Yang Qing and the others had kept their nerves taut all night, but the earth dragon seemed to have vanished without a trace. Not the slightest disturbance came from it.
The three of them forced themselves to keep their eyes open until dawn.
But Yang Qing soon noticed that, although the earth dragon was quiet for the moment, the mountain valley had become terrifyingly still. No birds called, no beasts roared, and even in the pool beneath the waterfall, many fish had floated to the surface belly-up.
Only the treetops in the woods gave off faint rustling sounds from time to time.
Occasionally, a creak sounded among them.
It was as though the three of them had suddenly become the only living beings left between heaven and earth, their breathing clearly audible.
Yet Yang Qing's heart kept sinking. This earth dragon would probably prove every bit as formidable as Jiangli had warned.
The present silence was merely it gathering strength for even greater destruction.
They waited another quarter of an hour without the slightest disturbance, and Bu Er decided to climb down from the high platform and catch some fish in the pool below to roast.
Although they had brought dry rations, with fresher food available, they naturally chose that first.
The high platform stood several dozen feet tall, but they had left a rope in place when they climbed up earlier, so Bu Er's descent took very little effort.
Within a few breaths, he had landed steadily on the ground.
Yang Qing and Jiang Zhizhou sat on the high platform, leaning over to watch Bu Er find a stick and spear fish in the pool. Before long, he had caught a dozen or so.
"The weather's fine. If you catch too many fish, we won't finish them before they