Eternal Life Begins with Learning

Chapter 364: Chapter 335: Finally Seeing the Light of Day

Several days passed in the blink of an eye.

The demonic shadow that had enveloped the Inner City dissipated, and a few signs of surviving human life slowly returned to the deathly silent city.

Though few in number, the survivors were quickly organized by the Longevity Sect, establishing a simple order amidst the Wasteland Demon Realm.

Compared to the Longevity Sect’s hustle and bustle, Chu Mu was far more composed. After emerging from the Blood Pool, he found an abandoned house, set up a simple isolation Restriction, and began to cultivate alone.

He remained detached from the other affairs in the city.

The Grand Array was still active. With their remaining strength, it was impossible to break through a Tier Three City Defense Array.

All they could do now was wait.

Wait for the outside world to notice the anomaly and break through the Grand Array. Only then would their predicament change.

And from what he had observed, he probably wouldn’t have to wait long.

In front of the wooden house, Chu Mu gazed up at the Grand Array in the sky.

With the Spirit Vein’s complete demonization and the successive battles, many of the city’s buildings had been damaged.

As the buildings were damaged, the Spiritual Power supply system built around them naturally collapsed.

The Spirit Vein, however, was still generating a ceaseless stream of Spiritual Qi—of course, now that the Spirit Vein was demonized, it was producing Demonic Qi.

Without being contained, this endlessly generated Demonic Qi naturally spread throughout the entire Inner City.

Demonic Qi and Spiritual Qi were inherently opposing products.

No matter how high its Grade or how great its Mighty Power, the foundation of the City Defense Array was still Spiritual Qi.

Under the corrosion of Demonic Qi, the Grand Array’s foundation would naturally begin to change.

The once-light-blue screen of light was now noticeably tinged with an inky black.

At a glance, it was as if... night had fallen.

With such an obvious change, it wouldn’t be hard to detect the presence of Demonic Qi upon close inspection.

No matter how that Golden Core elder from the Longevity Sect had managed to fool them before, as long as the Demonic Qi manifested and began corroding the City Defense Array, the Longevity Sect could not possibly ignore it.

After a moment of thought, Chu Mu turned to go back inside. He had just taken a step when he seemed to sense something, and he suddenly looked back up at the gloom in the sky.

There, amidst the gloom wreathed in Demonic Qi, a flash of light suddenly appeared.

"Break!"

A low shout seemed to echo from the void as the brilliant light grew closer and brighter.

In an instant, a heaven-shaking roar erupted with shocking suddenness, shattering the city’s dead silence.

What shattered along with it was the gloom that shrouded the sky.

Only then did Chu Mu see clearly that the so-called flash of light was actually a sword light!

As the sword light fell, the Tier Three City Defense Array that had sealed the Chu Capital for over half a month didn’t even ripple. A fissure dozens of yards long simply appeared on the light screen.

A terrifying Sword Intent leaked from the fissure into the city. The crack spread, and in the space of a single breath, the Grand Array covering the Chu Capital’s sky... shattered completely!

With the Grand Array broken, Demonic Qi surged out, and this deathly silent Demon Realm finally saw the light of day again.

At the same time, a figure standing in the sky came clearly into Chu Mu’s view.

The newcomer was none other than the terrifying existence who had slain a Nascent Soul with his sword at Jingmen.

’Xu... Lingtian...’

Chu Mu recited the name in his mind and subconsciously looked toward the encampment.

After all, based on what he had gathered earlier, this terrifying figure was said to have gone to the Southwest to oversee the Longevity Sect’s war efforts.

The Southwest was at least several million miles from the Chu Capital.

How could such a terrifying being, responsible for holding down an entire region, rush over for a mere incident in the Chu Capital?

Clearly, the fundamental reason for this powerhouse’s arrival in the Chu Capital was Xu Changqing.

From the direction of the camp, a figure in white soared into the sky to meet the Sword Dao Nascent Soul cultivator. Amidst faint flickers of Spiritual Qi fluctuations, the area became a blank void, impossible to peer into.

Chu Mu glanced over, pondered for a moment, and then leaped into the encampment.

The Grand Array was broken. The demonization of the Chu Capital was well and truly over.

His mission, then, was naturally complete.

All that was left was for Xu Changqing to return and fulfill his side of their deal.

Just as he landed in the camp, Chu Mu seemed to think of something. He leaped up onto the roof of a building, his gaze locking onto the outer city.

A living Hell had... spread!

For an ordinary Qi Cultivation Cultivator, even the slightest wisp of Demonic Qi was terrifying enough to make them fall into the Demon Dao.

For ordinary mortals... it was absolutely fatal!

In the Chu Capital Inner City, a Tier Three Spirit Vein had been completely demonized. With the city sealed off, an immeasurable amount of Demonic Qi had accumulated.

Now, at the moment the Grand Array shattered, the surging Demonic Qi spread out in all directions like a tidal wave.

Everywhere it went, it created a living Hell!

Some died instantly, their bodies exploding under the Demonic Qi’s corrosion. Others had their minds obliterated, transforming into Demon Corpses dominated by malevolent thoughts...

In just a few short breaths, such scenes had become innumerable.

Chu Mu watched in a daze, personally witnessing... a catastrophe unfold!

In a matter of moments, not one of the hundreds of thousands of secular mortals in the Chu Capital survived.

Amidst the gore of severed limbs that filled the city were Demon Corpses driven by nothing but a bloodthirsty instinct.

One second, they might have been chatting about their daily lives in a peaceful environment. The next, they were utterly annihilated, savagely tearing at anything bloody.

Chu Mu looked to the sky, a hint of confusion in his eyes, yet also, it seemed, a dawning understanding.

’Are mortals... even considered people?’

The question seems simple and obvious.

But in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, this is, in fact, an extremely complex and highly controversial issue.

After all, the Cultivation Immortal Realm and the secular world are two different worlds.

Moreover, Cultivators are Extraordinary. As long as both parents possess a Spirit Root, their offspring will almost certainly have one as well.

Through generations of procreation and countless iterations of survival of the fittest, humans and humans, though identical in form and Spiritual Wisdom, were, in a sense, already two different species.

Even the secular world has its share of rulers completely out of touch with their people.

Let alone two worlds that were fundamentally different to begin with...

"Sigh..."

Chu Mu sighed softly, shook his head, and came down from the roof.

’You get used to this kind of thing after seeing it enough.’

Take Jingmen, for example. It was a port hub, a bustling secular area spanning thousands of li in every direction.

Yet when he arrived at Jingmen, he didn’t see a single trace of any mortals.

Where did those mortals go?

The answer to that was also quite clear.

At the very least, with a great enemy at their doorstep, the Cultivators of the Righteous Alliance wouldn’t waste time and energy considering the trivial matter of mortal survival.

When he first arrived in the Chu Capital and saw the Longevity Sect’s influence extending into the secular world, he had thought that things might be better in the territories under their rule.

But in reality, it seemed there wasn’t much of a difference.

"Notify all Cultivators. Evacuate the Chu Capital within a quarter of an hour."

Xu Changqing descended from the sky, his voice echoing throughout the camp.

A Cultivator asked, "What about the Chu Capital? How will it be handled?"

"Outside the Chu Capital, the Sect has already laid a perimeter of isolation Array Prohibitions five hundred li out."

"In a quarter of an hour, the Sect will destroy the Demon Vein and completely cleanse all Demonic Qi within that five-hundred-li radius, along with everything contaminated by it."

After giving his explanation and instructions, Xu Changqing looked at Chu Mu and asked, "Fellow Daoist, will you be returning with me to the Sect to fulfill our promise, or do you have other plans?"

"I have some personal matters to attend to. I will contact you, Fellow Daoist, after they are resolved."

"I will likely be entering seclusion for several years upon my return to the Sect. If you arrive, Fellow Daoist, feel free to contact me at any time."

"Alright."

Chu Mu nodded, and Xu Changqing handed him a Token.

"The Sect has completely sealed the area outside Chu Capital City. With this token, Fellow Daoist, you can come and go without obstruction."

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist."

Chu Mu accepted the Token and glanced at the terrifying figure in the sky. As if thinking of something, he tentatively asked, "That True Demon..."

"My father isn’t skilled in tracking, but a senior from our sect who specializes in the Soul Lock Tracking technique has already arrived outside the city. Using it, it shouldn’t be hard to find the True Demon’s general area."

"If this demon causes trouble, it’s just courting death."

Chu Mu nodded, but recalling the words of the Residual Soul, he had a premonition. With that man’s cunning and foresight, he probably wouldn’t be caught so easily by the Longevity Sect.

’He might even go into hiding and leave Great Chu altogether.’

’Besides, there’s also that other Cultivation Immortal Realm, which for him is still decades away...’

After their conversation, Xu Changqing departed in a hurry. Chu Mu didn’t linger in the city either. Passing through the dead, bloody Inner City, he reached the outer city of the Chu Capital, a place he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Now, it was also a scene of carnage, thick with a mysterious Demonic Qi.

With a casual grab, Chu Mu seized a Demon Corpse and sent his Divine Sense into it, probing it freely.

The nature of the Demon Corpse was just as he had suspected.

The evil Demon Nature of the Demonic Qi corroded a person’s Spiritual Wisdom, while its energy invaded their body. If they could withstand it, their body would be transformed into a Demon Corpse. If not, their body would simply explode.

It was no different from the city full of living corpses he’d seen back when he first broke through to Foundation Establishment. Both were the normal outcome of being corroded by an Alien Energy.

’If this place is allowed to continue existing, it might evolve into something else entirely...’

Lost in thought, Chu Mu waved his hand, and dozens of charging Demon Corpses were annihilated.

With a leap, he was hovering in the sky.

The entire scene of the Chu Capital lay before his eyes.

"Hm?"

Sensing something, Chu Mu’s figure suddenly shifted. In a series of flickering movements, he appeared before a thatched hut in the northern part of the city.

Inside the thatched hut, a tattered-clothed boy was collapsed on the ground. As if enduring some immense pain, he struggled, his face contorted as he roared ceaselessly.

In his Divine Sense Perception, the boy was just an ordinary mortal, but... this boy, a mere mortal, had actually survived in this Demon Realm!

Slightly contemplative, Chu Mu stepped forward and pointed a finger. The violently struggling boy seemed to feel his pain lessen, and his contorted face relaxed slightly.

He swept his Divine Sense over the boy, and after a thorough probe, a look of astonishment appeared on his face.

The boy’s body was no different from those of the Demon Corpses.

It had been corroded by Demonic Qi, his physical body mutated and strengthened. Yet, the boy’s mind had not been extinguished. Through sheer willpower, he was locked in a stalemate against the corrosive Demon Nature of the Demonic Qi, maintaining his sanity.

"Immortal Master, save me..."

The boy struggled to open his mouth, his weak voice barely audible.

"What a pity..."

Chu Mu’s face showed regret. With such rare willpower, if he could step onto the Immortal Path, he would surely achieve great things.

But unfortunately, the boy had no Spirit Root. He was just a pure mortal.

Immortals and mortals were worlds apart. Without a Spirit Root, no matter how outstanding his other talents were, they were utterly meaningless.

"Oh, well. Since I happened to run into you, it must be fate."

Chu Mu waved his hand, and specks of fire fell into the boy’s body. With what sounded like a crackling burn, all the Demonic Qi within the boy was instantly expelled.

With another wave of his hand, a ray of light enveloped the boy’s body, isolating him from the Demonic Qi outside.

With a flick of his finger, Chu Mu also sent an Elixir into the boy’s mouth.

"Ah Da thanks you for saving my life, Immortal Master."

With a bit of strength returned, the boy immediately struggled to get up and kowtowed before Chu Mu.

"Get up. The city has become a Demon Realm and is no longer suitable for mortals to live in. Come with me out of the city, and then you can find your own way."

Chu Mu flicked his sleeve, and the boy’s body suddenly floated into the air. Then, with a leap, he shot out of the doorway like a phantom stream of light, soaring straight into the clouds...

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