I've already reached the Nascent Soul stage, and you're saying I didn't time travel?

Chapter 118: There's no going back.
With a "thump," Qi Xuan and Sunday suddenly appeared on the spot.

"Cough cough cough cough..."

As soon as he landed, Qi Xuan couldn't help but cough.

BYD went too far.

Even a single blow felt like my shoulder was about to break.

That damn thing was attacked with a giant fireball talisman.

There's even [Migration] to help reduce damage.

Even so, he almost got beaten up on the spot.

Moreover, he acted as if he hadn't put in much effort from beginning to end.

Is this the power of Foundation Building?
Isn't that going a bit too far?

Qi Xuan mentally complained, finally understanding why the Qi Refining Perfection cultivator was crushed to death without any resistance.

This is a completely qualitative difference.

The gap is too big!!

He mentally grumbled a bit, then glanced at Sunday, who was whining beside him.

Although Sunday was also slapped, he was not seriously injured, but not as badly as he had imagined.

The main reason is that Sunday's cultivation level is higher than his, almost reaching the third level, and he is also thicker-skinned and more resistant to injury.

Of course, the most crucial element here is the Demon King Fruit he gave it back then, which brought about a fundamental improvement. Otherwise, even if the six-clawed Xuan Snake that had broken through to the third rank were present, it still wouldn't have been able to withstand a casual strike from the four-armed figure.

They each took several Green Wood Pills and healing herbs, and drank a large bowl of honey. The two of them then began to heal their injuries on the spot.

About an hour later, the area in my palm had finally recovered somewhat, but some pain remained in my internal organs.

"Thanks to the awakening of [Essence Refining], the recovery speed of my injuries has been greatly accelerated. Otherwise, these injuries alone would probably have taken several days to heal."

Looking at the last two Qingmu Pills left in the inventory, Qi Xuan couldn't help but feel a deep sense of emotion:
"At first, I thought it was a waste to keep giving away Aoki Dan in the lottery, and I even thought that this thing was too cheap, but when you urgently need it, you can never have too much."

After moving around a bit and confirming that there was nothing wrong with his body, Qi Xuan glanced at Sunday again.

The creature was still whimpering, but it was in good condition and was no longer forced to lie on the ground like before.

It seems that being chubby has its advantages.

"I used up a lot of my trump cards to save you, otherwise I would have escaped on the spot by teleporting. You'd better be more careful in the future and don't die so easily."

Qi Xuan patted its head.

On Sunday, he hummed a couple of times, and a wave of joy washed over him.

"The injury has healed for now. Let's check out the surroundings first, lest we encounter one of those evil things again."

Although the teleportation talisman can take them away from the scene and the teleportation distance is extremely far, reaching 10,000 zhang, which is more than 1,000 zhang than the earth-遁 talisman, it has a drawback: it cannot lock the location in advance, and it is a truly random teleportation.

Therefore, it is possible to be accidentally teleported to a dangerous area.

Only higher-level teleportation talismans can pinpoint the approximate location and position, and teleport over greater distances, but those are not available to him right now.

"Anyway, since the [Spiritual Sense] didn't send any warnings and the alert talisman is working fine, it means that this area should be safe for the time being."

"Let's check what's going on first. This little wooden house isn't something that formed naturally."

Yes, he and Sunday were teleported into a small cabin.

But the cabin was in a semi-collapsed state, with half of the walls on the ground, the beams broken, and several large holes in the roof.

The dim sunlight shone in, and the surroundings looked very old. Moss and grass grew on the corners, the ground, and even the rotten wooden bed, as if it had been abandoned long ago.

After observing the large hole near the wall for a while and confirming that there was no danger, he and Sunday crawled out of the wooden house.

Looking around, one sees lush forests all around, but among the trees, one can vaguely see large sections of broken walls and ruins.

There are quite a few dilapidated and collapsed wooden and stone houses. Most of the raw materials are very tough. Not to mention common ones like ironwood and bluestone, even rare spiritual plants and minerals have been used to build houses.

The houses vary in size; the smaller ones may only accommodate one or two people, while the larger ones can hold hundreds or even thousands of people. They are magnificent and spacious, exuding an aura of domineering power and imposing authority.

Unfortunately, it has all been reduced to ruins.

But both the carvings and decorations on the wooden house and the ability to construct the house from a single huge piece of blue steel stone prove that this place should be a gathering place for monks.

Most importantly, the Nangong token was currently lying in his hand, and the location of the tribe indicated on the token completely overlapped with this place.

This is the Nangong tribe.

Upon realizing this, Qi Xuan wasn't too disappointed; rather, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

During his previous explorations, he had suspected that the Nangong tribe had been wiped out. After all, too much time had passed, and there were many instances of cultivators perishing along the way. In addition, the previous collapse of the sun meant that he was not surprised to see corpses scattered all over the place.

Having experienced the battle with the four-armed figure, he only felt extremely wary of the Nangong tribe. Fortunately, the tribe had long been destroyed, so he didn't need to worry about being besieged or captured by them.

He doesn't have a second random symbol to use.

After taking a quick look around, Qi Xuan started walking around the scene.

This village must have been abandoned a long time ago. Just by looking at the rampant vines and the tall trees, you can tell that these things couldn't have grown in a short time.

The collapse and even the destruction of houses in various places are likely related to the recent solar catastrophic event.

After the solar fragments landed, the terrain changed drastically, as if mountains and seas were being rebuilt. It would be a miracle if the houses built on the original site were unaffected, let alone the fact that these houses had already been abandoned.

So the question is, why was the Nangong tribe abandoned?

Where did everyone inside go?

Could it be, as previously speculated, that the monks who perished were all fleeing from the tribe?
So what are they running away from?
Could it be that they are trying to escape from that four-armed figure?
Why are there these four-armed shadowy figures again?
……

A jumble of doubts swirled in Qi Xuan's mind like a ball of yarn.

All the secrets have long been buried by time, and it would be difficult for outsiders to uncover the truth from two hundred years ago.

Fortunately, we have now arrived at the village site, so we should be able to find some clues related to the disaster.

Qi Xuan searched the area, occasionally entering a house or turning over some wooden beams, letting Sunday pry open some ruins.

As a result, he actually found quite a few things.

First, there were corpses, a large number of corpses.

Of course, after so much time, all the corpses had turned into skeletons.

Even many of the skeletons were broken and mangled.

However, there were very few signs of fighting at the scene.

"Internal strife?"

"Or is it an invasion by other tribes?"

No, it shouldn't be related to tribal invasions.

Because many of the cultivators present were fleeing.

If invaded, even if one cannot defeat the enemy, one should at least shrink one's defenses and retreat inwards, or retreat in a certain direction.

The scene of people scattering and fleeing is enough to prove that the disaster suddenly occurred in the tribe and was so overwhelming that all the cultivators had no choice but to panic and run away.

They didn't even put up a symbolic resistance; they were only focused on escaping.

This is enough to prove that their strength was simply insufficient to withstand the source of the disaster.

"Even a Qi Refining Perfection cultivator can't withstand it?"

Looking at the half-shattered skeleton of the Qi Refining Perfection cultivator, Qi Xuan immediately recalled the four-armed figure he had encountered in the forest.

Indeed, given the opponent's strength, even if all the Qi Refining cultivators rushed at them, they would likely be defeated on the spot.

Could he be the culprit behind all the disasters?

Was it he who led to the complete annihilation of the entire Nangong tribe?
But where did he come from? And why did he end up like this?

What exactly happened with those four arms, and the dissipating mist?

What is the root cause of all this?
Qi Xuan frowned and continued his careful search of the site after the tribe's collapse.

And when they investigated, they actually found something.

He found a body.

But unlike the other corpses, this one was a suicide.

He also left a suicide note.

Although the suicide note was written on a monster skin, so much time has passed that many parts have become blurred and illegible, making it difficult to decipher. Only the general meaning can be pieced together:

"Qing'er, I can't take it anymore. Don't try to persuade me anymore. It's time to leave this place."

"Back then, you, me, and Brother Feng, together we ventured out into the world. How carefree and happy we were!"

“We once thought that the problems our family was facing could be solved.”

"Not to mention that there are powerful figures from the upper sects who are researching and comprehending, and they also provide support to our family from time to time." "The patriarch and elders are also very optimistic, declaring that everything will be alright and there is hope for everything."

"But now we both know that what we call hope is nothing but a charming illusion."

“Once we embarked on this path, there was no turning back. Everyone either went mad or died; there was no third possibility.”

"How hypocritical and ridiculous the family's admonitions seem in the face of so many tragedies."

“Especially Brother Feng, who has taken care of us for many years, has begged me many times to let him kill him.”

"But how could I bring myself to do it?"

“Like you, I have been comforting him and trying to find all kinds of drugs for him, even giving him the hallucinogenic and toxic Ecstasy Pill.”

"I just hope he can hold on and live a good life."

"Then when I went to visit him again that day, I saw his body."

"Completely unrecognizable, a truly horrific sight."

"Everyone says that Brother Feng died of illness, but that was a gag order from above to prevent the family from falling into further turmoil."

Do you know how he died?

"As a dignified Qi Refining Perfection cultivator, and regarded by the family as one of the three most promising candidates to break through to Foundation Establishment, he was bitten to death by the Heart-Eating Worm."

"It's strange, isn't it? The Heart-Eating Worm is so terrifying that no one can avoid the pain of being devoured by it. Many cultivators with strong wills often break down under the torment of the Heart-Eating Worm. But he fed himself the Heart-Eating Worm and forcibly broke free from the seal placed on him by the elder in this way, and ended his own life on the spot."

"You might think that the bites of the Heart-Eating Worm are terrifying and that no one can withstand them. I also couldn't understand it at first and couldn't tell you the truth because it's too bizarre. Even if I told you, no one would believe it."

"But now that I'm in the same situation, I finally understand why Brother Feng did what he did."

"Because the pain of being bitten by a heartworm is probably less than one ten-thousandth of the pain of a bone disease attack!"

"Letting it gnaw away and die during a bony spurt would be a relief!"

"I'm telling you all this because I'm going to choose the same path."

"I'm sorry, I broke my promise. I couldn't marry you, nor could I become a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the future."

"Even if we reach the Foundation Establishment stage, we still cannot get rid of this disease. The road ahead is the deepest despair, and I can't see any light."

"Please allow me to take the first step, I only wish you a peaceful, healthy, and free life from illness and disaster."

"—Nangong Lie."

After reading the entire suicide note, Qi Xuan stood there stunned, unable to recover for a long time.

Nangong Lie's suicide note provided him with a wealth of information.

The good news is that the Nangong tribe—no, it should be called the Nangong family—is a group of normal people just like him. The bone spurs growing on various parts of their bodies are probably caused by what is known as "osteophyte disease."

The bad news is that it's not just one person suffering from the disease; it seems the entire Nangong family is afflicted, even those at the Foundation Establishment stage are not immune, and the condition may even worsen.

He couldn't help but think of the four-armed figure he had encountered before.

Those two extra arms did not originate from evolution or secret techniques; they are very likely extralimbs that grew out of [osteophyte disease].

Considering that suffering from this disease seems extremely painful, even a Qi Refining Perfection cultivator would rather commit suicide, then that Four-Armed Foundation Establishment cultivator has most likely been driven mad by the pain.

"No, it's not just about driving people crazy."

"That Foundation Establishment cultivator is probably already dead."

Thinking back to the light reflected by the Spirit Arrow Talisman and the Fireball Talisman, the four-armed Foundation Establishment cultivator was covered in wounds, and his heart seemed to have been ripped open, yet he could still move and attack, as if he were being controlled by the Dragon Hunting Grass. But now it seems that he was likely affected by the [Bone Disease].

Even the mist constantly emanating from his body might be related to [osteophyte disease].

It is probably only this kind of bizarre illness that would be unbearable even for someone who has reached the peak of Qi cultivation, to the point that they would have to commit suicide.

So the question is, is osteophyte disease a hereditary disease of the Nangong family, or is it a widespread infectious disease?

Is he the only patient like the Four-Armed Foundation Establishment cultivator who remains active after death? Or are they scattered throughout the world?
What about the Golden Core cultivators? What about the Nascent Soul cultivators? Could they also be infected or even develop the disease in some way?
Has he also contracted this disease since he traveled through time, but it hasn't manifested yet?
Are the four suns hanging high in the sky also related to this disease?
In an instant, Qi Xuan thought of many things.

He even recalled the bloody handprints he had seen on the cliff.

Those abnormal and deformed hands are enough to prove that similar conditions exist elsewhere.

The source of these illnesses may have already spread all over the world, and he might have been infected from the very beginning when he transmigrated here.

If he hadn't discovered the scene of the Nangong family's destruction, he might not have even known what he had experienced if he suddenly fell ill one day.

However, this is the worst-case scenario.

If osteophyte disease is only a condition that develops under special conditions, then there is no need to worry unnecessarily.

But the mystery of the sun's collapse remains unsolved, and now this bizarre thing called "osteophyte disease" has emerged, making him feel that this world is becoming increasingly dangerous.

He wouldn't be surprised if a Nascent Soul level monster suddenly appeared on the spot.

"We still need to find ways to conduct more investigations and gather more intelligence."

"Leaving aside solving the mystery of the disease, we must at least figure out why the sun collapses, when it will collapse next, and how to avoid being harmed."

"Otherwise, if even Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't survive the last time the Collapse occurred at close range, and if the next Collapse upgrades to Golden Core or even Nascent Soul cultivators and they still can't survive, then we might as well all give up and perish together."

Qi Xuan continued his exploration.

He worked until dark, and then he found something new in a small, completely collapsed wooden hut not far away.

First, there's half a rusty blade.

Unlike the other shattered weapons in the entire family's territory, this was a genuine magical artifact.

Although it was just wreckage and rusted, the material was still extremely sharp, and it could easily cut through even the extremely hard bones of the Golden-eyed Pterosaur.

For him, such a weapon was just right.

Because he simply cannot control a real magical artifact with his current strength, and its destructive power might not even be as great as that of such a crippled army.

In addition to the remnants of the magical artifact, he also obtained a jade tablet.

The jade pendant is made of a very special material, and it should have originated from the same source as the previous Nangong token.

Throughout the entire family's residence, only these two plaques are found, highlighting their rarity.

After touching the jade tablet, he discovered some information left inside, somewhat like notes casually scribbled down by the original owner:

"...The resources demanded by the upper sect are increasing, while the supply of the Mind-Stabilizing Pills is constantly decreasing. If this continues, how will my Nangong family survive?"

"...The clan leader went to the upper sect to plead for mercy, but never returned. Did he escape? Die? Or go mad?"

"...The upper sect has closed its gates, and all communication has been completely cut off..."

"...The family's situation is getting worse and worse..."

"...The Cleansing Spirit Trees planted in various places have died one after another, and now only the mother tree can still produce Cleansing Spirit Jade Dew..."

"...The First Elder has gone mad, the Second Elder is dead, and I killed the Third Elder. I'm the only Foundation Establishment cultivator left in the clan..."

"...I sealed the Mother Tree, allowing the dozen or so remaining Qi Refining geniuses of the clan to enter it. Many people opposed me, and I killed many of them..."

"...Someone stole the Jade Void Token that allows entry into the Mother Tree. I sent the enforcement team to chase after them, but they wouldn't look at me. Could it be that they're coveting the last Jade Void Token I have?"

"...There are fewer and fewer family members in the base. Why don't you understand my good intentions?"

"...Traitor! Scoundrel! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! I will purge the entire family! I will protect the entire family! The Nangong family will surely grow stronger in my hands, Nangong Wuji!"

……

Seeing the various pieces of information recorded in the jade tablet, and the lingering aura on it, he finally learned the name of the four-armed figure in the forest—

Nangong Wuji.

The fourth elder of the Nangong family.

A late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

However, judging from the strength he displayed at the time, he should not have reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment, at most the early stage, otherwise he and Sunday would have had no chance of escaping.

It seems that these two hundred years have not been without impact on his strength.

Perhaps after some time, he will regress to the Qi Refining stage, or even perish completely.

Looking at the jade pendant in his hand, Qi Xuan felt a pang of regret.

The elder who attempted to revitalize the entire family ended up destroying it all, which is undeniably ironic.

But looking at the world as a whole, similar incidents are probably not uncommon.

So what's next?

What should I do next?
How can he survive in this dangerous world?

Qi Xuan couldn't help but look at the jade tablet.

There was a flickering spot of light inside.

The location marked by the light spot was none other than the Nangong family's last secret treasure: the Qing Shen Mother Tree.

(End of this chapter)