Come Down and Fight Again

"Sir, you're not staying?"

"No."

"Where are you headed this time?"

"South."

"South? Could you be going to Xuzhou?" The innkeeper had just taken the key Song You handed over and could not help freezing.

"More or less."

"Could it be that you mean to cross through those hundreds of li of desolate mountains?" The innkeeper frowned.

"There is no need for concern, innkeeper."

"You mustn't go, sir! That road has been abandoned by the authorities for many years and has long become the domain of yao, spirits, and monsters. In earlier years, only a few bold merchants dared pass through there. In recent years, yao, spirits, and monsters have grown ever more numerous throughout the land, and even many merchants no longer take that route. The only ones who go there are people specifically seeking out yao, spirits, and monsters!"

The innkeeper paused as he spoke, his mouth dry with anxiety.

"If sir wished to take that road in the past, it would have been one thing. After all, though few people passed through there, there were always some, and it was not often heard that anyone had been harmed by yao or demons in those mountains. But these past two days, who knows what has happened? Thunder in winter, thunder even on clear days—dry thunder without rain. Everyone in the city says it is a strange omen from Heaven and Earth, that something grave may be about to happen. Yesterday, there was even word that many mountain beasts had fled in succession from those hundreds of li of mountains to the south, along with countless wild birds, and there were monsters among them too. No one knows what is happening in there. To be safe, even those who deliberately seek chance encounters with yao, spirits, and monsters in