In front of him stretched a wide riverbank of white stones. However, the white of the rocks was barely visible. Fresh and dried blood pooled everywhere, turning the riverbank into a painting of hell. Dozens of corpses lay scattered in unnatural positions. Some were cut into two parts with incredibly clean slices, while others had gaping charred holes in their chests.
There were corpses wearing white robes with blue cloud patterns, a uniform Xinghe recognized all too well from Lu Changkong's group last night. On the other side, there were corpses in thin robes, as well as several bare-chested men whose skin had blistered hideously. What made Xinghe's stomach churn the most were several mounds of clothing lying on the rocks; there were no bodies inside them, just empty as if the owners had dissolved.
Chu Xinghe covered his mouth with both hands, suppressed a strong urge to vomit. His knees felt weak. He backed away slowly, intending to head back into the deep forest. However, the sound of approaching footsteps from across the river forced him to freeze in place. He dropped his body behind a bush, burying his face in the mossy soil. His eyes peeked through a gap in the foliage. Four human figures leaped lightly across the river stones.
They did not fly in the air; instead, they jumped from one rock to another with an agility that far surpassed normal humans. Their clothes looked worn and varied, lacking the uniform patterns of the sects Xinghe had met last night. The presence radiating from these four people was much weaker than the oppressive aura of Lu Changkong or Yu Ding, yet it still pulsed with a deadly danger.
"Quickly! Do not waste time!" hissed an old hunched man with a disheveled beard. He wore a slightly dull robe. His eyes swept the sea of corpses in front of him with a flash of savage greed.
"Elder Geng, is it safe for us to be here?" asked a woman with a horizontal scar across her left cheek. She held a short dagger coated in green poison in her right hand. "The scent of slaughter in this place is still very fresh. Those who fought here were outer court disciples of the Heavenly Cloud Sect and the Blood Lotus Valley!"
"It is precisely because they have killed each other that we must move quickly, San Niang!" Elder Geng replied while crouching near one of the white-robed corpses. His wrinkled hands skillfully reached inside the corpse's robe. "When else do you think poor rogue cultivators like us can get the remains of resources from the dogs of these great sects?"
A skinny youth with a cunning gaze joined in crouching, forcibly pulling a small cloth pouch from the waist of a red-robed corpse. "The Elder is right! They were too busy cutting each other's throats all night. I heard this battle broke out from the edge of the northern cliff down to this valley."
The fourth man, a burly man carrying a large axe on his back, kicked a pile of clothes whose owner had melted. "Damn it. The storage pouch on this one was destroyed. The bone-melting poison of the Blood Lotus Valley really ruins the loot. Elder Geng, what actually made the dogs of these sects suddenly go mad and attack each other in the outer forest? Usually, they are only hostile within reasonable limits if no Heaven and Earth Treasure is born, right?"
Elder Geng found a small jade bottle from the pocket of the corpse in front of him. He pulled out the cork, sniffed the contents, and then smiled with satisfaction before tucking it into his clothes.
"Have you not heard the rumors circulating in the forest edge trading posts, Big Tong?" Elder Geng stood up, glancing toward the reddened river. "Last night, a horrific celestial phenomenon occurred. A primordial pillar of light split the clouds. They say... the seal of the Golden Age has been opened."
Chu Xinghe, hiding not far away, held his breath. His heart beat wildly. Lian Ji's words about the Golden Age were not just nonsense in front of the campfire. The news was spreading like a plague.
The skinny youth laughed softly, his voice sounding raspy. "Golden Age? What kind of nonsense is that. Just because the sky thundered a bit, they immediately started slaughtering each other? If the Golden Age truly comes, it is not for wild flies like us. It is only a slaughterhouse for giants. We will only become ash if we interfere."
"You are too naive, Little Gou," San Niang, the scarred-face woman, chided while prying a silver ring from a stiff finger. "The news mentions that this Golden Age did not open alone. There is a key. A physique that was supposed to be swallowed by history descended to the mortal world last night."
"A heavenly physique?" asked the burly man named Big Tong, stopping his looting activity. "You mean a saint-level genius baby was born?"
"Not born," Elder Geng interrupted with a grim tone. "Someone fell from the sky. Rumors say that the elders of the four great sects found a youth who possesses the Ancient Emperor Body. However..."
Elder Geng paused for a moment, flipping over the corpse of an Iron Tiger Sect disciple whose head had been severed. "However what?" the skinny youth pressed.
"However, that physique is flawed," Elder Geng continued with a cold laugh. "The Ancient Emperor Body cannot absorb essence at all. His heart is locked by a heavenly curse chain. That youth is just mortal trash destined to rot. He is a sacrificial vessel to open the gates of the age, not a ruler."
Chu Xinghe bit his lower lip hard until it bled, forcing himself to remain silent. "Mortal trash?" San Niang furrowed her brow. "Then why did they slaughter each other here if that boy is useless to their cultivation?"
"That is where the greed of these orthodox and demonic sects lies, San Niang," Elder Geng replied, his eyes radiating a thick cynicism. "They may say the boy is useless mortal trash, but not one of them truly wants to let him go! The Heavenly Cloud Sect said they dumped the boy by the riverbank, leaving him to be eaten by wild beasts."
"Dumped him?" Big Tong laughed loudly. "Lu Changkong is a hypocritical dog. I bet he secretly sent his outer court disciples to secure the mortal boy under the table!"
"Exactly!" agreed Elder Geng. "The Blood Lotus Valley smelled Lu Changkong's intentions, and the Bone Shadow Sect also sent a pursuit force. They all returned to the first river last night to search for the boy. They want to use the blood or bones of that ancient emperor for mad experiments in their respective sects. When these pursuit forces crossed paths in the forest, suspicion took over... well, you can see the results for yourselves."
Elder Geng stretched his hands toward the sea of corpses before him. "A sea of blood. Hundreds of low and middle-level disciples died pathetic deaths just because of suspicion. They accused each other of hiding the mortal boy."
"Insane," the skinny youth muttered, looking at the corpses with a gaze of horror and awe. "Just because of the existence of an ordinary human, the outer region of the Forest of a Thousand Purple Leaves turned into a mass grave in one night. So, who managed to get that ancient emperor boy?"
"No one knows," Elder Geng replied casually. "Some say the boy was torn apart by spirit beasts. Some say the Blood Lotus Valley managed to kidnap him. What is certain is that a secret bounty has been issued in various border cities. Anyone who can bring the heart of that Ancient Emperor Body to the secret pavilion, alive or dead, will receive a reward of ten thousand middle-grade heaven stones."
Xinghe closed his eyes tightly. His head spun. Ten thousand heaven stones. He didn't even know what a heaven stone was, but from the tone of these rogue wanderers, that amount could surely make an ordinary human decapitate their own brother. His decision to avoid the path this morning was a life-saving one. This world was hunting him. The entire land was searching for his heart.
"Enough, do not worry about the affairs of the sect superiors. Ancient Emperor Body or not, we must finish looting before a sect patrol comes down to check this battlefield!" ordered Elder Geng.
The four rogue cultivators moved nimbly again, sweeping up the remnants of treasures, broken weapons, and pill bottles from the corpses. Chu Xinghe held his breath every time one of them walked near the bush where he was hiding. For almost half an hour, Chu Xinghe lay like a stone. His muscles cramped, forest ants bit his neck and arms, but he did not blink or move.
"Clean," said Big Tong, patting the cloth pouch at his waist which now looked bulging. "Let's go east. We can sell these swords with sect logos on the black market."
"Move," said Elder Geng. The four figures dashed away from the rocky river area, vanishing into the lush Forest of a Thousand Purple Leaves with a speed that could not be followed by the naked eye.
Chu Xinghe still did not move. He let ten minutes pass, then fifteen. After he was completely sure there was no other aura of life around him, he slowly lifted his head from the ground. His body was stiff as he crawled out from behind the bushes. He stood at the edge of the white rocks that had turned deep red. He looked at the dozens of corpses sprawled there.
Last night, these people in robes must have been existences above the clouds, possessing a gaze as trembling as when Chu Xinghe was first looked at by Lu Changkong, staring at him like filth stuck to the tip of their shoes. Now, they were just heaps of dead meat looted by rogue cultivators in shabby appearances.
"What a ridiculous world," Xinghe's voice was broken and hoarse. He stepped slowly into the middle of the heap of corpses, avoiding the blood puddles as much as possible.
His gaze fell on his modern clothes which were badly torn, revealing his chest covered in black bloodstains. If he went out of this forest wearing these clothes, he would be instantly recognized. Xinghe approached the corpse of a youth lying face-down. The youth wore neither the white robe of the Heavenly Cloud Sect nor the red of the Blood Lotus, but instead wore a plain black-grey silk robe.
The youth's wound was just a clean stab at the back of the neck that killed him instantly. With hands still trembling in disgust, Chu Xinghe reached for the corpse's shoulder and turned it over. The corpse's face was deathly pale, eyes wide open staring blankly at the sky. "I'm sorry," Xinghe whispered softly. "You don't need this anymore."
He began to strip the black-grey outer robe from the corpse's body. The silk felt very cold and strange in his hands, much lighter than any fabric he had ever held on Earth, yet the texture was very strong. After successfully removing it, Xinghe took off the remains of his own torn shirt and jacket. He stood half-naked in the middle of the slaughter field, the forest air making his skin crawl. He immediately put on the black-grey silk robe.
The size was a bit large on his shoulders which were not too broad, and the hem of the robe swept his ankles. Xinghe searched for a cloth belt from the corpse and tied it tightly around his waist to hold the excess fabric. He then leaned over, staring at his reflection in the surface of the clear river water at the edge that had not yet been contaminated by blood. His appearance had changed. His hair, slightly long and messy, now framed his pale face.
With that ancient robe, he no longer looked like a school student from Guangzhou. He looked like a young ascetic who was lost, or a low-level rogue cultivator. Only his worn sneakers remained as a marker of where he came from, but the long hem of the robe hid them well enough. Chu Xinghe turned his body, ensuring his grandfather's bronze pocket watch was stored safely within the folds of the inner robe pocket. He looked at the sea of corpses around him once more.
"Golden Age," Xinghe murmured, repeating the wanderers' words. He swept his gaze over the corpses that died horribly. "Could all this be real? They kill each other until they are strewn like this just because of a legend? Just because they are afraid of losing a chance they even call mortal trash?"
He laughed bitterly, the sound of his laughter hollow above the river flow. "They call me a sacrificial vessel of heaven. But look at you," Xinghe pointed toward the Heavenly Cloud Sect disciple's corpse. "Who is actually the sacrifice here? The sky has not fallen, no treasure gate has appeared open, yet you have created this sea of blood yourselves."
Reality slapped his common sense brutally. On Earth, killing one person is a crime that will be pursued by the entire state apparatus. Here, dozens of lives were lost in one night and their bodies were left to rot in the sun, looted by passing robbers. The value of life in this world was very cheap. Very fragile.
"If I am caught," Xinghe thought, his eyes sharpening with a pure determination to survive. "They will not test me with crystal stones again. They will directly split my chest to take my heart."
The youth clenched his fists covered by the wide robe sleeves. Fear still crept in his bones, but he refused it for the several times. "They are all looking for me because I cannot cultivate. They think I am a vessel of flesh that cannot fight back."
Chu Xinghe closed his eyes for a moment, exhaled softly, and opened them again. "I must walk again," he turned toward the direction the four rogue cultivators had headed. "At least with my appearance, I can enter a settlement, or the nearest town from this forest."