Chapter 84: One Step Inside

Lin Yuan left the stones where they were.

By breakfast, he had already decided that moving them would accomplish nothing. If someone had placed them deliberately, disturbing the arrangement would only show that he had noticed.

So he went back to work.

The five travelers remained in the tavern for most of the morning. Two had rented rooms upstairs, while the other three came in from the caravan camp shortly after sunrise. They ate together near the same wall as the previous night and behaved like ordinary customers. None showed unusual interest in the receiving plate or asked anything more about the boundary.

The oldest man even complained that the steamed buns were smaller than the ones he had eaten in Green River City.

Lin Yuan charged him the normal price anyway.

Su Mei passed behind the counter carrying empty bowls.

"Are those the people you were watching yesterday?"

"I wasn’t watching them."

She looked toward their table, then back at him.

"Of course."

Lin Yuan decided not to continue that conversation.

The morning rush kept everyone busy enough that he had little time to think about the stones outside. By the time the dining room began to clear, the five travelers had already paid.

The woman approached the counter last.

"We’ll be leaving today."

Lin Yuan accepted the room keys from her.

"Heading west?"

"For a while."

Plenty of cultivators used Blackstone as a stop before continuing deeper along the trade road.

She placed payment on the counter and glanced toward the entrance.

"Your business is doing well."

"Better than when I started."

"How long has this place been here?"

"The tavern?"

She nodded.

"Not that long."

Her attention returned to him.

"And the market?"

"Even less."

Lin Yuan waited for another question, but she only gave a faint smile.

"You’ve built quickly."

Then she joined the others outside.

From the doorway, Lin Yuan watched the five travelers collect their belongings. They carried little more than traveling packs and weapons wrapped or sheathed at their sides.

No wagons, no large amount of cargo, and nothing suggesting they were merchants looking for somewhere to open a stall.

Qiao Ren appeared from his shop just as they were leaving.

The oldest man raised a hand in casual greeting.

Qiao Ren returned it with considerably less enthusiasm.

Within a few minutes, the group joined the western road and passed through the proper entrance.

The formation remained silent.

Lin Yuan returned to the counter.

That should have been the end of it.

Instead, Qiao Ren walked into the tavern less than ten minutes later and took a seat nearby.

"The woman came to my shop this morning. Bought some needles."

"And?"

"She asked whether I planned to stay in Blackstone permanently."

Lin Yuan looked up.

"What did you tell her?"

"That it depends on whether Owner Lin keeps attracting trouble."

"That was unnecessary."

"It was accurate."

Qiao Ren leaned back in his chair.

"She didn’t ask anything else strange. Paid for the needles and left."

Someone considering Blackstone’s future might naturally want to know whether its first permanent merchant intended to remain. Then again, the question could mean something else entirely.

"What did you make of her?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Couldn’t say. She seemed polite enough."

Lin Yuan poured him a cup of tea without asking.

Qiao Ren accepted it.

Neither mentioned the five travelers again.

Over the next few days, the two Association investigators prepared to leave Blackstone in turn.

The first departed with a merchant caravan heading toward Green River City. On the third morning, the remaining investigator made his final inspection of the restricted site, recorded the secondary receiving plate, and checked that the Association markers were still undisturbed.

Lin Yuan accompanied him toward the road.

"When will someone return?"

"Probably within ten days. Earlier if the Association receives anything unusual."

"Ten days?"

"The readings have been stable."

Lin Yuan glanced toward the restricted area.

The stonework beneath the ground had caused less trouble than the people interested in it.

That seemed unfair somehow.

The investigator adjusted the pack across his shoulder.

"If the Qi changes, send someone immediately. Same if the excavation itself is disturbed."

"And if someone walks across the restricted line?"

"One accidental crossing isn’t an emergency. Repeated interference is different."

Green River City was several days away even by flying artifact. The Association couldn’t treat every formation chime as a crisis.

The investigator left with the eastbound merchants after breakfast.

Once the group disappeared along the road, Blackstone looked much the same as it had the day before. The restricted marker remained in place, travelers continued moving through the market, and the tavern stayed busy.

Only now, if something happened at the excavation, there was no Association cultivator nearby to handle it.

That responsibility would fall to Lin Yuan.

He returned to the tavern.

There was work to do.

Two more days passed without incident.

The five travelers did not return, and no one interfered with the restricted site. The strange row of stones beside the western boundary remained untouched.

Eventually, Lin Yuan moved them.

He carried all five away from the formation and dropped them beside a pile of construction debris behind one of the unused buildings.

If someone had been using them as markers, they could find new ones.

He had grown tired of looking at them.

Business remained steady.

One room became available and was reserved before midday. A trader brought dried meat from a settlement farther west, while another caravan delivered several barrels of grain that Su Mei inspected personally before allowing them into storage.

Qiao Ren sold three minor healing pills and complained that one customer had spent longer negotiating than most cultivators spent meditating.

Xiao Lan continued asking about the entrance sign.

Lin Yuan continued not having a new price.

Ordinary problems.

He appreciated them more than usual.

On the third evening, the tavern closed later than expected.

A caravan of eleven cultivators had arrived shortly before sunset, hungry and unwilling to continue traveling in the dark. All eight guest rooms were already occupied, so most of them planned to sleep beside their wagons after eating.

Lin Yuan remained in the kitchen until the last dishes were served.

By the time the dining room cleared, Su Mei had gone upstairs to check the rooms while Xiao Lan wiped down the final table.

Behind the counter, Lin Yuan counted the day’s payments.

He had nearly finished when a clear metallic chime cut through the quiet tavern.

His hands stopped.

Xiao Lan froze beside the table.

The sound lasted only a moment before fading.

She looked toward the receiving plate.

"That was the formation."

"I know."

Lin Yuan put the spirit stones away beneath the counter.

A second faint pulse of Qi passed through the plate, weaker than the first, then disappeared.

Nothing else sounded from the direction of the restricted site.

That made the western boundary the more likely source.

He reached for the low-grade artifact he kept nearby whenever the tavern remained open late.

"Stay here."

Xiao Lan set down the cloth.

"Should I wake Su Mei?"

"Yes. Keep everyone inside unless there’s a reason to move."

This time she didn’t argue.

Lin Yuan stepped outside.

Several caravan fires were still burning beyond the courtyard. A few travelers looked up, having heard the chime from inside the tavern, but most didn’t seem to understand what it meant.

Qiao Ren’s shop was dark.

Lin Yuan crossed the courtyard quickly, then slowed before reaching the western edge of the developed area.

He wasn’t about to run straight toward the boundary.

If someone had crossed deliberately, charging into the darkness alone would be exactly the kind of decision Zhao Wei had warned him against.

The night was clear enough to make out the nearest posts beneath the moonlight.

Nothing moved between them.

He listened.

Wind passed over the dry ground. An Ironhoof Beast shifted near one of the wagons, and distant voices carried from the caravan camp.

No nearby footsteps.

Circulating Qi through his body, Lin Yuan continued along the inner side of the boundary.

The first post looked normal.

So did the second.

Near the third, he found a mark in the dry soil.

A footprint.

Only the front half was clear.

The toe of a boot had landed just inside the monitored line, while another partial mark sat outside it. Whoever had crossed had barely placed a foot inside before stepping back.

Lin Yuan crouched for a closer look.

There was no sign that anyone had continued farther into Blackstone. The formation node was untouched, and nothing nearby had been disturbed.

One step in.

One step out.

He raised his head and searched the darkness beyond the posts.

Nothing moved.

After waiting several minutes, he checked the neighboring nodes. Both were undisturbed.

By the time Lin Yuan returned toward the tavern, Qiao Ren was waiting in the courtyard with a short blade at his waist.

"You heard it?"

"So did half the settlement."

"What happened?"

"Someone crossed the western line."

Qiao Ren’s expression tightened.

"How far?"

"One step."

He looked toward the dark boundary.

"That’s all?"

"They stepped in and went straight back out."

Qiao Ren frowned.

"That doesn’t sound accidental."

"No."

A traveler taking a shortcut would probably have gone farther. This looked more like someone testing the line.

Neither man spoke for a moment.

Then Lin Yuan headed back inside.

Xiao Lan and Su Mei were waiting near the counter. Several upstairs guests had opened their doors after hearing the warning, but Su Mei had already convinced them that there was no immediate danger.

He told them what he’d found.

Su Mei frowned.

"Could it have been an animal?"

"The mark came from a boot."

Xiao Lan glanced toward the entrance.

"The five from before?"

"We don’t know."

They had left several days earlier. They could have returned without anyone noticing, or the footprint could belong to someone else.

There was no way to tell from a single mark in the dirt.

Once the remaining customers had settled down, Lin Yuan told Su Mei and Xiao Lan to return to their rooms.

He stayed downstairs.

A lamp burned behind the counter while the hours passed.

The formation did not ring again.

Near midnight, Lin Yuan stepped outside once more.

The caravan camps had gone quiet. From the entrance, the western posts were little more than dark shapes against the wasteland.

Whoever had crossed the boundary was gone.

He looked toward the receiving plate through the open tavern door.

Thirty-eight spirit stones had bought him a warning formation, and tonight it had worked exactly as promised.

But whoever had stepped across the line had learned something too.

They now knew how quickly Blackstone responded.