At one of the cities in the empire, a herd of beasts was lazing around in a pen. These were Long Furred Goats and were early stage Qi refining realm spirit beasts. They were rather docile and their meat and milk were considered to be a high end delicacy.
They were so easy to handle that even children could take care of them. While they did have quite a lot of strength, they wouldn’t attack anyone without any provocation. They would even let the people shear their fur so that it could be used to make clothes.
Overall they were no different from normal goats, except for being spirit beasts. The caretakers were doing their daily chores in one of the pens when suddenly the goats all stood up in unison.
The caretakers were surprised but didn’t find anything to be wrong. They thought something must have caught the beast’s attention as they were sensitive to spirit Qi. But then, the goats all turned their heads in one direction, before raising them and letting out a loud bleat.
It didn’t stop there though, as more cries of beasts all over the city could be heard. Some people who kept spirit beast pets saw them suddenly stop and turn in a specif direction before letting out a cry.
"All the beasts are crying out at the same time!"
"Did something scare them?"
"Quick go and inform the master! There is some strange phenomenon happening."
This scene repeated in nearly every place that had beasts.
At the Rainbow pill sect.
An orange feathered bird that was as big as a swan was perched atop a spirit fruit tree. It lazily pecked at the berry like fruits hanging on it and ate them.
A white haired elder was standing at the side of the tree and looked at the orange fathered bird with a smile on his face.
"Da Cheng won’t you give me a feather, please..." the white haired elder pleaded. The orange feathered bird though paid no attention to the man and just continued eating.
"Just... just one feather will do. Please... pretty please..." The old man continued requesting to no avail.
The bird had no intention of listening to the old man.
The old man shook his head and turned to sit down at the stone table that was placed nearby. But the moment he turned he heard a shrill sound.
The old man’s eyes went wide as he hurriedly turned around. He saw his precious bird spreading its wings and letting out a loud cry. Looking in its eyes one could see a strange kind of fervor. The old man felt puzzled but a few seconds later, more such cries sounded all across the sect.
The old elder’s brows furrowed as he looked around. A massive wave of spirit Qi came from his body as it spread around the sect.
Soon multicolored lights could be seen flying towards him from all over the sect. The lights landed around him, revealing many men and women, who started bowing their heads and cupping their hands in respect.
"Ancestor! The beasts all over the sect are acting strange."
"They aren’t listening to us either. A few disciples who tried to restrain a couple of them were attacked directly."
"We’re getting reports that this isn’t happening just here. It is happening all over the empire."
The old man raised his hand, silencing all the people at once.
"If all the beasts are acting then can only be a few reasons for this." The Ancestor spoke.
"And what are they, ancestor?"
"Either they have been scared by the presence of a very strong beast, the likes of which we’ve never seen before. Or... if what I’ve read in our forbidden archives is correct... an immortal treasure that is priceless to beasts is coming into existence somewhere." The ancestor spoke.
"What should we do now, ancestor?"
"Investigate of course. If it’s the first option then we may need to talk with the other sects about it first. A beast like that... won’t be something I will be able to deal with alone." The ancestor said shocking the people.
"But if it’s the second option then... we need to obtain it at all costs!" The ancestor said as a powerful aura exuded from his body.
All the top sects reared certain beasts and even had guardian beasts who were treated no less than the sect’s elders. These beasts were as smart as humans, but even they were acting the same and letting out loud cries.
The cultivation sects were sent in a tizzy trying to control them as some of them redacted violently to being interrupted.
This phenomenon continued for over an hour before it stopped.
The commoners were scared that this was an evil omen and that something bad was about to happen, while the sects hurried to find the cause behind it, thinking that it must be something really beneficial for them.
Even the nobles of various kingdoms were not excluded in this and they sent out their own people to check it as well.
The actual cause behind this was none other than Lin Mu who was sitting inside the cave in an unknown forest.
After he started chanting the Nurturing heart sutra the cries of beasts could be heard from all over the forest by him too, but he didn’t pay attention to it for now. For him, little Shrubby was the main concern.
Inside Lin Mu’s Dantian, the spirit Qi started to stir before it started to bubble. Soon the reaction got more violent it was as if the spirit Qi would soon explode. Lin Mu felt like something was wrong when he looked at it, but his mind was telling him everything was fine and this was supposed to happen.
The bubbling spirit Qi started to reduce in size before Lin Mu was only left with half of his entire store of liquid spirit Qi in his Dantian. The amount that had disappeared had instead changed into a string of energy that floated above the sea of spirit Qi.