Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1313: Heaven and Earth

There has always been a demon king in southern Xinjiang, but the demon kings have lived in the mountains for a long time and have never cared about the human world. It is rare to see them run out of the mountains to harm people - it is another matter if people run into the mountains and are killed by the demon king.

And directly attacking a city, causing the entire city to fall into famine, cannibalism to death, and the rest of the people to disappear. If it were in the Wei Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau, it would be enough to be called an evil spirit.

Although Lu Ning was not clear about this classification, she also vaguely felt that it was a demon behind this, and this demon was not the one she had met before that would hide in the crowd. This demon was a massacre of the city, which showed its ferocity.

It was a pity that she didn't understand the language of Southern Xinjiang, otherwise she could have asked those hungry people about it. Now that Southern Xinjiang had suffered such a severe disaster, it was no wonder that people would rush to the border of Wei - they would not survive if they didn't go.

She searched several houses in the city and found some things carved on the soil, but Lu Ning couldn't understand the words or pictures that were too difficult to distinguish. It was obvious that a tragedy had occurred in the most luxurious house. The blood dried in the soil and could not be collected, so the original traces were left. Judging from the bloodstains all over the room, at least three people were dismembered here.

"There is no demonic energy left..." Lu Ning used her demon eyes to check carefully, but probably because it had been so long, she could no longer find any trace.

She took out a notebook, recorded her discovery, and set off again.

But the following journey made her even begin to doubt whether this was the hinterland of southern Xinjiang. Although the production capacity of the people in southern Xinjiang was insufficient, the various tribes added up to a large number of people. The Twelve Villages of Miaojiang was a famous large village in southern Xinjiang, but she turned around and saw few people along the way.

Apart from some mountain bandits, Lu Ning didn't see any living people in any of the crowded fortresses she encountered. The conditions in some villages were even more shocking than the first mountain fortress.

Everyone in the city died of the plague, and all that was left in the city were blackened mummies. Even on their wrinkled faces that were no longer recognizable as human beings, one could still see expressions of pain.

There were also villages with ghosts, villages where everyone was poisoned to death, and villages where Lu Ning couldn't even tell how everyone died. She didn't even dare to enter some of them casually, and only looked at the outside and then quickly took a detour.

It seemed as if the disaster only happened in the city or village, but outside of there, no one could be seen escaping.

The winter wind brought a freezing rain, and Lu Ning stopped at a small house in the mountains. She had been walking in Southern Xinjiang for such a long time, and she already felt that there must be more plots behind the chaos in Southern Xinjiang. The demons had committed such a murderous crime, and no one in the outside world knew about it. Even if a few people in Southern Xinjiang leaked the news, it would probably not cause any trouble.

So what happened before the Twelve Villages of Miao Area?

Lu Ning sorted out the notes he had taken over the past few days. There were twenty-five large fortresses and tens of thousands of deaths - this was already a huge population loss for southern Xinjiang.

What was the demon preparing to sacrifice after killing so many people? Take her Ghost Banner as an example. If it was sacrificed with living souls like this, it would be dozens of times more powerful than going to a mass grave to find some dead souls to refine. The northern part of the border is already in such chaos. If the southern border also erupts, the precarious Wei Dynasty may not last more than a year.

While thinking, Lu Ning suddenly heard the sound of someone stepping on wet branches outside.

She immediately stood up and grabbed the sword in her hand.

A moment later, someone knocked on the door of the hut. Lu Ning frowned and asked, "Who is it?"

The man outside paused for a moment and then said in a half-baked Central Plains dialect: "Shan... Hunter, here."

Lu Ning opened the door and saw a hunter standing outside. He was in his forties or fifties, with a full beard and a fur coat made of patchwork animal skins. This kind of clothing was not very effective in keeping out the cold in the mountains in winter, and he was shivering.

"Are you the hunter here?"

"Yes." The hunter nodded repeatedly. He couldn't speak very long sentences, but he should be able to understand what Lu Ning said.

"Come in." Lu Ning made way for the hunter to come in. She had already lit a fire in the hut, which was much warmer than outside. The hunter thanked her as he walked in, and quickly knelt beside the fire to warm his hands.

Lu Ning quietly closed the door and returned to the seat where she had just sat.

A pot had been set up on the fire, and it was emitting a fragrant aroma. The hunter warmed his hands, took off his wet clothes and placed them next to the fire, untied a bag, took out a skinned and bled rabbit, pointed at the pot, and said to Lu Ning, "Add meat for soup?"

"Okay." Lu Ning pulled out a knife, took the rabbit, and first served the hunter a bowl of hot soup from the pot. Then she added some water, and when the water boiled, she cut the rabbit into pieces. After the water boiled, she put all the pieces of meat into the pot.

The hunter took a few sips of soup and sighed with contentment.

"Which village are you from?" Lu Ning asked.

"Tangzi Mountain, Baimao." The hunter whispered, "It's suddenly cold, let's go into the mountains and hunt quickly to survive the winter."

"Who did you learn the Central Plains dialect from?"

"Teacher, I'm here in the village. He's very knowledgeable and can teach us how to speak, read, and make things."

"Sir, are you from Wei?" Lu Ning asked.

The hunter shook his head, smiled innocently and said, "Sir, the gods are beyond the heavens."

"A deity from the outer world? Why would he come to teach you?"

"The village holds annual sacrifices with sincerity. The gods beyond heaven bless us and allow the sir to come and help us with our livelihoods," said the hunter.

"But you still came out to hunt alone." Lu Ning looked at him. "In this kind of bad weather, it's possible that you'll get killed in the mountains."

"Teacher can teach you skills but cannot control your life. Life belongs to us and we are the ones to live it." The hunter said with gestures.

"Really? I wonder if I will have the chance to meet this gentleman?" Lu Ning asked.

"You are a kind person for accepting me. The master will meet you. When the rain stops, you can come with me," said the hunter.

Lu Ning nodded.

After they finished the broth in the pot, they waited until dusk when the freezing rain stopped. Lu Ning and the hunter went into the mountains together.

There is no telling how many mountains there are in southern Xinjiang, and Tangzi Mountain is probably just a local name. Lu Ning and the hunter walked into a valley together and saw a village in a relatively flat area. According to Lu Ning's research on villages in southern Xinjiang these days, the current scale of this village is about a hundred people.

On the way back, the hunter also shot some pheasants, hares and the like. With the sudden onset of winter, these animals were busy preparing food for the winter, so it was easier to catch some. When he returned to the village, he at least had a circle of prey hanging around his neck.

When the people saw the hunter coming back, they cheered loudly. After the hunter gave them some of the prey on his neck, the cheers became louder. Soon, someone noticed Lu Ning who had followed the hunter back, and pointed at her and said something in the local dialect. The hunter also answered a few words in the local dialect, then turned to Lu Ning and said, "Do you want to see the gentleman now?"

"If it's possible now, let's do it now." Lu Ning said.

The hunter stretched out his hand to ask everyone to make way, and took Lu Ning to a newly built house in the village.

He stopped in front of the door, knocked carefully, and said, "Sir, guest."

"Oh? You brought guests?" someone in the room answered, and then the door opened.

Lu Ning narrowed her eyes when she saw this gentleman.

This man had white hair and beard, and was obviously very old, but his face was smooth and ruddy without wrinkles, his eyes were bright, and his back was not bent, which showed that he was in good health. He was wearing a coarse cloth, but in this village where everyone wore animal skins, this was a rare outfit.

"Oh?" The gentleman was slightly stunned when he saw Lu Ning, "You are..."

Lu Ning blinked and said, "Sir, I am a traveler from the Great Wei. I have come from afar to visit your place. I am making this visit with great presumption. I just want to see what kind of person from the outer world looks like."

"Ah, you can go home now." The master said to the hunter, who nodded quickly, put down a pheasant, and turned away. The master picked up the pheasant, stretched out his hand to Lu Ning and said, "You are a guest from afar, please come in?"

Lu Ning nodded and walked into the house.

After the gentleman put the pheasant into a box, he asked Lu Ning to sit down at the only table in the house and poured a pot of water on the fire. He looked a little nervous, but Lu Ning was not in a hurry. She knew what was wrong with him the first time she saw him.

Similar to the pockmarked man he met before, this gentleman also had a human aura, except for his heart area, where the blue demonic energy was condensed, which looked quite strange.

"Sir, do you have anything to say?" Lu Ning asked.

"I... didn't know the Demon Suppression Division was so powerful. Even though I was hiding in the mountains of Southern Border, you found me." The gentleman said with a wry smile, "It's a pity that I have nothing else. I stayed here just to find a place to bury myself, but I didn't expect that I still couldn't escape."

"It's okay. I came to Southern Xinjiang and I can't speak the language. Why don't we chat first? I'm very curious about what happened in Southern Xinjiang. Since you are from the outside world, you must know something." Lu Ning said.

"Naturally... I know everything."

"Let me tell you my name first. What's your name now?" Lu Ning smiled slightly.

"I have abandoned my old name, and I dare not use the name of Tianwaitian. I now call myself Chan Jushi, and you can just call me Chanfu."

"Yes. Then, Chanfu, you should be aware of your abnormality, but is it caused by Tianwaitian?" Lu Ning asked.

"That's true." Chan Jushi smiled bitterly, "I desperately tried to escape here. I heard there was a way to the immortals beyond the heavens, so I tried to find it. Unexpectedly, there are heavens beyond the heavens, but no immortals above the heavens. The people there claim to be cultivating immortals, but they are actually minions, stupid and foolish, not knowing that they are no longer human."

"How many demons are there in the outer world?"

"I really don't know about this. The one who controls us on a daily basis calls himself the Three Souls and Seven Spirits, pretending to be an immortal, but he is actually a demon. I have no way to resist."

"Besides these ten?"

"The rest of the demons are not allowed to meet us on weekdays. Only when we go out, we will let a few demons transform into human forms and go out with humans to monitor us. I also encountered it once. The demon leading the team offended a demon king in the mountains of southern Xinjiang. The demon king's demon generals attacked the team and escaped." Chan Jushi had a bitter face. "Since I got away, I dare not go back. But after being away for a long time, I felt panicked and knew that I had been attacked and my time was running out. Fortunately, I met this Baimao Village. They are all kind-hearted. I want to find a burial place here and teach them. It's just to preach and educate them, and do good deeds."

"In that case, do you know that dozens of townspeople in southern Xinjiang were killed?"

"It's related to the three souls and seven spirits, but I don't know the details." Monk Chan said, "Is the demon-suppressing officer going to cause trouble for Tianwaitian? Forgive me for being frank, but if you fight against so many demons alone, I'm afraid you are no match for them. If you are also trapped here, the people of Southern Xinjiang will probably suffer even greater disasters."

"Why?"

"I have occasionally heard those demons talk about the 'king'. Their king is probably not comparable to ordinary demons. There are legends about this outer world in southern Xinjiang. Their power is probably deeply rooted here. If they want to kill people one day, I am afraid that countless tribes and villages in the thousands of mountains in southern Xinjiang will be turned into a sea of ​​blood."

"My Lord of the Heaven Beyond Heaven..." Lu Ning knocked on the table. "If it is indeed as you said, I must hurry back to the Central Plains and report this matter. However, you must tell me how to enter the Heaven Beyond Heaven and the skills you practiced in the Heaven Beyond Heaven for future use."

"Then, then this old man..."

"You are old. I have only met Monk Chan here. He was just a guest." Lu Ning said with a smile.

A look of joy appeared on Chan Jushi's face. He then stood up and took out a few skins from a cabinet.

"The skills and maps are all here. Although I am old, my memory is still reliable. However, the demons from the outer world are cunning. If any changes are made, the demon-suppressing officer must check them carefully. You must bring enough people with you, and do not take the demons' abilities lightly."

"Okay." Lu Ning took the skins and checked them. The skills were from the "Great Record of Soul Cultivation", and the map was a mountain map, which was quite detailed and marked the locations of several entrances and exits. It was presumably where the Chan hermit had been before.

"I will leave immediately, but you have to..." Lu Ning pointed at the position of his heart, "The water-based evil spirit has gathered and has already turned into a disease. You should make some plans."

"Thank you for telling me, sir." Monk Chan was quite open-minded. "Whether I live or die, I hope the evil spirits can be eliminated and the world can be peaceful again."

"I'll try."

Lu Ning tied the skins carefully to his body with ropes to prevent them from falling off, then quickly went out, took the horse, looked in a direction, and started heading north, not even daring to spend the night there.

The problems in southern Xinjiang were still too serious. She was very clear about the limits of what she could do. Perhaps if she went a little deeper she might understand more, but that would make it easy for her to encounter monsters that she couldn't handle, and end up losing her life.

It was enough to stop now. With the things depicted on these pieces of skin, as long as we could find Lin Xiyin from the Demon Suppression Division, it would be a great achievement.

But... thinking back to Ma Zi's behavior, and looking at the Chan Monk I met today, although they were in the land of demons and were eventually harmed by the demons, and their lives were in danger, their mentality was quite a bit like that of a true immortal.

She had also practiced the "Qingping Lingying Tong Xin Fa" for a long time, and indeed there was no trace of evil in it. She breathed in and out clear air, and even the circulation of her innate purple qi became much smoother. Perhaps in some time, she would not have to endure the pain of using her innate purple qi.

So what these demons teach are real skills?