Heaven’s Shadow

It should have been a sunny day, but as soon as Lu Chen stepped into the Barren Valley, all he could see were ominous clouds in that circular sky shaped by the towering mountains around him. These pitch-black clouds were dense and low-lying. They seemed to be pushing down against the earth, creating an extremely stifling feeling.

Lu Chen's gaze swept across the gloomy and dull Barren Valley. There was not a single space where his gaze fell upon that had a single stalk of grass. All that was within his sight were either the steep, towering cliffs or the cracked earth. Gust after gust of sinister wind blew from the depths of the Barren Valley, raking up a storm of gray dust.

Further in the distance, as the wind traveled through the crevices formed after a long period of weathering, a mournful, shrill sound could be heard. It was reminiscent of the resentful and vicious wailings of the dead who had met their demise here very long ago.

The young black hound, Ah Tu, followed Lu Chen into the Barren Valley. Even though its instincts as a demonic beast induced an innate abhorrence for lifeless places like this one, its desire to be with Lu Chen overpowered all other feelings. However, barely after traveling a few meters into the valley, Ah Tu suddenly stopped.

It whimpered softly in pain, and its entire body was trembling slightly in discomfort. Even so, glancing at Lu Chen's back, it hesitated momentarily before deciding to push on.

But the worst had yet to happen. Barely after a few more steps, Ah Tu began to lose its balance. Its entire body swayed weakly with every step it took, and it didn't take long before it collapsed onto the ground. By this moment, its four limbs were already convulsing vigorously

Suddenly, a shadow appeared before it. With a soft wail, Ah Tu lifted its head to take a look. Lu Chen had returned back to its side. Stroking Ah Tu's head lightly, Lu Chen carried it all the way back to the entrance. After placing Ah Tu on the ground, he said softly, "Wait here for me."

After a short moment of panting, the unnatural conditions Ah Tu was afflicted with gradually faded away. Returning back to its feet, it glanced at Lu Chen before stepping forward to lick his palm.

Lu Chen chuckled before turning around to leave. Soon, he disappeared into the depths of the dark eerie mountain valley. A sinister wind blew, raking up a cloud of dust to veil the land.

A lone dog stood at the entrance of the valley.

It lay down for a moment, but perhaps due to boredom, or maybe it sensed that something was amiss, it stood up once more and examined the surroundings.

The area around it was desolate, and there wasn't any movement at all. After a brief moment of hesitation, Ah Tu attempted to proceed into the valley slowly. But barely after taking a few steps, that unnatural sensation from before began creeping onto it, so it retreated hurriedly.

Following which, it tried to travel by the corner of the valley, and to its surprise, the unnatural sensation wasn't triggered.

Ah Tu shook its body and stretched lazily. It waited for a very long time, but for some reason, Lu Chen still didn't return. Thus, it continued to wait in boredom. Eventually, unable to hold itself back any longer, it stood up and made its way into the valley, walking closely alongside the steep cliff.

The stone cliff was rigid and coarse. Through innumerable years of rain and wind, nature had created a bizarre art piece out of the cliff. There were even some parts of the cliff that was as sharp as a knife. Dodging those dangerous protrusions, Ah Tu advanced curiously but slowly.

Just as it was passing by a wall filled with numerous gaps, an abrupt but powerful gale suddenly blew. As air was compressed into these gaps, more than a dozen mournful, shrill wailings resonated behind Ah Tu.

"Houu... Ahh... Yii... Jii..."

In that instant, it was as if thousands of ghosts were screaming in agony, and it was an extremely frightening and eerie sight. Terrified, Ah Tu's hair stood on ends. With a frightened howl, it immediately dashed forward, wanting to get away as fast as it could.

Ah Tu ran with all of its might. It was hard to tell how far it had run, but by the time it was out of breath, the fearsome wailings were no longer within range. Only then did it slow down to recover, panting heavily. With a discomposed expression, it glanced backward fearfully.

Panting heavily, Ah Tu stared anxiously in the direction where the bizarre howls came from. It was as if it was afraid that a fearsome monster might leap out from the dark corners any moment. At the same time, its instincts were nudging it to stay as far away as possible, prompting it to slowly back away.

But after a moment, Ah Tu's body suddenly came to an abrupt halt. It felt as if it had bumped into an incomparably hard wall. Startled, it turned around to take a look.

At the same time, an eerie gust of wind carrying a cloud of dust blew over once more, veiling the land.

Behind the cloud of dust, Ah Tu could see a massive figure reminiscent of a small mountain. Due to the veil from the cloud of dust, it wasn't able to see for sure what it was, but its figure did look exceptionally small beneath the massive shadow.

Ah Tu stared blankly at the massive figure with widened eyes. At the same time, amidst the sandstorm, that massive figure also seemed to have noticed something as well and slowly turned its gaze over.

Along with the movement from the massive figure, a dark shadow surged forward swiftly, covering the young hound under it in the blink of an eye. An enormous head descended from the sky, and before Ah Tu could process the happenings, it saw a pair of massive bell-like eyes with a fearsome glint in them. As the sandstorm slowly settled, the bell-like eyes stared intently at Ah Tu.

Ah Tu howled in fear. Its limbs lost all strength, and it fell paralyzed on the ground.

※※※

Lu Chen advanced silently amidst a sandstorm. A sinister and desolate atmosphere drifted in the Barren Valley along with an intangible feeling of chaos, but surprisingly, he seemed to be completely oblivious to it.

As he gradually approached the center of the valley, the geographical terrain of the valley grew even more erratic. Countless cracks of differing sizes intersected with one another on the ground, producing an extremely startling sight. It was as if a fearsome natural calamity had once befallen this land, and a powerful and uncontrollable force had ravaged here, leaving behind permanent scars of suffering in this valley.

The color of the earth beneath Lu Chen's feet also slowly changed along with his advancement. From the initial lifeless color of ashen gray, streaks of charred black and dark crimson began to emerge. And the deeper Lu Chen advanced into the valley, the more vivid these two colors became. It created a peculiar illusion that the Barren Valley was a living being as well. But at some point, it was viciously stabbed with a dagger, and endless fresh blood flowed out from its depths. As time passed, it gradually dried up, resulting in the current hideous and horrifying appearance.

And all of these fearsome 'bloodstains' were shaped in a manner that seemed to suggest that it had been spurted outward from a certain point-the very center of this circular world.

Lu Chen proceeded forward slowly.

A sandstorm blew at him, tugging at his clothes.

As the storm died down and the sand slowly settled, a human suddenly appeared in his sight.

That person was not standing, he was seated. But even when seated, he shared the same height as an ordinary standing man.

The very spot where he was seated in seemed to be the stem of all of the pain, monstrosities, tragedies, and power within this circular world. With his back against Lu Chen, he gazed at this world.

A moment later, another sandstorm brewed up and his figure blurred. Amidst the wind, a voice could be heard. It was gentle and smooth, resembling the tone which Lu Chen usually spoke with.

"You're here..."

...