Primordial Era: Starting with slaughtering all the gods and Buddhas in the sky

At dawn, before the sky was fully light, outside the campfire shelter, the mountain wind blew along the stone wall, carrying a cool, damp chill. The remaining campfire at the valley entrance was reduced to dark red embers, occasionally crackling and popping as a few sparks flew.

Huang Chen walked briskly along the ridge alone, without making a sound under his feet.

Morning mist spread through the forest, water droplets clung to the leaves, and a cool sensation clung to my trouser legs as I brushed against them. In the distance, the occasional shriek of a monstrous bird drifted up, long and chilling, like bones being scraped from the depths of the desolate forest.

Huang Chen exhaled a breath of white air, his divine sense sinking into his body as he glanced at the system panel.

"First accumulate karma, then incidentally accumulate some merit."

Find the place with the heaviest sins. Once the bloodlust perception is released, the surrounding world is as if covered by an invisible film. The fierce and resentful aura that ordinary people cannot see is extremely clear in the perception.

Where many people die, where souls are sacrificed and blood is refined year after year, where the wailing of souls lingers and never dissipates, initially, it was scattered.

In a mountain hollow, a dozen skeletons lie buried, and a faint scent of blood lingers by a stream.

Huang Chen didn't stop. In places like this, there are problems, but the gains might not be significant.

Heading south, we crossed three ridges and passed through a wetland covered with black vines.

By the afternoon, the bloodlust sensation suddenly intensified, not just in a small area, but across a large region.

It's like someone stuffing hundreds or thousands of vengeful spirits into a well and then pressing them down with stones.

The stench emanated from dozens of miles away; it was fishy, ​​foul, and sticky, like rotten meat soaking in blood for ten days.

Huang Chen paused and looked up.

A narrow rift valley lies nestled between the mountains ahead.

The valley entrance is perpetually shrouded in darkness; the mountains outside are greyish-white, while inside they take on a dark reddish hue.

The wind blew out of the valley, carrying the stench of decay, blood, and the acrid smell of burning bone meal.

He squinted.

"Valley of White Bones and Blood".

He had seen this name on the map of the power distribution of the Ten Thousand Mountains. It only occupied a very small corner and was not even considered a demon stronghold.

The original labeling was vague, only stating that "bandits and miscellaneous practitioners are entrenched here, their origins are unknown, and they arbitrarily abduct people."

In retrospect, the drawing was written too lightly.

Huang Chen did not go in immediately.

He first walked around the outside.

The Valley of White Bones and Blood is not large, but its terrain is extremely treacherous. The cliffs on both sides are jagged and interlocking, and at its narrowest point, only three to five people can pass side by side.

Two wooden whistles were placed above, the wood stained dark brown by the smoke of blood, with bone skewers hanging from the edges, making a "clattering" sound when the wind blew.

There are three visible sentry posts and two hidden stakeouts in the valley.

Several rows of cages were carved into the right-hand stone wall, their iron bars covered with dried, bloody handprints. Further in was a pit filled with broken bones and rotting skin, swarming with flies, turning it into a dark, murky mass.

To the left was a half-collapsed stone hall, with several black poles standing outside, from which hung tattered soul-binding banners. From time to time, the outlines of grayish-white human faces would float out, their mouths wide open, yet unable to utter a sound.

At the very center is a pool of blood.

The blood pool wasn't naturally formed; it was carved out of a single block of rock. Twisted runes were engraved along its rim, and dark red foam churned within, emitting a pungent, bitter stench.

Human bones, animal bones, tattered clothes, shackles, and several filthy bone blades were scattered all around.

Huang Chen lay prone in the grass on the cliff top, watching for half a day.

The sentry posts were changed three times.

Not all the guards are demons.

Inside were blood demons, ghost cultivators, and two ridiculously strong mountain goblins. Further in, he saw several human scum in leather armor, moving corpses, washing weapons, and dragging people into the prison cells for the demon bandits, their faces numb as if they were dead.

"It's not a gathering of wild demons, it's a dirty chain."

Huang Chen's eyes turned cold.

They intercepted and killed scattered humans, sifted out those who could be sold, and sent them to immortal sects, demon kings, mines, and evil cultivators. The remaining old, weak, sick, and disabled were directly refined for blood, had their souls extracted, and fed into pools.

In a place like this, it would be strange if the system didn't issue tasks.

The sky gradually darkened.

A brazier was lit in the valley. The flickering flames illuminated the bones on the cliff face, making them appear and disappear.

You could still hear crying in the distance, not loud, intermittent, like someone had cried until their throat was hoarse, with only breath leaking out.

Huang Chen didn't move.

He continued to wait.

Only when night had completely fallen and the valley was at its most relaxed did he take out the Wind-Stabilizing Pearl from his storage.

The beads feel cool to the touch.

He clenched his five fingers together and slowly poured in spiritual energy.

The foul-smelling mist that had been surging out of the valley suddenly stopped, as if it had been suppressed by an invisible giant hand, and its flow slowed down abruptly. With the mist suppressed, the sound was also greatly reduced, making it perfect for killing.

Huang Chen slid down the stone wall.

The first hidden sentry post is on the right side of the valley entrance, concealed in a crevice in the rocks.

The sentry was a rat-faced demon, as thin as a bamboo pole, clutching a short fork, half-asleep with his eyes half-closed. Huang Chen hadn't even fully landed when his fist arrived.

The Seven Forms of Witchcraft: Bone Splitting.

"Bang!

'

A muffled thud.

Before the rat demon could even finish its scream, its chest collapsed, its back slammed against the stone wall, and blood and foam seeped out from between its teeth.

Huang Chen reached out and covered its mouth, then twisted its neck with his other hand and gently put it down.

The system did not provide any notification.

This thing's sins aren't serious enough, or they don't warrant being recorded.

Huang Chen didn't mind and continued walking.

The second place is a wooden whistle on the cliff.

A mandrill with a furry coat was squatting on it, picking its teeth with a bone pick and humming some strange, off-key tune.

Huang Chen grabbed the wooden beam and flipped it up, slicing through it with his palm blade, shattering the mountain demon's throat. The mountain demon's eyes widened, its body convulsed violently, and just as it raised its claws, Huang Chen punched it in the chest.

The wooden board trembled slightly.

The body fell down without much commotion.

The third hidden stake was the most troublesome; it was a yin bell set up by a ghost cultivator.

The thin thread connects the two rocks, almost invisible.

When someone touches it, the bell doesn't ring loudly, but it can travel directly into the main cave through the barrier. Huang Chen squatted by the stone, stared for a few moments, then took out a fragment of a discarded magic weapon from his storage, gently pressed down on the bell's clapper, and then used his black iron knife to cut the thin thread bit by bit.

"Click."

The thread broke.

The bell didn't ring.

He exhaled a breath of stale air and continued to dive deeper.

There are two prison cages along the way.

Inside huddled a dozen or so living people, both men and women, their clothes so tattered they could barely stay on, their skin covered in whip marks and branding marks.

A child, delirious with fever, leaned against a woman's arms, too weak even to cry. Hearing footsteps, they initially flinched, thinking someone was coming to drag someone away, but their expressions changed drastically when they saw Huang Chen's face.

It wasn't a surprise.

I was stunned.

It's like a drowning person suddenly seeing a living person standing on the shore; they can't believe it.

Huang Chen raised his hand and lowered his voice: "Don't make a sound."

'

Someone in the cage had trembling lips.

An old man with a face covered in blood leaned against the railing, staring intently at him: "You...you are a human?"

'

"Yes."

"Outside……"

"Most of the whistles outside are dead."

"Those who can walk, follow me later. Those who can't walk, wait first," Huang Chen said.

'

The old man's Adam's apple bobbed, and his eyes instantly reddened.

He didn't cry, but his voice trembled: "There's more inside."

Every day they dragged people deeper into the area, but they didn't manage to bring anyone back...

Huang Chen nodded without asking any further questions.

At that moment, a sharp laugh suddenly came from the direction of the stone hall.

"The blood pool is swelling up really fast tonight."

"The goods from the daytime shipment are still quite fresh. If we offer them to the Crimson Flame Demon King's trade route, we might be able to get a good price."

'

Another, even more sinister voice, like a snake crawling on a rock, said: "What's the rush? Refine the soul first."

Their flesh is sold to the mines, their bones are ground into powder, and their souls are sent to the Xuan Tian Sect, those who like to bind souls and refine banners. Ha, humans are truly valuable from head to toe.

'

Huang Chen's eyelids twitched slightly.

Xuantian Sect.

There was indeed a connection.

He darted into the shadows of the stone hall and peered through the cracked stone window.

Two people were sitting inside the hall.

The monster on the left was short and stout, with a bulging back, arms hanging down to the ground, and its body covered in matted black hair. However, its face resembled a human's, with protruding fangs and yellow eyes. It was the leader of the mountain demons.

Next to it was a serrated bone knife, with bits of meat still clinging to its blade.

On the right was a thin Taoist priest wearing a gray robe, with dark blue ghost patterns crawling across half of his face, and a short white bone staff twirling between his fingertips.

With each rotation, a bit of gray mist seeped from the tip of the cane, swirling around his sleeve like dead snakes.

Ghostly Taoist.

Huang Chen remembered it.

There was no third leader in the hall.

One more is needed.

However, killing these two first wouldn't be a bad deal.

He glanced at the terrain, not daring to rush in, but instead went around to the other side of the blood pool. There were seven or eight wooden barrels there, filled not with water, but with bone meal and scraps of flesh mixed with blood plasma.

Two servants were stirring the mixture nearby, cursing as they did so.

Why are there so many people working today?

'

"Stop talking nonsense, the boss needs to fill the pool later. Slow down, I'll use you to fill it."

'

Huang Chen's feet sank, and he suddenly sprang up.

The person at the front turned around and saw a dark shadow rush towards his face, causing his nose to explode on the spot.

The other man opened his mouth to shout, but Huang Chen grabbed him by the back of the neck and shoved him into the wooden tub with a "plop." His entire face was buried in the blood plasma, and after struggling for a couple of moments, he became still.

next moment.

Huang Chen kicked over the entire row of wooden barrels and used the momentum to rush towards the blood pool.

"boom!

'

A punch landed.

The entire blood pool stone trough suddenly trembled.

The runes along the edge of the pool lit up instantly, then shattered inch by inch under the heavy punch. When the second punch landed, a large crack had appeared in the center of the stone trough, and churning blood mixed with broken bones shot into the sky, the stench assaulting the senses, like a pot of pus that had been suppressed for too long suddenly exploding.

Two auras erupted simultaneously within the stone hall.

"who!

'

"court death!"

The mandrill leader smashed through half of a stone wall and charged out wildly.

The ground trembled as it landed, its fangs still stained with bits of human bone. Ghost Pattern Taoist floated in mid-air, his gray robe billowing. With a tap of his white bone staff, three chains of Yin Souls clattered out, heading straight for Huang Chen's neck.

Huang Chen did not back down.

He raised his hand and pulled, and the Soul-Binding Lock flew out of the storage, which he then smashed with his backhand.

"when!"

Metal and steel clashed.

The two soul-binding forces collided in mid-air, and Ghost Pattern Daoist's expression immediately changed: "Where did you get this?"

"I picked up a piece of trash like you to kill."

'

Huang Chen shattered the stone slabs by the pool with one step, and crashed into the mountain demon leader like a cannonball.

The mandrill leader roared and swung his knife, the bone blade whistling through the air as it cleaved down towards his head.

Huang Chen neither dodged nor avoided the attack, but directly raised his arm to block.

"Clang!"

'

The bone blade struck the Xuanhuang armor and the intermediate-level witch clan battle body, sparks flying everywhere.

Huang Chen's arm went numb, but the ground beneath his feet had only sunk half a foot.

The mandrill leader was stunned for a moment, as if it hadn't expected this human to dare to respond like that. Before it could recover, Huang Chen had already rushed into its center and punched it in the ribs.

"Snap!"

The sound of the ribs breaking was extremely crisp.

The mandrill leader flew out, crashing into a stone pillar and spitting out blackish-red blood clots from his mouth.

On the other side, Ghost Pattern Taoist took the opportunity to swing his staff.

"rise!"

From the shattered blood pool, more than a dozen vengeful spirits, their faces twisted from the refining process, suddenly lunged out, howling and wrapping themselves around Huang Chen's limbs.

The sound was piercing, like an awl stabbing into one's brain. Any other cultivator would have been thrown into disarray by that.

Huang Chen didn't even frown.

The Banner of Ten Thousand Souls trembled.

A glint of eerie light swept across the edge of the sea of ​​consciousness with the Nine Nether Soul-Slaying Talisman (Advanced).

The vengeful spirits rushed close, only to be swept back and torn to pieces.

Ghost Pattern Taoist let out a muffled groan, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, and for the first time, a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.

"You cultivate the path of the soul?"

'

"Damn your ancestors."

Huang Chen grabbed the Soul-Binding Lock that was flying back and swung it away violently.

The chains ripped through the air, striking the Ghost-Patterned Taoist's waist. The old ghost retreated hastily, but his gray robe was still torn open, revealing his ribs, which were as thin and bony as firewood.

With a gloomy face, he made a hand seal, and six black nails flew out from his sleeve, their heads engraved with human faces.

"Deathly Nail, go!"

'

Six points of dark light shone in a fan shape.

Huang Chen dodged three of the projectiles, but the remaining three were extremely tricky: one pierced his shoulder, one nailed his leg, and one went straight for his brow.

He dodged the last one by tilting his head; it flew past his temple, leaving a trail of blood.

pain.

There was also a chilling coldness that seemed to seep into your bones.

Huang Chen pressed the tip of his tongue against the roof of his mouth, and his internal energy surged, forcefully suppressing the chill.

The mandrill leader then pounced again, his claws faster than knives, stabbing at the heart with one strike and tearing at the throat with the other, leaving people breathless.

Huang Chen simply stopped hiding.

He let the claws leave deep scratches on his chest, then grabbed the mandrill leader's wrist with his other hand, twisted his shoulders and back, and used his waist and hips to swing the five or six hundred-pound monster over his head.

"Get down!"

'

"Boom!"

The mandrill leader was smashed into the shattered pool of blood, half of his body sinking into mud, blood, and bone fragments.

Huang Chen leaped up, clenched his fists together, and slammed them down hard on its head.

The first punch sent his tooth flying.

The second punch caused his cheekbone to cave in.

The third punch caused his entire head to explode like a rotten, overripe melon.

[Ding! Slay the sinful target "Mandrill Leader"!]

Gained 7200 Karma Points!

The system notification sound exploded in my mind.

Immediately afterwards, the cold, mechanical sound fell again.

【Ding!

A large-scale criminal stronghold, "Valley of Bones and Blood," has been detected!

[Side Quest Triggered: Clear Out the Valley of Bones and Blood]

[Mission Requirements: 1. Slay three ringleaders (currently 2/3) 2. Rescue the imprisoned humans]

[Task Rewards: 15000 Karma, 5000 Merit]

[Note: Rewards will be distributed upon completion of the task]

Huang Chen took a deep breath and wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand.

Current 2/3.

This means that of the guards and servants he killed before, only one met the criteria for being the ringleader.

Most likely, they were hidden deputy leaders who he had already eliminated.

When Ghost Pattern Taoist saw the mountain demon leader's head explode, his face turned completely pale.

"You're insane! You're a madman!"

'

He dared not fight any longer, turned and fled, drifting deeper into the main cave as he retreated, shouting shrilly: "Open the cage! Release the blood slaves!"

Stop him! Stop him!

'

The valley was thrown into chaos.

Several cages were forcibly smashed open from the inside, but what rushed out were not living people, but a group of "blood slaves" who had been refined to the point of being half-dead.

These men had bloodshot eyes, bone nails in their bodies, and chains around their necks. They pounced on anyone they saw, unable to distinguish friend from foe. The few surviving prisoners huddled together in fear, their screams, curses, and cries all mingling together.

Huang Chen cursed and instead of chasing after Ghost Pattern Daoist, rushed towards the cage.

He could not allow these blood slaves to kill indiscriminately.

A blood slave lunged at the old man in the prison cell, who was clutching only half a broken piece of wood and could barely stand. Huang Chen rushed forward, kneeing the blood slave in the jaw and then striking him on the back of the neck with a backhand, knocking him unconscious.

"Stand close to the wall! Don't run around!"

'

He roared.

The voice wasn't loud, but it suppressed the chaos in the room.

The old man in the cell leaned against the railing, his voice hoarse: "My benefactor, there are still more than a dozen in the innermost part, just captured today, including a few women and children..."

Huang Chen ripped the chains off: "Those who can walk, head to the valley entrance first. There are knives on the corpses outside, pick them up."

Anyone who dares to approach you will have their legs chopped off first.

A gaunt young man, the rescued mine slave B, picked up the bone knife from the ground with trembling hands: "I...I killed mine demons, I can protect them."

'

Huang Chen glanced at him: "Protect the old man and the child."

Yes, yes!

'

The rescued miner nodded repeatedly, his teeth chattering, but a hint of anger finally appeared in his eyes.

Huang Chen broke the locks of three prison cages in succession.

More than ten people who were still able to stand were released and stumbled their way out. Some collapsed to the ground after taking only two steps and were then helped up by those around them.

Some people even threw themselves on the ground, grabbed a handful of mud, and stuffed it into their mouths, as if afraid that all of this was a dream.

Don't eat it.

Huang Chen frowned and kicked away the blood and mud beside the man's hand. "If you want to die, don't die now."

The man stared at him blankly, his lips trembled, and he suddenly burst into tears.

Huang Chen didn't have time to care.

The remaining bandits in the valley have all been alerted.

Two black-haired monsters and three armored blood demons attacked from the left, while the Ghost Pattern Taoist hid behind them, constantly throwing out talisman nails and Yin spirits. Huang Chen took a deep breath, his blood energy roaring within him, and he lowered his body again.

One comes, one is beaten.

One comes, one is beaten.

A group comes, a group is torn apart.

He took a step forward, first meeting the black-haired monster at the front, grabbing its head with both hands and twisting it violently. With a "crack," the spine protruded directly from the back of its neck. The second blood demon thrust at him with a spear, but he sidestepped and caught the spear shaft, smashing its throat with an elbow, then snatched the spear back and sent it back, pinning the third blood demon to the wall.

The sounds of bones breaking, screams, and flesh splattering on the ground blended together.

The more Ghost Pattern Taoist fought, the more panicked he became.

"You've only refined your spirit to return to emptiness, how could your physical body—"

Huang Chen grabbed a corpse from the ground and swung it around, smashing it down.

"you guess.

'

The corpse crashed into the Ghost Pattern Taoist, slamming him down from mid-air. The old ghost was about to cast a spell when Huang Chen rushed in front of him, stomping on his chest, and the Soul-Binding Lock whistled as it wrapped around his limbs, twisting violently.

"ah--!"

Ghost Pattern Taoist let out a shrill scream as both arms were torn off on the spot.

His hair was disheveled, and he rolled on the ground, still chanting incantations. From the depths of the main cave, a muffled thud suddenly came, as if some huge thing had turned over behind the stone door.

Then came the second tone. Then the third tone.

The entire ground trembled slightly.

Huang Chen's expression changed.

Those were no ordinary bandits.

That bloodthirsty aura was even stronger and more ferocious than that of the mountain demon leader and the Ghost Pattern Taoist combined, like something that had been soaking in mountains of corpses and seas of blood for many years, slowly awakening along the earth's veins.

Ghost Pattern Taoist lay on the ground, his mouth full of blood, when he suddenly burst into a hysterical laugh.

"She's awake...she's awake..."

He looked up at Huang Chen, his eyes filled with resentment and madness.

"You shattered the blood pool, startling Valley Master Xue Mian. Haha... what you released was not human."

'

Huang Chen did not respond.

He raised his foot and crushed Ghost Pattern Taoist's throat.

[Ding! Slay the sinful target "Ghost Pattern Taoist"!]

Gained 8100 Karma Points!

The corpse twitched twice, then became completely still.

Huang Chen turned around and looked towards the deepest part of the main cave.

There was a heavy stone door that was half-closed.

Blood was seeping out little by little from the cracks in the stone door. It wasn't flowing, it was seeping.

The entire space behind the door was soaked in blood, with even the stones dripping out.

The old man in the prison was helped back to the valley entrance, where he shouted hoarsely into the distance, "My benefactor!"

There are still people! There are still people deep inside who haven't come out!

'

Huang Chen glanced down at the system task.

Kill the ringleader: 2/3.

Rescue the imprisoned humans: Incomplete.

He exhaled a breath of bloody stale air, bent down to pick up the serrated bone knife covered in bits of flesh from the ground, casually weighed it in his hand, then found it awkward to handle and threw it away.

The ground shook again.

Slow, heavy footsteps echoed from behind the stone gate.

Boom, boom, boom.