The carriage no longer entered the mountain; instead, at the foot of the mountain, they found a suitable inn to leave their luggage. The three of them traveled light, following the winding mountain path, ascending slowly.
Ancient trees lined the path, towering and blocking out the sun, mostly camphor and paulownia trees. In between, one could see ginkgo trees hundreds of years old, though not yet the golden hue of autumn, their young leaves had just begun to sprout, a refreshing emerald shade, full of life.
As Chen Yi walked along the path, he thought of Mount Emei, recalling stories of the Emei Sect and Master Extinction. He remembered telling Zhou Yitang these stories years ago, saying "Zhou Zhiruo is also surnamed Zhou," to which she responded with a light comment, "I'm not as sinister as that."
His thoughts were drifting when Yin Weiyin next to him started recounting stories of Mount Emei, mentioning that this was the domain of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva.
