Eight Years Old
Ning Buhui nearly forgot his own eighth birthday.
That day, as usual, he cultivated on the third floor until dawn. By the time he emerged from the tower, it was already broad daylight. He pushed the door open and stepped outside, and a gust of cold wind made him shiver. Winter had come to Spirit City. The old locust tree in the courtyard had shed all its leaves, its bare branches jutting into the gray-white sky. He rubbed his hands as he walked to the dining hall, still considering which spiritual plants' uses he would look up in the library that day.
As soon as he reached the dining hall entrance, he saw Hu Liena waiting for him on the steps. She was wrapped in a thick cloak, the tip of her nose slightly red from the cold, and held an oilpaper package in her hand.
"Little junior brother." She tipped her chin at him. "Come here."
Ning Buhui walked over. Hu Liena shoved the oilpaper package into his hands. It was warm to the touch, and when he opened it, he found osmanthus cakes from the hardest pastry shop to buy from on the east side of the city. Anyone who wanted to buy pastries there had to get up early and stand in line.
"Eight years old," Hu Liena said. "You're another year older. Don't get so caught up in cultivation that you forget your own birthday."
Ning Buhui held the osmanthus cakes and stared for a moment. He really had forgotten. Last month, he had still been counting the days, thinking about Xie Yue's Fourth Soul Ring and the uses of the Immortal Herbs on the third floor. Somewhere along the way, he had forgotten his own birthday.
"Good thing you remembered, senior sister. I really did forget," he asked.
"I knew you paid no attention to anything else once you started cultivating." Hu Liena waved a hand and turned toward the dining hall. "Don't just stand there. Come in and have breakfast. Yan and Xie Yue have been here for a while."
As soon as he entered the dining hall, a wave of warmth greeted him. Yan and Xie Yue were sitting at a table in the corner. A stack of empty bowls stood in front of Yan; he appeared to have already finished eating. Xie Yue had only had a bowl of porridge, and a small dish of vegetables sat unfinished on the table. When Ning Buhui came in, Yan raised a hand and called out, "Little junior brother, over here!"
Ning Buhui joined them and gave Yan half the osmanthus cakes. Yan didn't stand on ceremony. He took a big bite and said indistinctly, "Eight years old already. Time really flies. When I was eight, I was still getting into fights at Spirit Hall, and look at you-you're already a level 34 Soul Elder."
"You weren't bad at eight either," Xie Yue said. "You just weren't as monstrous as him."
The four chatted for a while, and the conversation naturally turned to Xie Yue's fourth Soul Ring. Xie Yue had been at level forty for some time, and his Soul Power had long since reached its limit. All he needed was a Soul Ring to break through to Soul Ancestor. Ever since refining the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue, he had been tempering his body, hoping to take a gamble on a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast for his fourth Soul Ring.
"Any ideas?" Ning Buhui asked.
Xie Yue set down his bowl and pondered for a moment. "Teacher gave me a few options, and I looked through some books myself, but they all felt a little lacking."
"Lacking in what way?"
"The Moon Blade has both power attack and agility attack attributes. Up to now, I've followed the path of breaking through a surface with a single strike. For my fourth Soul Skill, I want an ability that can confuse enemies and create openings, preferably one that can work in coordination with me. There are a few Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts on Teacher's list, but their abilities are all power attacks meant to kill in one strike. They don't quite match what I'm looking for."
Ning Buhui picked up a bite of food and chewed slowly. He was going over the original story he had read in his previous life. Xie Yue's fourth Soul Skill was Moon Shadow Clone, which could create several Moon Blade clones to confuse enemies. The clones possessed some attack power. Although the original story had not said what Soul Beast the Soul Skill came from, it needed to match the ten-thousand-year level and have a shadow-clone trait. In that case, the best choice was naturally-
"The Illusory Moon Shadow Wolf," he said.
Xie Yue looked up at him.
"It's silver-gray all over, and its fur takes on a pale white moonlit sheen on moonlit nights. It can naturally split off shadow illusions and is skilled at circling around to launch sneak attacks." Ning Buhui set down his chopsticks. "I came across this Soul Beast in the library. A ten-thousand-year Illusory Moon Shadow Wolf can supposedly create three to five Moon Shadow Clones at once, each with thirty to forty percent of the original's attack power. Its attributes also combine attack, illusion, and agility, making it highly compatible with your Moon Blade."
Xie Yue said nothing, but his eyes visibly brightened. He pressed on, "What about its age?"
"Illusory Moon Shadow Wolves are rare to begin with, and ones over ten thousand years old are even harder to find. But they don't range widely. They're mostly found in Crescent Moon Valley, north of Sunset Forest. The terrain there is unusual: the entrance is narrow, but the valley itself is wide, and on moonlit nights, moonlight shines straight down to the valley floor. Illusory Moon Shadow Wolves like to appear in places like that."
Xie Yue nodded thoughtfully. Yan cut in from beside them. "You know so much."
Ning Buhui said, "I like reading books about this sort of thing. Once you've read enough, you naturally come to know it."
Xie Yue said, "I'll have to look into Crescent Moon Valley first. If there really is a ten-thousand-year Illusory Moon Shadow Wolf there, it would be worth the trip."
"I'll handle the research," Ning Buhui said. "I've gone through those Soul Beast distribution maps in the library so many times I know them well. I'll put together everything on the Illusory Moon Shadow Wolf's habits and patterns of activity, along with Crescent Moon Valley's terrain, and give it to you."
Xie Yue looked at him in silence for a few breaths, then suddenly said, "Buhui, you're eight."
"What is it?"
"At eight, you're much stronger than I was." It was rare for Xie Yue to say something like that. He offered no further explanation, but Ning Buhui understood what he meant: he would remember this favor.
That afternoon, Ning Buhui plunged into his research at the library. He dug out every piece of information he could find on the Illusory Moon Shadow Wolf, then studied the map of Crescent Moon Valley's terrain carefully. The Illusory Moon Shadow Wolf was entirely different from the Mist-Hidden Shadow Wolf. The former lived alone and did not gather in packs, but it was extremely alert and would flee at the slightest stir of wind or grass. The difficulty in hunting it lay in spotting it first. Crescent Moon Valley had plenty of moonlight, and the Illusory Moon Shadow Wolf's silver-gray fur almost blended into the background under it, making the beast extremely difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.
He filled several pages with notes, setting down the Illusory Moon Shadow Wolf's activity patterns, the lay of Crescent Moon Valley, and the best time to hunt it with absolute clarity. On the last page, he drew a rough map and marked the valley entrance, the valley floor, the stream, and the piles of rocks one by one. Then he put his notes away, ready to take them to Xie Yue the next day.
By the time he came out of the library, it was completely dark. The cold wind swept across his face like tiny knives. Ning Buhui pulled his outer robe tight as he headed toward the quiet room. Passing Pope Hall, he saw from a distance that the lights were still on in a side hall. He stood there for a while, then turned back toward his room without disturbing anyone.
He pushed open the door. The room was as cold as an ice cellar. He lit a lamp and started a fire in the brazier, then sat on the edge of the bed and went through the day's notes once more. Xie Yue's original fourth Soul Ring had only been a thousand years old. Now, because of the Whale Rubber Method he had provided, there was hope of a ten-thousand-year one. If it really succeeded, they would become a Golden Generation that would truly be hard for anyone to surpass.
He placed the notes on the table and slipped beneath the covers. Outside the window, the wind whined, making the window paper bulge and sink. He closed his eyes, his mind still on Crescent Moon Valley.
As he thought, he turned over, pulled the covers tight around himself, and slowly fell asleep. Outside, the moon revealed half its face from behind the clouds, spilling a thin light across the window paper like a layer of frost.