Spring had already arrived in the mountains, and apricot blossoms flourished in every gully and ravine, dotting the rocky outcrops.
Last winter's ice still lay in the shaded stream valleys.
The wind carried both the warm fragrance of flowers and the chill of ice and snow.
The Azure Cloud Monastery Back Mountain Cave.
The hibernating Black Flood Dragon stirred slightly. Only after his mind cleared did he slowly raise his head, his vertical pupils glimmering like two faint lights in the darkness.
The great heap of medicinal herbs before him had long since become a pile of gray-white ashes.
Late last autumn, he had gathered every mature medicinal herb. After an entire winter of fermentation and absorption, all their medicinal power had seeped into his scales and meridians. With that power, his body had grown another stretch, now measuring a full five zhang and five chi from head to tail.
Jin Si knew that growth came quickly at the beginning of each stage, but became increasingly difficult toward the end.
He had left the immature herbs unharvested in the Medicine Field, and would no longer leave his scent there.
He would let the mountain birds and beasts peck at them, or the mountain folk take them away.
Born of the mountain forest, returned to the mountain forest.
He quietly waited until nightfall, then crawled to the cave entrance and listened to the Evening Liturgy drifting through the darkness.
He waited until the monastery's candlelights went out one by one and silence returned to the forest.
Then he leisurely crawled out of the cave, floating two chi above the ground with all four claws lifted, deftly weaving around the trees as he glided soundlessly down the slope.
He landed beside the familiar Spring Well, lowered his head, and drank in great