As he spoke, Shen Jicheng planted his torch in the earth. A wisp of smoke rose from it.
Then he said, "This place isn't particularly dangerous. One torch between the three of us will do.
"From the look of things, the three of us won't be able to make the round trip to Three Shu Monastery in a day and a night. We'll likely have to spend a night in its buildings.
"The mountains are unpredictable. Best to keep a flame handy, just in case."
So they kept Xu Feng's torch and put out the others. Xu Feng handed his torch to Master. "Master?"
"Go on," Master said.
"This is a long story," Xu Feng said. "But we have a connection to that Dragon-Slaying Daoist. He kindly passed down some of the skills we learned. The trouble is, something went wrong as they were passed down, so we never knew who he was.
"I never expected
"that a few words from you would clear up all our questions—"
In fact, they had done more than answer his questions.
They had given Xu Feng hope. His Greater Calamity-Stitching Art had been left by that Daoist, which meant that, by the same reasoning,
there might still be something at Three Shu Monastery.
Its incense offerings seemed to have died out,
but no one could say for certain that nothing remained there.
Xu Feng wanted to learn more about the Greater Calamity-Stitching Art. Even a few words of guidance or hard-won experience left behind would make the trip worthwhile.
As the saying went,
just when the road seemed to end, another path appeared.
The three walked and talked through the dark mountains. By the time daylight broke, they put out their torch, and Xu Feng saw how excited Shen Jicheng had become.
If