Cloud Concealing Ridge.
Savage Ridge crossed Cloud Miasma Smoke, mountain streams hung with white ribbons of waterfalls where apes howled. A winding mountain path flickered in and out of sight amid dense forests and ravines. Snow-white, curling mist drifted through the green woods, and the wind was gentle.
Brilliant sunlight streamed through the Branches and Leaves.
Strands of light illuminated the moss and flowers on the ground.
The forest teemed with life. A sika deer strolled leisurely over the moss, the background dim, its towering antlers particularly dreamlike in the light.
Suddenly, darkness blotted out the sunlight and brought a suffocating heaviness. Oppressive storm clouds rolled in...
Boundless dark clouds gradually shrouded the entire Cloud Concealing Ridge.
The other side of the mountains remained bright and sunny.
Earthen slopes and flooded rice paddies.
A dark, rough-clothed man straightened up and wiped away his sweat. He pulled his hairy feet from the mud of the paddy, stepped onto the ridge with his broad bare feet, washed off the mud in an irrigation ditch, then hoisted a bundle of fresh grass and headed back to the village. Big Yellow Dog happily wagged his tail as he led the way, while the rice shoots in the paddies on either side of the ridge glistened green.
The yellow dog leading the way suddenly began barking wildly, staring at the Cloud-Entering Mountain Range in restless unease.
The man carrying the grass looked up, dumbstruck.
The towering ridges had darkened. Ink-black clouds bore down upon them, the boundary between black sky and blue sky starkly distinct as the dark clouds rolled forward!
He wiped his bristly, weathered face and hurried home.
He ran back to the gate of his fenced yard.
"Meow!"
The rough man jumped at the cry of his own black cat.
The black