The Poplar Mountain Spirit

One more step forward, and the kid would've been flattened into a meat pie.

The child picked up the rattle drum from the ground, coughing nonstop as dust kicked up by the horses' hooves stung his lungs. At last, his parents squeezed through the crowd, scooped him up, and ran without looking back.

People along the street angrily scolded the riders, but the white-robed passenger acted as if he hadn't heard them and looked up at Uncle Hao.

Uncle Hao's face remained expressionless.

Liu Baobao stood beside He Lingchuan. He gave a forceful cough. "Who are you? Do you know that riding horses through a crowded street is punishable by flogging?"

"Who's going to flog us?" The white-robed youth laughed, making no effort to hide his contempt. "You?"

The man's gaze was like a needle. Liu Baobao's face prickled under it, and he couldn't help shrinking his head. "Blackwater City enforces the law strictly. Try riding a few more steps and see what happens!"

The youth ignored him after that. He only shifted his gaze to He Lingchuan, as if he knew that He Lingchuan was the one calling the shots.

He Lingchuan smiled at him, but the other man scrutinized him for a couple of moments before urging his horse onward again.

The gray-robed passenger behind him never raised his head.

After that brief disturbance, the two riders slowed down. Men and women, old and young, watched them disappear around the corner.

They were heading northeast, toward the road out of the city.

Uncle Hao spoke at the right moment. "Both men have cultivation, especially the gray-robed one in back. I can't see through him. The white-robed brat might be from a military family."

He Lingchuan raised an eyebrow, surprised.

Uncle Hao had once slaughtered more than ten wealthy households in the capital by night. Later, a member of the Daoist sect had enlightened him, teaching him magic to dispel his murderous aura. His cultivation was profound, and he held the position of Senior Attendant in the He family. He Lingchuan had no reason to doubt his judgment that the gray-robed man was formidable.

They didn't look like ordinary merchants. What had brought them to this remote border region?

Just then, several people arrived in the middle of the street. They were Blackwater City's patrol officers, also drawn by the commotion. They asked the people nearby, "What happened?"

"Two men galloped through the street and nearly trampled a child!" The crowd answered in a jumble, though that was the gist of it.

Only two men? Then it wasn't the He family's young master. Thank goodness. The patrol officers grew even angrier. Just then, they looked up and saw He Lingchuan leaning out the window to watch. They quickly greeted him, their faces relaxing and their mouths curving into smiles. "Good day, Lord He."

"Good, very good." He Lingchuan smiled. "Are you going after them?"

"We are!" The patrol captain declared righteously. They'd been told not to ride horses through the streets, yet they'd done it anyway. What was that if not contempt for the law? "They must be severely punished!"

He Lingchuan pointed them in the right direction. "They went through the northeast gate."

The patrol captain thanked him, then led his men running after the riders.

Only after they'd left did Uncle Hao speak. "A few patrol officers won't be able to stop them."

"I know. I was just testing the waters." He Lingchuan shrugged. "This is Blackwater City. Could they really start a fight in broad daylight?"

But the patrol officers returned empty-handed about a quarter of an hour later.

He Lingchuan wasn't surprised by the outcome, but still wanted to know what had happened. "Where are those two?"

The patrol captain hadn't expected him to still be waiting for the result. A little awkwardly, he coughed before answering. "Those two are under the command of General Who Conquers the North and the Governor of Xun Prefecture. They're in Blackwater City on official business, and they showed us a Fire Seal Official Document."

He Lingchuan gave a long "Oh."

He knew the patrol captain meant General Who Conquers the North Nian Zanli, who governed Xun Prefecture—that is, he was in charge of both the military and civil administration. His authority far surpassed that of the Jin Province governor.

A prefecture was above a commandery. If He Chunhua, Prefect of Qiansong, met this General Who Conquers the North, he would have to respectfully address himself as "your subordinate."

The patrol officers soon left. Liu Baobao seemed a little uneasy, too. "Those two probably won't remember me, right?"

"It's not that big a deal. Why would they dwell on it?" He Lingchuan's reassurance was wholly insincere, though he was wondering what the Governor of Xun Prefecture had sent his men to Blackwater City for.

Just then, two peals of thunder rolled across the sky, rumbling so loudly that people's ears hurt. The dogs in the street barked in alarm, tucked their tails between their legs, and ran.

The people of Blackwater City were used to it. Everyone went back to whatever they'd been doing.

He Lingchuan looked west and saw dark clouds gathering thickly along the horizon.

A storm was coming.

"A storm's coming." The white-robed youth looked at the sky, then at the gray-robed man. "What do you think? Will this place do?"

The two were already at Gourd Mountain.

It had seven peaks, three of them bare of vegetation, their craggy rock and soil as rough as the heads of bald giants.

Though it was nothing to look at, Gourd Mountain was actually teeming with rats, rabbits, foxes, and deer. Sometimes people even hunted wild boars and gray wolves there.

The two stood on an animal trail. They had already inspected several caves.

"The soil and water aren't especially rich, but there are plenty of living creatures. The numbers should just about suffice." A Purple Gold Pestle appeared in the gray-robed man's hand. At its top was a carving of a wide-mouthed, bulging-eyed monster. Four rings hung beneath its feet, while its pointed end gleamed like metal.

With a wave against the wind, the pestle, just over a foot long, turned into a seven-foot purple-gold staff.

The gray-robed man drove it more than a foot into the earth. Once it stood firmly on its own, he held out his hand to the white-robed youth for a green copper coin and slipped it into the monster's mouth.

The monster's jaws closed by themselves, clamping down on the coin as a red glow grew in its eyes.

The gray-robed man began shaking the top of the staff.

The rings beneath the monster's feet clattered at once. At first the sounds seemed chaotic, but after listening for a while, one could hear them repeating in a particular rhythm, over and over.

And with each repetition, the sound grew clearer, louder, and... carried farther!

The insects and birds that had filled the mountain forest fell silent. Only the ringing echoed on, never fading.

The white-robed youth drew in a deep breath.

Even with his strong will, listening closely to the ringing soon made his head swim and his heart pound, his ears buzzing. He had no choice but to stop concentrating and stare absently at a distant peak.

It was bearable as long as he kept his mind elsewhere.

After about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a furious voice came from behind them with a rustle.

"Stop shaking it! Stop! Don't let it ring anymore!"

The Purple Gold Pestle stopped at the sound. The two turned around and saw a poplar tree shaking its branches, the leaves rustling. The voice seemed to come from them.

The poplar was gnarled and rugged, weathered by the elements. It looked at least three or four hundred years old, and was the largest tree nearby.

The white-robed youth spoke first. "Are you the local mountain spirit?"

"I'm the spirit of Poplar Mountain. I was appointed two hundred years ago. This place is called Gourd Mountain now." The voice of the Poplar Mountain Spirit was peculiar, as though it were made by countless leaves rubbing and vibrating. At first it was somewhat indistinct, but the more it spoke, the more fluent it became.

It was like someone who hadn't spoken in years, gradually regaining the ability to talk. "I've been asleep for a long time. Even the local officials couldn't wake me. Who are you?"

Only then did it sense the copper coin held in the Purple Gold Pestle's monster's mouth. It was quite surprised. "Oh, this is the State Decree of the new dynasty. It's called... something kite?"

"Kite Coin." The gray-robed man tapped the monster's head, and the green copper coin fell into his palm. Had an idle passerby been watching, they would have seen that it was slightly larger than an ordinary coin, with a hole at the top so it could be threaded onto a cord.