Before dawn, the hundred-thousand-mile Great Wilderness was shrouded in darkness, yet sunlight had already fallen upon Sword Gate Mountain. Wisps of cloud curled around its halfway point, auspicious clouds drifted through the air, and the sunlight first touched the golden summit atop the mountain.
The glazed palace on the golden summit burst forth with ten thousand rays of golden light, illuminating the sea of clouds and dazzling the eye.
Amid the mountains surrounded by the sea of clouds, grand and ancient palaces floated above the clouds, sacred, solemn, and majestic.
This was the hundred-thousand-mile Great Wilderness, the Holy Land shared by the three thousand Human-race tribes—Sword Gate!
Sword Gate had produced countless qi refiners who guarded the hundred-thousand-mile Great Wilderness. Everyone from the three thousand Human-race tribes regarded becoming a qi refiner of Sword Gate as the highest honor.
The Great Wilderness was harsh, and the Human race was weak. Without Sword Gate guarding the wilderness, the three thousand tribes would likely have been reduced to ashes long ago.
The mountain gate towered high. Beyond it lay the dwelling place of Sword Gate's entry-level disciples, where tens of thousands of them lived.
Sword Gate had many qi refiners. The three thousand tribes sent their young men and women up the mountain to study. Those without powerful backgrounds mostly lived here, while tribes with connections often had qi refiners within Sword Gate who could directly take their descendants as disciples.
Zhong Yue rose early. Bare-chested, he stood beside the well, drew up a bucket of water, and poured it over his head. Then he shuddered violently, driving away his drowsiness.
Clear water slid down his body and splashed across the bluestone paving.
His muscles were firm, his build well-proportioned, and his skin stretched taut over his powerful frame. Three deep claw marks scarred his chest, left by some unknown ferocious beast and already covered with scabs.
Zhong Yue turned around. His back was marked with rows of claw wounds, and his left arm bore scars from the bite of a ferocious beast. He had more than a dozen scars of various sizes, making him look nothing like a boy of merely fifteen.
Zhong Yue hoisted his medicine basket onto his back and slipped silently out of the mountain gate, heading down the mountain.
The status of an Outer Disciple was extremely low. All they could learn were some of Sword Gate's most rudimentary techniques. Only after cultivating a spirit could one become a registered Inner Court disciple, take a Hall Master of the Inner Court as one's master, and receive Sword Gate's true inheritance. But how difficult was it for an Outer Disciple without a background to become a registered Inner Court disciple?
The three thousand Human-race tribes of the Great Wilderness ranged from small tribes with over ten thousand people to great tribes with several million. Countless people racked their brains to worm their way into Sword Gate, all dreaming of becoming registered Inner Court disciples and qi refiners. Competition was therefore fierce.
Sword Gate had its rules: anyone who failed to cultivate a spirit before the age of sixteen would be driven out. The children of the chiefs of the Great Wilderness's tribes naturally had all kinds of spirit medicines and spirit pills to raise their cultivation and nurture them into cultivating spirits before sixteen.
Even an ordinary aptitude could be piled into that of a qi refiner with enough spirit medicines and spirit pills!
But the children of poor commoners did not receive such treatment. They could only rely on diligent cultivation and painstaking practice.
It was hard for a poor household to produce a noble son; few children from impoverished families could become qi refiners.
Zhong Yue came from the Zhongshan Tribe, an insignificant little tribe. After years of famine, only a hundred or so people remained, making it arguably the smallest tribe in the Great Wilderness.
A tribe like that could barely protect itself, let alone support a qi refiner.
Thus, although Zhong Yue worked a hundred times harder than others, he was still a considerable distance from cultivating a spirit.
He had come down the mountain so early this time to search the deep mountains and old forests for several spirit medicines, which he would use to refine Feather Spirit Pills and nourish his soul.
Feather Spirit Pills were the most ordinary of pills, and the medicinal ingredients needed to refine them were equally common. But even such ordinary spirit pills and medicines were beyond his means, so he could only refine them himself.
Gathering his own herbs and refining his own pills naturally took far more time and hardship than it did for others.
About two hours after Zhong Yue left Sword Gate Mountain, the sky had already brightened. The Inner Court and Outer Disciples of Sword Gate Mountain had long since risen to cultivate when, suddenly, a rapid peal of bells rang out from the mountain. One powerful qi refiner after another flew down from the summit, shouting from afar, "The Demonic Soul Yin Miasma is about to appear! All Sword Gate disciples, heed this order: no one is permitted to leave!"
"No one is to take even half a step beyond Sword Gate Mountain!"
"The Demonic Soul Yin Miasma is incomparably dangerous. Only Sword Gate can protect this region. Anyone who leaves Sword Gate will certainly die!"
The whole of Sword Gate erupted in uproar. With a thunderous boom, the majestic mountain gate suddenly slammed shut. In midair above Sword Gate Mountain, palaces shone brilliantly amid the swirling clouds and mist, while the golden summit shot out ten thousand rays of golden light that illuminated the void, dazzling beyond compare!
The Outer Disciples were seeing such a grand display of force for the first time, but it was nothing unfamiliar to the Inner Court Disciples.
The Demonic Soul Yin Miasma appeared once every ten years and was extraordinarily dangerous. Even qi refiners would die horribly upon encountering it. Every outbreak washed thousands of miles in blood, leaving not a blade of grass alive wherever it passed!
"How could the Demonic Soul Yin Miasma erupt ahead of time? According to the schedule, it shouldn't appear for another five days?" an Inner Court disciple muttered.
Just then, a muffled rumble came from beneath the earth, as if a demon were stirring up storms underground. Suddenly, rolling black qi surged from a deep valley not far from Sword Gate Mountain, spraying black haze into the sky like a bubbling fountain!
Before long, the black pillar rose higher than Sword Gate Mountain, shooting straight into the clouds. Then the black haze scattered in every direction. The scene looked as though a gigantic black umbrella was slowly spreading open!
The world instantly plunged into darkness. Only Sword Gate Mountain shone brightly, illuminating the black haze. The roiling mass pressed down from above, but when it reached the vicinity of Sword Gate Mountain, the light blocked it outside, as though an invisible screen guarded the mountain and kept the haze from seeping in.
There seemed to be terrifying creatures within the black haze as well, their furious roars raising gooseflesh. From time to time, the creatures slammed into Sword Gate Mountain's barrier, producing one muffled thunderclap after another, astonishingly powerful.
High on Sword Gate Mountain, before a great hall, several qi refiners gazed up at the terrifying Demonic Soul Yin Miasma. One of them said quietly, "Several Outer Disciples left the mountain gate and still haven't returned. I'm afraid they went out never to come back..."
The place Zhong Yue had gone to gather medicine was called Cloud-Gathering Mountain. Rich in spirit medicines, it lay southeast of Sword Gate Mountain. During his years as an Outer Disciple of Sword Gate, he had learned no profound techniques, but he had tempered his body until it was strong. He could cross more than ten feet in a single step, and traversing mountains and ridges was effortless.
By the time he entered Cloud-Gathering Mountain, the sky was already bright, and roars from beasts rang out through the mountains from time to time.
The place saw few human visitors, and there were no tribes nearby that hunted there. The mountains teemed with ferocious beasts. Zhong Yue moved cautiously through the forests, searching in every direction, and before long he had gathered several spirit medicines.
"The other spirit medicines are easy enough to find. Only this Five Fragrance Ganoderma is difficult; I'll have to rely on luck."
Zhong Yue crossed mountains and ridges when he suddenly caught a faint, peculiar medicinal fragrance. It was intermittent and elusive, but as he gradually drew closer, it grew increasingly strong.
The fragrance carried five unusual scents: sweetness, floral perfume, freshness, fiery heat, and mellow richness. It was precisely the scent of the Five Fragrance Ganoderma!
Following the scent, he arrived at the edge of a cliff and leaned over to look down. The cliff was steep, with jagged rocks jutting out, while the valley below was dark and so deep its bottom could not be seen.
A huge protruding rock lay more than ten zhang from the cliff. Thin streams of water seeped from the cliff face, nourishing several unusual herbs.
"Five Fragrance Ganoderma!"
Joy flashed through Zhong Yue's heart. He carefully climbed down the cliff. Although it was steep, his skills were excellent, and he faced little danger.
After a short while, he reached a spot not far from the huge rock. Looking down, he saw the deep valley below, black as ink. A cold wind rose from its depths, chilling him to the bone.
Zhong Yue grew even more cautious. At last, he reached the protruding rock and was just about to gather the Five Fragrance Ganoderma when the sky suddenly darkened. He hurriedly looked up, his heart jolting.
A great bird ablaze with golden light flew over the cliff. Its wings stretched more than ten feet, and it astonishingly possessed two pairs of wings. Beating all four wings, it swooped toward him, its talons flashing with a ringing, icy gleam!
"What kind of raptor is that?"
Before the Four-Winged Golden Bird even reached him, its fierce wind had already swept over, striking his face painfully and nearly knocking Zhong Yue from the rock!
Whoosh—
The Four-Winged Golden Bird swooped down. At the instant it reached him, Zhong Yue hurriedly seized several Five Fragrance Ganoderma and leapt from the rock. The great bird missed, flapped its four wings, and rose into the air, searching in all directions. It saw that Zhong Yue had not fallen into the ravine but was clinging to a green vine more than a zhang below the rock.
The Four-Winged Golden Bird shrieked fiercely and soared into the sky, preparing to dive again. Zhong Yue gritted his teeth and slid down the green vine into the deep valley. Just as the Four-Winged Golden Bird reached midair, rolling black haze suddenly surged over and instantly enveloped the entire valley. Zhong Yue looked up, and it seemed as though the sky had been covered by black cloth.
There was still a faint light at the bottom of the valley, though he could not make out what emitted it. Suddenly, Zhong Yue heard the wind above his head. A huge skeleton fell from the sky, passed beside him, and plunged into the depths of the valley.
His heart jolted. That skeleton was the skeleton of the Four-Winged Golden Bird from moments ago!
In the space of a few breaths, the Four-Winged Golden Bird had seemingly been devoured by something within the black haze, leaving behind nothing but its bones!
Zhong Yue's scalp prickled. He looked up and saw the black haze racing along the cliff toward him at astonishing speed. He hurriedly slid downward, but suddenly, with several snaps, the green vine tore free from the cliff. Zhong Yue fell from the cliff together with the vine.
In his panic, he reached out and clawed at everything around him. At last, he caught hold of a branch of an ancient tree jutting from the cliff, stopping his fall. Zhong Yue looked up and saw that the black haze was only four or five zhang away. Beside the thick ancient tree was a hole as wide as a water vat. Rustling sounds came from within, and a gigantic triangular head emerged from the opening, then rose high and fixed Zhong Yue with an amused stare. It was a colossal python of unimaginable size!
The giant python hissed, clearly very interested in him.
A python of this size possessed astonishing constricting strength and was a king among the Great Wilderness's strange beasts. Even a qi refiner would find it difficult to slay such a vicious beast, let alone him.
Zhong Yue clenched his teeth and released the branch. His body immediately dropped.
The giant python hissed and flicked its long tongue, preparing to strike, when the black haze suddenly descended and swallowed it whole.
Crash! A snake skeleton more than ten zhang long fell from the black haze, plunging into the valley bottom before Zhong Yue.
The cold valley was deep and secluded, with dead branches and fallen leaves spread thickly across the bottom. Zhong Yue's landing suffered little impact. Using the faint light, the boy looked around and saw bones piled across the valley floor, with ghost fires flickering here and there. They were likely the remains of beasts that had died in the jaws of the giant python and strange bird.
"That giant python died too. Just what is this black mist...? Damn it!"
Zhong Yue's expression changed dramatically. The black haze had finally reached the valley bottom and surged in from every direction. One ghost fire after another vanished into it.
Zhong Yue looked around. The black haze was closing in, almost within arm's reach. He sighed inwardly. "That strange mist devoured the golden bird and the giant python. I'm probably doomed too... Huh? Why did this black haze stop moving?"
The black haze suddenly stopped advancing a zhang or so from him, as though blocked by an invisible force. It formed a hemispherical protective circle.
Zhong Yue saw a gigantic white-bone claw reach out from the black haze and seize the hemispherical protective circle. It produced a grating, ear-piercing squeal but failed to tear through.
He had no idea what sort of monster that white-bone claw belonged to. A single knuckle was already taller than he was!
One had to know that Zhong Yue had tempered his sinews and bones for years, making his body several inches taller than an adult's. Yet even one knuckle of this white-bone claw was far larger than he was. It was impossible to imagine how enormous the owner of the claw must be!
"This is..."
Zhong Yue saw that at the very center of the small protective circle sat a skeleton in a cross-legged position. Its right arm was raised, holding a lamp that seemed to illuminate the road for those in the darkness.
The lamplight was dim, barely brighter than ghost fire, and seemed liable to go out at any moment.
"Strange. This person has been dead for so many years and has been reduced to bones, so how has this lamp not gone out?"
Extremely curious, Zhong Yue stepped forward to examine it closely. Only then did he discover what was unusual. The skeleton could not be called human, nor was it sitting in a cross-legged meditation posture. It was coiled up.
The reason it was called coiled was not because it sat with its legs crossed. This person had no legs at all, only a long snake tail coiled around itself. His upper body, however, was humanoid, with a head and neck, hands and arms!
These were the remains of a strange being with a human head and a serpent's body!
"Could this lamp be blocking the strange black haze?"
Zhong Yue bowed to the strange skeleton, then carefully reached out and removed the lamp. The flame swayed and seemed about to go out, so he hurriedly shielded it with his hand. Suddenly, a lazy voice drifted over: "Several thousand autumns in a great dream—what year is it tonight? Young man, which dynasty is Fuxi ruling now?"
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