For an instant, Qin Ming felt as if someone had peered into his heart. The fire that had swallowed the whole village two years ago seemed to burn from memory into the present — the acrid reek of char, the broken walls and scattered corpses, that ethereal youth in feathered robes, all before his eyes.
But he had regained his composure by the time he turned. She had seen him in his near-death wretchedness, but could not know his true experience.
He put on an earnest face. "Please, Miss Xie, tell me what happened. Who was tending me then? You must have seen my head injury — I still don't remember those days."
Xie Lingxi thrust her great sword into the ground. "A man and a woman were carrying you on the road, about thirty. You couldn't hold on, and in the end they could only leave you to live or die as fate would have it."
Qin Ming pondered. "I was almost dead, and they still carried me far away. Why?"
"I only overheard a few words from a distance. They wanted to take you to a remote place, far from any bright city, so that if you survived, you could take root there."
A maidservant came with tea, the two cups oddly mismatched. "My lady sent a pill of tonic for qi and blood back then. It wasn't anything precious, but it was a kindness."
"Ah, thank you... Miss Xie." Qin Ming bowed. She had done him a kindness without mention.
"That's enough." Xie Lingxi waved the girl away.
"Were there any other details from that day?"
"You were in rags and stained with blood. Even when the clothes were new, they must have been very plain."
Qin Ming nodded. During his Second New Life he had glimpsed himself as a child in patched little clothes. That he had not lived well was no surprise. What he did not understand was why such a deadly calamity had fallen on him, the whole village swallowed by fire.
"The two who brought you were mainly here to explore the spiritual mountains awakened by the Heaven Light. Since they hoped you would settle in a remote area, I imagine they brought you along as a side matter." She told him their groups had only crossed paths twice; all this was speculation pieced from fragmented hurry she had overheard.
Qin Ming fell into a daze. What was his relation to that pair? They did not seem close, yet they had saved him. And what of these spiritual mountains awakened by the Heaven Light? He longed to ask, but felt he had asked too much already.
...
"Heh heh heh." In the front courtyard's smaller parlor, the purple-eyed crow laughed at the woman in the black fur cloak. "Those two boys took you for the Xie family's young lady, ga ga ga..."
"Your laugh is hideous!" She raised a slender finger shimmering with hazy light, but the crow darted away, nimbly dodging.
"Who would have thought such a remote place could produce two decent sprouts. That sickly, foul-mouthed boy, if fully healed, would be quite remarkable."
"That graceless boy already has a teacher. Someone is clearly using uncommon methods to tend his body."
"It's said that when the Heaven Light tore through the night sky two years ago, this was the dimmest of the dozens of blessed zones. But that might not be — we've seen two passable youths nearby."
The woman sipped her tea. "My teacher's learning is vast; his premonition should be correct. The Heaven Light from two hundred years ago likely never detonated here but has been accumulating. With two colors intermingling, the rare produce born here will be astonishing!" She pulled her hood lower. "We should go. Senior Brother Xie will be very busy today."
...
In the end, Qin Ming could not help but ask the noble lady.
Xie Lingxi said, "After the sun set, it never rose again. The moon and the stars all vanished. The Heaven Light is a ray that accidentally pierces down through the night — once every few decades to a century, unpredictable. It is extraordinary, and can cause rare produce to be born where it falls."
Qin Ming thanked her from the bottom of his heart. She had answered him directly, without putting on airs.
"Miss Xie is beautiful and kind-hearted, not like..." he began, noting that scaled down, her face would be no larger than a palm, with golden-ratio curves. It was only her Giant Spirit path that made everything larger.
"Not like what?"
"Not like those who glare back at you just for glancing at them."
"You don't mean my little master in the front courtyard, do you?" Xie Lingxi looked surprised.
The woman who had just left the mansion paused mid-step, while the purple-eyed crow low in the air laughed: "Ga ga ga..."
"Shut up!"
...
In the end, Qin Ming did not have the nerve to freeload a meal at the old noble's house. He felt he had gained much already — just the information made the trip worthwhile.
Near Twin Tree Village he was still turning over Xie Lingxi's words. "I think that as I undergo my Third New Life, those lost memories will eventually be retrieved." He murmured, his gaze firm.
The old noble was clearly far from ordinary; his daughter, so strong at so young an age, had already traveled far on the Giant Spirit path.
"The woman who led me on the road had a red mole above her right eyebrow. The man had unusually long arms. I wonder if they'll come to the mountain for the rare produce this time." He also learned that Falling Moon City was a great city, very far away.
Soon news came from Cao Long, Wei Zhirou, and Mu Qing: they would enter the mountain in two days. Redcloud City's high-ranking had negotiated with the mountain's high-level beings; the aberrants would abandon all the territory they had expanded, and the outer grounds could be freely entered. But the dangerous depths they would brave alone. Both sides had promised not to hunt in secret, yet the mountain would not be peaceful — old masters and other fearsome aberrants would clash where the night mist was thickest.
"I can guide you, but only in the outer zones. I will not tread into those unknown regions!" Qin Ming told Mu Qing and the others.
"Alas, we don't dare venture deep. That's the old masters' territory — they'll go mad killing." They sighed. Word had spread that some nodes had already produced rare produce.
"In the following two days, Qin Ming watched the preparations of all sides. Local organizations were busy too. The Three-Eyed Church was very mysterious, with members in distant cities. But today someone came to talk to Xu Yueping, less blunt than before. "We're all locals. If we find anything special, share word — the rare produce of this region should stay here. The mountain never moves; it accompanies us for life. The Three-Eyed Church, rooted here, will last as long as that mountain..."
Old Liu couldn't listen. "Scarface Two, why not threaten us like before? Find a special node or you'll make us pay?"
"Right. But the higher-ups said not to be rough this time. You get the meaning. I'm off!" Scarface Two left.
Not long after, Golden Ridge came. They used to be great bandits. The ferocious Golden Riders were well suited to ambush in the forest; the giant Golden Ridge Roosters were second-stage mutants, deadly with their riders.
...
"Into the mountain soon..." You Liangyun sat in his meditation chamber before a jade jar of spiritual substance that would let him undergo his Second New Life. If he could not follow that woman to Flowing Light City, he would never be content.
"You've investigated everything?" he asked.
"Yes. Don't look for him the first two days. He'll be with Mu Qing, Cao Long, and the others."
"Good!"
Two days later, all the various parties entered the mountain. To Qin Ming's speechlessness, Old Liu, armored and bearing a thick cleaver, sat astride his yellow dog, while Yang Yongqing, dual swords in hand, rode his black goat as a Black Goat Rider.
"Into the mountain!" Cao Long, Wei Zhirou, Mu Qing led their teams.
"Look out! Humans here! Two-legged beasts about!" A talking bird screeched overhead — a creature speaking human language, sending word to the mountain's beasts, who understood the key words "human" and "two-legged beast."
"Shoot it down!" Cao Long said.
"There's a big lump of two-legged beast here, bigger than a three-meter bear!" The mutated bird broadcast to other human teams too, hoping to stir conflict. Cao Long, enraged, drew his bow.
...
Boom!
Suddenly, deep in the mountain, five-colored mists shot into the sky, stunning everyone. They had barely entered, and the most mysterious produce was already ripe?!
"My mountain god! The place where the five-colored mists shine in all directions has appeared! Charge!"