Li Mutian awoke during the hour of Yin, staring with open eyes at the crumbling roof of his home, the darkness pierced by faint glimmers of brilliance.
A few days ago, a small hole had formed in the roof, which Li Mutian had no time to mend. He hadn't slept well for three nights, and looking at his deeply asleep wife beside him, he heaved a deep sigh.
"Women don't understand severity. Just a few days ago, those Immortals were acting like madmen, flying back and forth in Da Li Mountain as if they were desperate to dig three feet into the ground. It scared everyone to shivers, and with each passing flash of light, they knelt down and knocked their foreheads on the ground..."
Li Mutian's brow was deeply furrowed, his heart filled with worry. The small villages at the foot of Da Li Mountain had always been free from care, but these days they lived in constant fear, each person feeling insecure.
"The mountain paths are narrow and beyond the reach of the Imperial Court, which we care little for. But when the Immortals fight, a single Immortal Law could obliterate Lijing Village, not leaving a single dog alive."
Li Mutian turned over and could no longer sleep, so he got up and looked out at the dense night outside the window.
"The boy is growing up day by day, eating more and more with each meal. Tomorrow I'll send him to Meichi River to catch some fish and crabs."
"If we're struck dead by Immortal Law, it's fate. The Li Family has tilled these wastelands for over two hundred years; neither mother can leave nor father move." Li Mutian shook his head with lowered brows and stepped out the door with his hands behind his back.
The big yellow dog outside was still sound asleep, munching in its dreams. Li Mutian walked leisurely through the morning mist, looking at Lijing Village as it woke from sleep, hearing the sounds of chickens clucking and dogs barking, with the smoke from cooking fires curling into the air.
"Xiangping, hey—" Li Mutian called out, hoisting his voice toward the house. There was a clattering sound inside, and when the door opened, a lad all askew came rushing out.
"Father!" Li Xiangping had a fairly delicate face, with sly eyes looking up at Li Mutian. "What's the job for today?"
"Go to Meichi River and catch some fish and crabs," Li Mutian motioned with his hand. "There's not much work today, go fetch some fresh treats for your mother."
"Yay!"
Li Xiangping nodded excitedly, grabbed his rope basket and long fork, and slipped away in a breath.
Li Mutian laughed heartily and headed for the fields.
————
Meichi River was both shallow and wide, with vast stretches of mudflats and reeds along the banks where the village's dozens of geese and ducks were raised. They needed no feeding; released in the early morning, they all headed for the river.
Come evening, a single call by the river would bring them back home. These domesticated geese and ducks, acquainted with the routine, would drudgingly follow the familiar voice back.
When Li Xiangping arrived, the geese and ducks had not yet been released, leaving Meichi River spacious and empty. Two small rafts bobbed near the shore. Rolling up his trousers and sleeves, he knelt down into the mud, probing blindly with his hands out in front of him. Peering intently into the water, he spied a flash of green.
"Nice fish."
Li Xiangping pressed down hard, held his breath, and made a dive. He tightened his right hand and already had the green-tailed fish yanked up to the surface.
"Hehe."
Li Xiangping laughed a few times and threw the fish into his basket. The fish in Meichi River weren't usually this foolish; this green-tailed one must have been a wild fish that strayed downstream—a stroke of luck for the boy.
Noticing his own feet, Li Xiangping showed a hint of doubt in his expression. There seemed to be an unusually smooth spot at the bottom of the river, vaguely emitting a silver light.
Just as he was about to take another breath and dive down to investigate, a loud call came from the shore:
"Brother Xiangping!"
Li Xiangping instinctively hid his basket behind him and looked toward the shore, only to see a lad of about a dozen years old emerging from the reeds.
"Little Brother Yesheng, came to release the ducks, huh…"
Li Xiangping breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the basket forward, "Take a look at this green-tailed one, caught with bare hands."
"What a fine fish!" Li Yesheng looked down at the basket and smiled enviously.
Li Yesheng's father had been bedridden for many years, and his elder brother was a loafer, often leaving them without a meal after another. On normal days, he had no choice but to go to his uncle Li Mutian's house for food. His cousin, Li Xiangping, always treated him like a younger brother.
After a brief chat, Li Yesheng shook his head and said, "Alright, brother, I'm going back to check on the ducks. If any are missing, my brother will beat me to death."
"Off you go."
Li Xiangping was also eager to examine the object at the bottom of the river and hastily shooed him away.
"Alright then!"
No sooner had he left than Li Xiangping took a deep breath, plunged into the water with a dive, and reached the bottom of the river. He searched thoroughly and indeed felt around until he found a round object.
"Pfft..."
Li Xiangping wiped his face and looked at the object in his hand.
It was roughly the size of a palm, with a center made of a blue-grey circular plate rimmed by what seemed like a dark iron edge. It did not seem particularly unusual.
The front was broken into seven or eight pieces, held together by the edges without falling apart, but the back had a rather strange symbol drawn on it. Li Xiangping looked at it for a long time but couldn't make out what it resembled.
"It does remind me a bit of Aunt's mirror." Li Xiangping's aunt had the largest field at the entrance to the village, and she was the only one who could afford a mirror. Typically, village girls would just use water to see their reflection. When Aunt got that mirror, Mother even took Li Xiangping to see it; indeed, it was more convenient than water.
But the mirror in his hand was too blurry; shrouded in fog, he could see nothing through it. Li Xiangping shook his head in disappointment, tossed the object back into the basket, and turned to continue fishing.
————
Lu Jiangxian had already stayed underwater for half a month. Starting from the third day, the aroma of the Power of Moonlight ceased to grow and had not increased after another week of hard work. He could do nothing but emit light.
Early in the morning, as he was staring blankly at the big green fish nearby, a large hand pressed the fish into the mud. The surrounding area shook, and a hand holding the fish's gills took away the green fish.
Lu Jiangxian was still in the complicated emotions of seeing a human being for the first time when he saw a large hand scoop up his physical body.
Facing a rather handsome face, Lu Jiangxian felt a bit nervous for a moment, then saw the other person chattering away before casually tossing him into the basket, staring eye to eye with the green-tailed fish.
In an instant, Lu Jiangxian realized a serious problem; he could hear, but he might not understand.
The accent of this land sounded a bit like the dialects from the Fujian-Zhejiang area in his previous life. He definitely couldn't understand it, meaning that even if he could speak, the others would not be able to understand him either. This would greatly hinder his integration into this world.
Watching the fish being thrown into the basket one by one, Lu Jiangxian concentrated his qi and calmed his mind to probe the surroundings.
Observing the boy carefully lifting a wooden fork, Lu Jiangxian let out a soft "huh." From this perspective, he could vaguely sense the boy's mental activity; his attention seemed to be focused on a particular fish at the bottom of the river.
With the aid of the exploratory perspective, the boy would mutter to himself each time he caught a fish. Before long, Lu Jiangxian had learned the specific pronunciations of the numbers three to six and various species of fish.
"Take it one step at a time."
Watching the boy get up and leave, Lu Jiangxian sighed. The boy looked like a farmer's child and would likely first hand over an object that appeared to be of bronze material to his parents.
Interact more with people to see if he could gradually learn the dialect of this land, and, while keeping himself safe, find a way to enhance the Power of Moonlight.