Beneath a towering tree stood a mound of earth, unmarked by any gravestone. Lu Bai likely hadn't understood back then that being buried was his former master's best resting place.
The mound was overgrown with weeds. If Lu Bai hadn't pointed it out, Lu Heng wouldn't have realized it was a grave.
Lu Heng reached out and cleared away the weeds. Lu Bai didn't understand such things, but as Lu Bai's new master, Lu Heng felt he should help.
"Do you know your master's name?"
As expected, Lu Bai habitually shook his head. "I never heard the master mention it."
It made sense. Lu Bai had only been a small fox back then, and his master probably wouldn't have shared his past with it.
As for a tombstone, Lu Heng thought better of it. He didn't know the name of the person buried here, so an inscription was truly irrelevant.
"Let's go."
Taking Lu Bai's sleeve, Lu Heng pulled him away.
Lu Bai had already recalled many past events. In terms of recovering memories, this was considered a success.
Furthermore, they had just found an遗物 (yíwù - personal belonging left behind) of Lu Bai's former master. Although he couldn't understand what it was yet, it was at least an object that could be cherished.
"This place your former master chose is really quite good. We've been here for so long, and we haven't encountered any other magical beasts."
"My master planted a type of plant that magical beasts dislike nearby, so the magical beasts on the outskirts don't like to approach this area."
"There's this too? Come on, take me to identify it. I'll dig up a couple to take back."
Plants could be grown in his space. Regardless of what they were, Lu Heng wanted to collect any curious ones to keep.
"But I don't like that smell either."
"It's fine. I'll plant that plant in the ancient city within my space later. The smell won't spread to the city space where we live."
Perhaps it was some kind of spatial barrier. Every time Lu Heng traversed places where two spaces connected, he felt like he was entering two different worlds, so the air within the two spatial barriers didn't circulate.
The golden eagle and the condor had been resting quietly where they had landed, likely tired from their flight.
Lu Heng decided to travel on the ground for now, as this would increase the probability of encountering magical beasts. He waved his hand and recalled them into his space, then released the blood wolf.
The blood wolf was already quite large. It could serve as a mount, and it was also an animal from another world. Its appearance in this world wouldn't attract too much attention from humans.
Under Lu Bai's reluctant guidance, Lu Heng and his companions soon moved away from the dilapidated houses. A patch of low-lying bushes appeared before them, bearing many small red fruits.
"Is this it?"
"No, it's the grass beneath the bushes." Lu Bai manipulated the bushes, extending a flexible branch to pick up a stalk of grass from the ground and offer it to Lu Heng.
The plant, which Lu Bai disliked, had oval-shaped leaves. Although the leaves were green, their veins were a vibrant red, and the edges were serrated.
There was still plenty of moist soil at the roots. Lu Heng found a pot and planted the grass.
"Pull up a few more." If this one died, Lu Heng might not be able to return specifically to find this plant again.
Lu Bai pulled out several more stalks and quickly handed them to Lu Heng.
"I don't smell anything that bad either." Lu Bai sniffed, not detecting any unpleasant odor from the grass.
"Master, I don't like this plant either." The blood wolf beneath him finally couldn't stand it, gagging a few times before complaining to Lu Heng.
Seeing their discomfort, Lu Heng quickly collected the plants into his space and placed them within the ancient city.
"Let's go find some suitable magical beasts. I should contract a few new pets."
After giving Lu Bai and the blood wolf each a cup of ancient well water to alleviate their physical discomfort, they quickly left the grassy area and headed in another direction.
The Northeast Tiger was due to give birth in a day or two. Lu Heng was worried that its cubs would occupy his pet contract slots. However, contracting all his pets before the tiger gave birth seemed unlikely.
Let's see, Lu Heng was currently at the fifteenth stage of his abilities. Based on the rule of two contracts per stage, he could still contract sixteen more creatures.
It seemed he hadn't contracted new creatures in a very long time.
Following the direction of the water flow, Lu Heng and his companions soon reached the cliff edge of a waterfall. Lu Bai had already transformed into his fox form and was walking ahead of the blood wolf.
"Why don't we summon the condor to carry Master down?"
"No need. It looks like there's a way down there." Lu Heng surveyed the surroundings and found an area on the cliff edge that seemed to have a gentle slope leading down.
Manipulating the ground's weeds to part to the sides, the earth below was exposed to the sunlight. Indeed, there was a slope, and perhaps Lu Bai's former master had also used this path.
The blood wolf carefully descended the slope. It was relatively gentle, and after walking for a while, they gradually moved away from the waterfall.
The noisy sound of water echoed behind them, growing increasingly distant.
"There's a fork in the road here. Which way should we go?" Lu Bai sniffed the ground, not detecting any scent of magical beasts. Lu Heng had cleared all the weeds from the slope, making the path easy to follow.
"Either way. Let's take the right path." Without a specific destination, Lu Heng casually chose a direction.
Hearing this, Lu Bai stepped towards the right. As the slope gradually gentled, the path became easier and faster.
"Why is there a cave here? Master, should we go inside?" Lu Bai stopped ahead, reporting the situation to Lu Heng via telepathy.
"No, we won't." Caves held too many unknown dangers. Influenced by the apocalypse, he didn't want to explore dark places.
"Then there's no path ahead. Let's go back to the fork and see where the other path leads. If not, we can summon the condor again."
Following the other path, they soon reached the foot of the mountain. High mountains surrounded them on all sides, making humans appear very small in the center of the valley.
There were quite a few mosquitoes around. Lu Heng manipulated his wind abilities to create an independent space around them, isolating them from the outside insects. This way, when walking through densely vegetated areas, they wouldn't be bothered by mosquitoes and their scent would also be somewhat concealed.
There was no further path to explore at the foot of the mountain. The entire expanse of weeds rustled in the valley wind, creating a soft whispering sound.
Lu Heng closed his eyes and sensed the surrounding environment, then pointed in a certain direction.
He had just detected a sound from there. Although he couldn't understand it, he could tell that there was a life form present.
However, looking at the waist-high weeds underfoot, Lu Heng uncertainly asked the blood wolf, "The grass is so tall here, you won't fall into any traps, will you?"
"Master, I used to live in forests. Besides, Lu Bai is here too. He lived here before."
"I never left the living area above," Lu Bai said faintly upon hearing this.
"It doesn't matter. Master, you should trust me," the blood wolf said confidently, but Lu Heng didn't quite agree, especially since it was still a cub when he contracted it.