Chapter Thirty-Six: Mount Azure Cloud

It appeared to be an elderly man, his gait unsteady and wavering. With every step he took, his cane struck the ground, echoing with a dull, rhythmic thud.

Though the distance was not far, the old man took almost three minutes to reach us. By the pale moonlight, I could make out his face—wizened and deeply lined, the skin drawn tight over his bones.

“Was it you who asked me to come here?” I asked, testing the waters.

The old man nodded and was suddenly seized by a fit of coughing. When at last he caught his breath, his voice came out hoarse and raspy.

“Young man, do you know who I am?”

I thought to myself, Is this old geezer out of his mind? How would I know who you are? You never told me.

I shook my head and replied, “No idea. Just tell me what you want from me.”

Beside me, Lin Weiyan tugged at my sleeve. I glanced over and saw her trembling.

What’s wrong with Lin Weiyan? I had never seen her so frightened before. Could it be because of this old man?

I lowered my voice and asked her, “What’s the matter?”

She replied that she didn’t know herself—just that the sight of this old man made her shiver uncontrollably.

The old man made no answer to my question, instead coughing again. I drew Lin Weiyan behind me and watched as the old man struggled for breath.

After a while, the coughing subsided. He fixed his gaze on me and spoke slowly.

“Have you ever heard of the God of Death?”

The God of Death?

I couldn’t recall ever hearing such a thing, though I had seen the movie “Final Destination.”

So I shook my head, indicating I hadn’t heard of it.

The old man smiled faintly, then said, “I am the God of Death.”

Looking at his frail, haggard appearance, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re the God of Death? Then what am I—the God of Fire?”

Hearing this, the old man shook his head.

“Are you searching for the Soul-Capturing Pearl?”

His words struck me like a bolt from the blue. I had never spoken of my search for the Soul-Capturing Pearl to anyone—only the Emperor knew about it.

How could this old man know? Did the Emperor tell him? But that explanation was impossible.

So I neither confirmed nor denied his words, choosing instead to ask, “Who exactly are you?”

“I’ve already told you. I am the God of Death,” he replied slowly.

Then he continued, “And I know where the Soul-Capturing Pearl is. Are you interested?”

He didn’t seem to be lying. Could he truly be the God of Death?

“Then tell me, where is the Soul-Capturing Pearl?”

The old man chuckled, then began coughing once more.

“There is no such thing as a free lunch. I can tell you the whereabouts of the Soul-Capturing Pearl, but you must pay a price.”

I had thought he was here to help me, but it turned out he wanted to make a deal.

“What price? Let’s hear it,” I said.

He coughed twice and replied, “I want you to do three things for me. What do you say?”

“What three things? If you don’t tell me what they are, how can I agree? What if you want me to commit murder or arson?” I said.

He reassured me, “You needn’t worry. I won’t ask you to do anything so senseless. As for what I want, I’ll tell you when the time comes.”

“Fine. As long as it’s not murder or arson, I agree,” I said.

“Good. Then we have a deal,” he replied.

With that, he drew a brocade pouch from his robe and tossed it to me.

“This will guide you to the Soul-Capturing Pearl,” he said.

No sooner had he spoken than he turned away and slowly made his way back the way he’d come, vanishing into the moonlight.

Lin Weiyan, beside me, seemed much better than before. She looked at me and asked, “Brother Chu Yun, are you searching for the Soul-Capturing Pearl? Why have I never heard you mention it? What do you want it for?”

I replied, “Let’s talk while we walk.”

On our way back, I didn’t go into detail, only telling her that the Soul-Capturing Pearl could help me rid myself of the Red-Eyed Demon Pupil.

It wasn’t exactly a lie—after all, once I handed the Pearl over to the Emperor, he would remove the Red-Eyed Demon Pupil from me.

By the time we returned to the villa, it was already the dead of night.

I realized I had hardly slept at all lately, always up until the small hours.

Entering my room, I couldn’t wait to take out the pouch the old man had given me.

What could be inside that would help me find the Soul-Capturing Pearl?

I opened it and found a triangular jade pendant.

The front was smooth, but on the back were three seal-script characters: “Qianyun Token.”

I stared at the inscription for a long time.

What did it mean? Was this jade pendant really supposed to guide me to the Soul-Capturing Pearl? The more I looked at it, the more I felt I’d been duped—that the old man had been playing a trick on me.

Just as I was about to curse him, the pendant suddenly gave off a flash of light.

Where the face had been blank, words now appeared: “Mount Qingyun!”

Was this telling me that the Soul-Capturing Pearl was on Mount Qingyun? But where was Mount Qingyun?

I searched the maps but found nothing by that name.

Seeing the time, I decided to sleep first and search again after dawn.

Lying in bed, I quickly drifted into a deep sleep.

That night, I had a beautiful dream—the first such dream I could ever remember. What exactly it was, I could not say, but it was lovely...

Because of that dream, I slept until noon.

Lin Weiyan had wanted to wake me for breakfast, but seeing how soundly I slept, she let me be.

By the time I got up, it was just in time for lunch.

After a simple meal, I asked the others, “Do any of you know where Mount Qingyun is?”

They all shook their heads at once—none of them had heard of it.

I was speechless. Even they didn’t know where Mount Qingyun was.

It seemed I would have to consult the Internet. In my heart, I always found Baidu to be rather omniscient—there was little in this world she didn’t know something about.

I took out my half-smartphone and searched for Mount Qingyun.

A flood of information appeared on the screen. I clicked on the first link.

Mount Qingyun, located on the border between Linglu Township, Yongtai County, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, and Hanjiang District, Putian City, is a renowned AAAA scenic spot.

Reading this, I wondered: Could this be the place the pendant referred to?

I checked a few more links. They all described the same location.

It seemed there was only one Mount Qingyun.

Since that was the case, there was no time to lose—I should set out as soon as possible.

I told the others of my plan to go to Mount Qingyun.

Xiaoling was so happy she nearly jumped for joy, repeatedly saying, “Great... great... Xiaoling wants to go too!”

We agreed to leave in the middle of the night and have the Black Jiao carry us there.

It was convenient, and besides, it would save us the cost of train tickets.