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"What do you think is the essence of cultivation?"

Two figures sat at the top of Peaks Cliff as a ghastly silence seemed to envelope them. A bloody scene filled their sights as both of their gazes never seemed to sway away from the bottom of the cliff.

The scenery in front of them?

Carnage! Cold bloody corpses, overflowing rivers of blood.

No matter if you turned left or looked right, only men and women slashing at each other was visible as far as the naked eye could see.

The nasty smell of blood was so thick and overwhelming that it could make people nauseous after a first whiff.

Not to mention the gory sight of severed limbs and slit throats, the scariest thing was the disturbing fact that human figures were eating other humans as if they were beasts. This was a live representation of an apocalyptic war.

The two people sitting on the edge of the cliff, a young man, handsome with an aura of calmness surrounding him. His free flowing white hair and deep blue eyes matched perfectly with his curved eyebrows.

He wore a long fitted dark robe which accentuated his handsome features and added a touch of masculinity to his aura.

And the other, a beautiful lady with otherworldly features and a devilishly seductive body.

With long, dark lustrous hair, tender white snow like skin and starry eyes that had a tint of seduction within them, calling her a top class beauty would be an understatement.

Underneath her battle armor was a dark one piece dress that hugged her figure tightly. The seductive aura around her could literally make men drool.

Paired together with the young man whose every breath carried a pinch of excellence, it looked like the perfect painting of a match made in heaven.

Despite the fact that a gruesome battle was taking place below them, a seemingly profound silence enveloped them, as if isolating them from their surroundings.

That is, until the question was asked.

The heavenly atmosphere shattered as the young man furrowed his brows at the question.

He seemed to be slightly puzzled at her words and took a few minutes to process it. Nevertheless, it didn't take long before his expression reverted back to normal and his furrowed brows relaxed.

He continued to watch the show without a word and didn't seem intent on giving a feedback. The opposite party didn't seem to mind as she stayed completely still without a change to her expression.

"Rawr!"

A loud roar echoed on the battlefield as a human figure erupted with abnormal energy. At least, it would have been considered a human figure if its height and size wasn't two times more than what a bulky human could normally accomplish.

It dashed forward with formidable power and swung it arms every which way with every swing causing loud impacts.

Boom! Bang! Bang!

Pfft!

Pfft!

Pfft!

Ahh!

As the figure thrashed around while running forward, multiple silhouettes were sent flying upwards as blood spurted out of their mouths.

They summersaulted several times in the air before crashing heavily on the rock hard ground dozens of meters away from their initial positions.

Some let out bloodcurdling screams as the sound of their bones breaking rang out clearly in their ears after impact while some lay motionless upon reaching the floor. They could have been knocked unconscious due to the vicious attack or directly sent to meet king yama at hells retreat.

Who knows?

Of course, the ones who were unable to regain their footing within the small window period of 1.6 seconds were directly swarmed by dozens of bloodthirsty human figures and ripped apart into a hundred pieces.

The poor souls didn't even have enough time to complete their painful screaming.

"Oh, a King Tier monster!"

The young man said faintly. A hint of surprise could be heard in his tone as his lips curled upwards.

"I didn't think I would see one on this battlefield. At least not this early. But judging from the reports, this isn't one of the Five Kings".

Nodding his head, the youth seemed to have thought of something as his eyes became unfocused.

The female sitting on the cliff however, had a change in expression for the first time since this battle started. A slight frown adorned her ever still breathtaking face as a cold light flashed through her eyes.

A zombie! One of these creatures that was comparable to a King tier cultivator had actually appeared on this battlefield?

According to the scouting report from the United Nations, a King level creature wasn't supposed to be part of the war. Yet this was the reason why it baffled her.

How did a king tier monster evade their surveillance and appear on the battlefield?

This... This didn't make any sense.

Frowning, her index finger began tapping on the cliff surface without realizing it. Her subconscious reaction didn't escape the young man's unfocused eyes.

Despite the fact that she didn't have any reactions on her face, that action was like a sound recorder that says it all. Still, he didn't say anything and remained in a daze.

"Help"!

A woman who seemed to be in her early forties screamed loudly as she saw the zombie rampaging in her direction. Her hand fell downwards to the gourd around her waist and slashed out again.

A large stream of water surged out of the gourd, following the woman's hands as and turned into an attack.

Under her control, the stream of gentle water turned violent in a instant and followed her hand directions. It blasted two third level Qi Spirit realm monsters in front of her, pushing them back dozens of feet.

Due to injecting an excess amount of mana into that attack and due to the lower levels of the beasts, the water current ripped them apart like a shredder. However, the female who had launched the attack didn't even seem to notice.

As soon as she freed herself from the demon beasts, she immediately took to her heels and ran away with all her might.

Fear was plastered all over her face as she tried anything and everything possible to get out of the way of the approaching monster. She didn't even hesitate to shoot her water beams at other humans coincidentally in her way.

At this moment, numerous cultivators present in its path would happily trade half of their lifespans for an extra set of legs

"Watch Out!"

"It's a King Tier zombie. Flee!"

"What the hell is it doing here?"

"What the fuck.... Ahh!"

"Don't..... Don't lure it over here!!"

The appearance of a dark creature at the king tier level, dark zombie instantly caused the human army to scream in panic.

The female that ran away was only at the peak of fourth Level Qi Spirit realm. How could she possible hope to stand in the way of a king tier zombie?

The only thing waiting in store for her if she attempted such a foolish act apart from death, was just more death.

Unfortunately, as the difference in tier was so massive, so was the difference in speed and strength. She tried to run away. Alas, it was too late.

Along with a few others, the black zombie king slashed its claws and easily killed a few humans. Then it stretched out and grabbed the escaping female before taking a huge chunk out of her neck.

Blood erupted in torrents as half of her body from the left shoulder to the left ribcage was devoured in a single chomp.

Numerous cultivators had their faces turn pale and despair quickly set in. They hurriedly fled in different directions hoping to escape this calamity creature.

"Fucking beast! Die!"

A male cultivator had his eyes turn red at that scene. The female the zombie had eaten was his half sister and the only family he had left in this world.

In a fit of despair and madness, he crazily drew his sword, ran towards the zombie king and started striking out madly. Each strike contained the power of sword aura as well as the blazing element of fire.

Nevertheless, it was all for nought.

The chaotic, blood red lines in its dull white eyes glowed as it threw away the remaining half of the female corpse and dashed towards another group.

Five minutes later, a shocking scene occurred. The half eaten body of the female corpse moved and stretched to its feet. The half disfigured face had blood all over it and the eyes were gray and lifeless as well as the skin being pale.

"Growl!" Shockingly, the corpse let out a growl and began to move, rushing towards the nearest living human it could find.

The scene of bloody carnage continued.

From one person to another, the number of human cultivators kept decreasing as their dead comrades rose again from death itself and banded with the demons they faced to battle against them.

It looked like a large scale contagion or a mass scale necromancy spell.

Basically, the walking dead.

All of this entered into the eyes of the young male and female sitting on the cliff, yet they seemed completely at ease and not the slightest bit bothered by this fact.

Watching genocide as if a movie, the young man had a faint smile on his lips, it looked gentle and pure and it gave away his carefree attitude.

Soon, that smile faded away little by little until his expression became completely indifferent.

"Its a cage".

The young man replied. His hands moved behind him as he leaned back while supporting his body with his two arms planted against the ground.

His eyes that looked forward were pure and clean, like a completely newborn, innocent child who had not yet come in contact with the worlds filth.

"Hmm?"

His words caused the female to raise an eyebrow as her tapping gesture finally came to an end. She looked at him with an inquisitive gaze as if asking him what he meant by that.

At the same time, she was surprised that she even managed to get an answer at all. She had only asked rhetorically and wasn't really expecting anything.

Fate really does work in mysterious ways.

Without looking at her, the young man sighed out loud.

"Cultivation is nothing but a cage, a prison, ...... Something that binds us completely, keeps us constantly pursuing it. Like a never ending road to a destination we aren't completely sure of, or a child's kite caught up in a mighty wind".

"While we.... The cultivators are like the children taken hold of by our endless curiosity, constantly chasing. Always following, running, trying to get to the end of that road. Trying to see where its final stop ends. Only to discover..."

At this point, he paused slightly and his previously pure eyes had a sharp gleam appear within them. The intensity within it was extreme.

"Only to discover that it never ends...."

"The road never ends. It just keeps going.... And going, and going..... The secrets of each new realm is constantly being revealed. And no matter how high you get, there is always another realm above it. Always new secrets to begin to discover........ Always new dangers that you need to have sufficient strength to deal with..... Always pushing us to pursue strength.....".

"If you pursue the path in an attempt to see the end, you'll probably die before you can. And if you don't ..... Then you probably won't even know how you died..... Isn't that true.... Ria?

Silence!

The female known as Ria kept quiet as she slightly bit her lips. A little grief and a hint of sadness flashed through her eyes very quickly as she looked at him.

The male smiled again as his gaze returned to the battlefield.

The peaceful silence was restored as several more minutes passed without both of them uttering a single word.

But the massacre didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. The blood constantly flowed in torrents as the number of humans decreased at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This was how the world was.

This was how life was.

This.... Was the new earth.

Over fifteen years ago, the world experienced an anomaly as the weather went haywire. Scientists couldn't even begin to bring their heads together to discover the cause of the phenomenons.

The ice melted at a faster rate than global warming could ever make it. The deserts suddenly experienced all sorts of rainstorms and trees in the jungles grew hundreds of meters taller.

The world flew into panic causing global Nations to take heavy measures in order to ensure order wasn't swept away. However, their plans came crashing down not long after they discovered that the world was mutating.

The ozone layer that had protected planet Earth from the harsh rays of the sun for thousands if not millions of years finally disintegrated.

Yet what assaulted them wasn't the long awaited solar rays but a foreign energy they would soon come to know as Mana. They soon discovered that the Mana was the cause for all the change the earth was undergoing and the first wave of their miseries had only just begun.

As the first wave of Mana assaulted the earth, all scientific and technological means suddenly lost function.

The internet shut down, cars stopped working, planes fell from the sky and the power plants blew up causing millions of deaths worldwide.

An apocalypse forever to be known as the Mana virus took effect, corroding the minds of more than half the population into bloody, mindless savages with no intelligence apart from the basic instinct to feed. The greatest fear from the movies..... Zombies were officially made a real thing and the virus spread like a plague.

The Mana virus charged aggressively as if it had a mind of its own. All nuclear weapons shut down and had their radioactivity absorbed from them.

The greatest weapons of the governments were turned to nothing more than scrap metal. Still, how could humans just take things lying down?

They fought back only to discover that the corroded humans, now known as zombies seemed to have evolved. Bullets which was a man's worst enemy was unable to kill them even after multiple shots.

The modern guns suddenly had worse effects than a crude cutlass or a kitchen knife.

Anyone who ever watched a zombie movie would know what happened next

Ashen faced, the whole world suffered terrible consequences. Nevertheless, nature still decided to add more salt to mankind's wounds. All sorts of terrible creatures appeared out of the blue with enhanced powers and remarkable abilites. While the zombies didn't get any allies, mankind didn't either.

And that's how the proud and arrogant humans who used to be at the top of the food chain fell of their pedestals and were brought to their knees.

The entire planet fell into a new era where ones fist reigned supreme.

That is, until the world met him.

..........

Looking at the mass murder in front of him, his gaze grew deeper as he was reminded yet again the truth of his previous words.

Cultivation is nothing but a cage for all living things. Something that you can't get away from even if you want to. Ever since that day when the legendary Mana surged into the earth fifteen years ago, values such as freedom, law, morality, equality and other bullshit disappeared without a trace.

In this new world, there was no right or wrong and only one law was followed. Those with the bigger fists made the laws. This had now turned into a fundamental rule.

If your weren't strong enough, then your life could leave you at any time.

Like these cultivators fighting against the world's evolved monsters.

Majority of these cultivators, these men and women didn't even want to be here. Many of them were supposed to have bright and promising futures ahead of them, good innate talent in their genes, and quite some strength in their muscles. If nothing went wrong and they lived long enough, it won't be too much of a stretch to say that a scant few of them had the potential to become King tier cultivators.

At that level of strength, one could become a guild master, a powerful cultivator, or a mighty expert on new earth who gained the admiration of millions. They would be able to move around the world completely unhindered and very few would think of provoking them.

Of course, it was only a scarce few among the hundreds of thousands of warriors that gathered here today, as well as only the potential. But the possibility still remained.

Yet why were they here fighting to the death?

Was it for their loved ones? For power and glory? Or to stop a threat to their very own existence?

For some, yes. For the rest....Not really.... rather ... It was because they had to.

Over the years, although the amount of deaths due to the Mana virus had fallen to the point of being nill, the zombies were still humanity's greatest threat.

And today, a large number of monsters had poured towards one of the few remaining human strongholds in the world.

The government had amassed as many cultivators as they had to battle them thousands of miles away from the borders of their civilization. An all out war.

This would probably be one of those days were the Yama Kings of hell would be jubilating at the massive influx of souls joining them.

Looking at the warriors of humanity constantly falling prey to the zombies, the young man only kept his smile on his face. However, Ria beside him knew that that smile contained no emotions.

There was no happiness or sadness, no scorn or hate, or love, or regret, contempt nor disdain.... nothing. He just sat there, staring at it all as if he wasn't part of humanity to begin with.

Anyone who looked at him now would have the impression that he was just a passerby who wasn't related to all of this. However, those who could recognize him would scream otherwise.

Because this male was none other than Damon Vartu, the world's greatest genius, the savior of the human race as well as the most powerful person while also being the weakest human being alive.

Damon looked at the dying warriors indifferently. He truly felt nothing for these people who were sacrificing themselves for humanity, not even an ounce of admiration.

His heart for his own kind, was dead and buried six foot under long ago. Still, that didn't mean he was going to watch this all day long. No matter how indifferent he may be, the blood and gore wasn't a pleasant sight to behold.

"It shouldn't be long. Commander Klaus' team should have reached the depths of the Labyrinth by now. If he doesn't return soon then the entire United States Demon Slayer army will probably be wiped out in less than an hour".

Damon said in a flat tone. He finally moved his body for the first time in two hours as he stood up from the cliff.

Without bothering to look at the peerless beauty beside him, he walked away with both hands behind his back.

Ria's face flashed with helplessness as she bit her lip even harder. She looked at the tall and sturdy back gradually walking away with an incredibly aggrieved expression.

"Where are you going?"

Ultimately, she couldn't stop herself from calling out.

"To the camp. Where else will I get an update on the situation? I have a mission after all!"

Damon said without looking back. A slight frown breezed through his facial features, making it almost impossible to notice.

Seeing his indifferent attitude towards her, almost to the point of treating her like air...... Ria couldn't take it anymore.

"Why? Why won't you forgive me? You see me as nothing but air, just like you treat the rest of the world. Even when it wasn't my fault, all because of her".

The female beauty exploded. She jumped up to her feet, her face flushed red in anger and grief.

She raised her slender hand and pointed her delicate finger towards Damon's back.

"What bullshit mission. You don't give a shit about anything.

We both know why you're truly here, and it's all because of her. Even in death, you refuse to forget her and that's the only reason why you are here in the first place".

Ria yelled loudly. Her face teared up and she looked like the perfect image of an abandoned wife.

"Tell me ........ why? What does she have that I don't? Why do you love her so much yet you can hardly look at me? Why can't I have your love? Why..... Why?"

As soon as she finished screaming, a deadly silence seemed to permeate the atmosphere. Only Ria's soft sobs could be heard as she stared at his back without blinking.

At the moment, she was regretting her actions badly. However, she couldn't control her impulse.

Even if he hated her forever, she needed to know.

No sound came from Damon as he just stood on the spot. A soft sigh sounded out from his lips as he shook his head slightly before saying in an indifferent voice.

"Two reasons. One, your Arman family was responsible for her death. Even if you weren't part of it, you stood in my way that day. I will never forget it.

And second............ You...... aren't ..... her".

His indifferent voice was soft but masculine in nature and yet they were like hammers to Ria's glass heart. Even now when speaking of that incident, he sounded completely indifferent.

"Sir! Sir!"

At that moment, someone shouted out loud. The atmosphere dissipated as Damon and Ria looked at the distance. They saw a man running up towards them, his expression didn't seem right and he looked agitated.

Damon raised an eyebrow. Was this guy here to deliver the news? had the commander returned with the item?

Definitely not. Judging from the way he was running forward, something must have definitely went wrong.

Damon's inner thoughts proved to be correct.

"Pant!.... Pant!... Pant!..... Senior! This..... Something bad happened. We need to report back to base camp immediately, the whole team is evacuating"

The man said in between pants as he found it hard to catch a breath. He wore an ash silver and dark blue uniform as well as boots that looked like they were made from leather.

Damon's eyebrows furrowed as he put both of his hands in his pockets. His expression had changed slightly as the tone of his voice turned colder.

"What happened?"

"The kings.... it's a king. The camp is under attack by monsters. One of the Five Kings are leading them".

BOOM!

As if on cue, something exploded in the distance. Looking up, Damon saw that the camp was under attack. All sorts of elemental abilities flew all around making the whole place chaotic.

His expression remained unchanged as he took slow yet steady steps towards the camp

Just then, the panting male looked at Damon walking away as his Mana gathered in an instant. Killing intent welled within his eyes and with a thought, his hand structure changed.

"Die!"

He shouted inwardly as he thrust his arm forward. With a distance of less than three feet between them his arm changed into a sharp bone like spear.

[Transformation ability]