“So, where are you from?” Yu Chen asked Cang Wuji, as they sat around the small campfire they’d made in the midst of the rocky terrain.
Cang Wuji grunted in reply, turning the leg of the boar that hung over the fire and watching as fat drops of oil sizzled, landing in the crackling embers.
“Me? I’m not from anywhere.” Cang Wuji said, staring into the fire with a wry look on his face. His lips were crooked in a slight smile, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. “I’m just another river rat.”
Yu Chen frowned at the term. He’d never heard it before and looked in askance at the other boy.
“What’s a river rat?”
“You really are from a third rate sect aren’t you?” Cang Wuji said with a laugh.
Yu Chen tossed a small rock at him, but there was no anger behind it. Cang Wuji leaned back, letting the rock whistle by before continuing to speak with a shrug.
“It’s a slang term for all the orphans that grow up around the river. There’s a lot of them, so many they swarm around like rats. No matter where you go you’ll find a few of the dirty little buggers.”
Despite his words his tone was fond.
“The river wouldn’t be the same without them.”
Yu Chen cocked his head as he looked towards the other boy. “River? You mean the yellow river?” That was the only river he’d ever heard of after all.
Cang Wuji looked at the other boy as though he’d lost his mind.
“Is there another one I don’t know about?” He said, his face full of confusion as he looked towards Yu Chen. “Ah!” He said, snapping his fingers. “I’ve heard that some of these tributary systems do name their local branch of the river. What do you all call it around here? The Tianyun river?”
Cang Wuji’s words only further confused Yu Chen. He knew what Tianyun was of course. That was the name of the empire, the one he was technically a part of, and the same one from which he’d escaped conscription. However, he’d never heard of the Tianyun river.
The conversation lapsed for a while as Yu Chen gathered his thoughts. The meat had finished cooking while they talked so he made himself busy cutting some off of the leg, enough for both him and Lue She, who was comfortably nestled on a warm rock near the fire.
He laid her meat on a rock beside her, before taking a look around the area.
They were sitting outside of a small cave they’d cleared of inhabitants. They’d found it while looking for a place to sleep. The urge had crept up on them, the boys having lost track of the passage of time under the unchanging sun. It turned out that the formation that controlled the flow of time here hadn’t affected the motion of the heavens.
As such, it was still as bright as midday, despite Yu Chen having been in the realm long enough to feel tired.
“So you were born along the yellow river? What’s it like?” Yu Chen asked before taking a large bite out of the steaming meat. He’d always been curious about the place, given Xiao Huang’s connection to the river, and he was interested to hear the other boy’s thoughts.
Cang Wuji’s fingers stilled, the meat halfway to his mouth hanging forgotten as he looked towards Yu Chen in astonishment.
“You’ve truly never laid eyes on the river?” The boy asked in disbelief as he stared at Yu Chen.
“No?” Yu Chen said in amusement. “I grew up in a shepherd’s hut. Before going to the sect I’d never been further than half a day's travel from home.”
Cang Wuji stared at the boy in wonder, before falling back laughing.
“Not just a third rate sect but a country bumpkin as well!”
Yu Chen felt his ears go red as Cang Wuji rolled on the floor, laughing until he cried.
“What do you mean!” He cried, leaping across the fire to pummel the other boy.
Lue She ignored the two boys as they tumbled across the ground, giving the meat a sniff instead. Satisfied, she took a delicate bite, eating like a lady. Eventually the two boys stopped their roughhousing and stood up, returning to their seats to eat.
“You’re too sensitive Yu Chen!” Cang Wuji chided. “I’m just teasing you. At least you had people who cared for you right? That’s gotta be worth something.” Cang Wuji said, his eyes flashing with mischief before continuing. “Even if it means being born in the ass-end of nowhere.”
Yu Chen ignored the barb. He began probing Cang Wuji for information, trying to dig out whatever it was the other boy knew. Geography wasn’t something Yu Chen had never considered, having had no need for it. As far as he knew his little village was just one of many that made up the mighty Tianyun empire, and the yellow river was just some stream of water that ran throughout it.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Of course to Cang Wuji the idea was laughable. Comparing the tiny Tianyun empire to the mighty Yellow River? The river could swallow the empire without a gulp, and no one would know it was gone.
Yu Chen simply didn’t have the frame of reference to grasp what the other boy was saying. The largest body of water he’d ever seen was a creek, and in his mind a river was really just a big creek. Even if it was a really large creek, maybe the size of a lake or pond in width, so what?
According to Cang Wuji, his view was entirely backwards. It was water that covered the world, and land was just a small part of it. All of the sages knew it to be thus. How wide was the Yellow River? It was the passage of weeks, to cross it, and one might never see land. How far did it run?
According to Cang Wuji, no one knew, and if any had reached the end they’d never return to tell the tale. You could go upstream or downstream, it didn’t matter. As far as Cang Wuji knew the river ran to the edges of the earth, and you’d die of old age before arriving there.
And there was only the one river, no others.
A million streams fed into it, and a million more led out, crisscrossing the land in a vast connected weave, but each one was still the Yellow River, in the same way the roots and branches formed a tree.
To the people of the world the river was a sacred place, and the source of all life. It was the cradle of civilization, the lifeblood that fed and sustained the countless millions that thronged its shores. This was the reason behind Cang Wuji’s disbelief.
The river was everything to his mind, and to depart from it was only to travel towards ruin. The further one went the more savage and unforgiving the land became. It was the domain of spirit beasts, and only the strongest could survive in a land so bereft of energy where treasures were few and far between.
Yu Chen felt humbled as he spoke. He knew he came from simpler beginnings, but he’d truly had no idea how large the world was. His heart began beating palpably as the urge to see the river rose up once more.
How powerful was Xiao Huang exactly? The thought entered his mind unbidden. The little fellow was a braggart and quite full of himself, but the things he’d spoken of
The World Tree at the source of the river, and the creatures that existed there, dragons, phoenixes and more. He’d told him tales about the true legends of the world, and had even claimed to have been birthed from myth.
They were things that Cang Wuji, someone who’d spoken of the yellow river with reverence, hadn’t even mentioned.
“One day you’ll see it for yourself.” Cang Wuji said with certainty as he saw the look of longing cross Yu Chen’s face. “The strong are drawn to the river like iron to a lodestone. I can tell that you’re no different.”
“Perhaps I’ll be there to see you see it!” Cang Wuji said with a laugh. “Now that would be a sight. You’ve never even seen a stretch of water you couldn’t see the other side of have you?”
Yu Chen shook his head in denial, an amused smile on his lips. See it? Truth be told, he couldn’t even imagine it.
He finished his dinner in amiable silence before dusting himself off and bidding Cang Wuji goodnight, retreating into the cave to sleep.
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They woke early the next morning, setting out to explore the realm for more treasures.
They’d spent the night at the foot of a small mountainous section that thrust out of the valley like an angry finger. Leaving the cave, they circled around it, heading deeper into the jungle. Yu Chen was still thinking about the conversation from the night before when his steps faltered.
There was a strange aura emitting from this part of the rock. He looked at Cang Wuji and the other boy nodded. In lockstep they approached closer, coming to a halt once they saw the visible deposit of jadeite pressing out of the surface of the rock.
“What do you think?” Cang Wuji asked conversationally as he glanced towards the other boy.
Yu Chen raised his hand to his chin considering the treasure in front of them.
“It gives off a soothing feeling.” He said. “It must be a treasure of some sort, but I don’t see anything guarding it.”
Cang Wuji gave a light snort, pulling his staff from his back before twirling it through his hands.
“Yea, well they’re there, they always are. Let's get on with it then.”
Yu Chen nodded in agreement and the two stepped forward, approaching the rock wall. Nothing strange appeared, so he began hammering away, attempting to break the jade free of the wall. As he hit it for a third time a sudden sense of danger suffused him.
He looked up, watching as a piece of the mountain peeled away, falling upon him. He let loose a curse as the heavy thing hit him, knocking him to the ground. It thrashed atop him, and Yu Chen let out a shout of pain as it bit into him. Rolling away, he watched in horror as more pieces of the mountain rose up, defending the treasure.
They were lizards he realized, great big things that had camouflaged into the wall to the point they’d blended in seamlessly. He let out a groan, rubbing his injured bicep, before leaping back into the fray.
Cang Wuji was already laying about with his staff, spinning like a tempest, and every blow he landed cracked with the sound of broken bone. Yu Chen wouldn’t be outdone, and set about with his fists, stunning a lizard with every blow.
Even Lue She joined in the fun, shooting out of his collar to bite deep into an unsuspecting lizard that had tried to approach him, hanging on to it as it slowly stumbled to a halt before falling to the ground, venom coursing through its veins.
The fight didn’t take long, coming to a quick end once their foes revealed themselves. The lizards were apparently ambush predators, and displayed no other great advantages.
Finished, Yu Chen went back to prying the jade out of the wall, while Cang Wuji busied himself retrieving the beast cores from their corpses.
With a final grunt the rock pulled free of the wall.
The soothing effect he’d felt from a distance had only grown stronger as he’d approached. Now that it was in his hands, the only thing he could feel was serenity. It was as though all of his negative thoughts, all of the concerns and worries, had dissipated, disappearing into the aether.
“What is it?” Cang Wuji asked as he came to stand beside him.
“Dunno, seems valuable though.” Yu Chen said in response, still enamored by the chunk of jade he held.
“It’s a chunk of soul-cleansing jade. Useful for soul refinement, but not much else. Well, it can also help one when breaking through, by cleansing negative emotions and memories, but that’s a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”
“Makes sense.” Cang Wuji said sagely, putting his hands behind the back of his head before turning around in surprise. “Who are you?!”