March, early spring.
In a corner of the eastern part of the Southern Phoenix Continent.
The hazy sky was dark and filled with a heavy pressure. It was as if someone had spilled ink on a piece of paper. The ink soaked the sky and dyed the clouds.
The clouds overlapped and blended with each other. Streaks of crimson lightning flashed, accompanied by the rumbling of thunder.
It was as if a deity was roaring, reverberating in the mortal world.
The blood-colored rain fell on the mortal world, bringing with it a sense of sadness.
The earth was hazy. There was a ruined city, silent and lifeless in the blood-red rain.
The city was in ruins and everything was withered. Collapsed houses could be seen everywhere, as well as black-colored corpses and pieces of flesh. They were like broken autumn leaves, silently withering.
The streets that used to be bustling with activity were now filled with desolation.
The sandy road that used to be filled with people was now silent.
All that was left was a bloody mess mixed with pieces of flesh, dust, and paper. It was a ghastly sight.
Not far away, a broken carriage was stuck in the mud. It was full of sorrow. Only an abandoned rabbit doll hung on the shaft of the carriage, swaying in the wind.
Its white fur had long been soaked red, filled with eeriness.
Its turbid eyes seemed to have some lingering resentment as it stared at the mottled rocks in front of it.
There, a figure was lying on the ground.
It was a 13 or 14 year old youth. His clothes were tattered and covered in dirt. There was a broken leather bag tied around his waist.
The youth squinted his eyes and remained motionless. The bone-piercing cold penetrated his tattered clothes and attacked his body, gradually taking away his body temperature.
But even when the rain fell on his face, he didn't blink. He stared coldly into the distance like a hawk.
Following his gaze, a skinny vulture was about seventy to eighty feet away from him. It was gnawing on the corpse of a wild dog, vigilantly observing its surroundings.
It seemed that in this dangerous ruin, the slightest movement would cause it to fly up.
The youth was like a hunter, patiently waiting for an opportunity.
After a long time, the opportunity came. The greedy vulture finally buried its head into the stomach of the wild dog.
Instantly, the youth squinted his eyes and a cold light flashed.
His body was like an arrow that left the bow, rushing out rapidly towards the vulture. With a flick of his right hand, he pulled out a black metal skewer from the leather bag at his waist.
The tip of the iron skewer flashed with a sharp cold light.
Perhaps it was because the vulture sensed killing intent, but the moment the youth rushed out, it immediately sensed it. Startled, it flapped its wings and tried to fly away.
But it was too late.
The black metal skewer, with the youth's expressionless face, turned into a black line and shot out.
Puff!
The sharp metal skewer pierced the vulture's head, shattering its skull and killing it instantly.
The powerful impact caused its corpse to tilt and fall. With a bang, it was nailed to the carriage not far away.
The blood-colored doll at the side was also shaking more and more due to the shaking of the carriage.
The young man's expression was calm, and he didn't slow down in the slightest from beginning to end. After arriving, he grabbed Vulture's corpse and the iron skewer.
The force was so great that the part of the carriage that was nailed by the iron skewer was lifted up a little.
After doing all this, he quickly left along the edge of the street without looking back.
The wind seemed to grow stronger, and the blood-colored doll on the carriage swayed back and forth, as if it were watching the youth leave.
He walked further and further away.
The wind, indeed, grew stronger, bringing with it the coldness of the rain, brushing past the youth's thin clothes.
The youth couldn't help but shiver. His brows furrowed slightly, and he pulled in his clothes, breathing in deeply.
He hated the cold.
And the way to resist the cold was to find a place to rest. But at this moment, the youth running on the street didn't slow down in the slightest, and a dilapidated shop flashed past his eyes.
He didn't have much time left.
Because hunting the vulture had taken too long, there was still a place he hadn't gone to today.
"It shouldn't be far." The youth whispered to himself as he sped along the street.
Along the way, he could see greenish-black corpses everywhere. Their lifeless faces were full of ferocity, as if they had turned into an aura of despair, wanting to taint the youth's mind.
But the youth was used to it, and didn't even look at it.
Until time passed, the youth looked at the sky from time to time, and his face was a little anxious. It seemed that to him, the change in the sky was more terrifying than those corpses.
Fortunately, not long after, when he saw a pharmacy in the distance, the youth breathed a sigh of relief and rushed over.
The pharmacy wasn't big, and there were many medicine cabinets scattered on the ground, giving off a moldy smell. It was like a tomb that had been opened, and it was messy.
There was an old man's corpse in the corner, his whole body greenish-black, leaning against the wall, as if he couldn't close his eyes in peace, and looked listlessly at the outside world.
The youth stepped in, glanced around, and immediately began to search.
Most of the herbs here were greenish-black like the corpses, and only a few were normal.
Among these normal herbs, the youth carefully identified them for a long time.
As if recalling his past experience, he finally picked up a common Golden Sore Grass, and took off his thin clothes, revealing a huge wound on his chest.
The wound hadn't healed completely, and the edges of the wound were beginning to turn black, and there was even some blood seeping out.
The youth looked down, and after crushing the herb, he took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and raised his hand to apply it on the wound.
In the blink of an eye, the pain from his wound surged through him like a tidal wave, causing his body to tremble uncontrollably. He forced himself to endure it, but he was unable to suppress the sweat on his forehead. Drops of sweat dripped down his face and onto the dark ground.
It became a smear of ink.
The entire process lasted for more than ten breaths. When he had finished applying the medicinal herbs to his wounds, the youth seemed to have lost all of his strength. He leaned against the medicine cabinet and rested for a while. Then, he let out a deep breath and slowly put on his clothes.
He looked at the sky outside, and after thinking for a while, he took out a tattered map from the leather pouch at his waist, and carefully spread it out.
The map was very simple, and it depicted the city.
The locations of the pharmacies were marked, and in the northeast direction, many areas were crossed out with fingernails, leaving only two areas uncrossed.
"After searching for a few days, it should be in these two areas." The youth's voice was hoarse as he muttered to himself, and after putting away the map, he was about to leave.
But before he left, he looked back at the old man's corpse, and his gaze fell on the corpse's clothes.
It was a leather jacket, and perhaps because of the special nature of the leather, the corrosion of the leather jacket wasn't great.
The youth thought for a while, then walked over, took off the leather jacket from the old man's corpse, and put it on himself.
The leather jacket was a little big, but after it wrapped around his thin body, the youth finally felt a trace of warmth, so he lowered his head to look at the old man's open eyes, and raised his hand to cover them gently, so that the old man could rest in peace.
"Rest in peace," the youth said softly, and tore off the curtain in the shop, covering the old man's corpse, and turned to leave.
As he walked out, a faint light shone at his feet. The youth looked down, and there was a broken mirror the size of a palm in the blood.
In the mirror, he saw his own face.
The broken mirror reflected his face, and although it was full of dirt, he could still vaguely see that it was an extremely delicate face.
But it didn't have the tenderness of a thirteen or fourteen-year-old youth, and was replaced by indifference.
The youth silently looked at himself in the mirror on the ground, and after a while, he raised his foot and stepped on it.
There was a cracking sound.
Cracks appeared one after another.
After he crushed the mirror with his foot, his body swayed, and he sped away.
On the ground, although the broken mirror was full of cracks, it still reflected the sky, as if it covered the world and covered all living things, like half of the vast face of the God's Remnant Face.
The Remnant Face closed its eyes, cold and aloof, and only strands of withered and bent hair drooped down.
It was a natural existence in this world, like the sun and the moon.
It was as if all living things were ants under it, and it was also like the phenomenon of hibernation, the growth of all things was affected by it, and it had to be changed.
At this moment, the sky gradually lost its light under the Remnant Face of the God.
The shadow of the setting sun was like a black haze, spreading in the ruins of the city, covering the earth, as if it was going to swallow everything.
The rain became heavier.
As the night gradually swallowed, so did the wind, and it produced a sharp whimper.
It was like the roar of a ghost, and it began to awaken the strange existence in the city, causing all kinds of creepy sounds to respond one after another.
The running youth's footsteps were faster, and his movements were more hurried. As the night fell, he nimbly shuttled through the streets.
When he passed by a collapsed house and wanted to use the momentum to jump away, the youth's pupils suddenly shrank.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw that not far away, there seemed to be a person in a wreckage.
From afar, this person's clothes were neat, as if he had no injuries, and he was sitting there leaning against the wall.
Most importantly, the skin that was exposed to the outside of the person's body was the normal color, not greenish-black!
This kind of figure, in this city, unless it was a living person, it was impossible for it to appear!
As for a living person … In these days, the youth had not met a second person besides himself.
This scene shocked his mind, and he quickly thought of something, and his breathing became slightly hurried.
He wanted to go forward, but the fog-like darkness behind him had already swallowed him.
The youth hesitated, but he remembered this location, and quickly left.
He sped all the way, and finally caught up in the night, and the youth returned to his temporary residence in this city.
It was a cave, and it was very small inside, and it was filled with bird feathers.
The gap at the entrance was not big, and an adult could not squeeze through. Only the youth could barely squeeze through.
After entering, he skillfully used the books, stones, and other things in the cave to block the entrance.
The moment the cave was completely filled, the darkness outside covered it in an instant.
The youth did not let down his guard. He held the iron skewer in his hand, held his breath, and squatted there to listen for a long time.
Gradually, the roars and mournful cries of strange beasts could be heard, and occasionally, strange laughter could be heard.
When the roars became clearer, and the youth was nervous, the sound seemed to pass by, and gradually faded away. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and sit to the side.
The cave was pitch black, and the youth sat there silently. Time seemed to stop at this moment.
He was in a daze for a while, and calmed down the nerves that had been stretched taut all day. He grabbed a water bottle from beside him, took a few sips, and ignored the sounds outside. He took out the vulture from his pocket.
In the darkness, he put it to his mouth, and bit by bit, bit by bit.
A fishy taste came from his throat, but he calmly swallowed it slowly, and squeezed the food down his throat into his stomach.
At this moment, his stomach was wriggling, trying to digest and relieve his hunger.
Soon, the entire vulture was eaten. The youth took a deep breath, and waves of exhaustion surged through his body. His eyes slowly closed.
However, he still held the black iron skewer tightly in his hand, like a lone wolf taking a nap.
It was as if he would instantly open his eyes if there was any abnormality.
At this moment, in the outside world, the darkness was like a curtain, covering the city, the earth, and the sky.
The world under the sky was extremely vast, and the Southern Phoenix Continent was only one of the many.
Very few people knew how big the world was. Only the majestic broken face in the sky had a strong intimidating aura, and everyone could see it when they raised their heads.
It was impossible to know when the broken face had arrived.
People only knew from bits and pieces of descriptions in ancient records that a long, long time ago, this world was filled with Immortal Qi. It was flourishing and full of life. That was until … this enormous face fragment came from the depths of the Void, bringing destruction with it. That was when it came to this world.
During the process of its arrival, the people of this world used all kinds of methods to stop it, but all of them failed. In the end, only a few ancient sovereigns led some of their people and abandoned the people, choosing to migrate.
Not long after, the broken face came and hung in the sky. From then on, a nightmare descended.
The aura that came from it pervaded the entire world. The mountains, the sea, all things, and all living beings, including the spiritual energy that cultivators relied on to cultivate, were also infected.
All things withered, and all living beings perished. Not even one out of a hundred survived.
From then on, the people who survived the disaster with great difficulty referred to this half-human face as … God.
This world was called the Last Earth, and the place where the ancient sovereigns went was called the Holy Land.
This name had been passed down through many eras, generation after generation.
And the disasters brought by God were not limited to these. His majesty suppressed all living beings at all times. Because …
Every few years, decades, or even centuries, he would open his eyes from time to time for a few breaths.
Every time he opened his eyes and looked at an area, that area would be instantly contaminated by his aura.
Living beings were plunged into misery and suffering, turning into an eternal forbidden zone.
For many eras, there were more and more forbidden zones in this world, and there were fewer and fewer habitable areas.
And nine days ago, God opened his eyes again, and the place he looked at was the area where the young man was.
All the species in that area, as well as the more than ten human cities, no matter where they were, whether it was the slums inside or outside the city, were instantly contaminated and turned into a forbidden zone for living beings.
Under this terrifying pollution, some of the living beings directly disintegrated into a bloody mist, some mutated into strange beasts without intelligence, and some had their souls scattered, leaving behind a contaminated greenish-black corpse.
Only an extremely small number of people and beasts could survive.
The young man was one of them.
At this moment, outside the pitch-black cave, a mournful cry came from afar, and the sleeping young man quickly opened his eyes.
He instinctively raised the iron skewer in his hand and looked at the gap of the blocked entrance warily.
It was not until the mournful cry circled around the vicinity and gradually went away that the young man breathed a sigh of relief.
Now that he was no longer sleepy, he touched his leather bag and took out a bamboo slip from it.
In the darkness, he touched the handwriting on the bamboo slip, and there seemed to be some light in his eyes. Then, he sat up straight, closed his eyes, and adjusted his breathing.
The young man's name was Xu Qing, and he lived alone in the slums outside the city since he was young.
Nine days ago, during the calamity, he had been hiding in the crack of a rock. He was different from the other people who had gone crazy and panicked. He calmly looked at the God Spirit that had opened its eyes in the sky. The special cross-shaped pupil in the God Spirit's eyes seemed to have lost its fear.
Until he saw a purple light fall from the sky and land in the northeast direction of the city.
The next moment, he fainted.
After waking up, he became the only survivor inside and outside the city.
But he did not leave immediately.
Because he knew that the forbidden zone formed when the God opened his eyes would be shrouded in a bloody rain at the beginning, turning into a barrier.
The people inside could not go out, and the people outside could not step in either, unless the forbidden zone was completely formed.
And the sign of formation was when the bloody rain stopped.
This catastrophe was nothing to Xu Qing, who grew up in the slums.
Because in the slums, whether it was homeless people, wild dogs, disease, or even a cold night, people could lose their lives at any time, and it was very difficult to survive.
And as long as one lived, nothing else mattered.
Of course, in the cruelty of the slums, there would occasionally be a trace of warmth.
For example, some scholars in dire straits would teach a group of children to make a living. Apart from this, there were also memories of their loved ones.
It was just that in Xu Qing's mind, as time passed, even if he tried very hard to remember, afraid that he would forget, the memories of his loved ones gradually became blurry.
But he knew that he was not an orphan. He still had loved ones, but they had been separated for a long time.
As such, his dream was to survive.
If he could live a better life, if he could have a chance to see his loved ones, that would be even better.
As such, he, who was lucky not to die, chose to enter the city.
He wanted to go to the residences of the upper echelons of the city to find a way to become stronger that was circulating in the slums. He also wanted to find the purple light that fell into the city.
The way to become stronger had always been circulating in the slums, and it was desired by everyone. They called it cultivation, and those who mastered the cultivation method were called cultivators.
As such, besides the memories of his loved ones, Xu Qing's greatest wish was to become a cultivator.
Cultivators were not rare, and in the past few years, Xu Qing had seen them enter the city from afar.
Their typical characteristic was that when one looked at them, one's body would instinctively tremble.
Xu Qing had even heard that the City Lord was a cultivator, and there were also cultivators among his guards.
As such, after searching the city for a long time, five days ago, he finally found the bamboo slip in his hand on a corpse in the City Lord's residence.
It was very dangerous there, and the wound on his chest was left there.
What was recorded on the bamboo slip was the cultivation method that he desired.
He had already memorized all of the contents in his heart, and in the past few days, he had even tried to cultivate it.
Xu Qing had never seen any other cultivation methods, and this bamboo slip was the only one he had. He didn't know how to cultivate it properly.
Fortunately, most of the descriptions were simple and easy to understand, and they focused on visualization and breathing.
As such, he was able to gain some benefits by following the prescribed order.
This method was called the Sea Mountain Art.
The method of cultivation was to summon the totem carved on the bamboo slip in his mind, and then combine it with his breathing.
This totem was very strange. It was a strange existence with a large head and a small body. It only had one leg, and its entire body was black. Its face was ferocious like a ghost's.
Xu Qing had never seen this creature before, and the bamboo slip called it a Mandrill.
As he cultivated, the totem appeared in his mind. Xu Qing's breathing gradually changed, and the air around him gradually became filled with undercurrents.
The surrounding spiritual energy slowly entered his body and flowed through it. A bone-chilling cold spread through his body, and wherever it passed, he felt as if he was submerged in ice water.
Xu Qing was afraid of the cold, but he endured it and didn't give up.
After a long time, when he finally finished his cultivation according to the bamboo slip's requirements, his body was soaked in cold sweat.
His stomach, which had just eaten the vulture, felt waves of hunger again.
Xu Qing wiped away the cold sweat and touched his stomach. His eyes were filled with determination.
Ever since he started cultivating this cultivation method, his appetite had increased significantly, and his body was more agile than before.
All of this allowed him to have a stronger tolerance for the cold during cultivation.
Xu Qing raised his head and looked outside through the gap at the entrance.
The outside world was pitch-black, and there were only terrifying roars, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, echoing in his ears.
He didn't know the real reason why he became a survivor. Perhaps it was luck, or perhaps … he saw the purple light.
Therefore, in the past few days, while he was looking for cultivation methods, he was also constantly going to the northeast to find the purple light's landing point. Unfortunately, he still couldn't find it.
In his thoughts, Xu Qing heard the roars outside.
He couldn't help but think of the corpse leaning against the wall when he returned at sunset, and his eyes slowly narrowed.
The corpse was in the northeast, and … it seemed to be a living person.
"Could it be related to the purple light?"