Days melted one into the next as the group prepared for their visit to Bufa City. Wu Ling was able to finish his first set of totems, presenting each member of the group with something carved from the bones of the wolves they fought in their first serious fight as a team. Meanwhile, in his exploration with Xiong Dahuo, Yu Jinqi was able to retrieve a few additional precious herbs from the shores of the lake and even made his first successful elixir using some of the ingredients they'd harvested on the journey.
While Fang Lin, Jin Wuya, and Su Xiang never managed to break through during their final days at the lakeside camp, all of them felt that they were approaching the barrier that separated them from their next step forward and that a breakthrough could come at any time.
The last day the group spent at the lake, Wu Ling put aside his carving tools and brought out a fresh canvas and paints. It had been over a month since they left and the journey had really only just begun. Since they were going to visit Bufa City however, he wanted to take advantage of the sect's chapterhouse to send a message home.
The canvas he prepared was small enough to be carried by the sect's communication tools, but he still put a tremendous amount of detail into the piece, spending an entire day painting the lake, the forest around their camp, and the bamboo huts the group had lived in for most of a month.
By now, Yao Meifeng and Su Yao should have finished their orientations to the Bamboo Silk House. He had no doubt that Meifeng had already begun taking on missions for the sect, and Su Yao would likely start helping with some soon as well.
There had been times during the past several days that he'd debated about returning to Silver Sword City to fetch them, but it was still too soon, particularly for Su Yao. All he could do was send a few letters to let them know that everyone was well and to give them a taste of the world he was seeing on his travels.
By now, the group had grown accustomed to seeing Wu Ling as 'Hua Qianhu' and no longer stumbled over their words when using his feminine name. Things were still awkward occasionally, especially with Yu Jinqi and Fang Lin who never seemed to entirely recover from Wu Ling's accidental enchantment, or at least that's how he chose to think about it. The notion that he might have stirred genuine attraction in either of the two men was far too uncomfortable for him to think about.
Wu Ling had estimated that it would take them five to six days to reach Bufa City, however, Yu Jinqi provided a pleasant surprise when they took their first break on the first day of hiking through the foothills.
"This elixir is very mild," the young alchemist explained when he handed everyone a small porcelain bottle. "It can only barely be considered an elixir. The ingredients are fairly common and I've been able to harvest enough to make dozens of these as practice for my exams," he added.
"I have great confidence in Brother Yu's concoctions," Zhang Buyan said, opening the small bottle and sniffing at the green liquid that smelled heavily of grass and copper. "What does it do?"
"It's a very basic Elixir of Earthly Endurance," Yu Jinqi said with a hint of pride in his voice. In the past month, he'd concocted so many of these elixirs that he could all but do it blindfolded! "It cleanses fatigue from the muscles, soothes aches, and bolsters recovery. It won't take the place of a meal, but the body will absorb more energy from food and lose less water to sweat while under its effects."
"I'll take two," Fang Lin said, instantly raising his hand, though he didn't stand up from the fallen tree he'd collapsed on. "Or however many will make my legs stop feeling like the earth is shaking while I walk."
"Just one, Brother Fang," Yu Jinqi said with a smile, passing over a bottle before drinking one down itself. "It should be extra beneficial to Brother Fang in rebuilding the muscles of your legs."
In fact, not only was the elixir beneficial to Fang Lin, but it also gave everyone a small boon as they trekked through the forest toward Bufa City. Within two days, they had reached the first outlying village near the shadowed city.
Fengshu village wasn't anything extraordinary. Populated by a few hundred mortals, it was lorded over by a pair of late-stage Brawlers from the Swift Wind gang. According to the master of the inn where Wu Ling and his companions spent the night, the village paid tribute to the gang in exchange for protection from spirit beasts and occasional cultivators who caused trouble.
It wasn't an uncommon arrangement in villages throughout the mountains and as long as the cultivators providing protection didn't abuse the villagers, no one seemed to mind their presence.
Once the party left the village, they found the first to the 'roads' leading to Bufa City. Calling it a road was a charitable exaggeration, rather, it was a narrow trail worn by countless years of men and mules carrying goods back and forth to the shadowed city. Within half a day, however, the well-worn trail merged with another, and a third, before eventually becoming a path wide enough for three horses to ride abreast.
Finally, on the fourth day since leaving their lakeside camp, the group descended into a valley between two small mountains and worked their way toward the source of a deep, meandering stream. The closer they came to the headwaters of the stream, the more the air itself felt charged with spiritual energy.
Trees in the valley grew taller than they should be able to, the leaves of sword ferns gleamed with a faint hint of silvery sharpness and even the mosquitos buzzing about seemed twice the size they should be.
"What is wrong with this place?" Fang Lin asked, swinging his bamboo walking stick at a particularly large mosquito. When the staff struck the aggressive bug, rather than instantly splattering it, the insect sailed through the air before impacting a nearby tree with an audible -SPLAT-, drawing a shudder from more than one member of the group.
"Supposedly," Xiong Dahuo began, "Bufa City is built on top of an abandoned spirit crystal mine. This whole area used to be home to some of the most powerful Spirit Beasts to roam the mountains and my sect used to hunt here frequently."
"Once all of the spirit crystals had been hauled away though, the energy of the place weakened and all that's left are things like these," he finished, swatting a mosquito of his own and shaking his hand in disgust at the mess of insect remains clinging to his palm.
"Thankfully, it's not far," Wu Ling said, relieved that the oversized insects seemed too frightened of Hou's presence on his shoulder to attempt to bite him. The dress he'd chosen for today was made of yellow and orange silk embroidered with red feathers around the hem and he'd chosen it because it was lightweight and easy to move in. Against even normal-sized mosquitoes, it would offer no protection from the bloodsucking bugs. Against these monsters, he might as well have been a naked meal.
"Look up ahead," Wu Ling said, pointing to a spot half a li further along the road. There, a tall wooden wall blocked further travel, and large wooden gates were guarded by several men in rough tunics and breeches.
When the group approached the gate, everyone but Wu Ling and Yu Jinqi faltered when they encountered the menacing aura spilling from the men in rough tunics. Su Xiang recovered the fastest but her heart still trembled when she realized that none of these roughly dressed men were weaker than the bandit leader Funglun!
She'd only managed to defeat the bandit leader because Wu Ling had poisoned him and he'd sent Yue along to protect her. Even then, it had taken Wu Ling and Hou's intervention at the end to actually defeat the man.