Chapter 43 — Where the Reeds Bend

By the sixth morning, the reeds were taller than Lu Chen.

He had confirmed this personally.

Twice.

The first time, he had stepped off the road to stand beside one.

The second time, he had found a taller reed and insisted the first comparison had been unfair.

Jian Wuchen eventually stopped watching.

Grey-white stalks covered both sides of the road, rising from damp earth and shallow streams rich with pale mineral deposits. Whenever the wind crossed the valley, thousands of reeds bent together.

They never moved exactly the same way.

Some bowed deeply.

Others barely shifted.

Some returned immediately.

Others remained bent until the next gust changed direction.

Lin Yue had been watching them for most of the morning.

Shen Yuan noticed.

He said nothing.

Ahead, the mountains had drawn closer together.

Grey Reed Valley was not a single narrow valley as the name suggested. It was a broad region divided by low ridges, waterways, reed fields and old roads.

People lived here.

Smoke rose from distant settlements.

Small boats moved along mineral streams.

Cultivators traveled the roads beside merchants carrying ore, timber and bundles of dried reeds.

Occasionally, they passed old stones covered in sword marks.

Some were deep.

Most weren't.

Generations of wandering sword cultivators had apparently decided that rocks were excellent opponents.

Lu Chen stopped beside one.

"Second Senior Brother."

Jian Wuchen kept walking.

"What?"

"How many sword cultivators do you think have attacked this rock?"

"Too many."

"Why?"

"Practice."

"There are training grounds."

"Not everywhere."

Lu Chen considered that.

Then looked at another stone farther ahead.

"That one lost too."

Jian Wuchen increased his pace.

Ye Feng laughed.

Duan Zheng didn't.

He had become quieter the deeper they entered the valley.

Three years ago, he had traveled these roads while searching for Song Yao.

Now they were following a lead twenty-three days old.

That was better.

It was also dangerous to think of it as good.

At the top of a low ridge, Duan Zheng stopped.

Below them, several roads converged around a shallow river crossed by two stone bridges.

Buildings clustered along both banks.

Mostly wood.

A few stone structures.

Warehouses stood near the water, while narrow docks extended into the stream.

"Reedcross Town," Duan Zheng said.

Lu Chen looked down.

"You've been here?"

"Many times."

Ye Feng studied the town.

"Changed?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

Duan Zheng pointed toward the western bridge.

"That wasn't there."

Then toward a row of buildings.

"The inn beside the dye shop used to be twice as large."

A pause.

"The dye shop wasn't a dye shop."

Lu Chen nodded solemnly.

"Serious changes."

Duan Zheng looked at him.

Lu Chen smiled.

They descended.

Before reaching the town, Duan Zheng stopped again.

"We shouldn't announce where we're from."

Jian Wuchen glanced at him.

"Why?"

"The person we're looking for may already know someone is searching."

Shen Yuan nodded.

Six cultivators arriving while loudly declaring themselves representatives of Azure Origin Sect would make subtle investigation difficult.

Especially when one of those six was a Peak Master.

Fortunately, Shen Yuan had become very skilled at appearing unimpressive.

Years of avoiding responsibilities had provided excellent training.

Lu Chen looked at his robes.

"Do we need fake names?"

"No," Shen Yuan said.

"Why?"

"You'd forget yours."

"I would not."

"What name would you use?"

Lu Chen opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

Jian Wuchen walked past him.

"Exactly."

Reedcross Town smelled like river water, hot oil and wet wood.

Nobody paid them much attention.

That was useful.

Duan Zheng led them through two narrow streets, crossed a small market and stopped outside a mineral shop with three cracked stone jars displayed near the entrance.

An elderly man sat behind the counter weighing pale ore.

He looked up.

His eyes narrowed.

"Duan Zheng."

"Wei Kang."

The old man's expression became worse.

"You still owe me twelve spirit stones."

Duan Zheng paused.

Ye Feng slowly turned toward him.

"For what?" Shen Yuan asked.

"Information."

"Three years ago?"

"Yes."

Wei Kang placed the ore down.

"With interest."

Duan Zheng reached into his storage ring.

"How much?"

"Fourteen."

"That's not reasonable interest."

"Thirteen."

Duan Zheng handed over thirteen spirit stones.

Wei Kang swept them away immediately.

"Good doing business."

Lu Chen whispered to Lin Yue, "Master should learn from him."

Shen Yuan heard.

He chose forgiveness.

For now.

Wei Kang's attention moved across the group.

When it reached Jian Wuchen, it lingered.

"You're here about the recording."

"Yes," Duan Zheng said.

Wei Kang sighed.

"I told Luo Sheng everything."

"Tell me."

"I told you everything too."

"Tell him."

Wei Kang followed Duan Zheng's gaze to Jian Wuchen.

Something in Jian's expression made the old man stop complaining.

"Fine."

He closed the shop.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to NovelPhoenix for the genuine story.

The recording hadn't belonged to Wei Kang.

It had belonged to one of his caravan guards.

Twenty-three days earlier, Wei Kang's caravan had been returning from the southern mineral streams when they heard fighting near an abandoned reed-processing station.

"We didn't investigate," Wei Kang said.

Lu Chen nodded.

"Sensible."

"I'm old because I'm sensible."

Ye Feng glanced at Duan Zheng.

"Write that down."

Duan Zheng ignored him.

Wei Kang continued.

"The station hasn't been used in years. Roof collapsed on one side. Nobody had reason to be there."

"How many people were fighting?" Shen Yuan asked.

"Two."

"You saw both?"

"Parts of them."

"Cultivation?"

Wei Kang shook his head.

"Too far away. Stronger than my guards. That's enough for me."

"Weapons?"

"Swords."

"Both?"

"Yes."

"Did either notice you?"

"I hope not."

Shen Yuan nodded.

"Why record it?"

Wei Kang looked at him as though the answer were obvious.

"Because if two cultivators destroy my caravan route, I want proof when the local clans pretend nothing happened."

Reasonable.

"What damaged the jade?"

"An attack."

"Directly?"

"No. Something struck the station. Stone and Sword Qi scattered. My guard dropped the jade when we took cover."

"Then?"

"We left."

Jian Wuchen frowned.

"You didn't wait?"

Wei Kang stared at him.

"No."

Lu Chen nodded again.

"Sensible."

Jian Wuchen looked at him.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Wei Kang scratched his jaw.

"We returned the next morning. Both swordsmen were gone."

"Any bodies?"

"No."

"Blood?"

"Yes."

That changed the room.

Jian Wuchen leaned forward slightly.

"Where?"

"Inside the station. Not much."

Duan Zheng stood.

"Show us."

Wei Kang looked toward his shop door.

"I have a business."

Duan Zheng placed two spirit stones on the table.

Wei Kang stood immediately.

"I also have free time."

Shen Yuan decided Lu Chen might have been right.

The abandoned station lay nearly twenty li south of Reedcross.

The road followed a mineral stream before narrowing into a path between thick reed fields.

Wei Kang walked quickly for an old merchant.

Thirteen spirit stones plus two more apparently strengthened the legs.

The station appeared shortly after noon.

Half its roof had collapsed.

Wooden processing racks leaned against one wall, grey with age. The surrounding ground had long since been reclaimed by reeds.

Wei Kang stopped fifty paces away.

"Here."

He pointed toward the eastern side.

"We were there."

Then toward the station.

"They were fighting around the building."

Duan Zheng's manner changed.

He stopped being a traveler.

His eyes moved across the terrain.

Broken reeds.

Old cuts.

Stone fragments.

A damaged support post.

Most traces had been softened by rain and wind.

Twenty-three days was a long time outdoors.

But not everything disappeared equally.

"Don't disturb anything yet," Duan Zheng said.

Lu Chen immediately lifted the foot he had been about to put down.

"Good timing."

Jian Wuchen moved first.

Slowly.

He circled the building without entering.

Ye Feng went the opposite direction.

Lin Yue remained near the stream.

Shen Yuan stood beside Wei Kang.

The merchant looked at him.

"You're not helping?"

"I am."

"How?"

"By not stepping on things."

Wei Kang considered that.

"You're the smart one."

Shen Yuan liked him.

Jian Wuchen stopped near a flat stone.

There was a shallow indentation along its edge.

Not a sword mark.

A footprint.

Mostly erased.

Jian crouched.

Ye Feng joined him.

"That?"

"Maybe."

"Twenty-three days."

"I know."

Jian placed his foot beside it without touching.

Wrong angle.

He shifted.

Still wrong.

Then he turned his heel slightly outward and lifted it before his weight fully settled.

His body changed direction.

Ye Feng's expression sharpened.

"Falling Reed."

"One transition."

"Enough?"

Jian looked toward the station.

"No."

He followed the angle.

Three steps later, he found another disturbed patch of stone.

Then another.

The third was barely visible.

Jian stopped.

"This is it."

Duan Zheng came over.

"Certain?"

"Yes."

"From footprints?"

"From where there aren't footprints."

Lu Chen looked confused.

Jian pointed.

"The heel doesn't settle during the second transition."

Lu Chen remembered the recording.

"Oh."

Jian continued toward the building.

Falling Reed had been used here.

Not merely something resembling it from a poor recording.

Here.

Twenty-three days ago.

Someone had moved through this exact ground using his father's technique.

Jian's hand rested briefly on Clear Wind.

Then released.

"There's more," Lin Yue said.

Everyone turned.

She stood near the stream.

A long sword mark cut through one of the stones beside her.

At first glance, it pointed away from the station.

A retreat.

Duan Zheng approached.

"That wasn't in the recording."

Lin Yue nodded.

She studied the surrounding reeds.

Most had regrown upright.

Several older stalks remained damaged.

One leaned east.

Another south.

Another had been cut halfway through but not severed.

Lin Yue closed her eyes.

Advance.

Recede.

Return.

No.

Not exactly.

Her attention shifted to the spaces between those movements.

The transitions.

She stepped backward.

Then sideways.

Then forward.

Jian Wuchen's eyes narrowed.

"Again."

Lin Yue repeated it.

"This wasn't retreat," she said.

Jian looked toward the station.

"No."

The sword mark suggested someone had been driven away.

The footwork suggested otherwise.

They had yielded ground.

Changed the relationship between the two fighters.

Then returned from a different angle.

Falling Reed.

Not simply as a memorized movement.

Used correctly.

Jian's expression became still.

Ye Feng noticed.

"So whoever it was knew more than the first two steps."

"Yes."

Duan Zheng looked toward Wei Kang.

"Which direction did they leave?"

"I told you. We didn't see."

Shen Yuan finally moved.

He entered the station.

The others followed.

Inside, the air smelled of damp wood.

One support beam had been split.

A wall carried three sword marks.

The floor was mostly stone beneath years of dust and broken reed fibers.

Duan Zheng found the blood.

Or what remained of it.

A dark stain beneath a collapsed rack where sunlight and rain hadn't reached.

Jian crouched.

He didn't touch it.

"One person?"

"Probably," Duan Zheng said.

"Probably?"

"Blood doesn't label itself."

Lu Chen wandered toward the damaged support beam.

Shen Yuan watched him.

"Don't touch—"

Lu Chen touched it.

Duan Zheng closed his eyes.

"—anything."

Lu Chen froze.

"Sorry."

Then his expression changed.

Shen Yuan noticed first.

"What?"

Lu Chen kept his palm against the wood.

"Something feels strange."

Duan Zheng looked at Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan nodded once.

"Continue."

Lu Chen closed his eyes.

The remaining Sword Qi was almost gone.

For an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator, there would have been nothing worth sensing.

Lu Chen wasn't an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator.

He wasn't technically a Qi Refining cultivator at all.

A trace entered his palm.

His Primordial Chaos Foundation received it.

Not greedily.

Not by devouring it.

The force entered a circulation anchored around Self.

For an instant, Lu Chen felt the direction it had traveled.

Then another sensation overlapped it.

He opened his eyes.

"Two."

Ye Feng stepped closer.

"Two what?"

"Hits."

Duan Zheng examined the beam.

"It looks like one."

"It wasn't."

Lu Chen frowned, searching for words.

"The first force entered from there."

He pointed toward the broken wall.

"The second came..."

He shifted.

"Almost the opposite direction."

"At the same time?" Shen Yuan asked.

"Not exactly."

"How far apart?"

Lu Chen thought.

"I don't know."

Jian Wuchen looked at him.

"Useful."

"I know."

"But?"

Lu Chen smiled.

"Very close."

Duan Zheng examined the beam again.

Two sword forces had struck nearly the same location from different directions.

One had hidden the other.

That changed the likely positions of the fighters.

Shen Yuan looked toward the blood.

Then toward the broken wall.

"One of them crossed behind the other."

Jian Wuchen nodded.

"Falling Reed."

Duan Zheng's gaze sharpened.

The unknown swordsman hadn't simply used Falling Reed to escape.

They had used it throughout the fight.

Whatever else remained uncertain, one thing no longer was.

The recording had been genuine.

Jian Shou's movement technique had been used here twenty-three days ago.

The blood trail was harder.

Rain had erased most of it.

Duan Zheng found two traces beneath covered ground.

Both led east.

Then nothing.

Wei Kang pointed toward a narrow path beyond the reeds.

"That eventually reconnects with the old trade road."

"Toward what?" Lin Yue asked.

"Several villages. A mining settlement. Hollow Reed farther east."

Duan Zheng looked at the map.

The trail didn't lead deeper into empty wilderness.

It led toward people.

That was useful.

Before they could investigate farther, a distant shout carried across the reeds.

Then another.

Wei Kang's expression changed.

"Road."

They moved.

Shen Yuan could have reached the source first.

He didn't.

Lin Yue did.

The reed field opened onto a narrow trade road where two wagons had stopped at an angle.

Three large grey beasts circled them.

Wolves.

If wolves had shoulders nearly level with a man's chest and reed-like fur along their backs.

"Greyback Reed Wolves," Wei Kang said. "They don't normally come this close."

Another howl answered from the reeds.

Five more shapes appeared.

The caravan guards were holding formation around the wagons.

Barely.

Most were Body Tempering cultivators.

One was Qi Refining.

The largest wolf lunged.

Lin Yue moved.

Frost spread beneath its front paws.

Not across the entire road.

Not over the wagons.

Only where the wolf stepped.

Its footing vanished.

The beast twisted.

Lin Yue's palm struck its shoulder.

A burst of cold sent it rolling sideways.

Jian Wuchen passed her.

Clear Wind left its sheath.

One cut.

A wolf's claws struck empty air.

A thin line appeared across the ground directly before it.

The beast stopped.

Jian Wuchen frowned.

Too much Sword Qi.

He adjusted.

The next wolf lunged.

Clear Wind moved again.

Less.

The blade passed across its foreleg with exactly enough force to break the attack without severing the limb.

Better.

Ye Feng noticed.

"So you're practicing now?"

"Yes."

"During a beast attack?"

"Yes."

"Of course."

Lu Chen had less time to be elegant.

A Greyback Wolf hit him.

Hard.

Its shoulder struck his chest.

Lu Chen flew backward.

"Third Junior Brother," Lin Yue called.

"I'm fine!"

He hit the ground.

Rolled.

Then stood.

The wolf charged again.

Lu Chen planted his feet.

Shen Yuan watched carefully.

"Don't block it," he said.

Lu Chen heard.

The wolf struck.

This time, Lu Chen didn't meet force with force.

The impact entered his arms.

Shoulders.

Torso.

His Primordial Chaos Foundation trembled.

Instinct screamed at him to resist.

Instead—

Self.

The force entered.

But it wasn't him.

It moved through him.

But it didn't define him.

His rear foot slid half a pace.

The force traveled downward.

Across.

Through.

Lu Chen turned.

His next step followed the direction already moving through his body.

Then he punched.

Not with the wolf's strength.

With his own.

But without wasting what the impact had taught his movement.

His fist struck beneath the beast's jaw.

The wolf lifted from the ground.

It landed several paces away and didn't immediately rise.

Lu Chen stared at his hand.

"Oh."

Shen Yuan smiled.

There it was.

Not absorption.

Not imitation.

Not simply overpowering an attack.

Acceptance without surrender.

Force could enter.

Self remained Self.

[Disciple Lu Chen has deepened his comprehension of Primordial Self-Anchoring.]

[Foundation Stabilization: 31%]

[Understanding: External Force Integration — Initial]

Another notification appeared.

[Cause and Effect Amplification triggered.]

[Disciple growth detected.]

[Primordial Self-Anchoring Dao Insight has been amplified.]

Something subtle settled into Shen Yuan's awareness.

Force.

Transmission.

The distinction between receiving something and becoming responsible for its nature.

His Primordial Autonomous Dao Body began processing the insight immediately.

Shen Yuan's smile faded into thought.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

A wolf tried to bite Lu Chen.

Lin Yue froze its front paws to the road.

Lu Chen looked down.

"Thank you, Senior Sister."

"Focus."

"Right."

The fight ended shortly afterward.

Not because the wolves were weak.

Because they had chosen the wrong group.

Lin Yue controlled where they could move.

Jian Wuchen required less Sword Qi with every exchange.

Lu Chen stopped trying to prove that his Foundation could overpower everything and started learning what happened when it didn't need to.

Ye Feng and Duan Zheng protected the caravan's flanks.

Shen Yuan did nothing.

It was excellent.

When the last wolf fled into the reeds, Lu Chen looked toward him.

"Master."

"Yes?"

"You didn't help."

"You noticed."

"I got hit."

"I noticed that too."

Lu Chen rubbed his chest.

"Was that necessary?"

"No."

Lu Chen stared at him.

Shen Yuan nodded toward his hands.

"Useful, though."

Lu Chen looked down.

Then smiled.

"Yes."

The caravan leader thanked them repeatedly.

He was a broad man named Peng Yu, transporting processed mineral sand toward Reedcross.

According to him, Greyback Wolves had been appearing near the road more often since a section of boundary markers farther east had been damaged.

"Storm?" Duan Zheng asked.

Peng Yu shook his head.

"Fight."

Everyone became more attentive.

"When?"

"Few weeks ago."

"Where?"

"Old processing station."

Wei Kang sighed.

"Wonderful."

Apparently the fight they were investigating had damaged more than a building.

Duan Zheng asked several more questions.

Most led nowhere.

Then Peng Yu looked at Jian Wuchen.

"Wait."

Jian stopped.

Peng Yu frowned.

"Do that again."

"Do what?"

"The step."

Jian's expression changed.

"What step?"

"The one you used when the wolf came from your left."

Jian Wuchen took one slow step.

Peng Yu's eyes widened slightly.

"Yes."

Duan Zheng moved closer.

"You've seen it?"

"Something like it."

"When?"

Peng Yu scratched his beard.

"Maybe two weeks ago."

Silence.

Jian Wuchen's voice became very calm.

"Where?"

"East road."

"Who?"

"Don't know."

"Describe them."

Peng Yu thought.

"Travel cloak. Grey or brown. Hard to tell. Sword was wrapped."

"Man or woman?"

"I think a man."

Think.

Not know.

Good.

Shen Yuan preferred uncertain witnesses who admitted uncertainty.

"Injured?" Duan Zheng asked.

"Yes."

"Where?"

"Left side, maybe ribs. Walked stiffly."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

"Did you speak?"

"Briefly. He asked about the road ahead."

"Which road?"

Peng Yu pointed east.

"Hollow Reed."

Jian Wuchen's fingers tightened slightly.

"Anything else?"

Peng Yu hesitated.

"Someone else came asking later."

Duan Zheng's eyes sharpened.

"How much later?"

"Two days. Maybe three."

"Describe them."

"Two sword cultivators. Dark clothes. One had a metal token at his waist."

"What kind?"

Peng Yu described it.

A narrow black plate.

Seven shallow grooves.

One deliberately left incomplete.

Duan Zheng became still.

Ye Feng's expression hardened.

Jian Wuchen looked at them.

"The false Seventh Lineage?"

"Associated with them," Duan Zheng said. "Not proof."

"Again."

"Again."

Shen Yuan looked east.

Twenty-three days ago, someone had used Falling Reed at the abandoned station.

Approximately two weeks ago, an injured swordsman using similar movement had been seen heading toward Hollow Reed.

Then people carrying a symbol associated with the false Seventh Lineage had followed.

No certainty.

But for the first time, uncertainty had a direction.

They returned to Reedcross after sunset.

Jian Wuchen didn't eat much.

Nobody commented.

A map lay across the table in his room.

Duan Zheng had marked three points.

The abandoned processing station.

The eastern road where Peng Yu had seen the injured swordsman.

Hollow Reed Village.

Jian Wuchen studied the distances between them.

Shen Yuan entered without knocking.

Jian didn't look up.

"Twenty-three days."

Shen Yuan leaned against the wall.

"Yes."

"Then roughly fourteen."

"Yes."

Nine days.

Three years of silence had become twenty-three days.

Twenty-three had become fourteen.

For the first time since Jian Shou's death and Song Yao's disappearance, the trail was becoming warmer instead of colder.

Jian Wuchen touched the third mark.

Hollow Reed Village.

"We leave at dawn."

Shen Yuan nodded.

This time, he didn't tell him to wait.

"At dawn."