Seventy-Two Peaks

Across the vast lake, "black dots" lay scattered here and there. As the little boat parted the ripples and drew nearer, some proved to be sandbars, others mountain peaks whose exposed portions formed islands.

The smallest were only a few dozen paces across, without a trace of human habitation.

The largest, West Dongting Mountain Island, stretched more than ten li in either direction, covered in tea plantations and mulberry groves. It belonged to Mantuo Manor.

"We're almost at White Sand Island..."

Fu Rong stood at the bow, the wind pressing her long skirt close, faintly outlining two rounded, peach-shaped curves. She signaled Guo Xiaosi, who was sculling at the stern, to first bring the black-canopied boat alongside a sandbar ahead.

Li Yu sat cross-legged in the low cabin of the black-canopied boat, regulating his breathing and examining his dantian inwardly.

A shallow layer of white light flowed slowly, much like the waters of Lake Tai.

As the Wine Worm gradually revived, he could now maintain the level of a near-third-rate expert even without drinking. Moreover, this portion of pure white internal power it fed back to him was more refined than the impure gray currents of before.

The white light represented the amount of internal power he possessed.

For now, the water in this bowl was still very shallow.

But he had a feeling that once the Wine Worm awakened and he fed it fine wines and aged brews, he could hope to increase his internal power dramatically in a short time-third-rate, second-rate, first-rate, even an innate grandmaster...

"The winds and rains of the martial world are rising. Time waits for no one!"

Li Yu opened his eyes, excitement stirring within him. He picked up the yellow-skinned gourd standing before him and stooped to leave the low cabin. The lake was vast, and a person's heart and horizons broadened with it. This was the benefit of living by the water.

"Gang Leader, that's White Sand Island's main peak."

It was the shen hour in the afternoon. The golden sun slanted westward, but its light still blazed.

A fan-shaped peak appeared on the lake, with a crescent-shaped bay to its east, crowded with fishing boats. Onshore, ramshackle huts built from rough timber and reeds clustered beneath Black Stone Peak like a festering sore.

"The island is the peak, and the peak is the island. With such shallow foundations, they can't even anchor the corners of a decent house. Are all the Seventy-Two Peaks of Lake Tai like this?"

Fu Rong shook her head. "The large islands occupied by Mantuo Manor and the Murong Family have fertile soil. Compared with this place, they're as different as heaven and earth. After generations of development, they've enclosed great stretches of the lake to make good farmland, with elite household retainers and crowds of tenant farmers."

Lin Yu gently waved his folding fan.

Sure enough, no matter the age or world, the good things were all occupied by powerful clans and great families.

Given enough time, it became something that had been so since ancient times, something taken for granted.

What did Gusu's prosperity and Jiangnan's splendor have to do with the impoverished islanders of the Seventy-Two Peaks?

Moreover, at some unknown point, the authorities around Lake Tai, the martial-world factions, and even ordinary merchants had all developed a tacit understanding: buy their catches cheaply, sell them necessities at high prices, and forbid the islanders from settling ashore, leaving them to live on the lake for generation after generation. They were exploited like this, day after day, year after year, like an outcast class...

When the black-canopied boat parted the lake's ripples and entered White Sand Bay, Lin Mang was eating supper with his family.

Outside the hut stood a low wooden table.

A gaunt woman brought out two boiled fish, a dish of wild greens, and a small serving of thin gruel. There was a fair variety, but so little oil and salt that even the monks of Cold Mountain Temple would have found it bland. Yet this was the most comfortably situated household on White Sand Island.

She lowered her head and said, "Granny Wu can't see. Every day, she stands at Vulture Head Shoal waiting until midnight..."

"I know."

"Can't you help look?"

"I know!" Lin Mang said heavily.

Holding her bowl, the woman raised her head and sighed. She too knew there was little hope.

The island's remnant population was not entered in the household registers. The authorities concerned themselves with neither their lives nor their deaths. Disease, capsized boats, water bandits, passing brigands-any of them could easily take their children's lives.

Separation from one's own flesh and blood was something that happened often.

"His parents died at the hands of water bandits long ago. That child was sensible, and he and Granny depended on each other. He was almost grown, and now who knows what godforsaken wretch has harmed him. If he was abducted, at least he'd still be alive. But poor Granny Wu..."

Unlike the woman's tenderhearted sorrow, Lin Mang remained quiet and impassive. He put down his chopsticks, his gaze happening to turn east. At dusk, a black-canopied boat glided into the bay and moored at the wharf. Two figures stepped onto the beach.

"Please forgive us for coming uninvited."

Lin Mang showed no surprise at seeing them. He rose to greet them and cupped his fists. "All who come are guests, especially honored guests such as Gang Leader Li and Miss Fu. Your presence brings luster to White Sand Island's humble dwellings."

The thin woman wore simple clothes, but her manner was composed. She poured two bowls of cool tea and bowed apologetically. "Our coarse tea and plain fare are unfit for guests. Please forgive us."

Li Yu cupped his hands. "You're too kind, sister-in-law. I've long heard that White Sand Island's Water Salamander is a man whose righteousness towers to the clouds, who stands up for the people. Every friend on Lake Tai respects him. Truly the foremost hero of the Seventy-Two Peaks. Meeting you today, I see your reputation is well deserved."

Lin Mang shook his head. "How could I deserve such a great reputation? I'm merely a man of the wild hills and waters, passing ordinary days on coarse tea and plain fare."

Li Yu asked with a smile, "Who was born to eat coarse tea and plain fare, and who was born to feast on delicacies from the mountains and seas?"

"Sit."

Lin Mang did not answer. He had his wife clear away the bowls and dishes, and the three sat at the wooden table. Golden clouds rose along the horizon, and the lake breeze was refreshing. This spot was high enough to overlook the cluster of huts down the slope.

"Gang Leader Li, this is our second meeting. That day at Black Sand Wharf, I saw your bearing as a swordsman from afar, but had no chance to pay my respects in person. Now that you've come to my door, what guidance might you have for me?"

Li Yu looked at him and said directly, "Two days from now, Brother Lin, would you care for the Black Flood Dragon Gang's delicacies from the mountains and seas?"

Lin Mang smiled and shook his head. "For over a hundred years, no matter who held a banquet beside Lake Tai, the Seventy-Two Peaks haven't had even the leftovers. We won't join the festivities only to throw our lives away."

Lin Mang said evenly, "Why should I trust you?"

Waving his folding fan, Li Yu chuckled. "It's not me you should trust. It's yourself."

"Myself?"

"I once heard a saying."

"What saying?"

Li Yu turned his gaze toward him and said slowly, "If you aren't a guest at the feast, you'll be a dish on the chopping board."

Lin Mang's expression shifted slightly. He lowered his head without speaking.

Fu Rong reacted at first, then turned the words over for a long while before understanding their meaning, and could not help nodding. Hiding in its secret base, the Fish-Dragon Gang might enjoy a brief respite, but it was also putting itself in the position of fish on a chopping board.

A long while passed.

Lin Mang suddenly asked, "Gang Leader Li, do you know the origins of the Seventy-Two Peaks of Lake Tai?"

Li Yu closed his folding fan and cupped his hands. "Please enlighten me!"

"Come with me."

Lin Mang rose and headed up Black Stone Peak. The mountain path was steep, some sections almost as though hewn by blades and axes, vertical as walls. Using both hands and feet, his head swaying and his rear swinging, he easily scaled rock faces two or three zhang high.

"Excellent lightness skill!"

Fu Rong lacked the strength to keep up. Halfway up, she could only stop and wait where she was.

The northwest had many lofty mountains and sheer cliffs, and First Rank Hall often chose treacherous environments to train its spies. Climbing mountains and entering the water were routine, and with internal power to aid him, they became easier still. Li Yu had already opened his hand shaoyin lung meridian. Channeling force into both palms and breathing deeply, he gripped the cracks in the rock like iron claws, leaping and climbing upward.

When the two reached the summit, the last sun on the horizon was about to sink. A lone wild duck flew alongside the glowing clouds, and an old temple stood before their eyes.

"This is the origin of the Seventy-Two Peaks of Lake Tai..."

Its bricks, tiles, beams, and pillars were all built of black stone, as though it had always been one with this rocky peak. Countless bouts of wind and frost had left the marks of years upon it.

The dragon god statue on the earthen platform was powerfully built and wore a half-suit of armor, its right palm resting on a sword, its exposed left arm tattooed with a tiger. The god gazed north with a majestic countenance. After a hundred years of vicissitudes, traces of its former splendor could still be seen.

"At the founding of the dynasty, Emperor Taizu campaigned in Jiangnan and used a stratagem of sowing discord to make the Last Ruler poison the great general Lin Renzhao. His soldiers bore a grudge and refused to lay down their armor and submit to Song. They drifted upon Lake Tai, and thus came these Seventy-Two Peaks."

Speaking of the past was a way to speak of the present.

Li Yu understood this principle. Looking at the three characters carved in stone on the temple, he smiled. "Dragon God Temple, Fish-Dragon Gang-we both have 'dragon' in our names. Quite a fated connection!"

But Lin Mang said, "They're only names. A connection through a single word, 'dragon,' is still far from enough to command the Seventy-Two Peaks!"

Li Yu fell silent for a long while. Just before the final streak of sunset vanished from the horizon, he nodded gently.

"That connection is a little slight..."