Chapter 10: Seeking Traces in the Mountains and Marshes

Both sides of the coin are embossed with a dancing kite. The copper coin is greenish-blue, so this kite is a Green Kite.

"Yes, this type of State Order is categorized by color." Huyang Mountain Spirit suddenly remembered, "No, this Green Kite coin is not yours!"

The white-robed youth cut him off: "I lent it to Mr. Sha to use."

Huyang Mountain Spirit spoke in a slow and measured way, making the gray-clad person feel two parts impatient: "Since you have already come out, I have something to ask you. Answer quickly, and I will leave quickly."

"Ask away."

A mountain spirit is a mountain god; in some places, they are given a more common and easy-to-understand title: Earth Deity.

In places where spiritual energy is dense and living things are abundant, a mountain spirit will slowly be born. If they receive an investiture from a human emperor, the mountain spirit can grasp and wield primordial power, thereby managing the local land and water.

If the empire disappears or the investiture expires, the mountain spirit's primordial power will diminish accordingly, eventually returning to a wild state.

Although Huyang Mountain Spirit once received an investiture from the Kite Kingdom, it did not even have a mountain god temple. The main reason was that it spent years sleeping soundly, ignoring the miscellaneous affairs of its territory. The local living things had requests that went unanswered, and as time passed, they ignored it.

But it had to respond to the summons of the gray-clad person before it.

Huyang Mountain Spirit still had some morning grumpiness, but reason told it that the person before it could not be easily offended.

"Forty or fifty days ago, a sand leopard ran here. I want you to find its whereabouts." The gray-clad person said quite bluntly, "That thing only nests in the Western Mountains; it should be rare here."

"A sand leopard? Hmm—" Huyang Mountain Spirit dragged out its tone, "Let me look."

The two waited quietly for over a quarter of an hour.

Suddenly, a small deer emerged from the grass. It was not afraid of people and even shook its head in front of the two.

Huyang Mountain Spirit said: "Follow it."

The deer turned and bolted, and the two took off running after it.

After crossing two mountain peaks, the small deer headed toward a cliff and finally stopped at the edge of a steep, large rock.

"The sand leopard came here?" The white-robed youth squatted down and found a few dark, dirty spots on the stone.

"Bloodstains, but it's been a long time."

The small deer poked its head straight out over the large rock.

"It jumped down?"

The small deer nodded.

Strange. A severely wounded sand leopard had fled all the way here, so why would it jump off a cliff to seek death? The two exchanged a glance, then followed the side of the mountain rocks all the way down, climbing to the bottom of the ravine.

The earth energy here was damp and cold, much cooler than on the mountain, so the vegetation was also denser. The two searched for quite a while at the bottom of the ravine but did not see the leopard's carcass.

The white-robed youth looked up at the cliff: "It was already severely wounded, and falling from such a high cliff, it couldn't possibly still be alive." There were no large trees under the cliff, so it was impossible for leaves or vines to have cushioned the sand leopard. "Huyang Mountain Spirit, is it still in the mountain?"

"If you want to find its whereabouts, I will point them out to you." A tree beside the two spoke again; this time it was a beech tree, "It is not in the mountain."

A mountain breeze blew past, whipping up a small tornado on the ground. As the branches, leaves, and dirt swirled, they actually swirled into a shape.

The shape molded by the wind from the mud and leaves, besides a leopard, also included a creature with four limbs! The white-robed youth looked for a moment, very surprised: "Falling from the cliff, besides the sand leopard, there was also a... person?"

These two things lay on the ground, motionless.

"Perished together?" The white-robed youth frowned, "Then where did the bodies go?"

Soon, two more tornadoes whipped up, molding new shapes in the wind.

"Two people came and were... killed?" The white-robed youth's expression changed, "Good, good, no wonder my two subordinates didn't return, so that's how it was!"

"Another group of people came, picked up these two corpses... separately, and took them away?"

The white-robed youth tried to identify them carefully, but unfortunately, the shape molded by mud and leaves could best be described as "gray-headed and dirt-faced." In any case, it was just a blur, barely forming a human shape, but one could forget about seeing their faces clearly.

"Who are these people, and where did they come from?"

He asked twice before the beech tree replied in a muffled voice: "I don't know. Too much time has passed, all traces have faded; only the wind spirits still remember this much."

The gray-clad person was not discouraged and took over the conversation: "At least you know which direction they headed after leaving Mount Hulu?"

The beech tree joined two of its branches together and pointed in one direction.

It was exactly where they had come from—

"Black Water City?" A sharp light flashed in the white-robed youth's eyes, "I knew it, most of the missing guards from the Eastern Prefecture have found a lead."

But even though they had tracked it to here, they had only found a vague direction. Black Water City was not large, but it was not small either.

"Went to Black Water City? Then that's easy to handle." The gray-clad person smiled, "The most direct method is often the most effective."

The mountain forest was quiet, and Huyang Mountain Spirit had left.

The two walked more than a hundred paces toward Black Water City. The gray-clad person paused slightly and suddenly raised his hand to strike out a beam of white light.

A sharp cry came from the forest ten zhang away, followed by the flapping sound of wings.

The two followed the sound and discovered that bloodstains had only just appeared under a large tree.

The blood spots on the ground were not obvious, but fortunately, the white-robed youth was skilled in tracking. The two walked another fifteen or sixteen zhang, and a harrier lay on the ground. It was larger than an ordinary eagle, and its wings and abdomen had been pierced through.

The blood flowing from the wound had already turned dark green.

"Ever since I left Black Water City, I've felt like I was being watched. So it was a little demon." The white-robed youth stepped forward, his toe pressing against the harrier's neck, "Who sent you?"

The harrier opened its beak and panted incessantly.

"Speak." The white-robed youth increased the pressure, "Otherwise, the poison will enter your heart, and you will surely die within a quarter of an hour!"

The harrier cried out in pain and finally spoke: "I'll tell the truth, can you spare me?"

"Of course." The white-robed youth smiled, "How could a swan concern itself with a swallow?"

The harrier immediately said: "I am just a mercenary. I was resting with my eyes closed at the Red Mountain Tavern just now when someone suddenly came in to find me, telling me to track your actions and report back."

"What is that person's background?"

"I don't know. I just take the money and do the job!"

The gray-clad person suddenly said: "Don't listen to its nonsense. This is a domestic demon!"

A domestic demon, of course, had a master.

The white-robed youth's gaze became sharp, and he stepped down, saying no more:

"Speak!"

￥￥￥￥￥

The next morning, the He family was still eating when a servant hurried in to report:

"Two guests have arrived, claiming to be from under the command of the Northern Expedition General of Xunzhou!"

He Lingchuan's heart skipped a beat, and he looked at his father. He Chunhua was also slightly startled, his expression tightening: "Invite them to the Suhong Hall and serve tea."

Suhong Hall was the place where the master of the He residence received guests, suitable for small gatherings of two or three.

He stood up and gestured to He Lingchuan: "Lingchuan, come with me."

He Yue and Lady Ying were both a bit surprised.

The Master was meeting guests from Xunzhou; why bring the eldest son? The most convenient power of a head of the household was that he did not need to explain his actions. He Chunhua did not say much more and took the butler and He Lingchuan toward the front hall.

(End of chapter)