Moonlight, fractured by the swirling dust and smoke, cast shifting, monstrous shadows as Nian and Grandma Xiu stumbled along the rocky streambed. The **Azure Serpent River**, usually a comforting murmur, now churned angrily, swollen by displaced meltwater and choked with debris from the impact. Its whispers were panicked, discordant. Behind them, the terrified screams of Whispering Willow Village mingled with the guttural roars of awakened beasts – sounds that curdled Nian's blood and spurred her aching legs forward.
Grandma leaned heavily on Nian, her breathing shallow and labored. The dark stain on her tunic sleeve had spread. Each step seemed to cost her dearly. "Faster, child," she gasped, her voice thin. "They will pursue. Both claw and steel."
Nian risked a glance back. Torchlight flickered wildly near the forest edge where the village met the Veil. Huge, indistinct shapes moved with terrifying speed, crashing through the remaining outer fences. A chilling shriek, like tearing metal, echoed, followed by a soldier's abruptly cut-off yell. Captain Zhao's detachment was encountering the forest's fury. It bought them time, but not enough.
The main trail up the ridge was visible above them, snaking along the mountainside. Torchlight bobbed erratically there too – Master Bao and the Imperial soldiers, likely facing their own challenges with rockfalls and the Shard's unsettling energy. Nian focused on the Shard's deep green pulse, a constant, thrumming beacon pulling her forward. Its mournful song resonated with her own fear for Grandma, twisting into a sharper, more urgent ache.
They followed the riverbank as it curved away from the village, entering a narrow gorge where towering cliffs rose sheer on either side. The moonlight barely penetrated here. Nian navigated by feel and the Shard's guiding light, her senses stretched thin. The whispers of the river were frantic warnings; the rocks held the echo of the violent quake; the air itself crackled with residual Qi, raw and unstable.
Suddenly, Grandma stumbled, her knees buckling. Nian barely caught her, lowering her gently onto a flat, damp rock. Grandma's face was ghastly pale in the dim greenish glow reflecting off the wet stone. Her skin felt clammy.
"Grandma!" Nian whispered frantically, pulling out a waterskin. "You need water. And your wound…"
"Not… not now," Grandma rasped, waving the skin away weakly. Her eyes, however, were fiercely alert, scanning the cliffs above. "Listen. Hooves. On the ridge path. Coming down."
Nian strained her hearing, pushing past the river's rush. Sure enough, the distinct, rhythmic clatter of shod horses on stone echoed faintly from above. Descending. Quickly. *Captain Zhao.* He must have left some men at the Shard and turned back towards the chaos in the village. Or perhaps the beasts had driven him down.
"We cannot stay here," Grandma breathed. "They will scour the banks. We need the hidden way."
"Hidden way?" Nian asked, bewildered. She knew every path and animal track around Whispering Willow, but this gorge was just a treacherous watercourse.
A ghost of Grandma's knowing smile touched her lips. "Your mother… and her mother before her… knew the secrets the mountains whisper. Look." She pointed a trembling finger towards the cliff face opposite, slick with spray and veiled by thick curtains of hanging moss. "Behind the Emerald Veil. Where the water laughs twice."
Nian squinted. The moonlight caught a particularly dense cascade of moss near the base of the cliff, shimmering with moisture. The river curved sharply here, creating a deep, shadowed pool. As the water rushed past a submerged shelf of rock, it *did* create a peculiar double gurgle – a high chuckle over a lower, resonant hum. *Where the water laughs twice.*
"Help me up," Grandma ordered. Gritting her teeth against the pain in her arm and the deeper ache in her chest, Nian supported her as they picked their way across slippery stones towards the mossy curtain. The roar of the river grew louder, the spray cold on their faces.
Nian pushed aside the thick, dripping moss. Behind it, hidden by the natural drapery and the curve of the rock, was a dark opening – barely wider than her shoulders, leading into utter blackness. A damp, earthy smell, ancient and cool, wafted out.
"A cave?" Nian whispered, astonished.
"Not just a cave," Grandma said, urging Nian to enter first. "A path. Ancient. Forgotten by most. Guarded by the mountain. Go. Quickly."
Nian ducked into the narrow opening, the silk-wrapped sword hilt snagging for a moment on the rock. The darkness inside was absolute, swallowing the faint moonlight instantly. The air was cool and still, thick with the scent of wet stone and minerals. She reached back, guiding Grandma through. The older woman slumped against the cave wall just inside the entrance, breathing heavily.
"Grandma, we need light," Nian said, fumbling in her pack. She found flint and steel, and a stub of precious beeswax candle. After several nerve-wracking strikes, a small, fragile flame sputtered to life, casting long, dancing shadows on the rough, water-smoothed walls of a narrow tunnel that sloped gently upwards.
The light revealed Grandma's condition was worse than Nian feared. Her lips were tinged with blue, her breathing shallow and rapid. The makeshift bandage on her arm was soaked through.
"Grandma!" Nian knelt beside her, the candle shaking in her hand.
"Don't fuss, child," Grandma murmured, but her voice lacked its usual strength. "The path… follow it. Upward. It will take us… closer to the Shard. Away from… them." Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment before snapping open with renewed, almost desperate, intensity. "But first… the sword. Give it."
Nian carefully untied the silk-wrapped bundle from her back. As she handed it to Grandma, the candlelight glinted on the strange, dark wood of the hilt. Grandma unwrapped it fully with her good hand, revealing a simple, straight blade. It wasn't gleaming steel, but a deep, smoky grey stone – *jade*. Not ornamental, but a true blade, honed to a sharp, almost invisible edge. It seemed to absorb the candlelight rather than reflect it, radiating a profound, watchful silence that pushed back the oppressive whispers of the outside chaos.
"This is *Silent Mercy*," Grandma said, her voice filled with reverence and sorrow. "Forged not in fire, but in the heart of a dying star, cooled in the tears of the Earth Mother. It belonged to your mother, Lan Ying. She wielded it… not to kill, but to sever. To cut curses, to sever bonds of dark Qi, to silence the screams of tormented spirits." She looked at Nian, her gaze piercing. "Its silence is its power. It quiets the chaotic whispers. It can… protect you from the Shard's raw song, if needed. But wielding it… it requires focus. Pure intent. Like your Whispering. They are two sides of the same coin."
Grandma pressed the cool jade hilt into Nian's hand. The moment Nian's skin touched it, a jolt ran through her. Not pain, but a deep, resonant *stillness*. The frantic whispers of the river outside, the distant roars, even the Shard's powerful thrum – they didn't vanish, but they receded, muffled, as if heard through thick felt. Her own chaotic thoughts calmed. It was unnerving, yet profoundly calming.
"It feels… quiet," Nian breathed.
"It is a focus," Grandma said. "A shield. And a key. Now… help me bind this properly." She gestured weakly at her arm. "The bleeding must stop if I am to climb."
Working by the flickering candlelight, Nian carefully removed the soaked bandage. The gash was deep and angry-looking, the edges unnaturally dark. Grandma hissed as Nian cleaned it again, this time using a pungent paste from the blue jar – Silverthread Moss powder, known for staunching blood flow and fighting infection. Nian then used the delicate bone needle and silk thread from Grandma's kit. Her hands, usually so steady with jade, trembled as she pierced her grandmother's skin. Grandma remained stoically silent, but her knuckles were white where she gripped a protruding rock.
As Nian worked, focusing on the intricate stitches, the muffled world through *Silent Mercy*'s influence allowed her to notice something else. Faint markings on the cave wall, almost worn away by time and water. Not natural formations, but deliberate carvings. Simple, elegant lines depicting flowing water, towering mountains, and stylized figures holding what looked like… stars? Or perhaps, Shards? And among them, a symbol repeated – a spiral within a circle, echoing the Willow Guardian sigil she'd carved for Master Bao, but far more ancient.
"Grandma… the carvings…" Nian whispered, tying off the final stitch.
Grandma glanced at them, a flicker of recognition in her weary eyes. "The Old Ways. The path of the Listeners. Those who walked before us, who heard the mountain's heart-song." She reached out, tracing the spiral symbol with a trembling finger. "They knew the Shards were not just power… but seeds. Seeds of change, of awakening. And sometimes… of doom, if mishandled." She looked at Nian, her gaze heavy with meaning. "The Ministry… they see only the power. They will try to cage the seed. They will break it… or it will break them. And the mountain with them."
A sudden, violent tremor shook the cave, dislodging small pebbles from the ceiling. Dust rained down. From outside, a furious bellow echoed down the gorge, closer than before. It was answered by a sharp, commanding shout – Captain Zhao's voice.
"They found the entrance," Grandma stated flatly, pushing herself upright with a grimace. "The moss is disturbed. They will investigate. We must move. Now. Deeper in. Up."
Nian hastily repacked the medical kit, secured the waterskins, and helped Grandma to her feet. She gripped *Silent Mercy* tightly, its quiet strength steadying her. The candle flame guttered as they moved away from the entrance, plunging them into near-darkness except for its tiny circle of light and the faint, ever-present green glow emanating from deeper within the mountain, guiding them upwards.
The tunnel narrowed further, forcing them to move single file, hugging the damp walls. The air grew colder. The Shard's song was clearer here, the mournful keening intertwined with the mountain's deep, ancient pulse. But through the jade sword's silencing aura, Nian could also perceive something new beneath the sorrow: a thread of… curiosity? A nascent awareness turning its focus towards the two small figures moving through the mountain's veins.
Behind them, muffled by the rock but chillingly distinct, came the sounds of armored men forcing their way through the moss curtain, their harsh voices echoing in the cave mouth.
"Tracks! Fresh! An old woman and a girl!"
"Zhao wants them found! They know something about that damned rock!"
"Search this hole! They can't have gone far!"
Nian's heart hammered against her ribs. They were trapped between Imperial steel at their backs and the unknown, pulsating power of the Starfall Shard ahead. The ancient Listeners' path offered refuge, but for how long? And what awaited them at the heart of the mountain, where a sliver of heaven wept its lonely, potent song? The whispers of the world had led her into darkness, and the only light came from a fallen star and the quiet blade of her mother, *Silent Mercy*.