Several months passed in a flash.
Autumn slipped quietly in. The mountain vegetation grew sparse, and fallen leaves almost buried the thin thread of flowing creek water.
Whenever the wind scattered the morning mist, frost could be seen whitening the heads of the higher peaks.
In a sunny mountain hollow, Black Snake used the warmth of the sunlight to digest its prey.
Several crows cawed hoarsely from the bare branches of an old tree, as though passing judgment on Black Snake's clean, efficient kills, which never left them any scraps to peck at.
The other snakes had already gone into hiding, but Black Snake was in no hurry.
In recent years, it had even been able to push on through the snow. It had no idea how robust it was. Only when white silence covered the mountain forests and prey vanished, leaving nothing to do, would it find somewhere to hibernate.
Its tongue caught the scent of a living creature. After identifying the source, it ignored it, concentrating on basking in the sun rather than bothering to pay attention.
Not far away, a plump weasel stood upright, its little eyes watching Black Snake for a while.
It called twice to Black Snake.
Still receiving no response, the weasel glanced up at the crows on the branches, then bounded lightly away among the scattered rocks and deadwood.
The sunlight shifted, and the old tree's shadow crept over Black Snake and spread across the gray stone...
Once its prey was mostly digested, Black Snake fretted for a moment, then decided to return to its den.
This hunt had taken several days and carried it over two mountain ridges.
Autumn brought little rain and drying winds, and the chill was deepening. It was time to crawl into its cave and hibernate. It had stored enough energy to sleep peacefully until tender green returned to the earth.
Its twenty-foot body wound along, rustling as it crushed dry leaves. Its forked tongue flicked out constantly, deciphering the faint scents in the air.
Black Snake had no idea how swiftly it moved. It merely considered this the most natural instinct of the body it had been born with.
A long black shadow glided calmly past, hugging the ground.
A few small holes lay scattered along the way.
The hunter had left them while digging for medicinal herbs. In Black Snake's eyes, the three humans were no different from the birds and beasts of the forest. They had to scour their surroundings for food, not only digging up roots and tubers but also climbing tall trees and cliffs.
Suddenly, its tongue caught the scent of an animal, and its Thermal Sensing detected an approaching source of warmth.
Its body stopped abruptly and swiftly coiled in vigilance, like a black whirlpool poised to unleash its force.
The other creature was upwind and made no attempt to hide, deliberately stepping on dry leaves to make a noise.
A blurry outline approached cautiously.
Black Snake strained to focus its nearsighted eyes. The wavering, indistinct figure gradually steadied, revealing the creature's appearance.
It was a fox, a common sight in the mountain forests.
The fur on its back was reddish brown, shading into yellowish white at its belly. The backs of its ears and the tip of its nose were black, and its slender legs were dark brown.
Both watched each other tensely and warily. After a moment, the fox flared its nostrils to sniff, then slowly sat down to show that it meant no aggression.
Black Snake could confirm that the other creature posed no threat.
Yet it was puzzled.
The fox called several times, its eyes fixed on the great black snake. All it received was silence. Unwilling to give up, it called several more times and watched again.
It did not get the answer it wanted.
After a brief exchange of stares, the fox backed away a few steps to put some distance between them, turned, and trotted into the mountain forest.
Its Thermal Sensing watched the red source of warmth recede. Black Snake returned its attention to the journey, slithering over mountains and ridges.
It did not take the fox's strange behavior to heart. In truth, many birds and beasts did inexplicable things, probably because they were bored after eating their fill.
While passing through the valley, it gave the matter some thought, then turned aside, intending to take a look at its neighbor, Thatched Hut.
It stopped abruptly while sliding over a rotten log covered in moss.
As the wind blew past, its tongue caught many unfamiliar scents. Raising its head, it saw a cluster of red heat sources in the distance.
Without hesitation, it turned and slipped into the dense forest.
Black Snake believed that animals gathering in groups meant unpredictable danger, and that it should get away as quickly as possible.
At Thatched Hut beside the pool.
The hunter called to the villagers to unload the supplies. Everyone talked over one another, passing on messages from his family. The yellow dog and the hunting dogs that had followed the villagers into the mountains chased one another, bringing warmth and bustle to the usually lonely Thatched Hut.
The story of the great black snake had already spread throughout the village without causing much of a stir. In this age, terrifying tales of strange happenings sprang up endlessly in every region. A large black snake could hardly attract much attention.
Crates of books, grain, bedding, and other daily necessities arrived from beyond the mountains, along with a rather unusual heavy object.
An alchemy furnace about five feet tall.
The furnace was made entirely of dark blue-black metal, without elaborate decorative patterns. It stood on three legs, its belly smooth and full, with a strange beast crouching atop its lid.
It could hardly be called exquisite, yet it was not something an ordinary person could possess.
They chose a flat patch of mountain rock beside the courtyard, felled trees to erect beams, laid thatch over them for a roof, and put up a simple shelter.
Then they set the alchemy furnace securely in place.
The guest who had arrived late stroked his long beard, nodding slightly and praising it again and again.
Some days earlier, he had obtained a damaged old book. Its records concerning alchemy and secret arts had shaken him deeply. The more he thought about it, the more marvelous he found it, so he had hurried to find a craftsman and commission the five-foot vessel now before him.
Gather herbs and refine elixirs to nourish the body, draw in and breathe out spiritual energy to nourish the spirit. The great Dao lay within reach, and the gates of immortality could be entered!
The villagers followed the stream down the mountain.
Everything returned to its old rhythm. The little courtyard in the mountain valley settled back into simple tranquility. The hunter sweated as he split firewood, the yellow dog guarded the gate, the young attendant went to the deep pool to fetch water, and someone busied himself cooking a pot of porridge.
Beyond the window, the sunset set the clouds ablaze. The guest who had arrived late frowned deeply as he studied medicine, the fading light making the furrows between his brows look deeper still.
He was engrossed in the old book spread open on the table.
He repeatedly compared the appearance and scent of medicinal roots and stems, striving to verify each against the illustrations and text in the book.
Halfway up the mountainside.
A mountain peak had collapsed long ago. A single enormous slab of rock, hundreds of feet across, leaned against the cliff, creating a hidden space beneath it. Years of dust and fallen leaves had quietly sealed its edges. High above was an opening less than two feet wide, like a skylight, and tiny motes could be seen drifting in the moonlight that spilled through.
This was where Black Snake hibernated, cut off from the outside world. Dust covered the rocky floor, and the stillness was absolute; not even the wind could be heard.
A shaft of moonlight cast through the skylight enveloped Black Snake, lending its scales a faint sheen.
Fifteen years ago, when it had been only two or three feet long, any earthen hole would have sufficed for the winter.
Now it was already twenty feet long, and this was the only place in the nearby mountains that could shelter it. The cave entrance was also raised above the ground, making disturbances less likely.
Black Snake was entering hibernation.
Its heartbeat and breathing grew slower and slower, with a long interval between each beat. Its body temperature fell. Neither eating nor drinking, it relied on its painstakingly accumulated fat to maintain the most basic burning of life, like the feeble flame of a guttering lamp.
Its consciousness sank into stillness and blurred, retaining only a thread of instinctive vigilance.
Its awareness of the passage of time faded.
Hibernation was not rest, but an effort to reduce its own consumption as much as possible, a silent struggle against hunger and cold.
Not yet deep in hibernation, Black Snake felt that something was wrong...
Suddenly, it realized it was in the forest!
Beneath the night sky, the surrounding scenery had indistinct outlines, and everything within sight was dimly colored. The wind felt cold as it blew past. Black Snake found this place both familiar and strange.
Out of habit, it coiled its body, flicking its tongue to search for scents and seeking sources of warmth.
Then Black Snake grew confused. The sense of smell and Thermal Sensing on which its survival depended had almost ceased to function.
Brief bewilderment gave way to intense panic. Losing its ability to explore its surroundings meant losing its early warning and judgment, leaving it completely exposed to unknown dangers!
Fortunately, its sense of smell and Thermal Sensing had not vanished entirely, but they were so weakened that it could no longer construct a picture of its surroundings.
In its anxiety, it flicked its tongue faster and adjusted its heat sense again and again.
After many focused attempts, Black Snake discovered that the scents it could distinguish were slowly increasing, and it also detected a few unusual differences in temperature.
Just as Black Snake was busy piecing together its surroundings, its heat sense suddenly detected an unusual source of warmth approaching from a distance.
Its heat sense was severely weakened; it could see only a slowly moving mass of blurred color...