Shen Jiayun stood rigid, aware of the spear's tremor brushing the air beside her ear like a feather. It was the first time an outsider had ever helped set her hair ornaments aright, and she drew the blue-glinting pearl blossom from among her waterfall of black hair, turning it in her fingers.
Qin Ming lowered his spear and turned to return it to its owner. The young noble who carried the purple-gold spear burned with embarrassment. When he had lent the weapon out he had boasted that doing so was, in a sense, a duel against Nie Rui — transparent flattery. Now that it was back in his hands, how could he keep singing Nie Rui's praises without admitting that his staff had just defeated the two finest stars Redcloud City had produced in twenty years? He resolved to store the spear away once home; to keep wielding it was to remind everyone that Nie Rui and Shen Jiayun had once fallen by a single hand.
Mu Qing, who never held her tongue, said, "You'd best treasure that spear. It carries quite a story now." The young noble felt as though he sat on coals.
Only then did many of those present grasp what they had witnessed, stunned that Nie Rui and Shen Jiayun could have lost to a boy whose physical gifts were far inferior to theirs. "That lad's spearwork has an air of returned simplicity; in the most ordinary strokes he draws the line between life and death, the true essence of combat!" observed nobles of three New Lives, their gaze sharp. "His killing intent stayed sheathed at first, then in an instant he summoned the thunder and his spear-shadow broke like lightning."
That the pair who had dazzled Redcloud City should taste defeat in so remote a corner, at the hands of one their own age, could not but carry weight. More than one noble maiden murmured how gallant he was. Before parting, the twin stars lingered to tell Qin Ming that the world of the night mist was vast and dense with mysteries, and they looked forward to meeting again on higher ground. His name had entered many ears before ever he set foot in the city. To most, though his constitution was not of the foremost rank, that gift for turning the ordinary into the marvelous in combat made him a new star brilliantly on the rise.
"Formidable — he brought even Nie Rui to heel. Since this bout, Nie Rui has resolved to walk a different road." Word spread through the Black-and-White Mountain, and the other young nobles came out of curiosity to see him. Cao Long, Mu Qing, and Wei Zhirou stepped in to shield Qin Ming from the worst of it, and gradually the stir quieted.
"Qin Ming," Mu Qing said, "once early spring passes, no later than the height of summer, go to Redcloud City to register. A pity your strength is still modest." At Qin Ming's puzzlement, Wei Zhirou explained that by then he might touch higher knowledge — even the advanced qi circulation manual, never shown to outsiders. Cao Long added that the great cities would come to pick talents, and a bright showing could change the course of a life. Had he not bested Nie Rui and Shen Jiayun that day, they would not have troubled to speak of it, for it would have meant little. If all else failed, he could study a year in Redcloud City and try again; a Third New Life would improve his odds and might win him entry to an even more renowned city. They knew a Golden Foundation would bring his Second New Life before long, but unless he bore "divine wisdom," an uncommon gift, or rare talent, he could hardly be favored in advance. Xu Yueping and Yang Yongqing understood he would very likely leave come spring.
As the talk turned to the numinous substances that could grant New Life, Cao Long idly mentioned mineral essence, and Qin Ming pressed for detail. "It is an active substance drawn from ore veins," Cao Long said. "It raises one's constitution, but whether it grants New Life rests on luck, and even so it is exceedingly dear." The first dose always elevated the body no matter how many New Lives one had, with one chance in two of another New Life — that was its value, Wei Zhirou said, making it beloved of old men whose strength could advance no further. A second dose kept barely a tenth of the effect, Mu Qing added, unless one obtained a higher grade, one rosy as dusk, called Blood of the Earth, of which Redcloud City saw a bottle or two a year at best; higher grades still could be found only in the great cities.
When the talk reached the mysterious produce of the nodes, Qin Ming wished to understand mutton-fat jade iron. The three warmed to the subject. Every descent of Heaven Light nurtured marvelous things; some rare materials, forged into mystic weapons, could be passed down to shelter and prosper a family, even anchor the fortunes of a nation — which was why Cao Long sought so ardently in the mountains. Mutton-fat jade iron needed no a thousand temperings; refining it ten thousand times added nothing. Its material was superb, and a weapon of it could cleave a monstrous beast's scales and menace any shielded by Heaven Light. More strangely still, a damaged jade-iron weapon could be nursed back whole by Heaven Light. "Its most miraculous power," Mu Qing said, "is that wielding it you can slay certain special things."
Qin Ming's heart jolted; he realized how little he knew. "In all this vast, blackened world, how many tracts hold fire springs?" Mu Qing went on. "The great cities are but glow-worms beneath endless night; the vaster regions are a sheet of ink, deep as an abyss, where things beyond telling dwell, and at times only rarer weapons of mutton-fat jade iron and the like avail." Some things the eyes could not see, he added; an ordinary spear-point piercing them met only air, but a jade-iron weapon might draw a strange string of blood and slay them. "That is why some hidden sects worship gods," Wei Zhirou said — for there were unknowns beyond speech or explanation. Old Liu thumped his chest, glad there were none in his part of the country. Mu Qing laughed that he could not know, for even if they existed the common folk could not see them.
Qin Ming asked whether the people of the beyond realm were all mighty. Wei Zhirou nodded that some walked roads of incomparable glory. How strong did they grow, he asked, for the feathered-robed youth who had gravely wounded him must be one. "Don't dwell on it," Mu Qing said. "Raise yourself for now; when you enter a great city and your strength climbs, if you are found to bear a special gift you may change your path too." From their guarded words Qin Ming gathered they themselves had all changed paths — one walked the Giant Spirit path, one bore a tail, and Wei Zhirou must likewise have something uncommon.
After another sleepless night Qin Ming at last slept — a relief, for lying wakeful was torment. During those days Redcloud City's monstrous beasts at last hauled grain carts across the snow-blocked roads, and the whole region rejoiced. The grain was somewhat dear, but the price was a gesture of goodwill meant to ease the famine.
Cao Long, Mu Qing, and Wei Zhirou had begun packing for the road when word came that exceptional nodes had been found in a stretch of the Great Rift Gorge, with more still surfacing. Three expedition forces rushed into the mountains, asking Qin Ming, Old Liu, and the others to lead the way; several veterans came along, among them the Cao family's seventh uncle, he who had eaten the longevity tree. The black goat under Yang Yongqing urinated at the sight of him, and Old Liu's great yellow dog let go as well, twisting old seventh Cao's nose with fury.
"Once you have led us there, take no further part — it is far too dangerous," Cao Long said. No sooner had Old Liu delivered the column to the gorge than he seized Qin Ming, Xu Yueping, and Yang Yongqing and fled back to the village. "We have weathered ninety-nine storms," he said; "only the last stumble remains, so keep away and hold the line of safety." Qin Ming, though safe from the corrosive Heaven Light within the nodes, held himself back.
Yet some local organizations refused to behave as men, ordering every village to send New Lifers with them. A New Lifer of Golden Ridge brought the order, riding a ground-chicken at full speed; Golden Ridge had sent one of its true great bandits, and in this final stretch their eyes too had gone red for the produce of the Black-and-White Mountain. "This is not our decision alone; we have joined with the Three-Eyed Church," he warned, threatening reckoning for any village that refused. Qin Ming understood at once: these men feared the Heaven Light and meant to use the villagers in their place, caring nothing for their lives. "I shall go," he said, and insisted on sending Old Liu, Xu Yueping, and Yang Yongqing back. He followed the Golden Ridge New Lifer calmly into the mountains, yet within him the killing intent slowly began to boil.