It was still cold outside the cave, but the Azure Cloud Monastery bustled with activity.
When Black Snake went down to the village and used Dream Entry to spout nonsense, the villagers mentioned that it was the twelfth lunar month, the end of the year. Black Snake did not quite understand either term, but supposed it must be something important in the human world.
Every day, an endless stream of people climbed the mountain, travel-worn from their journeys from the County Seat or nearby towns.
Incense smoke curled upward all day long.
Black Snake slept in the cave during the day and often heard chanting.
Unable to sleep, Black Snake simply poked a head out of the cave to breathe the crisp, cold air.
Thinking back to holding up the Heretic Cultivator's Yin Soul and making it die, Black Snake remembered a strange, mysterious sensation. That must have been the benefit the Abbot had spoken of.
Black Snake had never expected to receive a reward even in the Underworld. It was truly astonishing.
And that was the end of that, because Black Snake could not puzzle it out.
Everything had been peaceful lately. Each night, Black Snake only needed to practice swordsmanship as usual, then make a perfunctory patrol down the mountain. Outside the cave, the weather veered between cold and warm, but fortunately, the temperature inside barely changed.
Then one evening, Black Snake heard a great bustle in the Azure Cloud Monastery. Evening prayers should already have ended. Curious, Black Snake slithered out of the cave to look.
Every hall blazed with candlelight, light and shadows swaying.
The Daoists were still hurrying through the corridors, and pilgrims were even climbing the mountain path with lanterns.
Coiled on the Rocky Ridge, Black Snake pondered. There seemed to be a night