Injured "Little Black"

After the battle subsided, Chen An found a huge black dog lying outside the courtyard gate, covered in wounds and barely breathing.

Dusk was like cotton soaked in ink, pressing heavily into the folds of the Primordial Wilderness mountains.

Chen An leaned against the courtyard gate, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the fine cracks shaken into the stone doorframe by the energy impact.

Three hours had passed since the distant thunder of the War of Witches and Demons had faded, yet the air between heaven and earth still carried a faint, lingering stench of blood, like a blood-soaked rag pressed over one's mouth and nose, making it hard to breathe.

He looked toward the southeast. The mountain hollow there had once been torn open by spells and demonic power, leaving a savage wound. Even now, pale-purple pillars of smoke rose from it, while remnants of Spiritual Power twisted through the air like tiny snakes of light, refusing to disperse.

Chen An remembered the enormous boom at dawn that had rattled the tiles of the stone house. He remembered the hurried note in the Hide Notebook: "Third quarter of the Chen hour, peak energy collision." Looking at that scorched earth now, he felt as though even the exclamation marks in those words had gained warmth.

"I should go take a look." He muttered to himself and seized the stone axe hanging behind the door.

The axe handle was slick with sweat from his palm, but he gripped it even tighter. He was not preparing for battle, but guarding against any Demonic Beasts that might still be lurking nearby, remnants that had not been crushed by the energy aftershocks.

The moment his fingertips touched the courtyard gate, the warm barrier rippled outward like a lake disturbed by a thrown stone. Amid a soft hum, he stepped halfway outside.

The grassland beyond the courtyard had been utterly disfigured.

The knee-high grass had been plowed into ravines of varying depths by the energy impact. Shattered beast bones, spell crystals, and several strands of scorched black fur were embedded in the charred soil. The fur was extremely fine, yet possessed a cold, metallic hardness. It clearly did not belong to an ordinary beast.

The air was filled with the mingled smells of burnt spells, blood, and the faint, fishy musk of a high-level demonic creature, stinging his nose until it ached.

Chen An narrowed his eyes and searched carefully through the deepening night. There were no living creatures, no moving shadows—only the whimper of wind passing through broken branches and the unceasing sound of running water from the distant mountain stream.

Just as he was about to turn around, a faint rustling suddenly came from the bushes on his right.

The sound was extremely soft, like the restrained panting of an injured beast, or the crisp snap of a dead branch breaking beneath heavy pressure.

Chen An tightened his grip on the stone axe and circled around on tiptoe. When he pushed aside the waist-high brambles, the sight before him made his breath catch.

A huge black dog was curled up on the scorched earth.

It was astonishingly large. Even curled up, its body was nearly two zhang long, and its shoulder stood almost as high as Chen An. Its fur should have been glossy as satin, but now it hung in ragged strips, exposing wounds so deep that bone could be seen beneath.

The fur along its back had been peeled back, revealing three parallel lacerations. At their deepest points, white vertebrae could be seen.

Its left forepaw was twisted at an unnatural angle, the bones exposed, with severed tendons faintly visible.

Most horrifying of all was its neck. A deep, lengthy wound had pierced its throat, the flesh turned outward like petals. The outline of its windpipe was faintly visible, and with each weak breath, pale-pink blood foam seeped from the edge of the wound.

The huge dog's chest heaved violently, every breath bringing a blood-filled rasp.

Its eyes were half-closed. Blood and grime clung to its lashes, yet they still trembled faintly.

It seemed to remain aware of the movements around it. Chen An noticed that its pupils were not the vertical slits common to Demonic Beasts, but round, moist, brown-black pupils, like two drops of ink soaked through with blood.

"What..." Chen An took half a step back, and the stone axe clattered to the ground.

He had never seen a dog so enormous, much less one in such a gruesome, near-death state.

He instinctively thought of vicious beasts such as Qiongqi and Taotie in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, but the demonic creatures described in those records were mostly hideous and terrifying.

Though the huge dog before him was covered in wounds, it possessed not the slightest trace of ferocity. Instead, its weakness made it appear almost pitiful.

The wind swept a scorched leaf past, and the huge dog's ears twitched.

It slowly opened its eyes, and only then did Chen An clearly see the light within them. There was no violence belonging to a Demonic Beast, only the confusion and pain of a creature on the verge of death.

A feeble whimper came from its throat. Its tail weakly brushed the ground, scraping out a shallow hollow and dragging along a few bits of scorched grass.

That whimper shattered the last trace of Chen An's wariness. He remembered volunteering at a pet hospital before crossing over, and all those abandoned stray dogs covered in wounds. At this moment, this enormous "Black Dog" was nothing more than a living creature struggling to survive in the aftermath of war.

He crouched down and tentatively extended his hand.

The huge dog did not attack. It merely drew its neck back slightly, allowing his fingertips to touch the wound on its neck. Blood and tissue fluid clung to Chen An's fingertip, shockingly warm.

"Don't be afraid..." he said without thinking, his voice so hoarse that even he was startled.

Chen An began carefully examining the wounds.

The edges of the lacerations on its back were charred, as though they had been scorched by spells.

The penetrating wound in its neck, however, had a clean, blade-like incision, more like the direct puncture of a beast's claw or a weapon.

The claw marks on its abdomen were shallower, but there were countless of them, as though they had been inflicted by a group attack.

"It suffered both spell damage and close-range tearing..." he muttered,

"This doesn't look like an ordinary clash between Demonic Beasts. It looks more like collateral damage from a battle between high-level beings."

He remembered the Dragon's Roar he had heard at dawn—a mournful, shrill cry. Now that he thought about it, it matched the injuries on this black dog surprisingly well. Ancient texts recorded that when the great demons of the demon race revealed their true forms, they often possessed "dragon aspects" or "qilin aspects." Could this black dog's true form be that of a Demon Commander based on some kind of canine?

"A Demon Commander..." Chen An drew in a sharp breath. How could an existence like that have ended up in such a state?

He noticed that although the huge dog's breathing was weak, a faint pressure still lingered around its body.

It was not the oppressive sensation of Spiritual Power being released, but a majesty originating from its bloodline and accumulated over endless years—like an ancient bronze ritual vessel displayed in a museum. Even covered in dust, it could still make one feel the solemnity it had once possessed.

"To have survived a battle like that..." Chen An gazed at the claw marks on its abdomen. Though there were many wounds, none had struck a vital point. "How powerful must its recovery ability be?"

The night deepened, but Chen An did not notice.

He crouched on the scorched earth and met the gaze of the dying Black Dog.

The huge dog's breathing gradually steadied, as though Chen An's watchful presence had allowed it to relax slightly.

Chen An suddenly remembered a line from the Tao Te Ching: "Heaven and earth are not benevolent; they treat the myriad things as straw dogs." Yet at this moment, the "straw dog" before him was clearly using the last of its life force to struggle against this cruel world.

"Who are you, exactly?" he asked softly, as though asking the dog, and also this Primordial Wilderness.

An owl cried out in the distance, startling the huge dog's ears into twitching upright.

Only then did Chen An realize that he had been crouching outside the courtyard for half an hour. He stood, patted the scorched earth from his trouser legs, let his gaze linger on the huge dog for a moment, and finally turned toward the courtyard gate.

He did not drag it back into the Safe Zone. Though the Black Dog was weak, it still possessed the instincts of a Demonic Beast. Approaching it rashly might provoke it.

He merely stood at the courtyard gate, watching the black shape curled up in the night. Countless thoughts churned in his heart: the cruelty of the War of Witches and Demons, the mystery of the Black Dog's identity, and... the tenacity of every life in this Primordial World, each struggling with all its might to survive.

The wind carried away some of the smell of blood. Chen An took out the Hide Notebook and wrote on the newest page: "Full moon of the eleventh month, after the battle. Found a severely injured black dog outside the courtyard, suspected to be a Demon Commander-level existence.

Mixed spell and claw wounds. Presumed collateral damage from the battle. Not brought back for now. Continued observation."

The ink had not yet dried when he looked up at the night sky. The stars appeared and vanished behind thin clouds, like countless silent eyes.

Chen An suddenly felt that the appearance of this Black Dog might not have been an accident. In this Primordial Wilderness filled with deadly calamities, some encounters were destined to rewrite certain people's fates.

He turned and went back inside, propping the stone axe behind the door. The coals in the fire pit crackled, casting a warm glow over the Clay Jar in the corner.

Chen An poured himself a cup of Polygonum multiflorum tea. The warm liquid slid down his throat, easing some of his tension.

"Tomorrow," he said softly to the night, "I should gather more Hemostatic Herb by the stream."