8mi Chapter 141
Chapter 141
Nine years ago.
“Husband, are we really going to settle down here?”
Walking along the streets of Baiwa City, a delicate-looking woman asked the man beside her.
The man, named Shen Sheng, nodded. “This will be the place. It’s situated on the border between the Wu Kingdom and a small demon kingdom in the Southern Realm. It’s an ungoverned city, with no one in control. Here, we can avoid those hunting you, Qiongman.”
The woman, Zhao Qiongman, lowered her head slightly, her expression full of guilt. “I’m sorry, husband. If it weren’t for me…”
“Don’t say such things,” Shen Sheng interrupted her. “What’s done is done. Since we’ve come to a new place, let’s start fresh and live a good life together.”
“Alright,” Zhao Qiongman agreed softly. “I’ll follow whatever you decide.”
Shen Sheng tightened his grip on his wife’s hand. “Don’t worry. Now that we’re here, we can finally live in peace. No one will find us.”
Zhao Qiongman nodded firmly.
Shen Sheng found a broker in Baiwa City and purchased a small courtyard, just big enough for two or three people to live in.
Having their own home, no longer wandering aimlessly, Zhao Qiongman’s restless heart gradually began to settle.
She followed her husband around the city, buying necessities for their new life.
With each item they purchased, Zhao Qiongman felt a growing sense of belonging to their little courtyard.
Once they had settled in, Zhao Qiongman lived with her husband in Baiwa City. Aside from cultivating, the two would hunt nearby demonic beasts to sell or take on bounty tasks from the city.
For cultivators, earning enough for daily expenses was incredibly easy.
Shen Sheng and Zhao Qiongman only needed to complete a task or two to cover their costs for two or three months.
Though Baiwa City was an ungoverned city, its order was maintained by a delicate balance, with various factions controlling different areas.
These factions included both human and demon clans.
While the human and demon factions often clashed, it wasn’t unusual for human factions to include demon cultivators or for demon factions to have human members.
Given Shen Sheng and Zhao Qiongman’s high cultivation levels, the factions treated them with respect. Not only did they avoid causing trouble for the couple, but they occasionally sent gifts, hoping to recruit them.
However, Shen Sheng and Zhao Qiongman chose not to join any faction, unwilling to complicate their peaceful life.
As time passed, the couple lived a stable life, almost forgetting the dangers they had fled from.
Zhao Qiongman’s once-anxious heart finally found peace.
Their neighbors, a family of lizard demons, even laid a clutch of eggs. Zhao Qiongman helped deliver the hatchlings.
The lizards named their young rather casually: the first to hatch was called Lizard Dalang, and the second was Lizard Erlang.
In Baiwa City, the harmony between humans and demons reached an astonishing level.
But one day, Shen Sheng and Zhao Qiongman noticed something strange about the city.
The flow of spiritual energy within the city felt different from that outside, and flashes of white light would often streak through the city.
The blazing sun in the sky seemed unusually large, as if it might fall at any moment.
At night, the moon turned into a blood-red orb, and the demons in the city could no longer maintain their human forms.
By the time Shen Sheng and his wife realized that a powerful artifact might have emerged in Baiwa City, the city itself had already formed a massive array, trapping them inside with no means of escape.
Left with no other choice, the couple decided to settle down temporarily while
A smirk appeared on the black-robed man’s lips. “Are they really the same?”
Zhao Qiongman frowned. “What do you mean?”
The black-robed man, his tone patient, explained:
“Exactly what I said. While it’s true that cultivators come from mortals, do cultivators really treat mortals as equals?
From what I’ve observed, cultivators see mortals as demons see ordinary animals, or as humans see demonic beasts.
To cultivators, mortals are no longer beings of the same level. In fact, mortals are nothing more than tools to them.
There are cultivators who perform blood sacrifices using mortals.
Some use mortals for breeding; if a child is born ordinary, they abandon them. If a child is born with spiritual roots, they take them for training.
Cultivators will destroy entire cities or even nations for their own selfish desires.
Never, not once, have cultivators truly cared about the lives of mortals.”
Zhao Qiongman’s tone turned sharp. “What exactly are you trying to say?”
“It’s simple.”
The black-robed man turned around to face Zhao Qiongman and removed the hood of his cloak.
Following his lead, the others around him also removed their hoods.
Seeing their faces clearly, Shen Sheng and Zhao Qiongman’s eyes widened in shock, their pupils trembling.
Some had horns growing from their heads.
Some had lizard-like scales covering their cheeks.
Some had beast-like pupils.
All of them bore features that resembled those of demonic beasts to varying degrees.
“We are both ordinary humans and beasts,” the black-robed man declared. “Join us! Together, we can change everything in this world! One day, all mortals will rise and trample those so-called celestial beings beneath their feet!”