Escape

Escape.

Escape from this human hell known as a border city.

On the borders of the immortal sects, more or less, all the oppressed cultivators of the Underlying Layer had entertained such thoughts.

But this was not something easy to accomplish.

It was not that they could not do it, but that they did not want to and did not dare to.

Under normal circumstances, the stewards never came to the site themselves. They simply lived in the Elegant Courtyard, as though they were clouds atop a lofty mountain.

The overseers, meanwhile, actually did not care at all what the people of the Underlying Layer did after work. They only watched and supervised their labor while they were on the job.

In other words, although Nanmo Border City had towering, endless walls to the north, walls that made one sigh just looking at them, as long as someone wanted to escape and dared to escape, they could completely find an opportunity to flee into the forests south of the city!

The vast, primitive forests of the Southern Border were actually close at hand.

However, many dangers lurked within them as well.

In the region near the border city, demonic beasts did not appear very frequently, and the various miasma poisons had been eliminated and eradicated by the immortal sects for the sake of production. Apart from the climate being wholly unsuitable for people to remain in, there were not many natural dangers.

But once one went deep into the forests, things were different.

Judging from the scraps of clothing on the corpse before Du En, this person, like him, had been a cultivator of the Underlying Layer living in the Shack District outside the border city.

If that was truly the case, then for this person to appear here in the form of a corpse, there was generally only one answer: he was an escapee.

The cultivators of the Underlying Layer in the border city would never venture this deep.

Du En had come running after the Strange Owls because he had a special need. Before this, he had never gone south into this pathless region of dense, deep forest.

"From the looks of it, this person encountered a demonic beast and tried to run back, but failed and was ultimately bitten to death here."

By examining some traces around him, it was not difficult to reach this conclusion.

As for why the demonic beast was no longer here and had not eaten the man, perhaps it had only realized after biting him to death that this place was already somewhat close to the border city, so it had chosen to leave, abandoning the corpse?

Only after confirming that there was no danger whatsoever in the vicinity did Du En use his shovel to rummage through the things the Strange Owls had just pecked out.

He found five Low-grade Spirit Stones amid the foul-smelling blood and filth, along with a small bamboo slip about the length of a palm.

Carefully enveloping them in magical power, he boldly picked them up.

He wiped the Spirit Stones clean and put them in his pocket. The bamboo slip looked very old, its base color grayish-black. When he untied the cord, he found that it had not been soaked through with blood and could still be read.

The carved writing on it had become mottled and blurred with age, saturated with the heavy sensation of history.

"Wherever there is spirit, there must be traces..."

Silently reciting the words, Du En quickly finished reading it.

"So that was how it was. He did not flee in despair, having decided to smash the pot and let it break. Rather, he wanted to risk seeking a way out."

The bamboo slip recorded an explanation of the essentials for searching for Spiritual Materials.

Overall, it was not obscure or complicated. Once someone had grasped the basics and searched by following the examples, they could probably find first-rank, middle- or low-grade Spiritual Materials in these vast forests.

However, if one had the method but lacked the strength, taking such risks could very likely lead to one's own ruin.

This person might truly have found some Spiritual Material, only to encounter a demonic beast that accompanied it and guarded it as a treasure. He had then been hunted down and killed by the beast.

Afterward, with the demonic beast concerned about its treasure, it had not lingered and had simply returned to continue guarding it.

Du En pondered silently and felt that this possibility was closer to reality.

Without thinking further, he dug a fairly deep pit here and buried both the corpse and the bamboo slip inside.

Then he carried the Strange Owl and returned beneath the shroud of night.

The night road stretched on, vast and empty, with not a lamp in sight.

In the small courtyard, everyone watched Du En return late, but return all the same, and could not help releasing a sigh of relief.

They did not ask anything else. They merely displayed the medicinal herbs they had gathered.

"Mm, thank you."

Although Du En spoke as flatly as ever, his words left them flattered, excited, and thrilled.

That night was as flat and uneventful as ever, without a ripple on the surface.

Time hurried on, and the next day soon arrived.

At dawn.

The wheels turned along the corpse-transport path.

The corpse haulers were likewise carrying the corpses gathered yesterday and last night, loading them onto carts and transporting them to the Corpse Burial Wasteland.

There were forty-eight corpses in all. They had died in different ways, emitted foul odors, and left a trail of scraps and stains behind them, becoming a feast for carrion birds and beasts.

The utterly ordinary Zhang Song was currently buried in the heap of corpses, enduring the stench so close at hand and the soft, limp, icy touch of the bodies.

His heart was filled with excitement and anticipation.

After going to such lengths to disguise himself as a corpse, hiding in the pile and being transported here to the Corpse Burial Wasteland on the outskirts... it was obvious that he was an escapee.

But he seemed rather different from the other escapees.

"Ah! Ah! Great Supreme Lord, do not worry. It will be soon, very soon!"

Going north would certainly offer no path to survival; he would definitely be captured. But going south was different. As long as he could flee into the miasma-filled, scorching forests of the Southern Border, he would surely be reborn!

"That's right! I heard it! This is the grace of the great Supreme Lord. Deep in those forests lies the Promised Land of we who have been summoned!"

"But it's still not enough. There's still something missing. This way, it isn't enough—it won't do!"

Countless thoughts rose continuously from the depths of his heart like viscous foam.

Like a corpse, he had deceived the corpse collectors and the corpse haulers, and had been placed in the wasteland as ordinarily as could be.

The sun gradually rose, and Zhang Song waited in silence.

When the cries of Strange Owls and Grey Jackals rang out, he knew that the corpse buriers—his target—had arrived.

"Heh heh heh~"

He could not help laughing strangely inside.

With his head tilted and his eyes slightly open, Zhang Song saw six corpse buriers emerge from the gradually brightening forest.

"Weak! Truly weak! Just as weak as the rumors said!"

"Blood! Sacrifice! Only by using living lives to pave my road can I reach the land bestowed by the great Supreme Lord!"

As he sneered at the corpse buriers, the fangs of his killing intent slowly spread open.

And the truth was basically as he thought. With an average cultivation period of barely half a year, the corpse buriers were indeed an extremely frail group. That was also the direct reason people looked down on them.

They were simply too easy to bully, and no one feared that bullying them would bring retaliation.

However, the situation now was somewhat beyond the ordinary.

Hm?

The instant Zhang Song's gaze landed on him, Du En faintly sensed something and immediately became wary. He remained expressionless on the surface while rapidly examining his surroundings.

In the end, a sliver of peripheral vision drifted toward the corpses.

"Someone is pretending to be dead?"

That was certainly a rare occurrence.

Du En remained calm and spoke naturally. "There isn't much work today, and there are no sinister corpses. Everyone just needs to stay normally vigilant."

The others noticed nothing unusual. Hearing these ordinary words, they all nodded, their expressions extremely serious. They did not want the misfortune that had befallen Ning Caize not long ago to happen to them.

Then they began burying corpses as usual.

Zhang Song, however, grew suspicious.

"What's with these people? Why aren't any of them coming near me?"

Since the weather was relatively clear today, the corpse buriers' method remained the same: first dig a pit and bury one corpse, then dig another pit and bury another corpse.

Zhang Song was lying there pretending to be dead. His position was toward the rear, and today's burial section was relatively far from the corpse collection area. Thus, naturally, no one came near him for the time being.

He soon noticed this as well and silently endured and suppressed his impatience.

But in his heart, he gained another reason why the corpse buriers deserved to die.

They actually dared to slight me?!