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

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The following day at noon, outside the main vein of Buzhou Mountain.

Huang Chen walked forward on the gravel, his shoulder armor still covered in dried black blood.

Even after the battle last night, his blood and qi were still churning. Several lacerations on his chest, scalded by karmic fire, had scabbed over on the surface, but still ached faintly inside.

With each step, my joints felt like they were being ground in sand.

Ahead was a partially collapsed stone cave.

The cave entrance was small, surrounded by three concentric circles of rubble. A dozen or so warriors from the main branch of the Gonggong tribe stood guard nearby, their spears planted diagonally in the ground, their armor plates covered in mud and blood. The rescued humans huddled inside, speaking in hushed tones, their voices like embers flickering in a dying ember.

Li Chenshuo stood in front of the cave, explaining something to a leading soldier.

He hadn't removed the heavy, black spear from his back; the spearhead was wrapped in cloth, but the cloth was already soaked in blood and had hardened into a shell.

When Huang Chen approached, he glanced at him sideways, noticing dark circles under his eyes and a hoarse voice.

"They've all been settled in."

'

Li Chenshuo wiped the ash from his face. "The cave is divided into three levels. The innermost level is for the seriously injured, the middle level is for women and children, and the outer level is for those who can move to boil water and tend the fire. The main branch will send people to rotate shifts."

'

Huang Chen nodded, his gaze sweeping across the cave.

The air was thick with the smell of roasted animal tendons and herbs, mixed with human sweat, blood, and the earthy stench of water seeping from the rock walls. The smell made my throat dry.

Several children, wrapped in tattered blankets, huddled in a corner, their eyes vacant, their hands gripping hot stones tightly.

An elderly woman with white hair was feeding water to someone next to her. Her hands were shaking so badly that half of the water spilled, but no one seemed to mind.

The surviving prisoner from the flying boat, Captain A, was sitting by the second circle of rocks near the cave entrance.

His legs were wrapped with newly changed bandages, and his face was sallow. When he saw Huang Chen, he hurriedly tried to get up, but the movement aggravated his wound, causing him to gasp in pain.

"grown ups."

He quickly lowered his head, his voice still trembling, "I...I also went to help identify people."

Among those rescued yesterday, there was indeed one who had been separated from his family after falling into the valley.

Huang Chen stopped in his tracks.

Li Chenshuo also turned his head, "You mentioned half a sentence last night, about Chapter 44... that kid who went missing among the group that fell into the valley?"

Yes, yes.

'

The surviving prisoner from the flying boat swallowed hard, as if afraid that speaking too slowly would delay things. "Back then, when we fell into the poisonous canyon, everything was in chaos. I remember a skinny boy who was about ten years old, with an old scar on his forehead. I don't know his name, but I know that he followed an old man carrying firewood all the way."

Later, the people were separated and never seen again.

"Yesterday at the Abyss Eye sacrificial site, I saw a young man. He still had the scar on his right forehead and was still alive, but he was so thin that he was almost unrecognizable."

He said that after falling into the valley, he didn't die, but was taken away by Gonggong's vassals on the outskirts and forced into hard labor. He was later resold several times before finally being thrown into the sacrificial ground to be moved in troughs.

Someone inside the cave heard this and muttered a curse under their breath.

The firelight flickered, making the faces of those people appear even more yellow and thin.

Huang Chen was silent for a moment, then asked, "Where is he?"

'

"Asleep."

The surviving prisoner from the flying boat pointed inside and lowered his voice, "I haven't slept for two days. I only ate half a bowl of porridge before collapsing."

After waking up, he kept repeating that he thought everyone had died that time.

Huang Chen glanced in the direction he was pointing.

In the innermost shadow lay a gaunt boy, his brow bone prominent, his cheeks sunken, and an old scar on his forehead particularly noticeable in the firelight. His hands were still curled up in his sleep, like spasms from long hours of gripping and carrying heavy objects, unable to relax.

Huang Chen withdrew his gaze, the suffocating feeling in his chest growing heavier and heavier.

Li Chenshuo looked at him and said in a low voice, "There are quite a few people like this in the cave."

"You severed the lifeline of the Abyss Eye Sacrifice last night, allowing them to catch their breath."

Huang Chen didn't respond to that question, but instead asked, "Can the people in the main branch be trusted?"

'

"They're reliable for now."

Li Chenshuo grinned, but his smile was not very genuine. "What they're afraid of isn't human lives, but the continued explosion of the sacrificial vein."

Last night, half of the outer ring of the Abyss Eye collapsed. Those old fogies on the main branch are now more concerned with stabilizing the outer perimeter than anyone else, and dare not act rashly.

Outside the cave entrance, a warrior from the main branch of the Gonggong tribe took two steps closer and clasped his hands in salute.

"Fellow Daoist Huang, the names of the people inside the cave have been recorded. There are thirty-seven humans, five seriously injured, twelve slightly injured, and the rest can get up on their own. We will follow Commander Li's instructions and take turns guarding them to prevent them from being transferred away privately."

'

This man spoke in a clear and upright manner, and had an old knife scar on his face.

Huang Chen glanced at him, said nothing, and simply tossed him an ordinary hemostatic pill.

"Give the points to the seriously injured first. Don't skimp on them."

'

The soldier was taken aback, then quickly caught it, "Yes."

After explaining all this, Huang Chen left the cave and headed deeper into the warm crevice.

The place was located in a shady spot halfway up the mountain. Outside, the wind was cold, but after taking a dozen steps in, the temperature suddenly rose. The rock walls were reddish, the stone surface underfoot was damp and warm, and wisps of white steam rose from the crevices, feeling like a damp cloth brushing against the skin.

He sat cross-legged on a flat stone platform and first removed his black and yellow armor.

The inner garment beneath the armor plates was almost glued together with blood; when it was torn open, fresh blood seeped from the shoulders and ribs.

Huang Chen let out a low breath, then slapped out two Rejuvenation Pills and Qi-Replenishing Pills. The medicinal effects dissolved in his abdomen, gradually stabilizing his Qi.

Huang Chen closed his eyes and looked inward. His meridians felt as if they had been branded with fire, especially after he forcibly activated the Arterial Fire Battle Domain and the Black Tide Transformation last night. Several auxiliary meridians were swollen and stiff. Fortunately, his intermediate-level witch clan battle body was strong enough that his physical body did not collapse on the spot.

He circulated the Qi and blood techniques of the "Ancient God and Demon Technique" and the "Ancient Body Forging Scripture (Volume 3)," letting the heat flow envelop his limbs and bones.

Half an hour later, the churning in my chest finally subsided a bit.

Huang Chen opened his eyes and brought up the system panel.

A pale golden light curtain spread out in front of him, and the hot steam passed through it as if passing through an invisible layer of water.

[Host: Huang Chen]

[Realm Level: Early Stage of Refining Emptiness and Integrating the Dao]

Merit Points: Available

[Karma Value: Abundant]

[Current Status: Moderate injury, depletion of Qi and blood, lingering effects of residual heat in the pulse]

[Possible development directions: physical body advancement, concealing meridians and stealth, completing array patterns]

He stared at the line "Karma Value: Abundant" for a few moments, then tapped his finger lightly on his knee.

Rekindle the flame?

The thought had barely formed when he cut it off himself.

Since unfamiliar immortal cultivators and rat demons have already appeared mixed in groups on the outer edge of the Ten Thousand Mountains, turning back now would risk leading people back to their original location by any trace along the way.

What Xin Huo needs most right now is not for him to go back and add a top-tier combatant, but to continue to hide, continue to be stable, and divert all outside attention.

Huang Chen raised his hand and tapped, and the mall interface appeared.

A dense array of exchange items appeared, like countless gray-gold characters flowing in the hot mist. He skipped over the pills, killing talismans, and temporary magical artifacts, his divine sense lingering on two items.

[The Ancient Body Forging Scripture (Volume 4, Supplement)]: Available for exchange

[Ember Breath Convergence Technique - Beginner's Guide]: Available for exchange

One replenishes the physical body, the other replenishes stealth and breath control.

None of them are things that can kill instantly, but they are all paths that must be laid in advance.

"exchange."

A cold, detached notification sound jolted in my mind.

[Ding! Karma points consumed, exchange successful.]

】

[Obtained: Ancient Body Tempering Scripture (Volume 4) Supplement]

[Obtained: Ash Breath Convergence Technique - Beginner's Guide]

The next instant, a large amount of obscure text and luck diagrams flooded into his mind.

Huang Chen's brows furrowed suddenly, and the veins on his forehead bulged, as if someone had branded him with a hot iron along the inside of his skull.

The "Supplement to the Ancient Body Tempering Scripture (Volume 4)" is far more domineering than the previous three volumes. It no longer only talks about muscles, bones, skin and flesh, but begins to touch on the simultaneous tempering of "pulse", "orifice" and "marrow".

Qi and blood are not simply burned by throwing them in.

It is pressure, it is locking, it is treating the human body as a furnace, and then using ancient methods to forcibly thicken the furnace walls.

As for the "Ember Breath Convergence Method," its approach is even more sinister.

This method isn't hidden in the shadows or buried underground; rather, it involves smoothing out one's own pulse, blood heat, and spiritual pressure layer by layer, until finally approaching ashes. When cultivated to a high level, one stands before a powerful being and appears like a piece of scorched wood that has only recently been extinguished.

Huang Chen mentally reviewed both techniques, and his eyes gradually darkened.

Good method.

That's ruthless too.

One wrong step in practice will cause your Qi and blood to shut down and your pulse to lock. At best, you will suffer serious injury; at worst, you will turn yourself into a shell that is hot on the outside but dead on the inside.

He did not immediately attempt to break through the barrier, but instead followed the introductory method to slowly control the leaking pulse fire.

Steam from the hot crevice churned against his skin, and after half an hour, the intense, scorching aura that had been emanating outwards gradually subsided.

Later on, if someone looked out of the cave, they would only see a warm black stone sitting on the platform, and would not sense much of a living person.

Huang Chen exhaled a long breath and was about to continue when the shattered seal of the North Sea Mirage Palace in his arms suddenly trembled slightly.

Immediately afterwards, the humanitarian resonance of the Flame Array was also stirred.

Two waves that should have been separated by a great distance actually overlapped briefly in the sea of ​​consciousness, like two ripples of water colliding in a deep well, emitting a very low hum.

Huang Chen flipped his hand, and the shattered seal of the North Sea Mirage Palace and the jade slip for transmitting sound appeared simultaneously.

The surface of the shattered seal shimmered with a pale blue light, while the jade slip glowed with a layer of dark red humanistic patterns. The two intertwined for a moment, and surprisingly, they pieced together a small, blurry light screen in front of him.

The light screen flickered twice, and Lao Tie's dark and thin face appeared first.

The background is a mess; you can see wooden frames, iron furnaces, half-finished crossbow arms, and several figures moving stones back and forth.

The guy was clearly sweating profusely, his nose covered in dust. As soon as the call connected, he cursed.

"Damn, it's finally working."

"Where the hell have you been? This damn resonance was acting up just now, I thought the core of the array had exploded."

Huang Chen's lips twitched.

"He's not dead yet."

Old Tie snorted and raised his hand to wipe his sweat.

"It's good that they're not dead. I've been leading people to modify the outer ring of the great formation these past few days. I've also studied the fragment of the 'Zhou Tian Xin Huo Zhen (Humanity Chapter)' you left behind. We've already pushed the outer maze thirty miles outward, and the three-stage training method has been suppressed. The newly recruited guards are finally not like a bunch of headless flies."

'

At this point, his expression suddenly darkened.

"However, there's been some trouble on the outside."

'

Huang Chen's eyes narrowed. "Speak."

"Starting yesterday evening, two groups of people appeared on the outer edge of the Ten Thousand Mountains and acted together."

Ahead were several unfamiliar immortal cultivators, not wearing the robes of the Xuan Tian Sect, looking like rogue cultivators, yet not quite. The pulse-finding discs and cause-tracing mirrors they carried were not cheap. Behind them followed a group of rat demons, burrowing underground, sensing scents, and recognizing the way, clearly using them as dogs.

'

Lao Tie glanced to the side and lowered his voice.

"These guys didn't come straight for the spark; they're just hanging around a few old battlefields on the periphery first."

The cleanup you left behind was thorough enough; they won't be able to find the valley entrance for a while. But the smell of those rat demons is irritating to me; they're probably not all dead yet.

'

Huang Chen recalled the methods used by the rat demon scouts in the past to track down people by following bloodstains, scents, and remnants of earth veins, and his knuckles slowly tightened.

"Can you determine where it came from?"

'

"Not yet."

Old Tie frowned. "Among the immortal cultivators, there is one who can use earth magic, one who can control birds, and a woman who is measuring the residual energy of the Qi machine along the way with a copper plate."

They weren't ordinary treasure hunters; they seemed to be specifically looking for hidden hideouts.

He paused, then added.

"I didn't let the people in the valley move around. What needed to be hidden was hidden, and what needed to be sealed off was sealed off."

The evacuation plan you left behind has also been reviewed again.

Huang Chen gave a soft "hmm".

The voice wasn't loud, but Lao Tie understood it. His expression relaxed slightly, then he glared again.

"You're talking nonsense."

If you run back now, you'll really be bringing them home. I can handle things here, but you need to clean up your own mess first.

'

"Know."

"besides.

'

Old Tie seemed to remember something, clicked his tongue, and said, "Ah Shi asks you every day if you're dead or not. I say you're not dead, and that kid just carries his hammer and keeps going to hammer the armor plates."

If you don't show up again, he might wear the hammer handle off.

Hearing this, Huang Chen finally felt a little relieved from the tension in his chest.

"Make him work honestly."

"He only listens to you calling him 'sir'."

'

Old Tie rolled his eyes. "Alright, the resonance won't last much longer. I'll cut it off first—"

Before he could finish speaking, the light screen suddenly distorted.

The watery sheen on the surface of the Beihai Mirage Palace shattered seal suddenly intensified several times, and the fragments of the Water Prison Ancient Road map also flew out of the storage and spread out on the stone platform with a thud.

The previously blurred section of waterline on the fragment now glows with an eerie light, pointing towards a deeper and darker direction.

The system's voice then sounded.

[Special resonance detected.]

The fragments of the Mirage Palace in Beihai and the incomplete map of the Water Prison Ancient Road are linked together.

】

[Hint: The real mastermind is not at the visible altar, but at the end of the ancient road.]

No new tasks have been released at the moment.

】

The voice was deep, as if it came from the bottom of a well.

There was no reward, no task number, no time limit, just this one message.

Huang Chen stared at the incomplete map, the newly lit dark line like a needle piercing his mind. The Abyss Eye Sacrifice, the Cold Soul Crossing, the Northern Sea Trade, the Blackwater Ancient Road... all the blood and fire before suddenly seemed like mere illusions hanging outside the ancient road.

The real cracking down is yet to come.

The guy in the light screen also noticed the anomaly on his side. He was about to speak when the resonance of the array reached its limit.

The red mark on the human body shattered with a snap, and Lao Tie's face instantly became a blurry shadow, with only the last half of the sentence remaining.

"Don't bring it back—"

The sound stopped.

Silence returned to the stone platform, with only rising steam remaining.

Huang Chen put away the broken seal of the North Sea Mirage Palace and the incomplete map of the Water Prison Ancient Road, sat quietly for a while, and then got up and left the crevice.

It was still bright outside, but the sun was blocked by the towering mountains, leaving only a pale white rim hanging on the distant rocky ridges. The wind swirled snowflakes from the valley entrance, stinging my face like fine sand.

Li Chenshuo was still outside the cave.

He was squatting on the ground, using the tip of his knife to draw a rough map of the terrain, marking several collapse points on the outer ring and the patrol route.

When Huang Chen came out, he raised his eyes.

"Your complexion is better?"

'

"He won't die."

Huang Chen walked over, squatted down, and looked at the map on the ground. "Where is the entrance to that ancient waterway leading in from the main vein?"

'

Li Chenshuo's blade stopped abruptly.

He looked up at Huang Chen, his gaze suddenly sharpening. "Are you going to continue?"

'

"Um."

"You just fought your way out of the abyss last night."

'

Li Chenshuo lowered his voice, "Further in, you're not going to the outer sacrificial grounds, but the Water Prison Ancient Path that the older generation is reluctant to venture into. Even the main branch only knows the basics of that place, and once you go in, you might not be able to turn back the way you came."

'

Huang Chen looked at him and said, "That's why we can't bring too many people."

Li Chenshuo remained silent for a while, then suddenly cursed.

"You're like an unbreakable piece of iron."

After he finished cursing, he still pointed the tip of the knife slightly towards the southeast corner.

"Go down from here. From the outside it looks like a collapsed ditch, but underneath it connects to an ancient waterway, with three layers of broken walls."

The first level has old lock patterns, the second level is mostly clogged, and the third level is the entrance you're looking for. The sacrificial site was bombed last night, and the energy inside is chaotic, which is perfect for you to slip through.

'

After saying that, he took out a domino from his pocket and threw it to Huang Chen.

"Take it."

The outposts on the outer perimeter of the main line won't act immediately upon seeing this thing.

Huang Chen took the dominoes, glanced at them, and without hesitation, put them into his sleeve.

Then, he took out a stone talisman from his storage.

The stone talisman was no bigger than the palm of my hand, grayish-black in color, with faint red lines flowing along its edges, as if fire was slowly breathing inside the stone.

It bears the imprint of a wisp of pulse fire energy that he personally pressed into it. It is not visible under normal circumstances, but it will resonate immediately once it is triggered by a specific fluctuation.

Huang Chen handed the stone talisman to Li Chenshuo.

"Keep it safe."

Li Chenshuo took it, his brows furrowing slightly. "What is this?"

'

"Warning symbol".

Huang Chen's voice was not loud, "If there is a problem with the Fire of Life, or if you find that someone is tracing the traces I left behind, then pour your Qi and Blood into it."

It will shake.

Li Chenshuo held the stone talisman in his hand; it was warm to the touch, like holding a piece of coal that had just been pulled from a fire.

"After the earthquake?"

"I can feel it."

'

Li Chenshuo looked at him without saying a word for a long time, and finally put the stone talisman into the seam of the innermost layer of armor.

"OK.

'

He stood up, reached out and patted Huang Chen's shoulder with considerable force, "I'll keep an eye on those people in the cave for you. If you don't die down there, don't take the wrong path when you come out."

The main branch is now covered in spies; one wrong move and you're dead.

Huang Chen twitched the corner of his mouth. "Take care of yourself first."

'

The two didn't say anything more.

The wind swept down from the mountain ridge, causing the fire in front of the cave to tilt violently, scattering sparks everywhere.

Several Gonggong soldiers instinctively raised their hands to cover their faces. The child in the cave was startled and shrank back, but was then pulled into the arms of the woman next to him.

Huang Chen turned and walked in the direction Li Chen was pointing.

The mountain path beneath our feet grew narrower and narrower, the rock walls on both sides gradually closing in, and black water seeping out from the cracks. The black water flowed down the stone surface, carrying a faint fishy and salty smell, like iron that had been soaking in the deep sea for a long time.

When you reach the end, all that's left is a collapsed ditch.

Cold mist churned in the broken ravine, and the faint sound of water crashing against the walls echoed hollowly, as if coming from a very distant place.

Several ancient lock marks remain along the ditch, worn almost invisible by the passage of time and collapsed rocks, yet they still exude a sense of oppression that makes one's teeth ache.

Huang Chen raised his hand and touched the broken seal of the North Sea Mirage Palace in his sleeve.

The rubble was slightly warm.

He lightly touched the ground with his toes, and his figure landed silently, a black wind sweeping up half a shadow behind him.

The cold mist immediately swallowed him up.

Only the sound of the wind swept across the edge of the ditch, stirring up a few pebbles that tumbled down with a crackling sound.

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