Black Snake lay coiled high above, looking down as the three young men departed with their heads hanging. Their steps were slower than when they had arrived. Occasionally, they glanced back, but all they could see was the gray, hazy valley.
The sky was overcast. Distant mountains and nearby trees alike were shrouded in fine rain and mist, blurring everything like the ink paintings hanging on the walls of shops in the County Seat.
Occasional gusts of wind sent the rain and mist slanting through the air.
Xu Jin bent over his work around the Medicine Field.
He would be away for at least half a year. Weeds in the Medicine Field were nothing to worry about, and with Xiao Yu watching over it, neither were wild boars rooting up the soil. What worried him was fallen leaves and branches clogging the stream during the Continuous Rainy Season, causing mountain runoff to flood the Medicine Field.
With a hoe over his shoulder, Xu Jin worked his way along the stream. Having lived in this valley for years, he remembered exactly where blockages were likely to form.
He had built several low stone walls beside the low-lying plots to guide overflowing water back into the stream.
Even a flash flood would not inundate the Medicine Field.
Black Snake closed his eyes, resting his head on the rock facing outward as he breathed in rain essence.
Xu Jin worked bent over beside the stream. He probably wanted to finish these chores before leaving the mountains to wander and take on disciples.
Perhaps because of the little waterfall, the mist in the valley was much thicker than outside.
The weather was somewhere between rain and mist, so clammy it felt as though water could be wrung from it.
Weather like this was utterly