Heaven and earth were silent. This desolate, remote alley was like the Yellow Springs ghost road leading into the underworld, carrying a coldness that chilled one’s feet. As the hour of Chou reached its end, a person walked out from an extremely inconspicuous side door. His face was hidden beneath disheveled hair, and his tattered clothes were stained with crimson blood.

He was the youth who had made the ferocious Black Silk Panther submit at his feet—Xia Jiuying.

Xia Jiuying was going home.

From this remote alley, Xia Jiuying then turned into another even more secluded alley. He deliberately avoided everyone, moving through the night wind like a lone wolf. But he didn’t know that in a certain corner, two pairs of eyes had already locked onto him.

Xia Jiuying arrived at a village.

There weren’t many households here, scattered sparsely across the barren earth. Running through the village was a small tributary of the Yan River, its water clear and silent.

Near the river stood a small thatched cottage, with a wooden fence surrounding it outside.

Xia Jiuying pushed open the wooden fence gate. At the entrance to the thatched cottage sat a bowl containing cold rice and dishes. Xia Jiuying didn’t touch the food and ducked into the grass hut.

After about half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, an elderly old woman walked over from a village house not far away. Upon seeing the untouched food, she let out a turbid sigh.

“Child, you can’t go on without eating. At least eat something… Jiuying.” The old woman spoke with painstaking earnestness.

The old woman helplessly walked back toward her own village house. Suddenly, two figures emerged behind her.

“Who’s there?”

The two figures were Li Si and Wu Wen, who had followed Xia Jiuying here.

“Old granny, don’t be afraid. We’re not bad people. We want to inquire about the youth in the grass hut,” Wu Wen explained their purpose clearly.

“You… who are you people?” The old woman pursued Li Si’s identity.

“We’re fur merchants traveling across rivers and mountains,” Li Si said. “I’ve taken a liking to the youth in the grass hut and want to hire him as a helper. But when I ask him questions, he doesn’t answer. So I want to find someone familiar with him to inquire about his background, to see if he’ll come with us.”

“Oh.” The old woman nodded. “Kind-hearted people, if you can take Jiuying away, take him quickly. This is a place of trouble for him. He’s suffered too much here.”

“This youth is called Jiuying?”

“That’s right, Xia Jiuying.” The old woman couldn’t help shaking her head. “This inauspicious name has also brought suffering to the child.”

“How so?” Li Si inquired carefully.

“You’re traveling merchants, so you may not be clear about the legends of our Mingling County.” The old woman pointed at the enormous mountain shadow behind her. “This village of ours is called Luohua Village. The mountain to the north is Black Tiger Mountain. Passed down from our ancestors’ elders, this Black Tiger Mountain wasn’t originally called Black Tiger Mountain, but rather Nine Infants Mountain.”

“Nine Infants Mountain,” Li Si repeated.

“Nine Infants is a terrifying evil beast from ancient times. Legend says it was born with nine heads and was a monster that encountered both water and fire… Wherever it appeared, countless disasters would descend—heavenly fire would burn houses, earthly water would devour lives. Later, Nine Infants was shot and killed by Yi at the Celestial River and fell from the Milky Way to the mortal realm. Its corpse transformed year after year, ultimately becoming a great mountain—Nine Infants Mountain.” The old woman told the origin of Nine Infants Mountain.

“The name Nine Infants Mountain likewise brought calamity. Nearby villages were consecutively swallowed by floods, so people changed Nine Infants Mountain to Black Tiger Mountain.” The old woman invited Li Si and Wu Wen into her house.

“Could it be that Xia Jiuying’s suffering is also related to this ancient evil beast?”

“This must be told starting from when Xia Jiuying was born,” the old woman said.

“Fourteen years ago, Xia Jiuying’s parents lived beside this small tributary of the Yan River. Xia Jiuying’s parents were both kind-hearted people. I was widowed young and had no sons or daughters. The couple took careful care of me.” The old woman continued, “After Xia Jiuying was born, the couple Xia Zheng and his wife were overjoyed. But unexpectedly, when Xia Jiuying reached his first month, a great fire suddenly broke out at the Xia family home. Xia Zheng rescued the mother and child from the sea of flames, but he himself… was burned to death.”

“How tragic. Everyone in the village heard Xia Zheng’s agonized cries in the sea of flames. Even now, thinking about it still makes this old woman’s heart tremble with fear.” The old woman said sorrowfully. “After Xia Zheng was burned to death, people began muttering that the child brought misfortune and disaster.

“Then when Xia Jiuying reached his hundred days, floods suddenly swept through the entire village. Dozens of houses were destroyed, and many people perished in the floods.

“The grief-stricken villagers had nowhere to vent their pain, so they directed their fury at Xia Jiuying, saying he was the reincarnation of the Nine Infants evil beast.”

“Xia Jiuying matured earlier than other children. This child is strong. Though he endured endless cold stares from others, when he returned home he would still smile to comfort his grieving mother Lou Shi.” The old woman shook her head. “But misfortune struck again. When Xia Jiuying was six years old, a pack of wild wolves from Black Tiger Mountain raided the village. Lou Shi, to retrieve the old mountain goat that provided milk, chased the wolf pack alone into the mountain ravine. She was surrounded by wild wolves and never returned.”

“Six-year-old Xia Jiuying thus lost both his parents and became an orphan.”

Li Si’s face twitched. “What happened after?”

“After?” The old woman sighed. “After Xia Jiuying lost his parents, the villagers treated him even more as the reincarnation of the Nine Infants evil beast, saying he was a calamitous lone star, and they all avoided him. The pitiful six-year-old child begged for food in the village, yet not a single person was willing to give him anything to eat. I wanted to take in this child, but the village chief brought two people and locked me in the cellar.”

“For the next month, Xia Jiuying nearly starved to death, but in the end he survived.” The old woman’s tears streamed down. “This child survived by fighting wild dogs for food and eating rats… I dare not imagine how a child of only six years old managed to do these things.”

“After I was released, Xia Jiuying changed. He became dull and foolish. He no longer went to beg people for food, only to snatch food from the mouths of wild dogs. Strange to say, those habitually fierce large dogs, upon seeing Xia Jiuying, would immediately drop their food and run, as if afraid of this child.” The old woman spoke in bewilderment.

“No one in the village would take him in. Why didn’t he leave, leave Luohua Village?” Wu Wen asked.

“Alas, this child insisted that his mother wasn’t dead yet. He said he had to wait for his mother to return.” The old woman said. “He longed too much for family, craved too much for a family member’s care.”

“When Xia Jiuying was nine years old, he killed a lone wolf on the hillside. From then on, no one dared curse Xia Jiuying anymore.”

“Killing a wolf at nine years old—remarkable.”

Li Si and Wu Wen left the village house. The old woman saw them off.

“Big Brother Li, he’s over there,” Wu Wen said with sharp eyes, spotting Xia Jiuying.

Like a stone, Xia Jiuying crouched motionless by the river, gazing at wildflowers in the grass.

“For many days now, no matter how late this child returns, he squats there for a long time. I don’t know why,” the old woman said.

Xia Jiuying didn’t notice Li Si and the others, or perhaps he noticed but paid them no mind. In his vacant eyes were glimmers like distant starlight. Was he waiting for something?