The clouds and rain dispersed, and moonlight reappeared.
A thin figure left the nest, like a bird spreading its wings in flight, swept down from the towering ancient tree, passed through the miasma-filled secluded valley, and emerged.
He wore an old-looking coarse hemp shirt that did not fit, too large and slightly loose; on his feet were straw sandals with hemp loops, in his hand a leather case, and on his head a bamboo hat. He looked like a mountain forager who roamed the wild mountains and rivers.
Chen Jin had pieced this outfit together from odds and ends he had accumulated over time.
Since the Slay Evil Sword was far too conspicuous, he had wrapped its gilt hilt in strips of cloth before putting it into the leather case.
He left the secluded valley and walked on. Along the way, he came across a mountain stream, so he went over and used the water as a mirror to examine his present appearance.
Under the faint moonlight, the clear water reflected a haggard face with sallow skin, scruffy stubble, and graying hair casually tied with a cord and tucked beneath his bamboo hat.
His eyelids were noticeably swollen, which did a good job of concealing the liveliness of his eyes.
In short, anyone who saw him like this would take him for the sort of middle-aged man who toiled and traveled all year round yet still barely scraped by.
One might even say he was entering his twilight years.
But compared with his former zombie face, this outer shell was better by who knew how many times. If he could be a few decades younger, he would certainly be a handsome young fellow.
At this thought, Chen Jin could not help smiling faintly.
He understood perfectly well that this body's internal organs had previously withered and failed, and its Qi and Blood had long been depleted. Though he had now opened all twelve primary meridians, a full recovery was by no means something that could happen overnight.
It was not as though he could simply pump himself full of air.
After examining his appearance and tidying himself up a little, Chen Jin set off again, walking through the vast night.
His first stop was Corpse-Nurturing Cliff once more.
Though danger lurked there, many days had passed, and he had no idea what the situation was now. He needed to come and find out.
In any case, after transforming from a corpse into a human, the True Qi within him had gained a living source. He felt he had some grounds for confidence; if he could not win a fight, he could always escape.
For some reason, the river beneath the cliff was especially calm that night, its waters burbling along without wind or waves.
Chen Jin approached cautiously, peering about. First, he hid among the reeds to observe. After a while, he confirmed that the thousand-year-old snake demon was no longer there. It had probably left.
Looking again at the cliff face above, he noticed something different. It was pitted and cratered, as though it had been battered.
Clearly, something must have happened here.
Had the snake demon launched a fierce attack on the Yan Household disciples?
If so, that would be a good thing.
As for the precise details, he had not witnessed them himself. Even if he heard accounts, they could only be treated as conjecture, not taken as certain.
Chen Jin's gaze fell upon a particular spot on the cliff. A wooden coffin should originally have been placed there.
But now it was already utterly empty.
He was not thinking of retrieving the coffin he had lain in. It was simply a passing thought that flashed through his mind and vanished.
The coffin itself was essentially a standard-issue item, after all, and was unlikely to hold any clues. If it was gone, it was gone.
Clues would only be tied to people.
The people of the Yan Household.
After standing there and watching for a moment, he strolled downstream along the riverbank and arrived at Savage Ford.
The wrecked boats and ruined houses around him remained as they had been, long since reduced to ruins. Little had changed.
Perhaps the mutant toad occupying this place had scared away those mountain foragers.
It was also because this place was dilapidated and filled with a rotten stench, with nothing worthwhile in it at all, so no one came to risk rummaging through it.
Except for the monkeys.
That time, Yuan Bai had brought the troop down and indeed dismantled and carried away quite a few things, piling them beneath Banyan Tree Slope and creating another patch of ruins.
Now the toad was absent, perhaps submerged underwater; Yuan Bai was also absent, his whereabouts unknown.
Leaving Savage Ford, he followed the winding path.
When he reached a certain spot, Chen Jin abruptly stopped.
He remembered that after coming ashore, he had pressed on to find shelter from the rain, and it was right here that he had fallen, covering himself in mud and water.
After drawing lightning with his body and taking a solid strike of lightning tribulation, the consciousness and thoughts in his mind had been blasted apart, then gathered together again under the guidance of the visualization method...
The entire process was mysterious beyond words and remained unfinished even now, so from time to time his head still ached and felt swollen.
Next, he needed to find somewhere quiet and secure to properly sort it all out.
When that time came, the truth of his origins would naturally emerge as the water receded to reveal the stones.
He stepped forward again and walked all the way back to Banyan Tree Slope.
Everything around him was silent, as though even the insects had ceased their calls.
In those few short days, Chen Jin discovered to his surprise, the shrine beneath Banyan Tree Slope had already been dismantled and replaced by a large, square stone building.
Large, that is, only in the sense that it was about one size bigger than the original.
If Chen Jin went inside now, he could stand upright.
Once, he had entertained the idea of expanding the shrine so that he could live somewhere more spacious, rather than so narrow and cramped.
Yet now that it had truly grown larger, he no longer felt any such delight.
Because everything, both people and circumstances, had changed beyond recognition.
Since the shrine had only just been built, the statues and other such things had yet to be made. For now, its interior was empty, the floor covered in dust, filthy and untidy.
Chen Jin glanced at it with some distaste. Rather than entering, he leaped straight up into the tree.
After opening the Three Yang Meridians of the Foot and the Three Yin Meridians of the Foot, his legs had regained their vitality and become nimble and responsive, no longer stiff as before.
The view was still better from up in the tree. Looking up, he could watch the starry sky; looking down, he could survey his surroundings.
All around was empty. There were no other people, nor any apes or monkeys, only him.
He simply sat down in the crown of the tree, just as he had in the past. But he did not absorb moonlight, merely sat alone, quietly waiting for dawn.
When the morning breeze blew, Chen Jin descended from the tree, got his bearings, and strode forward.
As a fish-belly white spread across the eastern sky and day began to break, travelers appeared on the road.
Most carried leather packs on their backs and wore bamboo hats, the typical attire of mountain foragers. They hurried along, presumably having risen early to enter the deep mountains in search of medicinal herbs and treasures.
When they saw Chen Jin approaching from the opposite direction, they merely glanced at him and paid him no further attention, soon passing him by.
Strangers at the ends of the earth-why get acquainted when they met?
For in the jianghu, strangers often meant the unknown and danger, and were best treated with respect from a distance.
Chen Jin walked at an unhurried pace and did not ask anyone for directions, since he had already learned the relevant details from the Song brothers.
After roughly another hour of walking, the view ahead suddenly opened up, and the clamor of voices grew.
He had reached the Yan Household Market.
The so-called market was actually very crude: rows of hastily erected wooden houses, with two small streets cut through the middle in a cross for passage, setting up stalls, and the like.
A gateway had been erected at the market entrance, with three large lanterns hanging from it. Now that it was daytime, their lights had naturally been extinguished.
Yan Household disciples in their distinctive white hemp clothing stood guard on either side of the entrance, both to maintain order and to collect entrance fees.
Chen Jin walked over. Sharp-eyed, he immediately spotted two bounty notices posted on the simple noticeboard beside the gateway.
One offered a bounty for capturing a zombie; the other offered a bounty for capturing a white-faced ape.