The fissure was longer than it looked.
Stone lined both sides, cool to the touch, but the ground beneath his feet was warm. Chen Chong walked on. After roughly a hundred paces, light suddenly appeared ahead.
He stepped out and stopped.
The sky was grayish white.
There was no sun, but the light was even, falling from every direction and illuminating the entire valley with perfect clarity.
The valley was vast. Rolling slopes stretched to the horizon, and the plants growing on them were far from ordinary-the trees stood over a hundred feet tall, their trunks so thick it would take three or four people to encircle them; the grass had thick, fleshy blades, each broad enough to cover half a face.
The air was thick. One breath made his lungs swell. It was saturated with spiritual energy, as dense as syrup that refused to dissolve.
The current of energy in Chen Chong's chest completed a circuit on its own.
Here, the Four Saints Art flowed more smoothly than it did outside.
There was also the scent of medicinal herbs.
Strong, mingled, layer upon layer. The scent of ginseng, bitterness, sweetness, pungency-all stirred together until no single note could be distinguished.
"Junior brother."
"Yes?"
"Look down."
Yu Che lowered his head.
Three plants grew right beside his feet where he stood. They had slender leaves and little yellow flowers, and stood about a foot tall.
Chen Chong bent down and pinched off a leaf, rubbed it between his fingers, then held it beneath his nose.
"Solomon’s Seal, around five years old." He discarded the leaf. "At the sect, three plants would fetch ten taels of silver. Here, they grow under your feet."
Yu Che froze for a moment, then looked up.
The entire slope, all the way down to the