Both faces of the coin bore a relief of a soaring kite.
The copper coin was blue-green, making this kite a Green Yuan.
"Yes, these State Tokens are classified by color," the Poplar Mountain spirit recalled with sudden clarity. "Wait, this Green Yuan coin isn't yours!"
The white-robed youth cut in. "I lent it to Mr. Sha."
The Poplar Mountain spirit spoke slowly and deliberately, prompting a touch of impatience from the man in grey. "Now that you've come out, I have a question for you. Answer quickly, and I'll leave quickly."
"Ask away."
A mountain spirit was a god of the mountain, known in some places by a more common, readily understood title:
The Earth God.
Where spiritual energy pooled and living creatures thrived, a mountain spirit would slowly coalesce over time. If granted an imperial investiture by a mortal monarch, the mountain spirit could master and wield elemental power to govern the lands and waters of a domain.
If the empire perished or the investiture expired, the mountain spirit's elemental power would decline accordingly, eventually returning it to a feral age.
Though the Poplar Mountain spirit had once received an investiture from the Yuan Kingdom, it lacked even a mountain shrine. The primary reason was that it spent years with its head covered in deep sleep, ignoring trivial affairs within its domain. When local creatures prayed and received no answer, they gradually forgot about it over time.
Yet it was compelled to answer the summons of this man in grey before it.
The Poplar Mountain spirit was still somewhat irritable from being woken, but reason told it that the figure standing before it was not someone to be crossed lightly.
"Forty or fifty days ago, a sand leopard ran here. I want you to locate it," the man in grey said crisply. "Those beasts only nest in West Mountain; they should be rare in your parts."
"A sand leopard? Hmm..." The Poplar Mountain spirit drew out its tone at great length. "Let me search."
The two waited in silence for over a quarter of an hour.
Suddenly, a small deer emerged from the grass. Showing no fear of strangers, it even shook its head in front of the two men.
The Poplar Mountain spirit said, "Follow it."
The deer turned and bolted, and the two took off in pursuit.
Crossing two peaks, the small deer headed toward a cliff, finally stopping at the edge of a precipitous boulder.
"The sand leopard came here?" The white-robed youth crouched down and found a few dark smudges on the stone.
"Bloodstains, but from quite a while ago."
The small deer craned its head directly over the boulder's edge.
"It jumped down?"
The small deer nodded.
Strange. Why would a heavily wounded sand leopard flee all the way here, only to throw itself off a cliff to die? The two exchanged a glance, then climbed down along the crags from the side, descending to the bottom of the ravine.
The earth here was damp and cool, far chillier than on the mountain, allowing vegetation to grow thick and lush. The two searched the bottom of the ravine for quite some time, but found no sign of a leopard carcass.
The youth in white looked up at the cliff. "It was already gravely wounded. Falling from such a high cliff, it couldn't possibly have survived." There were no tall trees below the cliff, so neither foliage nor vines could have cushioned the sand leopard's fall. "Poplar Mountain spirit, is it still in the mountain?"
"You wanted to know where it went, so I will show you." A tree beside them spoke—this time a beech. "It is no longer in the mountain."
A mountain breeze swept through, whipping up a miniature whirlwind from the ground. As twigs, leaves, and dirt swirled together, they actually began to take shape.
Formed by the wind from mud and leaves, besides a leopard, there was also a creature with four limbs!
The youth in white took a couple of looks, quite surprised. "Falling from the cliff, besides the sand leopard, was there... a person?"
The two figures lay on the ground, motionless.
"They perished together?" The youth in white frowned. "Then where did the bodies go?"
Soon, two more whirlwinds whipped up, shaping new figures in the wind.
"Two people arrived, and were... killed?" The white-robed youth's expression changed. "Good, very good! No wonder those two subordinates of mine never returned. So that's how it was!"
"Another group came, and carried the two bodies away... separately?"
The youth in white examined the shapes closely. Unfortunately, describing the shapes molded from mud and leaves as "dirt-faced" was all too fitting; they were a blur, barely recognizable as human silhouettes, and making out their faces was out of the question.
"Who were these people, and where did they come from?"
He asked twice, but only then did the beech tree answer in a muffled rumble:
"I do not know. Too much time has passed, and all traces have faded. Only the wind spirits still remember this much."
The man in grey was undeterred and picked up the thread. "At least you know which direction they headed after leaving Hulu Mountain?"
Two branches of the beech tree came together, pointing in a single direction.
It was precisely the direction from which they had come—
"Blackwater City?" A fierce gleam flashed in the white-robed youth's eyes. "I knew it! The missing guards from the Donglai Residence must have found a lead."
Yet even after tracking it this far, they had only obtained a vague heading. Blackwater City was neither overly vast nor particularly small.
"They went to Blackwater City? Then that makes things simple." The man in grey smiled. "The most direct approach is often the most effective."
The mountain forest fell silent; the Poplar Mountain spirit had departed.
The two walked over a hundred paces toward Blackwater City when the man in grey paused slightly, suddenly raising a hand to unleash a flash of white light.
A sharp screech sounded from the woods ten zhang away, followed by the frantic flapping of wings.
Following the sound, they found the beginning of a blood trail beneath a large tree.
The blood specks on the ground were faint, but fortunately the youth in white was adept at tracking. After advancing another fifteen or sixteen zhang, they found a sparrowhawk lying on the ground. Larger than an ordinary eagle, its wing and belly had been pierced through.
The blood seeping from the wound had turned dark green.
"Ever since leaving Blackwater City, I felt we were being watched. Turns out it's a little monster." The youth in white stepped forward, resting the tip of his boot against the sparrowhawk's neck. "Who sent you?"
The sparrowhawk panted heavily with its beak open.
"Speak." The youth in white pressed down harder. "Otherwise, the poison will reach your heart, and you'll be dead within a quarter of an hour!"
With a cry of pain, the sparrowhawk indeed spoke: "If I tell the truth, will you let me go?"
"Of course." The youth in white smiled. "Why would a swan goose stoop to settle scores with a sparrow?"
The sparrowhawk immediately said, "I'm just a mercenary. I was resting with my eyes closed at the Red Mountain Tavern when someone suddenly came in looking for me, telling me to track your movements and report back."
"What was that person's background?"
"I don't know! I only take money and do the job!"
The man in grey suddenly said, "Don't listen to its nonsense. This is a domesticated monster!"
A domesticated monster, of course, had a master.
The white-robed youth's gaze turned sharp as a blade. He stomped down hard, wasting no further words:
"Speak!"
The following morning, as the He family was having breakfast, a servant rushed in with a report:
"Two guests have arrived at the gate, claiming to be under the General Pacifying the North of Xunzhou!"
He Lingchuan's heart skipped a beat as he looked toward his father. He Chunhua was also slightly taken aback, his expression tightening. "Show them to Suhong Hall and serve tea."
Suhong Hall was where the master of the He Residence received guests, suitable for small gatherings of two or three.
He stood up and gestured to He Lingchuan. "Lingchuan, come with me."
Both He Yue and Madame Ying looked somewhat surprised.
Why would the master take his eldest son along to meet guests from Xunzhou?
The most convenient privilege of being the head of the household was that one's actions required no explanation. Without another word, He Chunhua led the steward and He Lingchuan toward the front hall.
Chapter 7