Chapter 159: So a piece of paper

After observing the starry sky from the temple for a while, Ji Yuan returned to his room to sleep.

The bed inside, padded with straw and cotton, was quite comfortable, especially since the straw was evenly laid and new. However, such a bed would require regular straw changes.

He took off his shoes, loosened his clothes, and lay down on his side. The jade slip above his pillow had been replaced with one for the "Water Control Spell," a technique of water manipulation even more authentic than those found in orthodox immortal schools.

Around midnight, Ji Yuan awoke from his sleep, hearing some movement outside the temple courtyard.

The two Taoist priests opposite him were sound asleep, but Ji Yuan sat up, put on his outer robe, got out of bed, opened the door, and stepped outside.

The mountain breeze was cool. Ji Yuan lightly leaped onto the roof of the temple kitchen, making not a single sound throughout the entire process.

The kitchen wall connected to the courtyard wall. One of the kitchen's two doors faced the courtyard, while the other faced outwards. Two animals, about the size of small cats, were rummaging outside the latter door, chewing on discarded bone fragments and other scraps that had been temporarily left there.

Gnawing sounds filled the air.

"Crunch!" followed by a low growl.

The two wild animals occasionally fought over the scraps, emitting threatening snarls.

Ji Yuan slowly sat down on the kitchen roof, intrigued. He was clean and pure, emitting no scent, and he deliberately made no sound, so as not to scare the feeding animals.

Observing their small bodies and relatively sharp teeth, with small heads, long slender bodies, and slightly large tails, they didn't seem to be felines.

'Are these weasels? Some kind of mountain mustelid? They must be a type of marten!'

Animals like jackals, wolves, tigers, leopards, foxes, and monkeys were easily identifiable, even with Ji Yuan's poor eyesight. However, these two small creatures were harder for him to distinguish clearly. He was sure they weren't cats or squirrels, though.

The animals were fighting over some fish bones and vegetable scraps soaked in a bit of fish soup. Ji Yuan and Qi Wen had eaten quite cleanly, so there wasn't much meat left.

Although these two small animals seemed intelligent, Ji Yuan couldn't discern anything particularly special about them yet. He had, after all, seen many clever animals in his two lifetimes. His current observation from the rooftop was purely out of interest.

There weren't many bones and scraps left. The two small animals vied to eat some small bones and licked marrow from fish spines. All that remained were inedible large bones.

Even so, both animals eventually walked off, each carrying a bone in its mouth, probably just to lick the flavor if they couldn't eat it.

But after walking only about twenty to twenty-five meters outside the temple, a night owl suddenly swooped down from a mountain tree, flapping its wings.

"Hooting... cackling..."

Sensing danger, the two small animals on the ground let out a series of urgent cries, and the night owl extended its sharp talons.

A sharp cry pierced the air.

With a sharp animal shriek, one of the small animals was caught by the night owl.

The sound of flapping wings, animal snarls, and owl hoots created a cacophony.

Ji Yuan remained seated on the temple kitchen roof, listening and watching. He heard clearly, though he couldn't see perfectly, and he understood well what was happening—this was simply the way of survival in the wild.

However, in this situation, the other animal, presumably a marten, which should have fled immediately, instead lunged at the owl with bared teeth and claws, fighting for its life against the bird whose beak was like a sickle and talons like knives.

The night owl flapped its wings, trying to fly up, while the animal clutched in its talons struggled fiercely, even turning its head to bite the owl's leg.

"Hoo!"

In pain, the night owl frantically flapped its wings and thrashed its talons, simultaneously pecking at the marten with its sharp beak. In just a few pecks, the marten's skin was torn and its flesh exposed.

The other marten, meanwhile, furiously pounced on the owl, biting its wing.

"Hoo-woo..."

Flapping sounds filled the air.

The night owl finally released its prey and flew away, flapping its wings. Both small animals were injured, the one initially caught appearing almost lifeless. Even so, it still struggled to move, straining to hide in a nearby bush. Ji Yuan knew they hadn't left, or rather, were temporarily unable and unwilling to leave.

That reaction didn't necessarily indicate that the two small animals had awakened their spiritual intelligence. Spiritual awakening in animals is different from mere cleverness and emotion; the character "spirit" (灵) is always first, representing the beginning of an essential transformation.

Nevertheless, it was undeniable that animals that achieve spiritual intelligence typically start as cleverer and more emotional wild beasts.

Ji Yuan stood up, intending to turn and leave, but before doing so, he considered for a moment. With a gesture, a fresh fish tail, weighing about one to one and a half kilograms, flew out from inside the kitchen.

He touched the fish meat, infusing a faint trace of spiritual energy into it. Then, using a few blades of grass from the ground as string, he threaded them through a hole in the fish tail and tossed it under the eaves.

As the fish tail fell, it neatly hooked onto a wooden window ledge by the kitchen's outer door. There it swung back and forth, seemingly about to fall to the ground at any moment but never quite dropping. After about seven or eight breaths, its swaying gradually diminished, and it became still.

The fish tail was only about thirty centimeters above the ground. The spiritual energy within it was but a subtle wisp; eating this meat would offer slight benefits to their injuries and fill their bellies, but nothing more.

By the time the fish tail steadied, the person on the kitchen roof had vanished. It was unclear whether the two small beasts would be bold enough to take the fish tail, or if the night owl or other wild animals might snatch the meat instead.

'If the fish tail is still there tomorrow morning, I'll use it for cooking.'

With this thought, Ji Yuan returned indoors. Instead of lying down again, he suddenly had another idea. He pulled a crumpled piece of white paper from the bundle by his bed and went outside once more.

Ji Yuan then stepped out, his movements as light as smoke or willow floss, treading lightly on the mountain rocks as if leaping across a mountain stream, heading towards the summit of Misty Peak.

Qing Teng Sword, which had been leaning by his bed, sensed Ji Yuan leaving the temple and climbing upwards. It immediately floated up, passed through the indoor window, and pursued its master.

Cloud Mountain Temple itself was located above the halfway point of Misty Peak, not at the summit. However, its position was high enough that it only took Ji Yuan a dozen breaths to reach the top.

The summit of Misty Peak was an area about twenty to twenty-five meters square, clear of rocks and trees. Being open on all sides, the mountain wind was much stronger there than below.

Sitting cross-legged on a flat boulder, Ji Yuan took out the white paper from his robe. He rubbed both sides of the paper with his hands, smoothing out the wrinkles.

With his left hand supporting and his right index finger serving as a brush, Ji Yuan began to write on the white paper. Though there was no ink, he wove magic power onto it, a combination of decree and sympathetic magic. Ji Yuan was quite adept at such small inventions.

After writing, he felt it, and to be safe, Ji Yuan infused a bit more subtle magic power, spreading it across the entire surface of the paper.

"Hmm, now to test if my craftsmanship has deteriorated. This is how you fold it, right?" Ji Yuan muttered, then began to work on the white paper, folding and trying repeatedly. The paper wrinkled and smoothed out again. After several attempts, a delicate paper crane appeared in his hand.

"Phew... not bad, not bad at all!"

He carefully examined the paper crane from all angles, confirming its intricate beauty before feeling relieved. Then, Ji Yuan dipped his index finger in a bit of saliva from his tongue and, without touching, inscribed a character on each of the crane's wings: "Fan" on the left and "Move" on the right.

"That should do it. I'll trouble you to make a trip."

Ji Yuan wasn't speaking to the paper crane; he was addressing Qing Teng Sword behind him. This small paper crane could never fly thousands of mountains and rivers on its own.

Ji Yuan took one of his long hairs, wrapped it several times around the paper crane's neck, and then tied it to the hilt of Qing Teng Sword.

"Go."

As soon as his master spoke, Qing Teng Sword immediately lifted the paper crane into the high-altitude winds, protecting its body with sword energy, then transformed into a streak of light and sped away towards the direction of the capital.

Watching Qing Teng Sword depart, Ji Yuan did not descend the mountain. Reaching the summit wasn't just for sending a message; he could have done that from Cloud Mountain Temple. The main reason was to witness the sunrise.

Even the paper crane was a spontaneous little experiment.

After waiting for a good part of the night in the cold wind, the eastern sky began to lighten, revealing faint golden light. Moments later, the entire Cloud Mountain area appeared as if the sun was rising from a sea of clouds.

Not to mention the natural gathering of cloud and mist spiritual energy, Ji Yuan couldn't help but widen his eyes; the beauty of the sunrise over a sea of clouds was something he experienced for the first time in this life.

It was sunrise at Cloud Mountain, but in the capital, the sky was still gray and dim.

Qing Teng Sword traversed thousands of miles, breaking through the high-altitude winds above the Tongtian River in Qizhou. It descended precisely, hovering above the River Goddess's Temple next to Scholar's Ferry.

The sword hummed faintly, and Ji Yuan's long hair detached from its hilt, now wrapped entirely around the paper crane's neck.

After the paper crane free-fell and was buffeted by the wind a few times, something magical happened.

The paper crane began to flap its wings, stabilizing its wind-blown form, then glided down towards the River Goddess's Temple.

Qing Teng Sword waited in the air for a moment. Seeing the paper crane enter the temple, it ascended again and departed.

Inside the River Goddess Temple on Tongtian River.

A paper crane, like a silent bird, flew through the temple corridors, past the buildings, and finally through a transom window into the main hall.

After circling the statue of the River Goddess a few times, the paper crane landed on her right hand, a faint glow flickering before it became still.

About a quarter of an hour later, a graceful woman in splendid robes arrived in haste. The still-closed temple doors did not hinder her; she eventually pushed open the main hall doors and stepped inside.

Upon entering the main hall, the Dragon Lady looked up, her gaze immediately drawn to the right hand of her statue. With a gesture, a paper crane flew to her palm.

As soon as the paper crane landed in the Dragon Lady's palm, it flapped its wings twice, prompting her to curiously poke it a couple of times. But then the paper crane showed no more signs of life.

"What kind of spell is this? It's quite fun. Is this Uncle Ji's hair?"

Subconsciously pulling the hair from the paper crane, the paper crane in the Dragon Lady's hand then revealed its sympathetic magic, relaying Ji Yuan's message to Ying Ruoli, the Dragon Lady.

For a long time, after the message was fully transmitted, the Dragon Lady stared at the paper crane in disbelief, examining it closely multiple times. No matter how she looked, it appeared to be just an ordinary piece of Xuan paper.

"No way... this single piece of paper, it flew three thousand kilometers? This..."