The Outside World's Current State, Inverted Perceptions

The chaotic commotion echoed through the karst cave. Dozens of figures huddled close together, each holding a torch high and allowing the sparks to scorch their hands.

They wore black Daoist robes, their waists draped in brass ornaments, many of which bore flecks of blood.

The ornaments were all shaped like twisted, deformed monsters. Their surfaces showed obvious marks of sand polishing, clearly requiring at least several months of work.

The atmosphere within the karst cave was terrifyingly oppressive.

They looked at one another in silence, their faces concealed beneath black robes, as though deliberately hiding something.

After a moment, the middle-aged man at their head rose to his feet. Holding a torch, he walked to the center of the cave, and the firelight immediately illuminated a five-meter radius.

There stood an altar built from piled gravel, its surface covered in a thick crust of blood, stained a nauseating color.

The altar was also surrounded by large quantities of animal remains, along with a few human bones. Every skeleton was twisted and grotesquely deformed.

Clearly, though the altar had been erected temporarily, sacrifices were performed here often.

The middle-aged man stamped his right foot against the ground and uttered a strange chant, prompting everyone to rise and make the same movements.

"Hu ha..."

"Hu ha..."

They roared like beasts, violently shaking their torches.

Under the flickering firelight, patterns faintly emerged on the Stone Wall—one bizarre and indescribable monster after another.

The monsters seemed covered in plant roots, dwelling deep beneath the earth, drawing nourishment from the soil and breeding all manner of twisted things.

The ritual continued for several hours. Yet the altar was clearly missing a statue for worship—or perhaps the Immortal deity they believed in could not be perceived by mortal eyes.

Only after a long while did