Target Found

The paths on Greenwood Mountain wound this way and that. The six of them followed an old trail up from the foot of the mountain, treading on damp, soft layers of rotting leaves that squelched underfoot, their wet odor burrowing into their noses.

The midsummer sun hung right overhead, yet little of its heat penetrated the woods.

The treetops interlocked, vines dangled in tangles, and birds occasionally fluttered before falling silent again. Only the chirping of insects crawled along the grass roots, making their backs prickle.

Wang Yue walked at the front.

He wore a dark blue-black constable's uniform, with a saber hanging at his left hip. His right hand rested on its hilt from time to time. His steps were steady, his footing untroubled even as his boots crossed the rotten leaves.

His three subordinates followed on either side.

The bearded man was called Liu Biao. Broad-shouldered and thick-armed, he carried a short axe. He looked fierce, but his eyes kept darting around.

The thin-faced young man was called Chen Liu. He was still young, with a short saber tucked at his waist and his lips pressed into a thin line.

The other, a silent, burly man named Han Zhu, held an iron fork. He spoke little and made little noise as he walked.

The hunter Yang Dongxi carried a hunting bow on his back, and sweat had already appeared on his forehead.

He knew the mountain trails, but familiarity was one thing. With the words "giant snake" hanging over their heads, none of them could relax.

Yi Yang walked last.

With a firewood basket on his back and a woodcutting blade for a walking stick, his wrinkles pinched into a miserable expression, he looked every inch the unlucky old man dragged up the mountain by constables.

He wheezed every couple of steps, occasionally raising his head to look at the shadows of the trees, his eyes full of an old countryman's timidity.

His act was convincing.

Even he wanted to applaud himself.

A seasoned actor, that was what he was.

In reality, however, Yi Yang's ears had long since sorted out every sound in the woods.

Several yards ahead, someone had stepped on a dry branch and snapped it.

Wang Yue noticed a moment after Yi Yang did.

As they reached a bend halfway up the mountain, he suddenly stopped, narrowed his eyes, and pressed his right hand to his saber's hilt.

"Who's there?"

The moment he spoke, Liu Biao and the others tensed.

The short axe rose.

The iron fork swung across.

Chen Liu stepped half a pace back, his saber already half an inch out of its sheath.

Yang Dongxi even took down his hunting bow and nocked an arrow, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Yi Yang hurriedly stopped too, leaning to one side, his hand trembling around his woodcutting blade.

"Constable Wang, is it the snake?"

He deliberately lowered his voice, sounding old and frightened.

Wang Yue did not look back. He simply stared into the shadows ahead.

"A person."

Liu Biao swore. "Damn you! Hiding in the woods in broad daylight, playing ghost to scare your granddaddy?"

The bushes ahead shook a few times.

A middle-aged man in close-fitting clothes stepped out from behind a tree.

He looked about forty, sturdily built, his skin tanned wheat-brown by the sun. He had prominent brow bones and a straight nose, and wore a short gray outfit with tightly bound cuffs. A saber hung at his waist, and mud clung to his boots.

He did not approach rashly, instead stopping a dozen or so paces away and cupping his fists.

"Please don't misunderstand."

"My name is Li Shun. Several families in Blackwater Village asked me to come into the mountains and deal with that giant snake."

"When I heard footsteps just now, I hid because I thought you might be bandits."

His words were frank, his manner humble.

Seeing that it was a living person rather than the giant snake, Liu Biao and the others relaxed their rigid shoulders a little.

Wang Yue was not entirely convinced.

For those who earned their living at the county office, the greatest danger was not an enemy holding a blade, but an enemy claiming to be a good man.

"Wang Yue, constable of Yunlin County."

He gave his name and title, his hand still resting on his saber's hilt.

"Where are you from?"

Li Shun nodded and explained, "I'm Li Shun, a martial artist from Cloud Pattern Town."

"I spent a few years at a martial arts school in town when I was younger. Later, I made my living guarding goods and escorting shipments. People have died over in Blackwater Village, so several families pooled some silver and asked me to take a look."

At that, he glanced at Wang Yue's waist badge, then at the others.

"Are you here to kill the snake too?"

Wang Yue said, "Under Constable Yang's orders. The snake trouble on Greenwood Mountain can't be allowed to drag on."

Li Shun grinned, showing several white teeth.

"Perfect."

"This thing in the mountains is no ordinary creature. Another man means another blade. Why not go together? If we really run into the snake, we can watch each other's backs."

Wang Yue did not answer immediately.

Liu Biao leaned closer and whispered, "Boss, we don't know where this man really comes from."

Chen Liu lowered his voice too. "If he's a highwayman from these mountains, we'll be in trouble."

Li Shun's hearing was good. He heard them but took no offense, merely spreading his hands.

"It's natural to be suspicious. These days, even if someone offers you a bowl of water by the road, you have to worry they've drugged it."

"But if I really were a robber, I wouldn't come halfway up Greenwood Mountain alone to wait for six armed men. That wouldn't be robbing anyone. It'd be arranging my own funeral feast."

Liu Biao could not help chuckling at that. "Heh, you've got quite a sharp tongue."

Wang Yue studied Li Shun.

The man's blood qi was abundant, his stance steady, and the webs between his thumbs and forefingers were callused.

He was trained, but judging by his bearing, he was probably only at the blood qi first stage too.

Elsewhere, Wang Yue might not have been willing to bring along an unfamiliar martial artist.

But they really were here to kill the snake, and he also had to deal with the old man Yi Yang.

Another man at the blood qi first stage would be useful against the giant snake if he was willing to fight. More people were not necessarily a bad thing.

After thinking it over, Wang Yue finally relented. "All right."

"But let me lay out the ugly words first. Once we're in the mountains, follow my orders. Don't act on your own. If you ruin things, my blade won't recognize friendship."

Li Shun cupped his fists. "Understood. You lead, Constable Wang. I'll follow along for a sip of the broth."

At the rear, Yi Yang kept his eyes lowered, but inwardly took note of Li Shun.

The man had introduced himself as a Rogue Person martial artist from Cloud Pattern Town, yet he had the air of someone seasoned in the martial world.

That was not something an apprentice at a town martial arts school could develop.

The way he held his saber was wrong too.

Too steady.

Far too steady for someone villagers had hired on short notice to kill a snake.

Interesting.

Yi Yang bent his back a little farther, making himself look even older.

Now seven strong, the party continued deeper into the mountains.

The higher they climbed, the harder the trail became.

Vines stretched across their feet, brambles scraped their trouser legs, and slippery stones hid beneath the rotten leaves. An ordinary person who planted a foot wrong would have a swollen ankle for half a month.

At first, Liu Biao could still spare a few idle curses. Later, even he shut his mouth.

The dense woods felt rather quiet, and the quieter it grew, the more people's imaginations ran wild.

Following at the rear, Yi Yang became increasingly certain that this trail was much the same as the route where he had discovered purplewood last winter.

It had been cold that year, with thick layers of dead leaves in the woods and heavy mist on the shaded slopes.

He had found the purplewood near the stretch of sloping ground ahead.

Back then, the drag marks beside the purplewood had been frighteningly wide, and a rank smell had lingered there.

Looking back now, that had not been luck.

He had snatched a mouthful of food from beside a snake's jaws.

If that giant snake had not been hibernating that day, or had not gone far away, there would probably already have been an old woodcutter's bones outside Three Trees Village.

They walked for a little over an hour.

The scent on the breeze ahead changed.

A rank sweetness mingled with the smell of rotten leaves, clinging deep inside their noses and refusing to leave.

Wang Yue raised a hand for everyone to stop.

He crouched and parted the weeds on the ground.

A broad drag mark crossed the wet mud.

The grass had been flattened, and grooves left by scraping scales lined both sides.

Yang Dongxi's face tightened.

"It's the one."

"These tracks are even fresher than the ones from a few days ago."

Liu Biao licked his cracked lips.

"How thick is this thing? Even a great big soup bowl would be too small to describe it."

Li Shun dropped his joking manner. He crouched to examine the marks for a while, then reached out to touch a nearby tree trunk where the bark had been rubbed away.

Slime clung to the damaged bark, gleaming with an unsettling wet sheen in the sunlight.

"Don't get careless."

"This snake is no ordinary mountain quarry anymore."

Wang Yue glanced at him. "What do you see?"

Li Shun wiped the slime off his fingertips, rubbing them in the dirt.

"Snakes are yin by nature. They like damp and cold. Yet with the midsummer sun blazing, this one dares roam halfway up the mountain and eat dogs and people."

"And that rank smell is so strong it's turned sweet. If it keeps growing, it may start approaching the realm of a strange beast."

Liu Biao's face twitched.

"A strange beast? Don't scare us. If it really becomes one, it'll take at least a martial artist at the qi-blood second level to deal with it. What the hell could we do? We might as well go home, wash up, and sleep."

Li Shun shook his head.

"It isn't one yet."

"If it were, your villages would already be losing pigs and cattle. Even the chicken coops wouldn't be safe at night. It's still only eating living creatures in the mountains, which means it hasn't quite reached that point."

"But not having reached that point doesn't mean it'll be easy to kill."

Wang Yue did not argue.

He had noticed something wrong with these tracks too.

But he had already brought everyone here. He could not retreat. If county constables went up the mountain to kill a snake and ran back without even seeing its shadow, where would they put their faces when word got out?

Besides, the other task Constable Yang had assigned him was still unfinished.

Wang Yue lowered his voice.

"Keep your steps light."

"Follow the tracks."

"If you see anything, don't shout. Wait for my command."

Everyone nodded.

A little farther ahead, the woods suddenly opened up.

Beyond the bushes lay a clearing.

Sunlight fell through a gap in the canopy, shining on its center.

Half a broken tree trunk stood there.

It was as thick as a waist, with an uneven break, as though some enormous creature had rammed into it and cracked it apart.

Stranger still, deep purple grain showed through the break.

A giant snake lay coiled beneath the trunk.

Its body was thick, its scales gray-green, with dark markings along its back. It lay in several coils, its head resting on its body and its eyes closed, its forked tongue occasionally flickering out.

The grass around the clearing had yellowed.

Though it was midsummer, the surroundings looked drained of life. Even a few wildflowers had wilted until their heads drooped.

Everyone crouched behind the bushes.

No one spoke.

Even a rough fellow like Liu Biao kept his breathing quiet.

Seeing that the giant snake was resting beneath a tree rather than hiding in a cave, Wang Yue's three subordinates showed greed and urgency in their eyes.

The snake was out in the open.

They were hidden in the shadows.

Wasn't this a heaven-sent opportunity?

Liu Biao tightened his grip on his short axe and reduced his voice to a breathy whisper.

"Boss, shall we hit it hard while it's asleep?"

Chen Liu leaned closer too. "Seven people, three sabers, an axe, a fork, and Hunter Yang's bow. If we wound its eyes first, then strike its vital spot seven inches behind the head, we can do it."

Han Zhu said nothing, merely shifting his grip on the iron fork.

Yi Yang crouched at the very back, his eyelids lowered.

Purplewood.

So this giant snake really was the one that broke it?

Wang Yue studied the huge snake for a moment, then began assigning positions.

"Yang Dongxi, you're our best archer. Wait for my command, then shoot its left eye first."

Yang Dongxi's throat went dry, but he nodded.

"All right."

Wang Yue turned to Liu Biao next.

"You and Han Zhu circle around to the right. Don't get too close. When the snake raises its head, Han Zhu, pin its neck down with your iron fork. Liu Biao, chop at the soft flesh underneath its belly."

Liu Biao grinned.

"Got it. If I miss, I'll eat my axe."

Li Shun chimed in from beside him.

"Don't make such bold promises. Axes aren't easy to digest."

Liu Biao glared at him.

"At a time like this, you're still in the mood to crack jokes?"

Li Shun watched the snake's body, not a trace of playfulness left on his face.

"I'm cracking a couple of jokes so your hands won't shake."

Liu Biao had no comeback.

Wang Yue ignored the two of them.

"Chen Liu, you'll advance with me from the front."

"Li Shun, take the left side. If it turns and lunges at Yang Dongxi, hold it off."

Li Shun nodded.

"Sure."

Wang Yue looked at Yi Yang last. "Old sir, stay right here."

"When the snake starts thrashing, back away. Don't shout or run too fast, or you might startle it."

His words sounded considerate enough toward an old man.

But Yi Yang understood perfectly well that this fellow meant him no good. He must be planning to deal with him.

Yi Yang forced a frightened look onto his face and nodded repeatedly.

"Don't worry, Constable Wang. These old legs are weak. I couldn't run fast even if I tried."

Li Shun turned to glance at Yi Yang. Seeing fear filling every wrinkle on his face, he shifted half a step back and reassured him quietly.

"Don't be afraid, old sir."

"At your age, guiding us all the way here was decent enough of you. If things really get chaotic, back away along that crooked tree. The grass is short there, so you're less likely to fall."

Yi Yang looked up at him with clouded old eyes.

"Thank you, brave warrior Li."

Li Shun waved a hand.

"I'm no brave warrior. Just a poor wretch scraping together a living."

Wang Yue glanced at the two of them and said quietly, "Less talking."

Everyone spread out to their assigned positions.