Beneath the night, the mountain woods were dim. This day great stretches lay utterly still; aside from the grazing creatures, one would be hard put to meet any fierce beast.
Qin Ming ran on without pause. Passing a stretch of dense forest, he stopped short, took off his armor and set down the long-handled black-gold hammer, and dug a gleaming suit of refined gold armor out of the snow. This was the legacy of the dead — and still sought by the authorities — Wang Nianzhu. Qin Ming changed into it on the spot, worried that the place he meant to go might harbor bear cubs or calf calves; if they were quick of wit enough to remember his face, that would be dreadful.
Everyone knew that Wang Nianzhu had slain the blood snake and wiped out the mountain patrol's Fu Entao, Feng Yi'an, and the rest. So for a man to slip into the lairs of aberrants amid all this chaos was entirely natural.
After hanging at his waist the long sword of Wang Nianzhu's — one that gleamed clear as a spring — Qin Ming found a strip of cloth and masked his face. There was no helping it; he was not strong enough yet, and could only be cautious.
Then, in a single breath, he ran eight li, arriving at a stretch of stone forest ringed by woodland. Here boulders were everywhere, some places piled almost into stone mountains.
"How foul!" Qin Ming could hardly bear it. The great white bear made its home here and was none too particular; he had barely drawn near when the stink of bear dung filled his nose.
Deep in the stone forest was a fire spring, wreathed in crimson haze, its waters shimmering. In scale it rivaled the fire spring of Silver Elm Town — a second-grade one.
The great white bear, for all its many mutations and fearsome strength, still lacked the standing to enter the deep mountains and claim a more splendid fire spring. But to the mountain folk, this was already a treasure ground.
And what a place like this had been reduced to by that great bear! Animal hides all around, bones, heaps of carrion, and enormous mounds of bear dung, dumped again and again right beside the fire spring.
Clearly its hibernation was far from thorough; it still came out to hunt in the mountains often.
"It must be an old he-bear, greedy and solitary. For a domain this wide to hold only him alone — what a waste of this treasure ground." Qin Ming prowled about, but the place stank horribly and held almost nothing at all.
He was thoroughly exasperated. To come all this way, at great risk, and end up finding nothing but the reek of bear dung!
Qin Ming truly wanted to set a fire and burn the place clean. Even if some offspring of the old he-bear were here, he could vent his anger; at worst he would hack off a couple of bear paws and take them home.
He could not even say the place was poor and clean, for the truth was it was filthy beyond enduring; the stench nearly made him retch.
This was the first time Qin Ming had been stymied and felt quite hopeless, so choked that he wanted revenge, only to give up at last, pinching his nose, unable to bear another moment there.
Only as he turned to leave did he suddenly catch a glint of scales within the fire spring. His spirits leapt at once.
"This old dog-bear knows how to raise fish?"
Qin Ming dashed to the edge of the fire spring and, in a pool seven or eight zhang across, made out the shadows of fish.
However, he soon stood there helpless and dumbfounded. They were all merely fingerlings.
"Foulest old bear, utterly shameless. These fish were probably never going to grow large anyway — it would dredge them up and eat them early!"
In the end he turned on the fingerlings. Anything shorter than a finger he let be; whatever neared the length of a palm he scooped up. The two largest were seven cun long, and in all he took twenty-odd fish of every size.
They were a kind of spirit-fish, bright blue, parts of them translucent, growing to over a meter in maturity. Once mature, they brimmed with dense spirituality and vitality.
A pity that, with that impatient old he-bear about, they could never grow that large.
"As small as they are, they still carry some spirituality. They count as a fine tonic."
Whenever Qin Ming entered the mountains, he always brought a beast-hide pouch. His harsh life had bred in him this plain habit, and now it came in use.
It was also one of the things that had made Huang Jingjun curl the corner of his mouth in secret mockery.
Qin Ming did not look back. He dashed swiftly toward Wild Ox Ridge, seven li distant. He was striking on a window of time and had to move fast.
Beneath the night, the mountain ranges stretched on, covered in dense forest.
The moment Qin Ming burst onto the golden bull's domain, he was stunned.
Deep in the forest was a second-grade fire spring. The fiery, glowing liquid was not held in a pool but channeled into a sprawl of rough fire fields. The spring was not hot, far below the body temperature of a man, but it was enough to hold back the bitter cold of wind and snow; and in those fire fields everything grew thick and green, in riot of purple and red.
"Now here's an old yellow ox who keeps at it!" Qin Ming praised.
The mountains lay white with snow, and snowflakes still drifted from the sky, yet this stretch of ground showed a scene of such teeming life, enough to catch any eye.
A green vine was laden with fire pears, twenty or thirty of them already flushed bright red, giving off a tempting fruit fragrance.
"These can nourish qi and blood." Qin Ming gathered them quickly.
Then he found a low patch of plants, little more than a foot high, each one heavy with purple berries, sweet and tart to the taste.
"So many purple sun-berries. Eat a few when weary and one recovers energy swiftly. Everything this old ox planted is good!" Qin Ming's liking for the golden bull soared.
These rough fire fields had not been tended with any care, but they could not resist the sheer spirituality of a second-grade fire spring: every plant grew beautifully.
The pity was that the old yellow ox had a great estate indeed, for it led a herd of wild bulls dwelling on these hills. No spiritual substance capable of granting a new life had been left behind; all of it, in all likelihood, had been eaten by its sons and grandsons among the herd.
Qin Ming was disappointed. To venture into the lair of a multiply-mutated creature, he had naturally hoped for a gain, hoped for a Third New Life.
"The old dog-bear and the yellow ox are hopeless prospects. It seems Old Liu is my best bet — I'll go into the mountains with him another time!"
The fire fields held many fruits and melons, all carrying a trace of spirituality. To common folk they counted as a fine tonic, and part of them had already ripened. In this frozen, snowbound world, to come upon such succulent fruit briefly dispelled Qin Ming's disappointment, and light slowly returned to his eyes.
Whether crimson fruit or golden melon, anything ripe he plucked and took, until both beast-hide pouches were stuffed full.
"Are any calves left at home?" Qin Ming looked toward the depths of Wild Ox Ridge.
"Hm?" Suddenly his pupils contracted. He saw no calf — but there was a donkey foal.
It looked much like the mount of that old weasel, but it could hardly be, for this was only a little donkey. And it was pilfering melons too!
In the distant fire field, with a soft plop, the melon in the donkey foal's mouth dropped to the ground. It, too, was startled, frightened by the armored two-legged beast that had appeared so suddenly.
"Donkey foal, whatever you do, don't bray!" Qin Ming turned and fled.
This little donkey posed no threat, but it had powerful backing. If it started braying here, who knew what monster might be drawn near?
Qin Ming reckoned it must be the offspring of that old weasel's mount; otherwise, how would a donkey foal dare come here to steal melons?
Qin Ming sped off like the wind and vanished in the blink of an eye.
In the rough fire field, the donkey foal was equally baffled. A moment before it had been about to kick up its heels and bolt, and yet that two-legged beast had fled ahead of it first.
Guilt pricked at it, so it did not dare bray. Like a loafer haunting the streets, it wandered about, eating and drinking its fill. At last it let out a burp, swished its tail, and scampered away in a puff of dust.
Only long afterward did a great white bull emerge from the depths of Wild Ox Ridge — a creature mutated three times. The old yellow ox had a great estate indeed, so of course it kept a bull at home to guard the place.
The great white bull had noticed the donkey foal the moment it appeared. It had not driven it away; on the contrary, it had hidden itself, for it knew the little donkey's origin and did not wish to disturb it.
"There's no need for that little fellow to sense anything. Let the donkey elder come to know that we have long been keeping its offspring well-fed and well-tended." The great white bull said this in cow-tongue. Even here in the mountains, born a bull, one had to mind the ways of the world.
"I... moo, has a whole herd of donkeys come?!" When the great white bull drew near the fire field, it was utterly stunned!
Qin Ming had torn off six li in one breath until, sensing nothing behind him, he let out a long sigh of relief. Then he went on his way, meaning to change back into his own armor and long-handled hammer.
On the way he picked up that piece of mutton-fat jade iron he had hidden in the mountains. Now all the dangerous experts had gone off to the Great Rift Gorge, and the outside world lay empty.
"Little Qin, you're safe home at last. If anything had happened to you, we would have blamed ourselves all our lives!" Xu Yueping, Yang Yongqing, and the others had been waiting by the village gate all along.
"I'm fine. Frightening but harmless — and in the end I even picked up some mountain goods on the way." Qin Ming gave a brief account of the Great Rift Gorge.
Xu Yueping was shaken. The aberrants' large-scale, organized reverse hunting left him stunned, unable to speak.
Yang Yongqing, too, felt both thrilled and shaken with fear. Forget their kind of folk — even the noble elites of Redcloud City were doomed to be flayed alive there.
When they learned that all the mountain folk had come out in safety, they fell silent again, caught between amusement and helplessness. They could only sigh that life was fickle: the ones most likely to come to harm had all gotten out intact.
"Little uncle, I'm so glad you're safe home! We were all worried to death!" Wen Rui rubbed his small hands together, white mist at nose and mouth. Standing in the snow by the door of his home, he was overjoyed when he saw Qin Ming return, and jumped for joy.
All that long half-day he had run out a dozen times or more. Every time he saw the courtyard gate of Qin Ming's house still locked, he grew dejected, afraid something had happened to his little uncle.
For he had learned from Lu Ze and Liang Wanqing that the golden-riders of Golden Ridge had taken his little uncle away to do something very dangerous.
Though Lu Ze had been badly wounded, his constitution was excellent; he could already leave the house, and walked out supported by Liang Wanqing.
After a quarter-hour, Qin Ming carried a big bundle of crimson and golden fruit into their little courtyard.
Usually, when venturing into the mountains, one might occasionally find wild fruit left over from autumn under the snow, but never anything this fresh.
"Wow, this time it's not mountain persimmons — it's my favorite red berries. Little uncle, you're amazing!" Wen Rui's small face flushed bright red; he called out happily between mouthfuls.
Two-year-old Wen Hui hugged Qin Ming by the neck, planted a kiss on him with a smack, and babbled his joy in mangled words.
In the iron cage, that fire-red-furred mutant squirrel leapt up and down, nearly crying with hunger, staring longingly and squeaking without cease.
"Make a bow at me and I'll give you a red berry." Qin Ming laughed.
And sure enough, that squirrel stood up in its cage and clasped its paws at him in repeated bows. Each time it bowed, it squeaked once, as if keeping count.
"Have you truly become a spirit?" Qin Ming's heart gave a jump.
...
The men who had gone into the mountains were long in returning, which naturally roused everyone's concern. The great families had left small numbers of men in places like Silver Elm Town, and sense came to them that something had gone wrong.
After Qin Ming got back, he sent Xu Yueping to carry word to Silver Elm Town. In fact, once the other villages' old hunters had shaken off their haze, they too went to report.
Soon some great birds of prey were released into the night sky, and the men left behind by each family began sending pleas for aid to Redcloud City, telling of the enormous danger here.
That very night, experts from Redcloud City set out. Saving people was like fighting a fire; this could not wait — a moment's delay could mean many deaths.
The aberrants of the mountains had no wish to slaughter to the last, fearing the bloody vengeance that would come from Redcloud City. Deep in the night they began to withdraw, and before Redcloud City's experts could even arrive, the crisis had resolved itself.
Each family had suffered losses, great or small.
Cao Long, Mu Qing, Wei Zhirou, and the others had been in the inner stretch of the Great Rift Gorge, yet even so they had lost men.
Some families lost twenty to thirty percent of their numbers, others forty to fifty, the Huang clan among them. But worst of all were Golden Ridge and the Three-Eyed Church, which, at the entrance, had come within a hair of total annihilation.
In the end, only a few old men from those two, covered in blood and leaning on one another, managed to escape.
When the great brigands of Golden Ridge — those two leaders — heard the details, they were so enraged they came near charging over in person, cursing these men as good-for-nothings, no match even for a gang of mountain folk.
The core figures of the Three-Eyed Church in this region were equally dumbfounded when they heard, almost vomiting blood.
The next day, Qin Ming, Old Liu, and the others went to see the travelers off, for Cao Long, Mu Qing, Wei Zhirou and company were leaving. From the appearance of the special node to the fight over the mysterious produce, this mountain sweep was drawing to its close — about to be, as the saying went, when the tune ends, the guests part.
"Qin Ming, leave this region as soon as you can. It's far too remote. You should go to a great city, exchange and learn there. That is a land of heavenly treasures and gifted people..."
"Yes, the far-off world is dazzling and colorful, its brilliant cities endlessly bustling. One can see all manner of creatures there, even gods who take human form and walk among men — far beyond what you can imagine."
"Five hundred years ago, Black and White Mountain was famed through the world, but no longer..."
Before parting they all urged Qin Ming to quit this place soon.
During that time Qin Ming also caught sight of Nie Rui, Shen Jiayun, and the others, who came over warmly to greet him.
At last these people went far away.
...
That night, Qin Ming brought a bundle of melons and fruit to Old Liu.
"Fire pears, purple sun-berries, silver-white melons. Boy, which powerful mutated creature's lair have you raided? No creature that has not mutated at least four times would tend its fire fields on its own. You're quite something!" Old Liu's eyelids twitched with shock.
"Let me think — that old bear can't be it, lazy and brutal, a filthy mess. That Mountain Lord is enormously strong, but he rarely eats plants. That old yellow ox is the most industrious. You didn't go to his place, did you?!" Old Liu was fairly astonished.
Qin Ming had to admire him. This old man knew every stretch of the mountains like the back of his hand, was utterly familiar with them.
It was for precisely this reason that Qin Ming had come to him.
Qin Ming spoke: "Old master, I was badly tormented by that dog-bear and that yellow ox — they nearly did me in at the Great Rift Gorge. When will we go to the place you mentioned to look for spiritual substance?"
Old Liu glanced at him. "You came through being hounded by multiply-mutated creatures whole? Boy, you must have slipped through a crack, ransacked their dens, and now be trying to get the best of it with honeyed words."
Then he realized Qin Ming's strength must have risen sharply; why else would he be so eager to seek spiritual substance, so hungry for another new life?
"Have you undergone your Second New Life?" he asked in a low voice.
"Mmm. I've been running a fever lately; should be nearly done. And you?" Qin Ming asked.
"Give me two more days; I should be close too." Old Liu shut the door and added: "Note — neither of us is to let on about our Second New Life for the time being."
"Good!" Qin Ming nodded.
The two exchanged a knowing smile.
...
Two days later, Qin Ming and Old Liu got together, studied things over at length, and prepared to go into the mountains!