Chapter 48
Chapter 48: Purple Luo Jade Branch
Fang Xun Zuo’s intentions were clearly suspect, and the Fen Yu Sect group knew it. But with so many eyes on them, they couldn’t find a clean way to refuse.
The only one with authority was Fan Shu Ping—the “senior brother” they kept calling—and the only one among them at the fifth level of the Qi Refining Stage.
He shot Fang Xun Zuo a cold glance, careful not to make it too obvious, then said after a brief pause, “Please speak, Fellow Daoist.”
“Senior Brother!” The others didn’t dare disobey, but the yellow-dressed girl clung to Fan Shu Ping’s side, teeth clenched.
Even the spectators could tell they were closer than the rest. Zhao Chun could see it clearly: their brows and eyes held a faint resemblance. Blood, not romance.
The girl was indeed Fan Shu Ping’s kin—his cousin from his maternal aunt’s side, not a sibling. She shared Zhao Chun’s surname and was called Zhao Zhan Qian.
Between the Fan and Zhao families, each had a Foundation Establishment cultivator, both holding high status within the Fen Yu Sect. They’d long been on friendly terms. Later, as the two Foundation Establishment cultivators joined families through marriage ties, the alliance only deepened.
Zhao Zhan Qian was a late-born daughter with high seniority in her family. Doted on from childhood, she’d grown spoiled. Once she was found to have a spiritual root, she naturally joined the Fen Yu Sect. She became Fan Shu Ping’s junior sister by sect rank, and because the exact family title between them felt awkward, she simply addressed him as “Senior Brother.”
Fan Shu Ping steadied her with one hand and murmured, “Don’t rush… Let’s see what he plans to do.”
Fang Xun Zuo didn’t even glance their way. He reached into his robe and drew out a long jade box. With a flick, he opened the lid.
Inside lay a flower-branch spirit object. Its bud was tightly closed, only the tip barely unfurling. Thin twigs held oval leaves as delicate as cicada wings. The entire plant—flower, leaf, and branch—was a deep, luminous purple, translucent as agate, shimmering with flowing light.
A ripple went through the crowd. People leaned forward to see.
Fang Xun Zuo snapped the lid shut again, and the brilliance vanished, leaving only a thread of strange fragrance in the air.
In that instant, the entire mood changed.
Around Zhao Chun, breaths sped up. Heartbeats thundered.
Some cultivators didn’t know what it was. They only saw the divine glow and sensed it wasn’t ordinary. Greed rose in their eyes like smoke, fixing hard on the jade box in Fang Xun Zuo’s hand.
Others recognized it. Zhao Chun did too.
Heng Yun World was vast, with countless spirit herbs scattered across different regions. Some great cultivators traveled widely and recorded such things in a Spirit Materials Compendium for disciples to study. Zhao Chun kept several volumes in her residence and often read them while meditating.
If she remembered correctly, the object was called the Purple Luo Jade Branch. It was unusual even in the compendium—classified as both spirit herb and spirit ore. It grew like a flower, yet its body looked like jade and metal. It fed on spiritual qi from earth veins and was exceedingly rare.
More importantly, if it was harvested in time, it did not truly “die.” It entered something like sleep, its spark of life preserved.
Relying on that spark, it could accept a thread of qi from a cultivator and then exhale it from the flower’s mouth. That thread would drift toward what the cultivator sought.
But the target needed to carry the cultivator’s own imprint. It couldn’t be used to locate someone else’s possessions.
That function fit Fan Shu Ping’s missing treasure perfectly. If Fang Xun Zuo was willing to lend the Purple Luo Jade Branch, proving where the Water-Jade Thousand Mountains Treasure Vase was—or wasn’t—would be easy.
Zhao Chun studied Fang Xun Zuo more carefully.
If he carried such an object and knew its tracking use, there was no way he didn’t know the rest.
If it only tracked things, why would even late-stage Qi Refining cultivators suddenly fall silent with held breath?
The compendium called it a natural spirit object with the nickname “earth-vein kin.” It was considered a treasure for metal- and wood-aspected Foundation Establishment cultivators—yet even for them, using it only for that was still seen as wasting its true potential.
At the Essence Condensation Stage, there was a bottleneck known as Primordial Spirit Light-Splitting. Once crossed, a cultivator could enter the Profound Division Stage. Most who broke through gained a protective spiritual light, but three rare lights were said to stand above all others: Bao Guang, which could turn living essence back; the Heaven-Earth Profound Light, which commanded vast power; and the Divine Power Dharma Light of creation—lights only the truly fated could touch.
If an Essence Condensation cultivator had the Purple Luo Jade Branch to assist them, they could split out the Life-Reversing Mystic Light and step into the Profound Division Stage with superior attainment.
That was the object’s true value.
Even Essence Condensation experts would covet it.
Fang Xun Zuo dared to produce it on a crowded ship. He must have prepared a way out.
Zhao Chun’s eyes cooled. And then it clicked—of course. A rogue cultivator with a treasure like this didn’t survive by luck alone. He was here with a plan.
Fang Xun Zuo didn’t name the Purple Luo Jade Branch. He only explained the tracking function to Fan Shu Ping, swore his credibility on the name of the Fu Qing Four Wayfarers, and then turned to Zhao Chun with a polite smile.
“You were dragged into this by accident,” he said. “Why not serve as a witness? That would clear both our names. Fellow Daoist, what do you say?”
Zhao Chun was curious too. She stepped forward. “All right.”
Then she cupped her hands toward the Fen Yu Sect disciples. “I am Zhao Chun, a disciple of the Ling Zhen Sect of Secluded Valley. I can stake my name that this object has the effect Fellow Daoist Fang described.”
The Ling Zhen Sect still counted as a major sect, with a Profound Division expert seated within. In the Southern Domain, its name had once carried real weight. On this ship, most people had heard of it—including the Fen Yu Sect disciples. Zhao Chun’s declaration eased some of their suspicion.
She sighed inwardly. These disciples had clear eyes and upright hearts—sincere, but too easily driven by emotion. Earlier they’d been ready to treat her as an enemy. Now that she claimed a sect background, their anger eased at once.
On the cultivation path, that kind of temperament was dangerous. If they didn’t learn better…
their road would be short.
Fang Xun Zuo didn’t care about their lessons. He lifted his chin and said, “Let the treasure vase’s master send a thread of qi into this object. After a short time, that thread will drift toward the treasure vase’s location.”
Fan Shu Ping hesitated, then raised his hand above the jade box. Fang Xun Zuo opened the lid, and Fan Shu Ping drew a thin thread of qi from his dantian and fed it into the Purple Luo Jade Branch.
Fang Xun Zuo shut the lid again. “This will show that the treasure vase is not on my brothers.”
The Fen Yu Sect disciples bristled. Their anger surged again—until Zhao Chun nodded once, confirming the logic.
Zhao Zhan Qian immediately stepped forward, voice sharp. “The treasure is yours, the power is yours, and the result is whatever you decide it is! How is that proof?”
She lunged for the jade box. “This is fake! You thieves are trying to fool us!”
Fang Xun Zuo snapped the box back, expression darkening as he prepared to strike.
Then the entire deck went dead silent.
A voice rolled down from above, deep and broad, carrying weight like a mountain.
“Ignorant children. You cannot recognize a treasure.”
“The farce ends here. Come up and speak with me.”
The pressure in that voice dwarfed anything Zhao Chun had felt from Li Shu. Only Qiu Silhouette might have compared.
Her brows knit.
A late Essence Condensation expert had intervened.