The Sacred Ruins

The day reset itself again as the red summer sun rose to suffuse the sky above the Taihang Mountains with a bright pink. Yellow Ox suddenly erupted into a frenzy. It roared and groaned. It invited Chu Feng when it rushed out of the yard in a hustle!

Chu Feng’s house was situated in the very east of Qingyang Village. There were acres of fruit-bearing forest right outside of its yard gate; it was suffused with tranquillity and peace. From there, one could also look far in the distance and see the epic ridges of Taihang Mountains.

Yellow Ox thrusted its way into the orchid farm. It scurried on all four hooves, wildly running about ahead of Chu Feng.

Chu Feng pursued after it. He exerted himself with all his strength, but he could hardly manage to catch up with the speed of this golden calf.

Normally, an ox would give one an impression of slowness and tardiness. It was their bovine character. However, this one-meter tall calf seemed to have contradicted all the stereotypes. It possessed stamina and speed commensurate to a leopard.

It was running across this orchid forest. It was fast and nimble, gliding on the grasses beneath. At last, it arrived at an open area, leaving the orchid farm behind.

In front of them, there was a small hill. It lay right in their way and emitted plumes of white fogs as the red sun rose from the east.

This hill had never existed before the upheaval that happened a few days earlier.

In contrast to the rest of the mountains that appeared in that episode of radical shake-up, this two-hundred-meter hill could be considered as a dwarf in comparison.

For the past few days, Yellow Ox had been keeping a close watch on the hill before it decided to take action today.

Chu Feng was surprised. Had this been the sole target of Yellow Ox this whole time?

"Moo!"

Yellow Ox groaned in a low and deep fashion. This thunder-like grunt was its way of expressing excitement and delight. After days of dormancy, it finally acted.

There were neither strange grasses nor ancient trees on the hill. There were neither beasts nor birds of prey either. This hill was perhaps the most ordinary and the most inconspicuous amongst all. But there was one thing that caught his eyes, and that was the plumes of white smoke that effused from the tip of the hill.

Yellow Ox stopped and stood stock-still. Its eyes looked fervent, as if it was falling over itself for something meaningful. It kept its body unmoved, waiting for things to happen.

Despite his curiosity, Chu Feng did not open his mouth to ask. He was calm and composed, standing motionlessly beside the golden calf. In each other’s company, they were waiting for that mysterious moment to come.

The rising sun looked especially blaring and red. Chu Feng was not certain if it was just his imagination, but there was an unspeakable feeling of comfort and vivacity as the morning glow casted on his body.

Chu Feng also realized that the whole world seemed to have had a boost in vigor and vitality.

Suddenly, the morning glow ruptured in a gushing manner. It seemed much holier and much more sacred all of a sudden. It illuminated every corner of the land.

Meanwhile, to his surprise, Chu Feng also discovered that all the giant mountains situated deep in the mountain range of Taihang were glittering with dazzling lights and colors. The luminescence was spewing out of the mountain into the glorious sky above.

"I could feel a rich lease of life suddenly suffusing me and the world around me," Chu Feng mumbled.

It was the substance that emanated from those primitive mountains sprawling and expanding across the entirety of heaven and earth. People who resided within felt as if they had all been baptized and rendered pure and clean of sin.

Yellow Ox still remained motionless. It seemed indifferent about all the holy colors and lights that were bestowed upon him. It kept its gaze at the hill.

Suddenly, the hill trembled. The tremor was soon followed by an outburst of a chromatic plume of fog which rendered it ever so dazzling yet mystifying at the same time.

"Moo!"

Yellow Ox cried in excitement. It flung caution to the winds and rushed up the hill along its hilly ridge. It was approaching a cave that had been covered by ivies and vines earlier, but unveiled by the explosion of lights and colors.

With its characteristic rashness and valor, Yellow Ox plunged into the cave with a look of excitement that could hardly be papered over. Chu Feng pursued after it into the deep cave that delved into the depth of the hill.

The path within the cave was scrawling with axe marks. Obviously, this pathway was not formed naturally. Someone from an unknown era had excavated the cave with a primitive tool.

The cave was steaming with clouds of transpirations. Rays of the morning sunlight illuminated the misty fog, making this a rather surreal scene to behold. If this had only been a naturally-formed cave, why would the path within it seem so mysterious and so mystical?

In this environment, Chu Feng felt that the vitality and vigor within his body were somehow augmented. He felt as if his body had been nurtured by some sort of strange substances from within the cave.

What was that?

Suddenly, he caught a good sight of it. It was a little snake with a silver white body. It attached to the ledge of the rock walls, but the golden calf swallowed it whole.

Meat-eater?

No! Chu Feng suddenly realized that what he had just found might not be an ordinary snake. There was a faint smell of a delightful fragrance emanating from its body, and as it was caught in the gulping mouth of the golden calf, it became a plume of white smoke that soon dissipated into thin air.

It was not a snake!

Yellow Ox was scurrying towards a chink of light at the end of the cave’s passage way.

Chu Feng closely followed after Yellow Ox. He felt like the distance they had covered in this cave had well exceeded the limit range of the hill. Plus, throughout the journey, there did not seem to be any circuitous intricacy that involved numerous turns or ups and downs at all. The whole passage way was flat and straight.

"Parallel universe!" This was the first phrase that came in Chu Feng’s mind.

Along the way, Chu Feng spotted a few more silver white snakes. He caught a few and shoved them into his mouth. He felt like he ascended to heaven and became immortal. His body felt weightless and full of energy.

Was this just a plume of smoke? Chu Feng was surprised. He was certain that it must have consisted of some special substances that could augment one’s vigor and vitality. This was truly an invaluable substance of immeasurable worth.

At last, the path reached an end. Vaguely, there seemed to be an obscure cloud of dim light blocking and covering something mysterious and something unknown.

After a roar of bellow, Yellow Ox stamped through the ring of light with great determination. Chu Feng then followed.

Yellow Ox was astounded at the very next moment, while Chu Feng seemed spellbound. Both of them found something hard to believe and hard to be conceived as something real.

At the end of the road behind this obscure screen of light, absolute silence befell.

What seemed hard to believe was the presence of a giant planet ahead of them. It was vast without a boundary. It spinned sluggishly and leisurely. Everything seemed so abrupt and so sudden.

Where was this place?

Had they arrived at the outer space? Otherwise, how could they explain the abrupt appearance of this giant rotating planet?

Yellow Ox was astonished, but Chu Feng was completely petrified. Nothing here could be explained. Everything seemed so random and so abrupt. Who would have anticipated that entering a gaping hole on an ordinary-looking hill could lead to a place like this?

Gravity seemed to be lost, but they seemed unaware of of it.

"If we come even closer, do you think we can reach that planet?" Chu Feng spoke as if he was sleep-talking.

It was an ancient planet. It carried a sense of vicissitudes of life that suggested its prolonged longevity. It moved in a rotary style, and just like any other planets suspending in the vastness of the space, its spin was almost inconspicuous.

The dense fog originated from the planet, surging towards the opening at which Chu Feng was standing. Then, it became a misty layer of smoke, dissipating into the emptiness of the cave.

"Look out! Something is coming at us!" Chu Feng cried out in alarm.

Besides the white fog, there was another object travelling swiftly towards them.

"Huh? A silver snake?" He saw it. It was that strange substance that condensed into the shape of a snake, surging towards them along with the fog.

Yellow Ox opened its mouth and swallowed the snakes whole, and so did Chu Feng. He knew that they were not actual snakes, but rather mysterious substances that came in the shape of snakes.

Why was there a planet? Were they standing in the middle of the deep space? For now, Chu Feng could not be bothered to think about these questions as both of them were busy capturing and gulping in the mysterious substances.

At last, their bellies became all bulging and distended. They felt that their stomach was close to the state of rupture. Only now did they stop their edacious gobbling and embark upon their homeward journey with profound reluctance.

As they finally withdrew themselves from the inside of the cave, Chu Feng felt the world had become so different, as if a lifetime had passed. Where had they just been?

Suddenly, the earth started trembling and the mountains swayed. The hill shook and fissures emerged.

Yellow Ox hurriedly sped downhill.

Chu Feng had glutted and surfeited to the bursting point, so running had become a challenging task for him. He grabbed the calf by its pair of golden horns and then thrusted himself on its back.

Yellow Ox darted a furious glance behind it, but now was not the time to linger any longer. It jolted, bumped, tossed and thrashed, but all efforts to get Chu Feng off its back proved to be fruitless. It had to serve as Chu Feng’s personal ride downhill.

As they dashed further and further away from the hill, it gradually disintegrated, then finally with a blaring boom, the hill shattered into a pile of despicable dust.

However, during its disintegration, white fog rolled over and over, like a tempestuous sea surging into the vault of heaven above.

God knew how long before the fog and dust finally dissipated and scattered into the surrounding area.

Yellow Ox staggered across the dusty ground with a crouching head. It waited for the dust and fog to settle before it finally approached the site of the hill with great caution.

Chu Feng also came closer. Only rocks and sands were left there. The whole structure had completely crumbled into a sheer nothingness. As to that cave and that so-called parallel universe, both were no longer to be found.

"How come there is a place like this? And how come it is connected to an outer-space planet?" Chu Feng was full of doubts and queries.

Yellow Ox did not reply. After they returned to the yard, it went straight into a trance that signified the beginning of another breathing exercise. This time, it lasted long.

Chu Feng was doing the exercise along with the calf. There was an evident difference in experience this time. He felt his vitality especially rich and strong, and throughout the course of the exercise, his body became all sweaty and humid. His mind felt dizzy and sleepy.

God knew how long before he finally woke up from the trance. He was astounded when he found out that his heart was beating like a drumroll.

Then, he also discovered that his eyesight had improved quite drastically. He could clearly see the silhouette of a leopard cat on the summit of a distant mountain. This was clearly an impossible task in the past.

Chu Feng was taken aback by these changes. His body smelt all fetid and funky thanks to the excessive sweat. At the same time, he also felt very ravenous. He felt so hungry that he could eat a cow.

He gazed at the golden calf at once, and the calf regained consciousness as well. It was also glaring at him with its greenish eyes and flashing a toothy snarl. The calf showed a devious look as if it was about to swallow him whole.

Chu Feng rushed to the shower room, then he put up food and delicacy on a dining table before he binged on them.

Meanwhile, the golden calf was also puffing away grasses and fruits, then it came inside the dining room and tried to swoop on the food that Chu Feng was eating. In the end, the calf even gave up its status as a benevolent herbivore and started gulping on the various steaks and meat paddings that Chu Feng had.

Clueless as to why, Chu Feng felt ever so hungry. The food seemed insufficient to fulfil his desire to glut and feel satisfied by having eaten his fill. But despite the fact that he had eaten more than ten times the food he usually ate, he still suffered from feeling ravenous.

But Chu Feng dared not to eat more. Afraid of any damage that this might bring to his digestive system, Chu Feng could only sit there, watching helplessly and unfeelingly as the calf ate like a whirlwind sweeping away wisps of scattered clouds.

"I’m so hungry!"

He was terrified too, afraid that his body might have ended up with some incorrigible diseases or problems from the breathing exercise, so he hesitated no more before he went to the village for the clinic of a physician who was with a lofty virtue worthy of respect.

"How did your body become so abnormal?" Doctor Wang was an old man with a benevolent and kind countenance, but right now, he seemed terrified too. He looked at Chu Feng with a frowned look on his face.

Chu Feng was taken aback. "Was there a life-threatening problem with my body?"

"No, and in fact, you are much healthier than any ordinary human being. Your life indices were on average ten times higher than those of a normal human being!" Doctor Wang concluded after a comprehensive sequence of tests had been performed on Chu Feng’s body.

Chu Feng was dumbstruck. He never expected such a result.

"But... but I’m still very hungry." Chu Feng clarified his problem.

"Do you feel your belly bulging?" Doctor Wang asked.

"No, not at all."

"Your digestive and absorption abilities are also ten times higher than those of a normal human being. Food can be rapidly converted to essential molecules and substances within your digestive tract. If you feel hungry, eat as you please. There shouldn’t be any problems." Although Doctor Wang had never seen a patient like this before, he was confident in the advices he had given.

"Could you please keep everything we’ve talked today confidential?" Chu Feng gave many exhortations to Doctor Wang before he left. He did not want any of these information to be known to others.

Doctor Wang solemnly nodded. He also told Chu Feng to come over for checks at any time if needed. In fact, he was very invested in Chu Feng’s case. He wanted to keep track of Chu Feng’s situation. He was eager to see what he would eventually turn into.

Chu Feng started engorging food and drinks as soon as he returned home!

While he was eating, he browsed through the news on his communicator.

Then, to his surprise, there were many pieces of news that reported the billowy fogs happening in many places. Some of the mountains in other places also collapsed; the vital essence that flowed out of their ruins were as tempestuous as a surging sea.

This meant that situations similar to that in the small hill also happened elsewhere in this world, but it still remained unknown as to whether or not anyone had also entered the parallel universe as he did.

"Tell me, is this one of those moments or junctures that you’ve been waiting for ever since you came to our world?" Chu Feng asked.

Yellow Ox nodded, then it shook its head.

It took him a while before he could finally comprehend the calf’s bizarre response. To Yellow Ox, the earlier encounter with the parallel universe was nothing major nor important. It could only serve as an opportunity that could potentially lead up to something major and no more.

Chu Feng was rather surprised by the calf’s indifference. To him, this encounter had meant a tenfold increase in many of his vital life indices, and this alone could potentially serve as a major turning point for Chu Feng’s life.

Moreover, other changes had also gradually evolved within him.