The bright moon sank below the ridge before dawn. He raised his head, opened a passage, and floated up into the Spirit Realm.
Morning was precisely when the Spirit Realm's mist tide surged. White waves rose silently, swallowing the mountain's foot and dense forests layer by layer.
He simply stopped struggling to climb through the clouds, stretched out his body, and lounged lazily in the cloud sea, letting the waves carry him slowly upward. That saved him the effort of climbing.
He found a small peak poking out of the cloud sea near the Mountain Gate.
He squirmed a few times on the wet giant rock, then raised his head and gulped down clouds, breathing out mist.
It was autumn in the Mortal Realm, with little rain. He had spent several days lying on a mountaintop gazing at the moon. Though the moonlight essence was clear and cool, he had not tasted a single mouthful of rain essence.
Since he so rarely came back, he had to eat his fill.
Before the mist tide receded, Jin Si swam across the cloud sea and landed outside the Mountain Gate. His four claws stepped on wet green stone as he climbed upward, and he wrote a few words on the noticeboard as usual, leaving a record of his whereabouts for the day.
Floating three chi above the ground, he swayed his body and swam toward the General Store.
He landed steadily outside the shop, his four claws scraping against the green stone tiles.
He poked his head inside. Besides Daoist Pang, an unfamiliar Daoist was sitting beside the counter with a teacup in his hand.
His body, over five zhang long, could not fit inside, so he blocked the doorway with his ferocious, enormous head.
His snorting breath stirred up a small