Qu County's county seat saw two strange visitors today.
One was old, one young, and both were dressed like men of the martial world.
The older one wore a dusty gray robe. His expression was calm, and his eyes were sunken. The younger one had thick brows and large eyes, but wore a look of sheer arrogance.
The young man carried a White Banner over his shoulder. Four black characters were written on it: Subdue Demons and Exorcise Evil.
The wind stirred the banner, making the white cloth snap and the writing sway along with it.
From a distance, they looked less like wandering sorcerers and more like they were on their way to someone's funeral.
They stopped at the street corner. The young man casually stopped a passerby. "Where's the biggest pharmacy around here?"
The passerby saw how strangely the two men were dressed and didn't dare look too closely. He pointed south. "Go straight, then turn east at the intersection. That'll be Renhe Pharmacy."
The young man didn't even thank him. He simply set off.
The older man followed behind, his steps unhurried, as though he wasn't in the least bit anxious.
Renhe Pharmacy was indeed the largest pharmacy in Qu County.
Three storefronts had been joined together. Three physicians sat inside seeing patients, four apprentices prepared prescriptions, and all kinds of medicinal herbs were neatly arranged in a row across the counter.
Just as the two entered, a wealthy gentleman was leaving with his servant.
The shopkeeper personally saw him to the door, his face wreathed in smiles as he bowed repeatedly. Only after the sedan chair had gone far away did he straighten up and turn back inside.
He turned around and came face-to-face with two men dressed like fortune-tellers.
The shopkeeper's face immediately darkened.
He'd run a shop in Qu County for over twenty years. What sort of traveling charlatan hadn't he seen?
Some sold dog-skin plasters, some hawked miracle pills, and the rest read faces or told fortunes. In short, they were all after people's silver.
And every last one of them looked like this.
The old one put on airs of deep wisdom, while the young one acted tough. At the end of the day, they were just trying to swindle a few copper coins.
He furrowed his brows and was about to turn them away when the apprentice weighing herbs beside him noticed the shopkeeper's expression.
The apprentice immediately put down the small balance in his hand, darted forward in a few strides, and started shooing the two men out.
"Out, out, out! This isn't a place for the likes of you! How dare you barge in..."
Before he could finish, the young man leading the way suddenly changed expression and snapped, "Are you blind, you mangy dog?"
As he spoke, he shoved the apprentice. The apprentice felt a tremendous force slam into him, stumbled, and landed hard on his backside, dazed.
He froze for a moment, then was about to get back up and argue, when the young man calmly took a silver ingot from his robes and tossed it over from a distance.
The apprentice caught it instinctively and felt its weight sink into his hand.
He looked down, and his eyes went wide.
It had to weigh ten taels.
The shopkeeper stood behind the counter and saw everything clearly.
His face, which had just darkened, brightened again, and a smile gathered at the corners of his eyes and mouth.
He hurried around the counter, helped the apprentice to his feet, and said repeatedly, "Well, well! A distinguished guest has come to visit! That damned fool had no eyes, no eyes at all! Please, come in, both of you! Are you here to see a physician or buy medicine?"
As he spoke, he also kicked the apprentice in the backside.
The apprentice rubbed his bottom and returned to the counter. Quietly, he weighed the silver with the small balance, then gestured to the shopkeeper.
Ten taels of pure silver.
He'd worked in Qu County for five years, and his monthly wages were only two qian.
That ten taels could buy a house in the county seat, without a courtyard. Even if they'd shoved him onto the ground and made him eat shit, he could have swallowed it without batting an eye.
Seeing their faces, the young man's expression grew even more arrogant. He gave a cold snort. "I'm not here for treatment, and I'm not buying medicine. I just want to ask about something."
The shopkeeper paused. "What is it?"
The young man said, "Your pharmacy deals with herb gatherers every day. Do you know where in the nearby mountains there's Peach Blossom Miasma?"
The shopkeeper blinked in confusion. "Peach... Peach Blossom Miasma?"
Seeing his expression, the young man grew impatient. "It's a pink mist that settles in valleys. The wind can't move it, and the sun can't disperse it. Anyone who breathes it turns red in the face, as if they'd been drinking, and suffers from dizziness. Without prompt treatment, they'll die."
Only then did the shopkeeper understand. "Oh! You mean miasma!"
He slapped his thigh. "Yes, yes! Early last spring, an herb gatherer went into the mountains and somehow breathed in some miasma. He came home unconscious, his face burning red like a monkey's backside. His family was already preparing his funeral. In the end, a Daoist from Clear Wind Temple drew a talisman, dissolved it in water, and made him drink it. That's how he managed to cling to life."
The old man had stood silently to one side the whole time. Hearing this, he raised his eyelids slightly, but still said nothing.
The young man's eyes lit up, and he quickly pressed him. "Who was that herb gatherer? Where is he now?"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone walked in through the door.
The newcomer carried a bamboo basket filled with freshly gathered herbs, and flecks of mud clung to his clothes. He was a man in his sixties or seventies, his face deeply lined and his hands calloused.
The shopkeeper spotted him and immediately grinned. "Well, look at that! What a coincidence. It's him!"
He reached out, grabbed the old man, and dragged the bewildered herb gatherer over to the two visitors.
The old man looked confused. He glanced at the shopkeeper, then at the two strangers, muttering, "What's this about? What's this about?"
The shopkeeper whispered a few words in his ear. The old man's expression changed at once, and he waved his hands repeatedly, mumbling in refusal. "I don't know, I don't know... This old man doesn't know anything..."
The young man stepped forward and asked him the same question directly.
But the old man only stammered. First he said he couldn't remember, then he claimed he hadn't gone near Official Mountain and wouldn't dare break the law.
The young man frowned, took another silver ingot from his robes, and pressed it into the old man's hand.
The old man's eyes lit up at the sight of the silver. He weighed it in his palm before finally speaking.
"That place... it's in a valley between Deer Rest Mountain and... and Green Screen Mountain. I only stumbled across it because I took a wrong turn. The mist was pink and looked pretty, so I took another look, but I didn't dare go inside. Then I went home and passed out."
He added, "But I didn't go near Official Mountain. I came in from the other side, where it's outside the county's jurisdiction."
The silent old man suddenly spoke, his voice dry and low. "Official Mountain?"
The shopkeeper hurried to explain. "You may not know, Elder, but there's a Clear Wind Temple in Deer Rest Mountain. It's registered with the authorities, so that mountain has been designated Official Mountain. Ordinary herb gatherers aren't allowed to enter without permission."
The old man nodded and said no more.
This time, the young man didn't take out silver. Instead, he pulled a small, bright-yellow gold bar from his robes and weighed it in his hand.
The gold flashed dazzlingly in the sunlight, and the shopkeeper's and apprentice's eyes followed it as it moved.
"Take us there," he said, waving the gold bar before the old man's eyes. "This will be yours."
The old man stared blankly. His Adam's apple bobbed as he hurriedly nodded. "I... I'll take you! I'll get you there, for sure!"
As he spoke, he reached out to take it.
But the young man lifted his hand and pulled it out of reach.
He smiled, but the smile never reached his eyes. "If you get us there, we'll settle everything then. If you can't..."
He pinched the gold bar at both ends and gently brought his fingers together.
With a sharp crack, the little gold bar, barely as thick as a pinkie, snapped clean in two.
He tossed one half to the old man and said coolly, "This is an advance. You'll get the other half once the job's done."
The old man fumbled to catch the half bar. He looked down at the gold in his hand, then up at the young man, his eyes filled with both delight and fear.
The shopkeeper and apprentice stood to one side, staring in stunned silence.
Even the bookkeeper, who had been keeping the accounts, stopped writing and gaped at them.
These two were no ordinary wanderers.
The young man put away the remaining half of the gold bar and brushed nonexistent dust from his hands. "Find me a broker. My master and I are going into the mountains. We'll need a few men to clear the way and four to carry a sedan chair. Ten people in all."
The apprentice rushed forward at once. "Sir, sir, there's no need for a broker! I can take care of it for you! Ten people, right?"
The young Daoist gave him a sidelong glance and said coldly:
"I'll make this clear first. I want sturdy men who can clear a path and carry people. If you dare round up a bunch of old men who can barely walk, then expect me to end up looking after them on the mountain—heh..."
The apprentice thumped his chest so loudly it boomed. "Don't worry, sir! Leave it to me! It's just that the money..."
The young Daoist gave a cold snort and tossed him another piece of silver.
The apprentice caught it in both hands, grinning from ear to ear. Without even checking the shopkeeper's expression, he dashed out the door.
Only then did the old man, who had barely spoken since entering, finally move.
He walked slowly to the bench beside the counter and sat down, placing the old, faded cloth bundle from his shoulder on his lap before closing his eyes to rest.
The young man glanced over the medicine cabinets, then looked away again. Bored, he leaned against the counter and lightly tapped its surface with his fingers.
The shopkeeper rubbed his hands together. He wanted to strike up a conversation but didn't dare, so he could only smile awkwardly and steal the occasional glance at the half gold bar.
The cut was perfectly smooth, like tofu sliced with a knife.
But it was gold, not tofu.