Unconventional

The room was warm. At first, it was mostly Old Man Liu talking while Qin Ming listened quietly, and only toward the end did the two of them start discussing things together. Qin Ming was filled with anticipation and a touch of excitement. In such a perilous environment, he yearned to become a third Newborn; he never wanted to endure being hunted by giant beasts again. If he were strong enough, the people of Golden Rooster Ridge and the Three-Eyed Cult wouldn't dare push him around or treat them like expendable pawns to be sent underground for prospecting. Old Man Liu took a sip of water and said, "Once we head into the mountains in a bit, we need to inspect the terrain carefully and map out our escape routes before making a move." "Why do I get the feeling you aren't that confident, old master?" Qin Ming asked suspiciously, hoping nothing would go awry at the critical moment. Old Man Liu replied, "Caution never hurts. We can't afford to lose here. The place we're heading to holds rare spiritual substance, and it's extraordinarily dangerous. If we fail, it will cost lives." Qin Ming grew cautious as well and suggested, "Does Silver Vine Town sell crude explosives? Let's buy some!" "Put that way, you've really opened up my thinking. There are a few other places we could consider now." Old Man Liu actually had backup plans. "Let's hear them." "Deep in the mountains, out by West Gully, there's a lake where an old turtle that has mutated three times lies dormant. Its whole body is full of treasures, and its blood is packed with spiritual substance. Right now, it's hibernating. If we could dig it out and chuck crude explosives straight into its hole while it's dead asleep, I'd say our chances of pulling it off are pretty high!" Old Man Liu grew visibly excited as he spoke, nearly ready to scrap the original plan and go after that spiritual turtle instead. Qin Ming threw cold water on the idea, reminding him, "A turtle's shell is terrifyingly tough. Crude explosives might not even crack it. More importantly, that lake is huge. How are we supposed to find it? Are we going to dig until the end of time?" "You have a point. Spiritual creatures are inherently stronger than other anomalies of the same tier, so explosives might not even dent a three-times-mutated spiritual turtle. Besides, that species has long legs; if it goes berserk, it's not slow at all." Old Man Liu cooled down and rejected the idea himself. That spiritual turtle had already undergone three mutations twenty years ago; by now, it had to be far more formidable. Qin Ming's expression darkened as he picked up on something. "Old master, you didn't get all this intel from ten or twenty years ago, did you?" "Relax, I'm not that unreliable," Old Man Liu said, shaking his head. He then proposed another alternative: using crude explosives to blast monkeys. They could use the deafening detonations to scare off a troop of long-armed gibbons, then raid their den for spiritual substance. Qin Ming gave him an odd look. Why were all his plans so unconventional? Old Man Liu said, "To tell you the truth, I'd love nothing more than to wipe out that nest of apes. Detestable pests, the lot of them!" Qin Ming asked, "Did you get bullied by monkeys before, old master? Aren't they more than twenty li away? That's quite a distance from here." Old Man Liu rapped on the table. "It's ridding the people of a menace, understand? Over by Emei Town, hunters going into the mountains frequently have their game stolen by those long-armed gibbons, and some people have even been dragged off." Qin Ming could tell at once that he had definitely suffered at the hands of those monkeys, and the grudge still rankled. "That doesn't sound reliable either. What if the explosives don't frighten them off and instead stoke their ferocity? If they start hunting us across the mountains, we'll be done for. Monkeys are the most vengeful creatures there are." Old Man Liu said, "It may not be the safest bet, but it's feasible. Thirty years ago, someone made a massive racket to lure the tiger from the mountain and successfully paid a visit to the Mountain Lord's den. It was a similar tactic." "That bold? Impressive!" Qin Ming couldn't help but marvel. That Mountain Lord was even more terrifying than the old male bear or the old bull of Wild Bull Ridge. Old Man Liu shook his head. "The Mountain Lord holds grudges even more. Even though it wasn't as formidable back then as it is now, it was exceptionally vicious. Three months after the incident, it barged straight into Silver Vine Town in the deep night and tore those two to pieces." Qin Ming, whose thoughts had begun to stir with admiration for those two, was abruptly brought back to earth. "I'd say none of your backup plans are sound. The original one is still the best. Let's head into the mountains!" Just as the two stepped outside, they saw men from Golden Rooster Ridge entering the village. Their ground fowl mounts were unmistakable—no one else had them. "Golden Rooster Ridge still has men to spare? How didn't they all drop dead in the Grand Rift Valley?" Old Man Liu muttered under his breath. Upon the arrival of the pair, all the villagers grew tense. Golden Rooster Ridge had originated as a den of bandits, after all; even having been brought under official amnesty, their underlying nature had hardly changed. "We're here to take stock. How many Newborns does your village have? Step forward and register," a middle-aged man atop a ground fowl called out. Everyone's hearts sank. Were they planning some form of retaliation? Everyone knew that nearly all the forces sent into the Grand Rift Valley by Golden Rooster Ridge and the Three-Eyed Cult had been wiped out, whereas the mountain villagers had all escaped with their lives. Given Golden Rooster Ridge's usual conduct, it was entirely possible they would vent their rage on the surviving Newborns in the surrounding villages. Xu Yueping said in a low voice, "Starting yesterday, some of the larger villages have already been getting surveyed." Qin Ming said, "What does their failure to escape have to do with us? They held the position of strength, yet their survival skills weren't even up to par with the oppressed villagers. Who's to blame for that?" Old Man Liu said, "They aren't going to reason with you. That's just the way the world is. If you're strong enough, even for a wedding or a funeral, higher anomalies from the mountains might attend in person. But if you're weak, even the monkeys will push you around when you go up the mountain. A man has to make himself strong." He added, "The old monsters deep in the mountains maintain regular dealings with the upper crust of Chixia City. Don't doubt it—an old mountain patroller I knew back in the day told me himself." Once the two men from Golden Rooster Ridge finished the registry, they didn't linger and rode away at once. "I reckon they're probably looking to replenish their ranks," Xu Yueping said. The others found that plausible. Golden Rooster Ridge had suffered heavy losses this time and urgently needed more Newborns. Old Man Liu said, "Trouble's coming. Aside from men, they'll definitely demand wealth and provisions. Recruiting and rebuilding an army won't come cheap." A heavy mood settled over everyone. The bandits of Golden Rooster Ridge had always exerted tremendous pressure on the neighboring villages, and changing that reality had always been nearly impossible. Qin Ming and Old Man Liu set off into the mountains. As they walked, their displeasure lingered, and they cursed Golden Rooster Ridge together, agreeing that past or present, they remained nothing more than bandits. "I really wish someone would just wipe Golden Rooster Ridge off the map!" Qin Ming said. "Watch your mouth. If someone overhears that, it'll bring disaster," Old Man Liu cautioned him. "Oh, right, old master. You said the higher beings deep in the mountains have close ties with the higher-ups in Chixia City. Is that really true?" Old Man Liu replied, "Someone said so, at least. As for whether it's true or not, I couldn't say for sure." "Then why was there a bloodbath in the Grand Rift Valley?" Qin Ming looked toward the quiet area ahead. Three days ago, countless people and anomalies had perished there, filling the valley with the reek of blood. "I figure the anomalies besieging the Grand Rift Valley might well have been done with a tacit understanding between the leadership on both sides." Qin Ming looked at him. "Why do you say that?" Old Man Liu said, "The anomalies in the mountains keep multiplying, but there isn't enough territory left, so a portion needs to be culled. Meanwhile, the prominent clans in Chixia City have grown rapidly over recent years. According to traveling merchants, every family has its own monopolized industries. It wouldn't be appropriate for the city lord to suppress them directly, so a bloodbath in the Grand Rift Valley suddenly makes a lot of sense." "Old Uncle Liu, you really have a wild imagination!" Qin Ming gave him a sidelong glance. "In my younger days, I spent time traveling through Chixia City too. I know it well and have seen the world. If a famed beast in the mountains hadn't shredded my foundation with a single swipe of its claws, would I have ended up reduced to this state?" The two chatted as they walked. After venturing ten li into the mountains, Old Man Liu said, "Keep quiet now. Once we're here, we can't mention those old monsters in the deep mountains anymore." Traveling further, they emerged amidst a primeval forest and eventually reached the base of a mountain. "There's a Fire Spring inside this mountain's belly," Old Man Liu said. Only someone with his intimate knowledge of the mountains could possibly know what lay here; anyone else would be completely in the dark. Furthermore, Old Man Liu had scouted the path long ago, knowing that the Fire Spring here had grown quite dim due to disturbances in the mountain's geomagnetic field. That was one of the reasons he had chosen this spot to make their move. A nest of silver-headed ants inhabited the mountain, heavily dependent on the Fire Spring. Otherwise, under the bitter cold, their activity would drop drastically, leaving them sluggish and reluctant to move. From blood snakes to spiritual turtles, then long-armed gibbons, and now silver-headed ants, every target Old Man Liu picked was rather unconventional. Yet Qin Ming had to admit that this was truly their best option at present. Silver-headed ants were vicious, and their colony numbered terrifyingly high, making winter the ideal season to deal with them. There was another crucial factor: a nest could only ever have one queen. Even if surplus spiritual substance existed to allow other silver-headed ants to undergo three mutations, the queen would never permit it. Old Man Liu said, "Later on, we'll need some steel plates to protect ourselves. Armor alone isn't foolproof. A bite from a silver-headed ant won't kill you with poison, but half your body will go numb for a long time. If you get swarmed, they'll chew you to death alive." These silver-headed ants were vastly more formidable than the black ants Xu Yueping used to brew tea. Ranging in size from a baby's fist to a chicken egg, they were ferociously aggressive. Silver patterns marked their heads, which was how they earned their name. What made these ants most extraordinary was their ability to brew honey mead. They gathered all manner of pollen and fruit from the mountains, sometimes even venturing out to steal grain, and then, harnessing the spirituality of the Fire Spring, brewed a liquid that resembled both wine and honey. They could repeatedly extract the essence from the honey mead, allowing the concentrate to ferment again, refining and fermenting it over and over. In the end, it yielded a special spiritual substance: a pale gold liquid. In some of the great cities, the honey mead brewed by silver-headed ants commanded astronomical prices, let alone the spiritual substance fermented from its endlessly refined essence. Qin Ming and Old Man Liu crept deep inside through a fissure in the mountainside to take a look. His scalp prickled. Beside the dim Fire Spring, large ants clustered everywhere—a nightmare for anyone with trypophobia. Silver markings gleamed with a cold sheen, though at the moment, they remained entirely motionless. The two retreated silently and began surveying the surrounding terrain, planning their escape routes. Over the next two days, they made continuous trips into the mountains, ferrying in all the necessary supplies. "Success or failure hinges on this single move!" Surrounded by ice and snow, white vapor puffing from their mouths and noses, they prepared to strike. Qin Ming felt restless, not out of tension or fear, but because his mind was churning. If they succeeded here and he became a third Newborn, allowing his fragmented memories of the past to surface once more, what would he see this time?