The Spiritual Pivot of Mortal Cultivation

Autumn in Shenshou Valley seems to arrive earlier and be more desolate than in other parts of Caixia Mountain.

As the late afternoon approached, the sky grew increasingly gray, and the surrounding medicine shelves and stone houses seemed to be gently shrouded in a layer of damp, cold mist. The wind rushed in from the valley entrance, first sweeping over the medicine trays, then crashing against the eaves, and finally slowly dispersing the medicinal aroma that filled the courtyard.

Bai Xuanxin carried two bags of common angelica and astragalus, and slowly walked into the valley.

He walked at a leisurely pace, his expression no different from usual, much like an outer disciple who had come to collect and exchange medicine, and casually glance at the quality of the herbs. But as soon as he stepped across the gravel line at the valley entrance, what he smelled and saw began to unfold in his mind, layer by layer.

The medicinal smell in the valley was much more mixed than before.

It's no longer a simple matter of one batch replenishing blood and another nourishing qi, nor is it the distinct primary and secondary bitter and pungent herbs used by ordinary doctors when decocting medicine. Instead, several medicinal aromas intertwine and press heavily together. Floating on top are the pungent and dry aromas of herbs like fiery herbs and yangqi stone, burning hot, as if someone is slowly forcing qi and blood upwards over a gentle fire; in the middle, however, are a few strands of cold, fishy, ​​and astringent, like insects or poison, impure and not pure; the bottom layer is even heavier, mixed with the smell of rotten earth, old medicinal dregs, and a slightly fermented sourness, which, if smelled for a while, actually makes one feel a chill down their spine.

This flavor cannot be achieved by brewing just one or two batches of medicine.

It's more like someone forcibly combined several medicinal approaches that shouldn't have been taken together.

Bai Xuanxin felt a slight chill.

Mo Juren is indeed more anxious than before.

His face remained unchanged. He simply carried the medicine bag inside, his gaze calmly sweeping over the medicine shelves, the medicine furnace, the stone mill, and the roots drying on the ground in the courtyard, as if he were looking at the medicine, or as if he was looking at nothing at all.

Han Li was right next to the medicine furnace.

The boy, still dressed in gray, squatted by the bellows, adding fuel to the fire. The flames flickered at the furnace opening, casting flickering light on his already unremarkable face. Judging by his expression alone, he was not much different from before; still silent, still taciturn, still like a medicine boy who had been worn down by Mo Juren.

But Bai Xuanxin never judges people solely on their appearance.

His gaze first fell on Han Li's shoulders and back.

His shoulder line was slightly tighter than before, as if an invisible rope was pulling him from deep within his spine. His breathing was still deep and long inhalations, but his exhalations were a fraction shorter than before. To an untrained eye, this would simply mean he was tired; but in Bai Xuanxin's eyes, it meant something else entirely—

Han Li is exerting immense pressure.

It's compressed air.

It's the heart that's being weighed down.

It's something that's been pushed to the brink, but can't be allowed to show the slightest flaw.

The progress of "Changchun Gong" has clearly reached the hurdle set by Mo Juren.

Bai Xuanxin knew what was going on, but said nothing aloud. She simply stood by the medicine shelf and called out:

"Junior Brother Han."

Han Li looked up at the sound, his eyes more wary than before, as if even the slightest sound of grass or wind could make him tense for a moment. But this wariness only flashed for a moment before he suppressed it.

"Senior Brother Bai."

Bai Xuanxin handed over the two packets of medicine in her hand, her tone very casual.

"I still owe you a little something for the medicine I picked up from you a while ago. I happened to bring some back on my way down the mountain today. See if that's enough."

Han Li took the medicine packet, but didn't look at it closely; he simply nodded slightly.

"You're so kind, senior brother."

As he spoke, his gaze unconsciously swept towards the stone house before looking back down.

Bai Xuanxin saw this and her heart sank even further.

This is not just simple nervousness.

This is a subconscious reaction that only occurs when an invisible hand is pressing down on your neck, preventing you from making any sudden movements.

Mo Juren has most likely already begun to close the net.

Bai Xuanxin didn't follow up on that statement, but instead turned to look at the medicine shelf in the courtyard. There were seven or eight kinds of herbs drying on it, some leaves and some roots, with varying shades of color. They were arranged seemingly randomly, but in fact, they were all perfectly balanced between the windy and shady areas.

He was looking at the medicine, but he was doing more than just looking at the medicine.

Before entering the valley, he had already clearly defined his goals for this trip.

Han Li and the medicine furnace are the main threads.

That bird is the hidden clue.

Bai Xuanxin knew better than anyone that an old fox like Mo Juren wouldn't rely solely on doors, windows, and a valley to guard his vital possessions. If there were any important movements in the valley, there was most likely a pair of eyes hidden somewhere high up or in the shadows, silently watching Han Li, the medicine furnace, and everyone coming and going.

So after he entered the valley, although he walked slowly, he always kept his eyes open.

First look at the pillar.

The old pine pillar supporting the weight of the house was half covered by the eaves, and the other half stood straight in front of the medicine shelf. When Bai Xuanxin approached, he seemed to just casually touch a string of dried gourds hanging on it, but his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the almost imperceptible scratches three feet from the top of the pillar.

Three paths.

Thin, short, and slanted into an inverted "人" (person) character.

It doesn't look like a knife, a nail, or a mark that was deliberately carved by someone.

It looks more like the scratches left by some sharp object when it lands, uses its momentum, and rises again.

He glanced at it only once before looking away.

Let's look at the ground again.

In the cracks between the blue bricks at the foot of the medicine shelf, some fine dust and fallen leaves had accumulated. Bai Xuanxin gently brushed them aside with her toe and saw a clump of grayish-white filth dried on the edge of the crack. The color was light, but it was hard, unlike the scattered things that go around like sparrows and crows. It seemed to have the texture of something that would develop after being fed the same food for a long time.

Sure enough, there were birds in the valley.

And it wasn't some wild bird that flew in to forage.

Bai Xuanxin's heart sank slightly, but she still maintained her nonchalant expression and turned to look at the other side of the eaves.

That corner, near the back of the stone house, was usually not easily noticed. But Bai Xuanxin, standing by the medicine shelf, glanced up in the wind and saw several finer scratch marks remaining between the wood grain of the eaves. The marks were shallower than those on the pillars, but denser, as if some kind of bird often perched there, turned around, and flapped its wings to take flight more than once.

It often lands here.

In other words, it doesn't fly randomly in the valley, but has fixed stopping points.

Bai Xuanxin's fingers curled slightly inside her sleeve.

That's where things get interesting.

The fact that a bird can land in a fixed spot indicates that it's not just a random visitor, but rather that it's been tamed, perhaps even accustomed to being fed with medicine residue over a long period. Considering Mo Juren's increasingly strange medicinal scent and Han Li's tense, almost broken state, the bird's purpose isn't hard to guess.

Keep an eye on people.

Warning.

If necessary, it can even disrupt the situation.

His mind raced, but he still casually exchanged a few words about pharmacology with Han Li. He talked about how astragalus is too drying and how to process it so as not to damage the body's fluids and energy. He also casually asked why there had been more use of blazing grass in the valley lately.

Han Li listened very steadily and answered very calmly, but Bai Xuanxin could tell that the nerves in his eyes had never truly relaxed.

When he spoke, even the finest veins behind his ears remained taut.

This made Bai Xuanxin even more certain that the valley was not as peaceful as it appeared on the surface.

As he spoke, he had already spotted the last crucial spot.

The old pine behind the stone house.

The pine tree was extremely ancient, with half of its trunk leaning out at an angle, yet its branches and leaves were still dense. From a distance, it appeared as a dark, dense mass, as if someone had pressed a patch of old night directly behind the house. The most wonderful thing about it was its angle.

Standing on that pine tree, you can see the valley entrance ahead and the medicine racks below. If you turn your head slightly, you can even see the stone house doors and windows and the open space behind the house.

If people in the valley don't specifically look up to search, it's extremely difficult to imagine what might be hidden in that cluster of old pine needles.

This is the eye position.

The first permanent eye position.

The thread in Bai Xuanxin's heart was now completely taut.

Old pine behind the house.

Scratches on the wooden pillar.

Stop at the eaves corner.

Stains in the brick grout lines.

All the evidence is sufficient.

The bird not only exists, but it often perches on the old pine tree behind the house, overlooking most of Shenshou Valley. It may not be present all the time, but it will probably know about any unusual activity in the valley before anyone else.

That's the real trouble.

Bai Xuanxin already understood the relationship between Mo Juren, Qu Hun, and Han Li.

But only today did he truly realize that in the game of God Hand Valley, what he needed to calculate from now on was not just people.

We must also count this pair of "eyes" from a high vantage point.

Seeing that he had been standing there staring for a while, Han Li finally asked:

"What is Senior Brother Bai looking at?"

Bai Xuanxin came to her senses and smiled softly.

"Your medicine shelves in the valley are arranged much more meticulously than they were a few days ago." His gaze naturally slid away from the old pine tree and landed back on the trays of herbs drying in the sun. "The windy, shady, hot and dry herbs and cold and slippery herbs are all separated. It seems you've been busy lately."

Han Li listened and simply said:

"Master Mo has been pressing us hard lately, and there are many things to do in the valley. We can only try our best to sort things out."

Bai Xuanxin nodded, without pressing further.

Some things are best left unsaid.

Going further down the line, it's not about probing, it's about forcing.

Bai Xuanxin has obtained what she truly wanted today.

The medicinal smell in the valley indicated that Mo Juren was speeding up the process;

Han Li's condition indicates that the "Eternal Spring Skill" is nearing its end.

And the bird finally revealed its first true "eye".

He didn't linger any longer, only casually mentioning the combination of angelica and astragalus to Han Li before picking up his empty medicine bag and slowly walking out of the valley.

He walked all the way to the mouth of the valley without looking back.

Only after exiting the gravel path and feeling the mountain wind blowing directly on his face did Bai Xuanxin slowly exhale.

He wasn't sweating on his back, but he felt a slight chill down his spine, as if someone had taken an ice needle and gently traced a line down his back.

It's not fear.

Instead, another piece that hadn't been properly placed has appeared on the chessboard.

He originally thought that keeping an eye on Mo Juren, Han Li, and taking Qu Hun into account in advance was enough to solve the deadlock at Shenshou Valley. But only now does he realize that it is not enough.

If that night really comes, and I sneak into the valley following the route in my mind, I'm afraid that before I can even make a move, the bird above my head will have already seen me for Mo Juren.

In this way, what awaited him was not a sneak attack, but a counterattack that Mo Juren had been preparing for a long time.

Thinking of this, Bai Xuanxin slowed down a bit.

Next, he no longer had to just keep an eye on the medicinal smell of Divine Hand Valley and Han Li's expression.

He has to include the bird in the count:

When will it take off?

When will it fall back?

Where do they usually park?

And at what time of day is it easiest to "be bearish"?

The old pine tree is just the first one.

We still need to keep touching it.

Bai Xuanxin pulled her clothes tighter and walked back along the slightly damp mountain path after the rain. The mountain wind blew through the forest, causing the withered leaves on both sides to rustle softly, like someone slowly turning the beads on an abacus in the dark.

The situation at Shenshou Valley is no longer just a rough outline.

From that moment on, in Bai Xuanxin's heart, it finally began, little by little, to truly take on the form of being able to understand.