Heaven’s Shadow

After the great earthquake on Kunlun Mountain, the mountain and the surrounding areas were in a state of disarray. Despite the swift and effective command of Sect Leader Xianyue, and the excellent capabilities of the esteemed Kunlun disciples, the situation was quickly stabilized. Rescue operations, repairs, and various other tasks were promptly organized without causing panic among the people.

However, the earthquake had a significant impact, causing walls and buildings to collapse in many places. While the Kunlun Sect itself did not suffer as much damage as Kunwu City below, the fact that the earthquake’s epicenter was deep within the mountain range caused major disruptions. Mountains shifted, rivers changed their courses, leading to many troublesome consequences.

One of the most severely affected areas was Liuxiangpu, the most important medicinal herb garden under the Baicao Hall of the Kunlun Sect.

What was once a flat expanse of the medicinal garden now featured numerous large cracks in the ground, along with bizarrely shaped mounds of dirt and rocks scattered everywhere. These were the results of the earth being twisted and compressed by immense forces during last night’s disaster.

In the face of such a natural calamity, countless precious medicinal herbs and rare spiritual plants in Liuxiangpu suffered greatly. Large swathes of valuable herb gardens were directly destroyed. Many spiritual herbs were either broken or damaged, had their fruits and leaves scattered, or were buried under overturned rocks and soil. The unluckiest ones were those growing right above the deep, bottomless cracks, vanishing entirely after the disaster, with no trace of their whereabouts.

Currently, the Kunlun Sect was busy with various tasks. Other halls had their own troubles and couldn’t spare resources for Liuxiangpu. The Baicao Hall, with its extensive foundation, was also short-handed and could only prioritize rescuing the most precious and rare herbs deep within Liuxiangpu. The outer areas had to be temporarily neglected.

At dawn, the black dog Ah Tu arrived at the outskirts of the Liuxiangpu garden. Compared to normal times, this usually well-guarded place looked quite battered. Although the high walls and fences were not completely down, they were full of collapses and cracks, rendering them practically useless.

Peeking through the cracks, the inside of the garden looked desolate, with overturned soil and fallen plants, resembling a wild field. There were hardly any people in sight.

Ah Tu peered around for a while, then glanced back at the distant mountain forest. Usually, the blue ox would often hide there, secretly watching Liuxiangpu, making strange movements and expressions.

Upon entering the garden, the scent of medicinal herbs in the air suddenly became much stronger, even more intense than usual. This was likely due to the scattered last breaths of the broken spiritual herbs and trees.

The scene was quite tragic.

Ah Tu carefully surveyed the surroundings and, after confirming that no one was nearby, began sniffing around as if searching for something.

In a medicinal herb garden like Liuxiangpu, the most abundant thing, of course, was spiritual herbs.

It didn’t take long for Ah Tu to find some of these precious herbs, although most were buried in the soil or were broken and wilted. Ah Tu examined them but seemed dissatisfied and continued moving forward.

The garden was quiet, but as time passed, birds occasionally flew in from the surrounding forests, feasting on the spiritual herbs they had longed for. It seemed that for the birds and animals on Kunlun Mountain, this earthquake was not such a bad event.

Ah Tu glanced at some birds pecking at broken spiritual herbs nearby, showing a hint of disdain, then barked at them. The birds flew up in fright but soon returned to continue their feast.

Satisfied, Ah Tu turned and walked deeper into the garden.

As he walked, the fragrant scent in the air grew stronger. Sensing something, Ah Tu seemed excited, looking around and even starting to trot. Soon, a small mound formed by the earthquake appeared before him. With a leap, Ah Tu found himself on top of the mound, suddenly seeing a rare, undamaged flat area below. Lush green grass grew there, particularly in the center of this small grassy patch, where a unique spiritual herb stood. Its stem and leaves were emerald green, with red branches at the top, bearing nine translucent fruits that were red tinged with purple. The rich fragrance emanated from this herb.

Ah Tu’s eyes lit up with excitement.

※※※

By the afternoon, around the hour of Shen (3-5 PM), the situation on Kunlun Mountain had largely stabilized. Baicao Hall also began to deploy personnel, including many miscellaneous disciples, to Liuxiangpu to start rescuing the spiritual herbs.

Of course, Lu Chen was among the crowd. As he followed the stream of people to the herb garden and saw the devastation, he couldn’t help but be astonished. Thinking about the value of the damaged spiritual herbs and materials, he thought to himself that this time, the Baicao Hall was going to suffer a significant loss.

The person sent to command the disaster relief was a Jindan stage cultivator from Baicao Hall, named Lin Sheng. He appeared to be a middle-aged man in his early forties.

This person was highly capable, and his commands were orderly. He quickly organized the situation, instructing all the miscellaneous disciples responsible for nurturing the spiritual fields to inspect the damage to the spiritual herbs. If they could be saved, they should be saved; if not, they were to report the situation. The other disciples in the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages were to prioritize repairing the formations around the area, mending high walls and fences, and driving away the birds and beasts still stealing spiritual materials from the fields to minimize losses.

With everyone assigned tasks, Lu Chen also headed to his own spiritual field, wondering if the red amber ginseng had survived. If it hadn’t, Su Qingjun, who valued this spiritual herb highly, would surely be very upset.

After hurrying along, navigating around many crooked field ridges and newly formed pits and mounds, Lu Chen finally arrived at his spiritual field. At first glance, he saw that the terrain was flat, and the numerous ginseng plants were lush and green, which made him happy.

But then his expression changed as he noticed something in the center of the field. He quickly stepped over, only to see a large pit where the red amber ginseng had been planted, and the ginseng was nowhere to be found!

“This…” Lu Chen was momentarily speechless. Then he frowned and squatted by the pit. He first looked at the black soil inside, which was fresh and moist, indicating that it had been dug up not long ago. In the soil, there were still many white fine roots, the underground roots of the red amber ginseng, many of which had been torn off. White milky sap was still slowly seeping from these roots, emitting a peculiar smell.

“It was stolen,” Lu Chen muttered to himself. His gaze then shifted around the area, and with little effort, he found some suspicious traces on the nearby grass.

These were footprints with black soil on them, not very obvious, but upon closer inspection, they showed a direction leading out of the Lingxiang Herb Garden toward a forested mountain.

Lu Chen took a few steps around, his gaze finally landing on the clearest footprints at the edge of the pit. Judging by their shape, depth, and size, he noticed that one of the four footprints seemed different, lighter and shallower, appearing somewhat odd, as if… someone with a limp had been walking?

Lu Chen’s expression turned a bit peculiar.

He stood up, looked around, and seeing no one was paying attention, he looked back at the footprints left by the thief. The more he looked, the more he shook his head, cursing under his breath, “Idiot, should have just killed and eaten you back then!”

With a cold snort, Lu Chen looked rather annoyed. He turned to leave but then suddenly muttered something to himself, turned back, and walked to the pit. He kicked some dirt over, covering most of the traces in the pit.

Then, he followed the black soil footprints, discreetly stepping around them, spreading the black soil everywhere, thus covering the strange footprints.

Having done all this, Lu Chen shook his head and walked toward the front of the herb garden, ready to report the loss, muttering to himself in a low voice that only he could hear.

“Hmm, fatten it up and eat it later! Fatten it up and eat it later…”

※※※

Crossing mountains and rivers, through forests and streams, a black shadow joyfully ran through the Kunlun Mountains after the great quake.

Ah Tu held a large ginseng in its mouth, its roots still clinging to dirt, and the top still bearing nine red ginseng fruits, fluttering in the mountain wind like a victory flag.

It ran with gusto, its dog eyes bright and full of hope for its future “dog life.”

Running and running, it saw Dog Head Mountain and approached this strange peak once inhabited by countless celestial birds and beasts.

Strangely, all the animals were gone that day. Dog Head Mountain looked desolate, and Ah Tu, puzzled, stopped and glanced around, confirming that all the celestial birds and beasts had indeed left. Only a large figure remained on the high peak, lying quietly as if asleep.

Ah Tu was excited, striding towards the mountain. Its slightly lame hind leg made its run seem laborious and somewhat comical, but it didn’t care, running all the way up Dog Head Mountain.

The green ox lay there, eyes half-closed, completely indifferent to Ah Tu’s arrival, seemingly still asleep.

Ah Tu cautiously approached, then gently placed the large ginseng in front of the ox’s head, stepped back, and wagged its tail.

“Woof! Woof woof!”

Ah Tu barked at the green ox a few times. (To be continued.)

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