"Doctor, time for the medicine."
Sevrin spoke to an elderly doctor waiting nearby. "Otherwise, Coeu will be dead in a moment."
"Ah, I understand, Great Hero."
The doctor nodded and immediately produced various prepared tonics and ointments, beginning to meticulously apply them to the gasping, ashen-faced Coeu.
After the medicine was applied, Sevrin resumed the execution. The thousands of people below cheered and scrambled for the scraps once again.
In this manner, time slowly passed.
This execution by a thousand cuts, orchestrated by Sevrin, lasted until noon before it officially came to an end.
During the process, medicine alone was applied dozens, even hundreds of times.
By the end, Coeu had been carved into a living skeleton—a frame of bone clutching twitching internal organs, wailing and sobbing incessantly.
By the time he finally drew his last breath, Coeu had endured exactly 1,666 cuts.
As for why it wasn't three thousand six hundred cuts...
Unfortunately, Sevrin didn't have that much patience, and the human body was a fragile mass of flesh and countless blood vessels, not a solid block of iron.
Furthermore, after Sevrin had shattered his foundation and forced his realm to drop, Coeu was already extremely weak, making it even harder for him to withstand such horrific torture.
Even toward the later stages of the execution, although Sevrin did his utmost to avoid every major artery, vein, and vital organ, and despite having more than one doctor carefully tending to Coeu's condition, they still couldn't stop death from descending. Finally, he perished in an abyss of hellish pain and despair.
Sevrin tossed the remaining skeleton to the thousands of people below; the crowd swarmed over it, tearing the remains into hundreds of pieces. He died without even an intact corpse.
Immediately afterward, Sevrin didn't linger for a second. He turned and, under the reverent gaze of the people of Nina Town, stomped the air and soared away.
Simultaneously, news of Sevrin's fierce, frenzied appearance and peerless martial arts—especially his incredible feat of single-handedly annihilating several thousand wolf-bandits—began to spread rapidly from Nina Town across the entire Mount Qing region.
Thus, titles like 'The Bane Star,' 'World-Descending Demon Star,' 'Blood-Twin Whip,' 'Savage Butcher,' and 'The Suffering-Relieving Master Sevrin' began to reach the ears of many, many people through the accounts of the Nina Town residents, all while Sevrin himself remained blissfully unaware.
...
In Stook Town, within the Chopu Fortress territory six hundred miles from Nina Town, there lay an ancient garden named the Garden of Auspice.
Although this modest garden had existed there for over a decade, the locals had no idea who the owner was or what their name might be.
They only knew that every midnight, carriages with doors and windows completely shrouded in thick black silk would arrive at the garden. Only then would the tightly shut gates of the garden briefly open to admit them.
At the crack of dawn, these mysterious carriages would leave the garden and speed out of Stook Town.
Almost no one knew what was inside those carriages, save for a few drunkards who happened to wander by and claimed to have heard the muffled cries of children coming from within.
Regarding this, some busybodies had once reported it to the militia, demanding an investigation into the garden.
But the final result was that everything was deemed normal; the owner of the garden simply disliked going out, and no crimes could be found.
Thus, those who had been watching the garden dropped the matter, ceasing to trouble the militia further.
However, neither the townspeople nor the militiamen knew that the underground area of this garden... held a world of its own.
If one could enter this modest three-hundred-meter garden, evade the various guards, and follow the winding corridors to the center, they would find a wide well, about ten feet across.
Lowering a rope to the bottom of the well, one would discover a wooden door set into the wall just above the water level. Behind this door lay the true secret of the garden.
Pushing open the door and stepping inside revealed a twisting, dark, and narrow path.
Following this path, one would find simple iron-barred cells every few feet on either side of the rock walls. Each cell held five or six young children.
They sat huddled together on tattered straw mats, their clothes in rags and their gazes vacant. Every one of them bore lash marks, like slaves.
Indeed, this was a human trafficker's den. These children had all been abducted, deceived, stolen, or snatched.
The traffickers who had brought them here were located at the end of the tunnel that linked the cells, within a spacious and brightly lit chamber.
The leader of these traffickers was the owner of the Garden of Auspice — Xin Gein.
As the guards at the Xin family mansion in Nina Town had mentioned, Xin Gein's "business" abroad was precisely the human trade.
"The grandson violates decent women, the son is a bandit chief, and the grandfather traffics children. This family truly is... wow ~"
By the side of the well in the center of the Garden of Auspice, Sevrin shook his head with a cold smile. "Their evil knows no bounds; they deserve to be wiped out!"
With that, his form blurred, transforming into a pale ghostly shadow that dove into the well.
Before long, horrific sounds of tearing flesh and continuous, piteous shrieks echoed from within the well.
As night fell, a dozen or more wooden stakes were suddenly driven deep into the ground at the entrance of the Garden of Auspice. On each stake was impaled a trembling, moaning, dying person.
As night fell, a dozen or more wooden stakes were suddenly driven deep into the ground at the entrance of the Garden of Auspice. On each stake was impaled a trembling, moaning, dying person.
Meanwhile, at the Stook Town militia barracks, a strange event occurred that same night.
More than two hundred frail children appeared within the barracks. Appearing with them was a thick stack of banknotes, a heavy envelope, and a clear handprint driven deep into the ground.
The Lord of Chopu Fortress, who had rushed there upon receiving the news, was both startled and suspicious. He immediately opened the envelope.
He found it was filled with criminal evidence regarding the human trafficking at the Garden of Auspice, along with a ledger listing the home addresses of those children, and a single, thin letter.
Shocked, the Lord of Chopu Fortress then opened the letter.
He saw it was explicitly written that the stack of banknotes must be used for the welfare of those children. If anyone dared to embezzle or misuse it, the next strike of that handprint would fall upon their forehead.
As for the signature of the letter, it read...
Sevrin.
"Sevrin..."
The Lord of Chopu Fortress set the letter down and whispered to himself, "Just what kind of person is this?"
"Lord, the depth of that handprint has... has been measured," the militia captain reported as he rushed to the Lord's side.
"How deep is it?" the Lord of Chopu Fortress asked, taking a slow breath.
The militia captain swallowed hard and said in a trembling voice, "It's... it's ten meter deep."
THUD!
The Lord of Chopu Fortress collapsed into his seat on the spot, his face pale with shock.
...
In a desolate forest outside Stook Town.
Sevrin stood with his hands tucked behind his back, observing the kind-faced old man before him, letting out a series of cold sneers.
"Xin Gein, oh Xin Gein. You look like a decent man, so why is it you refuse to act like a human being?"
The old man, Xin Gein, looked at Sevrin in terror, forcing a strained smile as he asked:
"Young hero, may I ask how I have offended you? To force you to destroy my garden, kill my subordinates, and finally kidnap me to this wilderness?"
Sevrin had no intention of answering. Instead, he posed a question:
"Xin Gein, do you still remember Peon?"
"...Peon?"
Xin Gein furrowed his white brows. After a long period of deep thought, he gave a bitter smile and said, "Young hero, please forgive this old man's fading age, even my mind has weakened significantly. I truly cannot recall."
"Forgotten?"
Upon hearing this, Sevrin couldn't help but mock him in a cold voice, "From where I stand, it's more likely that you've harmed far too many people, so you can't remember them all."
"Erm, well... Hahaha." Xin Gein could only manage a hollow laugh.
Immediately, Sevrin asked again: "If you can't think of Peon, what about his sister, Failan? Still can't remember?"
"Failan..."
After another moment of recollection, Xin Gein smiled bitterly again. "Young hero, to be honest with you, I truly cannot recall who this person named Failan is..."
"You're lying," Sevrin said abruptly. "Your heartbeat faltered for a second."
Without waiting for further explanation, Sevrin delivered a swift kick to the man's leg.
CRUNCH!
Bone and flesh shattered, and a spray of blood flew.
"AAAHHH!"
With a piteous cry, Xin Gein clutched his mangled leg, where shards of white bone were now exposed, and collapsed to the ground.
"Well?" Sevrin said serenely. "Remembered yet?"
"I remember! I remember!" Xin Gein stammered through the intense pain. "Failan... I sold her."
"Sold?" Sevrin's brow twitched. "To whom?"
"I sold her to a wealthy family," Xin Gein stammered. "They... they lacked a daughter, so..."
Before he could finish, Sevrin stomped down, breaking his other leg.
"AAAAHHH!"
The pain nearly drove Xin Gein mad. He could no longer maintain his kind-faced facade and snarled at Sevrin, "You little beast, I gave you an answer! Why did you still cripple my leg?!"
"Chaotic energy pulse, nothing but nonsense," Sevrin sighed, shaking his head. "I've lost my patience with you."
With that, he pulled a hemp rope and several blades from his grotto.
"It seems," Sevrin said, testing the edge of a pointed blade and looking at the terrified Xin Gein, "I have to let you suffer a bit before you'll start speaking the truth."
Following that, a performance of Lingchi, interwoven with blood and agonizing shrieks, began in the depths of the desolate forest.
As the actor, Xin Gein finally began to spill everything he knew under the relentless slicing of the blade.
It was from his words that Sevrin finally pieced together exactly what Peon's sister had endured.
After Peon had been murdered years ago, Xin Gein had wasted no time in abducting his sister, Failan, back to his estate.
Over the next three months, he had tortured her until she was unrecognizable and driven to the brink of insanity.
Because of this, Xin Gein quickly lost interest in Failan and sold her at a rock-bottom price to a group of human traffickers.
As for where those traffickers sold her next, Xin Gein didn't know.
He only heard from those people in the following years that the girl, after being shuffled from place to place, apparently didn't survive past twenty.
In all likelihood, she was dead.
"A living animal," Sevrin sighed, shaking his head. "Your entire family is a den of beasts."
With a flick of his blade, he took Xin Gein's head.
...
"Lord... you... you say... my sister..."
Within the cavern deep in Mount Pasha, Peon stared at Xin Gein's skull and said excitedly, "She was... saved... rescued?!"
"Correct," Sevrin nodded, speaking with conviction. "Back then, after you died, right as Failan was captured and brought to Xin Gein's estate, a passing martial arts expert rescued her."
"Then... what happened after?"
For some reason, Peon's tongue became fluid. He asked urgently, "Lord, Xiao Lan... what happened to her?"
"She did very well," Sevrin replied. "According to my investigation, after Xiao Lan was rescued by that expert, she fell in love and married his son within six months. Afterward, they left the Mount Qing region and traveled north to the Graew Dynasty."
"Graew is good. Graew is peaceful and stable."
Peon let out a rare smile. "In any case, it's much better than Mount Qing."
"Barring any accidents," Sevrin continued, "your sister's grandchildren should be grown by now."
"Indeed," Peon said with satisfaction. "My father and mother can finally close their eyes in peace."
Sevrin remained silent.
"Lord," Peon slowly stood up from the ground, "I will take you to the ruins of that ancient sect now."
"Good," Sevrin nodded and stood up as well.
Following that, the two ghosts transformed into two hazy shadows and dove into the pool, vanishing from the cavern.
...
After leaving the cavern, Sevrin followed Peon through layers of mountain peaks, twisting and turning as they headed deep into Mount Pasha.
It was during this journey that he first learned the phasing ability of ghostly entities was not entirely without limits.
While any ghostly entity could easily pass through sealed rooms and thick walls, this ability to etherealize and phase through solid matter could not be used indefinitely.
To put it simply, it was like how a person, no matter how much they held their breath, eventually had to breathe.
When a ghost phased through solid objects, there was a maximum thickness they could penetrate in a single attempt, they couldn't just phase forever.
For example, a low-level Wandering Soul rank ghostly entity had a maximum wall-phasing thickness of 30 meters. If a wall exceeded 30 meters in thickness, unless there were large gaps or hollows inside, the Wandering Soul ghost would be unable to pass through and could only linger outside.
After testing, Sevrin discovered that a higher-level Vengeful Spirit rank ghostly entity could phase through roughly 300 meters of solid matter.
This value was neither particularly impressive nor truly terrible, it was somewhat middling. If Sevrin were trapped in an underground chamber where every direction exceeded 300 meters of solid rock, he would be stuck inside with no way to escape.
As for ghostly entities of even higher ranks, according to some data from the warehouse at the Nina Town Demon-Slaying Bureau outpost, they were called [Devouring Ghosts]. A Devouring Ghost-level entity might have a phasing thickness of 3,000 meters.
In other words, even from 3,000 meters underground, a Devouring Ghost could phase out. At that level, they were extremely formidable.
"Lord, we've reached the path," Peon said respectfully to Sevrin, pointing to a dark crevice in a cliff within a strange limestone cavern deep in Mount Pasha. "Just follow the path inside this cavern all the way down, and you will reach the outer wall of the ancient sect ruins."
Sevrin gazed calmly at the crevice and said in a deep voice: "Very well, let's go."
Instantly, the two ghosts transformed into black mist and whooshed into the cave.
Although Peon described it as simple, Sevrin discovered that the path was not easy once they actually entered it.
In terms of total length, the path was likely less than two hundred miles. However, it wasn't a straight line, it was a winding, up-and-down maze filled with countless branches. It cut through numerous caverns and crossed more than one underground river.
Since only Peon knew the correct route, Sevrin's speed was irrelevant. Consequently, the journey was exceptionally time-consuming.
It took the two ghosts a full day and night to barely reach the end of the path.
WHOOSH! ——
In the middle of a silent pool, the figures of Sevrin and Peon slowly surfaced.
Sevrin looked up and saw that the pool was surrounded by a massive underground cavern. Hanging from the cavern ceiling nearly three hundred meter above were countless long stalactites, each emitting a faint, eerie green light.
These abundant stalactites looked like an inverted forest, almost completely filling the upper half of Sevrin's field of vision.
The place wasn't entirely silent either, Sevrin could clearly hear the rustling and clicking sounds of numerous snakes and insects crawling about.
With all these elements combined, the cavern felt as sinister and terrifying as a city of ghosts.
After carefully scanning the area, Sevrin asked Peon:
"Where are the ruins? Why is there nothing here but stalactites?"
"Do not be impatient, Lord," Peon explained. "We still need to walk a bit further to reach them."
"Mhm," Sevrin nodded. "Lead the way."
The two ghosts set off once again.
As Sevrin continued walking, he was surprised to find traces of human life in many corners of the cavern, remnants such as houses, suspension bridges, wooden windows, and courtyard walls.
However, these were now covered in a thick layer of dust and emitted a heavy, stagnant odor. One could tell at a glance that the place had been abandoned for a very long time.
As they walked, Peon noticed Sevrin's gaze constantly drifting toward these objects, so he spoke up:
"Lord, these things were not left behind by the disciples or members of that ancient sect, they are relics from an even older era."
"An even older era?" Sevrin asked, intrigued. "Why are you so sure?"
"Lord, I have entered the ruins before," Peon explained. "Judging by the records on the stone monuments within the ruins, when the ancient sect collapsed into the mountain's depths during the earthquake long ago, 99% of its disciples died. The survivors were all heavily injured. They would have lacked both the energy and the need to exert such effort to tunnel through countless layers of rock to reach this cavern and leave behind so many traces of living.
Furthermore, the relics within the ancient sect do not have such thick layers of dust or such a heavy sense of antiquity. Therefore, one can only conclude that these things belong to an era even older than the Grxin calendar."
"An era older than the Grxin Dynasty that preceded the Graew?" Sevrin's interest was piqued. "What era would that be?"
"Lord, I don't know. I only know that the Grxin Dynasty lasted for over a thousand years," Peon said honestly. "After all, when I was alive, I was merely a small merchant."
But he added immediately:
"However, when I was alive, I recall hearing the old scholars in town say that before the Grxin, the world was extremely chaotic, with many nations existing simultaneously."
"Ah~" Sevrin said in realization. "I understand then, it was a Warring States period."
"Warring States?" Peon thought for a moment. "An era where various nations were at war. Indeed, you put it perfectly."
While the two ghosts were talking, an ancient stone monument flickered past, catching Sevrin's eye.
"Wait!"
His blurred, speeding form came to a sudden halt, and he moved back toward the ancient monument.
Seeing this, Peon also stopped immediately and hurried back with him.
"This is..."
Sevrin slowly sat down, staring at the fragmented monument half-buried in the hard rocky soil, his face filled with shock.
Although the monument was covered in rust and damage, one could still roughly see two lines of extremely strange and ancient script written upon it.
"What characters are these?" Peon asked in confusion. "Why have I never seen them before?"
Peon didn't recognize them, but Sevrin, who possessed the [Study Hard] System, did.
The content of the script, if translated into understandable terms, roughly meant: "[Imperian Federation]'s Synchronous Sea Area Combat Zone, Third Brigade Mecha Terminal Component Depot. Unauthorized personnel prohibited from entry."
Sevrin inspected the ancient monument several more times before turning to Peon and asking:
"Have you ever heard of a nation called the Imperian Federation?"
Peon shook his head blankly. "Lord, I... have never heard of it."
"Then have you heard of the Synchronous Sea Area?" Sevrin asked again. "Is it to the south of Mount Qing?"
Peon still shook his head. "Never heard of it. I only know that south of the Mount Qing range, there are many small nations. South of those barbarian kingdoms is the Coanan Sea, not any Synchronous Sea Area."
"Small nations?"
On a sudden whim, Sevrin asked again, "Are there any small nations to the south of Mount Qing named Imperian?"
"That..." Peon said uncertainly, "I haven't heard of one. Perhaps there is, or... perhaps there isn't."
"Alright then."
Sevrin nodded, letting out a long sigh as he spoke, "I roughly know... the true origin of this ancient monument and those relics."
"What is their origin?" Peon asked curiously.
"A prehistoric civilization."
Sevrin said with certainty, "It is absolutely a prehistoric civilization, no doubt about it!"
"What exactly is a prehistoric civilization?" Peon became even more puzzled. "Why call it a civilization instead of a dynasty?"
"A prehistoric civilization is something that cannot be explained in just a few words." Sevrin did not want to waste energy explaining, so he urged, "Let's go. To the ancient sect ruins."
"Good." Peon nodded, then turned and sped toward the depths of the cavern.
As Sevrin hurtled along beside him, his mind was filled with complex emotions and a flurry of chaotic thoughts.
Until now, the emergence of various martial arts, ghosts, and occult techniques had made Sevrin take for granted that this world was a typical fantasy realm, with perhaps a few firearms and cannons at most.
But the appearance of that ancient monument had completely shattered his perception.
"Imperian Federation, Mecha Brigade."
Sevrin muttered to himself, "This is clearly a prehistoric civilization that followed a technological path... Phew~ What a chaotic world, but it is also quite an interesting one."