Chapter 29 — A Small Lie Draws Forth an Old Mystery

e, they would all certainly die. Shen Mu was at a loss too. Hidden Remnant Village was far too small to crowd in so many animals. "Little Runt, come." The Dark Ape strode forward. Shen Mu followed it, and found the ape leading him to the foot of a cliff, where it pointed at a handprint on the rock face, its eyes bright with expectancy. The handprint was one the Dark Ape had pressed there itself. Its paw was enormous, and it had left a deep print in the cliff with its own hand. The print meant the Dark Ape was the lord of this place: other strange beasts, seeing it, would know this was its territory and give it a wide berth. Should some other beast wish to seize the place, it would come forward to challenge; if the Dark Ape lost, its print would be erased by the new lord, and a new mark left in its stead. "You. Print," the Dark Ape said expectantly. Shen Mu was baffled and did not understand. The Dark Ape took his hand and laid it beside its own print. "Print." Shen Mu understood, and was moved in his heart. He brought his palm down hard beside the ape's print, and his own handprint appeared on the cliff face at once. The Dark Ape beamed, and pointing at the valley said in a booming, muffled voice: "Mine. Yours." The feeling in Shen Mu's heart burst out as laughter, and the Dark Ape chortled along. At that moment a voice came drifting down from midair: "Master, there are people below." Shen Mu looked up quickly and saw a paper boat passing through the air, some seven zhang long, roomy enough on deck for several men and women in blue-green robes. Then he noticed further oddities: several paper cranes, flapping their wings, came escorting a second paper boat, and on the cranes rode more strange middle-aged men and women, each bearing a long sword on his back. On the second paper boat there was only one man; the boat carried some sort of cargo, too far off to make out. The paper boat halted, still hanging in the air, and an old man sat there and said: "Qianxun, ask the way." "Yes." A young man on a paper crane looked down. "Boy, do you know the way to Hidden Remnant Village?" Shen Mu, mystified, pointed in the direction of the village. The young man was courteous: he bowed and thanked him. Then a gold ingot fell from the paper crane, and the cranes, escorting the boat, flew away. Shen Mu picked up the ingot, puzzled: "What in the world are these people going to our village for? Traveling merchants passing through? But shouldn't traveling merchants make for Crimson Dragon City?"