Douluo Continent: Reincarnated as Huo Gua, yet a Manjusaka Flower

In the shadow of the broken walls and ruins, a little boy huddled up, shivering.

He stared in terror at the scene before him, a living hell that resembled the end of the world.

The charred roof beams collapsed to the ground, and the burning wheat fields crackled and wailed in the wind. Blood and black smoke mingled, making the entire sky murky and oppressive.

Disaster has already struck; this land is teeming with wandering evil spirit masters.

What should I do? I want to live.

A strong will to survive made his body move instinctively, and he struggled to crawl out of the ruins. Suddenly, he touched something hard.

It was a strange stone slab, made of some kind of unknown black jade, with all sorts of bizarre patterns engraved on it, resembling some kind of creature or a bunch of children's scribbles, and touching it made people feel irritable.

But the next second, a burst of colorful black light erupted from the stone slab!

"Mysterious mist shrouds the rivers and valleys, making the forests and ravines silent, confining the mortal body. Suddenly, one feels the marrow boiling and the pulse surging, fortunate enough to receive a heavenly transformation. One then receives it, and the physical body is released. The same applies to those who seek longevity. For the more intact the physical body, the more imprisoned one's life; the more solid the flesh and blood, the more imprisoned one's fate; the more one clings to the human form, the more imprisoned one's true nature."

"I have heard that those who live to immortality eat the clouds and drink the dew, maintaining their youth and eternal life, but now I know this is a fallacy. In reality, it is flesh and blood rebelling against their master, defying the order of life and death, and creating the evil of immortality. At first, the flesh and blood are like rotten wood sprouting new shoots, cracking inch by inch, revealing the gnarled veins beneath, the color of ochre, the texture of old vines. Then the skin and flesh completely shed, not as light as a cicada shedding its skin, but the pain of being slowly sliced ​​by a thousand blades, new flesh grows wildly, turning into thorns and branches, as if an ancient tree has become a spirit."

"The joints cracked and popped, defying the confines of human form, growing taller and taller, piercing through clouds and splitting rocks. The marrow gushed forth like a tide, spurting from the wounds, and upon encountering the wind, it solidified into amber-colored armor, covering the branches and trunks, its blades gleaming coldly, capable of cutting through metal and stone. The blood did not follow its proper channels, but flowed wildly outwards, and wherever it dripped, fleshy fungi sprouted, wriggling and moving, devouring the surrounding grass, trees, insects, and beasts, turning them into its own."

"I have often heard that it is not people who diligently seek the Way, but the Way that diligently seeks people. Now I know this is a great error. In reality, the Way pursues people like a hawk or hound pursuing a rabbit, with no escape. The abyssal devourer descends upon the nine heavens, its form indescribable, its only ambition to devour. The celestial orbits are disordered, and the stars are upside down. Its shadow falls upon my body, thus creating this calamity."

"Now I am neither human, nor wood, nor beast, but a den of walking corpses, a monster abandoned by time. Wherever my blade points, grass and trees wither, insects perish, and flesh and blood become my nourishment. Death is a luxury; this body is eternally different, forever the vanguard of the silent abyss, devouring all living things in the world before I finally meet my end. But their greed is endless, and so is my devouring; this is an eternal prison, without end."

The chaotic and frenzied knowledge took root in the boy's consciousness; its meaning is self-evident and needs no further explanation.

"The flesh melts away, the form remains untouched, yet from beginning to end, you are revealed."

"Nourish the three souls... trace the seven souls back to their source... reach the highest... return to the origin and ascend to godhood... ascend... decay until the world declines... condemn them... and then destroy them."

Chaotic and frenzied knowledge, like indescribable tentacles, took root, wriggled, and spread wildly deep within his consciousness. Without understanding or words, the will from the abyss was already imprinted on his soul.

Blood and foam hissed from his ruptured trachea, and the feeling of suffocation tightened around his body like an invisible giant hand. The ancient and blasphemous prayer grew fainter and fainter until it finally dissipated into the air filled with the stench of blood and decay, leaving only a maddening silence.

"I never expected... there was a little lamb struggling in despair hiding here."

The ruins were suddenly ripped open, and dust and stench surged up together.

A man, emaciated as a skeleton and shrouded in twisted evil energy, slowly stepped out. His smile was no longer that of a human being; it was more like that of some deformed being in human skin, sizing up its prey that was about to be devoured.

"Hehehe... To have lasted this long, your soul and flesh must be exceptionally delicious. Perfect, my Blood Elixir is still missing one crucial ingredient."

He slowly raised his hand, thick, ink-like blood mist oozing from his fingertips, his gaze fixed on the boy as if staring at a sacrifice about to be devoured.

"Use you... to fill it up."

The evil spirit master didn't even bother to release his martial spirit; he simply hunched over his withered body and slowly approached step by step.

He seemed to be admiring a precious object about to be crushed by his own hands, or like a cat deliberately slowing down before catching a mouse, enjoying the prey's final struggle.

This was the scene he was most fascinated by in his life—

Look at those mortals who were laughing in the wheat fields yesterday, and who had awe for heaven and earth. In an instant, they were dragged into an endless hell, watching helplessly as their homes were burned down and their loved ones died tragically. Then, from the depths of their eyes, the purest and most intense fear and despair were squeezed out bit by bit.

For him, it was a taste sweeter than anything else.

But to his disappointment, the boy's face was expressionless, like a corpse.

"I cherish it... I revere the Medicine King... It was once abundant... But upon closer inspection, it is extreme, and I find it ominous..."

"What the hell are you muttering over there! Huh?"

His gaze suddenly sharpened as he caught sight of the black stone slab clutched tightly in the boy's palm. Greed instantly ignited in his murky eyes, and he grinned maliciously as he reached out to grab it.

But just as his fingertips were about to touch him, the boy's figure swayed strangely.

Without any extra movements, just a slight shift, as if avoiding a gentle breeze, he narrowly dodged the grab.

The smile on the man's face froze.

He grinned, revealing his gleaming white teeth, and his eyes, gleaming with an eerie green light, were fixed intently on the boy.

But the other person remained expressionless, only their lips moved silently, as if reciting some kind of blasphemous prayer unknown to the world, without uttering a sound.

"Playing tricks!"

A furious shout exploded.

One white and two yellow soul rings suddenly rose from beneath his feet, swirling with a cold and fierce aura.

A hideous, illusory bone claw tore through the air, carrying a malevolent intent to crush everything, and slammed down on the boy's head!

This time, the boy did not hide.

He stood there quietly, as if he had already given up resistance and was willing to face death.

Or perhaps—he is no longer "himself," but is simply waiting for some indescribable being to descend upon him completely.

"Those who believe in immortality suffer the pains of flesh and blood; those who sit in oblivion... are all executed."

"Bang!"

The air seemed to be compressed to its limit by this palm strike, producing a muffled explosion.

A chilling white mist swirled around the bone claws, a symbol of death born from the intertwining of bone-chilling poison and immense force. Under the crushing weight of this immense power, the boy's thin, frail body couldn't even muster a ripple of resistance before he exploded like a watermelon struck by a heavy hammer.

Red and white substances splattered everywhere, staining the man's palms and the cracked yellow earth beneath his feet.

"He's courting death."

The man snorted coldly, disdainfully withdrawing his martial spirit and spitting a mouthful of foul-smelling phlegm onto the ground. He quickly stepped forward, squatted down, and fully expected to find the stone slab containing the secret amidst the pile of flesh.

However, after searching with his fingers for a long time, he couldn't find anything but warm, sticky flesh and blood.

He cursed under his breath, convinced that he had hit too hard, even shattering bone fragments. He got up, grumbling, and prepared to leave.