The old woman's sudden packing up surprised the nearby stallholders.
"Granny Lan, why are you packing up already? There are more people here than at night!"
The old Miao woman offered a cursory reply. "I just remembered I have some other good wares back at the stockade. This old woman is going back to fetch them."
With that, she flicked out a small insect. It grew larger upon landing, looking somewhat like a snake, though shorter and thicker, more like an enormous bamboo tube, with many bamboo-like joints along its body. The old woman tossed everything on her stall into the insect's mouth. Then it shrank again and returned to her hand.
Cheng Xinzhan followed some distance behind her. They soon left Earth Dragon Mountain, heading south toward Western Hunan. After watching Cheng Xinzhan leave, Shen Zhaoming took another road, also bound for Western Hunan.
The roads through Mount Wuling were truly difficult, winding through caves and across streams and ravines. Flying high was not an option either: the mountains were too numerous and tightly packed, obstructing flight, which might require an even more circuitous route. Any higher, and miasma, mist, and vegetation obscured everything, leaving nothing visible.
After traveling for about four hours, the two arrived before a cliff in a gorge.
Cheng Xinzhan had formed his core in spring, and now it was already late summer, verging on autumn. Thin mist hung dimly here, and the vegetation flourished. Mountain flowers and wild fruit of every kind shone red, orange, yellow, and green-a truly lovely sight.
At this point, the old Miao woman turned and said respectfully,
"Daoist, my stockade is just ahead. There are many mortals living there, so I hope you will never reveal this place to anyone, Senior."
Cheng Xinzhan nodded. "Rest assured. But let me