Courtyard Check-in: Starting with a Small World of Cultivation

June 15th, the sixth day of the fifth lunar month, is Xiaoman (Grain Buds).

The morning sunlight filtered through the branches of the old locust tree in the courtyard, casting dappled shadows on the bluestone ground. Chen Yu sat on a small stool in front of his house, holding a copy of "A Brief Study of the Official System in the Ming Dynasty" in his left hand. He appeared to be reading, but in reality, his spiritual consciousness spread out like mercury, silently enveloping the entire courtyard.

His spiritual senses were focused on the Jia family. Jia Dongxu had just gotten up and was squatting by the door brushing his teeth, his mouth full of foam. Inside, Jia Zhangshi was making breakfast, cursing Zhang Xiulan for being "heartless" and "neglecting her family." Banggeng came out from the inner room rubbing his eyes, his clothes wrinkled, clearly indicating that he hadn't taken off his clothes to sleep last night.

Everything seemed normal, but Chen Yu noticed a detail—while Jia Dongxu was brushing his teeth, his eyes kept glancing at the old, worn-out pickle jar in the corner. The jar was quite old, its glaze cracked, and it was usually just placed under the eaves to collect rainwater, ignored by everyone. But Jia Dongxu looked at it three times.

suspicious.

Chen Yu remained calm and continued "reading." It wasn't until Jia Dongxu pushed his bicycle to work and Jia Zhangshi left with her vegetable basket that he put down his book, got up, and walked to the pickled vegetable jar.

The jar was ordinary, containing half a basin of rainwater with a few fallen leaves floating on the surface. Chen Yuling activated his eye technique, his gaze penetrating the clay—at the bottom of the jar, there was something wrapped in oiled paper!

He looked around; no one was in the courtyard. With a flick of his left hand, his spiritual energy materialized into an invisible palm, scooping the object from the bottom of the jar and sending it flying into his sleeve. The entire process was silent, without even a splash.

Back inside, Chen Yu opened the oil paper package. Inside was a letter and... five ten-yuan bills! Fifty yuan!

The letter contained very little, just a few words:

"Dongxu: The items have been received and are in good condition. This is the deposit; the balance will be paid when the next batch of goods arrives. Same place, same time. Things are tense lately, be careful."

There was no signature, the handwriting was messy, and it was written on ordinary letter paper with a fountain pen.

"The goods have been received... Next batch..." Chen Yu frowned. What was Jia Dongxu dealing in? Considering Xu Damao and Liu Haizhong's previous antique transactions, was Jia Dongxu also involved?

He carefully wrapped the letter and money back up as they were, and when noon was quiet in the courtyard, he used his spiritual power to silently place them back at the bottom of the jar. He couldn't alert them; he wanted to play the long game.

In the morning, Chen Yu went to the research institute. His right arm injury had healed completely, and the new skin was much tougher and more resistant to high temperatures. He went to see Lin Zhenhua to report back from leave, and Engineer Lin was very pleased: "Little Chen, you're recovering well! Perfect timing, the institute has taken on a new project and needs manpower."

The new project concerns the improvement of materials for aero-engine blades. Although Chen Yu's main focus is on the cultivation world, he doesn't neglect his primary job—this job not only provides cover for his public identity but also allows him to access cutting-edge technology, which might one day be combined with cultivation.

Chen Yu ran into Su Hongmei while having lunch in the cafeteria.

"Chen Yu! Are you all better?" Su Hongmei sat down with a lunchbox in her hand. "I heard you got injured on your business trip. Was it serious?"

"It's all better now." Chen Yu smiled. "What have you been busy with lately, Sister Su?"

"It's the same old topic: high-temperature resistant alloys." Su Hongmei lowered her voice. "But I heard that the institute might be taking on a big military project related to submarine materials. If we can get involved, that would be a huge achievement."

Submarine materials… Chen Yu's heart skipped a beat. Submarines operate in the high-pressure environment of the deep sea, requiring extremely high-quality materials. If cultivation techniques could be used to assist in materials research, could a breakthrough be achieved?

The thought flashed through his mind, and he kept it in mind for the time being.

In the afternoon, Chen Yu left work early. Instead of returning to the courtyard house, he went to Yuquan Mountain.

Holding the topographic map from Zhou Wenyuan's notes, Chen Yu found the location marked by the third red dot—an inconspicuous mountain hollow on the southern slope of Yuquan Mountain. There was indeed a spring here, seeping from the cracks in the rocks to form a small stream, the water clear and sweet.

"Having water but not knowing water..." Chen Yu stood by the spring, muttering to himself.

He scooped up a handful of spring water and examined it carefully with his spiritual eye. The water quality was excellent, rich in minerals, but there were no unusual fluctuations in spiritual energy. He also searched the surrounding environment but found no trace of tombs or caves.

Could I have guessed wrong? Is this not a dungeon?

Unwilling to give up, Chen Yu walked downstream along the stream. After walking for about a mile, the stream flowed into a small pool. The pool was shallow, and the bottom was visible. Beside the pool stood a stone tablet, the inscription of which was blurred and illegible, with only the words "Dragon Spring" and "Sweet Liquor" faintly discernible.

This is one of the famous "Jade Springs" of Yuquan Mountain, which was praised by Emperor Qianlong. There were quite a few tourists, and several elderly people were filling plastic buckets with water, saying they would take it home to make tea.

Chen Yu sat down by the pool, closed his eyes, and let his spiritual consciousness sink into the water.

Underwater, there are ordinary sand and gravel, aquatic plants, small fish, etc.!

In a crevice in the rocks at the bottom of the pool, Chen Yu's spiritual sense detected an extremely faint fluctuation of spiritual energy! The fluctuation was very subtle, intermittent, as if it were being concealed by something.

He opened his eyes and looked at the tourists around him. It was broad daylight, and it wasn't convenient to go into the water to investigate.

"Come again tonight."

It was already evening when Chen Yu returned to the city. He stopped by Xinhua Bookstore and bought a copy of "A Study of Feng Shui in the Ming Dynasty" and a copy of "A Record of Landscapes in Beijing." He wanted to understand Zhou Wenyuan's strategy for setting up a false tomb.

After dinner, Chen Yu entered the small world.

Beside the spirit spring, he marked the locations of the three suspected tombs on the ground with pebbles, then sat cross-legged and began to deduce their locations.

"Near water but not visible water"—the Xishan ancient tomb is located near an underground river, but no water is visible on the surface, which fits the description.

"Seeing water but not being able to get it—at that spot in Fragrant Hills, you can see water but can't have it? What kind of water is there in Fragrant Hills?"

"Having access to water but not knowing its value—Yuquan Mountain has abundant spring water, and everyone can get water, but what does 'not knowing its value' mean? Does it mean that the spring water is not ordinary water?"

Chen Yu pondered deeply. Suddenly, a possibility occurred to him—Zhou Wenyuan was an alchemist, and his understanding of "water" might differ from that of ordinary people. In alchemy, "water" does not only refer to H₂O, but also to various liquids, and even to the yin energy represented by the "Kan" trigram.

He opened "A Study of Feng Shui in the Ming Dynasty" and found the chapter on "Water Methods." Sure enough, the book recorded that ancient Feng Shui masters divided water into several types: real water (natural water bodies), virtual water (roads, air currents), celestial pools (mountain depressions), and earth springs (underground springs)...

"True water is easy to obtain, but illusory water is hard to find..." Chen Yu mused.

Perhaps "being near water but not seeing water" means being close to real water but unable to see it?

"Seeing water but not getting water" means seeing water but not being able to obtain it.

"To obtain water without knowing it is water" means to obtain real water but not know that it is real water.

It still doesn't work.

Chen Yu stood up irritably and paced around the small world. Unconsciously, he walked to the newly expanded land, where he planted some herbs he had collected from the Western Mountains. One plant with small blue flowers caught his attention—it was "Cold Water Grass," which prefers shade and often grows near water, but does not contain much water itself.

Cold-water grass...near water but not seeing water...

A brilliant idea flashed in Chen Yu's mind!

He rushed to the spring, scooped up a handful of water, and then ran to the planting area to grab a handful of soil. He mixed the water and soil and rubbed it in his palm.

"I understand!" Chen Yu's eyes gleamed with excitement. "The 'water' Zhou Wenyuan mentioned doesn't refer to water itself, but to 'water-elemental spiritual energy'! The three suspected tombs correspond to three forms of water-elemental spiritual energy!"

He quickly drew three dots on the ground:

"Near water but not visible—the water's spiritual energy is abundant, but it is locked underground, never seeing the light of day. The ancient tomb in Xishan is close to an underground river, which is rich in water's spiritual energy, but it is covered by layers of soil, so the water is not visible."

"Seeing water but not being able to obtain it—the spiritual energy of water takes the form of water, which can be seen and obtained, but the spiritual energy is thin. There should be a body of surface water at that spot in Fragrant Hills, but the spiritual energy in the water is scarce."

"One obtains water but does not know its value—the spiritual energy of water merges with ordinary water, so obtaining water means obtaining spiritual energy, but ordinary people are unaware of its wondrous uses. The spring water of Jade Spring Mountain may seem ordinary, but it actually contains pure water spiritual energy. Long-term consumption is beneficial to cultivation, but ordinary people only know its sweetness, not its spiritual effects!"

It's all cleared!

Chen Yu clenched his fists in excitement. Zhou Wenyuan truly lived up to his reputation as a cultivator; even his decoy tombs were so profound. Three decoy tombs: one locked the spirit in the ground (West Mountain), one dispersed the spirit on the surface (Fragrant Mountain), and one merged the spirit into the water (Jade Spring Mountain). So where was the real Water Spirit Orb hidden?

It is very likely in the fourth place—the source of water-based spiritual energy, the "ancestral vein" that nurtured these three spiritual lands!

But where is the ancestral lineage? Zhou Wenyuan's notes didn't mention it.

Chen Yu calmed down and began to deduce in reverse: If he were Zhou Wenyuan, where would he hide such a precious treasure as the Water Spirit Orb?

Is the most dangerous place the safest place?

Or is it a completely unrelated place?

Or... hidden in one of the three suspected tombs, but concealed by a special method?

It's all possible.

Chen Yu decided to start his investigation from the bottom of the pool at Jade Spring Mountain. There were faint fluctuations of spiritual energy there, which was worth exploring.

In the dead of night, Chen Yu changed into dark clothes and left the courtyard house silently. He didn't use the main gate, but instead climbed over the wall, using his lightness technique to move swiftly through the darkness.

The city of Beijing was quiet at night, with only the occasional police patrol, but Chen Yu's spiritual sense allowed him to detect them in advance and easily avoid them. An hour later, he arrived at Yuquan Mountain.

The moonlight, like water, spilled across the mountains and forests. Chen Yu arrived at the small pool he had seen during the day; no one was around. He took off his outer garment, leaving only his undershirt, and hid his clothes behind a rock. He held the water-repelling bead in his mouth, infused it with spiritual energy, and an invisible film appeared on his body.

"Thump."

Chen Yu submerged into the pool. The water-repelling bead was extremely effective, allowing him to breathe underwater and also protecting him from the pool's chill. He activated his Spiritual Eye Technique, and the underwater world became clearly visible.

The pool wasn't deep, only about three meters. Chen Yu headed straight for the rock crevice where he had sensed spiritual energy fluctuations during the day. The crevice was very narrow, only about a palm's width wide, but it extended inwards, its depth unknown.

He reached into the crevice, groping around. The rocks were slippery and covered in moss. Suddenly, his fingertips touched something hard—round, smooth, like a bead!

Chen Yu was overjoyed and carefully pried the object out. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an ordinary pebble, only slightly rounded in shape.

Disappointment. But the spiritual energy fluctuations still emanated from the depths of the crevice.

Chen Yu gritted his teeth and activated the Bone Shrinking Technique—a minor skill recorded in the *Tai Xuan Zhen Jing* that temporarily made the body flexible enough to pass through narrow spaces. He hunched his shoulders and squeezed his entire body into the gap!

The crevice extended inward for about two meters before suddenly opening up—a hidden underwater cave! The cave was small, only three or four square meters, and completely submerged. Glowing moss grew on the cave walls, emitting a faint blue light that illuminated the scene inside.

In the center of the cave, there is a stone statue!

The stone statue depicts an elderly man dressed in Ming Dynasty official robes, with a slender face, holding a scroll. In front of the statue is a stone platform, on which sits a jade box.

Chen Yu swam over and opened the jade box. Inside was not the Water Spirit Pearl, but a jade slip.

He placed the jade slip on his forehead and channeled his spiritual energy into it. A flood of information rushed into his mind—the legacy left behind by Zhou Wenyuan!

The jade slip records Zhou Wenyuan's cultivation insights throughout his life: how to find spiritual veins, how to refine elixirs, and how to set up formations. Most importantly, it contains a "Beijing Water Vein Map," which marks the distribution of all water-based spiritual veins in the Beijing area.

The location of the Water Spirit Orb is clearly marked on the map—at the bottom of Kunming Lake!

"Kunming Lake..." Chen Yu suddenly realized. Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace, the largest royal garden lake in Beijing, is indeed the most likely place to nurture the Water Spirit Pearl. Moreover, it is teeming with tourists, making it the least likely place to be discovered.

Zhou Wenyuan had truly gone to great lengths. Three decoy tombs were used to mislead, while the jade slip was hidden in an underwater cave in Jade Spring Mountain, pointing to the true location. If Chen Yu hadn't possessed the Spiritual Eye Technique and the Water-Repelling Pearl, he would never have found this place.

Chen Yu carefully put away the jade slip, bowed to the stone statue, then left the cave and swam back to the surface.

After getting ashore, he dressed and prepared to leave. But just then, his spiritual senses suddenly warned him—someone was coming! And more than one!

Chen Yu immediately dodged behind a boulder and activated his concealment technique.

Three dark figures emerged from the woods and came to the edge of the pool. In the moonlight, Chen Yu could see their faces clearly—one of them was Jia Dongxu! The other two were unfamiliar faces, one tall and thin, the other short and stout.

"Did you bring the things?" the tall, thin man asked.

Jia Dongxu took out a small cloth bag from his pocket, opened it, and inside were a few small jade items: "That's all. The big ones from last time have already been sold."

The short, stout man took it and shone his flashlight on it: "The condition is alright. Same price as always, fifty yuan a piece."

"Can I add some more?" Jia Dongxu bargained. "This is from the Ming Dynasty, it's quite old."

"This is the price. Take it or leave it." The tall, thin man said impatiently. "The checks are strict lately, it's risky."

Jia Dongxu had no choice but to nod. The three began the transaction.

Chen Yu could hear clearly from behind the rock. Sure enough, Jia Dongxu was dealing in antiques! And it seemed like this wasn't his first time.

After the transaction was completed and the two strangers left, Jia Dongxu counted the money with a smile on his face. But he didn't notice that a pair of eyes were watching him from the shadows.

Chen Yu did not show himself immediately. He needed to find out where Jia Dongxu's artifacts came from and whether he had any accomplices.

Following Jia Dongxu back to the city, Chen Yu discovered that he didn't go straight home, but instead went to a small courtyard near the Drum Tower. The courtyard gate opened, and a person emerged—it was Yan Bugui!

"Third Uncle?" Chen Yu's heart skipped a beat.

Yan Bugui took the money Jia Dongxu handed over, counted it, and then took out a portion to return to Jia Dongxu: "This is your share. Remember, keep your mouth shut."

"I know, Third Uncle."

So Yan Bugui was the mastermind! Chen Yu recalled the antique deal between Xu Damao and Liu Haizhong, in which Yan Bugui was also involved. This shrewd old man, ostensibly a primary school teacher, was secretly involved in antique smuggling!

Chen Yu left quietly, already having a plan in mind.

It was three in the morning when Chen Yu returned to the courtyard house. Unable to sleep, he took out the jade slip and examined the water vein map once more.

At the bottom of Kunming Lake, a water spirit pearl...

But how do we retrieve it? It's a park, teeming with visitors during the day and patrolled at night. Moreover, the lake is several meters deep, making it difficult to dive without specialized equipment.

More importantly, taking action to retrieve the bead would inevitably cause fluctuations in spiritual energy, potentially alerting the Heavenly Alliance.

We need to consider this carefully.

Chen Yu carefully put the jade slip away, then thought about Jia Dongxu and Yan Bugui. These people, though despicable, were still ordinary people and should be punished by law. He decided to anonymously report them and let the police handle the matter.

Dawn was approaching. Chen Yu lay in bed, watching the sky outside the window gradually lighten, his mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.

The path of spiritual practice widens as you walk, but it also becomes increasingly dangerous.

Life in a courtyard house may appear calm on the surface, but beneath lies a turbulent undercurrent.

He, being in the midst of it all, must both pursue the extraordinary and protect the ordinary.

This road is not easy to travel.

But he had to keep going.

Because he is Chen Yu.

She is a time traveler, a cultivator, a husband, a father, and a protector.

Outside the window, the first rays of morning light pierced through the clouds, illuminating the roof tiles of the courtyard house.

A new day begins.

But new challenges await ahead.