Chapter 6

Qian Ye was now utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally, and he soon fell into a deep sleep. However, just three hours later, he was awakened by the shrill sound of a bell. Almost instantly, Long Hai's orders pierced his mind, and he immediately got up, rushed to grab the clothes thrown at the foot of the bed, and dressed as quickly as possible. During this process, he inevitably touched the whip marks on his back, causing him to draw in a sharp breath of pain.

From the time they got up to the time they gathered, the children had only five minutes. The last three to arrive would receive an additional three lashes as punishment. Qian Ye stood in the formation almost numbly, and almost numbly began to run along the mountain path according to the orders. By the time he had run five kilometers and returned to the starting point, he was truly numb.

This run, thanks to his experience of surviving in the garbage dump, Qian Ye performed quite well, being the tenth to return to the finish line. Next came an hour of strength training, and those who did not complete the required amount would be whipped. The small and thin Qian Ye unfortunately received a lash.

This was just the beginning. In the following training, the whip would be the most memorable thing for these children. After the strength training ended, it was finally breakfast time.

Breakfast was the most commendable part of the entire training camp. Not only was there a wide variety of food, but there was also an unlimited amount, with no restrictions on how much one could eat, except for time. Breakfast was set for thirty minutes, which was almost luxurious, so no one would exceed the time limit. The experiences of the past day had already taught these children that any behavior exceeding the specified time limit would result in a whipping.

The training camp included children from noble families, but the majority were commoners selected from various regions, and a few were orphans with experiences similar to Qian Ye. Those who had long struggled with hunger lost control when they saw such a bountiful first meal, eating frantically, fearing that they might not have such an opportunity again.

Qian Ye, however, ate cautiously until he was slightly more than full, then stopped. In the garbage dump, he had seen many people who, after unexpectedly finding a large package of food, ended up dying from overeating.

When breakfast time ended, and the bell rang like a death knell, the children rushed towards the gate like a tide. At this moment, an accident occurred: a little girl suddenly fell to the ground, writhing in pain and screaming. Soon, she stopped moving.

She had eaten too much, costing her her life.

This breakfast and the little girl taught the surviving children the importance of moderation.

After breakfast, it was training again. The entire day was filled with various types of training, all related to strength and endurance.

Halfway through each training session, Qian Ye felt he could not continue. However, his stubbornness and perseverance from childhood supported him, allowing his small body to perform the required movements in a numb state, completing the training tasks. The days in the garbage dump had taught him that even in the most desperate times, as long as he gritted his teeth and persisted, he would see the next day.

When he finally lay down on the bed again, Qian Ye did not know how he had made it through the day. This time, he did not hurt himself; he slept on his stomach. His tender back bore three whip marks.

Almost as soon as he got into bed, Qian Ye fell into a deep sleep. That night, he had a dream, filled with the sound of whips slicing through the air.

At six in the morning, the shrill bell woke Qian Ye from his sleep. He rolled out of bed, dressed by instinct, and rushed out of the barracks at full speed. Throughout the process, his eyes were not fully open.

As soon as he stepped out of the barracks, the sunlight immediately made Qian Ye squint. He suddenly remembered that it should be the dark season, so how could there be sunlight at six o'clock?

The next moment, Qian Ye realized he was no longer in the garbage dump but in the middle continent of the empire, Qin. The sunlight here was rarely blocked by the upper continents, so there was sunlight at six o'clock.

Qian Ye only paused for a moment before rushing to his position and standing straight like a spear.

A new day had begun.

That day, the most vivid memory for Qian Ye was still the whips in the instructors' hands. He received another lash for not completing the required amount in the specified time.

The other children's experiences were similar to Qian Ye's. Only the strongest few were not punished. The weakest one received five lashes and fell to the ground, unable to stand up on his own. He was immediately dragged away from the training ground, and Qian Ye never saw him again.

On the third night, the instructors brought a large bucket of black, oily substance and had the children apply it to their whip marks. This substance was very painful to apply, even more painful than when the whip landed on their bodies. However, after a night of unbearable pain, Qian Ye's whip marks were almost healed by the next morning.

Days passed one by one. Every night, Qian Ye had dreams, all related to being whipped.

It was not until a month later that Qian Ye had his first day without a whipping. That night, he suddenly counted the number of his fellow trainees who had started with him. He was shocked to find that only seventy-six people remained. Out of the initial one hundred and more children, thirty had disappeared in just one month.

The following days were still endless strength and endurance training, as well as endless whippings.

After the bloody first day, Long Hai no longer directly executed any children for minor infractions. Only those who directly violated the rules were executed. Even so, when Qian Ye had been in the training camp for three months, only sixty of his fellow trainees remained, nearly half of them gone. Most of the disappeared children had been eliminated by the harsh training.

However, after three months, Qian Ye's body had become much stronger, almost unrecognizable from when he first entered the training camp.

On the first day of the fourth month, Qian Ye and his fellow trainees were brought to a building for a special class.

The teacher was a tall, beautiful woman, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, whose uniform barely contained her extremely full chest.

She walked briskly to the podium, wrote "The Essence of the World" on the blackboard, read it aloud, and said, "I know most of you don't recognize these characters, but it doesn't matter. You have a month to learn them. I will distribute the textbooks shortly, and you should study them in your free time. There will be an exam in a month. Now, let me explain what the essence of the world we live in is."

The essence of the world is Origin Energy.

According to the beautiful teacher named Zhang Jing, the root that supports the entire world is Origin Energy.

Origin Energy is not static; it is divided into two different natures: the one that leans towards light is called Dawn Origin Energy, and the one that leans towards darkness is called Dark Origin Energy.

All life forms depend on one side of Origin Energy for survival, thus naturally dividing them into the Dawn and Eternal Night camps. Even within the same camp, the degree to which different races lean towards Dawn or Eternal Night can vary.

The human race is on the Dawn side, while the dark races that have enslaved humans for tens of thousands of years are on the Eternal Night side. Their power, and even their lives, depend on Dark Origin Energy. The dark races were once incredibly powerful, with many branches, including the Vampires, Werewolves, Demon Descendants, and Arachne, all of which were formidable races with far-reaching reputations.

However, the human race is a peculiar one. Although most humans lean towards the Dawn side, many have also joined the Eternal Night side. Some even awaken Dawn Origin Energy but ultimately dedicate themselves to the Eternal Night. This is unimaginable for the dark races, who only consider themselves adults after being baptized by Dark Origin Energy, but it is not uncommon among humans.

It is said that between Eternal Night and Dawn, there is the purest form of Origin Energy, but few can sense it, let alone cultivate it. There are no races in this world that correspond to the purest form of Origin Energy.

Origin Energy and cultivation...

When Qian Ye heard this, he couldn't help but clench his right fist, as if trying to grasp a lingering warmth. That restless crimson moon night, that powerful hand, seemed like a glimmer of light in the darkness for him.

Zhang Jing patted the podium, and the smooth metal surface split to the sides. With a faint mechanical sound, a strange object composed of countless metal wires, long and short metal branches, large and small metal gears, and more irregular components rose and unfolded in the air. This three-dimensional model was a map of the world.

The world was dynamic. The gears churned, the metal wires pulled, and the components representing continents and celestial bodies moved slowly along different orbits.

One by one, unfamiliar terms came from Zhang Jing's mouth. There were twenty-seven continents that the human race had explored, and they were not stationary in the void but moved slowly along mysterious trajectories without stopping. Above these continents were two suns, and around them were several different large celestial bodies, which were said to be the moons seen at night. Depending on their orbits, the moons seen on the same continent each night were not the same.

Most of the children, including Qian Ye, were utterly confused and could only swallow and memorize everything she said. They stared intently at the complex model, hoping to remember as much as possible in the shortest time.

Only a few children from noble families seemed to already know this information and remained calm.

"The light from the sun is blocked by the upper continents, so the lower continents receive sunlight for shorter periods. Each continent has a different Origin Energy attribute, some on the Dawn side and some on the Eternal Night side. Continents with clear Origin Energy attributes are the natural habitats of different races. Some continents have ambiguous Origin Energy attributes and are the focal points of conflict between the two camps," Zhang Jing's voice was pleasant, and she explained it in simple terms, otherwise most of the children would not have understood.

She pointed to the group of continents at the lowest level and said, "For example, this one has the longest night among all continents. Although there are four seasons on the continent, they are more often divided into the Light Season and the Dark Season based on the duration of direct sunlight. There are three months of the Light Season in a year, and the rest are the Dark Season. Therefore, the living conditions on this continent are extremely harsh. However, it is the origin of all human races. The empire also rose from here, although it is now insignificant in the empire's territory. We call this continent the Eternal Night Continent, also known as the Abandoned Land."

Qian Ye suddenly felt a shock throughout his body, and something warm seemed to well up in his eyes. This Eternal Night Continent was where he had lived since he could remember. In his memory, there seemed to be someone living with him at first, but he could not remember when that person left and never returned.

Unconsciously, the class was coming to an end.

Zhang Jing retracted the model into the podium and said, "We will meet again in a month. The topic of the next class is the Dawn War. This is the war that truly made the human race rise, a war of destiny, and the war that established the empire."

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