zChapter 999 - It’s all yours
Chapter 999: It’s all yours
Take a bone out of your body and make it into jewelry?
Hearing this, Han Yunxi’s first reaction was, “Proprietress, what’s a yu bone?”
She didn’t know much about orthopaedics, but she knew that all parts of the human skeleton was useful in some way. There was no such thing as a yu, or useless bone. Even though humans had the superfluous tailbone, it was still useful for protecting the vertebrae and nerves. There were also people born with six fingers or toes, which could be amputated without consequences. Perhaps those could truly count as yu bones.
But Han Yunxi didn’t have those things! If she had to find an extra, useless “bone” from her body, then she could only count her wisdom teeth, which could count as being partially bone. In modern times, there was special bone grafting surgery that transplanted bits of bone from one’s body to injured or diseased bone areas to make up the losses. But that couldn’t be considered getting a yu bone either.
“Yu bones are surplus bones,” the proprietress said plainly. She lacked any of a merchant’s usual enthusiasm.
Rubbish! Han Yunxi silently cursed. She feigned ignorance and asked, “How many yu bones does the human body have? Where are they?”
On one side, Long Feiye was already knitting his brows. Even if there was an extra bone, he’d never let anyone lay their hands on Han Yunxi with a knife–even if it was Han Yunxi herself!
But the proprietress only said impatiently, “As long as you’re willing, any bone can be considered a yu bone.”
Han Yunxi almost cursed the woman for being a mental case, but she endured enough to smile and probe, “In that case, your husband must harbor deep feelings for you.” She was very curious to know exactly which bone the woman’s husband had sacrificed to make this jewelry, but the proprietress didn’t continue their line of conversation.
A bit impatient, she asked, “Madam, are you going to do it or not?”
Han Yunxi didn’t answer directly, but asked, “If I get it made, will you use this dagger to dig out the bone?”
The proprietress nodded. “Mm. What kind of jewelry do you want? Different types require different bones.”
Han Yunxi looked around the store before her eyes rested on a ring. Grinning, she said, “How about that one?”
Once the proprietress was certain that Han Yunxi wanted to order an Engraving of Heart and Bones, her attitude eased. She looked at Long Feiye and said, “Sir, I’ll have to trouble you to show me your hand.”
Long Feiye ignored the proprietress and only creased his brows at Han Yunxi, who quickly pulled her hand to show the shopkeeper. She also secretly tugged at his robes to signal him to play along. You couldn’t catch tiger cubs without venturing into the tiger’s lair! She wanted to know whether the proprietress would cut out the bones herself or had another bone collector hidden somewhere in the shop.
The proprietress examined Long Feiye’s hands and couldn’t help but admired, “Sir, your hand is beautiful.”
Long Feiye indeed had nice hands. They were large with long, slender fingers, each of the joints tapered and well shaped. How many women in the world dreamed of holding his hand? Yet he only allowed Han Yunxi to take them.
Long Feiye didn’t speak, his eyes flitting towards the clerk straightening things up on the side.
“A single section of sir’s finger would make an excellent pinky ring for the madam,” the proprietress asked with a smile, “I don’t know if sir is willing to part with it?”
“How long will it take?” Long Feiye was more direct than Han Yunxi.
“If sir agrees, it’ll only take two hours,” the proprietress replied.
Two whole hours to extract the bone and polish it into a piece of jewelry? The speed was well beyond their expectations.
“What about me?” Han Yunxi asked quickly. “Which bones do I need to give up for a ring, and how long will it take?”
The proprietress suddenly grabbed Han Yunxi’s wrist and pinched it between her fingers. “Your finger bones, and it’ll also take two hours.”
“Then shall we…start right now?” Han Yunxi asked.
“It’s 1000 taels for a finger ring and 500 taels for a pinky ring,” the proprietress replied.
Han Yunxi was absolutely bewildered. In the eyes of the proprietress, it seemed perfectly normal to take out your bones to make a piece of jewelry for your lover, as if the sacrifice didn’t mean a thing. The proprietress didn’t even mention anything about the aftereffects of the procedure.
“Won’t my hand be useless once you take out the bones?” Han Yunxi asked seriously.
The proprietress suddenly grew gloomy before she said in a haughty tone, “If you don’t have the guts, leave now. My little shop never forces its customers. There’s no point in custom ordering such a gift unless you’re willing in the first place.”
Without a word, Long Feiye set down the silver. Seeing this, the proprietress’s expression eased as she rose indolently to her feet and walked out from behind the counter. “The two of you, please come with me.”
Long Feiye gripped Han Yunxi’s hand as they followed the shopkeeper to the back courtyard. There they saw two to three women carving jewelry out of bone and a single man casting daggers. His right sleeve was empty and it was clear he lacked an arm. Han Yunxi and Long Feiye noticed that the man’s left hand was quite nimble and strong. He plucked a casted dagger out of the fire and used his foot to hold it in place while his left hand hammered against the metal.
“Is this the boss?” Han Yunxi asked. She almost suspected that the proprietress had chopped off the man’s arm to make more jewelry. However, the woman didn’t reply, nor did the man spare them a glance. He was focused on forging his dagger.
Not willing to give up, Han Yunxi stopped in front of the one-armed man and asked, “Boss, does your shop sell daggers too? What’s the price?”
The man continued to ignore Han Yunxi, while the proprietress had already opened a door to a side wing and urged them on. “Come here to remove your bones.”
Han Yunxi looked into the room and suddenly laughed as she turned to Long Feiye. “Husband, how about…how about we don’t do it? I’m scared.”
Husband?
It was the first time Long Feiye had heard these words from Han Yunxi’s lips. Seeing her feign fear, he couldn’t help but clasp her around the shoulders. “Then we won’t do it anymore.”
The proprietress broke into a cold laugh by the entrance. “You’re not even willing to part with a single bone, so how could you speak of love? Sir, it’s better to divorce a wife like that early!”
Han Yunxi turned back and wanted to argue, but ended up relenting. She looked towards Long Feiye and said loudly, “All the bones in my body, as well as my blood, flesh, person, and soul, belongs to you. You have no excuse to divorce me!”
Long Feiye gave a start before he laughed out loud. Dotingly, he stroked her hair and said, “I won’t divorce you. I never will.” There would never be a reason for him to abandon Han Yunxi!
So speaking, he held her hand and took long strides out the door, leaving the people in the courtyard gaping after them. The one-armed man finally lifted his head and looked towards the proprietress. Heartbroken grief shone in his eyes, mixed with helplessness. The proprietress seemed to suffer a serious shock, because she only muttered to herself, “Everything…it’s all, it’s everything…”
After Han Yunxi and Long Feiye left True Love, they verified that no one was tailing them before exchanging words in hushed tones.
“I didn’t discover any Qi Sha dagger poison, but that proprietress is too suspicious,” Han Yunxi declared.
“That one-armed man knows martial arts too, but I can’t tell how skilled he is,” Long Feiye replied.
“Why is he casting daggers? He looks like a swordsmith,” Han Yunxi said.
“Let’s look around again when it gets dark,” Long Feiye suggested.
Judging from the shadow guards’ wounds, the culprit had extraordinary sword skills. As long as they had a chance to fight them, Long Feiye would know who they were. Right now their only clues were the Qi Sha dagger poison and testing the murderer’s sword skills.
Han Yunxi and Long Feiye browsed through a few more bone ornament shops, but didn’t find anything. As night fell, the duo put on face masks and went back to probe True Love. However, it was then that news arrived from Yinyang Lake. Baili Mingxiang had come on shore after making a huge discovery! Han Yunxi and Long Feiye immediately rushed over to see her and Xu Donglin waiting by the shore.
“Your Highness, princess, there really is a force at the bottom of the lake. This servant couldn’t take it if I got too close, but I was able to verify that it was sword qi!”
Sword qi?
Could an ancient treasure sword be resting at the bottom of the lake?
Ordinary swords were unable to send out such powerful sword qi without a wielder. Only those who possessed the power for themselves did. If a sword wielder wanted to control an ancient treasure sword, he or she would have to overcome its inherent sword qi first to prevent being counter-attacked. Long Feiye’s Profound Frost Sword was one such example. He had used much effort to quell its qi.
Thrilled, Long Feiye asked Han Yunxi, “Shall we go down to take a look?”
Han Yunxi had already cultivated to the maximum for Nirvana Heart Arts, while dual cultivation had taught her a complete set of sword skills. She only lacked a weapon to use it with, but Long Feiye had been unsatisfied with the ones he’d already found.
What kind of power must the sword at the bottom of the lake possess, to stir up an entire whirlpool? Long Feiye almost suspected that the ancient weapon might be stronger than his own Profound Frost Sword. Something so great shouldn’t be missed. Of course he wanted to give it to Han Yunxi.
On the other hand, Han Yunxi’s first thought was of the murderer. If the culprit had excellent sword skills and knew about the whirlpool’s existence, then they would understand it was hiding an ancient treasure sword. Did the Qi Sha dagger murders and bone theft have anything to do with that sword?
Very soon, Baili Mingxiang brought the couple underwater in her Lightstream Ball. They traveled to the very center of the whirlpool before coming to a stop. It really was an extremely deep lake, making Han Yunxi feel as if she’d sank into an ocean instead. After a long time had passed, they finally sensed the presence of sword qi.
“Your Highness, princess, the Lightstream Ball can only go this far. If we keep on, it’ll break,” Baili Mingxiang was very prudent.
Han Yunxi and Baili Mingxiang could both sense the sword qi’s swift, fierce intensity. It was as if a sword expert was lying in wait for them at the bottom while waving his weapon at them. The force was strong enough to topple mountains and raise waves. But Long Feiye immediately felt the killing intent contained within the sword qi. His master Li Jianxin had said that ancient swords could be both righteous or wicked. The former was filled with a respectful aura, while the latter seethed with murderous intentions.
“Such a strong killing aura,” Long Feiye muttered. “Could it be…”