Chapter no.13 Cultivation Realms
The island was shrouded in a cloak of darkness, the only sounds that could be heard were the distant cries of the prisoners as they hunted each other for the entertainment of their captors. Inside one of the dilapidated buildings, a young girl, no older than sixteen, sat huddled beneath a bed, tears streaming down her face as she clutched a dagger tightly in her hand. She had been lucky to have made it this far, but now her luck had run out. The creatures she had been forced to fight before were nothing compared to the intelligent and calculating humans she was now facing. Her weak strength and cultivation made her nothing more than prey in their eyes, and if she didn't kill someone within the next hour, her collar would explode.
Suddenly, the door to the building creaked open, and the girl's heart began to race as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. A green crystal orb was suddenly thrust into the room, casting a dim light across the space and causing the girl's palms to sweat.
"Hello? Is someone there? I don't want to fight," a feminine voice called out, and the girl slowly rose to her feet, but forgot about the bed that was in her way. She stumbled and fell to the ground with a thud.
As she looked up, she saw a black-haired beauty standing in front of her, an expression of terror etched on her face. "Please! Help me, I've been running for so long. Thank god, I found another woman. Let's join forces. I know what these men will do to us if they find us," the black-haired beauty implored, and the girl felt a sense of empathy and understanding towards her.
"Please, put down that weapon. I don't have one and I feel uncomfortable with one around," the black-haired beauty continued, and the girl lowered her guard as the black-haired beauty came closer and closer. But just as she was about to reach out her hand to her, the girl suddenly coughed up blood and felt a coldness in her chest. She looked down and saw the head of a sickle sticking out, realizing too late that she had been played into a trap.
"You... " the girl tried to say, but her words were cut off as the black-haired beauty, Lin Lai, decapitated her in one swift motion. "Red is not your color, sweaty," Lin Lai sneered, as she looked at the lifeless body of the girl.
[Ding]
[50 coins have been awarded to Lin Lai]
"Thank you, elder brothers," Lin Lai exclaimed, as she twirled and bowed down, her mind already turning towards her next target.
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Xi Meng, a middle-aged man with a healthy complexion, sprinted towards the southern beach of the island, his long sword held tightly in his hand. He and a few members of his sect had exchanged notes, agreeing to meet in the southern part of the island to team up and eliminate the other classes.
As he ran, Xi Meng couldn't help but smile as he remembered that the strongest member of the outer sect of the Heavenly Sacred Border, a person who could even contend with the inner sect, was alive on this hellish island. With him by their side, they would surely win.
He finally reached a cluster of jagged rocks and shouted out, "Boss!"
An androgynous boy, who had been sitting on the edge of the rocks, turned to look at Xi Meng. But before he could say anything, Xi Meng heard a splatter and looked down to see his shoes covered in blood. The androgynous boy looked at him indifferently and said, "Hmm, be careful, I didn't know blood could be so slippery."
....
On the other side of the island, in the heart of the forest, a squirrel cautiously approached a pile of nuts. But before it could even blink, an arrowhead impaled it. Zhongli emerged from the shadows, picked up his squirrel shiskkabab, and retreated back into the trees.
As he ate, Zhongli couldn't help but think about the strange sight that lay before him. A dried-out corpse of Chen Mong lay against a tree, and Zhongli was happily eating his dinner. He tapped his collar and whispered, "Hey, do you have any books about cultivation and its various stages?"
[Ding]
[10 coins for the basic cultivation book]
"Buy it," Zhongli said, and a book appeared in front of him. As he read, he tried to remember all the information he could about cultivation. He regretted his decision to run away from Murim's life. Maybe if he had stayed, his family would still be alive, and not a victim of these monsters.
As he read, Zhongli discovered that true cultivation starts with the Five Elixir realm, corresponding to the five elements that make up the dao of formation. From these five elements grows the physical manifestation of spiritual roots known as the Spirit root realm. One of the five elements then dominates the others and coats the spiritual Qi of a person known as the Affinity Realm. Then a person washes their body with their element and reforms their body beyond the realm of a human known as the Earthly Yuan Realm.
Zhongli sighed as he finished the book. He knew that there were realms beyond the Earthly Yuan Realm, but he didn't have any knowledge of them. His father had been the head captain of the guards of the outer sect of the Immortal Demon Sect and he was at the Earthly Yuan Realm. Every day his father would try to break through, but it always failed.
"Hey, do you have a book about the more advanced realms beyond the Earthly Yuan Realm?" Zhongli asked his collar.
[Ding]
[There are no such books]
Zhongli sighed as he realized that the prison was keeping them weak. Even with this opportunity for them to get stronger, the prison controlled the extent of their growth, meaning that they could confidently control them until the Earthly Yuan Realm, but what about the realms afterward?
As he lay on the branch,Zhongli sighed and lay down on the branch as his martial skeleton began to absorb the blood of Chen Mong. Soon, Chen Mong's cultivation of a peak Spirit Root Realm will be his, to think he would jump from someone who wasn't even a proper cultivator to someone who was a peak Spirit Root Realm, in a day. This couldn't be considered the ability of a genius rather it would be considered an ability of an absolute monster.
"Oi, collar, how much time off before you blow up will I be given if I give you half my coins?" Zhongli asked his collar.
[Ding]
[12 hours will be added]
"Do it," Zhongli said, and he felt the weight of the collar around his neck lighten as half of his coins were transferred to the prison's account. He knew he had to make the most of this time, as every moment counted in this deadly game. He would have to use this extra time to gather more resources, train harder and make alliances if he wanted to survive. He couldn't let himself be a victim in this prison, he will come out victorious and make those who did this to him pay.