It was dusk, and the sky was overcast.
The rain that had persisted for days had finally stopped, but clear skies had not followed. Everything remained gray and gloomy.
It looked as though winter was coming.
As a corpse monster, Chen Jin was naturally steeped in Yin Baleful Intent. He preferred cold to heat to begin with, and the colder the season, the more comfortable he felt.
Besides, winter brought short days and long nights, with the moon particularly bright and cool, making it all the more suitable for drawing in moonlight essence.
Below the slope, a band of mountain monkeys stood in formation, some holding wooden clubs, others carrying stones, looking ready for battle.
Their injuries had yet to heal, and they still had trouble moving, but their spirits were excellent. Every one of them looked brazen and kept clamoring:
"Whoo, whoo, whoo!"
Their fighting spirit soared, ready to charge into battle at any moment.
For no other reason than that they had someone backing them.
Oh, rather, they had a sword immortal.
By contrast, the row of weasels opposite them all hung their heads in dejection, making for a stark contrast.
The sight of Chen Jin immediately sent a stir through the weasels, and they nearly turned and fled. Only the thought of their ancestor's stern orders kept them from running. They stood there with their legs trembling, the timid ones wetting themselves in fright.
A strong, rank stench immediately filled the air.
At this sight, the mountain monkeys grew even more excited, feeling that they could finally hold their heads high. They jeered with strange cries, clapped vigorously, and banged their wooden clubs against stones, raising a noisy din.
The monkey king read the situation and immediately gestured for silence, bringing the scene under control.
Chen Jin walked slowly forward, surveying them without a word.
The weasels did not dare raise their heads to meet his gaze, enduring immense pressure. After a while, a bolder one finally began taking the bundle off its back.
As it turned out, each had come carrying a large, bulging bundle.
With someone taking the lead, the other weasels followed suit, hurriedly untying their bundles and taking out their contents.
Then they stood upright, respectfully holding the items in their paws.
A closer look revealed clothes, hats, fresh fruit, fine hairs from the tips of their tails, and pots, bowls, ladles, basins, and all manner of odds and ends.
What was going on?
Chen Jin gave it a moment's thought and quickly understood.
So this band of weasels had come to his door bearing gifts of apology.
Presumably, their ancestor feared that Chen Jin would come knocking to kill them, so it had hurried to yield, gathered a great heap of presentable gifts, and sent its youngsters to deliver them.
It really had become a spirit.
The monkey king, meanwhile, had been unable to decide what to do and had gone up to ask for instructions.
Secretly amused, Chen Jin stepped forward to look through the gifts.
The fresh fruit, pots, bowls, ladles, basins, and such could go to the monkeys;
The fine hairs from the tips of the weasels' tails contained spirituality and were materials of decent quality, suitable for making writing brushes, talisman brushes, and the like;
At that moment, a memory stirred in Chen Jin: he knew how to draw talismans.
Qi refinement, visualization, Swordsmanship, talisman drawing...
I knew quite a lot.
Or did cultivators all have to be broadly learned and versatile?
He continued looking through the other things.
Clothes, well, I already had something to wear, but this one seemed pretty good...
He picked it up and gently shook it out, discovering an intact, antique blue-green kasaya. Draped over his body, it fit quite well.
He kept it.
Aside from that, he also took a bamboo-leaf hat. Worn on his head, it could conceal his face and keep off the rain.
By accepting the gifts, Chen Jin had accepted the yellow immortals' request for peace.
Relieved of a great burden, the weasels delivering the gifts set everything down, prostrated themselves and kowtowed, then left.
Once Chen Jin had finished choosing, it was the monkey king's turn. Its first priority was to take a robe and put it on.
Ever since it had started wearing clothes, only to have them torn apart by the weasels in the melee, it had felt uncomfortable all over with nothing to wear. Its crotch in particular felt drafty and terribly uncomfortable, and there was also a sense of shame it could hardly put into words.
Now that it finally had clothes on again, it immediately felt at ease.
After it finished choosing, the monkeys divided up the rest, snatching everything clean.
In this respect, the monkeys truly could not compare with the yellow immortals.
The weasels occupied the graveyard area. After years of digging up graves and robbing tombs, along with highway robbery, they must have amassed considerable possessions.
Chen Jin had no interest in those things. Wearing the kasaya and carrying the bamboo-leaf hat, he returned to the shrine to continue cultivating.
Miscellaneous possessions were all external things; only cultivation attainment was true.
Meanwhile, having completed their task, the weasels hurried back to report to their ancestor.
Their ancestor lived deep inside an ancient tomb.
The tomb had long since fallen into disrepair, with several robbers' tunnels dug into it. The coffins inside had been damaged, and the bodies and such were nowhere to be found.
Later, the weasels had taken a fancy to it and claimed it for themselves.
This ancestor had awakened its intelligence and, much like the monkey king, wanted to learn human speech and human ways. It had even given itself a name, taking "Huang" as its surname and calling itself "Huang Yu."
It thought the name sounded very nice.
Under its leadership, the yellow immortals' power had continued to grow.
Whenever a weasel in the clan reached a sufficient level of cultivation, it would wait by the roadside and ask passersby for a verbal bestowal.
If they spotted anything good, they would commit a little highway robbery along the way.
This time, it was because they had coveted the treasured sword on the monkey king's back that they had poured out in full force, even at the cost of going to war with the monkeys.
Huang Yu had an eye for quality and knew that this sword was extraordinary and immensely valuable.
Although none of the weasels in the clan could use a sword, once they seized it, they could trade it with someone else when an opportunity arose.
They would certainly be able to exchange it for something very good.
Huang Yu was ambitious, unwilling to remain tucked away in a remote corner. It wanted to lead its clan out of these barren mountains and treacherous waters.
This was a grand goal to strive toward, requiring extensive preparations on every front.
The essence of those preparations was to accumulate resources of every kind.
Thus, it had been willing to fight the mountain monkeys to seize the sword.
It needed not only to win this battle, but to win decisively. Thus, Huang Yu had led a large band of weasels to attack Banyan Tree Slope, using the opportunity to make a name for itself and establish its might.
Never in its wildest expectations had it imagined that a sword immortal presided over Banyan Tree Slope.
With a beckon of his hand, the sword immortal had taken the treasured sword away.
At that instant, Huang Yu had seemed to hear a sword's cry coming from the blade itself, as though something spiritually aware lay within it. A single thought from the sword immortal, and the sword would turn against it and cut off its head.
At the time, Huang Yu had truly wet itself in terror, immediately turning to flee for its life.
Fortunately, the flying sword had not pursued it to kill it after all.
After returning to the ancient tomb, it had lived in constant dread. Whenever it closed its eyes, it saw the sword immortal's terrifying, withered, bluish face.
It knew that the distance between Banyan Tree Slope and the graveyard could not stop the sword immortal; nor could the burial chamber hidden deep underground...
After turning the matter over and over, it had come up with a solution: prepare gifts of apology and send them to Banyan Tree Slope to request peace and express regret.
As long as the sword immortal accepted the gifts, it would mean there was room for things to turn around. If he refused, there would be nothing more to say: the whole clan would have to relocate at once and flee.
Huang Yu did not dare go itself, so it selected a dozen or so capable weasels as envoys.
After the envoys set out, it remained in the tomb awaiting news, anxious and restless.
Before nightfall, all the weasels it had sent returned, every last one of them, with none killed.
Upon hearing that the sword immortal had accepted the bamboo-leaf hat and kasaya and put them on, Huang Yu let out a long breath of relief.
Tonight, it could finally sleep well.