The moon in the sky was reflected in the river. A wave struck, shattering it into myriad fragments of light.
Corpse-Nurturing Cliff lay completely bare, and the Yan Household disciples no longer appeared.
The being in the water seemed to have finished playing, or perhaps it wanted to look for something. With a sweep of its tail, it headed downstream.
When it reached Savage Ford, it suddenly stopped. With a sharp crack, it forced a mutant toad out.
The toad was dripping wet, whether from river water or a cold sweat of terror was unclear. In any case, it now lay trembling on the bank, its legs shaking uncontrollably, kowtowing repeatedly toward the river as it croaked urgently.
A beam of white light suddenly shot out of the river and landed directly on the toad's thick neck.
"Croak! Spare me..."
"Ah, I can talk?"
Realizing what had happened, the mutant toad could not contain its delight and hurriedly kowtowed. "Thank you for enlightening me, exalted immortal."
A clear voice came from the river. "You occupy this place. Have you encountered a corpse monster?"
The toad froze, then hurriedly answered, "Yes, there was indeed one."
It immediately recounted how it had been sleeping at the ford that day when a corpse monster intruded. It had intended to knock the intruder into the river, only to become the plum tree sacrificed in place of the peach and take a lightning strike instead.
Having only just refined its Heng Bone, it spoke indistinctly, stumbling over its words.
The "exalted immortal" listened patiently, then asked, "And afterward?"
The toad continued its account, including its tussle with the monkey king, how Chen Jin's "flying sword" had frightened it into fleeing, and so forth.
"Did this corpse monster ever fish at the ford?"
The "exalted immortal" questioned it again.
"Fish?"
The toad thought for a moment, then answered honestly, "This lowly one went to Black Wind Mountain then, so I don't know what happened here."
After a pause, it hurriedly added, "But I remember that some days ago, the corpse monster came to the ford and then headed upstream. I don't know where it went."
At this, the "exalted immortal" let out a lingering sigh, feeling as though she had lost something:
Time after time, she had missed him.
Where exactly had things gone wrong?
After turning it over in her mind, she could find only one possibility: heaven's workings were unfathomable, and a variable had arisen.
If she continued searching now, it would be too deliberate, like climbing a tree to catch fish, bringing misfortune rather than blessing.
Enough. Better to return.
She was about to leave when she caught sight of the toad on the bank, and a thought stirred: This creature took a lightning tribulation in that person's place. It has some blessed affinity. I might as well take it along.
She immediately asked, "Would you be willing to come cultivate with me?"
Hearing this, the toad went wild with joy. The surprise struck its head like a great bell, leaving it dizzy and dazed, unable to speak for a long while.
"What? You aren't willing?"
"Yes, of course I am!"
The toad answered in a frantic rush. Only a fool would refuse such a wonderful opportunity.
For it, this was an immense stroke of fortune. Sure enough, once the corpse monster that embodied ill omen left, its luck had turned.
Luck, sheer luck!
Not daring to hesitate in the slightest, it immediately jumped into the water and followed the "exalted immortal," riding the wind and cleaving the waves as they departed.
The night was deep, and the crescent moon had set.
After dealing with the nearby incidents of murder and robbery, Chen Jin returned to the bird's nest and did not come out again to absorb moonlight essence Qi.
In fact, after spending a winter in meditation, he had acquired a tremendous quantity of earth yin Qi. His body was already in a state of severely excessive yin and depleted yang.
Moonlight essence Qi also fell within the category of "yin Qi," though it was purer in quality and easier to refine.
In other words, Chen Jin did not lack that little bit of yin Qi now. What he needed more was yang fire to balance it, bringing yin and yang into harmony.
The morning sun purple Qi he absorbed each day was a cup of water against a blazing cartload of firewood, unlikely to accomplish anything in the short term.
He therefore urgently needed a potent dose of medicine.
The Dragon-Tiger Inner Treasury Mysterious Scripture contained detailed explanations of how to gather medicine and how to take it.
But those referred to internal medicine.
Given Chen Jin's current internal imbalance, he needed to seek external medicine.
He would not seek it from others, but from the timing of heaven.
And so he began to wait.
The jade rabbit sank in the west, and the morning sun rose in the east. A new day arrived.
Clear skies.
Sun and moon traded places, and another new day came.
Still clear skies.
Chen Jin could not help growing somewhat anxious.
Especially when, at noon that day, another troop arrived, numbering more than a dozen, with ample manpower and excellent equipment.
They had set their sights on this secluded valley. They lingered outside discussing it for a long time, even sending someone in to try exploring.
Held back by the pervasive miasma, the scout ultimately dared not venture deep, merely circling around the outskirts.
Clearly, this group was unwilling to give up just like that.
They believed that a place so rarely visited by people might well hold treasures, spirit medicines, and the like, waiting to be discovered.
Seeing them linger outside, Chen Jin grew even more anxious and pondered what method he could use to drive them away.
Fortunately, at that moment, disagreements arose among the troop's members, and they even began arguing.
Some of them withdrew.
After discussing matters, the remaining people likewise left before nightfall.
Chen Jin inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, but the sense of urgency in his heart would not leave. Having eavesdropped on their conversation, he knew they were only leaving temporarily. Once they found a way to overcome the miasma, they could return at any time.
Chen Jin did not have much time left.
That night, he lay in the bird's nest, gazing up at the bright moon in a trance.
People always said, "The moon has cloudy and clear nights, waxes and wanes," so why was it stubbornly "clear" when he wanted clouds?
Things were far from satisfactory, far from pleasing.
As he thought, another idea suddenly occurred to Chen Jin. If his conjecture was correct, then favorable and unfavorable heavenly conditions could actually be manipulated.
In legend, those true immortals who possessed great Divine Abilities could move stars and shift constellations, summon winds and call rain.
These were all concrete manifestations of using Divine Abilities to manipulate heavenly conditions and weather.
Chen Jin knew his own limits. Of course he had no such capability, but he did have a special constitution.
Since that was the case, he might as well try.
He would seek neither others nor heaven, but only himself.
With a resolute air, he sprang to his feet, reached out, and pushed the concealing branches and leaves aside, securing them so nothing blocked the space above his head.
Then he raised his head and looked straight into the night sky.
The next instant, he circulated his cultivation method. No longer suppressing anything, he released all the yin baleful corpse Qi within his body without restraint.
In an instant, yin Qi billowed like surging, thick smoke, threatening to shoot straight into the clouds.
As he released it like this, the savage yin baleful Qi inevitably began eroding his mind and will.
Almost simultaneously, Chen Jin's eyes reddened. Ghostly wails and demonic howls rang in his ears, and he even began hallucinating: densely packed, hideous ghosts threw themselves onto him, biting madly, intent on tearing him into countless pieces.
At this critical moment, he held fast to his true self, visualizing the sun and moon appearing together in his mind, thereby keeping all evil from invading.
Then he opened his mouth and cried, "Wind, come!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The wind really did rise.
A great wind swept up, drawing in dark clouds. Then the clouds gathered, layer upon layer, churning ceaselessly.
The bright moon and gentle breeze gave way in the blink of an eye to a darkened sky and earth.
Moments later, thunder rumbled, and silver serpents bared their fangs and brandished their claws.
Crack!
One bolt of lightning struck down, landing squarely on the head of Chen Jin, who stood with both hands raised, his face turned toward the sky.
At that moment, the strike charred his entire body black and stiffened all four limbs. He felt his soul flying apart, as though he were about to die...