Chapter 75: A Line Crossed

The tavern remained busy well past its usual hour.

Even after the kitchen closed, several tables were still occupied. Apparently, one cup of wine was enough to support an entire evening of speculation.

Lin Yuan heard four different explanations for what lay beneath Blackstone before deciding he had heard enough.

Some claimed it belonged to a lost sect. Others insisted an underground palace had been buried there. One traveler was convinced they had discovered a sealed spirit vein.

Another spoke with complete certainty that the structure had once been part of an ancient teleportation formation.

He had no evidence.

That did not seem to bother him.

By the time the last bowls were cleared away, Su Mei looked ready to remove the remaining customers herself.

"Closing."

A guest raised his cup.

"I’m still drinking."

"You’ve been holding the same cup for half an hour."

He peered inside.

Empty.

"...I was thinking."

"Think upstairs."

Laughter came from one of the nearby tables.

The guest surrendered and followed the others toward their rooms.

Lin Yuan leaned against the counter.

"You’re getting better at that."

"At what?"

"Making people leave without actually throwing them out."

Su Mei gave him a flat stare.

"I can start throwing them out if you prefer."

"I’m satisfied with the current method."

"Good."

She disappeared into the kitchen.

Lin Yuan stayed downstairs for a while longer.

Outside, Blackstone was finally settling for the night.

Stalls in the Travelers’ Market went dark one by one. The stable had grown quiet aside from the occasional movement of an Ironhoof Beast.

North of the developed area, moonlight barely outlined the restricted site.

The warning on the wooden sign was still visible.

Restricted Area — No Entry Without Permission

During the day, that warning had been enough.

Mostly.

At night, Lin Yuan trusted it much less.

Anyone willing to respect the boundary had already gone to bed. The people still interested in the site were the ones worth worrying about.

He shut the tavern door but left it unlocked.

Zhao Wei and Shen Yao were staying overnight.

Shen Yao had gone upstairs shortly after dinner. She had looked exhausted enough that Lin Yuan doubted anything short of the tavern collapsing would wake her willingly.

Zhao Wei stayed downstairs longer, reviewing notes from the day’s work before retiring.

Several members of their team had also settled nearby.

For once, Blackstone had capable cultivators close at hand.

That should have been reassuring.

Instead, his attention drifted north again.

Nothing moved.

He turned away.

Then a faint noise reached him.

Scrape.

He waited.

Silence returned.

A moment later, the sound came again.

Scrape.

Metal against stone.

He straightened and stepped outside.

The noise had come from the restricted site.

Crossing the open stretch beyond the tavern, he did not call for anyone.

Near the edge of the Travelers’ Market, two figures came into view.

One stood beside the warning sign while the other crouched near the section of stone left accessible for later testing.

Lin Yuan recognized the standing figure.

Dark traveling clothes. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Long blade across his back.

The same cultivator who had called the discovery interesting earlier that day.

He stopped several paces away.

"You seem to have trouble reading."

Both intruders turned.

The crouching one quickly pulled a thin metal rod away from the exposed stone.

It was not one of Shen Yao’s probes.

They had brought their own equipment.

The dark-robed cultivator seemed to relax once he recognized him.

"I wondered how long it would take someone to notice."

"That depends."

Lin Yuan nodded toward the rod.

"If you weren’t scraping metal against stone, probably longer."

His companion frowned.

"You misunderstand," the dark-robed cultivator said.

"I understand enough."

Lin Yuan pointed toward the road.

"Leave."

Neither of them moved.

The dark-robed cultivator glanced toward the tavern.

"The Association people aren’t watching right now."

"They don’t need to be."

His tone remained even.

"You still need to leave."

The dark-robed cultivator laughed softly.

"We’re only examining the stone."

"You were told this site was restricted."

"We haven’t damaged anything."

"You crossed the marker."

His eyes shifted to the rod.

"And started testing something nobody understands."

The second intruder finally spoke.

"We understand enough."

"That makes one of us."

Irritation showed in the man’s face, but his companion raised a hand before he could continue.

"Relax."

Then he turned back to Lin Yuan.

"We don’t want trouble."

"You chose a strange way to show it."

"I’m offering you an easier solution."

His hand slipped inside his robe.

Lin Yuan’s attention sharpened.

A small pouch appeared.

Spirit stones clicked softly inside as the cultivator turned it in his palm.

"Let us test the site tonight."

"How much?"

"Twenty low-grade spirit stones."

Lin Yuan nearly laughed.

His silence seemed to encourage the offer.

"We don’t dig deeper. We don’t remove anything. We take measurements and leave."

"No."

"Thirty."

"No."

"Forty."

An eyebrow lifted.

"You could offer a hundred."

That finally caught the man’s interest.

"And?"

"The answer would still be no."

His companion scoffed.

"You run a tavern in the middle of nowhere. Don’t pretend spirit stones mean nothing to you."

"They mean quite a lot."

Lin Yuan gestured toward the site behind them.

"So does preventing strangers from doing something stupid beneath my buildings."

The dark-robed cultivator studied him for a moment.

"You don’t even know what’s down there."

"Neither do you."

"That’s why we want to find out."

"Then speak to the Association team."

"They won’t tell us what they discover."

"That sounds like your problem."

The broader of the two intruders stepped closer.

"We traveled three days because of this."

"And that gives you permission to enter my land and interfere with their work?"

"It’s wasteland."

Lin Yuan’s gaze sharpened.

"No."

Behind him stood the tavern, the market, and the stable.

"It was wasteland."

He faced them again.

"Now it’s Blackstone."

For a moment, neither replied.

Wind crossed the open land, making the wooden sign creak softly.

The pouch disappeared back inside the cultivator’s robe.

His friendly tone disappeared with it.

"You’re making this more difficult than necessary."

Lin Yuan sighed.

"I was thinking the same thing."

The second intruder moved closer.

Lin Yuan stayed where he was.

The man was broader than him and carried himself with the confidence of someone accustomed to others stepping aside.

"Move."

"No."

A hand came forward.

Not a punch.

A shove.

The cultivator clearly expected Lin Yuan to stumble backward.

Instead, Lin Yuan caught his wrist.

Surprise flashed across the man’s face.

Qi surged through his arm a heartbeat later.

The pressure was stronger than expected.

Trying to overpower him directly would have been foolish.

Fortunately, the man had already leaned too far forward.

Lin Yuan shifted to the side, pulled with the movement, then hooked a foot behind his ankle.

By the time his opponent realized what was happening, it was too late to recover his balance.

He hit the earth hard.

Dust rose around him, and the metal rod slipped from his hand.

Everything went still for a heartbeat.

Then anger took over.

"You—"

His hand went toward the weapon at his side.

Lin Yuan released him and stepped back.

The blade never left its sheath.

"Don’t."

The warning came from behind them.

Quiet.

Calm.

More dangerous than anything Lin Yuan had said.

Zhao Wei stood several paces away with his robe loosely fastened and his saber still sheathed.

Apparently, the noise had been enough to wake him.

The fallen cultivator froze.

His companion turned slowly.

Zhao Wei focused on the hand near the weapon.

"If you draw that blade, this stops being a disagreement over trespassing."

The hand immediately moved away.

Zhao Wei approached, taking in the warning sign, the Association marker, and finally the foreign probe lying in the dirt.

His eyes narrowed.

"You entered a restricted site after being warned away earlier."

"We weren’t interfering with anything," the dark-robed cultivator said.

"You inserted your own equipment beside something we’re currently examining."

"We didn’t activate anything."

"You don’t know that."

No one answered.

Zhao Wei crouched beside the exposed section and inspected it carefully.

Nothing appeared damaged.

When he stood again, he seemed only slightly reassured.

"Leave."

The other cultivator pushed himself upright and brushed dust from one side of his clothes.

He shot Lin Yuan an angry stare but kept his hand far from his weapon.

Zhao Wei continued.

"You can remain on the road or leave Blackstone. I don’t care."

His attention moved between them.

"But interfere with our work again, and your names go into the Association report. After that, whatever happens is between you and them."

The dark-robed cultivator frowned.

"Over this?"

"Try again and find out."

That ended the discussion.

His companion started to bend toward the metal rod.

"Leave it."

He stopped halfway down.

After a moment of hesitation, he straightened.

Neither said anything else before heading toward the road.

Lin Yuan watched until they disappeared past the market.

Then he turned to Zhao Wei.

"You woke up quickly."

"You weren’t exactly quiet."

"I was very quiet."

"The other man hitting the ground wasn’t."

Lin Yuan considered that.

"Fair."

Zhao Wei went back to the exposed structure.

He checked the stone first, then inspected the spot where the foreign tool had been inserted.

"They didn’t reach the groove."

"Good."

"If they had, I would have woken Shen Yao."

Lin Yuan glanced toward the tavern.

"That serious?"

"I don’t know."

"That answer is becoming common around here."

Zhao Wei gave him a tired stare.

"That’s because nobody knows what this thing does."

He motioned toward the exposed stone.

"Which is exactly why strangers shouldn’t be putting random tools into it."

Lin Yuan lowered his eyes to the structure.

Until tonight, curiosity had mostly been harmless.

Travelers watched from a distance, talked too much, and invented increasingly ridiculous stories.

Tonight was different.

Someone had crossed the boundary because they believed Blackstone might be hiding something worth taking.

Curiosity had crossed into trespassing.

"The rumors will get worse," Zhao Wei said.

"I know."

"We can keep someone stationed here while we continue working."

"And when you leave?"

Zhao Wei was silent for a moment.

"That becomes your problem."

Lin Yuan nodded.

He had expected as much.

The Association could protect its own work. It could not stand guard over Blackstone forever.

Zhao Wei tilted his head toward the tavern.

"You should get some sleep."

Lin Yuan glanced toward the sign.

"Apparently signs need supervision now."

"That’s usually how signs work."

Lin Yuan stared at him.

The corner of Zhao Wei’s mouth moved slightly.

"I’ll take the first watch."

"You spent all day investigating."

"So did you."

"It’s my territory."

"And it’s our excavation."

They regarded each other briefly.

Lin Yuan gave in first.

"Fine."

He started back toward the tavern.

"Lin Yuan."

He paused.

Zhao Wei nodded toward the road where the intruders had disappeared.

"You handled that well."

Lin Yuan thought about the man hitting the dirt.

"He tried to push me."

"I noticed."

"That part was his fault."

"I’m sure he’ll remember."

Lin Yuan returned to the tavern.

By morning, the story had already spread.

Of course it had.

Somehow, whenever anything interesting happened in Blackstone, someone was always nearby to witness it.

According to one version, three cultivators had attempted to steal an ancient formation core during the night.

Another claimed Lin Yuan had defeated all three by himself.

The most dramatic version had Zhao Wei nearly cutting someone in half.

None of those things had happened.

Su Mei listened to the newest rumor while setting down breakfast.

Then she turned to Lin Yuan.

"You threw someone into the ground?"

"He tried to push me."

"That wasn’t my question."

"Yes."

She nodded once.

"Good."

Lin Yuan blinked.

"That’s all?"

"What else do you want?"

"I expected a lecture."

"You didn’t break anything."

"Apparently that’s the standard now."

"It’s a useful standard."

She walked away.

At the next table, Qiao Ren was already smiling.

Lin Yuan pointed at him.

"Don’t."

"I haven’t said anything."

"You were about to."

"I was going to congratulate you."

"On what?"

Qiao Ren nodded toward the restricted site outside.

"Discovering that wooden signs are less effective than walls."

Lin Yuan paused.

The merchant’s smile widened.

For once, Qiao Ren had said something useful.

Outside, one of the investigators now stood guard near the exposed section.

Travelers continued to watch from a distance, but no one crossed the boundary.

Not that morning.

The two intruders were not the real concern. They had simply been the first to test whether Blackstone’s rules carried any weight.

As word continued to spread, others would eventually try the same thing.

Some would come out of curiosity.

Others would chase whatever treasure they imagined Blackstone was hiding.

Until now, Lin Yuan had focused mostly on expansion: improving the tavern, increasing trade, adding better facilities, and strengthening the territory’s spiritual environment.

Those plans still mattered.

But growth had brought another responsibility.

Blackstone had become worth protecting—and tempting enough for outsiders to test its limits.

Lin Yuan surveyed the tavern, the Travelers’ Market, and the northern edge of his land.

Qiao Ren’s words returned to him.

Wooden signs were less effective than walls.

Blackstone was growing.

It was time its boundaries started looking like they mattered.