An ordinary, unremarkable evening arrived as a row of fiery clouds swept layer by layer across the mountains. The golden-red setting sun cast a warm, dusky glow over the entire landscape.
Having finished their training goals ahead of schedule, An Jing and his group were gathered together to play marbles.
An Jing, Gu Yeqi, Zhang Ying, Cang Linzu, Ye Xiuyuan, and Zhan Feng—these six formed the core circle closely united around An Jing. They were essentially his loyal followers and personal admirers, on good terms with one another, and always played together during their free time.
The marbles originated from rewards An Jing received from the instructors for his everyday performance. Rather than playing with them himself, he used the marbles to teach his friends how to master physical force and apply it with precision and agility.
A line was drawn on the ground as a boundary. The other five held short sticks, channeling their strength through them to take turns propelling their marbles to strike those of the others.
Hitting another person's marble earned one point; hitting two earned three points; hitting three in a row earned six points; hitting all four yielded a grand slam of twelve points; and knocking a marble out of bounds deducted two points.
While the game looked easy, in reality, players could only turn a profit if they could steadily hit two other marbles. It required precise control over the force applied to the marble and the chain reactions of collisions—not to mention that using sticks instead of hands made it significantly harder, putting their stability, accuracy, and trajectory calculation to a rigorous test.
Each person taking a shot counted as one round, and the game ended after five rounds. An Jing would personally instruct the highest scorer in martial arts techniques, while the person with the negative score would be subjected to extra training.
So far, Gu Yeqi had won the most points. Her control was quite nimble, allowing her to consistently hit two marbles every time, and occasionally, when she had a burst of momentum, she could hit three.
Cang Linzu and Ye Xiuyuan followed closely behind. Their skills were also quite high and not inferior to Gu Yeqi's, except that they tended to be a bit too greedy, always using too much force and sending their marbles flying out of bounds.
As for Zhang Ying and Zhan Feng, both were regular candidates for extra training—Zhang Ying struggled to gauge the proper angle of force, while Zhan Feng had too much raw strength and failed to control his power.
"Yes!"
This time it was Zhang Ying's turn. Having finally mastered the right angle and force, he managed to hit three balls at once, instantly turning his negative score into a positive one, and let out a triumphant cheer.
Shortly afterward, however, he turned his head in confusion and sniffed around. "Wait, Big Brother An."
"Did you guys smell that?"
"A little bit." An Jing was currently flicking a marble with his thumb. The marble bounced straight up and down with absolute stability—this was his method of training finger flexibility and control.
He raised his head and replied thoughtfully, "I can't tell what it smells like, though."
"Huh?" Gu Yeqi had taken first place this time and was entitled to An Jing's guidance. She walked over carrying a bottle of water to hand to An Jing, and turning back, she said, "Is it herbal medicine?"
"It's Tie Nanxin... wait, and there's more!"
Having grown up in an estate steeped in the scents of countless medicinal herbs, Gu Yeqi could distinguish plant varieties by their pure aroma alone. After closing her eyes and sniffing carefully, she opened them with confidence and said, "There's also the scent of Ice-Glaze Flower seeds! It's so calming to the mind and spirit!"
"Wrong!"
Zhang Ying declared with equal confidence, "It's meat. And a lot of it!"
"And..." After sniffing intently, the youth stated with certainty, "More than one kind of beast meat!"
Zhang Ying's family had been hunters for generations. Before the Frost Calamity, hunters in the Northern Frontier were synonymous with both danger and wealth. If a hunting party could return alive from the deep mountains, they would invariably come back fully loaded, harvesting not only the pelts and flesh of fierce beasts, but also rare spirit plants and precious medicines gathered from the mountains.
Zhang Ying was very familiar with this scent. It was the smell released by the slaughtered bodies of numerous wild beasts, with their flowing blood and vibrant muscles, and he could never mistake it.
"It's meat!"
"It's herbal medicine!"
As they argued back and forth, Cang Linzu and Zhan Feng, standing off to the side, began egging them on. "Fight, fight!"
Both Ye Xiuyuan and An Jing could only shake their heads in helpless resignation.
"Alright."
Finally, An Jing raised a hand to halt their debate. "There's more than just those smells."
He turned his head to look at the pavilion on one side of the Martial Arts Arena.
That was the Medicine Pavilion, where Deputy Envoy Yao and the others lived and worked.
Xuanming Village was like a sprawling boarding school capable of easily accommodating a thousand people. Although the gathering of refugee children was quite large, their actual activity zone was not very expansive; areas like the Medicine Pavilion, the back hall, the back mountain, the central courtyard, and the deep pool were off-limits for free movement.
Xuanming Village held too many secrets, though the children paid them little mind.
Except for the Medicine Pavilion.
Every five days, Deputy Envoy Yao would summon the children to the Medicine Pavilion for physical examinations and to dispense medicinal treatments, making everyone quite familiar with the place.
Today, however, An Jing also caught a different medicinal scent drifting from the direction of the Medicine Pavilion... It was an overwhelmingly sweet, cloying odor mixed with a faint, unusual gamey tang. It felt as though someone were cooking braised pork with a mixture of mustard, brown sugar, and strawberry-flavored craft beer; just a single whiff was enough to unsettle a person's entire state of mind.
"It's about time to eat anyway."
Hearing the bell ring, An Jing shook his head slightly and cast off the strange metaphor that had suddenly popped into his mind.
He called everyone to gather together and then led the group toward the cafeteria.
Today was indeed vastly different.
Amidst the astonished gazes of all the children and the immensely rich aroma of meat, everyone was handed a massive portion of meat.
Two or three pounds? Or four or five? There was so much meat—some of it ribs, some leg bones—and the beast meat, thoroughly roasted, carried a thick, savory fragrance.
It trembled so gelatinously that it gave the illusion it might spill right over the edge of the plate.
An Jing frowned slightly, unsure whether to be alarmed or pleased, and stared intently at the meat sitting in front of him.
This was likely the meat of some fierce beast, as the shape of the bones was extremely bizarre, unlike any creature he knew. The rich, greasy aroma blended with spices and sauces made his stomach churn violently, while every fiber of his flesh trembled and craved, urging him to devour the meat before him.
Yet, perhaps because An Jing had been eating plenty of meat lately, he managed to forcefully suppress his physical instincts.
He swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth and glanced around the entire cafeteria.
Not everyone was eating the same kind of meat.
Some people, just like An Jing, were eating the meat of certain fierce beasts; others were eating the large wings or wing roots of birds of prey; some were eating viscera; and still others were eating strange insects! Even seafood like fish and crabs was present, varied and boundless.
Yet without a doubt, everyone was utterly enamored with the food before them. Not a single person had the slightest desire to talk; they were all entirely absorbed in devouring the meat right in front of them.
Eating meat.
There were no other thoughts in the children's eyes—only pure hunger and greed. This surging desire sent a chill through An Jing, and an inexplicable terror crept up his spine.
"An Jing."
At that moment, an old voice reached his ears. An Jing whipped his head around to find that Master Yao had silently materialized right beside him. "Do you not like it?"
The gaunt, skeleton-like old man leaned in, locked eyes with An Jing, and asked softly, "Why aren't you eating?"
The youth gazed into those deep, gloomy eyes, pulled back his lips to bare a row of white teeth, and smiled. "Master Yao, I'm afraid I won't have enough to eat."
In truth, the portion of meat in front of An Jing was far greater than what the other boys and girls had on their plates, and of even higher quality.
This was likely a privilege reserved for the "Big Senior Brother." As the strongest among everyone present, his treatment was on a completely different level from ordinary boys and girls.
Which made it all the more unsettling.
"Heh heh..."
Hearing this reply, Master Yao straightened up. He let out an ambiguous, unreadable laugh. "Because you're afraid you won't have enough, you're looking at what's in everyone else's bowls before eating your own?"
"What a greedy little brat... But don't worry."
Master Yao said flatly, "One day, you will truly eat your fill."
"Eat."