Chen Jin surveyed the empty cliff face, his thoughts tangled.
He had come here tonight to "revisit an old haunt," partly intending to search for clues. But had the Yan Household been on guard and put away all the hanging coffins?
Or had they placed the hanging coffins and zombies here to nurture their corpse nature with the moon's essence Qi, like planting crops in a field and harvesting them once they ripened?
In the end, he would still have to venture into the Yan Household Great Stronghold.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle!
Suddenly, the river upstream seemed to boil, giving off a tremendous, strange noise.
Chen Jin hurriedly looked over. Waves churned and spray flew there, as though some enormous creature lurked beneath the water, about to emerge.
With such a surging commotion, one could imagine how enormous the creature must be.
Could it be the great snake of legend?
Huang Yu had told him before that a great snake dwelled in the Nether Passage River. No one knew how long it was, and it rarely stirred, seemingly on the verge of transforming into a flood dragon and thus lying dormant, awaiting the proper time.
Now that spring thunder rumbled and spring returned to the earth, had that time not arrived?
If a great snake truly emerged, transformed into a flood dragon, and rode the waters, it would inevitably stir up a storm.
At this thought, Chen Jin lingered no longer. He turned and left this place of trouble.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Indistinct figures appeared atop the high cliff-a party of Yan Household disciples, all wearing their distinctive white hemp robes, with a large "Yan" character enclosed in a circle on their backs.
Their leader was a middle-aged man with dark skin, a face full of care and sorrow, and deep wrinkles across his forehead.
He was the Yan Household's current stronghold chief, Yan Laojiu.
But everyone in the stronghold knew that, in the Yan Household, Granduncle was the one who truly called the shots.
Beneath Granduncle came the Holy Maiden, Yan Hui.
Only then came the stronghold chief, Yan Laojiu.
Winter had passed and spring had come. Yan Hui had already departed the stronghold and returned to the Zhongnan Sword Sect's lower academy.
She was, after all, a disciple of the lower academy, with important cultivation tasks to attend to.
The so-called Demon-Slaying Alliance, formed before the new year, had disbanded as well. In any case, few Demon Beasts remained in the mountains now.
Every one of them had become a bird startled by a bowstring, hiding here and there, unable to pass a single day in peace.
As wandering martial artists and traveling merchants streamed into the mountains without end, filling them with human activity, those Demon Beasts would eventually all be exterminated, then skinned and stripped of their bones, becoming either food ingredients or medicinal materials.
Yan Laojiu was very pleased with this state of affairs in the mountains.
Standing high atop the cliff, he gazed down over the rolling mountains and winding waters, leisurely recalling the words Granduncle often repeated: "Fields are cleared to plant crops; once the crops ripen, they can be harvested into the granary and become provisions."
The Yan Household had chosen this place as the Corpse-Nurturing Cliff to suit the local conditions, valuing its uniquely favorable geographical position.
There was another important reason: an expert had surveyed its feng shui and offered guidance.
That expert had left behind a verse: "The river flows with sound, the sheer cliff rises a thousand feet; over lofty mountains the moon ascends, as waters fall, corpses emerge."
He had also determined that this place harbored an immense fortuitous opportunity. Whether human or corpse, whoever obtained it could ride clouds and command Qi, attain the Dao, and become an immortal.
Thus, each year, after Granduncle's Lifebound Corpse was transported here to nurture its corpse nature upon the cliff, it would always occupy the best position.
All for the sake of winning the favor of that legendary fortuitous opportunity.
Yan Laojiu bore the toil of these arrangements without a single complaint.
Everyone in the stronghold did the same, supporting them wholeheartedly, hoping Granduncle would one day become an immortal, and that, as members of the Yan Household, they too could ascend to heaven along with his chickens and dogs.
This was the Yan Household's blood oath.
Now, another new year had begun.
Yan Laojiu had led a group of elite Yan Household disciples up the mountain to inspect and clear the cliff, as well as lay out new
formations and so forth.
It was all because an accident had occurred last year: a White Zombie had thrown open its coffin and escaped, and its whereabouts remained unknown.
Yan Ji and several other disciples had also gone missing.
So much time had passed without any of those missing people returning that it was essentially a death sentence.
One could say that not even their bones remained.
The deaths of a few disciples were nothing. The crucial point was that such a mishap was no good omen.
Granduncle had been furious!
The Holy Maiden had been furious!
Yan Laojiu was under immense pressure, so he had personally led the party to oversee preparations for the new year's corpse nurturing, attending to everything himself.
With his hands clasped behind his back, he watched the Yan Household disciples move across the sheer cliff like monkeys, busily going about their work.
It was not that their lightness skills were exceptional. Rather, footholds of varying sizes had been carved into the cliff, and once accustomed to the route, they could move freely along it.
They also had ropes tied around their bodies to prevent dangerous accidents.
Watching this busy scene, Yan Laojiu smiled in satisfaction, calculating that in three days at most, they could transport the first batch of hanging coffins up the mountain and install them on the cliff.
The expert from back then had spoken vaguely and had never divined the precise time of the fortuitous opportunity. But according to Granduncle's conjecture, it would probably arrive within these next two or three years.
Time was precious. Nothing could be allowed to go wrong.
Just then, Yan Laojiu heard a series of tremendous crashes from below.
Boom! Boom!
The commotion came from the Nether Passage River. Raging waves battered the banks, with some crashing straight against the cliff face and bursting into a thousand heaps of snow.
At the sight, Yan Laojiu's expression changed.
There was wind tonight, of course, but it was nowhere near strong enough to whip up such ferocious waves. The surging river below looked as though it were boiling.
He suddenly recalled something about the Nether Passage River: a great snake was said to lie dormant within it, snow-white from head to tail and over ten zhang long, with cultivation so unfathomable that it could be called a thousand-year-old snake demon.
Though this demon dwelled here in year-round slumber and seldom emerged to wreak havoc, its very existence was an enormous threat.
Granduncle had once discussed it with Yan Hui, considering what means they might employ to slay the snake demon.
Yet after all their discussion, they remained at a complete loss, with nowhere to begin.
Never mind the snake demon's terrifying strength-even finding it was an exceedingly difficult problem.
In the river, it was practically invincible.
Unless Yan Hui could invite a True Person from the Zhongnan Sword Sect to act, but that was even less possible.
After much consideration, they had decided that staying still was better than making a move. Rather than provoking the snake demon, it was better to quietly watch how things developed.
Rumor had it that this snake was about to transform into a flood dragon. Once it succeeded, it would follow the current downstream and soar out to sea.
At that point, the threat would disappear on its own.
But Granduncle had another concern. He suspected that this snake demon might be lingering here to contend for that immense fortuitous opportunity.
If so, things would become troublesome.
As stronghold chief, Yan Laojiu naturally knew a good deal of the hidden circumstances. When he suddenly saw the river churning so abnormally, he immediately connected it with all manner of possible trouble.
Unable to restrain himself, he stepped forward and leaned out, standing right at the cliff's edge to get a clearer view of the situation below.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Huge waves surged out to either side, one side rushing onto the riverbank, the other battering the cliff face with deafening crashes.
The mountain shook.
The Yan Household disciples working on the cliff paled in horror and stopped one after another, struggling to keep their balance.
The next instant, Yan Laojiu seemed to catch sight of something and cried out involuntarily, "Quick! Everyone, climb up-"
In an instant, a dark shadow surged forth, and a dragonlike wave came roaring toward them.