The oppressive aura instilled such fear in Fang Yuan that he crawled to a corner and hid.
In truth, that man was one of the dark Path's disciples.
The internal strife within the Murim and the conflicts among the immortals gave the defeated sect a new opportunity to rise again.
The demonic cultivator let out a loud laugh.
"Come out, you damned rat!!!"
He had noticed Fang Yuan. The terrified boy covered his mouth. He didn't blink. The demonic cultivator's killing intent was directed at Fang Yuan.
"Damn it!!!"
There was no other way.
The cursed red aura coiled around the man's hands, taking on a physical form resembling the claws of a fierce animal. The smell of death filled the area. The snow beneath the cultivator's feet melted, and the ground burned. A wild aura enveloped his entire body.
Fang Yuan didn't know what to do. There was no escape. The killing intent exerted a heavy pressure on his body. His contracted muscles wouldn't let him move.
The cultivator waved his hand, and a black mark appeared on the ground. It was like a sword strike, but it exuded a black aura that burned the ground with dark flames.
Suddenly, Xiao jumped out and bared his teeth at the cultivator.
"Tch… damned animal!"
His aura calmed, and the flames extinguished.
Everything returned to normal. A cold wind blew, and snow began to fall. The mark of the sword's intent was hidden under a thin layer of snow.
He focused his killing intent on Xiao, and the fox was paralyzed.
"At least I can sell this damned thing."
He cast a spell on Xiao and took it to the hidden hatch.
When the pressure was lifted from Fang Yuan, he coughed up blood. The snow beneath him turned red.
Angry at what had happened, he clenched his fist, and tears welled up in his eyes.
"Bastard!!!"
He couldn't ask anyone for help. That cultivator was an official disciple. There was no evidence that he was one of the demons. Fang Yuan stared at the hatch hidden under the snow.
The only thing keeping him alive was the fire of his anger.
He remembered the moment the unfortunate man was killed. He gritted his teeth and struggled to stand. Stumbling, he made his way to the blackened corpse that seemed to have been dead for thousands of years.
He pulled the dried corpse out from under the snow. The man's body was strangely light and felt like dry wood. A mark of terrible suffering was etched on his face, as if he had been begging for mercy.
Reluctantly, he searched the corpse. It was his only way to survive.
He found a few low-quality pills in the man's bag.
He was hungry. He had to take the risk and eat them. He didn't know what they were, but now that he had an alternative to eating mice, he wouldn't refuse.
"I don't know… no!!!"
He clenched his fist again and furrowed his brows.
Without hesitation, he swallowed the pills.
As soon as he did, a terrible pain spread through his body.
The pills dissolved before reaching his stomach.
"What is this Qi power!!!"
Normally, many of the energy circulation channels in mortals were closed; and although Qi flowed through everything, its amount varied. Now that the amount of Qi in Fang Yuan's body had suddenly increased, his body couldn't handle it and tried to reject it.
He coughed up blood again. His veins were swollen, and blood flowed from his eyes.
"Th…this…!!!"
He would either die or survive and be paralyzed.
Fang Yuan clutched his chest and couldn't breathe.
As the world darkened, he lost control of his body and fell to the ground.
The snow continued to fall.
He had never noticed before, but the snowflakes were very beautiful, falling in thousands of shapes and sizes. Life was the same, beautiful and diverse, but in the end, it ended and was forgotten.
Fang Yuan stopped breathing and fell into a deep sleep in the frozen plain.
In the underground tunnels, a gray figure walked confidently. The sound of his footsteps echoed in the dark maze, repeating thousands of times. His sinister smile made Xiao shiver, but because he was paralyzed, there was no way to escape from the man.
The righteous sects were full of virtuous people who were the heroes of this world, and Lu Guang was one of those who were said to one day walk the path of the previous heroes alongside other cultivators.
Lu Guang was a talented and kind-hearted cultivator.
Because he helped everyone, all the members of the sect liked him, and even among his peers, he was considered exceptional. Although his cultivation speed wasn't high, he learned everything well and applied the teachings in his life.
Anyone who saw him would guess at a glance that he had a painful past. His always-sad eyes showed that he was hiding something. Maybe he had lost a loved one when he was mortal. Maybe he missed someone. Maybe he had an old wound that occasionally reopened. Maybe he was escaping the present and living in a beautiful past.
But that wasn't the answer.
Lu Guang dragged the fox behind him as he walked through the dark, damp sewer tunnels, entering a side path covered in algae that was unfamiliar with light.
The sound of rats squeaking and water splashing against the edge of the passage echoed in the dark tunnel, and the clatter of his steps resonated in the darkness.
He turned a corner and entered a room lit by a torch.
In the corner of the room, a girl in dirty clothes was chained. She wore clothes similar to Lu Guang's, and her raven-black hair hid her gaunt face.
"Hey, you've got a visitor."
Lu Guang chained Xiao and continued, ignoring the girl.
"Now I have to go back… I'll check on you later."
The girl moved her dry lips but couldn't say anything.
Before disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel, Lu Guang laughed and said, "It won't be long before I drive your father mad, don't worry."
After hearing this, the girl let out a terrifying scream and thrashed around wildly. Two small red orbs glared from between her hair into the depths of the dark tunnel. Lu Guang left, and the girl's voice was swallowed by the darkness.
Fang Yuan was buried under the snow.
Although the Qi flow in his body had balanced, he had suffered significant internal damage. But, if he hadn't taken the pill, he would have frozen to death.
In another world, his soul wandered in an unknown realm.
He was surrounded by the night sky, and only a shining path lay before him. A path unlike anything else, stretching to infinity.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in the heart of the sky: "Oh human! Step onto this path."
Fang Yuan did so involuntarily.
"This heavenly path is called Dao. It is the law that connects heaven and earth. Dao is endless, but the truth is not. Every path has an end, yet a human's lifespan is not enough to see the end of Dao. So, from the perspective of humans, Dao is endless…"