Stain

The next day, a shocking piece of news spread through the Starry Sky.

Within the central square of the Human Race's Fiftieth Pass, the area was packed with people, a dense sea of heads.

At the center of the enormous square stood a towering Stone Pillar. A stone atop it was playing a scene of a white-haired man sitting at a table and eating.

An oil lamp hung quietly from a roof beam, suspended by a rope and casting a warm glow.

White rice sat beside a steaming soup in a clay bowl. It looked rather oily, with a chicken head floating within.

It was a bowl of chicken soup.

Four children, an old man, and an old woman chatted happily together, laughing from time to time. Only the white-haired man sat silently there. He did not eat, merely gazing quietly at the food.

In the end, the old woman spoke to him. After asking him all sorts of questions, the white-haired man's gaze gradually turned cold.

The scene shifted. Outside, lights flickered in the distance. The lights of the mortal town shone brilliantly, lanterns hanging outside every household's door. There was cured meat by the doors as well, while cats and dogs lazily sprawled outside.

Children frolicked and played amid the lively bustle, with the sound of firecrackers occasionally carrying through the air.

Everyone in the square smiled upon seeing this scene.

"How wonderful. When I was young, I used to squat outside my own door and play with Big Yellow... but I can never go back."

"If cultivators could live like this too, that would be wonderful. No fighting or killing, just peaceful lives. Working tirelessly each day for a little food would still be better than being a cultivator. Cultivators live in constant fear, facing life and death every day."

"That white-haired man is Wuqing, right? How could he possibly sit with mortals?"

"I never expected him to have another side to him."

The people around them discussed it. Many watched in silence. Some more emotional people could not bear such a scene and quietly shed tears, recalling only memories from before they had set foot upon the Emperor's Road.

After a while, the scene returned to Xu Changqing. After taking a bite of chicken, Xu Changqing frowned, and his gaze grew cold.

The young boys and girls looked at Xu Changqing's frown in confusion and asked, "Big brother, doesn't it taste good?"

The Younger Generation present was stunned. Did it taste good? They did not know.

They had never eaten mortal food.

Ever since childhood, they had eaten only delicacies from mountains and seas. Even after setting foot on the Emperor's Road, they had killed many unusual creatures amid their battles.

Those creatures possessed considerable cultivation. Even without any seasoning, they tasted delicious.

But the next moment, everyone saw Xu Changqing smile gently. He stood up, rubbed the heads of several children, and said softly, "Of course it does. The chicken soup is delicious."

The people of the Emperor's Road were all stunned. They could not understand it. Xu Changqing could actually reveal such a gentle smile? That did not fit his character.

"Wuqing said it tastes good. Does that mean it really is good?" some foodies asked.

"Who knows? Why not visit a mortal town sometime and try it?"

"Isn't mortal food filthy? It's covered in grime and stains. Can you even eat it?"

"Wouldn't it just come out afterward?"

The people of the Emperor's Road were discussing whether mortal food was tasty. None of them noticed that Xu Changqing's smile was growing colder and colder, a vicious gleam flashing through his eyes.

In the shadows, several indistinct figures said to be the strongest of the Emperor's Road's Younger Generation watched silently from the void.

They had never experienced the splendor of the Mortal World. From the moment they were born, they had cultivated without pause until now.

To them, mortal towns were beautiful.

The atmosphere of families reuniting and the emotions released when longing was fulfilled made them incomparably envious.

But the next moment, a faint sound suddenly rang out, and everyone froze. The originally warm scene instantly turned scarlet, brains and blood splattering everywhere.

That innocent and adorable little girl had her head crushed by Xu Changqing!!

"Th-this..." Countless people fell silent upon seeing this, unable to believe it. They could not even speak, and the sound of people swallowing echoed across the square.

Then, the people of the Human Race's Fiftieth Pass saw Xu Changqing's single strike cover the entire mortal town.

The little town that had been filled with lights and joyful families instantly became Purgatory, before eventually turning into a desert.

After Xu Changqing's figure vanished, a person slowly appeared from the horizon. His face wore an extremely excited smile as he ran wildly through the air and shouted with all his might, "Fellow villagers, I've risen! I've become a Saint!"

But the next moment, the man's expression froze. He stood rigidly in the sky, confusion and fear filling his eyes. He swallowed and softly said, "What's going on? Where is my home? Where is my town?"

He fell from the sky into the desert and stood there stiffly, his hair stirred by the night wind.

"Whoosh~"

A gust of wind swept by, blowing away the sand beneath his feet and revealing several skeletons. A white skeletal hand tightly clutched a red pouch.

"Pant, pant, pant..."

The man's breathing became hurried. Cold sweat covered his forehead, his pupils constricting as he bent down weakly and picked up the red pouch before opening it.

There were several lines of writing on it.

"My wife, I've been chosen by a Grotto-heaven. I'm going to cultivate..."

It was only a simple message, yet it made the man in the scene collapse. He fell to his knees, weeping loudly as he hugged the white bones and roared, "Why? Why? Why!"

Everyone in the Imperial Pass fell silent. He had returned after achieving success in cultivation, only to discover that his home was gone and his family was dead.

What meaning was there in cultivating then?

The blue-haired man hid in the shadows. Seeing this, he nodded in satisfaction and observed the people in the square. He found tears streaming down some faces, while others wore expressions as though their entire lives had been called into question.

He gave his own acting skills a thumbs-up.

I almost believed it was real myself.

However, the Younger Generation noticed something suspicious. It seemed as though everything had been arranged beforehand. Why had Xu Changqing suddenly attacked? And why was there a recording of it? Had he not noticed?

But an explanation came the next moment.

The person sobbing in the scene took out a Recording Stone and spoke a few words into it.

"My family is dead. My wife and child are dead. I no longer want to live either, because I feel there is no meaning left."

"I am now in the Saint Realm. Though I do not possess many treasures, I will leave behind everything I have. I hope whoever sees the scene I have traced back can avenge me."

Afterward, he performed a Forbidden Secret Technique and traced back time.

The scene that appeared in the end came from a different perspective than the Recording Stone, but the content was exactly the same.

Everyone fell silent. Even those who had doubted whether the scene was real now believed it completely.

That was because the man had paid with his life, sacrificing himself in exchange for the great power to briefly trace back time.

The final scene showed a young girl picking up the Recording Stone, and the images it projected ended there.

Everyone in the Imperial Pass fell silent, as did the Younger Generation in the shadows. Yet some remained indifferent. Some of them were even more ruthless than Xu Changqing.

"Wuqing is very strong. Based on the rumors alone, he is far stronger than that Feathered Divine Son. There are even rumors that he is now the number one of the Younger Generation, and that the imperial throne of this era is destined to be his."

"If a cultivator who massacres mortals like this becomes Emperor, won't all of us living beings have to live in constant fear?"

"After he becomes Emperor, will he enslave all the heavens? Will he kill people for amusement whenever he is bored, or perhaps start a Dark Turmoil to achieve some goal?"

Discussion arose in the square. Someone was stirring up emotions and spreading panic. Everyone froze, their faces immediately turning pale.

That was right. Such a person killed mortals without the slightest hesitation. He could use mortal souls for cultivation, or imprison mortal cultivators and turn them into his cannon fodder.

If he became Emperor, would he kill them as well? Would he even launch a Dark Turmoil merely to forge a weapon that would endure through the ages?

However, the Heavenly Prides in the shadows did not agree with those words and coldly said, "Become Emperor? A butcher like him thinks he can become Emperor?"

"Give it up. If he can become Emperor, then even a pig can become immortal."

"Once the ancient paths converge, it will be the day of his death."

Many powerful figures heard the people of the Emperor's Road discussing Wuqing and comparing themselves to him, and they felt deeply displeased, though they admitted that Wuqing was strong.

But they too could accomplish the feat of killing a Saint King while in the Saint Realm.

They possessed the Eight Prohibitions as well.

They had triggered Divine Prohibition once or twice.

Their backgrounds were invincible, with countless resources and cultivation techniques. They even had many Holy Sons and Holy Maidens following them.

Wuqing had no background, no resources, and no Emperor Scripture. How could he compare to them?

He had only begun to make a name for himself. But what about afterward? Perhaps the moment he appeared, he would be surrounded and beaten to death.

No matter how astonishing an expert was, if they had not yet grown, they were nothing but a pile of shit.

And without a background or anyone to protect him, what could Wuqing use to compare with peerless Heavenly Prides like them?

The many Divine Bodies and special physiques hidden in the shadows thought of this and immediately felt that Xu Changqing was nothing special.