As Cobra walked onwards, Gale kept himself at a distance. But he was afraid to step too far away, and seemed to be quite a loss as he bounced back and forth between the imaginary middle ground.

  Baiyun didn't pay much heed to it, but Cobra chuckled.

  "Hah. So cautious of a nobody like me, yet you follow the monk without the slightest worry. I suppose ignorance truly is bliss."

  "Huh? What are you talking about?" Gale raised his voice, somewhat upset. "Are you slandering Stone?"

  "Ah... Such a devout monk, protecting the weak and subduing the beasts without suffering, taking the peaceful route whenever possible. Truly, he is the model of a devout monk." Cobra laughed.

  Such odd sarcastic lines... Baiyun glanced at the poisoner despite his blindness.

  "W-what are you getting at?" Gale stuttered. "I'm not afraid of you!"

  "Think about it. Why is it only you that follows him? Many here fear for their lives and have no desire to shed blood on the battlefield. To return safely after their sentence is their most fervent wish." Cobra chuckled. "Yet none of these gutless fools flock around him. Is that not strange?"

  "What are you talking about? Blindfold is following him too!" Gale shouted.

  "Tsk... You know that isn't my point." the poisoner seemed mildly annoyed.

  As the two began to argue, Baiyun watched cautiously.

  While Cobra seemed shady, he had a point. There was definitely something off about Stone, perhaps related to the crime he did not want to reveal.

  Baiyun reached out a hand to shush Gale who was fuming by now.

  "So what is it that makes him so dangerous exactly?" he asked.

  "Blindfold!" Gale cried in dismay. "You're believing him?"

  Cobra seemed taken aback for a moment, then began to laugh.

  "Hahaha! To think you'd actually listen to my spew! You're quite the strange one." he grinned. "Have you been doubting him from the very beginning then? Quite perceptive of you."

  "Stop laughing! Why are you slandering him?" Gale shouted.

  The kid was so infuriated he stared jumping around. But Cobra stared him in the eye, and he instantly paled, backing off and hiding behind Baiyun.

  Baiyun furrowed his eyebrows. What was this ridiculous scenario?

  "You still haven't explained yourself. Or were you just messing with us?" he asked.

  He didn't get the feeling Cobra was joking however.

  "Hah. He'd strangle me if I told you his secret." Cobra grinned. "He is indeed the safest to be around in some aspect, yet the most dangerous inmate at the same time. That's the most I can say."

  ...Was it not possible for him to get a single clear answer here at the border?

  Cobra did not speak further after that line, and neither did Gale nor Baiyun. They continued to follow him, trudging through the wasteland in silence.

  Something seemed to shift beneath the sea of gravel ever so slightly, but it stilled just as quickly. Baiyun mused inwardly that it must have been the tides shifting the unsteady gravel, though he wasn't sure.

  The poisoned pit soon came back into view, Cobra returning to his work. He glanced at the two of them before tossing over two vials of pale yellow, sickly as diluted pus.

  "Stay a good distance from me. I'd prefer if you didn't have to use the antidotes."

  "W-why you take us here again? Stone told you to take us back!" Gale stammered.

  "Tsk. We're still on guard duty, of course we can't return yet! Remember, the spirits are always watching." Cobra said. "Entertain yourself however you want, as long as you don't get yourself killed. It's none of my business."

  "But..."

  Gale trailed off and soon went silent.

  It didn't look like Cobra was contributing to border security by sitting near a pit and gutting salamanders all day. Baiyun wondered if the spirits simply didn't care, or if they had an agreement of sorts.

  Besides... he began to wonder if the rule to not talk here was just made up. It didn't seem like anyone was following it.

  If it was real, it certainly was generous.

  "Gale. Tell me about the threats at the border. You've been talking this whole time, haven't you? Whatever the threat is, it seems fine to me as long as you keep your voice down." he whispered.

  "Well..."

  Cobra laughed, and Gale immediately pursed his lips at the sound. Whatever words he wanted to say died out just like that.

  Tsk.

  Baiyun sat there waiting, with only the sound of knife cleaving flesh as ambience. An hour passed gradually, and he noticed Gale fidgeting, seemingly bored out of his mind.

  He decided to try his luck again.

  "Gale. What exactly is stopping us from talking here?" Baiyun whispered. "You can't just establish such a rule and not explain why."

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "Eh? I'm not sure..." Gale raised his head in surprise. "Stone says there are huge worms attracted to human voices in the gravel..."

  Baiyun furrowed his eyebrows at the strange mention, but he continued to push.

  "How strong are those worms? Do you know more about them?"

  "I don't know..."

  "Okay. What are those cows we saw earlier then?" Baiyun asked.

  "I don't know... Stone says they're peaceful as long as you don't get close to them..."

  ...

  Baiyun was beginning to get incredibly frustrated.

  Cobra laughed loudly as he overheard the exchange, tossing aside a few chunks of grotesque offal as he did so.

  "Hah! What use is interrogating him? He's barely been here longer than you, never fighting and always sheltered by the monk."

  Gale clenched his fists but didn't argue.

  "It was worth a shot." Baiyun sighed.

  Cobra put down his knife and reached into his robes, pulling out an unrefined chunk of jade. Complicated seals were etched into the rough rock, glowing faintly as his qi seeped into it.

  Even without eyes, Baiyun could vague feel its peculiar aura. Odd... why did it feel so familiar?

  "Here at the border, information is worth its worth its weight in gold. You must purchase it with contribution points or favours. No one will give it to you for free." Cobra said. "This here is my contribution jade. You'll get your own if you survive the first month."

  "Hmph! I'm sure Stone would tell him if he asked." Gale grumbled.

  "Oh, I'm certain he would." Cobra turned to Baiyun, clinking the jade with his finger as he spoke. "But, kid with the blindfold, I'm sure you've realised by now the monk only gives diluted information, haven't you? Its easy to tell from how clueless the other kid is."

  Baiyun nodded. Part of his attention was still on the jade however, as he intently focused on the aura.

  "What! Are you saying he's feeling me bad information? Stop slandering him! He's not greedy like you!" Gale began to shout again.

  "Of course he isn't. But he's not telling you the important details, because he thinks it would frighten and worry a kid like you. A kind act, a generous show of concern perhaps." Cobra chuckled. "But utterly worthless."

  "Grrr!" Gale stomped angrily, and the man laughed.

  "Wait..." Baiyun said suddenly, hesitation in his voice. "By contribution points, do you mean..."

  It was absurd. Almost a joke. But he had finally figured out why the aura was so familiar. He took a deep breath before continuing.

  Reaching into his bag, he pulled out the remains of his mangled arm, pieced together by Ying Shi's silver thread and returned to him by Qinghe. Even in this state, the servant seal remained intact.

  Gale gasped at the horrid sight and backed away, while Cobra was stunned for a moment.

  "Does this ring a bell?" Baiyun said as he held up the preserved arm.

  It was a bit unsafe to show it to such a shady figure, but he decided to take the risk as he could ask Stone to enact justice if it was stolen.

  "What in the world? Let me see that!"

  Cobra practically snatched the arm away as Baiyun passed it over, examining it with furrowed eyebrows. The coarse jade and servant seals touched, and both lit up.

  "Valid contribution points? From an amputated arm of yours? What exactly is going on?!" he sounded utterly baffled.

  ...So it was true after all. Baiyun wasn't sure what to feel.

  "It's the hand that bears the seal of a servant. More specifically, mine." Baiyun said.

  "A servant seal?" Cobra frowned.

  He seemed puzzled for a moment, pausing to think.

  A moment passed.

  Then he laughed, and laughed and laughed.

  "Hahaha! Poetic. How poetic! So this is how little they think of us!"

  Hah...

  Baiyun could not blame him for laughing. It really was ridiculous.

  "What's so funny? I don't get it." Gale said but was ignored.

  The elders of WanLing could not even be bothered to make a separate seal for the death guards. All they did was modify the servant seals slightly before branding the jades, tossing them over to the guards with little care.

  Cobra grinned.

  "A little over 3000 contribution points. Hahaha, nearly a year of wages for soldiers of the lowest rank!" he said. "Not a tremendous amount but still quite enviable. I suggest you keep this a secret, as not everyone is as trustworthy as I am."

  "Since when were you trustworthy?" Gale said but was ignored again.

  Baiyun decided not to comment.

  He sighed inwardly at the implementation of the seal. This half-assed approach reminded him of the blacksmith...

  Due to the way the seal worked, even if the death guards coerced a servant and tried to steal their contribution points, it wouldn't work. Servants and inmates were part of separate systems, so the points could not be transferred from either side.

  But Baiyun had stumbled onto a minor oversight by being the 1st and only servant to end up as a death guard. It was unlikely there would be a repeat of this incident ever again.

  Copying the same seal so carelessly... he couldn't decide if this could be considered efficient, or if he should berate the Elders for sloppy work. But if any case, he wasn't complaining, as it was an unexpected boon that rewarded his years of exemplary work as a servant. There were few servants with even half the contribution points he had.

  "Then, will you let me know what I need to?" Baiyun said. "I'll pay of course."

  "Later. I can't have the other kid listening in for free. I'll fetch you from your room later tonight, so all you have to do is sit tight and wait. Is 100 points acceptable?"

  "Alright. We have a deal." Baiyun nodded.

  "Blindfold, you can't listen to him! He's clearly suspicious!" Gale said anxiously.

  Of course, he was ignored again.

  Cobra chuckled, as he held the mangled hand to his jade. 100 points were taken as promised, before he passed it back to Baiyun.

  "Excellent. You'll find this information very useful, I trust."

  The brief exchange over, Cobra returned to his work. With nothing more to discuss, the trio went back to sitting in silence as Gale fidgeted.

  Boring.

  Baiyun wished he could read his alchemy textbooks, but he had no explanation for being able to read them without eyes.

  He decided to spend his time analysing the gravel beneath himself with divine touch instead.

  What appeared to be ordinary gravel revealed more as he put in more focus. If his quick application of divine touch for sight was merely glancing at something for half a second, he was now holding a magnifying glass over it and gazing intently, revealing far more detail.

  A random assortment of ordinary rock, but 30% composed of impurities. Their inner structure and grain were subtly rounded and swirled as well, a rather unnatural rock formation. This gravel had been artificially created with earth magic.

  It was no wonder the ocean was so tainted; normal gravel would not be remotely as harmful. Though, as the ocean life began to die, their corpses further tainted the waters, a vicious cycle that only killed more and more.

  Baiyun focused divine touch in a straight line to reach further downwards. He soon discovered a deep network of roots holding the gravel together, their composition a cross between wood and brown mineral. Without them, the loose rabble would be washed away by the tides in an instant.

  He was reminded of when Rabbit described distant trees of towering rock, with glassy amber leaves and lumps of stone for fruit.

  Baiyun tried to focus closer on the roots, but they were so far down that he could only see the equivalent of a vague blur, and he was unable to extract further detail. But if there was ever a reason track these trees, he could follow the roots to find their source.

  He finally relaxed divine touch and spread it outwards, regaining sight of his surroundings. To his side, he finally noticed Gale had fallen asleep.

  Baiyun continued to ponder.

  Slowly but surely, the hours passed. The afternoon sun rose with blazing heat, then sunk beneath and followed with night.

  Cobra was surrounded by over a dozen gutted salamanders, nodding in satisfaction as he finished processing the last of them. He tossed the useless remains back into the poison pit, then kicked the surrounding gravel into it until it was buried.

  Only with this tremendous racket did Gale finally wake up, staring around blearily. Being able to so sleep so soundly in such a dangerous place... it truly was boldness unenviable of youth.

  "Come with me. Our shift is over." Cobra said.

  "Where is Stone?" Gale asked. "He hasn't come back yet? It couldn't be that he..."

  He paled.

  "Tsk. You don't have to worry about him. The most dangerous inmate won't die so easily." Cobra spat. "Now, we return!"

  With that, the three of them began their journey back.