Gods Sing, Ghosts Chant, Aiding the Hero's Song - Spring Breezes Enter Dreams, Mist Veils the Twelve Witch Peaks

For some reason, the sunset glow that evening was unusually brilliant and long-lasting.

Ordinarily, a dusk filled with colorful clouds was fleeting. Often, no sooner had one noticed the evening clouds blazing red as fire than one had to watch them fade. That evening, however, as Xing Yan traveled, he saw bright crimson clouds stretching a thousand miles along the horizon, lingering without dispersing and casting their glow over the surrounding fields, mountains, and rivers like a veil of scarlet silk. So beautiful was the sunset that the three companions often stopped to admire it.

Only after another hour or so did those splendid, delicate fire-clouds gradually fade, and a slender crescent moon finally revealed her graceful figure in the eastern sky. Before darkness completely shrouded the earth, Xing Yan and his two companions reached a bustling market town. By then, *** had already been lit along both sides of its streets. After asking a passerby, Xing Yan learned that this large town, standing at a crossroads, was called Yaoyang.

After so many days traveling through remote mountain wilderness, and such a terrible fright earlier that day, Xing Yan could not help relaxing at the sudden sight of this bustling marketplace, brilliant with *** and alive with voices. He led Qiong Rong and Xueyi through its streets and lanes, lingering over all the local delicacies. They enjoyed themselves so thoroughly that only when even Qiong Rong declared she could eat no more did the three begin looking for lodgings.

After asking at almost every inn in town, Hall Master Zhang, who was leading the way, finally realized a serious problem:

The inns in Yaoyang really were in high demand. Of all those they had visited, not one had a vacant room!

Only then did Xing Yan regret indulging himself earlier.