Chapter 94 “The Legend About the Dream Cloud Marsh”
“The so-called elemental items are things that are which used by an alchemist after they attained some insight into this power. I was fortunate enough back then to absorb a portion of a water sprite so my cauldron is also called a ‘water elemental cauldron’. You can say my cauldron is also one of those so called elemental items.” Speaking up to here, Ye Nameless’s voice began to crackle, a sign that he can’t hold on much longer.
“Listen—-little thing—-back then my water elemental cauldron got destroyed when I failed to—-One of the fragments is located in a place called the Dream Cloud Marsh. I will use the last bit of my energy to form a jade carving so that you can get a grasp of the rules pertaining to the elements. Use it, and maybe one day in the future this knowledge will help you find the fragment.” It’s already been three hundred years since this wisp of spirit was left behind, long past its due date.
“…… If one day you have the honor of becoming a senior alchemist… Remember to help me prove I was right. Also, the great enemy who framed me is called Chen Hong Ruuu~.” At that, the voice fades away for good.
“Wait, founder, say it more clearly!” Not getting the chance to clarify her questions, the last remnant of this great ancestor vanishes from her sight with nothing left behind other than the jade carving on the floor.
Just as Ling Yue went to pick up the jade carving, the cauldron mark on her hand suddenly had a reaction and swallowed the entire thing whole without her permission.
In her mind, pieces of information pertaining to the elements, the sprites, and the interpretation of those elemental items suddenly popped up. In addition, there are also some explanation about how the elemental energies can give a great advantage to a martialist in their cultivation: fire for attack, water for healing, earth for defense, wood for longevity, and metal for durability of the bones.
Unbeknownst to Ling Yue, the effects of the jade carving didn’t just amount to a few pieces of information, there’s more. Issue was, her mind was currently preoccupied by the last bit left behind by Ye Nameless, “Dream Cloud Marsh, and the name Chen Hong Ru.”
Cheng Hong Ru, what a strange name…. Then again, if he can be called an enemy by ancestor Nameless then he must be also a person with the cultivation of a senior alchemist.
Just as Ling Yue was busy murmuring this to herself, she came to a critical realization: it’s been three hundred years! If the guy were to be still alive, wouldn’t that mean this Cheng Hong Ru was an old monster?
let’s assume this Chen Hong Ru did survive for the past three hundred years, what’s Ling Yue supposed to do? With her level of cultivation, forget about being the guy’s opponent, she wouldn’t even be able to scrub his feet!
However, the other part about the Dream Cloud Marsh did intrigue Ling Yue because she was going to head into this place anyways. According to the bet she made with An Ming Xia inside the Drunken Immortal restaurant, one of the key ingredients for the Five Treasure Wine, the core of a female ghost spider was located exactly in this Dream Cloud Marsh.
Going over the days again, there’s only two days before she, Feng Shen and Lan Caier must head into the marsh as planned.
Since its come to this, she might as well kill two birds with one stone. While she searches for the female ghost spider for its core, she will also search for the cauldron piece lost in the marshes.
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After making up her mind, Ling Yue got straight to it and began preparing for the trip.
First things first, information was key. Rummaging through her home’s book collection, she made quick works of the latest book version of (Records of Da Xia) and found the most up to date information known about this “Dream Cloud Marsh”
Located in the lower stream of the Glass River, the main entry way for this marsh was an area that’s abundant in reeds. If one were to come to this place during the summer season, they will find large numbers of waterfowls roosting in this area for breeding.
Once past this patch high reeds, the next part would be a log bridge connecting the actual Dream Cloud Marsh to the rest of the landscape.
Unlike the peaceful neighboring areas in this region, the marsh was very special in its environmental makeup and was home to many unique species of herbs, thus drawing in a number of spirit beasts to make the marsh their home.
On the prearranged day, Ling Yue made sure to head over to the Drunken Immortal extra early for fear of being late. Surprisingly, Lan Caier had the same idea and was waiting there for a while already.
“Ling Yue, congratulations, I heard from my father that you earned the crown in the smelting conference. I never would’ve expected you to be a great alchemist too!” Lan Caier cheerfully pats Ling Yue on the shoulder, totally disregarding the fact that she’s hurting our poor girl.
“Just good luck. Sister Lan, about the Dream Cloud Marsh, how much do you know about it?” Knowing Lan Caier had a lot more experience than herself, Ling Yue took the opportunity to pry for more information not found in the books.
“I was just about to discuss this with you. In recent days, I’ve been gathering information from various sources and found some secrets pertaining to the Dream Cloud Marsh.” As she says this, Lan Caier goes and pulls out some record papers from her baggage.
Thanks to her father being the governor, Lan Caier took advantage of this fact and ordered her father’s men to collect any information they can during this period. Among them were some information about the female ghost spider they are looking for.
Third rank spirit beast, female ghost spiders are natural predators that likes to burrow underneath the swampy soil to wait for their preys to draw near. They are nocturnal by design and would seldom become active during the day, but that doesn’t mean they are slow in their reflexes. In fact, they are incredibly fast and could climb onto any surface as long as they can get some sort of grip with their furry legs. And like all spiders, they are capable of spewing out silk that’s comparable to steel in terms of strength, making their attacks very annoying if caught.
To make things worse, not every female ghost spider carried a core inside their body. If Ling Yue wants to locate this ingredient, it’s likely they will need to slaughter a large number of these furry critters before anything worthwhile pops up.
Last but not least, its information pertaining to the Dream Cloud Marsh itself. Circulating among the locals for many years already, there’s a legend about the possibility of a phoenix appearing inside the marsh.
Its unsure when the tale started, but it’s said that whenever summer rolls around, a pair of phoenix would take up roost in the marsh and cause a rainbow aurora effect in the sky. As pretty as that may sound, there’s a darker side to this story. If a person were to get caught in this light, they lose themselves and be unable to find their way back out until the phoenix themselves leave, thus making this phenomenon very dangerous while being very pretty to the eye.
“So have you heard about this rumor?” I personally find it to be nothing more than a bluff that the local fishermen made up. If it’s true, why didn’t anyone ever encounter this in the past century? As if a phoenix would just show up in a marsh?” Lan Caier total didn’t believe this story and snuffed it off.
Regardless of whether or not this legend about the phoenix was true or not, the other pieces of information Lan Caier brought along did help Ling Yue get a deeper understanding of the place.
Due to the heat of the moment, Lan Caier didn’t notice until now but Ling Yue also brought along some friends for the ride. One was Little Squeak on her shoulder and the other was the new and improved Big Yellow.
So what happened was that after keeping these two little guys in her dimensional space for so many days, Ling Yue got worried that they might feel stuffed inside. To remedy this, she brought them out for this trip. One for protection and two to bolster their numbers.
As a girl that’s seen a lot, Lan Caier only need a quick assessment to see how fine Big Yellow was, what a ferocious looking wolf dog. This size and the sheen of that fur, it must be a spirit beast too. With this guy leading the way, there’s no way we will have any trouble now!
Lan Caier was a definite “yes” towards the idea of bringing Big Yellow along, but what about that small fur ball on Ling Yue’s shoulder? That, she wasn’t so sure.
Does Ling Yue want to bring that little fox for show?