(Springing up in shock from a dying sickbed, shedding the old shell to become a butterfly-all within this book!)
The night was deep as the sea. Fierce winds howled, lightning flashed, and thunder roared.
Crack!
Suddenly, a silver serpent struck down from the nine heavens, hitting a hanging coffin on a high cliff dead on.
In the lightning's glare, hanging coffins of every description could be seen densely covering the hundred-zhang precipice.
There were wooden coffins, stone coffins, and even jade coffins.
The wooden coffin struck by lightning looked perfectly ordinary and square. A layer of dust covered its head end, where a clump of purple wildflowers had actually grown, swaying gracefully in the wind.
Crack!
A second silver serpent followed close behind, striking the coffin in a shower of sparks and burning away the bird-script talismanic markings carved into its lid.
Creak, creak, creak!
The next instant, the pitch-black coffin lid began to loosen, pushed open little by little with a strange, teeth-grating sound.
A withered hand covered in red hair reached out.
Its five fingernails were long and curved. It looked less like a human hand than a beast's claw.
The claw pushed the lid aside, and a corpse sat up, its clothes ancient, its face withered, its tangled hair like dead grass.
Who am I?
Where am I?
"He" could not make sense of it for a time. His head hurt as though it would split, and he could not help clutching it with both hands, low "huh, huh" growls issuing from his throat, utterly unlike a human voice.
Crackle!
A third silver serpent crashed down with terrifying force.
"He" felt his hair stand on end. Sensing tremendous danger descending, he immediately leaped out.
Splash!
He landed squarely in a broad, swift-flowing river beneath the cliff.
The river surged and waves battered him, carrying the corpse monster downstream.
The corpse monster had an instinctive aversion to the current. He adjusted his posture in time and actually stood upright, treading over the waves until he reached the nearby bank.
This was a desolate wild ferry landing, overgrown with reeds, with mud underfoot. Abandoned, rotting boats and collapsed houses stood all around, showing that it had once enjoyed bustle and prosperity. But by now, who knew how many years it had lain in ruin; the smell of decay filled every corner.
The corpse monster's senses were very poor. His five senses seemed imprisoned in a pitch-black cell: he could not see clearly, could not hear distinctly, could not smell anything...
Yet "his" soul and consciousness remained. He could think and feel joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, proof enough that he was no mere walking corpse.
Groping his way forward, he touched a rock and instinctively sat down, wanting to rest a while.
The rock abruptly moved. It was actually a strange toad as large as a wicker basket, its skin rough and tough. Squatting there, it had turned itself into a stone.
It had been fast asleep and sprang up in alarm.
This sudden turn startled the corpse monster, and he hurriedly took a defensive stance.
The toad bulged its great eyes, the lumps covering its body like armor. It hopped aside, swiftly concealed its presence, blended into its surroundings, and then observed.
After observing, it became very angry.
The intruder had come uninvited and trespassed on its territory.
So it opened its cavernous, blood-red maw, its long tongue poised to strike, ready to swallow him:
No, he stinks too much. And he's covered in red hair. Looks poisonous...
The toad closed its mouth, blinked, and decided to try another method. It sprang through the air like a flying stone, intending to knock the corpse monster into the river to drown.
Thud!
In a flash, the corpse monster leaped clear.
At the same time, a bolt of lightning as thick as an arm struck down, landing squarely on the charging toad's back.
"Croak!"
The unlucky toad gave a miserable cry. The lightning left it charred outside and tender within, its white belly turned skyward.
It actually survived. After lying dazed on the ground for quite a while, it recovered somewhat and began hopping frantically. It plunged headfirst into the river, went straight to the bottom, and hid beneath the silt and sand, not daring to show its head again.
Having escaped disaster, the corpse monster hurried forward.
In truth, "he" did not know where he was going or where he could go. Driven by a thread of his inner self, he stubbornly believed that somewhere ahead there would always be a way out meant for him.
A little while later, torrential rain poured down.
The rain striking his body left him drenched and deeply uncomfortable. The corpse monster's instinctive response was to find somewhere sheltered from the wind and rain.
For instance: a coffin.
But he soon realized something was wrong, and a powerful thought rose in his mind:
I'm human. I shouldn't be lying in a cramped, confining coffin that never sees the light of day.
He slowly straightened. In that instant, scattered fragments of memory flickered like sparks, bringing more to mind:
That's right! I'm a person with a name. My name is... "Chen Jin"?
A living person very much needed to remember his own name.
As he thought more deeply, his head began to swell with needle-like pain again. Chen Jin could only stop trying to remember for the moment.
The immediate priority was shelter from the rain-and, even more importantly, from the lightning.
Braving the wind and rain, he left the muddy ferry flats with stiff steps and made his way onto a hillside.
The path was slippery, and he accidentally fell along the way, covering himself in mud and water and cutting quite a sorry figure.
But he paid no mind to any of that. He climbed up and kept going.
An old banyan stood on the hillside, its canopy like an umbrella, its lush branches and leaves shielding the ground well from the downpour.
"Hoo, hoo!"
This place already had owners. Amid urgent calls, vicious faces with pointed cheeks and protruding muzzles peered out through the foliage.
It was a troop of black-furred mountain monkeys.
Spotting the intruder, they began shouting and screeching. Some waved their claws, some snapped off branches, and some jumped to the ground to grab clods of mud or stones...
Without further ado, they hurled whatever they could get their hands on straight at Chen Jin's head and face.
A few old monkeys even leaned down from above, mustering all their strength to spit furiously, then spread their legs and relieved themselves downward.
As far as they knew, spit and urine could strike at ghosts and monsters.
Crackle!
A thunderclap erupted from nowhere. Lightning blazed in every direction, striking the towering banyan's crown and setting it ablaze with lightning fire.
"Eek, eek, eek!"
The frightened monkeys scattered, leaving behind several companions killed by lightning, and fled as far as they could.
Chen Jin was frightened too, but everything around him was a bewildering blur. With his movements sluggish as well, he had no idea where to go.
As he searched, he discovered a stone structure beneath the tree. It was small, with just enough room to shelter him.
He could not spare any further thought and hurriedly crawled inside.
This was probably a shrine. Clearly abandoned, it had long since ceased receiving incense offerings. Even the divine statues and such were nowhere to be found. Completely empty, it made a suitable temporary dwelling.
The shrine was solidly built. Though weathered by the years, it still stood firm, keeping out wind and rain. Unfortunately, it was too low for him to stand upright; he could only sit cross-legged.
Chen Jin dared not let his guard down and remained alert at all times.
Fortunately, the lightning tribulation in the sky seemed to have dissipated. No more bolts struck down.
Sitting quietly inside the shrine, his heart gradually settled. He leaned sideways, straining to listen to the wind and rain outside.
The indistinct rustling was probably the sound of wind and rain beating against the leaves.
Listening to those faint sounds, Chen Jin seemed to find proof that he was still alive. An inexplicable pleasure filled him, and he grinned, a line of verse naturally coming to mind:
"Alone I sit, watching mountains and waters; soundly I sleep, listening to wind and rain."