I Tame Beasts by Feeding

Chapter 305: Chapter 260: Si Jian

The deeper he walked, the more intense the hum of swords became. The Sword Intent hanging in the void felt poised to strike, transforming into a spiritual thorn that seemed almost tangible as it pressed down on his Divine Soul.

Fortunately, Yu Changsheng possessed a powerful Divine Soul. Such a faint, lingering aura posed him virtually no threat.

’This is... Si Jian Cliff?’

An incense stick’s time later, Yu Changsheng came to a halt. He could feel that the Sword Intent here was at its most potent.

Before him stood an immense cliff face, as vast as a mountain range. Its surface was unnaturally smooth, clearly cleaved in two by a single sword strike. At the very top, the characters for "Si Jian Cliff" were carved into the stone with a sword in a wild, elegant script.

An infinite Sword Intent emanated from the very characters, so tangible it seemed to suppress the void itself, humming with a power whose edge time had failed to dull.

After a moment of thought, Yu Changsheng slowly closed his eyes. He focused his Divine Sense into a single point and extended it toward Si Jian Cliff. In an instant, a Heaven-Piercing Sword of unrivaled power erupted in his mind and slashed down at him!

HISS...

Wincing in pain, Yu Changsheng hastily severed the wisp of Divine Thought. He was left panting slightly, his face a deathly pale.

’Such astonishing Sword Intent.’

After a long moment, Yu Changsheng took a deep breath, finally managing to suppress the lingering terror in his heart.

If the wind had a shape, what would it be?

Yu Changsheng didn’t know. The wind was formless and intangible; it blew past and vanished without a trace. But here, on Si Jian Cliff, the wind carried a different meaning.

WHOOSH... WHOOSH... WHOOSH...

The wind howled, carrying the weight of history and a chaotic hum of swords. It was like a weather-beaten old man, unwilling to let the stories of this place vanish into the river of time, recounting them bit by bit, a slow and mournful tale.

His expression calm, Yu Changsheng reached out and gently touched the smooth stone wall. Most of the residual sword marks had already faded, posing no real danger.

Si Jian Cliff was immense, so vast he couldn’t see its end. Due to the lingering Sword Intent, Yu Changsheng didn’t dare to rashly send out his Divine Sense. He could only tread carefully, taking it one step at a time as he followed the cliff face.

’Who... is this?’

After walking for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Yu Changsheng slowly came to a stop. Ahead, propped against a boulder, sat a skeleton. It was devoid of all flesh and blood, nothing but bones bearing the weather-beaten marks of time. The skull’s empty eye sockets stared out toward Si Jian Cliff.

Yu Changsheng paused. After confirming there was no danger nearby, he walked forward to get a closer look.

Because of the ever-present Sword Intent on Si Jian Cliff, even if the owner of this body had possessed a high level of Cultivation, it would have been difficult for their physical form to remain intact under such conditions.

Now, all that remained was a skeleton, which looked rather grim and terrifying at first glance.

Besides the skeleton, a Storage Pouch lay quietly at its feet.

Yu Changsheng took a deep breath. He cupped his fists in a bow toward the skeleton before carefully picking up the Storage Pouch.

"I don’t know who you were, Senior, but since you are here in the Illusion Mist Beast Valley, you must have been a predecessor of my Wanxiang Sect. I am an Inner Sect Disciple from the Beast Taming Peak. Please forgive my impertinence in examining your belongings. I pray your spirit does not take offense."

Yu Changsheng muttered to himself with a flicker of anticipation. He channeled a wisp of Magical Power into his fingertips and slowly opened the Storage Pouch.

The Storage Pouch was ancient, its internal space on the verge of collapse and extremely unstable. Yu Changsheng had to be exceedingly gentle and careful as he opened it.

A sweep of his Divine Sense revealed everything inside the pouch.

The first thing he saw was a mountain-like pile of Spirit Stones, gleaming with a dazzling Spiritual Light. A quick glance suggested there were hundreds of thousands of them.

Tearing his gaze away from the mountain of Spirit Stones, Yu Changsheng exhaled and looked at the other items.

The rest of the items were various bottles and jars. Unfortunately, under the ravages of time, the Elixirs within had either lost all their potency or simply disintegrated into dust.

’What a pity. These must have been excellent Elixirs,’ Yu Changsheng thought, shaking his head with a soft sigh, his expression full of regret.

As an Alchemist, he could identify some of them by their lingering scent alone. They had all been incredibly valuable Elixirs.

But even they could not withstand the erosion of time.

After another sigh, Yu Changsheng put it out of his mind and continued his search. Besides those, only a single Cultivation Technique manual remained.

’Refining God Technique...’

Yu Changsheng mused for a moment, then took out the manual to examine it. As he slowly flipped through the pages, his brow furrowed, but then a smile touched his lips.

’So it’s the continuation of the Refining God Technique. Excellent. This trip was worth it after all.’

The manual contained the middle section of the Refining God Technique. The version Yu Changsheng currently had was only the Upper Volume, which could only support his Cultivation up to the Golden Core Peak.

In other words, even if he continued to pour points into it, he would hit a wall after reaching the Golden Core Peak. That was the absolute limit of the Upper Volume of the Refining God Technique.

Obtaining the subsequent part of the Cultivation Technique ahead of time was a truly welcome surprise for Yu Changsheng.

’Now this is enough to let me cultivate all the way to the Purple Mansion realm. And possessing a Cultivation Technique like the Refining God Technique... it seems this really was a predecessor from my Wanxiang Sect’s Beast Taming Peak.’

Yu Changsheng smiled faintly. After carefully storing the Refining God Technique manual, he thought for a moment and once again bowed with cupped fists to the skeleton.

"Dust to dust, earth to earth. I don’t know who you were, Senior, but since our paths have crossed, it’s time for you to rest. It’s pretty spooky having you exposed out here like this, anyway."

His expression turning serious, a sharp glint flashed from Yu Changsheng’s fingertips as he began to dig into the ground. Before long, a decently sized pit had been excavated.

’All set.’

Brushing the dirt from his clothes, Yu Changsheng nodded in satisfaction. He looked at the skeleton, and his gaze followed the angle of its tilted head toward Si Jian Cliff.

"Huh...?"

Surprised, Yu Changsheng slowly stepped forward. There, in a corner of Si Jian Cliff, he saw lines of small, inconspicuous characters carved into the stone.

Curious, Yu Changsheng focused his gaze and began to read the words aloud in a low voice.

"That was the first time I encountered that mountain. Naturally, I wouldn’t listen to well-meaning advice."

"I was convinced I could overcome every obstacle. There was so much beauty along the path, but I never stopped to look. In my eyes, there was only the mountain. Even if I battered myself bloody against it, I kept going. I must have been mad."

"But I wanted to climb that mountain so desperately. Yet this world is full of those who return empty-handed, their spirits broken..."

"Every piece of the moon I lost was something I was meant to lose. And every ray of starlight I gained was something I was meant to gain."

"After that, the years passed. The mountain remained the mountain, and I remained myself. To attempt the impossible, knowing it to be so, was the ultimate expression of my sincerity. But who, in the end, gets to define what is possible and what is not?"

The script was elegant and beautiful to behold, but between the lines, it conveyed a stubborn spirit tinged with a faint sense of regret.

’To attempt the impossible, knowing it to be so...’

Yu Changsheng fell silent and glanced back at the skeleton. Clearly, these words had been written by the deceased.

After a moment, Yu Changsheng shook his head with a soft sigh and looked further down the cliff face.

Below and to the side of this passage was another line of text. The script was newer and the handwriting completely different, clearly written by someone else.

"This path will lead us both to the Eighteen Layers of Hell... My foolish child..."

It was just a short, single line—a response to the text above. There were no other marks.

’She wasn’t even willing to collect your remains for you.’

Yu Changsheng exhaled. After another glance and a quiet mutter, he turned, carefully lifted the skeleton, and placed it inside the pit he had dug. Then, he slowly filled the grave.

’At least this is better than being left out in the open.’

’I’ve received your grace, so it’s only right to help a little. This sets my mind at ease.’

Having done all this, Yu Changsheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Cultivation Realm was all about cause and effect. Since he had taken the man’s belongings, performing such a simple favor in return was something Yu Changsheng was naturally inclined to do.

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