Shanbei Village

Shanbei Village was an unremarkable little settlement in Anbei Prefecture, Muzhou, Gan Kingdom.

It was surrounded by layer upon layer of mountains, and the land was barren. What was more, it lay in a wild and untamed region where Gan Kingdom, Lu Country, and Zhongshan Country met. Before Gan Kingdom took control of the area, it had long been a lawless no-man's-land, and the village's young men had once made their living smuggling salt and iron.

Only five years ago, after Gan Kingdom took over and began developing Hua'an Town in earnest, did the people of Shanbei Village finally start to find some stability.

Night had fallen.

Fourteen-year-old Li Mo had slightly rough skin and a somewhat reserved nature. He leaned against the head of his bed, watching his mother mend his clothes by the oil lamp.

"Your father had two brothers. Both your uncles died while fleeing the famine during the wars between Gan Kingdom and Lu Country. Your father was the only one who got lucky enough to survive. He joined the salt-trading caravan run by the Zhao family at the west end of the village, married me, and then you came along. Sadly, after only a few good years, he never came back. Your mother and you have had such hard lives. Cough, cough."

Whenever she spoke of this, Zhou Mei couldn't help shedding tears. She brushed back the strands of hair over her forehead, then wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

Seeing how illness had worn down his mother, Li Mo felt a pang of sorrow. He hurried to his feet and brought her a bowl of water.

"Mother, when I come back from town in a few days, I'll ask Doctor Zhang to prescribe you some more medicine."

Li Mo hated that he couldn't earn more money to pay for his mother's treatment.

As an apprentice at Jimin Hall, he could only earn three hundred copper coins a month. Even with the year-end bonus, he brought home less than four taels of silver in a whole year. It wasn't even enough to feed himself, and no matter how frugal he was, his mother still had to give him another two hundred copper coins each month.

For now, all he could do was hope to finish his apprenticeship soon and become a medicine-dispensing doctor at Jimin Hall—or a Traveling Doctor. If nothing else, he would become a herb gatherer. That way, he could earn at least one string of coins a month, and with the year-end bonus, bring home fifteen taels of silver a year. If his earnings increased year by year after that, he would be content.

After drinking, Zhou Mei asked Li Mo to put the empty bowl away.

"Mo'er, we're citizens of Da Gan Kingdom now. We don't have to live like before, smuggling goods among the tribes in the southeastern wilderness and never knowing if we'd see another day. Forget the chaos of war—one day, a mountain spirit or river monster could eat you, and no one would even find your bones."

As she spoke, she trimmed the lamp wick, dimming the light to save oil.

"You have to make something of yourself. Whatever you do in the future, be steady and diligent. Put your heart into it, and see it through. Don't be of two minds and end up accomplishing nothing. Now that you're an apprentice to Doctor Zhang at Jimin Hall, learn everything you can from him. Even if he scolds or beats you, don't get angry. Understand?"

"I understand, Mother."

Li Mo answered earnestly.

Seeing how sensible he was, Zhou Mei smiled with satisfaction. A hint of tenderness showed on her face in the lamplight.

"My boy will soon be old enough to tie his hair up and take a wife."

In Gan Kingdom, boys turned fifteen in the year they were old enough to tie up their hair. They could then undo their childhood hair knots, bind their hair in a single tuft, study and learn a trade, and arrange a marriage.

Li Mo blushed at her words and lowered his head.

Seeing him like that, Zhou Mei—unwilling to waste more lamp oil—quickly finished mending the clothes in her hands and blew out the lamp. Darkness filled the room.

The next day.

The sky was only just beginning to lighten when Li Mo heard someone shouting outside his window.

After getting up, he saw his mother cooking and paused beside the stove.

Zhou Mei poured a mixture of millet and wheat into boiling water, then added some wild greens and salt. She cooked it until it turned to mush, let it cool and set into a solid block, then cut it into small pieces to be shared among them.

The person shouting outside was Zhang Qin, Li Mo's distant cousin.

Zhang Qin was seven years older than Li Mo. When Li Mo was little, he had followed Zhang Qin around everywhere, but five years ago, Uncle Zhang had spent some silver to secure Zhang Qin a constable's job in Hua'an Town, and the two saw each other less often.

Later, Li Mo became an apprentice at Jimin Hall in town, and their chances to meet grew even rarer.

At that moment, Zhang Qin was holding two stone slabs and building his strength out in the fields. Sweat dripped from his forehead, drop by drop.

"Brother Zhang Qin!"

Li Mo called out in delight.

Li Mo usually wasn't much of a talker. He was only this enthusiastic around people he knew well. It had to do with losing his father when he was young. With no father to protect him, he had learned to say less and make fewer mistakes, so people wouldn't bully him. That was how he had become somewhat reserved in the eyes of strangers.

"Xiao Mo, you're back too!"

Zhang Qin set down the stone slabs and smiled at Li Mo. "You've grown quite a bit since last time."

Li Mo looked at Zhang Qin with envy. It wasn't just his job as a constable, which paid at least two strings of official coins each month. It was also his skill. Zhang Qin had once shown it off in front of Li Mo, and after only a few years of training, he could already scale walls and leap across rooftops, wielding a blade with impressive skill.

"Brother Zhang Qin, I heard a monster appeared near Dagou Village. Is that true?"

Zhang Qin's expression changed.

"I'm not sure. But the Heaven's Mandate Bureau did send some people over. Whether it's a mountain spirit or a river monster, I couldn't say. Those things are much harder to deal with than wanted criminals who roam the land and commit all kinds of evil. We're only mortals, after all. Even if we spend ten years hardening our skin, muscles, and bones, we can't match the hundred years of inner cultivation those demons and monsters have spent refining a single breath of power."

To ordinary people, the existence of demons, monsters, and cultivators who could fly through the skies and burrow through the earth was no secret.

As the saying went: "Harden the skin, muscles, and bones on the outside; cultivate a single breath of energy within."

Demons and monsters of all kinds wreaked havoc across the land, while cultivators from the sacred mountains and holy lands traveled from place to place as inspectors of the Heaven's Mandate Bureau, slaying demons, vanquishing evil, and stamping out secret organizations and enemy forces. They enjoyed a status above the ordinary. It was an open secret in Gan Kingdom.

The Central Plains had always been said to be a land of a hundred rival kingdoms and six dominant powers.

Gan Kingdom had been founded more than two thousand years ago. Though it was a latecomer among the six great powers, the Emperor of the Qian Yuan Era had governed with diligence during his reign. He disbanded the sect he had once belonged to and established Gan Kingdom's system of government. With his unfathomable cultivation, he had repeatedly led the kingdom back from the brink of destruction, and its strength had grown ever greater. It was gradually showing signs of becoming the foremost of the six great powers, continually annexing smaller neighboring countries and contending for supremacy with Lu Country and Ling Country.

As a result,

the people of Gan Kingdom considered it no exaggeration to call their ruler a sage. That was why he had been given the title Emperor of the Qian Yuan Era.

Hua'an Town was a frontier town.

Its people had once scraped out a meager living by slash-and-burn farming, hunting, and fishing. Farther back in the mountains were many savage tribes who ate raw meat and lived in primitive conditions. But after joining Gan Kingdom just a few years ago, the people of the region had benefited enormously from the influence of its officials, merchants, customs, and culture. They had come to embrace the kingdom, and people now vied to call themselves citizens of Da Gan Kingdom.

"Mo'er, it's nearly the hour of the Dragon. You'd better get to town soon!"

"Got it!"

Zhou Mei's voice came from behind him. Li Mo said goodbye to Zhang Qin, ran back inside, and took the simple meal, clothes, and pottery jar his mother handed him.

Zhou Mei had cut the meal into blocks and wrapped them in lotus leaves.

"This bundle is for breakfast on the road. Keep this one for your afternoon meal. The pottery jar has some muntjac meat I bought from Butcher Zhang a few days ago. I've cured it into a savory paste. Have a little whenever you get hungry."

"Mother."

Li Mo clutched the clothes, food, and pottery jar as he looked at her, his eyes full of reluctance.

"Cough, cough."

Zhou Mei gave a small cough. Then, making the excuse that there was too much smoke, she reached up and patted Li Mo's head.

Her son was already half a head taller than she was. Though her eyes were just as full of reluctance, she still sighed. "Go on. Get to town early, and don't let your studies suffer. Remember what I told you. Be steady and diligent. Give your work your full attention. Don't keep changing your mind and end up accomplishing nothing."

"Got it."

Li Mo reined in his emotions and nodded solemnly. Then, as his mother watched, he set off.

A few families from the Zhao clan lived at the western end of Shanbei Village. Li Mo's father had once risked his life to join Zhao Chunsheng of the Zhao family in the business of smuggling salt.

When Li Mo was seven, Zhao Chunsheng's salt caravan disappeared without a trace. No one had been seen alive, and no bodies had been found.

Not long afterward, Hua'an Town, where Shanbei Village was located, was incorporated into Gan Kingdom.

Smuggling salt was a business that put your head on the line, especially during wartime. No one in Shanbei Village was surprised that the people in the caravan had died. Li Mo held no grudge against the Zhao family over it. If anything, he was grateful to Uncle Zhao from the bottom of his heart. It was because of him that Li Mo's father had not starved to death like his two brothers.

Now, although Li Mo had lost his father, he could still just about get by.

But Zhao Siman, who was about the same age as him, had lost the protection of her father, Zhao Chunsheng. Her relatives had descended on her and her mother to strip them of their inheritance. Their cries for help went unanswered, and their plight was utterly miserable.

Now the mother and daughter could only live under someone else's roof, struggling through each day.

"Brother Xiao Mo."

A thin, fair-skinned girl came slowly toward him from a distance, carrying a bundle of firewood taller than she was.

When she saw Li Mo, she greeted him timidly, then smiled.

Her hair was tied into two buns. She wore a blue-gray hemp tunic riddled with patches, yet it still had plenty of holes. There was a little dirt on her face, but beneath it, her lovely features were just visible.

This was Zhao Siman, Li Mo's best childhood friend and the girl he liked most.

"Xiao Man."

Li Mo hurried over and helped her take the firewood off her back.

"You haven't had breakfast yet, have you? My mother packed me some. Let's eat together."

The firewood on the nearby mountains all belonged to someone. Since Zhao Siman had come back so early with such a large bundle, she must have gone out very early, walked a long way, and only returned after gathering it.

Compared with Zhao Siman, Li Mo suddenly felt that his own life wasn't quite so hard after all.

Zhao Siman didn't refuse his kindness.

She and Li Mo had grown up together. They were childhood friends, as close as green plums and young horses. Besides, she really was starving. She never got enough to eat, and her frail body looked as though a gust of wind might blow her over.

They sat on the stone steps and opened the lotus leaves, eating the still-warm meal inside. They didn't stop until every last bit was gone, then looked at each other and smiled.

"There's some meat paste here too."

Li Mo shared the precious meat paste from the pottery jar with her.

Zhao Siman lowered her head and chewed slowly. Tears welled in her eyes as she murmured, "Brother Xiao Mo, ever since my father died, aside from my mother, you're the only one who's been this good to me."

Whenever she remembered how, after her father died, she and her mother had been left alone without a man in the household, she felt a wave of grief. Their relatives had come to bully them, forcibly sold their house, fields, and livestock, then held a three-month-long feast, wasting every last bit of their family's property before abandoning her and her mother to fend for themselves. Their lives had plunged into hell overnight.

She had prayed countless times for it all to be nothing but a nightmare.

But reality was even crueler than a nightmare.

Hearing her words, Li Mo felt sorry for her. At the same time, he remembered what his mother had said and imagined how wonderful it would be if he could marry Zhao Siman and bring her home as his wife one day.

Looking at the beautiful, honest, hardworking girl before him, Li Mo once again urged himself to work hard, finish his apprenticeship soon, save up some money, and then go to her family to ask for her hand.

"Xiao Man!"

A shout from afar made Zhao Siman's body instinctively tremble. She hurried to her feet. "Brother Xiao Mo, I have to go back. When will you be back again?"

"In a month. I only get two days off each month to visit home."

At his answer, Zhao Siman hoisted the firewood onto her back and looked at him with hopeful eyes. "You have to come see me then."

"Mm."

Li Mo's answer brought a brilliant smile to Zhao Siman's pale, weary face. She hoisted the heavy firewood back onto her shoulders and took step after step toward the home her third uncle and aunt had taken over.