Jin Se

Chapter 15

Shi Wuduan didn't know what had happened in Cangyun Valley. When he awoke, it was already night.

The first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was a shivering ball of fluff, speckled with brown and black dirt. Next to the Cuibing bird, that stupid peacock, it seemed even more adorable.

With those shiny black eyes and that white fur, there was a moment when Shi Wuduan's muddled mind had thought with unrestrained glee, this had to be Bai Li's original form! Little Li-zi hadn't been taken away by the black mist!

But when his sight cleared up, he discovered to his dismay that the dirty fluffball was only a rabbit.

The rabbit seemed to have some cultivation. It was so chubby, so fat, that at a glance, it looked more like an oily rat than a rabbit. It seemed to be sentient but very dumb. All that meat piled on it only made its pitiful little head even smaller in comparison.

It had probably run over in confusion, seeking protection from him because its instinct told it that the youth had some kind of powerful magic tool; but the light of the astrolabe only paralyzed it with fear when it got near. That's why it could only curl into a ball and tremble helplessly.

Ordinarily, Shi Wuduan would've made fun of it for sure, but all he did was struggle to sit up and stare at the ribbon in his hand. He turned to face the cave where Bai Li had disappeared and only felt empty.

The Cuibing bird nudged its head against his knee, gently rubbing back and forth. It blinked its black eyes at him.

Shi Wuduan sat listlessly for a while before he carefully blew the dust off the ribbon and tucked it in the fold of his robes. He pushed against the side of the cave entrance to stumble to his feet. Looking from his high vantage point, he finally saw what had happened to Cangyun Valley.

The whole valley had sunken down. The tall forests were now crushed beneath huge boulders that'd rolled down from the mountain. A crack that was a dozen meters wide had torn the valley in two. All of Cangyun's once pristine lakes and ponds had taken on the color of old rust. The youth dazedly gazed out at the changed landscape. He looked up at the sky. Even the blue sky seemed to have hidden its face, there wasn't even a hint of starlight anymore.

"Shifu!" Shi Wuduan suddenly came to his senses. He turned to run towards the mountain.

He'd turned too quickly and tripped over his feet, falling head over heels. He grit his teeth and pressed his scraped palms against the ground, clambering to his feet after a moment. With the ruined valley behind him and dust clinging to his clothes, he went alone to the mountaintop, doggedly crawling his way up.

It was like the Jiulu mountain range had been damaged. The once familiar paths had all twisted out of shape. The moon was black, the wind howled. There were exposed roots waiting to catch his feet at any moment, falling rocks threatening to crush him at any moment.

He fell, got up, then fell again. He ignored the pain as he laid gasping on the ground. He wiped his blood off on the ice cold stones, got up, and kept climbing.

The Cuibing bird silently followed him in the sky. When it saw him fall, it'd land by the side to wait for him. That silly fat rabbit had also followed him for some reason, not that anyone knew what it was thinking. With beady eyes that did not understand human suffering, it beheld this fallen paradise.