Wild animals can carry viruses and bioweapons left over from previous generations, and all household pets, cats and dogs alike, are monopolized by the Gene Biotech Company. You simply can't breed them at home. The cost of just the regular biosafety inspections and pet licensing for a live dog starts at five figures. Ordinary folks can barely sustain themselves, let alone afford to keep dogs. They might as well keep cockroaches instead.
And mind you, in this day and age, cockroaches, rats, and flies are still thriving. Of course, it's not that human technology truly can't exterminate these pests; it's mainly that no one is willing to pay the price...
So Li Pan took the opportunity in his dream to pet dogs to his heart's content, furiously rubbing their heads while climbing the mountain and, along the way, teaching the Black Bear Dog how to stand upright, lie down, roll over, give his left paw, his right paw, play dead, and turn in circles.
In the end, the dog found him annoying and sprinted ahead, vanishing into the fog with an indignant "chu chu chu chu."
The further he went, the denser the fog became, until even the distant mountains and the stars above were completely obscured from view. Li Pan could only rely on the barking of the dog within the fog to orient himself.
And then, quite abruptly, a wall built of dark bricks appeared before him, and thus Li Pan knew he had finally reached his destination for the trials.
The wall appeared to be that of a traditional Chinese courtyard house, extending into the mist, so tall that its height was indiscernible. Li Pan followed the wall and the dog's barking until he finally found the main entrance. The gateway seemed to be some kind of traditional Chinese archway, its engravings unclear.
The Black Dog crouched at the entrance, giving Li Pan a look.
"What, you're not going inside? Alright, wait for me here."
Li Pan gave the dog another furious rub on the head and stepped into the courtyard.
Inside, the fog was somewhat thinner, allowing Li Pan to make out the layout around him.
This seemed to be... a Daoist Temple?
In the central courtyard stood a huge Pill Furnace, forged from Bintie, cold to the touch, though wisps of gray smoke rose from its top, merging with the vast fog, almost giving the illusion that this endless gray mist was emanated from the furnace itself.
Li Pan circled the Pill Furnace and found the doors of the Western Zhou wing rooms were all closed, only the main hall was open, so he walked towards it.
The main hall, too, was dark and devoid of any light. Three ancient seal characters were inscribed on the plaque above the entrance, none of which Li Pan could recognize...
Above the altar in the main hall stood a huge stone sculpture.
Li Pan looked carefully before he recognized what it was.
It seemed to be a coiled snake, its entire body covered in thorn-like dragon scales, pitch black, too dark to make out details. The snake's head was wrapped by its coiled body, seemingly tucked within and asleep.
The girth of the serpent was two meters wide, and it was so lifelike that Li Pan, had he not recognized that the deep purple color was most likely the quarry stone used from outside, might have mistaken it for a real python coiled inside the hall.
In front of the altar, there was no censer or offerings, only a stone case. Li Pan noticed that the case had a sliding lid, which seemingly contained something inside. He reached out, lifted the stone case, and struggled to open it, revealing a roll of black Bamboo Slips inside.
These black slips seemed to have inscriptions on them, which Li Pan couldn't see clearly, so he took the slips outside the hall and held them up to compare with the ancient script on the plaque.
Still unrecognizable, but the Bamboo Slips had four characters, and upon unfolding them, one could see densely packed writing on each slip.
Just as Li Pan hesitated, uncertain what to do next in the trial, considering whether to go to the entrance and consult the dog,
At that moment, the dog at the entrance began barking frantically with a "woof woof woof woof!" clearly warning him!
Simultaneously, out of the corner of Li Pan's eye, he thought he saw something stirring inside the main hall.
Then he heard the sound—crack crack, crack crack, like the great noises of rocks grinding and colliding during a mountain collapse.
What else could it be? Li Pan stiffened his neck and slowly turned his head, only to see that the giant serpent in the Temple had indeed come to life, lifting its head from the shadows... Wait, it seemed to have a human head!
"Holy shit!"
Li Pan took off running, bolting out of the Temple while the dog, upon seeing him emerge, started running down the mountain, howling "woof woof woof!"
Li Pan ran at full speed after the dog, so overwhelmed by fear or anxiety that he felt his legs go weak. The ground beneath felt as unpredictable as a trampoline, and he stumbled and tumbled along the way, falling over several times, but fortunately not twisting his ankle, so he scrambled up and continued running toward the sound of the dog's barking!
Running and running, all of a sudden, it became light.
Yes, it was light. Brightness fell from above, scattering the encompassing fog.
Li Pan couldn't help but look up, only to see amid the violent wind and fog, two enormous golden suns were revealed, golden orbs hurtling down from the distant Galaxy!
For a moment, the dog's frantic barking of "woof—woof woof woof!" seemed to be driven far away by the gale, fading from Li Pan's perception.
And Li Pan felt completely paralyzed from the neck down, unable to run any further, falling to his knees and desperately clutching a protruding rock on the ground.
Because it was no illusion—beside him, beneath his feet, the distant mountains really began to roll like the vast expanse of the ocean, the earth quaking and mountains crumbling. The dense fog was swept away by the violent winds raised by the leaping hills, the earth rising like a tsunami! Mountains causing upheaval! Galaxy inverting! Covering the starry sky! Concealing the Milky Way!