Chapter 12: The Great Bone

The burrow of the flying squirrel family was astonishingly deep. Qingzhen and the others had been digging for over two hours, almost excavating from midway up the hillside to its very base, yet the nest still seemed nowhere in sight. Noon was approaching, and Qingzhen was on the verge of giving up. Just then, the cultivator digging at the innermost part of the tunnel struck down with his shovel, and with a thunderous crash, both he and the shovel vanished into the ground.

“What happened?”
“Where is he?”
Everyone called out in unison.
“Down here,” came a feeble voice from the depths below.
“Are you all right?” Qin Zhen shouted.
“I’m fine, just landed hard on my back,” replied the fallen cultivator.

Qin Zhen took out a ninth-rank Fierce Carp Pearl and affixed it to the cave wall. Instantly, a misty azure glow illuminated the entire cavern. With the help of the pearl’s light, they could now see the general situation inside—a yawning black pit lay at the deepest part of the cave, precisely where the man had disappeared.

“Is there any danger down there? Can you move?” Qingzhen continued to ask.
“I can move. It doesn’t seem dangerous here,” the voice below answered.
“Shift over a bit, then. Once you’re clear, I’ll jump down,” Qingzhen said.
“All right, young master. Give me a moment,” replied the cultivator below, utterly moved that Qingzhen would come down himself. “All set.”

“Here I come,” Qingzhen declared, and with that, he leapt into the pit.

By the time Qinghu, who’d heard the commotion, rushed in, Qingzhen had already jumped down. Without a word, Qinghu shouldered past the others and followed. Well, since both the young master and the young lady had gone down, Qingquan and Xiaobai jumped in as well. The last remaining cultivator had no choice but to stay above, tasked by Qingquan to be on standby.

When Qinghu landed, she saw Qingzhen already tending to the fallen cultivator’s back.
“Ow, ow, ow, that hurts…”
“It doesn’t look like a broken bone. Tomorrow, come with me to Meishan to see a doctor. For now, take a Small Golden Marrow Pill to stabilize your foundation—at least it’ll do some good for your injury.”
The cultivator was deeply grateful. “Young master, I’m all right. I’ll just rest for a bit when we get back.”
“But what if you’ve truly broken something? I’m no doctor—I can’t be sure. It’s best to check, so I can be at ease. After all, you were hurt for our sake; there’s no way I can just stand by and watch you suffer,” Qingzhen said sincerely.
“Thank you, young master,” the cultivator replied, moved.

“It’s nothing, just what I ought to do. Qingquan, take him up. Get the other cultivator to help escort him home and let him recover,” Qingzhen instructed.
“Of course.” Qingquan came over, gently supporting the man’s waist. With a light leap, she carried him out of the pit.

Qingzhen took out another carp pearl, lighting up the entire underground space. What they found was a stretch of fine black sand.

“This place is odd. Why is the sand black?” Qingzhen picked up a handful of the fine grains, examining them curiously.

Qinghu, saying nothing, fetched a small spade from her basket and began digging through the sand. Before long, she unearthed something like a potato—also black, with a slender black vine trailing from one end.

Qingzhen came closer, astonished by the large, dark tuber. “What is this?”
“It looks like a ninth-rank Lingzhen Scarlet Essence Fruit. But it’s so much bigger than usual,” Qinghu said uncertainly. “Xiaobai, did you bring the ‘Great Compendium of Spiritual Treasures, Eastern Wilderness Edition’ we bought?”
“I did.” Xiaobai pulled a jade cocoon from her little pouch and handed it to her lady.
Without even looking, Qinghu tossed it to her fourth brother. “Fourth brother, check if this thing really is a Scarlet Essence Fruit.”
Qingzhen was speechless—she really knew how to order him about.

Still, he took the jade cocoon, placed it to his forehead, and studied it for a while before speaking. “It certainly looks like one. But aren’t Scarlet Essence Fruits supposed to be no larger than a child’s fist? Why is the one you’re holding as big as my head?”
“How should I know?” Qinghu replied, exasperated.
Qingzhen was at a loss for words.

“Actually, I bet Steward Zhao would know. I’ve heard he traveled far and wide in his younger days,” Xiaobai suggested.

Just then, Qingquan dropped back down alone. Qingzhen immediately said, “Qingquan, go fetch Uncle Zhao.”
Qingquan, feeling somewhat put upon, could only agree. “All right, then.”

Soon, Uncle Zhao was dragged down by Qingquan.
“What on earth have you called me here for?” the old man asked in surprise.

As soon as Qingzhen saw him, he beckoned him over, wearing an air of mystery.
Uncle Zhao approached, only to find a small heap of black “potatoes” on the ground.
“Wait—potatoes? Black potatoes… Are these Scarlet Essence Fruits? But how are they so large?” Uncle Zhao exclaimed in disbelief.
“They really are Scarlet Essence Fruits?” Qingzhen asked, astonished.
“There’s no doubt about it,” Uncle Zhao examined them carefully, even scraping a bit of skin from one and tasting it. With absolute certainty, he said, “These are definitely Scarlet Essence Fruits.” He then scooped up a handful of the black sand and held it up.

“No mistake—this is Black Tide Stone sand. There’s so much of it, and the quality is excellent. No wonder the Scarlet Essence Fruit grew to such size.”

“This sand is Black Tide Stone? Isn’t that a rare water-element forging material?” Qingzhen asked in surprise.
“Exactly. Black Tide Stone is a water-element forging material, spanning several grades in quality. It only forms on the seabeds of oceans over ten thousand meters deep, making it extremely rare.”

“Hold on—if Black Tide Stone only comes from such deep ocean floors, how did a Scarlet Essence Fruit grow here?” Qingzhen was stunned.

At that moment, Qinghu and Xiaobai came running over, carrying two baskets packed full. They had already stowed their earlier harvest into cloth sacks.

“Scarlet Essence Fruits are even rarer than Black Tide Stone. Only the sea tribes occasionally manage to harvest a few, and they are never traded lightly with us humans. Even among the sea folk, the Scarlet Essence Fruit is famed as a treasure worthy of the Dragon King himself, said to grow only where dragon energy is abundant.” As he finished speaking, Uncle Zhao suddenly leapt up in shock. Good heavens—could there be a true dragon’s skeleton buried here?

“Uncle Zhao, what’s the matter?” Qingzhen stared in surprise as the old man suddenly jumped.

“Qinghu, Qingzhen, when you came down here, did you notice anything unusual?” Uncle Zhao asked urgently.
“Do these black potatoes count?” Qinghu said, puzzled.
“No, anything else? Like huge animal bones or something?” Uncle Zhao pressed.
Qingzhen shook his head quickly. This patch of black sand wasn’t big—at most five or six acres. Aside from the black sand, there was nothing but stone and earth. There were certainly no animal bones.

Qinghu thought for a moment. There was, in fact, a large set of animal remains buried deep under the mud in the lake—at least three thousand feet down, massive and long. But to dig that far would be quite a feat. Did they really intend to excavate the entire Panshe Domain?