Roar...
Rumble, rumble, rumble...
The enormous monster doubled back and charged toward the cave, its pounding footsteps shaking the ground.
Terror filled the monster's eyes as it drew close to Mountain Cave.
A figure was actually flying through the air, pursuing the monster.
Er Wazi's eyes widened at the sight. What was going on? Such a huge monster was running away from a person?
"Where do you think you're running, beast!" the figure cried in a clear feminine voice, thrusting a finger toward the monster...
A streak of sword light shot skyward from behind the figure, turning into a keen Sword-Ray that flew toward the enormous monster.
Awooo...
The monster let out a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering roar. Rings of blood-red symbols suddenly quivered around the single horn on its head, and it thrust its horn fiercely at the incoming Sword-Ray.
Clang!
The horn collided with the incoming sword light with a violent metallic crash. A storm surged outward, sending sand flying and stones tumbling in a terrifying display.
Who was this? How could someone actually fight that monster?
Er Wazi's expression changed. Completely bewildered, he plucked up his courage and cautiously poked his head out to look.
An exceptionally beautiful woman dressed in blue stood atop a lotus, darting through the air as she pointed her finger again and again.
A longsword flew through the air in a dazzling blur, turning into streaks of Chill Glint that relentlessly attacked the monster.
The monster's horn glowed like a red-hot branding iron. It kept shaking its head, knocking the Chill Glint of the sword light back.
The two traded blows, their repeated collisions sending ring after ring of storm winds sweeping outward...
Er Wazi watched with his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
Could this be one of the immortals Teacher Lan Qing had spoken of?
The monster howled in terror, abruptly abandoning its attempt to return to Mountain Cave and fleeing madly into the distance.
"Don't even think of escaping!" the beautiful woman shouted angrily. The lotus beneath her feet burst with white light as she gave chase, sending successive streaks of sword light flying after the monster...
One fled and the other pursued, and in the blink of an eye, both were far away.
With the monster's roars and the woman's furious cries echoing in the distance, Er Wazi stood rooted to the spot.
He had never imagined that a female immortal of the sort Teacher Lan Qing described would appear here.
Everything he had seen went far beyond his imagination.
If only I could have skills like that.
A powerful longing suddenly welled up in Er Wazi for the woman's flying sword and her ability to soar through the air.
Still, he did not dare follow them to see what happened, and he could not have caught up anyway.
Getting away alive comes first.
Er Wazi was just about to leave when inspiration flashed through his mind. The monster was no match for that immortal. It surely would not dare return.
Gritting his teeth, he went back into Mountain Cave. The Purple Jade Little Cauldron he had picked up inside earlier had to be a treasure.
With so many bones inside, people must have been killed by the monster, leaving their belongings behind...
There should be other things, too.
Er Wazi returned to Mountain Cave, took a firelighter from his clothes, and opened it. By its light, he began digging in the earthen floor, paying particular attention to the spot where he had found the Purple Jade Little Cauldron.
First, he dug up some bones, then turned over a piece of cloth. Digging a little more, he discovered that it was actually a bulging bundle with things inside.
Don't get greedy.
Er Wazi warned himself, quickly filled in the hole, and grabbed some bones to scatter over it, leaving no sign that anything had been disturbed.
He did not dare linger. Who knew when that powerful female immortal would return? In any case, it was better not to meet her.
Carrying the bundle, Er Wazi left Mountain Cave. His firelighter went out, leaving him to feel his way through the darkness toward the valley's exit.
Once outside the valley, Er Wazi did not dare continue down the mountain in the dark. The mountain forests were terribly dangerous at night.
There should have been an abandoned hunter's hut nearby. He had seen it while searching for the cattle. He would spend the night there and wait until daylight before deciding what to do.
He found the hut. No one had been there for a long time, and it smelled of decay, but it was sturdy enough that he need not fear attacks from wild beasts.
Hunters used to stay here at night so they could hunt after dark. Ever since that time when none of the hunters who entered the mountains returned, the hut had been abandoned.
Er Wazi shut the door, breathed a sigh of relief, and sat on the wooden bed.
"I really got lucky this time. Lucky to be alive," Er Wazi murmured with another relieved breath.
As he spoke, he took the Purple Jade Little Cauldron from inside his clothes and complained, "It's all this thing's fault. Everything was fine, so why did you have to start shaking?"
When he took out the Small Cauldron and looked at it, he was dumbfounded. The Small Cauldron that had once shone with purple light now looked like stone. It had become a little stone cauldron.
"What's going on? It definitely wasn't like this before." Er Wazi turned the Small Cauldron over and over, utterly baffled.
Then he remembered how it had suddenly begun shaking and absorbed all the light from the glowing stones on the cave ceiling.
It must have changed like this after absorbing that light.
Unable to work out what had happened, Er Wazi set the little stone Small Cauldron aside, then picked up the bundle and patted off the dirt and dust.
He untied the bundle and looked by the moonlight. Inside were two silver ingots.
"I'm rich!" Er Wazi was overjoyed.
These were two large silver ingots, each weighing a full ten taels. Even Wang Laocai's five cattle would not sell for ten taels. He was rich!
He could not make sense of the other few items: what looked like a bronze token, a book, and a jade slip. There was nothing else.
Even with the moonlight, he could not make out what was written in the book.
After running around for much of the night, he was tired. He lay down on the bed, and when he felt a little cold, he draped the bundle's cloth over himself...
But he tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
His thoughts galloped across the heavens, unbridled. One moment, he imagined how wonderful it would be if he could become as powerful as that female immortal...
The next, he imagined taking this silver and these belongings to the city to live a good life...
In any case, he simply could not sleep.
The beautiful woman walked out of the cave, displeasure written across her face. "Damn it. Who got here ahead of me?"
As she spoke, she pointed a slender, jade-like finger, and a white lotus flew out. She floated onto it and soared into the sky.
"I refuse to believe you could have gotten far!" the woman muttered. Spiritual light rippled from the lotus beneath her feet as she began searching the mountain forests.
She had just flown out of the valley when a Chill Glint flashed in her eyes, and she looked toward the hut in the forest...