Chapter One: The Collapsed Mountainside

Year twenty-three of Yuan Chang, Great Ning Dynasty, ninth day of the sixth month, Western Capital’s Silver Mine.

It had rained for three days, the drizzle swelling into a torrential downpour since the hour of the Ox. The sky hung like a colossal waterfall, indifferent as it unleashed an endless deluge.

Half an hour ago, word arrived: the embankment of the Changbai River, five li from the mine, was showing signs of instability, threatening to breach.

Shen Jifeng stood beneath the grass awning at the mouth of the mine, watching the rain cascade down the mountain, gathering in the hollows of the mining grounds, forming murky pools. She pressed her waterproof cloak tighter around her; moisture seeped in everywhere, and even in June, a shiver ran through her.

“Someone, gather everyone from the mine—build the embankment!”

Shen Jifeng stepped into the driving rain, pacing out a route roughly a hundred zhang long. Li Leqi, the mine’s overseer, hesitated a moment, sighed, and followed her.

“Princess, the wind and rain are fierce. If anything is needed, let the likes of me handle it. You are of noble birth—how can you toil in the mud?”

Shen Jifeng wiped her face; the rain was so fierce that in moments she was soaked through.

“This is no time for such talk! The mine is already at risk of collapse because of the rain. If floodwaters pour in, Uncle Li, I’ve signed the death warrant—I promised His Majesty to produce silver within three months. Two months remain. If we fail, we all die.”

Li Leqi cursed himself for losing his head at such a crucial moment. How could he forget the sword hanging above them? Damn this wretched rain. He looked at Shen Jifeng’s determined figure in the rain, a sour ache rising in his heart. Kindly heavens, open your eyes—this silver mine must not fall.

The miners quickly assembled and, under Shen Jifeng’s orders, began building the embankment. Mud rose above their ankles, each step leaving a shallow pit. Shen Jifeng rolled up her sleeves, ready to haul mud and straw herself, but the miners and Li Leqi refused to let her.

Of mud and sand, the mine had no shortage. Wrap them in straw mats, tie with hemp rope, and a mud-straw bundle is formed.

Shen Jifeng took to bundling the mud and straw herself; the rough hemp cut into her palms, soon raising bloody welts.

The rain grew heavier, thunder rumbling at the horizon, drawing closer with the storm.

There was no end in sight to the rain.

“Everyone, put your backs into it! We must finish the embankment! When the rain stops, I’ll treat you all to roast lamb!”

A chorus of voices responded, their vigor renewed.

Shen Jifeng surveyed the working miners, anxiety gnawing at her. Even if the embankment held back the floodwaters, the relentless rain had saturated the soil—water could break through at any moment. She was grateful she’d had every miner brought up from below last night; otherwise, she dared not imagine the consequences.

Page (1/3)

“Something’s wrong!” Shen Jifeng suddenly looked out over the miners. The Western Capital Silver Mine employed one hundred and fifty-two workers, yet barely over a hundred were present. Where were the missing men?

“Is everyone here?” Shen Jifeng climbed onto a large stone at the center of the mining grounds.

The miners paused their work, peering through the curtain of rain at their comrades.

“Everyone, group up by teams—team leaders, count your men!” Li Leqi shouted.

“Qin Dazhu’s team isn’t here!” Before the roll call finished, a young miner called Skinny Monkey was the first to notice who was missing.

In order to keep pace, the silver mine operated a three-shift system. With the heavy rains, for safety, Shen Jifeng had ordered everyone up from below the night before. The miners worked in teams, so if someone was missing, their teammates would quickly notice. But this time, an entire team was absent, and with everyone anxious due to the storm, no one realized more men hadn’t come up.

“Which shaft are they in?” Shen Jifeng leapt off the stone and headed for the mine entrance.

“Princess, Qin Dazhu’s team is in Shaft Six—our deepest shaft, more than twenty zhang below ground. They should have come up to change shifts at dawn, but there’s been no sign. Something’s wrong.”

Li Leqi shrank back, afraid to say more.

“Besides me, who else knows Shaft Six well?” Shen Jifeng shed her waterproof cloak, her resolute gaze sweeping over the miners.

Skinny Monkey raised his hand. “Princess, I’m close with Zhao Dazhu. I’ve been there several times—I know the route well.”

An old miner beside him covered Skinny Monkey’s mouth. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? After days of rain, the shaft below is like a giant water bubble wrapped in paper—water could seep through anywhere.”

Shen Jifeng seemed not to hear him. “Will you go down with me?”

Skinny Monkey squared his shoulders, his black eyes shining through the rain. “I will!”

Li Leqi dropped to his knees before Shen Jifeng. “Princess, you mustn’t! It’s too dangerous!”

Shen Jifeng picked up the willow basket used to lower miners into the shaft. “Uncle Li, every minute we delay increases the risk. There are twenty-seven lives below. Only I remember the vein map and know the safest route. I have to go!”

Li Leqi clung to her arm. “Princess, even if you kill me, I won’t let you go down.”

In his panic, Li Leqi forgot his role as mine overseer. “I promised the young master—never to let you enter danger again. If you insist, I’ll die here to stop you!”

Page (2/3)

Shen Jifeng ignored Li Leqi’s desperate threat. She and Skinny Monkey climbed into the willow basket, the winch already spinning. Before descending, she called to Li Leqi, “Keep reinforcing the embankment. I promise—I’ll return in an hour.”

Li Leqi beat his chest, stomping in the mud until the water splashed.

“You few, guard the mine entrance. The rest, keep reinforcing with me.” Tears mingled with rain on his face, his heart shattered to pieces.

A thunderclap exploded overhead. Immediately, an ominous tremor rippled through the earth.

“Not good!” Li Leqi’s face paled. “The mountain—”

Before he finished, a muffled roar echoed in the distance, like a dragon stirring underground. The miners stopped their work, staring in terror at Tianmeng Mountain.

“A landslide! Run!”

The miners fled like startled birds and beasts, scattering in the storm.

Tianmeng Mountain split open in a jagged wound; countless mud, stones, and broken trees tumbled together, a furious earth dragon crashing down with unstoppable force.

Rumble—heaven and earth changed color.

The roar of the collapsing mountain battered eardrums. Li Leqi was knocked to the ground by the blast, and watched helplessly as the earth dragon swallowed the mine entrance. The guards vanished in an instant, without a single scream.

Wherever the mudslide passed, pine trees as thick as bowls were uprooted, the half-built embankment torn apart like paper.

When silence returned, the mine entrance was gone. In its place stood a mound of mud and stones several zhang high, mixed with broken wood and rubble, exuding the stench of death in the rain.

Li Leqi knelt in the mud, his fingers digging deep. Rain beat on his hunched back, but could not wash away the tears streaming down his face.

“It’s over… all over…” he muttered, suddenly scrambling toward the mound in madness. “Princess! I’m coming to save you!”

Page (3/3)