Qin Mu could not fathom how touching a sweat-cloth could bring three years of bad luck.
Yet the cloth felt wonderfully soft, silky against the skin, and carried a natural fragrance. It would make an excellent sweat-rag. It was woven from some rare breed of silkworm thread, valuable beyond measure — fine fabric like this was seldom seen in the Great Ruins.
He tucked the sweat-cloth into his shirt and examined the Shao Bao Sword and its new scabbard with quiet delight.
The upper half of the scabbard was gold, ornamented with jade and pearls. At the mouth was a carved fish-dragon, mouth agape — through that open maw the sword would be drawn. The lower half was silver-grey, unadorned, and the tip was carved into a fish-dragon tail, also in gold.
Clink.
Qin Mu slid the sword home. He drove qi into the scabbard and drew the Shao Bao Sword again. As it cleared the sheath, a great fish-dragon materialized above his head, mouth open, spitting the blade downward. Qin Mu reached up, drew the sword from the dragon's mouth, and felt a wave of satisfaction.
"This scabbard is truly fine — it can manifest a fish-dragon!"
He sheathed the sword. The fish-dragon swallowed the blade and vanished into the scabbard.
Delighted, he fed qi into the scabbard once more. The fish-dragon reappeared, spitting the Shao Bao Sword; he drew it, sheathed it again, and the dragon merged with the scabbard.
He played with this mechanism over and over. After a while the Blind One said, "Mu'er, stop playing. Your grandma has acquired a few more cattle and wants you to take them out to graze. They need to be driven to Xianglong City to sell in a day or two."
Qin Mu acknowledged and hurried back to the village. He drove six oxen out to pasture, wondering: Grandma Si had recently sold off the village's livestock — where had these six oxen come from?
As he left the village he spotted the Village Chief, the Herbalist, the Mute, and the others huddled together in consultation. The Cripple sat to one side, dismantling a black banner. He tossed the banner-cloth to Old Ma for the carpenter's shop door-curtain, and threw the pole to Grandma Si for chasing chickens.
The next morning, as Qin Mu hitched the ox-cart, Grandma Si smiled: "Mu'er, you'll come along to the city this time."
Qin Mu was startled and delighted. He shouldered the Shao Bao Sword, packed his pig-slaughter knife, bamboo staff, and iron hammer, and leapt onto the cart. Behind him the Blind One approached at a leisurely pace and took a seat beside Grandma Si on the cart, one on each side.
The cart was loaded with ironwork forged by the Mute, stacks of exotic beast pelts from hunting trips taken by Old Ma, the Cripple, and Qin Mu himself, and two sheep trussed at the hooves and laid among the cargo.
Three great oxen were harnessed at the front — strong beasts — and three more were tethered behind.
The boy flicked the whip. The lead ox blinked innocently and lumbered toward the road.
This was his first trip to the city. Excitement fizzed through him until he felt he might float away. He did not notice the equally innocent expressions of the oxen and the sheep.
Xianglong City lay a thousand li from the Village of Broken Elders — a considerable distance. Going to the city was an event. The Great Ruins were desolate, and the overland route was poor. They would have to travel by water first, then walk more than a dozen li overland to reach Xianglong City.
Qin Mu drove the cart down to the Yong's edge. The Cripple had built a large bamboo raft. Qin Mu eased the cart onto it, the Cripple cast off the mooring, and the raft slid downstream with the current, gathering speed.
Even at this pace, it would take four or five days to reach Xianglong City.
After drifting forty-odd li, the Blind One tapped the water's surface with his bamboo staff. The raft promptly swung toward the bank.
Qin Mu did not understand until he looked ashore and saw the direction of the Grandmother Temple. A large crowd had gathered on the riverbank — people from many different villages, most with ox-carts or horse-carts, waiting.
The Yong was treacherous, the current swift, and the waters teemed with river-monsters and great savage fish. Villagers along the river therefore chose to travel to Xianglong City on the same day, forming a convoy so that they could watch one another's backs.
The bank was crowded with bamboo rafts, and more arrived. Before long more than a hundred were assembled.
The Blind One took out several sticks of incense, lit them in the breeze, and planted them at the river's edge. Other villagers stepped forward and planted their own sticks. Incense smoke coiled upward, drifting over the water with the breeze.
Then someone raised a ringing work-chant, and soon more voices joined in — a river song, an offering to the River God.
"With thee I wander by the nine rivers, wind rises and waves surge; "Riding a chariot of water crowned with lotus leaves, harnessed to two dragons with a chimera beside; "Ascending Kunlun I gaze on all four sides, my spirit soaring vast and free; "The sun nears dusk and I linger, forgetting home, yet at the far shore my heart wakes…"
The ancient melody wound through nostril and throat. The assembled villagers sang together, their voices soaring and surging, and Qin Mu felt an unaccountable stirring in his heart.
Ahead, the water's surface parted, and one by one enormous heads emerged from the depths.
They were water-beasts — great blue-backed creatures with four broad, fin-like webbed feet, their heads fish-shaped but crowned with long, lance-like snouts.
One after another they raised their heads like small hills, pressing their snouts to the incense sticks on the bank and inhaling. The incense burned down rapidly, and the smoke was drawn into the beasts' nostrils.
The creatures closed their eyes. After a moment they exhaled a large smoke ring, apparently enjoying themselves.
Seizing the chance, the villagers drove their ox-carts onto the beasts' long blue backs. Qin Mu did the same. Grandma Si tossed a large slab of prepared meat into the water. The beast ate it, let out a long resonant cry — "Mooo" — and paddled with its four webbed feet, carrying the cart and the three passengers downstream.
Behind them, one blue-backed beast after another voiced a long call. The river resounded with cries rising and falling, mingling with the villagers' chanting — high, low, swelling, fading, pausing, rushing — as the great beasts bore them on.
"These are unique to the Yong River — called Fujiang," Grandma Si explained. "The Fujiang are the River God to the folk who live along the bank. They love the smoke of incense, they love beef, and best of all they love songs — songs of praise. If you light a few sticks of incense by the riverbank you can call them. Offer them beef, and they will carry us upstream against the current. If a Fujiang gets hungry along the way, you must toss it more beef, or it will drop us into the water."
Qin Mu marveled.
The Fujiang swam swiftly, and with the current to boot they broke through the waves at breathtaking speed — faster than the finest horse galloping on land.
Qin Mu calculated: at this pace the Fujiang would reach Xianglong City — a thousand li away — well before nightfall.
On the river the Fujiang's calls rose and fell; on both banks the green hills rose and fell. Sunlight streamed toward them, and the river's surface shimmered gold, snakes of light dancing across the waves.
Qin Mu gazed into the distance and felt his heart and body expand without limit, as though this golden river, green mountains, blue sky, and deep gorge were all folded within his chest.
This was a magical land, with magical people and magical river-beasts. Though outsiders called the Great Ruins a place of barren mountains, wicked waters, shrewish women, and stubborn men, to Qin Mu it was home.
As evening fell and the sun sank, Qin Mu spotted a small dock on the riverbank. The Fujiang began to slow, heading toward it.
Grandma Si rose, smiling: "Xianglong City is nearly here. Mu'er, drive the cart ashore — let's get into the city quickly."
Qin Mu moored the raft and drove the cart onto the bank. Looking back, he saw other Fujiang pulling in as well. Folk from across the Great Ruins were leading their ox-carts and horse-carts ashore and heading in one direction.
The cart rumbled two or three li, climbing a small rise. Ahead the road dipped downward. Qin Mu jumped off to steady the lead ox and prevent the cart from rolling — then froze, staring.
Below the rise, a broad road ran straight ahead, and there stood a city — ancient, majestic. At the four corners of the wall rose stone pillars, each more than thirty zhang thick and a hundred and sixty or seventy zhang tall. Upon each pillar coiled a golden divine dragon, sculpted and overlaid with gold leaf, blazing in the light.
The city's gatehouse was shaped like a dragon's head, the gate itself the dragon's mouth, the upturned eaves like horns — at once fearsome and magnificent.
Xianglong City.
One of the few prosperous places in the Great Ruins.
Resources in the Great Ruins were scarce. Oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar were precious commodities that had to be purchased from the outside. Not just anyone could travel out, however. Only in prosperous places like Xianglong City did merchants from the outside world come, bringing their goods and buying the strange rarities of the Great Ruins to sell abroad.
"These dragon-pillars are much bigger than the stone idols in our village," Qin Mu said admiringly. "If I could steal one, it would look magnificent at our village entrance!"
Grandma Si shot him a look. "If they could be stolen, I would have taken one long ago. Unless you can persuade every old cripple in the village to pitch in, you haven't a chance! Hurry — it's nearly dark. Get into the city!"
The wheels clattered. Qin Mu drove the cart through the gates, gazing around in wonder. Everything in Xianglong City was new to him.
The streets were packed with people. He had never seen so many people in his life.
And there were many girls, dressed in bright finery, standing on balconies. They pushed open their latticed windows, waved, and called to him to come up and play.
"The city folk are so friendly," Qin Mu said, excited. He waved back and shouted, "When I've finished my shopping, I'll come find you ladies to play!"
The Blind One looked torn between laughter and tears. "Mu'er, those girls are fallen women — they don't truly want to play with you. If you go up there, they'll strip your bones clean and suck out the marrow!"
Qin Mu was startled. "Fallen? Grandpa Blind, they're all standing perfectly steady. They don't look fallen to me. Don't tell me they're all demons like Wu Nu? Wu Nu once said she wanted to play some embarrassing games with me, but I refused."