Spatial Crystals - Suspiscions.
"Spatial… geode?" Shu He's eyes narrowed as he held the tiny shimmering star up to his face, after it had absorbed his Qi it was like there was a river of colours flowing underneath the surface of the rocks surface.
'It's like a beautiful gemstone…' he couldn't help but be captivated by the sight.
"I'm at least 90% certain, at least, I've never seen one before myself" Na Xue explained causing Shu He to frown. "Then how do you know it is one?" he asked with doubt.
"That material, it's identical to the gemstone on the storage ring that my family's Grand Elder wears, I remember hearing about it from him; Spatial Geodes are the raw material used for such accessories, they're incredibly rare! Only our Grand Elder has one!" Na Xue pushed herself closer as her eyes sparkled as she eyed the little gemstone. "Look, you should know about this too Bai Lian! Right? It looks similar?".
However, Bai Lian shook her head "I've never seen the storage devices our clan has, I've only heard they're used to store the clan's most valuable possessions, so they're hidden away".
"Oh… well never mind that, Shu He! You should be able to reach into the geode's solitary space when channelling Qi into it, give it a try!" Na Xue eagerly encouraged him to do so.
Shu He glanced at the gem and frowned "Are you sure it's safe?" he could see inside with his territory, it was rather weird since his 'sight' through his territory made it look like there was a large corridor in front of him, his perception was distorted and trying to overlap it with his own vision gave him a headache.
"It should be, they're naturally formed treasure boxes that are apparently caused by erratic distortions in the world, that's why they're so rare! You can't make them."
Shu He nodded as he reached in to his robe and pulled out a thin metal needle, he wasn't going to just reach in with his hands first, he wasn't that stupid. He pressed the needle towards the centre of the gem and he quickly noticed the needle visually thinning, yet his territory's vision showed it as normal, eventually he pushed it so far in that his hand began to visually distort, so he let the needle go and watched it sink in.
His eyes lit up as he watched it float inside before letting out a small ding as it struck one of the crystals.
'It seems safe'.
Next he pointed with his index finger as he pushed towards the centre once more, his hand began distorting visually yet he felt no pain, rather he felt completely normal and before long it was all the way up to his wrist!
"Amazing!" Na Xue grabbed his arm causing him to release his other hand that was holding the crystal making him panic in terror for a moment before he realised the gem was stuck on his hand like a glove.
He shot an annoyed glare at her "Don't mess around!" he barked; he could have lost a hand there!
"S-sorry" She said with remorse "But it's fine, see?".
"What's inside?" Bai Lian tried to glance closely at the crystal to see, but you couldn't tell from the outside.
"We can't tell, that's why it's a raw material, storage devices have all sorts of useful formations engraved on them like ones that allow you to see inside and manipulate the contents" Na Xue shrugged as she explained "That's why they're so expensive, you don't just need an extremely rare material, but someone experienced to craft it as well".
Shu He was finding this out himself first hand, his hand was inside yet he realised the space was easily more than three meters squared, even if he went up to his arm he wouldn't be able to reach anything!
'I may be able to do this…' he manipulated his territory to form the shape of a hand that extended from his and wrapped around a small crystal in the distance, it was about the size of a tennis ball and was connected like a net to hundreds of others in the shape of a sphere.
Then, he steadily fed his Qi along the same shape and materialised it, using it as a makeshift arm and tugged the crystal, the moment he did the thin crystalline net that connected all the crystals seem to shatter sending all the others drifting about in the small space while Shu He pulled the small one towards him, eventually pulling it out of the gem like a magic trick.
"" AH!"" the moment the other two saw the small crystal, they screamed in unison.
"What? You two know what this is?" Shu He held it up, it was different from the 'Spatial Geode' he had, it was like a glass container that contained flashing lights, it distorted all the light that entered inside, and you couldn't see through it.
"You DON'T know what this is?" Na Xue stared at him with her eyes wide open, Bai Lian nodded as well, she was just as surprised.
Shu He's brow furrowed as he looked at the crystal before looking back at the two "No, should I?" he said sincerely.
A sigh came from his senior sister who sat back down with a look of realisation on her face "I forget sometimes that you don't come from a cultivation background… but you should have at least seen this before, in the Covetous Dragon Pagoda".
Shu He flipped through his memories, he had spent a fair amount of time around that pagoda, so it didn't take long for him to pinpoint what she was talking about.
"The storage system they use?" He said, remembering that oddly modern like mechanism with a small arm that moved items through the pagoda, at the tip was a tiny crystal, the more Shu He thought the more he realised the similarities between that one and the one in his hand.
"That's it, it's the same one; They're called Spatial Crystals and just like the Geode they're incredibly rare, not quite as rare though, they can be found like another other ore".
"So, they're for teleportation?".
"Of course, every sect and family has a store of them for use in times of need, whether it be an urgent need to travel or to evacuate in case of disaster, that's why they're incredibly valuable, making impossible distances possible".
"It's just not that!" Bai Lian interrupted "They can be used in formations to create incredibly vicious effects, or even make a perfect shield!" she stared intently at the crystal "It can be said that high quality crystals are even more valuable than even high ranked spirit metal!".
Shu He stared at the crystal in his hand, his heart began to beat loudly.
"Can you tell how much is in there?" Na Xue asked, causing Shu He's heart to skip a beat as he controlled his emotions, not letting a single hint of overexcitement leak out of his expression or actions.
He placed the crystal back in the geode before stopping his Qi from entering it, after a few moments the spatial corridor closed making it resemble a nothing but a pretty stone once more before he looked up and sighed.
"Just a few, how much would that crystal I just pulled out be worth?" Shu He asked nonchalantly.
"Based on that size… maybe 10 to 12 middle grade spirit coins… but I don't think it's a good idea to sell it" Na Xue warned him, Bai Lian nodded in agreement "They're valuable after all".
Shu He paused for a moment before he closed his eyes in thought.
'They're valuable even for sects, clans and cultivation families, if I just had one that'd be fine, but if I arouse suspicion and they realise I have a geode, greed will take over… though I'd rather keep my life over valuables, so I'd give it up, I'd rather keep it a secret in the first place.' He thought as he took a couple of seeds out from his gauntlet and used <
"I'll keep them to myself then" he said.
Na Xue sighed "That's for the best, you really are lucky but with your position it's a burden instead".
"I could sell it for you, but my father might catch wind and start asking questions…" Bai Lian said regretfully.
Shu He merely shrugged his shoulders "It's fine, it's a problem for the future, right now we should rest until it's time to go."
The other two nodded and they went and sat alone, entering a meditative position.
As Shu He calmed himself, he couldn't help but open one of his eyes slightly as he eyed his Senior Sister in the distance, in that moment they had connected he felt the full extent of her cultivation, he had always been curious but now he had a general idea.
'Harmony of the five elements and the Yin and Yang… a strong, reinforced Qi… she should be in the Foundation Building stage! I don't have a stick to measure with so I can't tell how far she is… but as expected of a core disciple!'
In one way, he felt reassured that his companion was strong, but on the other hand he felt a hint of worry, this stemmed from their relationship, he had been thrust into an odd connection with his senior sister and, although they seemed to have brushed over it without much trouble, he had his doubts.
Although Na Xue seemed content with their relationship, what about the family behind her? He understood just how much these families valued tradition and status.
Who was to say that at their order, she wouldn't turn against him?
He couldn't help but let out a sigh.
'I shouldn't worry myself with these baseless assumptions, I need to focus on the now!'
…
After the morning sun rose, the four of them exited the Mermaids Tale without any trouble, yet as they travelled up the road they passed by a group of people that were silently congregating to the side.
Shu He didn't even give them a glance as he swept them with his territory, he recognised them as the same cultivators that were in the rooms near them yesterday.
The four of them walked on without interacting, it wasn't their business what other cultivators were doing after all.
However, the congregation were different, after the four had travelled far in the distance, a few people glanced at one another with a glint in their eyes.
"A couple of foreign cultivators, did they come for the beast tide?" one of them spoke.
"Must be, there's no other reason they'd come at this time, damn scavengers" One of them spat at the ground in annoyance.
"Isn't one of them from the Bai clan though? Her white hair is a dead giveaway".
"Who cares, they're all part of that steel sect, do they think they can come to another region and just take all our resources?"
They glanced at a thin faced man who had a frown on his face as he looked in to the distance "We should keep an eye on them, if we get the chance, we should strip them for all their worth!"
"Yessir!"