Chapter 25 — Jade Void of Kunlun

The valley enclosed by those emerald peaks was very broad, and a rich, pungent medicinal fragrance spread from several herb fields within it, each at least a few hundred mu in extent and made up entirely of rare medicinal herbs. Seven-colored gleams flickered through the fields—plainly some heavenly treasure on the verge of ripening—and countless five-hued butterflies the size of a palm circled those seven-colored gleams in flight, with no one at all to tend them. In the fields grew giant ginseng, fu-ling, purple lingzhi, and fiery-red vermilion fruit—every one a rare and wondrous herb. Around the fields the spiritual energy, thick as though substantial, rolled and churned unceasingly, pouring in a steady stream into the herb fields for those rare plants to absorb and grow.

Above the herb fields, countless white cranes flew to and fro over the temple, their clarion calls carrying far and wide from time to time. Above the main gate of the white-jade temple floating several hundred zhang in the air hung a plaque of carved white jade at least several dozen zhang across, inscribed with three characters in an archaic, bushel-sized golden script, written in some unknowable substance. Any expert versed in high-antiquity script would know that these three characters, translated into modern writing, read: the Jade Void Palace.