A small gorge lay hidden east of the mountain path, revealing only a sliver of itself in autumn and winter, when the water dwindled and the grass withered.
The gorge was extremely narrow, choked with overlapping rocks and dense weeds.
In those days, only the wealthy had the leisure to explore secluded wonders. Ordinary people went hungry often enough and naturally refused to waste their strength scrambling into a place like this. Remote and rugged, it was all but untouched.
In fact, a short walk inside and a turn around a bend led to a small waterfall at the very end.
The waterfall was rather thin during the dry season, seven or eight zhang high, and the pool beneath it was almost filled with fallen leaves.
Black Snake sat above the gorge, waiting.
If anything went wrong, the Azure Cloud Monastery was just over the small ridge.
It was the latter half of the night.
He spotted two heat sources approaching from afar, one large and one small. One was the old fox. The other gave off ordinary heat, with sparse, scattered spiritual energy, and posed no threat. He lightly leaped down to the gorge's mouth and sat on the rocks to wait.
A demon wind smelling of raw earth swept toward him. The old fox rushed up and collapsed on the ground, belly heaving violently, tongue hanging out as he panted.
Black Snake worried that he might die of exhaustion. He Ning had said he could not eat intelligent creatures who had neither wronged him nor borne him any grudge. What a pity.
The other was a rat demon who looked very old. His scent differed from the one who had escaped earlier.
He shakily stood upright.
His whiskers trembled wildly. About a chi tall, he looked like a