Night lay deep, and seven young people sat around a fire.
They were already in the mountains, with towering, precipitous cliffs on either side. The sky had been narrowed to a line, and the snow clouds that had vanished for many days had appeared again, covering everything.
The starlight came not from the stars, but from Yin Qingmo's Star Pot.
A bell hung quietly in the distance, sensing changes in the aura of heaven and earth, ready at any moment to ring out clearly.
Yao Songshan sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. He had summoned his Green Sword and laid it quietly across his knees to receive external nourishment.
The other six were also recuperating and meditating, but from time to time they could not help looking toward the rock several hundred feet away.
Jing Jiu and Bai Zao sat on that rock.
That day, before they entered this mountain range, Jing Jiu had asked everyone to stop.
They had not quite understood. They thought that continuing onward and hunting Snow Beasts might help him secure first place in the Dao Battle sooner. Why stop?
But they now held Jing Jiu in great respect, and Bai Zao had raised no objection either, so the nine of them had stopped in the gorge.
At dusk today, more than a dozen Snow-Foot Beasts had suddenly come charging from outside the mountains, intent on passing through the gorge.
Jing Jiu had not acted, only occasionally offering a word or two at critical moments.
Bai Zao had once again displayed her almost flawless ability as a leader, guiding her companions to kill every one of those dozen or so Snow-Foot Beasts.
Under her command, the eight of them had far greater fighting strength than the two teams combined, because she could bring