In the age when the sun had vanished, even in the Shallow Night distant scenery looked hazy, and far-off mountains were mere shadows in the dark. Now everything was different. Deep in the range, ten pillars of light pierced the heavens, illumining every direction, far brighter than the five-colored haze; for a dizzying moment it seemed the age of daylight had returned. Not only the tall mountains but every blade of grass on the cliffs stood out crisp and clear; even the colors and textures of strange birds flying low were plainly visible, vivid and alive. Everyone felt as though dust had been blown from their hearts and a curtain lifted from before their eyes—all was pure Great Radiance. Even in the biting chill of a snow-sealed winter, all felt like a thawing spring: vivid, natural, and dear.
Old Liu sat astride the big yellow dog, moved. "This old man has lived past seventy and seen a bright world like this for the first time," he said. "Such a magnificent earth under so vast a sky—is this the beautiful mountains and rivers the world was always meant to be? A pity: even as a New Lifer able to see far-off scenery, on ordinary days I still always feel a thin veil before my eyes."
Cao Long began, "Towns and cities of middling size or larger actually..." He did not finish; it was not fitting to speak of such things to an old man of a remote corner who could never leave. He changed course. "Truth be told, I haven't traveled much either. The endless black world is vast beyond measure, and even the resplendent cities are little more than firefly lights."
Deep in the mountain, the strong of the great organizations and the high-order creatures went nearly mad, charging toward the ten pillars. But Mu Qing, Wei Zhirou, Cao Long and the others kept their composure, watching from afar and chatting. They knew those were not for them—even the higher-ups who charged in might perish, and that special node was fated to be dyed red in blood. Not everyone could place himself so clearly; too many men in the mountain turned red-eyed, though not so blind as to charge into the arena where high-order creatures clashed. The ten-colored radiance tearing the night was beyond all known bounds, never seen even on other Heaven Light mountains in the past—or if it had been, someone had concealed it, for no book recorded it. So the factions that kept their reddened eyes restrained fell back to the lesser goal and charged the seething five-colored haze ground.
That, too, was a rare and extraordinary sight, surely tied to a notable treasure. But far too many had come with that aim; the parties had barely met when the mountain woods ran red. "Mountain god! This place makes no sense—more have died here than at the ten pillars!" "High-order aberrants are here too—they didn't go to the ten-colored site. Run!" After a baptism of blood that took a swathe of lives, the surviving columns fled, decisive enough. Men saw a high-order creature wrapped in dense fog, vast and terrible, crush a cliff with one step as it neared the node; in almost the same instant a humanoid creature descended with broad beating wings wrapped in crimson radiance, blocking its way.
"An earthquake?" The violent shaking in the crevice alarmed Qin Ming, and he shot out at once, afraid of being crushed to death in the depths. Then he, too, saw the two grand spectacles, as though daylight had returned. He had sense enough to know the treasures born in those two nodes were not for him—to approach a single step meant certain death. Standing at the crevice mouth, he could only envy the masters roaming the mountain; the victor would gain immense benefit. Even from this quiet spot he heard men crying that the ten-colored node was unheard-of, that a treasure of incalculable grade was likely to be born.
"At last I understand why this place is so heaven-defying!" an old man in the forest declared. "Not merely did Heaven Light fall here two years ago—it fell two centuries ago as well, producing nothing worthy. That first streak accumulated power for two hundred years, then fused with the one that fell two years ago, giving rise to this astonishing spectacle!" He was a man of wide learning who had studied this region and combed much literature. "I, too, have heard the tales," another joined in. "Two hundred years ago an unusually thick beam of Heaven Light fell here. It alarmed even the capital, which sent masters—only for the place to prove utterly barren; every expert wished the mountain leveled."
Throughout the range no one dared risk a near approach to either seat of fortune; all only watched and debated. Ere long many cried out, and even the red-eyed creatures and masters at the field's center were stupefied: the soaring radiance of the two special nodes shifted once more. "Is there something monstrous under this earth?" Even Old Liu the weasel, normally the calmest of all, felt his face twitch, so tormented had he been. This time the five-colored haze and the ten pillars seemed to circle in a ring, moving fast. "They shift swiftly along the spiritual earth-lines Heaven Light forged, drawn to each other; the ring keeps shrinking—they're slowly drawing together!" Not only the masters in the field saw this; the far observers saw it more plainly. "Could the two mysterious treasures be fusing into one?" Everyone doubted; it exceeded all their knowledge. Ling Xu, Wei Mo, and the other aberrants, exhausted by the chase, lost all patience; even when they closed in and set foot in a node, the treasures vanished and kept shifting, until some could only wait like fools at a tree stump.
Qin Ming watched in fascination. The node where he stood lay outside that ring—quite peaceful, no one coming his way. "Mm?" He noticed the crevice beneath his feet had grown restless, spitting silver filaments with a pale-gold gleam, sometimes shot through with purple haze and crimson light. His spirits soared. Could a precious product be ripening here? When he entered before, he had seen nothing at all. Was this ground catching the benefit of the great upheaval deep in the mountain? He dashed in. That place where ten colors tangled was never for him, but a lesser treasure—or a far lesser one—if he could harvest even a single one, he would be wholly satisfied.
Underground, the silver beams interwove, far thicker than before, and as he went deeper he sensed a strange fluctuation, much like soaking in a hot spring while practicing the New Life method from the silk tome. Now, doing nothing, he felt warmth rolling toward him, and he followed that strange ripple to its source, where a pile of rubble blocked the way. Wordlessly he cleared the stones and found a new crevice leading deeper. Along the way he widened the fissure with his long black-gold hammer, until he reached the ripple's origin. From deep in the crevice surged a cloud of colored light wrapping a black stone roughly half the size of a human head.
"What is this?" Qin Ming guessed it must be one of the special treasures every faction hoped to harvest, but he did not know what a black stone could be good for. Though the swirling colored light-mist left him breathless and anxious at the chest, his body could bear it. He saw the mist surging around the stone thin out and begin to ebb—did that mean it was nearly fully "ripe"? He waited quietly; as the mist dispersed, his discomfort melted away entirely. Soon all fell still, every strange phenomenon gone. The half-head-sized stone was utterly unremarkable—cast on a road, none would bother to pick it up. Yet straining his inner senses, he could still catch a very faint thread of fluctuation—the special perception granted by his bath in the crevice's silver light. "I can shed a faint awareness of special products nourished by Heaven Light."
He took the stone in hand; it was heavy. He very much wanted to peel its rind and see what lay within, but he held back. He must leave at once, lest anyone corner him in the crevice. Slipping quietly up through the mouth, he found the near area peaceful, but deep in the mountain it was lively—figures stood on many ridges gazing at the ever-more-astonishing spectacle, where the five-colored haze and the ten pillars had already wound together. Qin Ming moved silently through the dense forest and buried himself in a snowbank.
Then he studied the stone. Running the silk tome's New Life method, his flesh rippled with golden-grained waves, and he began to strip the stone bare-handed. Though its rind was very hard, he crushed it away without sound, peeling efficiently. He worked again and again, feeling the stone shrink by two rings, and in his special perception found its fluctuation faintly growing stronger. He stopped. If he peeled it fully open, might some strange phenomenon erupt? After all, though this was not as grand as the two treasures that held all eyes, it was certainly no ordinary thing. Qin Ming felt like a hundred claws scratching at his heart, longing to split the stone clean through—yet afraid that one careless move would bring great trouble down upon him.