Chapter 4

"Miracle elixir? For someone from a poor family like me, being able to eat enough is already quite good. How could I afford to eat miracle elixirs?"

Zhong Yue shook his head, picked up the bronze lamp, and was about to leave and return to the Sword Gate. Suddenly, he stopped and came back. The little薪火child looked at him curiously. Zhong Yue took out a medicinal hoe from the medicine basket, spent more than half an hour digging a hole, bowed to the bones, and placed them in the pit. Then he filled the hole with soil, bowed again, and finally got up and left with the lamp.

The little薪火child inside the lamp looked at him with approval, waiting quietly for him to finish. When he saw Zhong Yue hang the lamp on his chest and climb up the rock face, he couldn't help but say, "A noble member of the divine race, and you can't even fly? You have to walk on two legs, truly disgracing the divine race! Pure-blooded divine beings are naturally sacred and can ride the air with just a flick of their tails."

Zhong Yue climbed up the cliff and laughed, "I don't have a tail, and I'm not a divine being, so of course, I can't fly."

The little薪火child jumped out of the lamp, walked on his clothes, and touched his coccyx, shaking his head. "You have a tail, it just hasn't grown out yet. The Fuxi divine beings I met before all had snake tails. Why hasn't yours grown out? Don't believe me? Feel your buttocks and see if there's a trace of a coccyx."

Zhong Yue reached back and indeed felt his coccyx, his heart trembling.

"Could it be that the human race is really the descendants of the Fuxi divine beings? Impossible, the human race is so weak, one of the lowest races among all, how could we be the descendants of the most noble royal race of the divine beings?"

He calmed himself and climbed up the cliff with all his might. With the薪火and the bronze lamp, the black fog couldn't invade. Soon, Zhong Yue reached the top of the cliff and looked around, seeing the black fog covering the sky and earth.

"薪火, can you see what's in this black fog?"

"A noble member of the divine race, and you can't even use your divine eyes to see... Yes, your divine eyes have degenerated. Feel your forehead, is it slightly indented? That's where the third eye of the Fuxi divine beings, the divine eye, is located!"

Zhong Yue touched his forehead and indeed felt an indentation, his heart filled with doubt, thinking, "In the Fire Age Palace's Suihuang visualization diagram, Suihuang also had a third eye. Could it be that the human race also has a third eye?"

The light from the broken bronze lamp gradually brightened, illuminating farther and farther. The black fog was extremely dense, but this light seemed to pierce through all the darkness.

Zhong Yue looked around the light, his heart filled with shock.

He saw a huge foot descending from the sky, stepping into the deep valley. The foot had no flesh, only bones, white and eerie, about half an acre in size!

He looked up and saw a white-boned giant standing in the black fog, wearing broken armor covered in rust, looking as if it had been eroded by countless years.

The bones of the white-boned giant were covered with various intricate patterns, like totems, and he walked forward, dragging a long white-boned tail behind him, swaying. It was unclear what race he belonged to!

Suddenly, a tattered banner silently slid past Zhong Yue, floating in the air. Then, more huge white-boned feet descended from the sky, moving silently in the black fog. These white-boned feet were much taller than Zhong Yue!

More white-boned giants rose from the ground, joining the white-boned army, without any damage to the ground.

These white-boned giants' bones were covered with totem patterns, which had not been eroded by the long years. They seemed to have no real form, passing through mountains and walking on water, following the banner in the air. They only absorbed the flesh and blood of living beings when they encountered them!

More giant beasts appeared, covered in rotten flesh, with ghostly flames in their skulls. The white-boned giants rode these giant beasts, some of them carrying various kinds of animal flesh, which wriggled, very strange.

In the distance, more tattered banners flew in the air, and more giants and giant beasts appeared. However, they were too far away for Zhong Yue to see clearly, only seeing the flickering ghostly flames, which were the eyes of the white-boned giants and beasts!

Originally, the area around Sword Gate Mountain was lush and green, but now it seemed to have turned into a demonic realm!

"These are demonic souls, formed from the lingering resentment of divine and demonic beings after their deaths!"

In the lamp, the little薪火child whispered, "The resentment is so strong, something earth-shattering must have happened here, causing these guys to linger. And what are these divine and demonic beings looking for after their deaths? What they are looking for must be something extraordinary!"

Zhong Yue was surprised, "They are divine beings?"

"There are both divine and demonic beings, but mostly low-ranking divine beings. Only the nine great clans like Fuxi, Nüwa, Huaxu, and Yanzhi are the true royal divine clans, with the most noble bloodlines. You have the blood of the Fuxi divine beings in your body, but it's too diluted, far inferior to these dead divine and demonic beings. You are not suitable to inherit the薪火, otherwise, you would be the current薪火inheritor."

Zhong Yue identified the direction and walked towards Sword Gate Mountain.

By the time he left Cloud Gathering Mountain, the demonic souls in the black fog had already dispersed, and after half a day, the black fog had also disappeared.

With the demonic souls and black fog gone, the little薪火child in the lamp was silent. These few days, with this strange little creature as company, Zhong Yue didn't feel lonely. Suddenly, the little薪火child stopped talking, and he felt a bit unaccustomed.

He lifted the lampshade and saw that the little薪火child on the wick had disappeared, leaving only a small flame the size of a finger.

"薪火, are you still there?" Zhong Yue shook the strange lamp and asked.

"Leave me alone."

The flame flickered, revealing the little薪火child's head the size of a finger, yawning, "I've been burning the lamp to resist the black fog for several days, consuming a lot of energy. I need to rest. I need to find a薪火inheritor quickly and inhabit their soul, or I won't last a few more years. I've slept for too long and am not as good as before..."

He fell asleep again, and Zhong Yue thought for a moment, placed the lamp in the medicine basket, covered it with herbs, and entered Sword Gate Mountain.

"Outer disciples who have mastered the soul separation technique receive much better treatment than those who haven't. Those who have mastered it live in the upper courtyard and receive ten Feather Spirit Pills every month, and the cultivation techniques they learn are more profound! I need to go to the Sky Blue Hall of the outer disciples and pass the examination to improve my treatment!"

Zhong Yue headed straight for the Sky Blue Hall. The soul separation examination is held only once a month, and today was the day of the examination. If he missed it, he would have to wait until next month.

There were many outer disciples, about fifty thousand in total. Zhong Yue's disappearance for three days did not attract the attention of the Sword Gate. A small figure from a small tribe like Zhong Mountain would not be missed even if he died outside.

"For soul separation, I can't use the Fire Age Palace's Suihuang visualization technique taught by薪火. I can only use the Sword Gate's soul separation visualization technique. I wonder if I can achieve soul separation with this method?"

Zhong Yue was a bit worried. The Sword Gate placed great importance on inheritance. If it was discovered that he was practicing a technique not from the Sword Gate, being expelled would be the least of his worries. If he lost his life because of it, it would be a huge loss.

When he arrived at the Sky Blue Hall, he saw that about a hundred outer disciples were gathered there, waiting for the examination. Some of them held totem poles, with strange patterns drawn on them using the blood of exotic beasts.

Totem poles are sacred poles used by human tribes in the Great Wasteland for sacrifices, with magical effects, greatly nourishing the soul and making visualization practice more efficient.

Those who have the right to hold totem poles are from the upper families of the tribes.

Only cultivators can refine totem poles, so only tribes with cultivators have them. The spirits refined by cultivators are also totems, called totem spirits, meaning the spirits of totems.

The relationship between spirits and totems is close. One tribe, because its cultivator's totem spirit was a black tortoise, took the black tortoise as their totem. The tribe's worship of the black tortoise totem also, to some extent, enhanced the cultivator's cultivation.

As for tribes without cultivators, they naturally do not have totem poles. Zhong Yue's Zhong Mountain tribe is one of the smallest, and of course, does not have such treasures.

Just as Zhong Yue walked to the Sky Blue Hall, he heard a commotion, and the crowd surged, "Someone died!"

"Someone was killed during the examination, their soul scattered!"

Zhong Yue's heart stirred. He saw two white-robed men carrying a young man's body out of the Sky Blue Hall, the body of an outer disciple who died in the examination.

This scene made many outer disciples tense. The soul separation examination is extremely strict. Simply achieving soul separation is not enough to pass; the strength of the soul and combat awareness are also tested, with many dangers. A slight mistake could result in injury!

Even, causing death is a common occurrence!

Outside the Sky Blue Hall, the outer disciples waiting for the examination were uneasy. They had heard of deaths during the Sky Blue Hall examination, but hearing about it and seeing it in person are different. The impact on their minds was stronger, making many of them hesitate and consider withdrawing.

Zhong Yue stepped forward, thinking, "The path of cultivation lies in perseverance and courage. If the mind fails, everything fails. What is the point of cultivation?"

In front of the Sky Blue Hall, the white-robed elder in charge of the hall looked down, seemingly not noticing Zhong Yue's arrival, and said calmly, "From which clan are you?"

"Zhong Mountain tribe, Zhong Mountain clan, Zhong Yue!"

The white-robed elder looked up and glanced at Zhong Yue. "Go in. Next! From which clan are you?"

"Wei River tribe, Shuitu clan, Shui Qingyan."

Zhong Yue walked into the Sky Blue Hall and suddenly heard a pleasant voice behind him, "Zhong Yue? Brother Yue from the Zhong Mountain clan? Is it really you? I haven't seen you for a few days, how did you become so thin?"

Zhong Yue turned back and saw a young girl following him into the Sky Blue Hall. She was about thirteen or fourteen years old, with fair skin and a beautiful appearance, wearing a white fur hat, her eyes as clear as water, and a faint, elegant fragrance around her. She carried a small totem pole and quickly walked over to his side, excitedly saying, "It really is you! When I went to look for you a few days ago and didn't find you, I was so scared! How did you become so thin? I almost didn't recognize you just now..."