This wondrous Spiritual Treasure was called the Mist-Flower Silk.
Its name evoked the saying "flowers in the mist," and it could conceal both appearance and aura.
Cultivators below the Lower Third Grade would see no flaws in it at all, while even Middle Third Grade cultivators, if they lacked perception-based Divine Abilities, would not easily see through it.
It could be said that it resolved Chen Kuang's most pressing dilemma.
He could already imagine that once he set foot on shore, the world would be blanketed in wanted posters.
After all, in one fell swoop, he had offended the Zhou Kingdom, the Three Calamities Sect, the Mysterious Divine Path Sect, and even Martial Saint Mu Zhao, a full four major powers.
At this very moment, the higher echelons of both the mundane court and the cultivation world had likely already received the relevant reports.
If Chen Kuang were to simply stride out in the open, he'd be tossed back into the heavenly prison before half a day passed.
Now, with this Spiritual Treasure, he was saved a great deal of trouble.
As for Chu Wenruo and her daughter, he was not particularly worried.
With Qingcuo, a top-tier agent who had stayed undercover for ten years without exposure, at their side, they would find it far easier to hide their trail than he ever could.
At this thought, Chen Kuang took out the small wooden token Qingcuo had given him.
The token was only an inch wide, tiny and square, with the character "Zheng" engraved on it.
Back then, Qingcuo had told him: if he encountered anyone claiming to be a "Soil True Official", they would be an ally, someone from their network whom he could rely on.
This implied that aside from the obvious power of the Huo Clan Army, Huo Hengxuan had also cultivated a secretive, unseen force of operatives.
To reconnect and coordinate with them, he would likely have to use this token in the future.
Chen Kuang put the token away, placing it alongside the relic on the small table. He quickly changed into clean clothes, and leaned sideways against the cabin wall, sitting on the bedding.
He had no plans to keep forcing himself.
Outside, the soft sound of a bamboo pole stirring the river echoed, while a faint scent of sandalwood lingered at the tip of his nose. His eyelids began to droop.
Only then did Chen Kuang realize that it had been nine full days since he had awakened in this world, with almost no proper rest.
Here, on the endless River of Death, with no enemies in pursuit, he finally let down his guard and sank into slumber.
In his dream, he returned to the nightmare of his youth.
It was around his first year of middle school when his impoverished family finally saw improvement, his father had started a small business that thrived. They tore down the old house and built a new one.
Yet even though the new house was built on their own land and within regulations, neighbors accused them of illegal construction.
Without a word, the officials arrived and ordered a bulldozer to smash through the yard wall.
His father was away in a distant frontier city on business, and his mother, unable to reason with them, was mocked by the whistleblower: "Some people are just born to be poor, doomed never to live in a good house."
That gentle, soft-spoken woman's eyes turned red. She rushed out to shield the wall, still damp with wet cement.
A thunderous crash.
Young Chen Kuang had just returned from school in time to witness his mother crushed between the bulldozer and the wall.
He grabbed a nearby shovel and bashed in the heads of several gawking bystanders and was subsequently arrested.
His father, after traveling for three days straight by plane and bus, collapsed silently in a taxi from exhaustion and grief, dying without a sound.
By the time Chen Kuang was released from the holding center, he had no relatives left. With a criminal record, he was expelled from school.
His clearest, most enduring memory..
Was that night's dinner: tomato and scrambled eggs.
Poverty and injustice, that had been Chen Kuang's nightmare.
And it was also the reason he had so deeply empathized with the original body of this world, never feeling the need to reject the lingering scars of that boy's heart.
"At least... that's all behind me now."
Chen Kuang opened his eyes slowly, exhaling as he sat up in one fluid motion, casting aside the shadows of the dream.
Before his death, he had already personally killed the entire family of his enemies,
Just as they were enjoying their luxurious lives overseas.
That nightmare that had haunted him for over a decade ended the moment he ate those tomato and scrambled eggs again beside their corpses.
"Hmm?"
Chen Kuang checked his inner state in surprise, after one restful sleep, he had actually opened a second aperture.
Now, he was just one step away from attempting the breakthrough to the Innate Realm!
"The Fetal Breathing Technique is really something!"
Chen Kuang felt completely rejuvenated.
At this rate, if he could just lay low for a few centuries, breaking through to the Saint realm might not be impossible.
Unfortunately...
There were always people who wouldn't let him lie low.
Dressed neatly, he lifted the curtain of the cabin. Outside, it was still gloomy.
He had no idea how long Wen Si's boat had been drifting, but a fine drizzle had started falling from the sky.
The mist had grown thicker than before. Only the single lantern illuminating the surroundings still glowed with a faint illusion of warmth.
At the bow, Wen Si still stood.
One fish eye slowly turned beneath his conical straw hat.
"Did you sleep well?"
Chen Kuang smiled. "Not bad at all. Thank you, Senior Brother, for the hospitality."
Wen Si continued to watch him, fish eyes rotating as he said curiously:
"This river had an oddity even before I arrived. Those who cross it for the first time often dream of their death, as though questioned by death itself."
"Which is why I felt a connection to the river and took my name from it, Wen Si."
"Did you dream of anything, Junior Brother?"
So that's why...
Chen Kuang finally understood why such distant memories had resurfaced.
"I did dream," he replied. "But not of how I died."
Not the death of this body..
Instead it was the death from his previous life.
He fell silent in contemplation.
Could it be that this body... Did not die after all?
Or perhaps, his death simply could not be foreseen?
Wen Si muttered, "Junior Brother is certainly no ordinary man."
Then he added, "If you find yourself in need of anything, just think of it. It will appear."
Chen Kuang raised an eyebrow.
It seemed this boat of his senior brother's was quite the treasure in its own right.
He sat at the stern, hugging his Zither, Dragon Gums.
The music score from before had long since been lost, but he remembered every line of it. Still, for all these years, the original body had rarely played it.
After that public humiliation and framing, the original Chen Kuang realized that his talents would only bring trouble.
He sealed away the music score, only playing in private, when his hands ached with longing.
Chen Kuang took a deep breath, and plucked the strings.
"Zheng!"
The Zither's notes floated across the water, lingering and ethereal.
Calming the Winds and Waves.
Chen Kuang closed his eyes, letting his hands retrace the familiar melodies, while calming his heart.
...
Two days later.
The mighty river roared. Wind and rain blurred the skies.
A lone boat rocked atop the waves. At the stern sat a Zither master in white robes, blindfolded. His slender fingers danced across the strings.
"Zheng!"
With a single chord, sound rippled across the surface of the river.
In that instant, centered on the small boat, a strange wave pulsed outward.
An invisible force, like a giant hand, immediately smoothed the chaotic river into calm.
Chen Kuang opened his eyes, withdrawing from that profound state.
His gaze was filled with delight.
It had succeeded!
And just then, a cheer echoed out from the mist.
"Well played, Daoist friend!"
Chen Kuang looked up.
The thick fog parted suddenly, revealing a tall river barge ahead, upon which stood several cultivators, eyes shining with astonishment.
Among them was a young girl in a pale yellow dress, dark hair and snow-pale skin, bright and charming, eyes like dark pearls, gazing at Chen Kuang's face without blinking.
Chen Kuang was stunned.
She... looked oddly familiar.