At the edge of the sheer cliff, Black Snake lay coiled on a rock, his body following its contours. He gazed motionlessly at the sea of clouds below, his breathing long and slow.
A sudden, urgent flutter of wings mingled with the wind.
Xiao Yu landed beside him.
"I went into the deep mountains and asked. They all said there was no ginseng that had awakened into a spirit."
She shook her wings and continued.
"Before... perhaps there used to be some. But now, there really is none."
The fearsome snake head remained raised in silence, gazing at the endlessly surging sea of clouds below. Every emotion was locked deep beneath his ink-black scales.
"Thank you for your trouble. Let's go back."
Xiao Yu leaped off the cliff and circled above the billowing clouds and mist, vanishing into the sky in moments. Black Snake turned and slithered along the jagged ridge they had come by, heading toward the Azure Cloud Monastery. Its mountain lay quietly on the horizon, its outline a wash of pale blue-green.
Night had fallen by the time he returned to the mountain behind the Azure Cloud Monastery.
The little lantern that always hung over the Stone Terrace shone quietly. Beneath its warm yellow halo sat a familiar figure, her hair white as snow, her frame a little thinner than last year. Fireflies rose from the grass.
First two or three specks, then seven or eight, gradually forming a tiny, scattered river of stars.
Black Snake slithered beneath the tree and slowly coiled up. Through Yin Spirit Separation, he took the form of a little boy and sat on a rock.
He watched He Ning, silently calculating how much time remained in her life.
This year, He Ning was a hundred and six. Always calm and untroubled,