Chapter 1

The sky had not yet brightened, and the vast wilderness of ten thousand miles was shrouded in darkness, but the sunlight already illuminated the Sword Gate Mountain. At the waist of this peculiar mountain, mist swirled and auspicious clouds floated, with the sunlight first landing on the golden peak.

The golden peak of the glazed palace emitted ten thousand rays of light, illuminating the sea of clouds, extremely dazzling.

Amidst the mountains surrounded by the sea of clouds, grand and ancient palaces floated as if on the clouds, sacred, solemn, and dignified.

This was the Sword Gate, the common holy land of the three thousand human tribes in the vast wilderness of ten thousand miles!

The Sword Gate produced many cultivators, protecting the vast wilderness of ten thousand miles. Every member of the three thousand human tribes regarded becoming a cultivator of the Sword Gate as the highest honor.

The environment in the vast wilderness was harsh, and humans were weak. Without the protection of the Sword Gate, the three thousand tribes would have long been annihilated.

The mountain gate towered high, and behind it was the dwelling place of the outer disciples of the Sword Gate, where tens of thousands of outer disciples lived.

There were many cultivators in the Sword Gate. The young men and women from the three thousand tribes came up the mountain to learn skills. Those without a strong background mostly lived here. Those with a background often had cultivators in the Sword Gate who could directly take their children under their tutelage.

Zhong Yue got up early, stood by the well with his bare upper body, drew a bucket of water, and poured it over his head. He shivered suddenly, driving away the drowsiness.

The clear water slid down his body, splashing on the bluestone slabs.

His muscles were firm, his figure well-proportioned, his skin tightly stretched over his muscles, showing great strength. On his chest were three deep claw marks, left by some fierce beast, which had already scarred.

Zhong Yue turned around, and there were claw marks on his back as well. His left arm also had scars from being bitten by a fierce beast. He had more than a dozen scars of various sizes, which did not seem to belong to a fifteen-year-old boy at all.

Zhong Yue shouldered his medicine basket and quietly walked out of the mountain gate, heading down the mountain.

The status of outer disciples was extremely low, and they could only learn the most basic techniques of the Sword Gate. Only those who cultivated their spirit could become inner disciples, apprenticed to the hall masters of the inner gate, and receive the true inheritance of the Sword Gate. However, for outer disciples without a background, becoming an inner disciple was extremely difficult.

In the vast wilderness of ten thousand miles, the small tribes had tens of thousands of people, and the large tribes had millions. Countless people tried their hardest to enter the Sword Gate, all hoping to become inner disciples and cultivators, making the competition fierce.

The Sword Gate had its rules: if one could not cultivate their spirit by the age of sixteen, they would be expelled from the Sword Gate. The children of the leaders of the tribes in the vast wilderness naturally had various spirit medicines and elixirs to enhance their cultivation and help them cultivate their spirit by the age of sixteen.

Even with ordinary talent, as long as there were enough spirit medicines and elixirs, one could become a cultivator through them!

However, the children of the poor and common people did not have this treatment and could only rely on their own hard work.

It was difficult for the poor to produce talented children, and very few people from poor families could become cultivators.

Zhong Yue came from the Zhongshan tribe, a small and insignificant tribe. Due to years of famine, only a hundred or so people remained, making it the smallest tribe in the vast wilderness.

Such a tribe could hardly protect itself, let alone support a cultivator.

Therefore, despite Zhong Yue's efforts being a hundred times greater than others, he still had a considerable gap to cultivating his spirit.

This time, he went down the mountain so early to search for a few spirit herbs in the deep mountains and forests to refine the Feather Spirit Pill to nourish his soul.

The Feather Spirit Pill was the most common pill, and the herbs needed to refine it were also ordinary. However, even such a common spirit pill was too expensive for him to buy, so he had to refine it himself.

Collecting herbs and refining pills himself, the time and effort he spent were naturally much more than others.

Zhong Yue left the Sword Gate Mountain for about two hours, and the sky was already bright. The inner and outer disciples of the Sword Gate had already risen and were practicing. Suddenly, the urgent sound of a bell rang from the mountain. Powerful cultivators flew down from the mountain top, shouting from afar, "The Demon Soul Yin Fog is about to appear! All disciples of the Sword Gate, listen to the order: no one is allowed to go out!"

"No one is allowed to leave the Sword Gate Mountain!"

"The Demon Soul Yin Fog is extremely dangerous. Only the Sword Gate can protect this area. No one is allowed to leave the Sword Gate, or they will surely die!"

...

The entire Sword Gate was in an uproar. With a loud rumble, the grand mountain gate suddenly closed. In the air above the Sword Gate Mountain, the palaces were surrounded by mist, emitting brilliant light, with the golden peaks radiating ten thousand rays of light, illuminating the void, dazzlingly bright!

Such a grand and solemn scene was the first time the outer disciples had seen it, but it was not unfamiliar to the inner disciples.

The Demon Soul Yin Fog appeared every ten years, extremely dangerous. Even cultivators would die a terrible death if they encountered the Demon Soul Yin Fog. Each time it erupted, it would massacre a thousand miles of land, leaving no grass or trees in its wake!

"Why is the Demon Soul Yin Fog erupting early? According to the schedule, it should erupt in five days," an inner disciple muttered.

At this moment, a dull sound came from the ground, as if a monster was causing trouble underground. Suddenly, a deep valley not far from the Sword Gate Mountain spewed out a gushing black fog, like a fountain shooting up into the sky!

Soon, this black pillar was even taller than the Sword Gate Mountain, rising straight into the clouds, and the black fog spread in all directions, like a huge black umbrella slowly opening!

The world instantly turned pitch black, except for the Sword Gate Mountain, which was brightly lit, illuminating the black fog. The rolling black fog pressed down from above, but when it reached the vicinity of the Sword Gate Mountain, it was blocked by the light, as if an invisible barrier was protecting the Sword Gate Mountain, preventing the black fog from seeping in.

In the black fog, there seemed to be terrifying creatures, emitting bone-chilling roars. Occasionally, the creatures in the black fog would collide with the barrier of the Sword Gate Mountain, producing deafening booms, extremely shocking.

At a high place on the Sword Gate Mountain, in front of a grand hall, several cultivators looked up at the terrifying Demon Soul Yin Fog. One of them whispered, "A few outer disciples have left the mountain gate and have not returned. They are probably gone for good..."

The place Zhong Yue went to collect herbs was called the Cloud Gathering Mountain. The Cloud Gathering Mountain was rich in spirit herbs and was located in the southeastern part of the Sword Gate Mountain. In the past few years, although he had not learned any profound techniques as an outer disciple, he had trained his body to be strong, able to leap over a dozen feet in one step, and easily traverse mountains and valleys.

By the time he entered the Cloud Gathering Mountain, the sky was already bright, and the mountain occasionally echoed with the roars of beasts.

This place was rarely visited by humans, and there were no nearby tribes hunting, so the mountain was full of fierce beasts. Zhong Yue carefully walked through the forest, searching everywhere, and soon picked a few spirit herbs.

"All the other spirit herbs are easy to find, except for this Five Fragrance Lingzhi, which is hard to find and requires luck."

Zhong Yue traversed the mountains and valleys, and suddenly he faintly smelled a peculiar medicinal fragrance. The fragrance was faint at first but became stronger as he approached.

The fragrance had five distinct scents: sweet, fragrant, refreshing, fiery, and rich, which were the scents of the Five Fragrance Lingzhi!

He followed the scent and came to the edge of a cliff. He leaned over and looked down, seeing a steep cliff with protruding rocks, and a deep valley below, invisible at the bottom.

About ten feet away from the cliff, there was a large protruding rock, with a thin stream of water seeping from the cliff wall, nourishing a few strange herbs.

"Five Fragrance Lingzhi!"

Zhong Yue's heart leaped with joy. He carefully climbed down the cliff. Although the cliff was steep, his skills were excellent, and he did not face much danger.

After a while, he reached near the large rock. Looking down, he saw the deep valley was pitch black, and a cold wind blew up from below, bone-chilling.

Zhong Yue became even more cautious and finally reached the large rock. Just as he was about to pick the Five Fragrance Lingzhi, the sky suddenly darkened. He quickly looked up and was startled.

He saw a large golden bird flying towards the cliff. The bird had a wingspan of over ten feet and had two pairs of wings. It was flapping its wings and diving towards him, its sharp claws gleaming with a cold light!

"What kind of fierce bird is this?"

The four-winged golden bird had not yet reached him, but the fierce wind it generated hit his face, causing pain and almost knocking Zhong Yue off the rock!

Whoosh—

The four-winged golden bird attacked, and Zhong Yue, in the instant it reached him, quickly grabbed a few Five Fragrance Lingzhi and leaped off the rock. The bird missed and flapped its four wings, flying around to search. It saw that Zhong Yue had not fallen into the valley but had grabbed a green vine about ten feet below the rock.

The four-winged golden bird screeched and rose into the sky, preparing to attack again. Zhong Yue bit his teeth and slid down the green vine into the valley. Just as the four-winged golden bird reached the middle of the sky, a rolling black fog suddenly surged, instantly enveloping the entire valley. Zhong Yue looked up and saw the sky covered by a black curtain.

At the bottom of the valley, there was a faint light, but it was unclear what was glowing. Suddenly, Zhong Yue heard a sound from above and saw a large skeleton fall from the sky, passing by him and falling into the deep valley.

He was startled to see that the skeleton was that of the four-winged golden bird!

In a short moment, the four-winged golden bird had been devoured by something in the black fog, leaving only its bones!

Zhong Yue was terrified. He looked up and saw the black fog rapidly approaching him along the cliff. He quickly slid down, but suddenly the green vine detached from the cliff, and Zhong Yue fell along with it.

In a panic, he reached out and grabbed a branch of an ancient tree protruding from the cliff, stopping his fall. Zhong Yue looked up and saw the black fog was only four or five feet away. Next to the thick ancient tree was a cave as wide as a water vat, from which came a rustling sound. A huge triangular head emerged from the cave, raised high, and stared at Zhong Yue with interest. It was a giant python, unimaginably large!

The giant python hissed, showing great interest in him.

Such a large python had a terrifying constricting force and was the king of the strange beasts in the vast wilderness. Even cultivators found it difficult to kill such a fierce beast, let alone him?

Zhong Yue gritted his teeth, released the branch, and fell.

The giant python hissed, about to attack, when the black fog suddenly enveloped it, swallowing the python.

Splash! A snake skeleton over ten feet long fell from the black fog, landing in the valley after Zhong Yue.

The deep valley was dark, with a thick layer of dead branches and leaves at the bottom. Zhong Yue landed without much impact. Using the faint light, he looked around and saw the valley floor was piled with bones, with ghostly lights flickering, the remains of wild beasts killed by the giant python and the strange bird.

"The giant python is dead too. What is this black fog... Oh no!"

Zhong Yue's face changed dramatically as the black fog reached the bottom of the valley, spreading around, and the ghostly lights disappeared one by one in the black fog.

Zhong Yue looked around and saw the black fog approaching, only a few feet away. He sighed inwardly, "This strange fog has devoured the golden bird and the giant python. I will surely die... Wait, why has the black fog stopped?"

The black fog stopped about ten feet away from him, as if blocked by an invisible force, forming a protective sphere.

Zhong Yue saw a large white bone claw reach out from the black fog, grabbing the protective sphere, making a creaking sound, but failing to break through.

The white bone claw belonged to an unknown monster, with a single joint larger than him!

Zhong Yue, who had trained his body for years and was taller than an adult, found that a single joint of the bone claw was much larger than him, making it hard to imagine the size of the creature!

"This is..."

Zhong Yue saw in the center of the small protective sphere, a skeleton sitting in a cross-legged position, its right arm raised, holding a lamp, as if illuminating the path for people in the darkness.

The lamp flickered faintly, not much brighter than the ghostly lights, and seemed about to go out at any moment.

"Strange, this person has been dead for so long, leaving only bones, but why hasn't the lamp gone out?"

Zhong Yue, curious, approached and examined the skeleton closely. He then noticed something peculiar: the skeleton could not be called human bones, nor was it sitting cross-legged, but rather in a meditative posture.

The reason it was called a meditative posture was not because it was sitting cross-legged, but because the person had no legs, only a long snake tail, coiled up, while the upper body was human, with a head, neck, hands, and arms!

This was the skeleton of a strange being with a human head and a snake body!

"Could it be that this lamp is blocking the strange black fog?"

Zhong Yue bowed to the skeleton, carefully picked up the lamp, and saw the flame flicker, about to go out. He quickly covered it with his hand. Suddenly, a lazy voice came from the black fog, "A dream of thousands of years, what year is it now? Young man, which dynasty is Fuxi ruling now?"

The page turns, and the ad starts.

The page turns, and the ad ends.