Why does Han Li hesitate at the passage entrance?

He doesn't trust anyone who calls him into a sealed underground chamber. The hesitation is a trained survival reflex—he probes for danger before committing.

What is a “chicken rib” treasure?

A xianxia term for an item that is technically valuable but functionally useless under normal conditions. Like a chicken rib: you could pick it, but the effort outweighs the reward.

Why does Nang Long Hou speak to Han Li with such deference now?

Han Li killed a Nascent Soul elder in single combat during the earlier treasure hunt. That act elevated Han Li’s status massively—Nascent Soul cultivators measure respect by killing power.

The Two Harmonies Ring

1,422 words

Han Li toyed with the jade slip in his hand, lost in thought for a moment. A flash of azure light, and the slip vanished. He oriented himself, then strode away.

He crossed most of Tiantian City, arriving at a quieter corner of the sprawling metropolis, before a seemingly ordinary sundry goods shop. Above the door hung a black wooden sign bearing the forceful calligraphy: "Yu He Xuan."

Han Li studied it for a moment, then stepped inside.

The interior was modest—a small hall of about six or seven zhang, stocked with common goods like talismans and raw materials. A small side door led to the back.

Behind a counter facing the entrance sat a gray-robed middle-aged man, studying what appeared to be an account ledger. Han Li's spiritual sense swept over him—a Qi Condensation cultivator, barely a wisp of power. The shopkeeper had the kind of utterly forgettable face that would vanish in any crowd.

The moment he saw Han Li enter, the shopkeeper's face split into a practiced smile as he hurried over.

"Senior! What would you like to see? Our shop carries everything you could need—we'll absolutely satisfy your requirements." The middle-aged man recited the standard sales pitch.

Han Li gave a faint smile. His palm flipped, producing the green jade slip, which he pressed directly into the man's hand.

The shopkeeper's expression shifted the instant he recognized the slip. He tucked it away with practiced speed and asked, with newfound respect:

"May I ask Senior's honored name?"

"Han," Han Li replied offhandedly.

"So it really is Senior Han! The Patriarch said you would come, but I didn't expect you so soon. Please, follow me." The middle-aged shopkeeper bowed respectfully, then gestured for Han Li to enter through the side door.

Han Li nodded silently and stepped through.

It was a storeroom—crammed with boxes and chests stacked against every wall, blotting out the stonework entirely. The cultivator approached one cabinet, pressed a hidden catch, and two adjacent chests slid apart to reveal a bare wall.

"We avoided setting up any spiritual restrictions up here—didn't want occasional customers sensing them. So the surface mechanism is entirely mundane." The shopkeeper explained as he worked.

Han Li's expression remained neutral. No surprise there.

The man stamped on a stone tile before the wall. With a dull grinding groan, the wall split open, revealing a dark, sloping passage.

"I'm not permitted beyond this point, Senior. You'll have to go down alone." The shopkeeper stepped aside, his obsequious smile firmly in place.

Han Li frowned. His spiritual sense probed the passage—a faint, almost imperceptible ripple of spiritual energy. When he pushed deeper, a layer of restriction blocked him. But with Han Li's formation knowledge, he recognized it instantly: a simple sensory-obscuring barrier. He could force his way through, but whoever was below would know.

He hesitated.

He didn't believe the Tianji Sect elder was foolish enough to try anything right under Tiantian City's nose. But he also had no intention of walking blind into a sealed space to meet someone whose intentions were unknown.

The moment his hesitation registered, the restriction blocking his divine sense was abruptly withdrawn.

Han Li's heart stirred. They were deliberately showing good faith.

He took the invitation. His divine sense swept the space below, probing every inch. His face flickered with surprise.

"Him? Now this is interesting."

He murmured to himself, then, without further hesitation, stepped into the dark passage.

The shopkeeper waited until Han Li's figure vanished, then sealed the entrance, restored the cabinets, and returned to the front, his demeanor utterly unchanged.

The passage was long—a good sixty, seventy zhang below ground, deliberately constructed for secrecy. After a while, Han Li spotted a faint white glow ahead. He quickened his pace and emerged into a square stone chamber.

The room was large but empty, save for a few meditation cushions scattered about. Two men sat cross-legged on cushions facing the entrance, smiling at Han Li's arrival.

Han Li said nothing. He took a cushion in the corner and sat down.

"I truly didn't expect it to be you, Fellow Daoist, who wanted to see me. Meeting you here is quite the surprise." Han Li addressed one of them with a light laugh.

The man wore a tall cap and a blue robe. At Han Li's words, he gave a bitter smile:

"Indeed, even I thought I was doomed. After we parted, I thought I'd escaped. But it turned out they had a tracking technique on me. They caught up at the edge of the Moulan plains. But Heaven never seals off all roads—I ran into a squad of high-ranking Dharma Warriors searching for us. In the chaos, I managed to slip away. As for those who attacked me..." His voice turned icy. "I'll settle the accounts slowly."

This was Nang Long Hou, the mid-Nascent Soul cultivator who had fled from the other treasure hunters. Now his face was ashen, his eyes dull, his vitality clearly heavily damaged.

The man beside him was the white-robed elder of Tianji Sect who had arranged the meeting.

"To escape that situation alive—I'm deeply impressed, Fellow Daoist Nang Long. But why such urgency to see me, Nang Long? You went so far as to have this fellow's disciples harass my concubine. That puzzles me." Han Li's smile faded, a note of displeasure creeping into his tone.

"Ah, Han, you misunderstand! I had no choice. Do you realize your situation is the same as mine? You're on that same kill list. I was afraid you wouldn't know the gravity of the threat and would be caught off guard. That's why I resorted to such tactics." Nang Long Hou explained himself first. "This is my blood-brother, Xuanjizi of Tianji Sect. I'd wanted to invite him on our expedition, but he was occupied with sect affairs and couldn't come."

Nang Long Hou's tone toward Han Li was markedly different from their first meeting—there was a careful, almost deferential quality to it now.

Naturally. Han Li had personally slain a Nascent Soul cultivator in one exchange. That demanded respect.

The white-robed elder gave a smile and clasped his fist in greeting, adding his own apology:

"My methods were rather offensive. I hope Fellow Daoist Han won't hold it against me. It was simply the most expedient way."

"Forget it. Since there was a reason, I'll let it slide. But Nang Long, what you said earlier—is it about that jade box I took?" Han Li waved a hand, then asked directly.

"You've guessed correctly. As far as I know, the Ghost Spirit Sect paid a heavy price to bribe those treasure hunters. They were determined to get Sect Elder Cangkun's route map into and out of Demon Fall Valley. And Fellow Daoist Han, you happen to possess one of the essential items for entering the valley. Only when combined with Nang Long's route map can you avoid most of the valley's dangers and have a chance at obtaining the treasures." Xuanjizi's expression turned serious.

"An essential item for entering Demon Fall Valley? You mean that black ring?" Han Li was startled, then recalled something.

"The Two Harmonies Ring is indeed in your hands, Brother Han! Excellent!" Nang Long Hou's spirits lifted, a faint flush creeping into his pale face.

"Two Harmonies Ring?" Han Li frowned. The name rang a bell. Then it hit him, and he stared at Nang Long Hou in surprise.

"You mean the Two Harmonies Ring that the ancient elder Xuan Huang forged from heavenly meteorite? I've heard of it. Normally, it has no combat power at all. But when it encounters the Polar Aurora, it can control that light to kill without a trace. One of the most 'chicken rib' magic tools in the cultivation world."

"Fellow Daoist Han is indeed well-read. Exactly. The Two Harmonies Ring has a Yin Ring and a Yang Ring. The Yin Ring protects the wearer from the Polar Aurora's damage. The Yang Ring allows one to control the light for attack. You possess the Yin Ring. Sect Elder Cangkun used that very Yin Ring to cross the aurora zone in the valley and escape alive. As far as I know, other methods or treasures exist to bypass the Polar Aurora, but they either require a large formation manned by many cultivators, or the treasures themselves have been lost to history." Nang Long Hou had calmed down and explained.

"What are you suggesting?" Han Li studied the two men, already weighing the pros and cons in his mind.

Share to

Reading Guide Decoding

An Old Friend Returns—and the Black Ring You Forgot Just Became Worth Billions

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

The Two Harmonies Ring is a textbook example of what Murim (or in this case, Xianxia) calls a chicken rib treasure: an item that is technically a divine-grade treasure but is functionally useless unless paired with an extremely rare environmental trigger. The Polar Aurora (北极元光) isn’t just a pretty light show—it’s a high-frequency magical death zone that shreds anything with spiritual energy. The ring’s ability to control that light is what makes it priceless. The Yin Half protects the bearer from the light itself; the Yang Half lets the bearer weaponize the light to massacre anyone else in the zone. This is the kind of asymmetrical power-up that defines the Mortal Stream: not a raw stat buff, but a conditional, situational cheat code that only works in one specific scenario. Demonic Fall Valley itself is a classic Xianxia “forbidden zone”: a cursed battlefield from an ancient war, sealed by spatial tears and primordial dangers. Everyone knows there are treasures inside; almost no one comes out with them.

Chapter Overview

Get ready, folks—this chapter is a masterclass in the Mortal Stream’s favorite pastime: old friends reuniting in the dark with high-value secrets. Han Li, now comfortably settled in Tiantian City, receives a summons that smells like a trap, walks into it with his eyes wide open, and finds himself face-to-face with a ghost from his recent past: Nang Long Hou, the mid-Nascent Soul cultivator who fled for his life during the last treasure hunt. Except he didn’t die. He’s back, battered but breathing, and he’s brought a new friend—a Tianji Sect elder named Xuanjizi. The topic? The legendary Demon Fall Valley, a route map that everyone’s dying for, and a certain black ring Han Li picked up on that chaotic expedition. This is pure payoff: the ring that seemed like a “chicken rib” treasure is suddenly the key to one of the most dangerous and lucrative forbidden zones in the cultivation world. No explosions, no flashy fights—just a quiet, tense negotiation in a hidden underground chamber, with the Ghost Spirit Sect’s kill list hanging over everyone’s head.

Key Plot Points

Han Li answers a vague summons in Tiantian City, using a jade slip as a token to enter a hidden meeting. The chain of contacts leads him through a disguised shop into an underground chamber—classic cultivation-world cloak-and-dagger. His caution pays off: he hesitates at the entrance to a hidden passage, and the person below removes the spiritual sense restriction to prove good faith. That small act of trust lets him identify the mysterious host: Nang Long Hou, the Nascent Soul elder everyone assumed was dead. The reunion is tense. Nang Long Hou explains his survival: tracked by the Ghost Spirit Sect’s assassins, he was saved by a Moulan Dharma Warrior squad hunting for another target. Now he’s a shadow of his former self, but still sharp. He introduces Xuanjizi as his “blood-brother” and the mastermind behind the sting operation. The reveal: Han Li’s black ring is the legendary Yin Half of the Two Harmonies Ring, the key to surviving the Polar Aurora—the deadliest barrier blocking entry to Demon Fall Valley.

Reading Guide

This chapter rewards readers who paid attention during the earlier treasure hunt arc. Nang Long Hou’s survival, the ring’s origin, and the Ghost Spirit Sect’s obsessiveness all converge here. Pay special attention to Han Li’s hesitation at the passage entrance—that’s not cowardice; it’s a Nascent Soul cultivator running a threat assessment in real time. The moment the sensory restriction drops, he doesn’t rush in; he scans, identifies, then commits. That’s the Mortal Stream’s survival discipline in action. Also note the shift in Nang Long Hou’s tone: he addresses Han Li with deference now, a direct result of Han Li killing a Nascent Soul elder in single combat. Status in the cultivation world is measured in kills, not age or lineage. Tense negotiations, whispered alliances, and a legendary treasure map on the horizon—this is the quiet before a storm that’s going to shake the Heavenly South.

Quick Q&A

Lore recap (TL;DR) drawn from this chapter's Cultural / Xianxia Notes — same text as the FAQ structured data on this page.

Why does Han Li hesitate at the passage entrance?: He doesn't trust anyone who calls him into a sealed underground chamber. The hesitation is a trained survival reflex—he probes for danger before committing.
What is a “chicken rib” treasure?: A xianxia term for an item that is technically valuable but functionally useless under normal conditions. Like a chicken rib: you could pick it, but the effort outweighs the reward.
Why does Nang Long Hou speak to Han Li with such deference now?: Han Li killed a Nascent Soul elder in single combat during the earlier treasure hunt. That act elevated Han Li’s status massively—Nascent Soul cultivators measure respect by killing power.