Two men could be seen walking into a large building, at whose entrance, a staircase lead to the underground of the building.
"Where are we going chief." one of the men who appeared to be middle aged asked the older man curiously. "I have to show you something, elder Li.", the other man replied.
Following the short exchange, the two men walked through the cold and eerie staircase, which lead to a thin corridor that could only accommodate a single person at a time, until they finally arrived at a small but spacious room, with a pillar in the middle of the room, which also illuminated the entire room, emitting a yellow light.
The moment the two men entered the room, the older man spoke in a solemn and a slight melancholic voice, "You have to go elder li.", as the older man spoke, elder li's eyes suddenly widened, a sword had pierced his chest. "How... could... yo-", just as he was about to finish his sentence, he lost his consciousness, blood spewing on the face of the village lord.
"Sorry, little one but I need the power... hehe", the man's muscles bulged, his eyes bloodshot, "Now I only need to masscare this village, before I can advance... This power should be enough, he and I were the only strong ones. The only problem is the stranger he brought."
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A few moments later, in the house with the man, the blood curdling scream lasted for a while but eventually died down. With a disinterested attitude, just as the man was about to continue pondering over the book's origins, a light cough came from the door and the stench of blood entered his nose.
"I seem to have been caught in the midst of an event, good grief.", the man in the house thought, "But this could help me as well..."
"What a pain! I have to deal with this nucance", a loud sound came from the door. The owner of the voice without saying anything else, suddenly lifted his long, thin sword which was as broad as a katana, blood dripping off of it and lunged at the stranger.
Not suprised by the sudden charge of the man, he spoke "Halt your steps.". Almost immediately, the charging man slowed, but did not stop, resisting the feeling that was taking over him. Yet, he still came to a stop.
Shock overtook his mind, not knowing what was happening to him he spoke, "Who are you?"
Seeing that the charging man was able to defy his command, the man was left slightly stunned, he was originally going to ignore his question, but curiosity took over him and he couldn't help but engage in the conversation.
"I do not know.", he replied and questioned the man he was facing, arrogantly, he asked, "Please tell me what a cultivator is."
Hearing this, a cruel smile appeared on the face of his adversary, "Amnesia huh, or maybe he is pretending... either way he seems dangerous, but a little poison should do it." though he had misunderstood him, he recited the knowledge he had been taught since he was young, "Someone who extends his/her lifespan." As he spoke, an odourless powder, wafted through the air, which went unnoticed by the man.
Continuing his previous sentence, "They are divided into nine ranks, heh, nine ranks... what a joke, ranks above 5 do not exist yet such false a narrative has been pus-", the speaking man was impolitly cut off,"What is this book?", the man asked impatiently.
The man felt insulted, but he had to bite his tongue and spoke, "It's a copy of the basics of cultivation, that Li Lao used to use it to decieve villagers so he could remain in power." While he thought anxiously, " Why isn't the poison working, it has been a minute since I released it.", he waited for a while longer but saw no results.
"I can't wait any longer, I must end this quickly.", the village lord suddenly made an impulsive decision and lunged at the man once again.
The village lord got close to the man, and raised his sword with both his hands and sliced off the man's right arm.
Blood gushed out from his right arm, the village lord was overjoyed at first but his years of experience as a human made him think, "No... it can't be that simple." His expression turned grave, he now wanted to escape from the scene as quickly as possible.
Hunching his back slightly, the village lord was about to retreat, but he was too late, for his throat was already in the right hand that he thought he had sliced off. "Le.. .e go." said the village lord gasping for air.
"NOOOO", the lord struggled for air, but his horror filled eyes soon turned lifeless.
Thud
A lifeless body fell to the ground, "Tch." the man grunted with disdain, "I have to search for another human settlement to get more information, should have kept him alive for a while."
He looked around the house, one last time to see if anything is of interest, he soon noticed a piece of paper that he had not seen before.
The piece of paper had various drawings, with a large red cross over a sandy part of the paper. "Ah, an exquisite painting depicting the entire world, how convenient.", he spoke like a man unfamiliar with the language he was speaking, neither knowing anything about what such a paper was called, nor the fact that it was only a part of the world, he was seeing. "This must be another one of these human settlements, I must go there."
And so he began moving, once again, but now towards a specific destination with a goal, to fulfill his curiosity.
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Back in the middle of the wasteland, a handsome man with long green hair, wearing a black gown, floated above the place where the giant divine tree once lay, his body emitting ray of gentle blue light.
He looked around and saw the white scales scattered across, the place and the withered tree. Shock and horror appeared on his face.
"Th... This, who ambushed the saint while he was hibernating, a- and why is the essence of the fruit of life in the air. What the hell happened here!?"