As midnight drew to a close, the painted pleasure boats, once filled with the sounds of song and dance, finally lapsed into silence.
The scattered lights extinguished one by one, leaving only the myriad stars in the heavens to shine silently until the break of dawn.
The lake's surface grew dark, but small flickers of fire began to dot the shore. These were the fires lit by the traveling peddler-women who had returned late from their business.
Even at night, Jiugao remained stiflingly hot in the height of summer. The fires were not for warmth, but to drive away mosquitoes and the damp mist rising from the lake. Experienced travelers knew better than to spend the night by the water; not only was it uncomfortably humid, but the water's edge was a frequent haunt for wild beasts coming to drink or lie in ambush.
However, anyone with eyes could see that the "hunt" centered around Lixin Lake had reached a temporary lull. The surviving small fry could finally enjoy the remainder of the long night in peace.
Qin Jiuye had also built a small fire for herself. After warming a small patch of ground, she lay down without undressing. Yet, despite lying still, she tossed and turned for a long time, unable to find sleep. Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw the gaze of that drenched youth; whenever she covered her ears, she heard his nearly humble pleas.
She nearly dug a hollow into the sandy ground with her shifting. Lying in that shallow pit, she stared blankly at the embers drifting into the night sky, mingling with the stars above. They flickered and pulsed like a thousand blinking eyes.
She did not know if the celestial omen of the Seven Stars Alignment was truly as profound and mysterious as they said, nor could she tell if Old Dog Du’s divinations were as accurate as he claimed. But she was good at keeping accounts, and she had her own understanding of such things.
Ever since she had hung the sign for the Guoran Clinic in Dingweng Village, the old acquaintances who had stayed with her the longest fell into two categories: those who owed her money, and those from whom she wanted to earn money.
But no two people in this world could stay together forever. She felt that the affinity between people was largely like this. Debtors and creditors were the most deeply entangled, but once the destined debt was repaid, they could become strangers in an instant, perhaps never to meet again in this lifetime.
She had saved him on the Qingping Road, and he had worked for her for three months. He had saved her from the hands of Xin Yu, and she had fished him out of Lixin Lake. If it were a matter of a life for a life, they had long since been even.
She thought back to the previous night. She’d had several opportunities—several chances to face the truth and be honest with one another. She tried to comfort herself, thinking she hadn't spoken because the situation wasn't right for such talk, and a dispute might have hindered their business.
But the moment she had plunged into the icy waters of Lixin Lake, she had caught a faint glimpse of the real reason she hadn't spoken.
If she chose to expose that secret, to question his origins and everything he had hidden for so long, certain things would vanish in an instant, never to be pieced back together. She found that the thought caused her a dull ache in her heart; she couldn't bring herself to end it all just like that.
*Let it be for now,* she thought.
She would let it drag on until Heaven itself could no longer stand it and intervened, separating the two grasshoppers tied to the same string and sending them back to their respective paths in life.
*The Moon leaves the Net, Mars lingers in the Heart; all returns to the Heavenly Way.*
*The beginning and end of affinity, the gathering and parting of souls—all is destined.*
She did not want to become the kind of person she despised most: someone who lacked the resolve to cut ties, allowing their mind to be thrown into chaos and wasting precious time on questions that would never have answers. Since some things were destined by Heaven from the start, she would let that unpaid Master, Fate, take the lead and allow time to answer everything.
She poked the woodpile to make the fire burn brighter, then crushed a handful of wild mint and held it to her nose. Unable to sleep, Qin Jiuye simply poured out the basket of old books Lady Feng had given her and began to read through the night, using those distant and bizarre tales to dilute the thoughts in her mind.
The crumbling old scrolls were taxing to read. She flipped through several volumes with gentle hands before finally picking up a book titled *Secret Records of Guifang*.
The scroll only had a title at the beginning but no author's name. The craftsmanship was unrefined, and though it was riddled with wormholes, there were signs that someone had repeatedly repaired it. The handwritten notes within appeared to be in three or four different styles of calligraphy.
Qin Jiuye was not a book lover, but she could vaguely discern that while the book might have been considered unrefined when written, every subsequent owner had cherished it, maintaining it with care and adding their own diligent notes, which allowed the book to survive to this day.
The name "Guifang" came from an ancient northern kingdom. To the current Xiangliang, it was a mysterious and distant existence. The book was likely named "Guifang" not to research the actual customs of that ancient land, but to use its supernatural reputation as a backdrop for a collection of strange legends from remote and deep places throughout history.
She had heard of half of these legends while traveling with her master, and the rest were mostly written in obscure language that seemed intentionally cryptic. Only one entry caught her attention; though it was brief, she pondered over it for a long time.
The text mentioned that among the mountains of the central-south, there was once a three-colored ancient kingdom called Juchao. It had crimson waters, obsidian mountains, and honey-colored clouds. It produced "Red Gold," which was used by shamans for divination and was exceptionally precious.
However, as the legends of gods and demons faded and the practice of spirit-writing and divination declined, this "Red Gold" gradually fell out of favor. Juchao transformed from a "golden treasure trove" back into a lonely city deep in the mountains. The people who had lived there for generations were unwilling to endure the hardships of farming, fishing, and hunting, nor could they forget their past glory. They believed that their destiny had arrived—that the old gods had abandoned them, and their future required a new god to place their faith in.
The people of the lonely city held a sacrificial ritual at the sacred site where Red Gold was once mined. Unexpectedly, this triggered a torrential downpour and caused the riverbanks to burst; the catastrophic flood took a long time to recede. Strangely, shortly after the great sacrifice, a creature dwelling in the still waters of Mount Ming appeared in Juchao. It had azure patterns and a red head, was immortal, and grew to a massive size. It was soon enshrined as a deity by the locals, called the "Shebishi." It protected the land for nearly a century, until the great war twenty-two years ago leveled everything.
Today, although Juchao was not as bitterly cold as the far north, it was considered a ghostly place that made people pale at its mention. This was because it was filled with black waters, strange forests, and poisonous miasma that never dissipated. Since that great war, various strange rumors had spread, and no one was willing to set foot there. Even the old official roads had long since become overgrown, and the stories of the Shebishi had gradually faded away.
Those who wrote of the supernatural often added embellishments to capture the reader's heart. Qin Jiuye knew she couldn't fully believe every detail, but what interested her most about this fragment was not the content itself, but the signatures of the three or four commentators.
One of those signatures appeared almost exclusively on this short passage. The handwriting was very scrawled, and at the end, in a crowded corner, the character "Ci" (鶿) was written to distinguish it from the other notes.
This was not the first time she had seen this scrawled signature. The last time she had seen it was in a medical text. There were many physicians in Xiangliang, but only one was famous for being as eccentric as a "withered bone in a mountain wind" and for his unorthodox ways: the sorcerer-physician who had once served with the army—Zuo Ci.
Twenty or thirty years ago, Xiangliang was plagued by constant war, and talented individuals emerged from every province. Physicians and sorcerers flourished for a time. If judged by medical skill alone, he certainly wouldn't have earned a title associated with "ghosts," but he had another identity: he was one of the "Four Gentlemen of the Black Moon." Legend had it that although he remained in the Black Moon camp as a physician, he could actually calculate destiny, divine life and death, and predict victory or defeat. He had performed great services in pacifying the realm for Xiangliang, but because he had glimpsed the secrets of heaven, he was plagued by a strange illness. By the time he was thirty, he was emaciated, like a flickering lamp. Later, sensing that the Black Moon's fortune was exhausted, he defected. Like a lonely ghost, he disappeared from the land of Xiangliang along with the Black Moon Army during that winter month twenty-two years ago. Since then, neither the imperial court nor the martial world knew of his whereabouts.
The world's judgment of this man was mixed. Some said he was the incarnation of a divine stone, a celestial beast descended to earth with the talent to glimpse heavenly secrets and understand the earth's veins. Others said his heart was crooked, that he possessed knowledge but was merely a silver-tongued troublemaker who stirred up storms; they claimed the chaos of Juchao and the collapse of the Black Moon were related to him.
The last record of this man in the martial world was a casual note in the travelogue of a wandering hermit in his later years. It said that east of Mount Qianyun and southwest of the Li River, while traveling by boat, he had encountered a solitary man piloting a vessel. The man had an exotic appearance and dressed in a way that was seventy or eighty percent similar to the legendary Zuo Ci. However, before he could confirm it, the other party had drifted away with the current.
*East of Mount Qianyun, southwest of the Li River... isn't that near Jiugao?*
But why come to Jiugao?
Compared to the northern and southern borders with their extreme temperatures and alternating droughts and floods, Jiugao was indeed a blessed land with a mild climate and favorable weather. But for a sorcerer and physician, this "blessed land" was far inferior to the old forests of the southwest or the snowy mountains of the northwest. It had no rare herbs, nor many secret or bizarre places to explore.
Why was the mysterious Zuo Ci linked to the old affairs of the Black Moon before he disappeared? What secrets did he discover during those long years after retiring from the world? And why did he come to Jiugao alone, dragging his sickly body, only to vanish into the misty waters and never be heard from again? And years later, when half the martial world had gathered in Jiugao sniffing out the scent of that secret formula, was it all truly just a coincidence?
Qin Jiuye closed the worm-eaten old book, feeling that her questions had only increased.
After everything that had happened the previous night, she felt a trace of trepidation regarding the Sword Appreciation Assembly's third day—the Opening Ceremony. She wasn't sure if, with her meager strength, she could grasp the answers even if she dove into the heart of the whirlpool.
But she was unwilling—unwilling to let the truth slip away before her eyes. If Zuo Ci, who sought the truth, had indeed stayed in Jiugao or even gone to Qionghu Island, then choosing to give up on boarding the island might mean missing a perfect opportunity for investigation.
The conflict between going and not going left her exhausted.
The mint juice under her nose had dried. Qin Jiuye wanted to flip through a few more volumes, but after several days of toil and mental strain, she couldn't hold out. As she read, she drifted into a deep sleep.
In the depths of a dark, murky dream, she fell back into the bizarre nightmare that had often made her wet the bed as a child.
Flames soared into the sky, burning her vision into a sea of crimson.
She climbed upward through this crimson world with great difficulty. The flames licked her bare hands and feet, turning into blisters and dark spots, like twisted flowers blooming on her skin.
Finally, she stepped out of the red and into a void of black.
It was an endless expanse of black water. It seemed to be the silent Lixin Lake at night, yet also a place from her distant memories.
A wind blew against her face, faintly carrying a howling sound, like the wailing of ghosts.
The wind dispersed the mist over the black water. Her eyes suddenly became very clear, and in an instant, she glimpsed through the hundred miles of mist that ghost city hidden within the damp mountains.
Amidst the clouds that never scattered throughout the four seasons, wild lilies bloomed silently on the mountainside, emitting bursts of strange fragrance.
And she struggled forward in the black water, wanting to get closer to that city step by step, yet always feeling the path beneath her feet growing longer and longer...
Swaying blades of grass brushed against her cheek. Qin Jiuye opened her eyes groggily.
The already risen sun baked her shoulders and back. She sat up and turned to look into the distance.
The pitch-black lake water had turned emerald blue again, though the sky in the distance didn't look as clear as the previous two days. Clouds were drifting in from the northeast, about to reach the skies over Jiugao.
The peddler-women who had stayed by the lake last night had already packed their bags and were heading toward the pier with their carrying poles.
There, these martial world merchants would split into two groups. One group would take their copper coins and silver and sail away, waiting until next year to return. The other group would "prepare their horses," getting ready for the final struggle tonight.
Qin Jiuye knew she had to make a choice.
The fire she had lit last night was completely extinguished. The skirt and blouse Xu Qiuchi had given her were now dry. She carefully took the expensive clothes from the rack of dry branches, smoked them with mugwort, and took out a sheet of mulberry paper she had previously used for drying herbs. After a moment of hesitation, she carefully wrapped the clothes in the paper.
She used the mulberry paper very carefully; it was covered in creases from being repeatedly folded and unfolded. If she hadn't been afraid of dirtying the clothes, she wouldn't have been so extravagant as to use even a piece of paper like this.
*Fine, considering he treated me to a table of good food and wine last night, I'll waive this small expense.*
Thinking of this, she grabbed a few packets of heat-clearing herbs from her luggage and tucked them inside. While imagining his reaction when he opened the paper bundle, she cheerfully shook out the dress, intending to re-fold it neatly, when something suddenly fell out.
It was a handkerchief. Because it had been soaked and then stuffed between the layers of clothing all night, it had become a crumpled ball.
Qin Jiuye paused before leaning over to pick it up. The moment she unfolded it in her hand, she froze.
It was a coarse cotton handkerchief of the kind every household in the Jiugao area had. However, the pattern embroidered on it was strange—it looked like a flower yet wasn't, like an orchid yet wasn't; rather, it looked like the most common type of grass found by the roadside.
The grass was common, but in the entire city of Jiugao, there were likely very few people who would embroider common grass as a pattern on a handkerchief.
Except for herself.
But she had no memory of carrying this handkerchief with her.
Qin Jiuye tried hard to recall the events of the previous night. When her clothes had been stained by the overturned wine cup, that Mr. Ding had handed her a handkerchief. She couldn't easily refuse, so she had taken it, wiped herself, and tucked it away without looking closely. She never would have imagined that this handkerchief would be identical to her own.
No, this *was* her handkerchief.
She originally had two of these grass-embroidered handkerchiefs. One she had taken to Treasure Mirage Pavilion, which Li Qiao had picked up during the chaos and returned to her. The other seemed to have been lost even earlier.
But when did she lose it? Where? And why had he picked it up?
Qin Jiuye had no clue.
She sat there for a moment until a sudden stomach growl pulled her out of her thoughts.
The delicacies from the pleasure boat had long since been digested, and the dry rations stored on the sampan had accidentally fallen into the lake during last night's "emergency." Qin Jiuye sighed, briskly packed her bags, and walked toward the nearby Huangniwan Pier.
Huangniwan Pier was one of the oldest fishing docks in the Jiugao area. Fishermen had gathered here a century ago, and most of the nearby villages had evolved from fishing hamlets.
The Jiugao area was rich in fresh fish, so the palates of the locals were naturally more discerning. Over time, fishmongers would put their fresh catch into baskets submerged beside their boats, only jumping into the water to pull them up when someone approached to negotiate a price. When business was at its peak, over a hundred fishing boats would crowd together, and the people shouting their wares in the shallows would churn the water yellow—hence the name "Yellow Mud Bay."
However, despite its popularity, Huangniwan Pier was not as grand as the official docks in the city. In recent years, the nearby rivers had flooded, and silt often accumulated downstream. Huangniwan had truly become a "Yellow Mud Bay." Larger vessels didn't dare to dock here, but it attracted many trackers and tea stall vendors, waiting for unfamiliar foreign boats to get stuck so they could make a bit of profit.
Before Qin Jiuye even got close, she could hear the familiar rhythmic chants of the laborers.
A cargo ship arrived from afar. Once it docked, a crowd of porters and laborers shouldered their goods and disembarked, chanting in unison. They tied their sweat-soaked shirts around their waists, their calloused shoulders steadily supporting rough carrying poles. Every toe gripped the flat straw sandals beneath their feet. No matter how heavy the load or how crowded and winding the pier's walkways, they always delivered the goods on their shoulders safely to their destination.
Following these people usually meant one wouldn't be fleeced like a "fat sheep." Qin Jiuye was about to follow them when her gaze suddenly froze.
At the very end of the line of porters was an old man with white hair and a beard. His chest was hollowed and his back hunched, looking like a half-broken old walnut tree, yet the burden on his shoulders looked no lighter than those of the young men ahead of him.
Qin Jiuye ignored the lopsided basket on her back and ran over stumbling.
"Grandpa?"
She called out with a raspy voice. The old man carrying the load finally stopped and looked back at her against the morning light.
Qin Jiuye's pace quickened until she was practically a blur running to him. Breathless, she asked, "Grandpa, why are you here? Don't tell me you came specifically to find me..."
"Who came to find you? I was just passing by."
Though his words were stubborn, a smile he couldn't hide appeared on Qin Sanyou's face the moment she approached. But then he saw her messy hair and his face stiffened again.
"Hair all disheveled, looking so unkempt—what kind of state is this? Didn't I lend you the sampan? Sleeping on the boat is better than sleeping outside alone..."
The image of that old sampan, battered by various "heroes," flashed before her eyes. Before he could finish, Qin Jiuye buried her head in Qin Sanyou's chest, wiping non-existent tears and snot on his faded overshirt.
"Grandpa is still the best..."
Qin Sanyou was clearly caught off guard by her sudden gesture. He froze for a moment before slowly patting her back. Though his tone was still complaining, his voice softened.
"What's this? Did someone cheat you out of your silver again?"
Qin Sanyou believed he knew Qin Jiuye very well. Not long after she arrived in Dingweng Village, she had been cheated out of some silver once. She hadn't eaten or drunk for three whole days, and he had worried along with her for a long time. In his mind, nothing short of the sky falling was more serious to Qin Jiuye than losing money. Everything else was just a passing cloud.
Qin Sanyou's concern was misplaced as usual, but with everything that had happened yesterday being so hard to talk about, Qin Jiuye could only mumble in response, "Yes, I was cheated out of my silver."
Perhaps seeing that she was truly upset, Qin Sanyou uncharacteristically didn't nag her. He only shook his head and sighed. "This is Heaven's way of telling you to quit while you're ahead. You've been saving that little fortune in the Guoran Clinic for so long—how much more do you need? If it's really not working out, just stop saving..."
"How can I do that? Giving up halfway isn't my style."
As soon as she said it, she realized that without even knowing it, she had already made her decision.
That was just her nature. She had fought with all her might to survive in the past, and now she would fight with all her might to continue on the path she had chosen.
Qin Jiuye looked up, her expression returning to normal. "Since Grandpa came to find me, you must have brought something delicious."
As she spoke, she cast her gaze toward the old bamboo basket on Qin Sanyou's back.
When she was little, every time Qin Sanyou returned from a long trip, she and Jinbao would sniffle and crowd around him, looking at that bamboo basket with anticipation. Qin Sanyou would pull out treats and trinkets rarely seen on ordinary days, and they would scramble for them, chirping and playing all day long.
Now that she was an adult with her own business, and it was her turn to fill the family's rice jar, those past scenes unexpectedly resurfaced. Qin Jiuye felt a warmth in her heart and giggled as she reached for the basket hidden behind Qin Sanyou.
"Don't hide it, I saw it already."
Qin Sanyou pursed his lips and half-willingly took the old basket off his back. He pulled out two lotus leaf bundles. One contained still-warm Qing'ai cakes, and the other contained some slightly charred rice crusts.
"What's so good about working for the Protector? You can't even get a hot meal."
Qin Jiuye opened the lotus leaf bundle and stuffed the Qing'ai cakes into her mouth in two or three bites. With bulging cheeks, she mumbled, "I'm afraid he can't even look after his own meals, so how could he care about anyone else?"
After saying this, she continued to wolf down the food. Qin Sanyou uncharacteristically didn't nag her anymore. He just handed her some water, and seeing her eat so fast, he reached out to pat her back.
She was just a child when she left home at eight to study medicine, and she was already an adult when she returned. It had been a long time since he had patted her back to comfort her like this. Doing it now felt unfamiliar and made him feel a bit dazed—dazed as if he had returned to the days when he had first picked her up in Suiqing...
"Grandpa?"
Qin Sanyou snapped back to reality and found Qin Jiuye looking at him strangely.
He quickly withdrew his hand and rubbed his face irritably. "What is it now?"
Qin Jiuye only thought his hearing was getting worse. She swallowed the last piece of cake and repeated the question she had just asked. "I was just asking Grandpa, have you heard anything about Juchao?"
Although she had grown up in Suiqing, she had left for Ganyu at age eight. She didn't know much about the affairs of Mount Qianyun.
But Qin Sanyou was different. When she was little, she had heard Aunt Yang say that the Qin family and the Situ family were from the same hometown—both were locals of Suiqing. Suiqing and Juchao were only separated by a mountain range. People on this side of the mountain should have heard something about what happened on the other side, right?
It shouldn't have been a difficult question to answer. If he knew, he'd say; if not, he'd say he didn't know.
However, for some reason, Qin Sanyou's expression suddenly became somber. After a long silence, he asked in a low voice, "Why are you asking about that?"
Qin Jiuye paused for a moment before deciding to tell the truth. "It's nothing, I just came across some legends about that place. Although they're just strange supernatural tales, they seem related to what I've been investigating lately. Grandpa, you traveled all over with the army when you were young—have you heard of the Juchao campaign twenty-two years ago? I noticed that since then, there are few records of Juchao, and the Black Moon Army seems to have..."
Qin Sanyou suddenly looked up, his voice turning stiff. "You should stay out of the Qiu family's business."
*I'm just investigating a case, how did that become meddling in the Qiu family's business?*
Qin Jiuye found Qin Sanyou's words baffling, but she didn't want to argue today. She didn't talk back as she usually did, thinking he was probably just bringing up old concerns and didn't want her wading into these murky waters. Since he was unwilling to say more, she stopped asking.
But Qin Sanyou was clearly unsatisfied with her reaction. Seeing her silent, he spoke up again with some urgency. "Did you hear what I said?"
"I heard you, I heard you," Qin Jiuye replied as if surrendering. She then cast her gaze toward his bow-legs, conveniently changing the subject. "Are the knee pads I made comfortable for you, Grandpa?"
The nagging words were swallowed back down. Qin Sanyou's expression indeed softened. He reached down to tug at his trouser legs while muttering, "Just look after yourself. Don't always worry about these useless things."
Qin Jiuye smiled as if she had won. Her gaze swept over the lake's surface, which was brightening with the daylight.
The current Huangniwan Pier was not like usual; it could be considered half a martial world territory. Perhaps because she and Qin Sanyou had lingered too long, several of the peddler-women on the boats were looking over with shifty eyes. She wondered if any of them had recognized her as the "new face" who had been competing for their business these past few days.
The smile on Qin Jiuye's face faded slightly. She looked up at the sky. "It's finally been clear for a few days, but I think the weather is about to change. Business isn't good in the rain. Grandpa, you should head back to the village early. Don't linger outside the city."
Upon hearing this, Qin Sanyou looked ready to flare up again. "Think I'm annoying? Trying to chase me away so soon?"
Qin Jiuye didn't get upset. She just picked up his old basket and walked toward the roadside, saying earnestly, "You have to go back and help me keep an eye on Jinbao. As the shopkeeper, I can't get away to look after the clinic, and I'm really worried, so I can only rely on you, Grandpa."
Qin Sanyou's expression finally softened. "Fine, fine. I'm going back now."
As he got older, he could less and less tolerate appearing elderly and useless. Qin Jiuye clearly saw through this, which was why she could soothe his emotions with just a few words.
Watching Qin Sanyou walk down the path into the distance, Qin Jiuye suddenly remembered something and asked casually, "By the way, Grandpa, how did you know I was here?"
Qin Sanyou's figure paused. He turned his head and said briefly, "Who knew where you were? I told you, it was just a coincidence."
After saying that, his feet moved even faster. Carrying his load, he disappeared into the dust rising from the road.
Qin Jiuye stared blankly at the guilty, retreating figure. She looked down at the bundle of rice crusts that seemed to have been repeatedly opened and re-wrapped, and she suddenly understood.
A few days ago, when she had borrowed the sampan to leave Dingweng Village, Qin Sanyou had asked her where she would be staying. At the time, her mind was full of the secret formula mystery and she was in a hurry, so she had only answered hurriedly: "Somewhere by Lixin Lake, probably near Huangniwan."
In reality, from the first day, she had been entangled with those martial world guests in the depths of the lake and had almost never come to Huangniwan Pier. Because her grandfather didn't know anything more, he could only get up early every day and rush to this pier, hoping to "happen upon" her.
She had been wandering outside for several days, and Qin Sanyou had spent those days carrying Qing'ai cakes and his load, running back and forth.
Her grandfather owed her nothing, yet he was willingly repaying a debt.
*Are the stars in the sky the same?* One chasing after another, from birth to extinction for no reason, yet only those who have crossed vast ages and stand at the other end of the star-river can see it all from the trajectories of their journey.
Her nose felt a sharp sting. Qin Jiuye quickly looked up, letting the surging emotions flow silently back into her heart.
After a long while, she turned and shouldered her own worn basket, heading toward the bustling crowd at the pier.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 鬼邡密卷 | Secret Records of Guifang | An ancient, mysterious text containing legends and occult notes. |
| 居巢 | Juchao | An ancient kingdom/city in the central-south mountains, known for "Red Gold." |
| 赤金 | Red Gold | A precious material used by ancient shamans for divination. |
| 慑比尸 | Shebishi | A mythical creature or deity worshipped in Juchao; described as immortal with azure patterns and a red head. |
| 左鹚 | Zuo Ci | A famous sorcerer-physician and one of the "Four Gentlemen of the Black Moon." |
| 黑月四君子 | Four Gentlemen of the Black Moon | A group of four talented individuals within the Black Moon Army. |
| 潜云山 | Mount Qianyun | A mountain range located near Jiugao. |
| 黎水 | Li River | A river located near Jiugao. |
| 黄泥湾 | Huangniwan (Yellow Mud Bay) | An old fishing pier near Jiugao known for its silted, yellow water. |
| 青艾糕 | Qing'ai Cake | A traditional green cake made with mugwort. |
| 绥清 | Suiqing | Qin Jiuye's and Qin Sanyou's hometown. |
