Late at night, Black Snake's enormous body lay coiled in the darkness behind the house, while his Yin Spirit sat on the roof, basking in the moonlight.
Whenever a phantom drawn by the boy's aura appeared, a single sweeping glance sent it fleeing in terror.
Yet an indescribable unease lingered. Even after swiftly patrolling several miles around them, he found nothing.
It felt as though a pair of eyes were always watching from the shadows.
He Ning slept fitfully that night.
Black Snake lowered his head and quietly sensed her condition. There were only chaotic fragments of broken dreams, with no evil spirit entering her dreams to wreak havoc. He could not help her.
There was nothing he could do but keep silent vigil until dawn.
He Ning had slept very lightly all night. The exhaustion accumulated over days of travel came surging up, and irritation creased her brow.
In the morning, they ate porridge with some tender green wild vegetables.
They left a few copper coins for the farming family.
The two continued on their donkeys. Fortunately, Chen An's illness had eased considerably again, and they no longer needed to stop as frequently to rest. He Ning could find no reasonable explanation and could only attribute it all to the unfathomable will of heaven.
But Black Snake felt that He Ning had undergone some inexplicable changes.
He rarely saw her frown for so long.
Perhaps the constant travel had exhausted her. Once their business was finished and they returned to the mountain, a few days of rest would let her recover.
It looked as though it might rain today. The heavy clouds pressed down until even breathing felt stifling.
As they walked, they suddenly saw a white haze over a distant mountaintop. There happened to be an outward-slanting rock