The wind had quieted, but the scars of snow remained.Thirty-odd households clung to a cracked stream beneath a broken stone stele that read only two weathered characters: Qing Shi—Greenstone.
Wearing a rough hemp jacket, Ye Xuan looked like a passing traveler.In the village school, he wiped frost from a desk and drew three lines and three dots.
"Watch closely," he said. "Force, Profit, People—three strands that knot all affairs. Force is the mountain, people are the water, profit is the knife."
A few half-grown children sat around him. The brightest-eyed among them, thin as a wild fox, was Lin Ge."Teacher, we can't see 'force.' How do we use it?" the boy asked.
Ye Xuan flipped a bowl of water over the lines, propped by a thin bamboo leaf."Snow melts, water presses the leaf. If you push along the angle—you borrow the force."He flicked his finger. The leaf slid and stopped precisely at the third dot. Gasps rippled.
"Remember," Ye Xuan said, meeting Lin Ge's gaze, "mortals can defeat the strong—often when the strong don't stoop to see the ground."
A knock sounded. The village head, Zhao Shihuai, entered, uneasy."Sir Ye, the county raised taxes again. Three days to pay. They brought a… fire-talented novice from the Void Sect's lower academy."
"Gather everyone at the ancestral hall," Ye Xuan said. "Let's make a trade."
— — —
Dusk at the hall. Mold flecked the genealogy; the room felt damp.The bailiff Xu sneered beneath the eaves, a blue-trimmed novice at his side, a spark dancing in the youth's palm.
Ye Xuan set a burlap sack on the table. Black iron ore glinted inside."Payment," he said simply. "Wind-Worn Black Iron—crude, yes, but good for tools, even arrowheads. The granary is short on it."
The novice scoffed. "Parlor trick."
Ye Xuan only pointed to weathered black stains on the beams. "Wind-sheared patterns. The nearby hills hold iron weathering. Take this sample lot. If it's real, the county must value it at triple the tax price; if false…" He paused. "I pledge three acres."
The bailiff hesitated.Ye Xuan nudged the sack forward half an inch, voice dropping. "But sign for receipt now. Once the sample enters assessment, the rules forbid second collections for three days. Break the rule, and your own records break you."
Ink met wood. The bailiff stamped the slip with a sour face.
When they left, the hall erupted.Zhao whispered, "Is it real? Where do we find ore?"
"Dongpo Ravine," Ye Xuan said. "After the thaw, the wind-scab shows. Bring enough for the sample. Trade truth for truth."
"But what after three days?" Zhao fretted.
"This is only the first move—stall," Ye Xuan said. "The second—swap. The third—lure."
"Lure who?" Lin Ge asked.
"The Void Sect."Ye Xuan raised the jade slip taken from the hunters. "They're screening land and people through taxes. We reverse it. We screen their men with ore."
He tapped three points again. "Bait with the sample. On inspection day, lay a fire-counter water arc to test the novice's lineage. Then use him to register Dongpo Ravine as an imperial reserve mine—closed to all private digging."
Zhao blanched. "Then we lose our mine!"
"Let them close it. Give them the ore. Give them the debt," Ye Xuan said, eyes cold."Once it's a reserve, they must fund guards, tools, surveys—on the books. They can't swallow it or spit it out. In three months this place becomes a pit of unpaid expenses. Then Qing Shi and the treasury mortgage each other."
Silence. Then nervous laughter.
Ye Xuan's gaze cut to the window.Two faint footprints appeared on the snow—without sound.
"Quiet," he whispered.
A fire needle punched through the paper window—bending an inch from his brow as if pushed by invisible water, thudding harmlessly into a beam.Ye Xuan stepped forward. Ash from his sleeve drifted out the window.
"Come in," he said softly. "A scheme within fire, fire within a scheme. Loose a second, and your third will bury itself in your own brow."
The blue-trimmed novice—Su Lin—entered, pale as chalk."You… set a water-return?" he stammered.
"Only borrowed what was already here," Ye Xuan said. "Damp beams. A draft beneath the sill."
More steps outside—the bailiff returned with two archers. Bowstrings sang."Second move now," Ye Xuan murmured.
Torches guttered. A white mist rolled from the threshold where thin trenches formed a half-moon—packed with meltwater that froze under the wind. Cold met fire, birthing fog."Mist Veil," Ye Xuan said.
Three dull cries.When the haze cleared, the bailiff and archers were pinned; Su Lin's flame had died.
"Void Sect, lower academy—Fire Hall," Ye Xuan said. "Give me the land-screening contract, and live."
Hands shaking, Su Lin offered a rolled bamboo slip. Ye Xuan skimmed it, a faint smile touching his lips."Third move—return the debt to the state. Zhao, copy this thrice. Tomorrow, submit to the county, the prefecture, and the Ministry of Works—Local Bureau."
He stepped into the night. A faint golden thread flickered in his eyes—his Mind Realm hummed softly.This was only a mortal's opening. The true curtain hung higher, farther.
The mortal game had begun.