Mysterious Sheepskin Map
Fang Yuan inspects the corpse carefully and finds no trap, but as he nears it he loses control again and becomes a spectator inside young Thieving Heaven’s body. Young Thieving Heaven wonders if this person died trapped by wild beasts. Searching the body respectfully, young Thieving Heaven finds it belonged to a Gu Master of no low rank and seemingly high status, carrying no Gu worms, only a sheepskin map sewn into his clothes. In the dim underground light he can only make out that the map has lines, not their detail. ch. 1493
There is also a precious spring the dead man dug with much effort, and after checking its quality he drinks a little, very satisfied. He finds nothing else of use nearby. Back at the bottom of the well, strong night winds have already torn one beast skin cover away, opening a gap to the stars above. He takes beast skin and wood and starts a fire by friction, then cooks and eats some meat before feeling very drowsy. ch. 1493
Fighting his drowsiness, he studies the map and realizes with shock that it centers on his own clan’s small oasis. He judges the map very old. Most of its Western Desert words have blurred with age, and he can barely make out land of buried immortal, inauspicious and curse. He wonders whether immortals could really exist and why a strong Gu Master would hide such a map in his clothes rather than store it in an information path Gu worm. Since the map also marks the well’s location, he decides to follow it back toward the clan rather than risk this weak, food-scarce oasis alone. ch. 1493
Exhausted, young Thieving Heaven falls asleep, and Fang Yuan’s vision goes black as the dream realm’s corrosion strikes far harder than before. He endures until the darkness fades, his soul foundation shaved by half. When his sight clears, young Thieving Heaven is tied up at the bottom of the well before a very old, wrinkled Gu Master who holds the sheepskin map with greedy eyes. Young Thieving Heaven asks who he is and why he was tied up; the old man names himself Sha Xiao, pockets the map, and says he has not killed him yet. Asked whether he belongs to this clan, young Thieving Heaven gives no answer, judging that the old man knows the map’s secret and value and means to use rather than kill him. Sha Xiao closes in and kicks his chest, sending him flying into the well wall, and the kick is no simple one, leaving his whole body numb and screaming while Sha Xiao takes deep satisfaction in it. ch. 1493
