At night, endless, inky darkness smothered the sky, and the bone-chilling cold nearly swallowed the light of the waning moon. Thick night fog shrouded Nine Tripod Mountain. Jiang Shuo sat inside Chiyun Village, as tense and restless as a criminal awaiting judgment.
"I've lived among the clan for eighteen years, but I've never seen anyone else hold a coming-of-age ceremony. Is this special treatment because of who I am?" Clan members bustled about outside his room, and the clamor reaching Jiang Shuo's ears only made him more uneasy. He was Chiyun Village's Young Master, doted on by the clan since childhood. "They're making an awfully big production of it. Whatever. Why think so much? It's not like they'd hurt me."
"Jiang Shuo, the ceremony's all ready. The Great Elder told me to come get you." A sudden call from outside interrupted Jiang Shuo's wild imaginings. He shook his head lightly, clearing away his jumbled thoughts, then rose and opened the door. A boy about his height stood outside.
Jiang Sheng was about the same age as Jiang Shuo. They'd grown up together, running around bare-bottomed, and he was Jiang Shuo's best friend. Life in the village was harsh; they often braved wind and rain, sleeping under the open sky. Yet Jiang Sheng's skin was remarkably fair, making many of the village girls envious.
The moment the door opened, Jiang Sheng excitedly grabbed Jiang Shuo by the arm and leaned close with a grin. "Remember the Forbidden Ground we wanted to sneak into when we were kids? Your coming-of-age ceremony is being held there. I can't believe you're getting such special treatment. Plenty of clan members have never even set foot in the Forbidden Ground. If you get any benefits, don't forget me."
"Look at you, so shameless. Wipe that drool away. Didn't we swear when we became sworn brothers to share blessings and hardships? Don't worry, I won't leave you out." Jiang Shuo patted his chest with the air of an older brother, but his smile faded in an instant. An invisible gloom clouded his heart; he had a bad feeling.
"Heh, good." Jiang Sheng's greedy eyes curved into crescents, his face dreamy with fantasy. It took him a while to come back to himself. He quickly cleared his throat and stood up straight, then grabbed Jiang Shuo and said solemnly, "We shouldn't keep everyone waiting. Let's hurry."
Jiang Shuo shot him a look as the other boy dragged him out of the room. Along the way, clan members from Chiyun Village hurried toward the Forbidden Ground, their expressions solemn and the atmosphere oppressive. Jiang Sheng, however, only noticed how grand the ceremony was, repeatedly lamenting life's unfairness and how he'd been born into the wrong body.
The Forbidden Ground lay at the summit of Nine Tripod Mountain, connected to the village halfway up the mountain by a winding stone staircase. Clan members carried torches, forming a giant dragon that seemed ready to burst through the clouds. Near the Forbidden Ground, a massive bone stood by the roadside, more than a zhang tall and wide. Jiang Shuo had always wondered what creature could have bones so enormous—and how they had endured years of wind and rain without the slightest wear.
The stone blocking the entrance to the Forbidden Ground had already been moved aside. Jiang Shuo and Jiang Sheng entered with the other clan members, stepping into a place none of them had ever set foot in before. Surprisingly, instead of the mystery they'd imagined, the Forbidden Ground was nothing but a barren stretch of land. The clan had hastily built a huge stone platform, and in front of it, they'd stacked countless logs into a pyre. Jiang Sheng was deeply disappointed. "So there's nothing here after all. What a waste—I came with such high hopes."
Jiang Shuo was just as bewildered. He watched carefully for a moment, then his pupils suddenly contracted—the lush, wooded mountain seemed to be separated from this place by an invisible wall. Not a blade of grass or a flower had encroached here, and the constant roars of beasts and cries of birds had fallen silent. Without the clan members bustling around them, this place would have been a thoroughly dead land, devoid of all life.
"Look, isn't that our Ancestral Flag?" Jiang Shuo turned toward the place Jiang Sheng was pointing. Six clan members slowly carried over a heavy piece of cloth. Step by step, they climbed onto the stone platform and hung the Ancestral Flag from a thick wooden beam overhead. As it unfurled, a huge "Nine" character came into view, written in some unknown substance. Its strokes were bold and dignified, dry and ancient, bearing the marks of time. Jiang Sheng blinked in shock, hurried over to a middle-aged man, and asked, "Dad, the Ancestral Flag has always been kept in the altar and never moved. Why this time...?"
"It was the Great Elder's decision. I wouldn't know, even if you asked me." Jiang Song was in his prime, a straightforward man with a solid martial arts foundation, and he held considerable prestige in the village. After answering, his gaze swept over Jiang Shuo, seemingly on the verge of saying something. Suspicion stirred in Jiang Shuo's heart. He was just about to ask when the noisy clan members suddenly fell silent. They took their places around the stone platform and pyre, leaving a passage open in the middle.
Jiang Sheng, still without an answer, came back and tugged Jiang Shuo's sleeve, nodding toward the platform. The Great Elder, Jiang Huaiyi, wore a robe carved with totems of countless beasts and carried a pitch-black bone staff. His expression grave, he passed through the crowd. Jiang Shuo had been raised by the Great Elder himself, who had always seemed kind and benevolent to him. But now, the man's presence felt utterly unfamiliar.
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