Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 301 Human Life
After dozens of leaps, you can see a large open space in the center of the town.

There was no open space here originally. It was only after many houses nearby were demolished and cleared that this yard was created.

The edge of the courtyard was blood-red; the freshly spilled and dried blood appeared bright red under the crackling torches of the large tree. Amidst the bright red, there were many uncollected corpses—they must have been deliberately placed there, piled up like a warning line, forming a wall of corpses.

Inside the wall of corpses, there were still nearly a hundred people squatting on the ground, each holding a bowl, basin, or jar, burying their heads in the soup and broth inside. The slurping sounds blended together, like the breathing of a huge wild beast.

Those outside the wall of corpses dared not take even half a step in, all staring longingly into the firelight at the ferocious beasts that appeared humanoid.

The two stopped on a rooftop slightly outside the main area. Upon seeing the wall of corpses, they knew that this was definitely not the Blood God Cult created by the swordsmen of the Taiyi Cult.

At first, it was clear that some disaster victims wanted to rush in and loot, but the people distributing the food used swift and decisive measures, killing a large number of people to establish their authority and leaving the corpses there to deter the starving people outside the wall.

Zeng Jianqiu knew that if he had to do this himself, he might choose the same method—but he also knew that he would not have put himself in this situation in the first place!

This method of distributing grain either indicates that the person distributing the grain doesn't really care about the lives of the starving people, or that they didn't think about it beforehand and only panicked at the last minute.

Among the starving people were not all ordinary people; there were also some martial arts practitioners and cultivators from the secular world. Based on what I saw along the way, those of these people with some skill either formed small groups to "do great things" or were recruited by numerous newly established sects. Only those who were truly mediocre in skill but had high aspirations would scatter to all corners of the land.

When the two jumped onto the roof, there were already six people standing on it. Seeing their leaping ability, they immediately knew they were no ordinary people and quickly made room for them.

As Zeng Jianqiu looked in that direction, Xue Baoping felt the six gazes. They first focused on Zeng Jianqiu for a moment, then all turned to her. When she first left Jinshui, these gazes made her feel slightly awkward, but now she was used to them.

She slightly raised her face and boldly examined everyone one by one. With her Qi Refining cultivation, her body was full of vital energy, and her eyes shone brightly in the night, as if they were glowing! Anyone who met her gaze immediately lowered their eyes, only to realize that this beautiful heroine's abilities were also unfathomable.

Zeng Jianqiu turned to a man who appeared to be a cultivator and stood nearby, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and nodded: "Brother, what's going on here?"

The man looked to be in his forties, and must have been quite fat before. Now he was emaciated from hunger, and the thin skin on his face was etched with wrinkles, making him look older than he actually was. He quickly bowed in return, smiling as he said, "I heard that the Blood God Sect is recruiting talent, saying they want to send people to Mount Dajie to cultivate."

Zeng Jianqiu nodded: "I've heard those mortals outside say the same thing. But I don't think this is the right way to recruit them—what's the background of this Blood God Cult here?"

He used the word "mortals," and the other four people on the rooftop looked somewhat uncomfortable. This one, however, seemed to enjoy it, straightening up: "Exactly. I noticed that when they select people, they don't check qualifications or cultivation levels; they just pick children. Fellow Daoist, did you see these people eating and drinking in this circle? They all send their own children in to get a share of the broth. So we're all watching and want to see what's going on."

Zeng Jianqiu glanced at Xue Baoping, who immediately understood.

There are two advantages to choosing children for a spiritual practice. First, they are easy to teach from a young age and their minds are easily focused. Second, their innate vital energy has not been lost much, making spiritual practice easier.

However, this person said they didn't consider aptitude... which is probably the latter point—regardless of aptitude, a child's innate Qi is abundant. Not only is cultivation easier...

It's easy to use.

But this person didn't mention the Blood God Sect. Zeng Jianqiu then asked, "I heard that the Blood God Sect's training ground is on Mount Dajie—wasn't it the thirty-six sects who were holding the Dajie Alliance before? Was it the alliance that created this?"

The man frowned and gave a wry smile: "Well, I really don't know much about that either."

Xue Baoping was about to tell Zeng Jianqiu to ask someone else when she saw Zeng Jianqiu's hand twirl in his sleeve, and he pulled out a talisman with two fingers: "Brother, you must have been running around and anxious these past few days, and your mind is unsettled. This talisman can help you by focusing your mind and gathering your energy."

The man glanced at the talisman, but after just one look, his gaze was immediately fixed on it. Zeng Jianqiu offered it to him again, and the man immediately bowed to receive it, quickly hiding it in his sleeve. He closed his eyes, then opened them again: "Ah, this is truly a wonderful thing. Just holding it like this has sharpened my mind, and I've remembered so many things. That's how they were—"

He took a step closer to Zeng Jianqiu and lowered his voice: "Actually, my fellow Daoists and I didn't just happen to pass by. We came to Fuguo with a man named Zhou Hai. When we arrived, there were still some people in Fuguo. Several wealthy families had set up strongholds for self-protection. Look, they're right here."

He pointed to the open space and said, "We originally intended to stay here, but another group of people came, claiming to be from the Blood God Sect. They carried a sedan chair and said that a high-ranking member of the Blood God Sect was inside. They came here to gather followers. There were four people carrying the sedan chair, making a total of five people including the one inside. At that time, there were thirteen cultivators in Fuguo. Five of them were Foundation Establishment cultivators like me, who were not very capable. The other eight were all Qi Refining cultivators."

"Leaving aside us, there are dozens of martial arts practitioners in the Jianghu, so we have enough manpower. After those five people arrived, they said they wanted to stay here, claiming to be from the Blood God Sect on Mount Dajie. We thought the same as you, brother—aren't the only legitimate sects in the world the Six Ministries? Oh, and maybe we should also add the Sword Sect and Taiyi Sect. Anyway, things didn't go right, so we started fighting."

Xue Baoping was no longer the naive little girl from Jinshui Town. Seeing that he only said "something is not right", she knew that it was probably the people from Fuguo who coveted the pills and magical materials that these five people might be carrying and wanted to forcibly "detain" them.

"Then our side collapsed—those four Qi Refining cultivators were just average, but the one from the Blood God Cult inside was truly terrifying. He released two magical treasures, one that looked like a flying sword and the other that looked like a gourd. The sword pierced through people, and the gourd turned them into pus. In the blink of an eye, six out of the eight Qi Refining cultivators were gone!"

He sighed and shrugged: "And that's how it is here."

Zeng Jianqiu nodded: "Hmm, I can imagine it's going to be a fierce battle. But why didn't you go to the Blood God Cult?"

After the man hesitated for a moment, Zeng Jianqiu said, "My name is Zeng Zhen. May I ask your name, brother?"

"Ah, my surname is Sun, and my name is Sun Yuzhi." Asking for his name made him feel a bit closer to him. Sun Yuzhi hesitated for a moment, then looked at Zeng Jianqiu again—perhaps thinking that he looked quite heroic and bold—and whispered, "Xie."

"evil?"

"When the fight broke out, and the flying swords were being launched from inside the sedan chair, I glanced at it—it wasn't a person inside, but a large vat!"

Zeng Jianqiu glanced at Xue Baoping. This did indeed sound strange.

"I'm a timid person. When something looked eerie, I wanted to stay away from it."

Zeng Jianqiu nodded again, looking at the people eating in the circle of corpses: "What are they eating? Human flesh?"

Sun Yu was startled: "Oh dear, no, no, it really is soup, what a tragedy... The grain in Fuguo Town has almost run out these past few days. Giving away pure white rice and flour to starving people, what a tragedy!"

"Yes, this isn't how you distribute grain. Those people from the Blood God Cult are inconsiderate."

Sun Yu scoffed, "What do you mean, 'these people'? Let me tell you, Brother Zeng, the ones in that sedan chair are from the Blood God Cult, but the sedan chair bearers aren't even from that group. They were all recruited on the road. And it wasn't just one group; they changed groups several times. When we asked them what was in that jar, they didn't even know! Letting these people mess things up has led to this; we're almost out of food. If we wait a few more days and still don't get any, we'll have to go find food elsewhere!" "Oh, is that so?" Zeng Jianqiu took a half step back and turned to look at Xue Baoping.

Both of them were incredibly audacious. The moment their eyes met, Xue Baoping knew what Zeng Jianqiu was up to.

The Blood God Cult is on Mount Dajie. There's only one here; the rest are a rabble. Capture them and ask them what's going on with the cult and what's happening on the mountain!

She nodded slightly to Zeng Jianqiu, who then turned his face away again: "When the thing in the sedan chair made its move, did those Qi Refining cultivators manage to parry it? Was it killed in one move, or did they manage to parry a few times?"

“I parried a few times, but it was no use. That sword—” Sun Yu stopped abruptly, looking at Zeng Jianqiu suspiciously. “Why are you asking this?”

Zeng Jianqiu took a step back and smiled at him, "This is indeed not a place to find food. My master and I will take our leave first. Take care, Brother Sun."

He and Xue Baoping immediately leaped into the air and disappeared in a few moments, leaving Sun Yu standing there in a daze.

The streets of Fuguo Town were filled with starving people, but there were varying numbers of them. The four main roads leading to the town's central courtyard were crowded, while the narrower alleyways were less so. Those in the alleyways fell into two categories: those injured in the crush, those trampled, and the elderly, children, and the disabled, who were simply taking a breather in these deserted places; and those who had their eyes on these people and came to rob them of their money, food, and even their bodies.

When they were talking to Sun Yu, the two of them had already noticed the sedan chair—two large houses remained alone in the northeast corner of the threshing ground. One of them looked like it was used to store grain, and there were two people guarding the door of the other house. There were lights on inside, and the sedan chair was parked by the window.

From this alley, cross a main road and circle around a few times, and you'll reach behind two large houses. From there, it's only a dozen or so steps to get into the houses.

The alley was unusually dark, yet there were sounds. There were low cries of the injured, screams of pain, and some groans that sounded extremely jarring to Xue Baoping.

The two squeezed through the sparse crowd, Zeng Jianqiu in front and Xue Baoping behind. She saw Zeng Jianqiu take a few steps and then a flash of sword light appeared in his hand; she knew he was about to kill. According to what he had said along the way, there were simply too many injustices in the world to handle. When there were too many to handle, there was no need to go looking for them, but if one encountered them, one should never stand idly by.

He killed seven people in front of him just by passing through this alley. When Xue Baoping also walked over, the particularly jarring sound she had been hearing disappeared.

After leaving the alley and weaving through the crowded streets, she took two steps ahead of Zeng Jianqiu and said, "Master, let me go."

Zeng Jianqiu nodded: "Kill them and leave, don't stop. Target their hearts, where the blood and energy are strongest, good for refining sword energy."

"it is good."

Xue Baoping rushed into the alley first, her eyes sharp. She immediately saw an old man and a child fighting over something. The two were grappling on the ground, one was stronger, and the other was as thin as a rake. She didn't intervene.

Because she had killed someone by mistake before, she knew that such things were not necessarily a case of the strong bullying the weak.

With a leap, he pushed off the wall with his right foot, nimbly gliding over the two men. Upon landing, he saw another group—four people sitting against the wall, looking as if they were dead, their chests bulging, a man bent over, reaching into their laps. The men on the ground weakly tried to raise their hands to block him, but he slapped them away. Hearing the sound of Xue Baoping landing, they turned their faces, their expressions blank, their eyes unfocused.

A flying sword was launched, piercing the man's chest before retracting with lightning speed. Xue Baoping brushed past him and took a few more steps before hearing a thud.

As they passed by a few people, they saw a man straddling a child and slapping him repeatedly, asking, "Am I your father? Am I your father?" The child's face was swollen on one side, and blood was seeping from his mouth and nose; he seemed to have lost consciousness.

Another flash of sword light appeared, and the man froze, falling to the ground. After she passed him, she heard a sound behind her—the previously silent starving people by the wall cried out almost simultaneously—

"He's mine, he's my son!"

"I saw it first, it's mine, it's mine! It's my son!"

They were fighting over the child, wanting to trade him for food.

Xue Baoping wanted to turn around, but she held back. She pushed off the wall and flew past a few people. She saw two people lying on top of each other against the wall at the corner of the room. The woman was pressed against the wall, her breasts exposed, and she was numbly chewing on a dark object in her hand. The man was thrusting hard in front of her and making low growls.

Her face felt hot, her hands felt cold, she paused slightly, and then brushed past them.

But after taking three steps, he suddenly turned around, and just as he was about to launch his flying sword, Zeng Jianqiu grabbed it.

"It was a mutual agreement. Sometimes right and wrong have nothing to do with your likes or dislikes."

Xue Baoping gritted her teeth, drew her flying sword, hesitated for a moment, then raised her hand and sent it flying behind her. This time Zeng Jianqiu didn't stop her—the flying sword struck the wall where the two of them were, sending a large cloud of dirt flying.

She walked through the alley and killed seven more, leaving her flying sword shrouded in blood and shrouded in malevolent energy.

After passing through another alley, she had already taken seventeen lives in this town of Fuguo, finally reaching the back of the two large houses. There were few people there, because behind the houses was the riverbank, and their location was on the other side of the narrow river.

The riverbank was covered with waist-high grass. There used to be tall reeds, but they were all eaten by starving people, leaving only the emerald green calamus with leaves that stood upright like swords.

Xue Baoping stopped on the riverbank, looking at the two large houses, panting heavily. She then let out a long breath before turning around and saying, "Master, this world is truly bitter."

Zeng Jianqiu walked to her side, looked across at her, and nodded: "It's harder than before."

"Those people I just killed, they—" Xue Baoping sighed, "did they deserve to die? If it weren't for this time, maybe they… Sigh, am I being too soft-hearted again?"

Zeng Jianqiu smiled and said, "This is not a bad thing. In this kind of world, a person who doesn't have something on their mind is not a good person."

"Once you've done it, don't dwell on it. Look ahead—I'll go inside, you stay outside, try to catch them alive, and then leave!"

(End of this chapter)