Under the night sky, rang upon rang of lofty mountains stood against the dark, and in the dense forests the crowd had swollen, their voices clamorous. The New Lifers of every village were indignant, for today's entry into the mountains promised certain danger; once inside the special nodes, life and death hung in the balance.
"What is all this noise? Who dares chatter again?" A Golden Rider appeared, face impassive, cold eyes sweeping them. The golden ridge rooster beneath him was savage and gave a shrill cry. "You'd best keep your peace. You were sent only to prospect the mines — shut your mouths and do as you're told!" The villagers raged but dared not speak, for even common folk knew the Heaven Light within the special nodes would gnaw severely at the body. "Come," he threatened, "trouble anyone and you need not blame me for heavy-handedness." At his side a great crowd of armed New Lifers of Golden Ridge marched them along like prisoners.
They traveled in silence to the edge of the Great Rift Gorge, where some villagers already waited, brought by men of the Three-Eyed Church — the two organizations had indeed joined forces. The gorge was vast, seamed with fissures, its vegetation sparse, stone pillars and gullies side by side; few creatures hunted here, for one careless step could send a man tumbling into a deep crevasse. Golden Ridge and the Three-Eyed Church had brought great companies and waited at the mouth, yet themselves would not venture in.
In the heart of the gorge, another Golden Rider caught sight of Qin Ming and a cold glint crossed his eyes. He had once led men to Old Liu's home, forcing a sale of the flaming red grass, only to be denounced to Cao Long and Mu Qing — for which he had been slapped, losing several right-side teeth. "Keep an eye on that boy — make sure he prospects enthusiastically." He dared not strike openly while Cao Long and Mu Qing were still about, but this order came from the great bandits of Golden Ridge and the high officers of the Three-Eyed Church, and by a word here and a word there he could work even a single-born New Lifer to death.
A white-haired villager fretted that unless they found the mysterious produce soon, they would contract lasting ailments or never leave alive. "Silence!" The Golden Rider lashed him, ripping his coat and gashing his face. "Whoever finds the produce may leave at once, with a handsome reward — not Night Silver, but daylight gold." An elder of Golden Ridge ordered them down: "This ground is ours; every inch underground is worth its weight in gold. Search thoroughly." Their stretch near the entrance was hardly the best position, for their strength could not match Redcloud City's people.
Qin Ming went below with the other New Lifers, each hugging a sunstone prepared beforehand. It was a vast cavern, threaded with channels like a spider's web. Some stretches pulsed with faint light, hard to bear up close; others stayed dark, where the body felt no discomfort. "No need to ruin our health," an old man advised; "better to scout safe routes and wait out the hours in the dark regions." Many agreed, and a middle-aged man proposed splitting into two companies — one feign searching, the other seek an exit, for these forces might well come to blows over the nodes. Qin Ming had meant to suggest hiding themselves and saw that those who lived by the dangerous mountains were sharp at preserving their lives.
Then he set off on his own to wander the cavern. An hour passed before another force intervened, spilling blood above ground. Ape-cries and tiger-roars rang out; aberrant creatures appeared in force, and fierce birds began to swoop. "The aberrants have struck!" shouted the Golden Rider at the entrance. Never had they come in such numbers, or so organized. A white bear five or six meters tall seized two New Lifers and tore them apart; a golden bull, fire streaming from its maw, gored not a few of the Three-Eyed Church men; a great silver eagle peeled the skull-cap from a man of two New Lives. Different kinds, yet they did not turn on one another — all drove at the humans.
"Earlier the aberrants came only in small numbers; they were waiting for us to enter, to hunt us on purpose." An elder of Golden Ridge seized a horned owl of two mutations and snapped its neck. The entrance was choked with aberrants; despair mounted. Qin Ming feared nothing, able to retreat along the paths where Heaven Light seeped, where neither the men of the two factions nor the aberrants could long endure to go deep.
On the surface the two houses closed ranks to defend. "The great beings above will not descend themselves — they gave their word to Redcloud City's high officers not to hunt in secret, but loosing the mid- and lower-ranked aberrants upon us is no problem at all." All understood: the aberrants had long awaited this chance. The blood snakes, silver camels, and flaming red grass were of immense value to outsiders — and in the eyes of the mountain aberrants, certain two-legged beasts of deep foundation were likewise "herbs" rich in spirituality. "So they have come not merely to covet the produce, but to hunt us." "Exactly." The New Lifers of both factions went pale, for they sat first in the line of fire. The great beings dared not let their aberrants wipe out all who entered, for that would enrage Lord Ling Xu and invite cold-blooded retaliation; but to thin them by a fifth or a quarter would likely go unpunished.
"The caves, then — the surface can no longer be held," said an elder of the Three-Eyed Church, and they retreated to defend along the narrow channels, where the ground favored the defender. But the passages were webbed, and some aberrants born to fight underground sought ways around. Chaos reigned above and below; many dashed toward whatever channel might lead clear of the gorge.
"What a coincidence." Qin Ming caught sight of a familiar face — the Golden Rider who had tried to force the sale of Old Liu's numinous substance, the same who had shot him a venomous look earlier. "You?" This rider had abandoned his mount and wandered the underpasses alone, hunting for escape. "Come here," he beckoned. "Have you found the produce? You heard the racket above — tell me how the terrain stands." Qin Ming walked over at an easy pace. "You courting death? Stirring so slowly — I asked you a question!" The rider's eyes gleamed with malice; he deemed he could slay the boy here and blame the aberrants, for death makes no witnesses. He fell on him with his whip, for he guessed this boy and Old Liu had denounced him to Cao Long and Mu Qing.
Qin Ming parried with his long-handled black-gold hammer. "You dare resist?" The rider moved to strike again, but Qin Ming had no habit of standing passive and would not be trodden past the line twice. Like lightning he drove the hammer into the man's face — a crack, and the front teeth snapped, the nose flattened, the man nearly toppled. "Apologies, my hand slipped." "I... curse you!" With a slurred oath the rider drew his long blade, still sure a man of two New Lives could cut down a boy of a single rebirth. Yet before it could fall, a rending tore through his right hand as the hammer smashed it to pulp; the blade clattered down, the hand convulsing and its bones twisted like the rooster's claw. "You dealt Old Liu a yellow-mud palm with this hand, did you not? Then taste my black-gold fist." The hammer rose and fell upon the man's face until it was a flat cake and the corpse toppled, the brow bone crushed. Even at the last, the rider could not believe that a two-born man had lost in both strength and speed to a boy — until he understood that his foe's Second New Life had made him the stronger by far.
Qin Ming dragged the corpse into a broad stretch where Heaven Light flowed and it was safe for the moment. Then he spun around: an old man emerged from another channel, drawing near in silence. "Who are you, and what are you about?" "I am a man of the Three-Eyed Church. I saw this fellow felled by the Heaven Light and was seeing to him." But the old man stamped the earth and surged forward like a bolt, a faint white light clinging to his body — the mark of a third New Life. He was not so easily deceived; the instant something seemed amiss he struck, and even against a boy he went for death.
Qin Ming knew he had met a dread enemy; never had he fought a man of three New Lives. "Then I'll stake it all! Slay a great expert of three New Lives like you, and who knows, I may sweep away every man Golden Ridge has sent here!" He grew savage, resolved to hold nothing back and put the old man to death.