Two days later, Jiang Cheng found himself discreetly sneaking out of the town centre with Ling Shang Po. Jiang Cheng had learned that there was a secret circle within the village people, who were already secretive by nature, and he was about to join.

To his surprise, Ling Shang Po did not take him to the shack where they had come before, instead, they walked up into the higher grounds of the low lying mountain. They came to a small lake, next to which Min Qi Xue was waiting for them.

He had a strange flower in his hand.

"Do you know what this is?" He asked, after they greeted each other.

Jiang Cheng shook his head.

"This is a rare orchid. It is known as the Dragon Lotus Orchid. They only grow up here, in temperatures that are high during the day and cool at night."

"What's so special about it?" Jiang Cheng asked, his curiosity piqued.

He came closer and carefully split the pod made from petals sticking together, to reveal a golden pearl. "This." He plucked it with the utmost care and held it in the middle of his palm, tossing the flower somewhere behind him.

Jiang Cheng was sort of impressed but tried not to show it. "What does it do?"

"You will find out. For now, I want you to find as many of these pearls as you can. It is not necessary to pluck the flowers, just the pearl."

"Seems easy." Jiang Cheng started looking, Ling Shang Po nearby searching the undergrowth.

He pointed out the types of plant he should be looking for and consequently, where they would find the flowers. But to his dismay, Jiang Cheng found that Min Qi Xue was right. Not only were those flowers rare, they seemed to be practically non-existent.

By the end of the night, dawn cracking upon the sky, they returned to the village, tired and filthy. He had found only one pearl; Ling Shang Po, three.
It did not look good for him.

*****

Five nights were spent in this manner. On the sixth night, Jiang Cheng had had enough. He had managed to find a total of fifteen pearls, which he handed over to Min Qi Xue that night.

The toll of working full time during the day before their ridiculous searching at night had made him tired beyond reason. It also made him reckless.

"Just how much longer will you be making us look for these!" His voice was raised with annoyance.

Min Qi Xue appraised him. "What? Tired already?"

"Don't you think I should be?" Jiang Cheng retorted.

"But you only have these to show for your efforts." Min Qi Xue scoffed at him.

"I don't even know why you want us to find these." Jiang Cheng's frustration was beginning to show. He was only too aware of the time slowly ticking away, and today marked twenty nine days left. All he had to show for his efforts was a hand full of pearls with absolutely no information. Even in his own eyes, he could not help but believe that he sucked at being a spy.

"People who work for me learn quickly not to ask questions." Min Qi Xue replied, his voice calm but filled with unspoken violence. "As you are new, I will let it go this once. However, remember this: anything you don't know will be explained by by example. Anything else, you don't need to know."

Jiang Cheng decided to back off. Nothing could be achieved by forcing the issue and he would just have to be patient.

*****

Jiang Cheng folded the scrap of cloth and murmured the incantation that Wei Ying had taught him. This latest crane was taking news of how fast the bridge was being built - they'd have it finished in a few days - plus the search for the golden pearls and what they could be used for, and the fact that he'd glimpsed the crest, that he'd seen only once before: on the handle of Wei Ying's creepy knife.

He was slightly disgusted by the fact that a real, if short, demon lived inside the knife that Wei Ying wore inside his inner robes. Who knew what kind of effect that would have on Wei Ying's disposition?

His brother was needlessly foolish sometimes, but an absolute genius at others, and Jiang Cheng just did not know what would happen.

He had seen the crest on a book that Min Qi Xue had quickly hidden when they'd met the last time, but Jiang Cheng had pretended not to see anything. Judging by the subtle relief on his face, Min Qi Xue was definitely glad at the thought of Jiang Cheng not seeing it.

Also, Jiang Cheng was worried at the obvious lack of dragons. Just where were these people hiding them? A hundred and eight dragons would be noticed, wouldn't they?

So wherever they were being kept, must be a large place. But Min Qi Xue was a secretive man and so were the many people who worked for him.

He couldn't ask his questions outright either, because who could he trust? What if the fact that he was asking questions in the first place got back to the leader? Would he be punished? Would they try to get rid of him? Nie Huaisang's threat of people disappearing stayed in his mind and he knew caution was a better bet to yielding results. They still had twenty six days left.