Chapter 209 - Seeing Sheep on the Ground
Chapter 209 of "Red Heart Patrols the Sky" starts unveiling mysteries: Jiang Wang finished bathing, dressed in clean clothes, and emerged from the bathroom refreshed and... Keep reading!
Jiang Wang finished bathing, dressed in clean clothes, and emerged from the bathroom refreshed and clear-headed.Cleansing the body with water, washing the worldly dust from the heart.
Ignoring Xiaoxiao, who had come in with her head lowered to take away the old clothes, Jiang Wang made his way through the courtyard and entered the main hall on his own.
The sealed jar of Tiger Bone Wine was placed on the square table in the hall.
Back when they were in Fenglin City, under Du Yehuâs influence, they also liked to gather together for banquets and drinks.
Jiang Wang was no stranger to fine wine.
He casually sat down at the square table, patted the wine jar, and his gaze suddenly fixed on something.
Beneath the wine jar, for some reason, there was a paper note pressed down.
Jiang Wang looked around, but didnât feel anything unusual.
He directly pulled out and unfolded the note, which had only three words on itââDonât drink it.â
The handwriting on the note was crooked and misshapen, clearly the writer intentionally obscured their penmanship.
Is there something wrong with the wine?
After a moment of contemplation, Jiang Wang shouted outside, âXiaoxiao!â
Xiaoxiao ran into the room, out of breath, âMaster, whatâs the matter?â
âDid anyone come by while I was bathing?â
âNoâŚ
Did Master lose anything?â
Her fingers tightly clenched the corner of her clothes, overly cautious and nervous.
âOh, nothingâs missing, just asking casually,â seeing her reaction, Jiang Wang didnât press her further and waved his hand to dismiss her, âYou can go attend to your duties.â
After the maid had left the room, he turned back to look at the jar of wine in front of him, his eyes filled with interest.
In a small pond like the Hu Clan Mine Site, his state of mind was very stable.
âIt seems there is a problem with this jar of wine, but who is behind it, and why?
And who would be the one to warn me like this?â
âBefore the wine was sent here, Old Man Ge and Manager Hu went to drink together.
Considering the petty nature of that Ge, it is possible that he did something to the wine.â
âIf Qingmu Immortal Gate is affiliated with East King Valley, they should have exceptional skills in poisons, so I must be extra careful.â
âIf it was that reckless old Man Ge, then what role is Manager Hu playing in this?â
âAnd who has seen through all of this and warned me in such a way?â
âI donât have enemies here, nor should there be friends.â
After thinking for a while, Jiang Wang simply broke the seal on the wine.
A rich fragrance of wine wafted to his nose.
The wine was clear and translucent, indeed a fine drink.
Manager Hu must have spent a good amount of money on it.
Jiang Wang concentrated energy into his finger and produced a cyan spike, then dropped it into the wine jar.
This was a mid-grade Dao Technique of the third class, the Swallowing Poison Spike, which Dong Ah once taught him.
More than ten breaths of time passed, and the Swallowing Poison Spike remained as cyan as ever, showing no reaction.
âCould it be that Old Man Ge really has some method that escapes my detection?
However, the grade of the Swallowing Poison Spike truly canât keep up anymore.â
With this in mind, Jiang Wangâs consciousness entered the Taixu Illusion Realm.
He directly expended one thousand five hundred units of power to upgrade the Swallowing Poison Spike to an upper-grade technique of the second class, turning it into the Swallowing Poison Flower.
Leaving the Taixu Illusion Realm, he performed the Dao Technique, and the Swallowing Poison Flower blossomed at his fingertip.
Its color was like jade, beautifully carved, with faint patterns on it.
He threw the extremely beautiful Swallowing Poison Flower directly into the wine, waited quietly for a while, but still saw no change.
âCould it be that itâs not poison?â
This little mine sure had its fair share of oddities.
After thinking for a bit, Jiang Wang directly gathered a bunch of wine, pressed it into the ground with a palm, and let it seep through the tiles into the earth.
Then he resealed the remaining Tiger Bone Wine and pushed it to one side.
With his current strength, in this mine site, there should be no opponents.
As long as he was careful, he was fully qualified to respond to any changes without changing himself.
In light of the warning note, he would not eat the food here, or drink the water here.
Anyway, his physique did not really need these things now.
Jiang Wang sat in meditation in the main hall.
As one of the four transcendent cultivators stationed at the Hu Clan Mine Site, he didnât have many responsibilities.
He merely needed to combine forces with the formations to repel any fierce beasts that occasionally approached.
Further, every month, he escorted the miners back to town, usually with two transcendent cultivators together.
Taken in turns, it meant being deployed only once every two months.
If other considerations were set aside, this job was indeed idle and suitable for the cultivator without much ambition.
Xiaoxiao had finished washing the dirty clothes and brewed a pot of tea, which she brought to Jiang Wang.
Busy coming and going, she seemed like a spinning top that never stopped.
âIt smells so goodâŚâ
As she entered the main hall, she had a momentary daze.
It was as if flowers were blooming in succession before her, their fragrance filling her nose, making her feel comfortable and relaxed.
In fact, she was immersed in Jiang Wangâs Dao Technique, amid a sea of flowers.
The principal effect of this Dao Technique was to create illusions.
Had Jiang Wang not contained its power, Xiaoxiao would have completely lost track of time and reality by now.
He wasnât suspicious of the poor little maid; he was simply in the habit of practicing Dao Techniques anytime, anywhere.
Because the Dao Technique hadnât been fully activated, Xiao Xiao only experienced a slight influence.
She felt comfortable, smelled fragrance, but of course, these were just illusions.
Jiang Wang took the teacup, placed it aside casually, and asked while under the influence of the sea of flowers, âHow long have you been at Hu Clan Mine Site?â
The mild influence wouldnât harm Xiao Xiao, it would just make her subconsciously feel relaxed, and thus speak in accordance with her true feelings.
In simple terms, she would tell the truth.
âOver two years, almost three.â
âHaving been here so long, have you noticed anything strange happening?â
âWhat kind of things count as strange?â Xiao Xiao asked.
She hadnât lost her senses, but under the influence of the Dao Technique, she temporarily ignored danger and became relaxed and natural.
Her speech also became less guarded and cautious.
âThings that defy common sense.
Things that normal people wouldnât do, or that wouldnât normally happen.â
Xiao Xiao bit her lower lip and said, âGe Heng is an old pervert; he likes to torment people.
The more miserable the person heâs tormenting becomes, the happier and more joyful he is.
He likes to use a whip, soaked in water, lashing it across a personâs body.
His favorite is silver needles; he oftenâŚâ
âAny other incidents?â Jiang Wang couldnât help interrupting.
The old Ge Hengâs behavior indeed counted as perverted, but it had nothing to do with the anomalies at the Hu Clan Mine Site.
Just hearing about those things made him uncomfortable and he couldnât listen any further.
Therefore, his disgust for Ge Heng deepened yet another layer, but now was not the time to settle accounts.
âOther incidentsâŚ
things that would not normally happenâŚâ
After thinking for a while, Xiao Xiao said, âLast year, someone claimed they saw a sheep that glowed in the mines.
Everyone was puzzled; how could there be a sheep in the mine?
And how could a sheep glow?
But he swore he was telling the truth, it didnât seem like he was lyingâŚ
Perhaps that counts as strange.â
âWhat about the person who saw it?â
âAfter that, he was never seen again.
Itâs said he might have gone back to his hometown.â
Such movement of personnel in the mine site was normal, and it was impossible to verify every workerâs background.
Generally speaking, when someone left, they were gone.
But Jiang Wang detected a whiff of coincidence.
âWhen exactly did this incident you mentioned happen last year?â
âI canât remember clearly, around August or September?â
It was now April, and over half a year ago, which would be around the winter months, there had been an incident where someone intruded into the mine site at night and was discovered by a transcendent cultivator.
There was a fight between them.
Later on, that transcendent cultivator also left the mine site.
And a few months before that was the incident Xiao Xiao mentioned, where a miner saw a sheep in the mine tunnel.
The miner also left afterward.
It was hard to say if these two incidents were inevitably connected.
However, what they had in common was: in both cases, the parties involved had left with no follow-up.
When looked at together, the incidents bore a stark trace of being contrived.
âAbout half a year ago, the cultivator who lived hereâŚâ Jiang Wang phrased his questions carefully, âwhat kind of person was he?
Can you tell me about him?â
Because Xiao Xiao had previously been the maid of that cultivator.
It was after he left that Old Ge ârequestedâ her.
So Jiang Wang considered her feelings when asking questions.
Xiao Xiao lowered her head, her expression obscured.
The sea of flowers wasnât a Dao Technique specifically for interrogating for information; in its current application, it was equivalent to chatting with Xiao Xiao in a relaxed state.
âItâs okay, if you donât want to speak, you donât have to,â Jiang Wang said.
âHeâŚ
He wasnât much different from the other masters.
At most, he just wouldnât hit me.â
Jiang Wang was well aware that maids didnât have much autonomy.
The maids at Hu Clan Mine Site were, to a large extent, akin to playthings for the cultivators.
To many transcendent cultivators, there was neither a grand future nor noble ideals.
The hedonistic indulgences were the reasons they pursued transcendence.
Even those weak cultivators relegated to guarding the mine site, like the Ge-surnamed old man, did not forget to enjoy themselves as much as they could.
Jiang Wang nodded and intended to end the conversation.
But Xiao Xiao continued, âHeâŚ
he said he would take care of me, protect me, andâŚ
take me away.â
Even under the effect of the sea of flowers, it was difficult for her to say.
If she had been in her usual state, she never would have uttered such words.
After allâŚ
to many, it was laughable.
A transcendent cultivator, promising to look after and protect a mere maid?
Even if Xiao Xiao was not clear-headed enough at the time to see the humor in it, by now she must know how ridiculous it sounded.
Because the outcome was clearâthe cultivator left without Xiao Xiao even knowing what had happened.
âThank you for telling me this,â Jiang Wang said as he dismissed the sea of flowers.
Xiao Xiao felt a brief daze and then returned to her normal state.
She looked down at the tips of her shoes.
âFor your regular payment, you can just ask the Hu Manager to issue it.â
Jiang Wang added, âArrange for whatever is needed in the courtyard yourself.
I wonât interfere.â
The remuneration he had discussed with the Hu Manager mainly consisted of Prime Stones.
The mine site wasnât stingy with gold and silver coins for lifeâs necessities, especially not towards transcendent cultivators.
Arranging some affairs would make the little maid feel somewhat better.
Summer had come, and the air was beginning to feel oppressive.
Jiang Wang glanced at the sky outside the courtyard; it was dark and heavy.
Rain was coming.