Chapter 2

As the sun set and the evening glow burned like a fire in the sky, a flock of geese flew south, adding a touch of vivid beauty to the twilight scene. At the wall of the "Precious Medicine Shop," a burst of laughter echoed deafeningly, like thunder from the heavens, causing the geese in the air to scatter.

After laughing heartily, Mu Wutian sneered, "Old dog, I heard your master has gone missing. Could it be that he has too many enemies and was quietly done away with?"

Old dog?

The hunched old man narrowed his eyes. Despite the cold light in his eyes, he did not speak. He was well aware of Mu Wutian's background and knew that with his cultivation and strength, he was no match for Mu Wutian. Even the two elders beside Mu Wutian posed a significant threat to him.

Life and humiliation.

The hunched old man did not care!

But he cared deeply about Ye Tong, who was at a critical juncture!

"Coward..."

Mu Wutian snorted coldly and said, "Back then, the old poison master flooded my Green Dome Island and sprinkled a dose of gut-rotting poison, destroying my hundred-acre medicinal garden. Today, I will burn down his lair and ruin his livelihood. Do you have any objections?"

The hunched old man's face changed drastically, and a resolute aura burst from his body.

So what if the buildings are destroyed!

But!

Even if he were to die, he would protect the young master.

In the hunched old man's mind, images of the young master's past care and concern surfaced.

The poison master Huo Lanqiu had a cruel and violent nature. Whenever he was in a bad mood, he would either beat or scold the hunched old man. Whenever the young master was around, he would protect him, even if it meant taking the beating and scolding himself, enduring Huo Lanqiu's even more vicious poison experiments.

The hunched old man had no family. Even after following Huo Lanqiu for decades, he never felt any closeness to him.

However!

The young master was different.

His appearance, his care, and the suffering he endured for the hunched old man's sake brought warmth to his heart and made him recognize the young master as his only family in this life.

Mu Wutian showed a look of disdain. With a flip of his hand, a beautifully crafted blue-and-white porcelain bottle appeared in his grasp. As he opened the bottle, streams of liquid as thin as silver needles shot out in all directions. At the same time, Mu Wutian flicked his fingers, and a cloud of phosphorus powder flew into the air.

"Boom..."

The liquid and phosphorus powder touched, and a sudden burst of flames spread like a raging tide, quickly engulfing the buildings where the liquid had landed.

The people in the courtyard.

Were instantly trapped in a sea of fire.

Zhang Zhongying was in a terrible mood, extremely bad. Today, she had first been humiliated by Ye Tong, then intimidated by the hunched old man. Now, these mysterious people who had appeared out of nowhere treated her like an ant and trapped her in the fire.

Zhang Zhongying was filled with shame and anger.

Although she knew Mu Wutian was not a good person, she could not suppress the anger in her heart and shouted, "Old man, setting fires recklessly is a heinous crime. Aren't you afraid of the laws of Cold Mountain City?"

Old man?

Mu Wutian's eyes twitched. As he swung his arm, a loud slap echoed, and Zhang Zhongying was thrown several meters away, landing heavily at the foot of the courtyard wall. Her well-maintained face was marked with a bright red handprint, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

"Foolish child, threatening me with the law? Hmph... That thing is nothing but dog shit to me."

Zhang Pinsou's face was dark, but he did not act rashly. His gaze fell on the beautiful young woman, who silently shook her head at him.

Mu Wutian sneered and turned to the hunched old man, saying, "I don't care if Huo Lao is alive or dead, or if he's playing some trick. In short, I've vented my anger. Hahaha..."

With a burst of laughter, Mu Wutian and the other two elders suddenly left.

The hunched old man's eyes narrowed, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The world is full of cause and effect.

The humiliation he suffered today was the result of the seeds his master had sown in the past.

If one's skills are inferior, one can only endure.

The hunched old man coldly glanced at Zhang Zhongying, who was struggling to get up from the corner of the wall. He sighed inwardly, "Ignorant," and turned to rush toward the side courtyard. The fire was growing larger, and it was too late to extinguish it. His priority was to ensure Ye Tong's safety in the side courtyard.

"Father..."

Zhang Zhongying's eyes were filled with resentment, but her words were cut off by Zhang Pinsou's stern gaze.

The beautiful young woman sighed softly and shook her head at Zhang Zhongying, her melodious voice saying, "Mu Wutian, the Yin-Yang Old Monster, is a top-tier powerhouse in the Tianwang Empire. It is rumored that he has already broken through to the innate realm. This person acts both righteously and wickedly, residing on the Green Dome Island in the South Sea. If he wishes, he can exterminate the Zhang clan in half an hour; if he wishes, he can destroy the entire Cold Mountain City in a day."

"What?!" Zhang Zhongying's face changed drastically, her body trembling. A thunderous roar echoed in her heart, and a wave of deep regret flooded her mind, filling her heart.

She knew the background and character of the beautiful young woman, so she did not doubt her words. To think that she had dared to speak insolently to such a terrifying existence. The fact that he didn't kill her was probably a stroke of luck.

The flames burned brighter and hotter.

In the side courtyard, Ye Tong, sitting cross-legged in a stone tub, endured the intense pain. His mind followed the route described in the "Bone Marrow Cleansing Poison Scripture," controlling the thread of true qi in his meridians, slowly circulating it.

At this moment.

Inside his body, whether it was his muscles, tendons, bones, or internal organs, they were all covered in a gray-black substance, which contained potent toxins. These toxins were constantly eroding his body and damaging his physiological functions.

Every pore on Ye Tong's body was fully open, and the thick, dark green poison liquid, which contained extremely potent toxins, seeped into his body through his pores, thread by thread, layer by layer, like a woven net, spreading and covering.

The pain gradually lessened.

The toxins in the poison liquid seemed to have a cleansing effect. The gray-black substance gradually became lighter and less abundant as time passed. Ye Tong's physiological functions also began to slowly self-repair.

The heat.

Surged from all directions, making the room feel like a steaming pot. The sparks gradually spread, and even the cold, bone-chilling well water that was poured in could only slow the fire. The purple coffin hanging from the roof beam fell onto Ye Tong's head in the stone tub as the ropes burned.

A trickle of blood.

Slid down Ye Tong's face and dripped into the medicine liquid. In a short breath, the blood threads merged into the bottom of the purple coffin, causing it to suddenly emit black and white light. The black and white light intertwined, like two fierce beasts, fighting in their most primitive form.

"Puff..."

Ye Tong's head was hit by the falling purple coffin, and he felt his soul waver. In his mind, the light that he had suppressed for ten years seemed to be called forth, rapidly expanding.

"Snap..."

A sound like a cracking eggshell, but like a thunderclap in Ye Tong's mind.

As the light burst, a stream of images and various strange characters flowed into his mind, merging with his memories...

Time passed.

The Precious Medicine Shop burned to ruins in the raging fire, the scorching heat filling the air with a pungent smell of burnt flesh. The hunched old man, looking disheveled, gazed at the side room where the flames had been extinguished, and the young man sitting cross-legged in the stone tub.

After a long while.

The hunched old man slowly turned his head, his gaze falling on the beautiful young woman. A look of gratitude flashed in his cloudy eyes, and he nodded, saying, "Thank you for your help. What is your name, young lady?"

"Mu Qianlan."

The beautiful young woman, though somewhat disheveled and her face blackened by the smoke, smiled warmly. Her star-like eyes gazed at Ye Tong in the side room, and she asked, "Is his body injured?"

"Still okay."

The hunched old man neither denied nor confirmed.

Mu Qianlan, seeing that the hunched old man was unwilling to discuss the matter further, did not press him. She glanced at the courtyard outside, where Zhang Pinsou and Zhang Zhongying stood, not helping to extinguish the fire. Suppressing a hint of disappointment, she changed the subject, "Can you explain why the Yin-Yang Old Monster Mu Wutian suddenly appeared and only set a fire before leaving?"

The hunched old man asked, "You want to know why he didn't kill us directly but only set a fire and left, right? Heh heh... He's afraid!"

"Afraid of what?"

"Afraid of my master..."

---

Time.

Seemed to pass in an instant, yet it felt like countless eons had flowed by.

This... was Ye Tong's most unreal feeling.

The images in his mind finally settled on a memory from a certain day. It was deep within a vast mountain range, where high mountains and great rivers stretched, tigers roared, apes cried, and dragons coiled. A hundred-foot crack in the sky slowly closed.

His eyelashes trembled.

He slowly opened his eyes, and on his pale, handsome face, an expression of both joy and sorrow appeared, looking particularly strange. A language different from this world's floated from his slightly parted lips:

"I am..."

"Ye Tian..."

"Ma Yi Shen Xiang..."

"Shattered Void..."

"Since that's the case, I'll be Ye Tong for now!"

The memories merged, with Ye Tian taking the lead, but the young Ye Tong's personality somehow remained intact.

This was a new world, a cultivation world far more fascinating than Earth. Therefore, he needed to be reborn as Ye Tong to step into this world.

After a long while.

He gently lifted his arms, and in his palms was the purple coffin that had fallen into the medicine liquid. As his fingers gently caressed it, the black and white light surrounding it entered his palms and then, as if with a clear purpose, easily entered his mind. In the end, the black and white light merged into a scroll.

The scroll had four pages, two white and two black.

"Book of Life and Death!"

After successfully transcending the tribulation, he had caused a spatial fluctuation while crossing the void. The chaotic space layers destroyed his body, leaving only a trace of his consciousness. Unexpectedly, the Book of Life and Death had been preserved.

Ye Tong discarded the purple coffin and slowly stood up from the stone tub. As he put on a well-preserved fur coat to cover the crisscrossing scars on his body, he tied the belt and said calmly, "If you've seen enough, wait outside."

Outside.

Mu Qianlan's face turned red, realizing she had just seen the young man's body. She quickly turned away, her heart racing. But after a few breaths, her heart calmed, feeling a heavy weight in her chest:

"The injuries on his body..."

"How could they be so terrifying?"

"What has he experienced? How much pain and suffering has he endured?"

Ye Tong, dressed neatly, entered the courtyard and looked at the hunched old man with concern, asking, "Who was it this time?"

The hunched old man respectfully replied, "The Yin-Yang Old Monster Mu Wutian."

Ye Tong curled his lips and said, "Coward."

The hunched old man chuckled, "Mu Wutian used to insult me in the same way."

Ye Tong said disdainfully, "Though the old man has done many evil deeds, he has also instilled fear in his enemies. They only dare to make noise here, destroy some things to vent their anger, but they never dare to harm our lives. These cowards are destined to be bullied."

The hunched old man smiled bitterly, "Young master, with the Precious Medicine Shop destroyed, what should we do?"

Ye Tong turned to the north, where the vast mountain range lay, filled with countless treasures and dangers. After a while, he said calmly, "If it's destroyed, so be it! We should go out and explore. Before we leave, I'll go see that little girl..."