This had originally been the territory of the Sophora Venerate.
But now the Sophora Venerate was nowhere to be seen, leaving behind only a huge pit.
Lin Yan's expression grew solemn. He glanced around but detected few traces.
It did not look as though someone had forcibly uprooted it, either.
After a moment of silence, Lin Yan continued looking ahead.
He spotted a trail of muddy marks, with broken branches and fallen leaves on either side.
It looked as though a trail of blood had been dragged along, making for an especially bleak and miserable sight.
He crouched down and found that the outer layer of the muddy traces had dried completely, but the larger clumps were still moist inside.
"..."
Lin Yan fell into deep thought once more.
Judging from the traces in the mud, this had probably happened before noon.
That morning, he had ordered Xiao Hui to inform the Sophora Venerate that he would come here in the afternoon to pay his respects.
So had the Sophora Venerate fled on its own around noon?
In an instant, such a scene surfaced in Lin Yan's mind.
In the morning, a Banner Bearer from the Lin Jiang Department had come to inform the Sophora Venerate.
"Banner Bearer Impermanence will come this afternoon to pay his respects."
Upon hearing this, the Sophora Venerate's entire trunk trembled violently. Its branches swayed and shook without end.
After Xiao Hui left, the Sophora Venerate thought for a while before making a momentous decision.
Two branches, like a pair of hands, drooped to the ground and braced themselves on either side.
Then it used those two branches to support itself against the ground, uprooting its entire body.
A vast amount of soil came away with it, pouring down like a flood of blood.