least dozens of layers. Layer upon layer—stacked to a thickness that can be sensed by me. When you cultivated, the Spirit Marrow was no more than three feet from your Dantian.'

The secret chamber fell silent once more. Elder Wei Changfeng turned to look at Lu Changyuan—the question in his eyes did not need to be asked: Where did you get the Spirit Marrow?

Lu Changyuan did not explain. He fished something out of his inner sleeve pocket—it was not the black crystal. It was the pinky-sized slice of Spirit Marrow that Elder Mo had cut for him. The slice flickered under the constant light of the cold light stone lamps in the secret chamber—semi-transparent—its blue-and-white alternating rhythm as slow as breathing. The edges of the slice were already nearly half as thin as when Elder Mo had first cut it—with daily contact for half an incense stick's time, after several months, the spiritual energy had been nearly half-consumed by Lu Changyuan and Elder Mo together.

'On Blue Moon Island, there is a retired old Formation Master. He was marginalized by the military and dispatched to the front line—his Dantian suffered a backlash from an ancient array twenty years ago, and his old injury can only rely on Spirit Marrow to expel Impurities. This slice—he and I used half of it each.' Lu Changyuan tucked the Spirit Marrow Slice back into his sleeve. 'The Spirit Marrow is not mine alone—but you are right, I did indeed Cultivate beside the Spirit Marrow for several months.'

The Old Ancestor opened his eyes. For the second time.

This time, his gaze fell on the hand Lu Changyuan used to put away the Spirit Marrow. Lu Changyuan used his right hand—his fingers were steady—and there was not a single tremor as the Spirit Marrow Slice slid from his fingertips into his sleeve. In front of a False Infant Cultivator, after having his cultivation secrets exposed to his face, a Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator who could still keep his fingers from trembling at all—in all his years of living, the Old Ancestor had seen fewer than a handful.

'That old Formation Master you mentioned—what is his name?'

'Elder Mo.'

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

The Old Ancestor's eyelids drooped by less than half a li—he was searching his memory for this name. He searched for nearly five breaths.

"Snake-scale burn scars—under the right sleeve cuff—extending from the wrist up to the forearm. A matter from twenty years ago at the Capital Ministry of War Array Bureau—ancient Formation backlash." He did not use a question. "He didn't die—he went to you. That thin slice—it was he who helped you identify the Spirit Essence."

"Yes."

The Old Ancestor fell silent for a moment—then nodded slightly. The movement of his head was minute—his chin pressed down by less than half an inch—before returning to its original position. But for a great Cultivator at the False Infant Stage—this micro-movement of less than half an inch was an extremely restrained form of acknowledgement.

"To be able to cleanse your Foundation to this extent using Spirit Essence—it shows you didn't reach this day by luck." He closed his eyes again—but his voice did not stop—"Changfeng—since they have already laid out both the intelligence and the token—the Wei Family cannot take advantage for nothing."

His right hand lifted from his knee—his finger flicked against the basalt stone wall on the left side of the secret chamber. The fingertip struck the stone surface without making a sound. But deep within the stone wall—an extremely fine dark golden Array Pattern spread outward from the point of impact—the lines were at least several times denser than the Restriction pattern on the secret chamber door. The Array Pattern spread less than three feet across the stone wall—then the wall slid open from the center to both sides—revealing an extremely small hidden room.

Two people stood in the hidden room.

Both were female Cultivators. Their faces were almost identical—twins. Late Foundation Establishment Stage. Each wore a set of dark gray soft armor—the armor plates were nearly half as thin as the hard scale armor Leng Feng wore for exploring the Outer Sea, but the seams between the plates were not stitched with beast tendons—they used some kind of extremely fine dark copper alloy thread. Each armor plate was engraved with the Wei Family's dark golden sword pattern—the sword pattern was only the size of a fingernail—but the precision of the pattern's lines was on the same level as the interlocking Formation Plate that Su Qingli engraved in the Formation Affairs Room.

The swords at their waists were nearly half a foot shorter than the standard issue—the curve at the end of the scabbards was sharper than other swords. Short swords—suitable for close-quarters combined attacks in extremely narrow spaces. Their expressions were completely identical—habitually not wearing their emotions on their faces after at least decades of training, but it was a layer off from true expressionlessness: the muscles at the corners of their eyes and mouths were relaxed, just not actively engaged.

The two walked out of the hidden room—and knelt on one knee simultaneously. Their movements were perfectly synchronized—the time difference of their left knees hitting the ground was less than half a breath.

"Shadow One." The female Cultivator on the left spoke—her voice was not loud, but the rhythm of her articulation was as precise as her movements.

"Shadow Two." The voice on the right was less than half a degree lower—so low that one had to get close to hear the subtle difference in their vocal lines—a difference of less than half a degree barely distinguishable from identical vocal cord structures.

"From today on—follow him." The Old Ancestor's voice came from the stone platform—his eyes remained closed—"If he loses a single hair in the ruins—you lose your lives."

"Yes." The two said simultaneously—then stood up at the same time—standing on both sides behind Lu Changyuan. Shadow One on the left—Shadow Two on the right—less than three feet apart—their hands pressed on the sword hilts in perfectly symmetrical positions.

Elder Wei Changfeng stood to the side—not saying a word from beginning to end. But his gaze changed—he was recalculating. He previously knew that Lu Changyuan could fight and manage—could command a Killing Array to encircle and kill a Golden Core Abyssal Beast, could pull Blue Moon Island from a Grade D stronghold to Grade B, could use a contribution point system to squeeze nearly eight hundred Jade Talismans out of twelve old Array Master in three days. But he did not know that Lu Changyuan's cultivation Foundation far exceeded his peers. Spirit Essence tempering—lasting for several months—within three feet of the Dantian—dozens of layers of cold membranes superimposed on the inner walls of the Meridians—the fluidity of spiritual energy circulation was close to a False Core. These meant that Lu Changyuan's probability of breaking through to the Golden Core Stage was more than several times higher than an ordinary Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator.

A Golden Core Stage ally and a Late Foundation Establishment Stage ally—in the ledger of a Ministry of War Elder—were not in the same weight class.

"Elder—the thing I promised you." Lu Changyuan reached into the inner pocket of his sleeve and took out an item—handing it to Elder Wei Changfeng. It was that Jade Talisman of protective level for a Core Formation Cultivator, exchanged from the inner treasury.

The jade piece was half a palm in size—less than half an inch thick. The jade quality was smooth and warm—it did not reflect light under the cold light stone of the secret chamber, but the miniature induction Array Pattern embedded within the jade automatically flickered once after sensing Elder Wei Changfeng's spiritual energy fluctuation—a faint dark golden glimmer shone out from inside the jade piece in a circle—then extinguished.

It could block one Golden Core strike. Used once—the Array Pattern on the surface of the Jade Talisman would burn out. The jade piece itself could still be kept as a souvenir.

"This is for you." Lu Changyuan placed the Jade Talisman in Elder Wei Changfeng's hand—"On the road of setting up the scheme—you need it more than I do."

The ice-smooth surface of the Jade Talisman pressed against Elder Wei Changfeng's palm. A protective Jade Talisman of Core Formation Cultivator level—three thousand battle merit points—enough to exchange for at least tens of catties of Cold Iron, a month's worth of private supply. Lu Changyuan gave it to him directly—without mentioning conditions, without mentioning price, without saying "This is what I give you, so later you must do such and such." He simply placed it in his palm—with just one sentence.

Elder Wei Changfeng took the Jade Talisman—and did not speak. He flipped the Jade Talisman over—a circle of miniature induction Array Patterns, almost invisible to the naked eye, was engraved on the back. His fingers rested on the Array Pattern for nearly three breaths. Then he tucked the Jade Talisman into his sleeve—the action of tucking it in was different from when he collected the black crystal—it was not pressed into the deepest part of the Storage Pouch. It was placed in the outermost layer of the inner sleeve pocket, the most convenient place to reach—a position that could be triggered with a single finger extension.

"Shadow One, Shadow Two—rest in the inner city of the fortress tonight. Tomorrow at the Hour of the Dragon—return to Blue Moon Island with me." Lu Changyuan turned and glanced at the twins behind him—"On the island—you may wear the dark gray soft armor. But the Wei Family sword patterns on the armor plates must be covered. Blue Moon Island does not use the United Front Department flag—nor does it hang anyone else's family crest."

Shadow One and Shadow Two looked at the Old Ancestor simultaneously. On the stone platform—the Old Ancestor's eyes remained closed—but his chin pressed down by less than half an inch. The two withdrew their gazes at the same time—Shadow One said "Yes"—Shadow Two did not repeat it. Their voices overlapped on a single syllable—it was impossible to tell that two people were answering.

When Elder Wei Changfeng escorted Lu Changyuan back to the entrance of the stone staircase passage—he lowered his voice in his ear: "When you gave me the protective Jade Talisman just now—did you know that the Jade Talisman was an item from the fourth level of the inner treasury?"

"I know. Three thousand battle merit points—the options that can be exchanged on the fourth level of the inner treasury do not exceed ten types."

"Then do you know—what it's called in the Ministry of War's ledger to exchange three thousand points for a Jade Talisman and then give it away for free?"

"What is it called?"

"It's called being a spendthrift." Elder Wei Changfeng rolled his casual sleeve cuff back up—the charcoal powder marks on his forearm had been washed away—but not thoroughly, as a faint layer of gray-black remained on his skin. "But it's also called a strategic investment. You gave me a Jade Talisman that can block one Golden Core strike—which is equivalent to giving me your own life-saving opportunity to block one Golden Core strike. This trust is more expensive than the black crystal in my hand."

He looked up at the cold light stone on the dome—the light of the Spirit Stone was not dazzling. "Four-six split—I won't mention it anymore. Five-five—it's settled."

Lu Changyuan did not respond. He turned and walked up the stone steps—Shadow One and Shadow Two followed three steps behind him. Special Commissioner Wei Yuan was waiting at the entrance of the stone steps—when he saw two more people behind Lu Changyuan, his gaze rested for nearly a breath on the swords at their waists, which were nearly half a foot shorter than the standard issue. Then he withdrew his gaze—and followed at the very end of the line.

When walking out of the East Gate—the night had already soaked the stone-paved roads of Zhenhai Fortress. The cold light stone lamps cast extremely faint cyan-white halos on the street surface—the sound of Spirit Horse hooves had ceased—the shouting of the chamber of commerce street runners had also ceased. The night in the inner city of the fortress was quiet—quiet enough to hear the rhythm of the waves hitting the reefs outside the breakwater.

Lu Changyuan walked on the stone-paved road—Shadow One and Shadow Two were three steps behind him, and Special Commissioner Wei Yuan was on his left. He reached into his sleeve—and touched the twelve items stacked together. After the Spirit Essence slice was identified by the Old Ancestor to his face—it was put back into the inner pocket of his sleeve. The edge of the slice was thinner by another layer than before—but the rhythm of the blue-white flickering had not changed—as slow as breathing.

Shadow One's footsteps were less than five percent lighter than Shadow Two's—her right leg was naturally less than half an inch shorter than her left, and her center of gravity was biased to the left when stepping on the ground. Shadow Two's breathing was less than half a breath faster than Shadow One's—the buckle of her scabbard was less than a li tighter than Shadow One's—the slight difference in tightness between buckled and unbuckled caused the scabbard at her waist to make an extremely subtle leather friction sound every time she took a step.

These details—Lu Changyuan had taken them all into his ears after walking less than half a street. After the Spirit Wine marrow cleansing, his spiritual perception range had expanded by nearly twenty percent compared to before. Previously, he could hear the sound of Spirit Horse hooves half a street away—now he could hear the tiny difference when each person's body center of gravity shifted between their left and right feet within three steps behind him on the same street.

He stopped at the corner of the stone-paved road—and glanced at the sea surface in the direction of Dragon Burial Trench. There was no dark golden beam of light on the sea surface—the distance was too great—it could not be seen from the fortress. But he knew that the beam of light was still there—and it was less than half a notch brighter than last night. The black crystal pressed in his sleeve—its ice-cold surface was against his forearm, separated by layers of paper—the frequency had not changed. Leng Feng's hands, covered in salt frost after soaking in seawater for a day and a night—were currently refolding the waterproof tarpaulin on the Pier of Blue Moon Island.

Return to the island tomorrow. Elder Mo's deduction—should be soon.