Qin Mu seemed to have foreseen this. One hand gripped the Kshiloro staff, hurling the demon ape with it so it slammed hard against the earth; the other flicked fingers, popping apart Hu Ling'er's curved blades of primal qi with six crisp reports.
"LOW —"
Suddenly the dragon-elephant charged, and in the gap lowered its head and sent him flying. The instant it bowled him over, its trunk lengthened, coiled about Qin Mu, yanked him back, and drove him headfirst, feet up, into the earth. It pulled him up to smash him again, when his legwork changed — he kicked the trunk aside and landed a hundred blows on the beast's face, sending the vast hulk flying.
"Little squirt — down!"
The demon ape wrapped the Green Dragon about its frame, slammed a palm down, and pressed Qin Mu flat. It roared, raised a thick burly leg, and stamped viciously — the Cripple's thieving leg art, Trampling the Sumeru Mountain! Qin Mu rolled over, rose on one leg parallel to the ground, and raised the other to meet the ape's bare foot — the same move, only loose, yet its might was astonishing.
The demon ape grunted and staggered back, seized the dragon-elephant's tail, swung it about, and hurled it at Qin Mu. At the same moment Hu Ling'er flicked her tail and curved blades came whirling to slash at him.
Suddenly a sough of air came — Qin Mu's heart stirred, and he dodged, following the sound. There he saw a hundred or so armored men and women leaping through the woods, hurrying toward the upper Yong. A few noticed him and halted; one took stock of Qin Mu, the demon ape, and the white fox: "Hunters?"
"Don't meddle. Let's be quick!"
Another said in a low voice: "The boat is nearly here! We must form our formation on the river before it arrives!"
"The Great Ruins are full of reclusive experts. Don't stir up trouble. His boat travels fast; miss our chance and regret will be too late!"
That group took to their heels and vanished.
Qin Mu was puzzled: "These people don't seem to be from the Great Ruins. They're hurrying upstream, as if to ambush someone. That man seemed ready to kill us to silence us — they're not good people... Ling'er, big fellow, you see? Honest souls like us always come out worse, done in for no reason."
The white fox nodded again and again; the demon ape curled his lip: "Believe that? Bah!"
Qin Mu was about to speak when the dragon-elephant came bounding up and knocked him flying with its head. A strange beast of the gorge by the Suppressing Calamity Palace, it had long warred with the demon ape until Qin Mu schooled the ape in cultivation and it surrendered, becoming its mount. Only, it was foolish. The ape pinned it down and beat it: "Rest. Got it?"
Qin Mu sprang to the ridge; beyond it the Yong River skirted a sheer cliff, its waters rushing down with chunks of floating ice — in this season boats generally did not ply the river. Yet he saw a tower ship sailing downriver, breaking the ice as it went, so fast that to sail against the current and the ice was beyond belief.
The demon ape, Hu Ling'er, and the dragon-elephant climbed up and sat beside him. The ape tore up a pine tree, stripped a handful of needles, and offered them to the fox. Hu Ling'er shook her head. "Eat. Gets you strong." She laughed: "I don't eat that."
The ape offered the needles to the dragon-elephant. "Eat. Gets you strong." The elephant shook its head; the ape seized its head and beat it: "Eat!" Tearfully it ate, and only then was the ape satisfied, eating them itself slow and deliberate. Hu Ling'er could not hold back: "Big fellow, do you know? The dragon-elephant doesn't eat plants — it eats meat. It follows its dragon nature, not its elephant nature."
The elephant was moved beyond words and nodded again and again. The ape gave a cold laugh: "Vegetables, strong! Me, vegetables, strong!" The elephant's tears streamed as it ate on.
The tower ship drew near. Armored officers and men were everywhere; beneath a flowing canopy sat a young general, broad and bold, legs planted wide. On deck painters worked, each with a bronze mirror a full zhang tall before him. Nearby, warriors dressed like herdsmen kept opening iron cages, releasing golden eagles one by one.
Qin Mu quietly activated the Shenxiao Eye and saw that on those mirrors appeared scene after scene — green mountains, clear waters — changing without cease. An eagle's cry came, and he looked up to see a golden eagle fly past overhead. The truth dawned: "The pictures are the very images seen through those eagles' eyes! Those painters are mapping the geography of the Yong River! Release the eagles, their sight reflects on the mirrors, and the painters draw down the mountains and rivers as the ship sails downstream, tracing the whole of the Yong's topography."
"Who are these people? Why map the Yong's geography?" Qin Mu blinked, unable to make it out.
At that moment a warrior hurried to the canopy, knelt, and saluted: "General Qin, someone spies on us from the shore!"
The young general raised an eyebrow and turned his gaze toward Qin Mu's side. Qin Mu's heart leapt — when that gaze shifted over, it was as though two blindingly bright beams shone across, and his eyes went white, seeing nothing. Hu Ling'er and the demon ape cried out too, covering their eyes. Only the dragon-elephant, buried in its pine needles, noticed nothing.
"Only common villagers by the riverbank." General Qin closed his eyes and feigned sleep. "They cannot even bear my gaze — no threat."
That warrior hesitated, then said: "Seven months ago, by imperial order, you, General, ransacked the household of Yan Zheng, the Minister of Rites. Yan Zheng long enjoyed a clean reputation, spoke for the small sects, and was of the Huaqing Sword Sect. You ransacked his house and cast him into the great prison; the Emperor ordered him beheaded, and you oversaw the execution. I fear this journey will not be peaceful — Yan Zheng's partisans may well make a move on the road."
General Qin sneered: "The orders to ransack and behead him both came from the Emperor — what has it to do with me? Yan Zheng chased after hollow fame, and even accused the State Preceptor of plotting rebellion, demanding the Emperor cut him down. For a scrap of empty fame he dared to drive a wedge between the Emperor and the Preceptor — he deserved death a thousand times. If not him, whom else to kill?"
He sighed: "The Emperor bade me ransack and execute precisely because I am the State Preceptor's disciple, raised up by his own hand. My doing so was meant to make plain that the Emperor's favor toward the Preceptor is at its height, and to quench such scheming in treacherous ministers. A pity some men cannot read the times, cannot grasp the will above, and undo themselves."
"But this time, I fear there will be fame-hunters come to ambush us..."
General Qin waved a hand: "I intend precisely to draw out Yan Zheng's partisans and sweep them all into one net!"
He rose, stepped to the bow, and looked upon the surging river and the cliffs of both banks: "The Preceptor bade me come and map the geography of the Yong, all for the good of the realm — that in time the Great Ruins might be folded into our territory. These rebels who cannot grasp his good intentions, and still think to kill me and throw the realm of my Yankang into chaos — do they not deserve death a thousand times?"
Just then a young master stepped out of the cabin. His face had a baby roundness, a red dot at the center of his brow, a folding fan in his hand. He laughed: "To think such men still carry the titles of upright worthies — enough to make a man laugh and weep at once! May such worthies die out to the last!"
General Qin turned and bowed hurriedly: "Seventh Young Master."
The Seventh Young Master looked up at the mountains. The shadows of Qin Mu and the demon ape, cast down from the ridge, fell just so as to land upon the sailing tower ship.
"General Qin, I have heard that the natives of the Great Ruins are the abandoned people of the gods — is that saying true or not?" asked the Seventh Young Master.