"Master, are you going home?"
"Since we're back in Yuanjiang County and the Old Instructor's affairs are settled, of course I'm going home. But there was actually something I left unfinished last time."
As he spoke, Yi Shuyuan took Stoneborn back to the county town, ordered a few dishes at both Tongxin Pavilion and the Drunken Guest Pavilion, and paid to rent two food carriers.
As for why there were two, Stoneborn and Hui Mian soon had their question answered. Yi Shuyuan did not return to West River Village straightaway, but went to Broad South Mountain first.
From afar, Broad South Mountain was already a sea of yellow.
Once they reached the foot of the mountain, Yi Shuyuan was still strolling uphill when Stoneborn and Hui Mian grew excited.
"Haha, the mountain is full of tasty things this time of year! Lots of them can't even be found in town. Stoneborn, let's go!"
"All right!"
The boy and the marten darted ahead, off to romp all over the mountain. This season offered plenty of ripe wild fruit, and Hui Mian's menu was broader still.
Yi Shuyuan had a clear destination: the Mountain God Temple.
Along the way, he passed that towering ancient pine without seeing Old Pine emerge. Yi Shuyuan was not surprised, though. At their last parting, Old Pine had already gained some insight. These past years, he had likely stood in the mountains as an ordinary pine, no longer roaming about in an outward form.
By the time he reached the hilltop where the Mountain God Temple stood, Yi Shuyuan was carrying a slender twig laden with little red berries, plucking them off to eat as he walked.
These berries offered only a taste of sweet and sour, with almost no flesh and large pits. After a bite