After the Zhaoying Sword Sect disciples had rested for several hours, He Yuntao resumed his efforts to unravel the formations and find a path forward.
The group went around and around, seemingly walking the same few mountain trails more than a dozen times. Wherever they looked, there were only mountains, rocks, and a few flowering trees. The mist grew thick and thin by turns, making the distant village seem to draw closer and recede again.
After an unknown length of time, Tang Wenxian complained, “Eldest Senior Brother, can you actually do this? You’ve spent ages walking through the formation. Can you break it or not?”
There was a faint sheen of sweat on He Yuntao’s forehead, and his expression was grave. “This formation has never been recorded anywhere. All I can do is follow the principles I know. Fortunately it has existed for many years and is no longer the complete great formation it once was. Its structure has suffered damage, allowing me to find gaps through which we might survive.”
Tang Wenxian shouted, “You mean a broken-down remnant of a formation is enough to defeat you?!”
“Fool!” At last He Yuntao lost his patience and turned to rebuke him. “What do you think a formation is? This one was constructed in harmony with Heaven and Earth’s natural terrain, without a single external object or supporting incantation. Do you understand the level of skill that requires? Locking clouds and mist in place, fixing mountains and rocks, arranging flowers and grasses, so that all things born of nature are connected! If the formation were still whole and could change along with the land itself, even the Jiufang Clan, the greatest experts in formations, might not be able to escape!”
Tang Wenxian was momentarily speechless.
Qian Xuelang, however, was puzzled. “If the formation changes with the natural world, why has it suffered damage?”
He Yuntao had not expected him to show such curiosity. After a moment’s surprise, he explained, “No matter how skilled the person who arranged it might have been, they were still mortal, born of flesh and blood. The kind of formation you describe, Senior, could probably be constructed only by Heaven itself.”
Before Qian Xuelang could respond, Tang Wenxian snorted. “Then why did you go on about all things in nature being connected? What a lot of empty boasting! I thought it was something genuinely extraordinary.”
“However boundless the human mind, our lifespans are limited and cannot contend with Heaven’s eternity. When I say all things in nature are connected, I mean the master who created the formation used the world as it existed at that time. People often invoke seas drying up and rocks crumbling to express an unchanging heart. Yet as ages pass, even seas dry up and mountains erode. Isn’t the purpose of cultivating immortality precisely to transcend that limitation?”
The younger disciple from earlier suddenly exclaimed in understanding, “I’ve got it, Eldest Senior Brother! You mean then was then and now is now, right?”
Another disciple laughed and scolded him. “I understood it before, but now that you’ve explained it, you’ve confused me again!”
He Yuntao smiled faintly and patiently instructed his junior brothers. “This formation is extremely ancient. Who knows how many ages it has endured? It may have stood for a hundred years, or a thousand. Plants growing and dying in that time would be ordinary enough, but mountains collapsing and the terrain itself changing cannot easily be predicted. What I’m doing now can hardly even be called breaking the formation. I’m barely finding the surviving openings in its damaged structure.”
“Eldest Senior Brother, aren’t you being too modest? Was the person who made it really that capable?” one disciple exclaimed, clicking his tongue. “Who knows how long ago he died? Are we living people really inferior to the ancients?”
He Yuntao shook his head. “Arrogance! Everything you and I study today is built upon the experience of those who came before us. How dare you speak so recklessly? The methods used here have long been lost. I’ve never encountered them in books and can only follow general principles to puzzle out a few clues. I certainly could not reconstruct the formation. Formations change in countless ways. They must never be treated lightly. If you approach them with such contempt, even a path to life can become a road to death.”
The disciples answered, “We’ll remember Eldest Senior Brother’s teachings.”
Watching from the side, Qian Xuelang felt that He Yuntao and Ren Yijue would certainly have plenty to talk about. No wonder He Yuntao had looked so delighted when Ren Yijue was mentioned.
His master had once said that human bonds might last a long time or a fleeting moment. Some people met and wished they had known each other sooner; others spent a lifetime together and remained strangers. Some grew resentful after gaining what they wanted, while others turned bitter hatred into obsessive love.
The seven emotions and six desires of the human heart could never be explained in a few words.
Ren Yijue had never mentioned He Yuntao. Qian Xuelang wondered what Ren Yijue himself thought about him.
After many days apart from Ren Yijue, Qian Xuelang suddenly realized how little he knew about Ren Yijue. There were so many things in Ren Yijue’s life about which Qian Xuelang knew absolutely nothing. He had no answers at all.
The group continued for nearly another half hour. As the mist grew thicker, He Yuntao suddenly stopped. “Everyone, hold on to the person beside you. Don’t become separated. Let’s sit and rest here for now.”
The disciples obeyed and were about to sit cross-legged on the ground.
“What is it?” Qian Xuelang asked. “Are you unwell?”
He Yuntao shook his head. “The mountain holds the clouds and mist in place. With the fog this dense, I cannot distinguish our direction. We can only wait for the weather to change and the fog to disperse before searching for a way through. This formation was created using Heaven and Earth’s natural forces, and precisely for that reason it can be undone only by those same forces.”
Qian Xuelang gave a soft “Oh.” “So you’re saying the mist is too thick for you to see where you’re going?”
“Y-yes,” He Yuntao answered, puzzled by the question.
“That is simple enough,” Qian Xuelang said.
Simple? How could it possibly be simple?
No one understood what he meant. Qian Xuelang suddenly vanished into the mist. Tang Wenxian said deliberately, “Perhaps this senior thinks Eldest Senior Brother is far too slow and has gone on ahead by himself.”
He had barely finished speaking when a rushing wind rose from nowhere. The clouds obscuring the moon scattered, and the fog concealing the night was torn apart. Dust flew everywhere, trees shook, and flowers collapsed, leaving the ground strewn with their fallen petals.
The wind struck so abruptly that the disciples had to hold hands tightly to remain standing. Those at the edges thrust their swords into the ground to anchor themselves. Nobody dared speak for fear of swallowing a mouthful of sand and grit.
When the wind passed, they looked up and saw a white figure descending from the sky. It was the ghostlike senior. His skin appeared even paler, his eyes darker, and the little color that had been in his cheeks was gone. He looked colder than ever, utterly unapproachable.
“How is that?” Qian Xuelang asked. “Can you see clearly now?”
Only then did the disciples realize that Qian Xuelang had cast the wind spell. All were horrified. Spells of the five elements were utterly commonplace among immortal-sect disciples; almost everyone could perform one, and summoning a refreshing breeze on a summer day was easy enough. But to stir the forces of Heaven and Earth and sweep away mountain fog was beyond any of them.
Even He Yuntao was speechless. After a long pause he managed, “I can see clearly.”
At least one matter was now certain: the unexpected senior in white was not an illusion conjured by their minds. No illusion could possess such power.
With visibility restored, they advanced much faster. The disciples had been reluctant to speak casually before, and now they were as silent as cicadas in winter. It was He Yuntao who suffered, having to spend his energy unraveling formations while still injured.
Fortunately He Yuntao soon seemed to recognize a particular place. He smiled delightedly. “This is it.”
He ordered several disciples to part the flowering bushes. Behind the trees to the southeast, a dark cave opening appeared, leading who knew where. He Yuntao was so excited that his blood surged and an unhealthy flush colored his face. Smiling, he repeated, “This is the place.”
Qian Xuelang did not understand. “What do you mean?”
“Cough…” He Yuntao covered his mouth as he coughed. “The village must only be an illusion. This formation has become a dead formation: outsiders who don’t know its secrets cannot break it. This is the true entrance.”
Qian Xuelang frowned slightly. “How do you know?”
Looking apologetic, He Yuntao explained, “When I separated from my junior brothers that day, it was because I wanted to rescue a child being attacked by a leopard monster. His clothing was very strange, and he knew nothing of the outside world. Everything he saw fascinated him. After I drove away the leopard monster, I accompanied him for half a day. At dusk he suddenly realized how late it had grown and begged me to bring him here. I escorted him to this spot and then tried to return, but lost my way in the Misty Mountains. It took considerable effort to get out.”
Tang Wenxian immediately interrupted. “He was the one who failed to rejoin us in time. We didn’t deliberately abandon him.”
“And then?” Qian Xuelang asked.
He Yuntao continued. “Just after I left the Misty Mountains, a demonkin began hunting me down. It was very strange. I’d never met this demon before and had no grudge against him. No matter what I asked, he wouldn’t say a word. After thinking it over, I suspected it had something to do with that child. I’ve been worried about him, so I wanted to return and investigate.”
A child with no understanding of the outside world. A demonkin prepared to kill someone who had done him no wrong. The White Stone Village Hua Hanyan spoke of. And… this strange formation…
Qian Xuelang considered it. “When you first brought the child into the mountains, didn’t you notice anything wrong?”
“No,” He Yuntao answered. “When I climbed the mountain with the child, the Misty Mountains seemed perfectly ordinary. The path was clear and straight, and there seemed to be no illusory barriers or formations at all.”
Qian Xuelang asked slowly, “Have you ever heard of anything like this happening?”
He Yuntao was about to shake his head when he froze. “No… wait, yes. I’ve seen a description of such a thing in an ancient text…”
He had long suspected something, but had never considered this possibility.
Ning Zhou, the older disciple who had recognized Qian Xuelang, asked curiously, “Something like this? Eldest Senior Brother, what do you mean?”
He Yuntao went so pale that for a moment it was hard to say whether he or Qian Xuelang was whiter. “This formation was designed to keep out those of another race. Its own people would naturally be unaffected.”
The younger disciple asked timidly, “Wh-what does that mean?”
“The child was a demon,” Qian Xuelang answered calmly. “That is why the Misty Mountains’ formation did not affect him at all. He Yuntao knows the entrance to this place, so the demonkin came to kill him and silence him.”
The disciples were shocked. Tang Wenxian even leaped backward. “Y-you mean that cave leads to a village of demons?”
Qian Xuelang did not answer. He entered the cave alone, leaving the Zhaoying Sword Sect disciples outside arguing about whether to follow or retreat, enter or remain.
The enormous cave appeared to have been excavated by human hands and was utterly dark. Qian Xuelang summoned a flame into his palm and looked about. The passage was long, and at the end stood a stone door that was not especially thick, though something about it seemed odd.
Only after examining it repeatedly did Qian Xuelang notice that a hole had once existed at the bottom of the door and been sealed up again, leaving a patch of differently colored stone. The opening had not been large. It would have accommodated a small cat or dog, or perhaps a very small child.
Presumably the child He Yuntao had encountered had escaped through that very opening.
After considering this for a moment, Qian Xuelang pushed the stone door open.