A vast, exceedingly desolate range of mountains lay beneath a gray-white sky, making the already bleak and desolate landscape seem even more devoid of life.
The mountains stretched on without end, their limits impossible to see. Yet no towering trees covered them. Only some shrubs about half a zhang tall and seemingly exceptionally tough blue-green wormwood grew there, layered and interwoven throughout every mountain range.
A layer of mist-like matter floated in the sky, blocking out every ray of sunlight. From time to time, a bird shot swiftly through the air, showing that this was not a land of utter silence and death.
Suddenly, a huge, powerfully built beast of unknown species appeared in a fairly small valley. When it saw a mountain deer grazing on the grass within the valley, two icy glints immediately shot from its eyes.
The beast was as massive as a house, with a pair of sharp horns growing from its head. Its head resembled that of a wolfhound magnified several times over, its fangs bared. Its body was one or two zhang long, and its four legs were thick and powerful. Despite its enormous size, it was astonishingly agile.
A chilling beastly roar rang out. The massive beast, as sturdy as a giant elephant, suddenly sprang into motion, its four feet pounding the ground. Like a small mountain hurled through the air, it flew toward the mountain deer that had already collapsed limply on the ground.
Although the beast was huge and powerfully built, its movements were incredibly swift. In only a moment, it had run from the valley entrance two or three dozen zhang away to the limp mountain deer.
Its bloody maw opened, and it bit down on the neck of the terrified mountain deer in a single snap.
"Whoosh—!" Just then,