Qin Ming knew this stretch well. He found a rubble pile in the snow, picked out a long narrow stone much like the others, snapped it in two, flung the pieces down in that earlier spot, and melted into the dense woods.
He figured only a curious young New Lifer like himself would bother coming to look. The old hands wouldn't so much as pause — the stone skins of mysterious treasures were worthless. Above all, what the woman in green had taken was far too dazzling to hide. In an instant it lit the whole night sky, and every high-order aberrant and man of the great organizations trailed after her.
When a peerless treasure is within reach, who bothers with broken stones? Even though she had absorbed it decisively, her forehead still glowed like a beacon. After a time, people did come looking for the abandoned skins. This was the mountain's outer reach, with no great masters about, and soon six or seven New Lifers came to blows over the snapped stone.
Though Qin Ming kept his face calm, waves stirred within him, for his "offcut stone" came from the mountain's most mysterious treasure. Ten-colored pillars reaching the sky had never been heard of, in no book, let alone fused with the Five-Colored Haze. The great powers that had not come would surely be kicking themselves. Everyone had agreed the Heaven Light that fell here two years ago was the dimmest around — a barren land — and yet Black-White Mountain had "blown up." Worse, this might involve another kind of Heaven Light deposited two hundred years ago; even the royal capital's high masters would lose sleep. In a few days the long-silent name of Black-White Mountain would spread across the resplendent cities of the night mist.
Qin Ming crushed the half stone with no pulse in it — inside, indeed, nothing. He held the other half, hesitant. The "main piece" had caused such a stir that the offcut, though far inferior, could hardly be ordinary. In such an ink-black night as this, even a "streak of fire" might set the whole forest ablaze. Leaving it in the mountain with his old habit, he calmed himself to wait out the storm.
In fact the most mysterious treasure had already set the night sky aflame, all factions striking at the woman in green, high-order aberrants bleeding and falling.
"Faster!" urged the woman in the black fur-lined mantle, standing on a great black bird, her tall figure glowing against the wind and snow.
The purple-eyed raven said, "Tang Jin, easy for you to talk! I've flown till I'm out of breath. That's the Golden Peng — few rival it in speed. Just narrowing the gap makes me a marvel among crows! Sss, that woman's ferocious — she made a high-order creature bleed across the sky in no time!"
"Don't be afraid. While she's held up, press on and catch up!" Tang Jin urged, her hand holding a plain pale-yellow hemp rope.
"You didn't take down your master's roof-beam rope, did you? A creature's tied to that one..." the raven said, alarmed.
"That's not the one!" Tang Jin urged it on.
Ahead, the crimson lightning bird, fastest of all, caught the woman — only to be gravely wounded in a blink. On the Golden Peng, the snowflakes around her were all dyed gold by her mysterious arts, flying hundreds of times faster, tracing countless trails that sliced at the crimson lightning bird from every angle, soaking its frame in blood. The fierce high-order aberrant cried out, its body burning as great masses of crimson light burst everywhere, hanging like a red sun across the night. All the golden snowflakes melted — yet, terribly, they did not vanish, but flared into an unbroken drizzle, every golden drop stretching and crisscrossing into dense, infinite threads. A shrill cry rang out, and the vast crimson lightning bird was cut into dozens, hundreds of pieces, flesh and spirit-rich plumage alike, raining down to the pitch-black earth.
The purple-eyed raven bared its beak, wanting only to flee, but Tang Jin worked that unremarkable straw rope, which blazed with light and shot out toward the woman in green.
"People of Flowing Light City?!" The woman on the Golden Peng knew Tang Jin's origin the moment she saw the rope.
"Can we do it?" the raven asked, lacking all confidence.
"Charge at her head this instant! In any case, we must split off half of that heaven-bestowed treasure!" Tang Jin drove the golden rope with all her might.
...
That night Qin Ming slept soundly. Contentment brings joy — a small harvest left him satisfied, and he neither coveted nor even dwelt on the treasure far beyond his reach.
The next day in the mountains with Mu Qing, Cao Long, and Wei Zhirou, Qin Ming heard a host of explosive news. "Terrible — last night the far sky was burning. Strong warriors and high-order creatures died by the dozen, and still they couldn't stop that woman in green." "The trouble is too few aberrants can fly." "They say City Lord Ling nearly slapped his own thigh off, regretting he never bought a flying mount of extreme speed — and ran straight back to Redcloud City."
Some had seen the old weasel — usually serene as a monk — hoisting its donkey overhead and raging through the mountains, shattering vast forests. "Understandable," said Cao Long on the giant ox. "Anyone whose prize was snatched would cough blood."
"You're right — I don't dare the deep mountain now," a voice spoke from the treetops. Cao Long, startled, threw his halberd at the tree, bringing down the whole canopy with a crack. The talking bird traced a graceful arc and flew off. "No need to be angry," Old Liu advised. "Come early spring, when it breeds, I'll make trouble for it — if we can't catch it, can't we catch its offspring?" Cao Long clapped. "I want to raise a few, best of all that very one."
Presently Old Liu mentioned, "The special nodes are limited and hard to find, but the mountain has other fortunes — dangerous ones. Some areas hold creatures that have mutated three times. Would you dare?" "Are such places left?" Cao Long asked. "Some old hands already swept the mountain yesterday." As for the deep mid-mountain, he would never set foot there.
Old Liu thumped his chest. "I know this mountain cold — there are places others can't find." Cao Long's eyes lit up. "Make a good haul and a share's yours." Mu Qing and Wei Zhirou agreed, preferring a hidden spirit-rich spot to an uncertain node.
Qin Ming knew where Old Liu meant — Fire Bat Cave, in an underground grotto deep within the mountain, where dwelt a great flock of Fire Bats, the strongest mutated three times. They held no spirit-substance, but their droppings nourished a spiritual crimson grass that could aid a person's Second New Life. Qin Ming had meant to share his fire snake, now of little use, with Old Liu and Lu Ze — he never expected Old Liu had means of his own.
The trip had its waves and some youths were hurt, but with Cao Long, Wei Zhirou, and Mu Qing anchoring them, there was no suspense. Every crimson stalk was rooted out, bar some seed. Old Liu beamed, hugging a tuft of fire-red plant barely three inches tall yet brimming with life.
Before the Shallow Night, Qin Ming hunted a wild ox, stuffed the half stone into its belly, and rejoined his companions. He had not hunted in a long while, and returning with a catch was natural, especially since his bond with this group was now excellent. Even watchers at the mountain's edge would not search men walking beside Mu Qing, Cao Long, and the others — both he and Old Liu left with their gains.
At night, without stopping for supper, Qin Ming studied the half stone. "What's going on?" His heart sank; when he had taken it out of the mountain he had sensed nothing of that faint pulse. Now, calm and holding it in both hands, he still felt nothing — though ever since being eroded and tempered in the underground crevice he had gained an extraordinary perception for treasures nourished by Heaven Light. He peeled the stone carefully. Had he felt a pulse, he might have waited to cut it open, but he crumbled more than half the block and nothing stirred, not so much as a trace of lingering Heaven Light.
Just as his heart kept sinking, he squeezed something — a mysterious treasure. Yet no anomaly appeared, and not a wisp of the Heaven Light that ought to remain leaked out.
"What is this?!" Even one as steady as Qin Ming was almost startled into leaping out of his skin.