All things possessed spirits. Though they had not yet gained intelligence, they were drawn close by instinct.
Ye Qin did not drive these creatures away. Since they had no effect whatsoever on his cultivation, they would leave on their own once he finished cultivating, so he simply let them be.
The sky revealed a sliver of fish-belly white. The mountains welcomed the first rays of dawn, which fell upon the highest ground, bathing the stones that had absorbed the moonlight before washing over them once more in the light of day.
By then, Ye Qin had already returned to the cave to rest. The animals had also vanished without a trace, and not a sign remained of last night's grand spectacle.
The mountaintop was often shrouded in white mist. Amid the rosy dawn, vapor curled and coiled as the sun climbed higher and the sea of clouds churned. Against the azure sky, it looked like a masterpiece from the brush of a renowned artist—one sweeping stroke, and there it was: the finest painting of a sunrise.
Golden radiance enveloped the unbroken range of mountains. Amid the blazing clouds, they seemed like Dragon Scale, gleaming brilliantly, while even the village in the distance was touched with an extraordinary color.
Longyuan Village lay just over a hundred meters from the foot of the mountain. A huge lake sat nearby, and with mountains behind it and water beside it, the local climate and geography were also quite suitable for living.
Though the location was rather remote, quite a few people lived there—nearly a hundred households. It could not compare with the bustle of a major city, but everyone had a different way of life.
Wang Dazhu and Zhou Niu had returned from the neighboring village after attending a wedding feast. To take a shortcut, they had chosen a narrow path through the mountains.
The two had drunk quite a bit, so they made slow progress. By the time they came to their senses, the sky had already darkened.
It was evening, and night was approaching.
Zhou Niu tugged at Wang Dazhu. "We need to hurry. If we get any later, we won't be able to see the road."
The villagers around here could be said to have run wild across the mountains and plains from the moment they learned to walk.
But the mountains were still dangerous at night. Venomous insects, snakes, and ants aside, running into a medium- or large-sized predator by accident would be truly perilous.
Zhou Niu let out a belch. "Brother Wang, did you take a wrong turn? Why do I feel like we've been going around in circles?"
Wang Dazhu scratched his head. "That can't be. I walked this way just a few months ago. I shouldn't have gotten it wrong. If we keep heading west, we should be able to get out."
As night unfurled, a full moon hung high in the heavens, scattering silver radiance that illuminated the path through the mountain wilderness. The two could just barely make out their direction and did not have to stumble around like blind men.
Zhou Niu looked at the moon overhead. "Good thing there's a moon tonight. Our phones are both dead, or we really would be blind men feeling our way along."
Wang Dazhu found it strange. "It isn't the fifteenth day of the eighth month, so why is the moon suddenly so round? It's like the big pancake in my wok."
As he spoke, he wiped away the drool at the corner of his mouth.
Zhou Niu could not help rolling his eyes. "You ate so many braised pig knuckles at the table just now. Don't tell me all that food went to waste."
Wang Dazhu gave a foolish grin and rubbed his belly. "We've been walking mountain roads for ages, so I've digested it all. But those braised pig knuckles really did taste great."
The two trudged along, one step deep and the next shallow. "But now that you mention it, have you noticed? Tonight's moon is much brighter than usual."
Because of that, the surroundings did not look quite so dark. The mountain men were used to walking at night and did not feel afraid.
"And why is it so quiet tonight?"
Zhou Niu surveyed the surroundings. Normally, there would be the chirping of insects and calls of birds—especially croaking frogs and buzzing cicadas, sometimes mixed with the cries of nocturnal birds.
But now there was not a sound. The silence was uncanny. Only their own footsteps could be heard, and the absence of everything else made them strangely uncomfortable.
Although many animals had already gone to sleep, this was precisely the time when some nocturnal creatures were most active.
After hearing Zhou Niu say that, Wang Dazhu was puzzled too. He raised his head toward the sky. "That's true. Whenever I used to walk at night, I'd always see nocturnal birds flying past. How come we can't see a single one now?"
In the countryside, people were accustomed to calling owls nocturnal cats.
It seemed that every creature across the entire mountain had fallen into a deep sleep. They could not even find a single Field Mouse, despite how fond those animals were of moving about at night, as if every creature had hidden away.
The excessive silence instead made them uneasy. Though Wang Dazhu and Zhou Niu did not believe in tales of ghosts and strange phenomena, even they felt that something was out of the ordinary.
"Forget it. Let's hurry. I just feel like there's something strange about the mountains tonight."
Wang Dazhu was simple-minded and did not think too deeply about it.
The two quickened their pace, never realizing that the road they were following gradually sloped upward, leading toward the highest point of the mountain.
Zhou Niu furrowed his brows tightly. "By rights, we should have reached the foot of the mountain by now. Why are we still here? Could we have taken the wrong direction again?"
Wang Dazhu seemed to have spotted something. He waved to Zhou Niu. "Brother Zhou, come take a look. There seems to be something up ahead."
Shadows flickered indistinctly ahead. Zhou Niu pushed aside the bushes before them, but the moment they saw the scene before their eyes, their pupils abruptly contracted, and they froze where they stood.
Wang Dazhu sucked in a cold breath and was just about to cry out when Zhou Niu clamped a hand over his mouth. Zhou Niu's eyes were stretched wide, and his complexion changed dramatically.
The two leaned against a large tree, their breathing growing rough and heavy.
Anyone would have been unable to resist wondering what they had seen?!
Wang Dazhu lowered his voice. "Brother Zhou, could we have just seen things? Why are there so many animals gathered together?"
Zhou Niu shook his head, uncertain whether he had simply drunk too much.
He drew a deep breath and pushed aside the bushes in front of him once more.
This time, by the moonlight overhead, he could see much more clearly.
A dense mass of wild animals stood in the distance. Looking as far as the eye could see, there was no end to them.
They were all small animals such as Field Mice, rabbits, weasels, and foxes.
Though each animal was small, there were simply far too many of them.
Many of these animals were even natural enemies.
Foxes and rabbits were standing together!
There were also weasels and Field Mice. Though they both had "mouse" in their names and sounded like relatives, they could not have been more unrelated—and Field Mice were even part of the weasel's diet.
But that was not the most important thing.
The most important thing was that every animal was holding the exact same pose!
Wang Dazhu swallowed hard. His throat felt as though it were smoking, horribly dry and raw. He spoke in disbelief:
"Brother Zhou, don't you feel like these animals are..."
He could not bring himself to say any more.
Zhou Niu's face had gone deathly pale, and large beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead before splattering onto the ground. He clearly understood what Wang Dazhu meant.
The animals' upper bodies were all standing upright, their forelimbs slightly bent. From where the two men stood, it looked like they were—it looked like they were—worshiping the moon!
Hundred Beasts Worshiping the Moon!
The sight was enough to raise goosebumps all over a person's body.
When the mountain wind swept through the night, the two could not help shivering. Only then did they realize that their backs had already been drenched in cold sweat.
(The End of This Chapter)