Feng Yi'an was tall. His beard bristled like steel needles. His eyes were bright, his voice carried force. He looked like a blunt, honest man.
Qin Ming knew the truth now. Every fiber of his being rejected this faker.
"So sorry. We'll kill the Blood Bear quickly and make amends." Feng Yi'an's face was all sincerity.
Old Liu sighed and asked them to guard the mountains properly. At his age, the anger still burned — they killed people, then came to apologize. Who was this performance for?
This doorstep sincerity was salt in the wound. It said: you don't matter. You won't dare react.
"Some brothers are injured. We're short-handed on patrol. That's why this happened." Feng Yi'an explained, then pressed again: plant the Black Moon soon. The patrol needed it for healing.
Xu Yueping swallowed fire.
"We'll leave immediately. We won't come back without killing the Blood Bear. Brother Xu — please comfort the wounded families for us." Feng Yi'an's false face curdled everything.
Xu Yueping's hand brushed Qin Ming's arm. A signal. He stood to see the patrollers out, clearly worried the young man would lose control.
Qin Ming knew: even if he killed every patroller here, the retaliation would be bloodbath. Other members. Other squads. If these men died in Twin Tree Village, the whole village would pay.
He kept his face flat and walked out with the others.
When the patrollers vanished into the dark, Yang Yongqing burst out. "I'm suffocating!"
"Can we report them?" Qin Ming asked.
"What would you report? By contract we owe four to eight Black Moon plants. They asked for the minimum. You say the seeds are mutated — prove it. They look identical. We only know because the fire fields keep underperforming and we know what kind of men they are."
Old Liu added, "And the real reason they dare this — they've greased the right palms."
Xu Yueping said, "One respected patroller's legacy of favors can feed his descendants for ten years."
The visit had been about one thing: forcing Xu Yueping to plant the drug.
No direct threats. Polite. Gentle. But under these circumstances, that courtesy was worse than a blade at the throat.
Qin Ming exhaled. "Insufferable."
He asked: was Black Moon really that important?
Xu Yueping nodded gravely. "Mutated Black Moon is extremely valuable. Long-term consumption offers a small chance at a Second New Life."
Old Liu said, "Patrollers walk the deep mountains. They've seen high-tier creatures. Who wouldn't want to advance? Even I dream of a Second New Life — extended years, restored youth. Who doesn't crave that?"
He explained the corruption — the motive, the rot. "But a man needs a bottom line. What they've done disqualifies them from the patrol. They're worse than mountain trolls."
"Second New Life..." Qin Ming murmured.
Xu Yueping patted his shoulder. "You can do it. Records say a golden-foundation New Lifer can reach Second New Life in under two months. The fastest ones."
---
Every household that had entered the mountains was bloodied. Some might not survive. Weeping leaked from every door.
Xu Yueping went house to house — treating wounds, suppressing rage, chest heaving.
Wang Qinglin lay on the heated bed, unconscious. A New Lifer — and his injuries were the worst.
Old Liu re-set his bones, wiped blood from his hands. "Broken ribs pierced the organs. If he weren't a New Lifer with strong vitality, he'd be dead."
Qin Ming watched. He was certain: this was a man in a Blood Bear skin, not the beast itself.
Yang Yongqing murmured, "Two years ago, the patrol seemed to be raising a snow ape."
Xu Yueping's face darkened. Old Liu just sighed.
---
The one good thing: Lu Ze woke. His body was strong. He would recover.
Qin Ming didn't tell him the truth. Too much agitation would slow healing.
"Brother Lu, how many people in a patrol squad?"
"Eight to twelve." Nine in this squad. Only the captain was a Second New Lifer. Very strong.
Fu Entao. That was the captain's name. Rarely seen.
"For most people, New Life is the ceiling," Lu Ze said. "Second New Life is a line they can't even imagine crossing."
"So the captain can suppress every member?"
Lu Ze nodded. "First New Life boosts raw strength. Second New Life multiplies that foundation — but shifts toward flexibility and speed."
"In our region, a first New Lifer lifting five hundred jin is the ceiling. How was Fu Entao back then?"
Lu Ze thought hard. "He hadn't reached the ceiling yet."
He looked at Qin Ming. "You hit New Life in the golden window with a foundation that breaks limits. Your Second New Life will be explosive."
Qin Ming had his measure. By raw physical strength alone, Fu Entao after Second New Life was still weaker than Qin Ming after first.
He rose to leave. "Rest, Brother Lu. Don't worry. I'm here."
---
Back in his own yard, Qin Ming drilled combat forms. He'd lived in dangerous mountains long enough to know how to fight.
Before New Life, his bare hand could shatter brick. Now — more.
His whipping leg swept out. Crack. A thigh-thick stump snapped.
When he channeled his old "wild path" forms, his focus sharpened. Gold-flecked ripples pulsed through his flesh. A light bump against a stump — it disintegrated.
---
After dinner, Qin Ming visited Xu Yueping.
"Uncle Xu, still angry?"
"Their insolence is killing me." Xu Yueping's chest was tight.
"Talk some sense into him — he skipped dinner," his wife said, worried.
"Auntie, leave him to me." Qin Ming sat down.
He was calm now. He'd burned off the fury in training. Time to plan.
"You want me to agree?" Xu Yueping's head snapped up. "Do you know what happens? The fire fields will fail. Famine!"
"Uncle, hear me out."
"Talk."
"It's still far from spring. We agree now — and if something happens? Say, during the mountain sweep, they all die. Or heaven gets tired of them and a mountain troll wipes them out. Or the magnetic field surges and they all go mad..."
Xu Yueping stared at him, cursing with a straight face.
Qin Ming's real point: if those men died, investigators would come. Anyone with a grudge would be suspected. Better to agree now and stay clear.
Xu Yueping frowned. "How would those things happen? You're overthinking."
Qin Ming turned serious. "Uncle Xu. We stall. We wait for variables."
He explained: put the seeds in the fire spring while the patrollers watched. Pull them out after they left. Or coat them with transparent mineral glue from the mountains — seal them off from the spring's energy.
"Right now, every family needs food. We secure safe hunting first."
Xu Yueping sighed. The logic held. If they couldn't survive the present, next year's famine was moot.
"And after the stall?"
Qin Ming's eyes were steady. "Uncle, soon I may reach Second New Life. Then I can have a conversation with them."
"They likely have backing." Xu Yueping rubbed his temples.
Then he paused. "Xiao Qin — your first New Life. Both arms, full force. Can you hit six hundred jin?"
"Yes."
Xu Yueping stood. "That score would turn heads even in Chi Xia City." A smile crept across his face. "Tomorrow. We go to Silver Vine Town."
"Uncle Xu — let's solve the current problem first."
"Feng Yi'an said: if I change my mind, find him at the town. Also — there may be a good marriage waiting for you."
"What?"
A mysterious old noble had moved to the town from far away. He had a very beautiful daughter of marriageable age.
"Uncle Xu, don't humiliate us."
Before, Xu Yueping wouldn't have dared. But the noble had announced: he judged suitors by the person, not the family.
Qin Ming's golden foundation was extraordinary — dazzling even by the bright city's standards. That gave Xu Yueping confidence.
"If this marriage works," he whispered, "the patrol's threat goes away."
Qin Ming objected. Xu Yueping dragged him through a full night of drinking.
---
Next day, before the fog cleared, Xu Yueping was at his door.
"Uncle, this early?"
"I know you're resistant. Fine — you don't need to visit. I'll test the waters with the old noble first."
If it worked, great. If not, no harm. Better than doing nothing.
The Shallow Night was still dim. Forest pressed thick on both sides of the road. Beast cries and strange bird calls echoed from the dark.
They trudged through deep snow toward Silver Vine Town, thirteen li away.
Halfway there, they stopped.
Brilliant red light erupted from the forest ahead. It punched through the fog and lit the sky. Swarms of "red butterflies" appeared, dancing, flooding the night — streaming in every direction.