Chapter 615: Random Investigation
Panting—panting—
Deep in the dense forest, a person in tattered clothes was desperately running, as if man-eating evil spirits were chasing close behind.
“Captain! Captain! Please respond if you receive this!”
“Zhou Lan! Xiao Meng! Xiao Jie! Where are you now?”
He Chong urgently whispered into his walkie-talkie, hoping to hear familiar voices, but unfortunately, the device only emitted static noise.
“Damn it, could they all be…”
He Chong didn’t dare to think further. Penetrating deep into the forest to investigate the recent situation of the Mad Demons was practically a suicide mission. If he weren’t completely broke, who would willingly take on such a task?
Thousands of years ago, the Demon Beasts went mad, their power skyrocketed, they violated the ceasefire agreement, and began attacking humans. Humanity was caught completely off guard by this sudden assault, suffering heavy casualties. Fortunately, humanity’s accumulated strength prevented the Demon Beasts from completely wiping them out.
Humanity urgently shrank their activity range, concentrating their forces to protect their homes.
They began adjusting their cultivation focus—the purpose of cultivation was no longer longevity and eternal life, but to fight against the maddened Demon Beasts, abbreviated as Mad Demons.
After a century of research, humans discovered that Mad Demons had thick hides and tough flesh, and their long-range combat effectiveness was inferior to close-quarters combat.
But humans weren’t known for their physical prowess—how could they fight Mad Demons?
After further research, people discovered that human bodies possessed immense potential that could be tapped into, though the cost was drastically reduced lifespans.
Qi Refining Stage and Foundation Establishment practitioners lived to seventy years old.
Core Formation Stage lived to one hundred years old.
Nascent Soul Stage lived to one hundred thirty years old.
Spirit Transformation Stage lived to one hundred seventy years old.
To cultivate or not?
Cultivate!
Not cultivating meant certain death.
After a thousand years of development, humanity had completely transformed into Body Refiners with powerful physiques.
During this period, technology also advanced, the world entered modernization, and humans needed to complete three stages of education—elementary school, middle school, and high school—then pass the national college entrance exams to enter Body Refining University, only then could they become Body Refiners.
He Chong had performed poorly in the national college entrance exams, entering the lowest-tier Body Refining University. After graduation, he lacked significant skills and couldn’t meet the Body Refining level requirements for most jobs. With both parents seriously ill in bed requiring substantial money, he had no choice but to form a team with others and sign up for forest exploration to investigate recent Mad Demon movements.
Their five-person team had been attacked by Mad Demons after entering the forest. The captain and three teammates’ fates were unknown, most likely dead.
And the cause of death was probably the Type Three Mad Demon relentlessly pursuing him.
As the team’s scout, He Chong was the fastest runner, which had allowed him to survive a few minutes longer than the others after the team was scattered.
But that was all.
He Chong abruptly stopped, cold sweat pouring down. A Type Three Mad Demon leaped down from the treetops, glaring at him fiercely.
The Type Three Mad Demon measured a full three meters long. Its fur was pitch black and glossy, resembling a wolf overall, with the only obvious difference being its abnormally developed forelimbs.
The Type Three Mad Demon exerted force, pouncing fiercely and pinning He Chong to the ground, directly tearing off both his arms.
The Mad Demon opened its bloody maw, and He Chong’s eyes widened as he spotted a name tag with the captain’s name stuck between its teeth.
He Chong remembered the captain saying his child needed to advance to higher education, but the family couldn’t afford the tuition, forcing him to try his luck in the forest.
He Chong felt some regret—regret for not studying hard back then, thinking he could just scrape by, which led to failing the college entrance exams for good universities and ending up in this situation today.
Perhaps if he had studied seriously back then, things would have turned out differently.
He Chong broke down crying, tears and snot flowing freely, but the Mad Demon wouldn’t develop pity because of this.
It only wanted to eat humans.
Just as He Chong was utterly despairing, a flash of white light appeared, and several figures materialized nearby.
“Evil creature, how dare you harm humans!”
The leader waved his hand, sending the Type Three Mad Demon flying.
“Are you alright?” The leader helped He Chong up, discovering his severe injuries with blood flowing uncontrollably.
He took out Hemostasis Pills and Bone Reconnection Pills, giving them to He Chong and helping reattach his arms.
He Chong gasped heavily, hurriedly kneeling and kowtowing to the leader.
“Thank you for saving me, sir. I beg you, my friends are still nearby, please save them too.”
The leader helped He Chong up: “We in the Nine Provinces don’t practice this custom. Please rise. If anyone is in danger, I will naturally intervene.”
The leader released his spiritual sense, scanning the surroundings, then shook his head regretfully: “Within the range of my spiritual sense coverage, you’re the only living person.”
“How could this be…” He Chong became distraught.
“We come from the Nine Provinces World. Could you tell us what’s happening in your world?” The leader recited calming mantras to soothe He Chong’s emotions.
“Nine Provinces World?”
“Yes, I’m a steward from the Nine Provinces Spirit Plant Sect, surname Fang. Those following me are Spirit Plant Sect disciples. As for these two, one is called Dong Li, the other Bai Heitu—you can consider them Spirit Plant Sect disciples too.”
The Spirit Plant Sect steward remembered how the sect leader had stuffed these two strangers into their team before departure, saying they had some background but shouldn’t receive special treatment—treat them like regular sect disciples.
“Probably two people with connections,” the Spirit Plant Sect steward thought.
He Chong’s mind gradually cleared, only then realizing the other party hadn’t even opened their mouth.
The Spirit Plant Sect steward smiled and explained: “We’ve just arrived in your world and don’t speak the language, so we have to communicate with you through spiritual sense. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Tell me, what does the ‘Myriad Heavens and Worlds Exploration Manual’ say should be the first priority when arriving in a different world?” Steward Fang tested their pre-departure learning.
Before departure, every cultivator underwent at least thirty-six hours of training and had to pass the Confucian School’s examination. Those who failed were prohibited from traveling to other worlds for three months.
“Steward Fang, it’s to understand the world’s history as thoroughly as possible, striving for multiple perspectives to ensure authenticity,” one of the Spirit Plant Sect disciples answered.
“Correct. He Chong, is it? We’re newcomers here and don’t understand your world. Could you tell us about your world’s history?”
He Chong briefly explained their world’s history.
“May I ask a few questions?”
“Please go ahead,” He Chong said, feeling flattered. In his eyes, Steward Fang was unfathomably powerful, an absolute top-tier expert. Such a person being so polite to him made him quite uncomfortable.
“What’s the highest level of power that has appeared in your world?”
“Legend says a Unity Stage supreme expert appeared once, but that was two thousand years ago. After that expert died, no one has ever heard of anyone reaching Unity Stage again,” He Chong answered truthfully.
“What’s the top combat power on humanity’s side, and what about the Mad Demons’ top combat power?”
“Both only have Spirit Transformation Stage, the difference being that the number of Spirit Transformation Stage Mad Demons far exceeds ours.”
“Do Spirit Transformation Stage Mad Demons possess intelligence? Can they speak human language?” Steward Fang continued questioning.
“I heard that before the Demon Beasts went mad, Spirit Transformation Stage Demon Beasts could do that. After going mad, Spirit Transformation Stage Demon Beasts lost their intelligence.”
Steward Fang turned to ask his disciples: “Tell me your opinions.”
“The Demon Beasts going mad was the work of Outer Realm Demons.”
“And you?”
“I also believe the Demon Beasts going mad was done by Outer Realm Demons. This fits their requirement for slow death.”
Steward Fang shook his head: “You’re reaching conclusions too quickly. This He Chong is just an ordinary person with poor academic performance and weak historical foundation. What he learned is all officially published history. How can you draw conclusions based solely on his one-sided account?”
“What does the first principle of the ‘Myriad Heavens and Worlds Exploration Manual’ say? It’s to strive for multiple perspectives when understanding world history.”
“You’ve merely memorized it but haven’t truly understood its meaning.”
“Disciples will remember this.”
Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu nodded slightly—this Steward Fang was doing well.
They had randomly selected this team specifically to observe whether they had any inappropriate practices when exploring other worlds. If these were common issues, they would need to revise the pre-departure curriculum.