Red light blazed from the winter forest. Butterflies of light danced across the night sky. Petals fell like luminous rain.
Qin Ming and Xu Yueping stood frozen.
Wind howled. The "red butterflies" drifted closer on the gale. Xu Yueping understood.
"A mutated plant is blooming. Radiating raw life force. Some nearby beasts are about to mutate."
The "butterflies" were glowing petals — each a small red flame.
Qin Ming caught a few. Xu Yueping ate two. Mutated blooms carried dense life energy.
"Sweet," Qin Ming said. But too few had fallen here.
The distant forest blazed. Petals dense as snowstorm, red as sunset. Birds filled the sky. Apes howled. Creatures fought over the bounty on the ground.
Xu Yueping stopped him. "By the time we arrive, it'll be stripped bare. And we might meet a named raptor or troll."
Mutated plants bloomed without pattern, without season. After the bloom — they died completely.
Qin Ming sighed. "So many mysteries, even near home. I want to cross the fog, walk to the far ends of the world and see what's there."
"Good. Keep that fire. Maybe you'll visit Chi Xia City first." Xu Yueping paused. "You could study there."
"Have you been?"
Xu Yueping's eyes carried faint lines at the corners. "I went. Was stunned. Slowly understood reality. Accepted that I was ordinary."
His voice was flat. No youthful edge. Only the wear of middle years.
"You've seen a lot, Uncle Xu."
A bitter smile. "Who didn't have dreams at that age?"
He swallowed the rest of the sentence. Too defeatist. He wouldn't weigh the boy down.
---
Thirteen li and not a single animal on the road. Xu Yueping grumbled. He'd wanted to hunt something to trade.
"Probably all drawn to the bloom," Qin Ming said.
On this road, ordinary people never traveled alone. The dark wilderness held anything.
"Finally." Xu Yueping ducked into the forest several times and came back with a musk deer — forty jin, shot clean.
They walked fast. Silver Vine Town appeared ahead.
Lanterns glowed through the dark. Buildings materialized from the mist like a painting from a calmer age. More traffic here — hunters heading out, merchants hauling goods, beast-carts rumbling past.
Xu Yueping knew the town. He led the way.
The main street was lined with shops. Red lanterns hung under every eave. People came and went. Prosperity Qin Ming had never seen in Twin Tree Village.
Fine ceramics. Bright silk. Mountain spices. Pancakes and dumplings, steam curling, vendors calling. The air was thick with food and commerce.
Xu Yueping checked grain prices. Still astronomical. Snow had cut the roads. Distant supply was choked.
---
The town center glowed. The fire spring sat there — a pool eight paces square, shimmering with heat-haze and red light even in its declining phase.
A silver vine, thick as a water barrel, rooted in the molten glow of the spring. That was the town's namesake. A fine plant — but ordinary. It absorbed only limited energy from the spring.
Qin Ming spotted movement in the pool. Red, translucent shells — clams, gleaming like jade, fire-light flowing between their valves.
"Fire Clams. This whole pool raises only a few dozen. They say the meat is exquisite — packed with vitality. Who knows where they end up, or who eats them."
Fire Clams needed at least a grade-two spring like this one. A lesser spring couldn't sustain them.
The best shops clustered near the fire spring. The old weapon store did brisk business. In the wild, everyone wanted a good blade.
---
Snowflakes drifted. Xu Yueping led Qin Ming to a bar next door. Lanterns hung at the entrance, small sunstones inside casting colored light.
Bars did better business late. This early, the place was nearly empty.
"Are we the first customers?" Xu Yueping smiled.
A boy nodded, polite but half-asleep. Too early to serve.
"Tell your boss we're looking for Feng Yi'an."
The boy woke up. "Boss is out, but he left instructions. I'll fetch Mr. Feng for you."
Xu Yueping traded the musk deer for credit. In lean times, food was as good as coin.
"The boss calls himself a West Huoluo man," Xu Yueping told Qin Ming. "Years ago, his father served as an attendant to a skilled master who rode a strange bird from the west."
Some said that master had wandered the world. Others said he'd died in the deep mountains — killed by a Moon Bug while exploring a high-grade fire spring.
The attendant settled here. Opened a bar.
---
The bar was well-decorated. Crystal lamps, small sunstone fragments creating a hazy glow.
Xu Yueping leaned close. "Wait here. I'll visit the old gentleman."
Qin Ming nodded. He knew — the old noble's house.
The bar went quiet. Qin Ming sipped amber liquor from a glass. Smooth, not harsh. He still didn't care for it.
Time passed. He watched snow fall outside, people passing. The bustle was another world from Twin Tree Village.
Xu Yueping returned, brushing snow from his coat. He rubbed his hands together and downed several cups.
"Better than what I have at home."
"Uncle Xu, you alright?"
"Fine. I visited — they were very polite. Received me warmly. Said they'd give you a chance."
Qin Ming blinked. Not what he'd expected. They hadn't refused?
He asked for details. Then went silent.
A steward had received Xu Yueping. Warm smile, perfect manners. Many suitors had come lately. He'd arrange a time for promising young men to meet the old noble.
"They're deflecting," Qin Ming said.
Xu Yueping drank another cup. "You can lift six hundred jin. That score — they'll see you differently."
"You told them my foundation. They smiled and stayed flat. That says everything. They're from a distant city. They've seen real talent."
Xu Yueping frowned. He'd heard rumors — the noble daughter's own talent was supposedly extraordinary.
"You're the best in our entire region. They still aren't interested?"
He was frustrated but not surprised. He'd wanted to seize the opportunity and solve the patrol problem in one stroke.
Qin Ming was serious. "Uncle Xu — mysterious nobles from a big city, hiding in a small town. We shouldn't tangle with them."
Xu Yueping sobered. Hidden or fleeing — either way, trouble. "You're right."
---
Near midday — the lightest part of the night — the blurred shapes of mountains outside were faintly visible.
Feng Yi'an arrived with two patrollers. Snow on their shoulders. Cold air rolled in with them.
"Brother Xu — sorry to make you come so far and wait. We just got back from patrol." Feng Yi'an was warm, apologetic.
Watching that sincere face, Qin Ming wanted to punch it apart. He knew now: this squad barely patrolled. They showed up in the mountains only at mid-month and month-end.
The old calendar still held. No sun, no moon, no stars — but people still spoke of months.
Most of the time, these men haunted bars and restaurants across the towns. Some kept mistresses.
Xu Yueping forced a smile. "Brother Feng is too kind. We haven't waited long."
Feng Yi'an turned to Qin Ming. "Fine young man. Limitless potential. Hope you join the patrol someday."
He clapped Qin Ming's shoulder. Then asked for a private room.
"You two wait with young Qin — order drinks, check the restaurant next door for good food." He wanted Xu Yueping alone.
The moment the door closed, the warmth died.
"Old Xu. You're being difficult." Feng Yi'an's hand patted Xu Yueping's cheek. "Being stubborn makes life painful. You have a family. Late night — a beast charges out of the mountains into your house. Happens, right?"
No more bluster. Cold smile. Colder eyes. Naked threat.
"I'll plant the Black Moon when I get back."
"You made me uncomfortable. I had to kill people in the mountains before you'd bend? And I came all this way for you. The captain is very unhappy." He slapped Xu Yueping's face again, harder.
---
A quarter-hour later, Feng Yi'an emerged, smiling.
"Let's go," Xu Yueping said to Qin Ming.
Feng Yi'an grinned. "Brother Xu feels planting Black Moon is urgent — wants to head back. Young Qin, stay and drink if you like."
Qin Ming declined. "I'll go with Uncle Xu. The wild isn't safe. Two is better than one."
After they disappeared through the bar's door, a patroller next to Feng Yi'an spoke. "The boy's got a golden foundation — so what? He's on Xu Yueping's side. Why be so polite?"
Feng Yi'an said, "True. How far he goes is unknown. He's not one of us. But we haven't fallen out yet. Give face — unless we're certain we can kill him immediately."
---
"Uncle Xu!" Qin Ming saw the faint handprint on Xu Yueping's left cheek.
He understood. The humiliation in that room.
Anger burned. He breathed deep. "Uncle Xu — they do evil again and again. Heaven sees. It'll collect them soon."