When the Year Fell into Chaos, People Ate Each Other

Chapter 10: When the Year Fell into Chaos, People Ate Each Other

If he could not cultivate, then he might as well wash up and go to sleep.

It was within expectations, after all. The original owner had already been done in.

It would be a miracle if this body could still cultivate.

Yu Ke lay on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

The moonlight was like water as the tranquil night descended once more.

Yet just then, the [Kun Void Cauldron] in his mind suddenly glimmered and trembled faintly.

[Cooldown complete. Begin simulation?]

[Twenty-year save file. Continue?]

Seeing the flashing light screen on the cauldron, Yu Ke immediately perked up.

Work had arrived!

He chose to continue the simulation.

As he responded, the [Kun Void Cauldron] shone ever more brightly. The patterns on its surface seemed to come alive, gleaming brilliantly.

[This year, you had just turned twenty. Looking at the letter in your hand, you fell into deep thought. Your father had encountered a crisis.]

[Thus, you decided:]

1. Remain in the mountains and continue cultivating.

2. Descend the mountain.

3. Participate personally (0/3)

Yu Ke was somewhat conflicted. Judging by the previous progress, even if he simulated ten years in the mountains, his advancement would probably be slow.

He might as well open a new instance.

After all, as long as he changed the course of the Kun Void World, he would receive rewards.

As for participating personally, there was no need.

Having made up his mind,

Yu Ke chose option 2, descending the mountain.

[You resolutely decided to descend the mountain and go aid your father. This decision caused quite a stir within the sect. Some were astonished, while others sneered, believing you were merely putting on a false show of affection.]

[For five years, you had kept to yourself and never associated with anyone in the sect. Even the junior disciples said you had an eccentric temperament and knew only cultivation.]

[Unlike Lu Yu, who had friends everywhere and was accompanied by a group of like-minded Three Truths disciples when he left the mountain.]

[The others regarded you with amusement and held no expectations for your future.]

[No one believed that you could accomplish anything after descending the mountain.]

[You were alone. Only your master personally came to see you off.]

[The Daoist merely smiled. "Disciple, you should have gone down the mountain to gain experience long ago. Now is precisely the right time."]

[Under your master's guidance, you learned where your father was.]

[Hulao Pass—the greatest pass under heaven.]

[Lu Chen bid farewell and began heading north alone.]

[The northbound journey was long and arduous.]

[Along the way, refugees surged down from the north like a tide, their eyes filled with terror and despair.]

[Starved bones lay by the roadside, while for a thousand miles not even a rooster crowed. The horrific sight of people exchanging their children to eat left you profoundly shaken.]

[Those words were no longer mere words. They became the scene before your eyes, making you deeply understand the suffering and savagery of the human world.]

[One day, you encountered an old man. He was exhausted and ravenous, his face sallow and body emaciated, his eyes brimming with the grief of losing his family.]

[Moved by pity, you shared some of your rations with him. The old man was immensely grateful.]

[Yet you had not expected that the old man would try to kill you that night. Fortunately, you possessed the talent of Insight into People and had long been prepared.]

[You had practiced martial arts for years and possessed a strong physique. The old man was no match for you, and after you subdued him, he begged for mercy.]

[There was still a trace of compassion in your heart. Looking at the old man's aged face, you ultimately chose to spare him.]

[The next morning, the old man entered your sight again. Several peasants followed behind him, their clothes ragged and their hands tightly gripping hoes and other farm tools. Green light flickered in their eyes, like a pack of starving wolves.]

[The old man pointed at you and shouted hoarsely, "He has wheat on him!"]

[The moment those words were spoken, an unprecedented gleam flashed in the peasants' eyes.]

[Someone proposed with a vicious snarl, "Kill him and take the food back!"]

[Another chimed in cruelly, "Why not put him in the pot? The few of us can have a full meal!"]

[The men carried the stench of blood about them. Clearly, each had human lives on his hands.]

[The old man had originally come from the same village as them, but now even he was somewhat afraid of the four.]

[They had been fleeing south because of the war for twenty-seven days. They could only fill their stomachs with straw and bran; their food had long since run out.]

[From their tone, you could roughly guess their intentions. When they had first fled, everyone had carried some food and could still hold on to their morals. Later, when the food was gone, even the bark had been stripped clean.]

[After three days of hunger, people began to harbor evil thoughts—let alone after more than twenty days.]

[The refugees did not dare slow their pace either, for Great Qing's Yizhou was still half a month away. Once the cavalry of the North Wind Profound Kingdom breached Hulao Pass, only death awaited them.]

[As for whether Hulao Pass could be held, they had long since stopped hoping.]

[The court's fatuity and incompetence had long scattered the people's hearts in the Northern Region. They could only pray that they might drag out a miserable existence in these troubled times.]

[The five men closed in on you step by step. The tools once used for farming had become weapons of murder, and they stared at you excitedly.]

[At the same time, you keenly noticed several more people furtively hiding in the grass some distance away. Their pairs of hungry eyes suggested another band of man-eaters.]

[Facing the five people surrounding you...]

[Thus, you decided.]

1. Beg for mercy. Perhaps they would spare you.

2. Spare them.

3. Kill the five.

4. Participate personally (0/3)

Yu Ke looked at the three options that had appeared.

The old man's "repaying kindness with enmity" made him realize that in troubled times, one needed a heart capable of killing.

Besides, if he spared them again, it might bring even greater calamity.

Killing the five would also conveniently intimidate the others trailing behind them—kill the chicken to warn the monkeys.

Yu Ke chose option 3: kill the five.

[The five were all peasants who had never learned martial arts. Coupled with their lack of rest throughout the journey, they were no match for you at all.]

[You expended little effort to kill the five. The old man begged for mercy once more, but this time, you showed no soft-hearted mercy.]

[This was the first time you had killed someone, yet you had little reaction. Perhaps it was because you had seen too much death along the way.]

[In troubled times, one must possess a heart capable of killing, you warned yourself.]

[The people in the grass were frightened by you and slowly retreated. You ignored them and turned to leave. No one dared follow.]

[Not long after you left, the bodies of those five people had already vanished.]

[You continued north.]

[More and more bad news arrived.]

[Early spring had now passed. The great army of the North Wind Profound Kingdom swept in, and within a mere half month, six cities fell in succession. The defending generals of Ziyang and Lu City fled at the mere rumor of danger.]

[Countless disaster-stricken people filled the roads like a long dragon, while white bones carpeted the ground.]

[Whenever the North Wind Profound Kingdom breached a city, its killings and pillaging were beyond count. Able-bodied men were immediately slaughtered, while infants were skewered on spears and twirled about for sport.]

[In every commandery and county they passed through, not an inch remained but Red Land. When spring swallows returned, they nested in the forest trees.]

[Those few lines of text could scarcely depict the cruelty of reality. As you traveled north, you witnessed countless human tragedies.]

[Now, the last righteous armies under heaven had gathered at Hulao Pass.]

[The army of the North Wind Profound Kingdom assembled outside Hulao Pass, forming a standoff.]

[Once Hulao Pass fell, and they crossed Mountain Sea Pass, the North Wind Profound Kingdom would face no more obstacles. They would press directly into the Central Plains and sweep south to devour all.]

[This battle of Hulao Pass tugged at the heartstrings of all living beneath heaven.]

[It took you a full month before you finally saw Hulao Pass.]