Chapter 63: Beneath Red Cliff

The survey team left before sunrise.

Lin Yuan was awake early enough to see them go.

Surveyor He carried the bronze compass at her waist while the other three divided the ropes, iron probes, water, and supplies between themselves and the two pack beasts.

Wu Jian stood beside the route station checking their equipment one last time.

Qiao stood nearby drinking hot water.

Surveyor He noticed him.

"I thought you had a shop."

"I do."

"Then why are you here?"

"I wanted to see whether you changed your mind about bringing me."

"I didn’t."

"Good."

Qiao turned around and walked back toward his shop.

Lin Yuan watched him leave.

"Was he hoping you’d ask?"

"Definitely," Wu Jian said.

Surveyor He ignored both of them.

She looked toward the western road.

"If the ground has shifted again, we’ll turn back."

Wu Jian nodded.

"Don’t take unnecessary risks."

"That’s the plan."

Jiang Heng stood outside Wandering Cloud Tavern with his arms folded.

Surveyor He glanced toward him.

"Still not coming?"

"No."

"You’ve already been there."

"Exactly."

She accepted that without argument.

A few minutes later, the four surveyors started west.

No bell rang.

No crowd gathered.

They simply disappeared along the road while Blackstone began another morning.

Lin Yuan went back inside.

The survey team’s departure did nothing to stop the rumors.

By breakfast, someone had already decided the Association was preparing to open an underground formation.

Wu Jian responded with another notice.

THE SURVEY TEAM IS INSPECTING ROAD CONDITIONS.

NO EXCAVATION HAS BEEN AUTHORIZED.

Someone had written beneath it in charcoal:

Yet.

Wu Jian stared at the word.

Lin Yuan stood beside him.

"Qiao?"

"No."

"You’re sure?"

"I watched him deny it before I even asked."

"Suspicious."

Wu Jian rubbed the charcoal away.

Nearby, several cultivators discussed whether they should follow the survey team.

The Association discouraged them.

Most listened.

A few didn’t.

Lin Yuan had no intention of joining either group.

He had customers.

And unlike Red Cliff, his kitchen floor had shown no signs of collapsing.

That made the choice easy.

The blocked road continued changing Blackstone in smaller ways.

More merchants began leaving heavy wagons behind while carrying valuable goods west by hand.

Others gave up entirely and turned east.

Gao Rui’s storage shed received more business than usual.

Duan He bought several beast materials from travelers who preferred selling them rather than carrying the extra weight.

Qiao sold rope.

A great deal of rope.

Lin Yuan didn’t ask why anymore.

By afternoon, the space around the Travelers’ Market remained crowded, but the main road through Central Blackstone stayed open.

The temporary route station had become one of the busiest places in the settlement.

Every traveler from the west was questioned.

Every useful report went onto the board.

Most said the same thing.

Wagons still couldn’t pass safely.

Foot travel remained possible.

No confirmed treasure.

Lin Yuan considered the last one unnecessary.

Wu Jian disagreed.

"Apparently it needs to be written."

"People still don’t believe it."

"Then I’ll write it larger."

"That probably won’t help."

Wu Jian looked like he knew.

The surveyors did not return that day.

Lin Yuan hadn’t expected them to.

The next morning passed much the same way.

No strong tremor reached Blackstone.

The bell remained quiet.

Jiang Heng spent part of the morning sitting beneath the tavern awning, drinking tea and watching merchants argue over whether to turn back east.

Lin Yuan brought him another pot.

"How long are you staying?"

Jiang Heng looked at the tea.

"Is that a complaint?"

"Not yet."

"Then I’ll stay until it becomes one."

Lin Yuan sat across from him.

"You’re waiting for the survey report."

"So are you."

"I live here."

"Convenient excuse."

Lin Yuan poured himself a cup.

Jiang Heng looked west.

"They should be back by tonight if they didn’t go farther than planned."

"And if they did?"

"Tomorrow."

Lin Yuan took a drink.

"Very precise."

"I try."

Late that afternoon, movement appeared on the western road.

The watchman spotted it first.

He called down rather than ringing the bell.

"Survey team!"

Wu Jian left the route station immediately.

Lin Yuan stepped outside.

Four figures approached beside two pack beasts.

All four had returned.

That was the first good sign.

The second was that none of them seemed injured.

They looked considerably dirtier than when they had left.

One man’s robe was torn near the sleeve, and several of the iron probes strapped to the pack beast were coated in dark soil.

Surveyor He’s boots were almost gray with dust.

The surveyors stopped at the route station.

Wu Jian handed them water before asking anything.

Only after Surveyor He finished drinking did he speak.

"What did you find?"

She placed the wooden case containing the bronze compass on the table.

"The route remains unsafe for loaded wagons."

Nobody nearby seemed surprised.

"The fissure isn’t the only problem. Parts of the ground beside it have started separating underneath."

Wu Jian frowned.

"Can the road be repaired?"

"Eventually," Surveyor He said. "But not before we understand what’s moving beneath it."

That drew Jiang Heng closer.

Lin Yuan noticed him approaching from the tavern.

Surveyor He opened the wooden case.

The compass inside looked unchanged.

Beside it, she placed a small fragment of dark stone.

Lin Yuan leaned closer.

One edge was broken and rough.

The other surface was flat.

A shallow groove crossed it.

"So the travelers were right," he said.

"About the shaped stone," Surveyor He replied. "Yes."

"We found more of the same material exposed along the lower wall of the fissure. The grooves were made deliberately."

That silenced several nearby conversations.

Wu Jian examined the fragment without touching it.

"Does it react to spiritual Qi?"

"No active response that we could detect."

Jiang Heng looked at the stone.

"Could it be part of an old formation?"

"Possibly."

Surveyor He unfolded a rough sketch.

Several lines showed the road, the fissure, and the exposed stone below it.

"But the stonework doesn’t follow the current road."

She pointed toward one section.

"The exposed section runs at an angle toward the north before disappearing beneath the earth."

Lin Yuan’s attention sharpened.

"North?"

"Yes."

She tapped another mark on the sketch.

"The spiritual disturbance also became stronger in that direction."

Wu Jian looked toward the bronze compass.

"So you’ve confirmed something north of Red Cliff is disturbing the spiritual Qi?"

Surveyor He shook her head.

"We’ve confirmed that the disturbance grows stronger toward the north. We haven’t confirmed the cause."

She gestured toward the fragment.

"An earth vein, an old formation, something connected to the buried stone, or something else entirely are all still possible."

Jiang Heng studied the sketch.

"How did you confirm the direction?"

"We placed the probes around several points near the damaged ground and compared the compass readings."

She traced the locations with one finger.

"Most were weak. Near the northern side of the fissure, the needle wouldn’t settle."

Surveyor He paused.

"Then we felt another minor tremor before noon."

Jiang Heng’s expression changed slightly.

"What happened to the compass?"

"The needle moved first."

"How long before?"

"Only a moment."

"Toward the north?"

"Yes."

The table became quiet.

For the first time, they had something more useful than another rumor: not an answer, but a direction.

The Association updated the route notice before sunset.

WESTERN ROUTE SURVEY

Loaded wagon passage remains unsafe near Red Cliff.

Foot passage is possible with caution.

Further ground movement remains possible.

Buried worked stone has been confirmed. Its purpose is unknown.

Spiritual disturbance appears stronger north of the damaged road. Cause unknown.

This time, Wu Jian underlined the final two words.

CAUSE UNKNOWN.

Qiao read the notice.

"You think underlining it will help?"

"No."

"Good. You’re learning."

Wu Jian stared at him.

Lin Yuan left before either of them involved him.

That evening, the survey team occupied one table in Wandering Cloud Tavern.

They planned to leave east the next morning with copies of their findings.

The Association would decide its next step.

That might mean another survey, marking a temporary detour, or requesting a larger investigation.

Nothing would happen tonight, which suited Lin Yuan just fine.

He was carrying a pot of tea past Jiang Heng’s table when the man spoke.

"You noticed it."

Lin Yuan stopped.

"What?"

"The direction."

Lin Yuan sat down.

"North."

Jiang Heng nodded.

Weeks ago, Han Bo and his companions had gone beyond Red Cliff.

North.

They had found large claw tracks, heard something beneath the ground that sounded like stone breaking, and seen Ashfang Wolves running away instead of attacking.

Later, the old trail north of Red Cliff had collapsed.

Then came the tremors.

The damaged road.

The empty dens.

Now the survey team had found the spiritual disturbance growing stronger in that same direction.

Lin Yuan looked toward the dark window.

"So the reports finally agree on something."

"A direction," Jiang Heng said.

"Not an answer."

"No."

That was enough for Lin Yuan.

Answers obtained too quickly usually encouraged people to do something stupid immediately afterward.

Across the room, Qiao was explaining to a traveler that the buried stone definitely wasn’t confirmed treasure.

Lin Yuan listened for another moment.

"...but if it was treasure—"

"Qiao."

"I said if."

Lin Yuan looked back at Jiang Heng.

"Maybe I spoke too soon."

Jiang Heng smiled into his tea.

After dinner, Lin Yuan stepped outside.

The western road was invisible in the darkness.

For weeks, the strange events had seemed scattered: beasts moving east, hunters disappearing, tremors, collapsed ground, and now worked stone buried beneath the road.

The first careful survey had finally connected several of those reports.

Several of those scattered clues now pointed toward the same place: north of Red Cliff.

Lin Yuan had no intention of going there.

But for the first time, he knew where the mystery was pointing.