Qian Chen waited before the door, only to notice a little head peeking out from behind an adjacent doorway not far away. It was a boy of seven or eight with a round, endearing face—likely the old man's grandson—watching him intently. Qian Chen offered him a faint smile, which startled the child into ducking back out of sight, though a moment later the boy poked his head out once more.
The elder did not keep Qian Chen waiting long, emerging shortly after having changed his clothes.
He led Qian Chen to the village head, who asked about Qian Chen's name and origin. Observing Qian Chen's speech and attire, the village head saw at once that he was no ordinary person. Upon hearing that Qian Chen had ties to the newly appointed county magistrate and after being shown Cui Dan's visiting card, the village head eagerly vouched for him without the slightest hesitation.
"Since he is a friend of the magistrate himself, how could he possibly be a bad man? Old Man Jiang, you worry too much!"
The elder was evidently Old Man Jiang. He replied calmly, "One can never be too careful."
"Is the young Daoist master here for a pleasure excursion on Jiuzhen Lake?" the village head asked fawningly. "Does your honor require this humble one to arrange men? Although Jiuzhen Lake boasts fine scenery, it is vast beyond measure. Without someone familiar with the waterways to guide you, it would be exceedingly inconvenient."
Qian Chen smiled. "That will not be necessary for now... However, village head, I have another matter to ask of you."
"Please speak, young Daoist master..." How could the village head dare be remiss? He hastily served tea and poured water, attending to him with utmost courtesy.
Qian Chen did not decline. Slender Heavenly Net Umbrella slung behind his back, he came straight to the point: "My purpose in coming to Jiuzhen Lake stems from hearing of its abundance, particularly the wealth of medicinal herbs produced within. I wonder if there are hunters or herb-gatherers nearby who know this lake well and can venture deep into the great marsh?"
The village head looked troubled. "Young Daoist master, if you wish to tour the lake, there are naturally people familiar with these hundred-odd mu of open water; local fishermen often cast their nets nearby. But if you wish to harvest spirit medicines, procure rhino horn and elephant tusk, or gather precious herbs and serpentine beast hides... that would be exceedingly difficult. The folk from our parts dare not venture deep into the great marsh at all. It is teeming with miasma, poisonous insects, serpents, and ferocious beasts.
"What is more, there are flood dragons and giant crocodiles. If ordinary fishing skiffs go in, they do not even make it ten li before being capsized by crocodiles, and everyone aboard is devoured.
"Every year, those who venture deep into the marsh are either local martial gangs who hire martial experts capable of leaping over roofs and soaring across walls to hunt the crocodiles and spiritual rhinos and harvest precious medicines and spiritual materials, or the prominent local households. Such as the Wei clan of Jiaobu Town, or even the Gu and Tan clans from the county seat... Every year on specific dates, these great aristocratic clans deploy hundred-zhang dragon boats and massive vessels to delve deep into the marsh and gather its bounties.
"Only these people know the waterways through the great marsh. We common folk truly dare not meddle."
"Oh?" Qian Chen had been somewhat prepared for this. Venturing deep into the marsh to gather herbs was a deadly venture where one staked one's head; the greater the profit, the greater the peril. The villagers around here were honest folk who sought only food, warmth, and peaceful lives, so they naturally kept their distance from such life-risking affairs.
It was no wonder the villagers were so vigilant. If Jiaobu Town was the best staging ground for entering the marsh, then the desperate rogues who ventured in each year to hunt beasts and gather herbs all had to pass through this area. Even if most of them stayed in the town proper, it was enough to leave the surrounding countryside thoroughly unsettled.
Those jianghu wanderers had money and blades, and they made their living risking their necks; whatever they did was hardly out of character.
While Qian Chen was contemplating whether to track down some jianghu wanderers to procure a map of the marsh, the village head was still watching him with eager, longing eyes. A county magistrate was an imperial official ruling over a hundred li, not to mention a scion of the prestigious Cui clan of Qinghe. If the village head could use this young Daoist to curry favor with the incoming magistrate, he might be able to cast off his corvée status, earn a place on the official registry of clerks, and serve within the county seat itself.
No matter how fine the village was, how could it compare to the city?
Unfortunately for his hopes, once Qian Chen had clarified the situation regarding Jiuzhen Great Marsh, he reached into his Qiankun bag, produced a small gold ingot, casually pinched off two gold leaves with his fingers, and tossed them to the village head and the elder. Thanking them for their hospitality, he took his leave.
An ancient village possessed an earthy simplicity Qian Chen had never witnessed before.
By now, the morning mist had dispersed, and the light drizzle had temporarily ceased. Two or three mischievous children dashed across the path, splashing into puddles now and then to drench their playmates. The ones splashed showed no anger at all, only bursting into louder laughter before chasing after their companions to stomp into the puddles with even greater force.
Qian Chen noticed that Old Man Jiang's grandson was among them.
"Let's... let's go play under the big plum tree behind the village!" a boy stammered to his friends.
"Grandpa won't let me go..." Old Man Jiang's grandson said, sucking on his thumb.
"It's fine... We aren't eating the plums, so we won't be poisoned... And you can jump so high under that tree!" a slightly taller boy laughed loudly. "Let's go under the tree and see who can jump the highest!"
Instantly, the other children cheered in unison and tore off with shouts of excitement.
Old Man Jiang's grandson limped after them, eager to catch up, but Qian Chen stepped in his path. The boy tilted his head back, looking at the young Daoist he had seen earlier, and asked in confusion, "Who are you? What did you want with my grandpa?"
Qian Chen smiled. "You aren't listening to your grandpa again, are you? Trying to run off to play under the big plum tree?"
The boy nervously clamped his little hands over his mouth and whispered, "Don't tell my grandpa!"
Amused by him, Qian Chen said with a chuckle, "All right, I won't tell your grandpa. But in return, you must tell me where this big plum tree is. What are you playing under it?"
Seeing his bright smile and hearing his promise not to tell his grandfather, the boy breathed a sigh of relief. "You don't look like a bad person, do you? The big plum tree is behind the village. You have to walk a little while, and it's this tall..." He gestured toward an adjacent tiled cottage, estimating the height of a three-story building. "The big tree covered in red plums is the one.
"But you can't eat the plums on the tree... Third Uncle once stole some to eat, and then..."
The boy licked his lips. "And then everyone went to eat a feast at his house!"
Qian Chen blinked, stroking the Dragon Sparrow Ring on his hand and casually letting the jade band fall into the child's field of vision. The sparkling jade ring immediately caught the boy's attention, making his eyes light up. Qian Chen asked, "If the plums are poisonous, why are you going there?"
The child hesitated, refusing to speak. Likely warned by his playmates, he felt this was a secret that could not be shared with grown-ups.
Qian Chen slipped off the Dragon Sparrow Ring, waved it before his eyes, and tempted him, "If you tell me, I'll let you play with this bracelet for a while..."
The child beamed with excitement. "Really? Don't trick me... There's a strange wind under the plum tree that makes people jump really high!" Unable to contain himself, he practically shrieked out the secret the children had all sworn to keep. Qian Chen held out the Dragon Sparrow Ring and gave it a slight wave before the boy's eyes, and the jade ring instantly expanded to the size of a hoop large enough to encircle two small hands. The boy let out another squeal of delight.
Qian Chen slipped the jade ring over the child's neck and asked in a seemingly casual tone, "Are there no birds at all on that big plum tree?"
The boy, far too distracted to answer carefully, gripped the ring and skipped about gleefully. "There aren't any birds at all... Magpies, sparrows, and crows never build nests in the big plum tree. Besides, it's so tall that we can't climb it!"
"It's a good thing you can't climb it!"
Qian Chen asked nothing further. Holding up his umbrella, he walked away.
The boy clutched the jade ring and started to call after him, but seeing that Qian Chen had already moved far into the distance, he hesitated for a moment and simply spun around to run off!
Running toward Jiuzhen Great Marsh behind the village for about the time it took to eat a meal, one could spot a massive plum tree beside the path. Its trunk was immense, as thick as two children hugging together, and its crown spread out like a colossal umbrella, shading nearly two mu of land. The branches were gnarled, twisting, and vigorously rugged.
Dappled amid the dense foliage were green plums, appearing crisp and lovely, enough to make one's mouth water.
Sure enough, not a single bird perched upon the tree... Beneath it, seven or eight small children were shrieking with laughter, frolicking and roughhousing.
Standing beneath the tree, two children gripped another boy's legs and hurled him upward toward the canopy. The tossed child shot up six feet into the air—nearly the height of a grown man. A strange gust swept out from within the canopy, seeming to grab the boy by his hair and haul him upward. The child screamed and laughed as he drifted high into the air, until finally the strange wind ran out of strength, letting him float gently back to the ground.
Next, the children took a few more turns, but those attempts failed to draw the strange wind, and they merely tumbled onto the ground.
After several repetitions, the wind that usually arrived so quickly remained strangely absent for a long time.
At last, the eldest boy grew impatient. Pointing at Old Man Jiang's youngest grandson, he said, "You're the lightest. I'll throw you!"
Having acquired a new toy with the jade ring around his neck, the boy was no longer very interested in their usual game. He hesitated. "If you throw me that high, what if I fall?"
"I'll catch you!" the eldest boy said, baring his teeth. "You aren't scared, are you?"
"I'm not scared!" Incapable of enduring such a provocation, the Jiang boy gritted his teeth and clambered onto the bodies of two older boys, planting his feet on their thighs. The two larger boys supported his feet, prepared themselves, and together counted down from three before heaving him upward with all their might.
This time, the strange wind was extraordinarily fierce. Trapped by the immense suction, the little Jiang boy rose higher and higher, flying straight toward the canopy of the great plum tree.
Shouts of envy and alarm erupted beneath the tree.
Watching the Jiang boy soar ever higher as the bizarre wind pulled their hair straight up and swirled fallen leaves from the ground, the older children grew frightened. Some turned on their heels and ran, while others tried to leap up and grab the Jiang boy's feet to pull him down, but by then he had long soared beyond their reach.
The closer he drew to the canopy, the stronger the strange wind blew, accelerating his ascent.
As he neared the canopy, he saw a pitch-black hollow in the fork of the trunk, barely three spans wide. The bizarre wind was howling straight from that hole.
When the child was sucked to the opening, his body, being slightly larger than the hollow, ended up wedged against the mouth.
Just then, the Jiang boy saw two small lanterns light up inside the dark cavity, accompanied by an overpowering, sickening stench of blood and musk. In his panic, his hand slipped into the hollow and touched something slick and icy-cold. Before he could even process what it was, a scarlet tongue as thick as a rice bowl darted out from the hollow...
In the distance, Qian Chen, who had been watching with hands tucked behind his back, let out a cold, knowing smirk...
With a mere thought, the jade ring around the child's neck slipped free and dropped into the hollow. The child reached out to grab it, unaware that the ring grew on the wind, rapidly swelling to the diameter of a water vat. A flash of sword light burst from the ring, plunging straight into the plum tree. The ring then looped downward, yanking a massive serpent as thick as a water cistern right out from the trunk.
The serpent's yellowish-red hide was mottled with red spots resembling plum blossoms, and its seven-inch vital spot was pinned fast by a Black Gold Hook.
It was still thrashing in its death throes...
As the giant serpent was hauled from the tree, the startled Jiang boy teetered at the hollow's mouth and tumbled down. Yet just as he was about to hit the ground with bone-shattering force, his body grew weightless, drifting down as light as a feather to land safely on the earth.
By this point, however, no one was paying attention to him!
The moment the massive serpent was dragged from the tree, the children beneath shrieked in terror, scattering like rabbits. Two bolder boys could only stare dumbfounded at the enormous beast.
The Dragon Sparrow Ring swept up the serpent's carcass and vanished in a flash, returning to Qian Chen's hand in the distance. Slipping the ring back onto his wrist, he glanced at the sky and opened the Heavenly Net Umbrella.
The misty spring rain began to patter once more. Beneath his umbrella, Qian Chen walked away through the mist, singing as he went, never looking back...
"The sunset's fading glow pinned upon my robe, sending me off to lead an old horse,
Passing by the cottages in a misty village, just like flying blossoms in my old hometown of yore."
His figure receded farther and farther into the distance, quickly leaving the small village behind...
Having heard the children's screams, the young and robust men of the village came rushing out with hoes and wooden pitchforks, only just arriving to shield their own children.
A few daring young men followed the children's frantic gestures and ran to the great plum tree behind the village. Reaching the base of the tree, they were greeted by total havoc. Plum branches and unripe fruit littered the ground. Two children stood amidst the mess, leaves and twigs clinging to their hair, their wits thoroughly scared out of them...
Chapter 49