Faint night. Great mountains stood side by side, white snow blanketing the timber. Strange birds circled low; mountain beasts called nearby.
Cold snowflakes settled on his hair. Qin Ming felt deep satisfaction. Today's trip had been perilous, but the harvest exceeded expectations — his Second New Life "provisions" were sufficient. His strength would climb sharply.
He stood in wind and snow, gazing at the bloodstained forest floor. He hadn't wanted this, but they'd left him no choice. Since they'd gifted such heavy tribute, he ought to bury them properly — a corpse had no need of cold armor. He stripped the black armor off, searched the body head to toe, then carried it into the deep timber.
"Fine sword!" Qin Ming ran his hand along the blade, clear as spring water, and swept it through the night. Splendid sword-light cut the air like stretched silk. But he couldn't take it out of the mountains. A genuine regret.
This sword far outdid Fu Entao's long blade — after Qin Ming cut down the Blood Snake, that blade was chock-full of nicks, yet the ashen-faced man's sword stayed keen and mirror-smooth. Whether the sword or its owner's black armor, they were the finest arms he'd ever touched. They had to stay in the mountains.
"I'll dig them up when I need them." The weapons left by Fu Entao and Feng Yi'an could be discarded — too badly damaged in the fight.
The men all carried Night Silver, and the strongest had thirteen Day Gold on him. "True enough — no man gets rich without windfall." Qin Ming sighed. But that Day Gold was stained with blood, and he didn't wish to repeat the experience. What he valued most — the meditation art, the qi circulation manual — was nowhere to be found. Who carried secret scripture into a mountain expedition?
Qin Ming set out for home. On the way he hunted a great wild ox, cleaned its innards, stuffed the Blood Snake inside, and sewed the belly shut. He reached home safely.
"Fu Entao and Feng Yi'an have been dead two days. Why hasn't it blown up yet?" Qin Ming figured it would come soon. After all, the patrol sent against the Blood Snake had spied on Fu Entao's outpost and found the wooden cabins vanished. And the day after they disappeared, someone sensed trouble — the catalyst for the Black Moon planted in the fire spring stood ready, but the patrol's head never fetched it. When Fu Entao failed to show for two days, and Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng and the others skipped their usual carouse in Silver Elm Town, those involved realized something had gone wrong.
After lunch, Qin Ming practiced his blade in earnest, swinging the long-handled black-gold hammer in the yard, whipping the snow into a blizzard. Only when his body burned did he rest, drenched in sweat and deeply satisfied. He gained new insight into the blade manual's killing strokes, then turned to "Blending With Dust." The deeper he went, the more he understood.
As the Shallow Night neared its end, Xu Yueping returned with a grave face and gathered every New Lifer in the village.
"This time something huge has happened!" A few words, and everyone tensed.
"Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng and the others have very likely been... wiped out by a mountain monster — pfft!" At the end, Xu Yueping couldn't hold it in and laughed. He quickly collected himself — such a thing couldn't be shown too plainly — but his motions as he brewed black-ant tea turned lighter.
"Really?" Yang Yongqing shot to his feet. Now that was a real event.
Xu Yueping nodded. "They've been gone two days. I figure they've met misfortune."
Old Liu was too old to care. "Sigh — terrible place, those mountains. Those bastards Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng are dead? That mountain monster's about to become a mountain god!"
"How do you know, Uncle Xu?" Qin Ming asked. As someone who'd been there, he couldn't act too calm — and he genuinely wanted the latest news.
Xu Yueping said: "Just a while ago, a good few dozen patrollers swarmed into Green Mulberry Village, looking for Er Bingzi's distant relative, Xu Kong."
"Why him?"
"Because Green Mulberry Village is the only place that didn't plant Black Moon, and the day before they got into trouble, Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng had gone there to see him."
At that, Qin Ming went a little dazed. In Green Mulberry Village, Xu Kong was utterly bewildered — for no reason, he'd become a suspect? Yet the patrol had mobilized in force, armored and armed, iron arrows nocked. Several great experts came in person, leading sixty or seventy patrollers to surround the place. And the mountain patrol that had attacked Blood Bamboo Grove was being watched — their leader, Liu Huaishan, cornered by group leaders of his own rank.
"Honored ones, what are you doing? I disliked Fu Entao well enough, but there's no way I'd cut him down." Liu Huaishan said quickly.
Someone said low and hard: "Then explain — why has your group lost several men? And recently drew twelve suits of armor, and bought great quantities of poison."
"I... you're wronging me!" Liu Huaishan broke into a cold sweat. "We took the armor and bought the powder to hunt spiritual creatures."
An old man barked: "And there it is. The grove sits inside Fu Entao's territory. His group had long wanted the Blood Snake, and once you crossed over, you must have clashed in bloodshed. Worse — you may have struck from the shadows when they and the snake were both spent. Isn't that so?"
"I..." Liu Huaishan nearly spat blood. Listening to himself, even he felt every link fit neatly, as if it all made grim sense.
Liu Huaishan shook his head frantically. "Elders, listen — we committed no blood crime. But I think I know who delivered the killing stroke. We once saw a man with a green-black face, alone with a long sword, cut down the Blood Snake. These past two days, he's likely the only one in that area with such strength. Most importantly, he came at us with his sword drawn, tried to kill us all!"
"Take them away. Interrogate them carefully!" an old man commanded with a dark face. Several elder masters looked grim — a whole mountain patrol wiped out in its den, if by a man's hand, was unquestionably a big case.
Every mountain patrol in the area had mobilized, each fanning out. One came to Twin Tree Village, summoning New Lifers for questioning and cornering a few village idlers.
"Is there anyone here with a grudge against the mountain patrols? Have any of your New Lifers clashed with Feng Yi'an or Shao Chengfeng?"
One patroller demanded of the idlers — among them Ma Yang, Wang Youping and Hu Yong, the three who had once tried to take Qin Ming's catch outside the village gates.
"Uncle Xu has always been kind, and old Liu's legs have gone weak..." Ma Yang replied. In the distance, old Liu nearly twisted his beard clean off.
"As for Qin Ming — young Qin did thrash us once, but I can't slander the lad for nothing. He's the least likely. Just newly reborn, kind and gentle. He shares most of what he brings from the mountains, and even gave us meat without holding a grudge."
Ma Yang, Wang Youping and Hu Yong answered one after another, saying the village's New Lifers were good people who'd never stirred up disputes. The patrol turned and left, only going through the motions.
That night, Liu Huaishan and his few surviving men, though no artists, gritted their teeth and sketched, revising line over line, until at last they drew the heroic image of Wang Nianzhu cutting down the Blood Snake. A sheaf of his portraits went out, distributed to every town.
At night, Qin Ming and Xu Yueping relaxed over a jar of aged wine old Liu had dug from under his bed. The three sipped quietly, all in fine spirits.
"Heh, young Qin's 'what-ifs' came true. The mountain monster really did drag them off!" Xu Yueping was already tipsy after a few cups.
"Like I said, even Heaven saw through them. Sooner or later it had to happen." Qin Ming blushed not a bit. By "Heaven" he meant himself. His spirits soared, for he was about to prepare for his Second New Life.
Old Liu clutched his heart. "Sigh, this was fine wine I'd aged ten years. After this, not a drop left in the house."
"Uncle Liu, don't grieve. I'll offer you ten jars. Let's talk about Second New Life — I've felt something stirring lately. My body seems to be heating up."
"Go on... are you a monster?!"
Deep in the night, back home, Qin Ming brought out all the Blood Snake. The second great snake carried deep wounds. Beyond the ashen-faced man's keen sword, Qin Ming judged, his strength was surely formidable — likely far above Qin Ming's own. Add his greater speed, and had they truly met on a narrow road and fought to the death, Qin Ming could well have been in peril.
A shadow settled over his heart — all manner of monsters and freaks were crawling out of the mountains. Yet recalling that the ashen-faced man had completed his Second New Life, his heart grew calm. His arms now held a thousand-jin strength; could he complete his Second New Life, he'd lift two thousand jin — far beyond Redcloud City's gifted records.
"Everything's ready. Time for my Second New Life."