Volume 1: Southern Border Chapter 1: Summoning the Soul

  The Great Mountains of Ten Thousand Peaks are located in the southern border, with overlapping peaks and continuous undulations.

  Endless forest occupies nearly four-tenths of the land. Its area is still unknown now.

  The environment inside is extremely evil, and as the road continues to deepen, various monsters and snakes wreak havoc, and the danger zone will gradually increase. Strange peaks and strange rocks, swamps and mud pits, dark forests, deep streams and ravines... are all over the place.

  Moreover, due to the humid and rainy climate of the four seasons, the accumulation of fallen leaves and rotten wood, so the whole year is shrouded in a poisonous atmosphere, with misty fog lingering everywhere, giving rise to countless venomous insects and ferocious beasts.

  The land of Nanman can be said to be one of the most dangerous and remote regions in this world, with few human footprints.

  In a remote corner of the ancient mountain range, along a winding path between rocks that twisted and turned like a centipede, in the midst of white misty haze, a faint firelight flickered, looking eerie and unpredictable.

  ……

  Silent and soundless, a curved moon hangs high in the night sky, under the cover of the deep and mysterious night, it splashes out a piece of bright and clean moonlight!

  The night color is getting darker and darker, the whole sky and earth are plunged into a thick ink color, vast and mysterious!

  Through the dense branches and twigs, with the faint moonlight shining through, a glimpse can be caught of an ancient, mysterious ritual taking place deep within the cave on the mountain slope.

  ……

  This is an ancient cave deep in the mountains, the vast and dark cave seems eerie, the smooth inner wall polished like new, countless strange and bizarre totems are carved on it, including various bloody sacrificial scenes, making the originally cold and gloomy ancient cave even more eerie.

  The painting style of the pattern is extremely rough and distorted, but upon closer inspection, it seems to have a kind of bold and desolate primitive atmosphere hidden within.

  The deepest part of the cave, a torch inserted obliquely on the wall was burning fiercely, constantly splashing sparks in all directions, making a "crackling" sound.

  Under the faintly dim lamp light, on the vast and hard stone surface, an ancient and grand altar stands out, the body of the altar made of hard black obsidian appears solemn and sacred, shining with a dazzling metallic luster like flowing water.

  Along the outer edge of the massive altar, dozens of burly men stood at attention. Most of these men were over two meters tall, with a mess of stubble on their faces, dense hair covered in dust and dirt, and disheveled locks slung over their shoulders.

  Apart from a piece of animal hide wrapped randomly around their waists, all the men were topless, with skin that was either dark brown or pale green, or a healthy ancient bronze color. Their muscles bulged and stood out like they had been carved with knives and axes, with sharp angles and lines. Their extremely developed muscles rippled and flowed like water as they moved.

  The surface was covered with dense and numerous scars, and the whole body kept emitting a fierce and violent aura that came rushing forward.

  At this time, they formed a gigantic circle. Everyone was solemn, dancing an ancient and mysterious dance, constantly chanting unconscious and unclear incantations...

  The entire body of the vessel is covered with strange, golden, swirling patterns that shimmer and change in the dim, quiet environment.

  On the surface of the altar, deep grooves crisscrossed and meandered, forming a huge "S" shaped symbol that looked exceptionally mysterious.

  At this moment, a thin fog is rolling on the altar, vaguely visible, intersecting between illusion and reality. The blood-colored liquid is flowing in the deep groove on the surface of the altar, fluctuating unpredictably. As the blood-colored light flashes and flows, it quickly spreads along the groove to fill the entire altar body.

  Wen Ya lay horizontally in the center of the altar, a pair of big, bright eyes staring widely, making baby-like cooing sounds, looking at everything in front of her with some trepidation.

  An invisible and intangible force tightly bound his limbs, rendering him completely immobile.

  His entire body was naked, covered from head to toe with intricate dark red runes made of some unknown material. The runes were carved in extreme detail, fine and dense, covering every corner of Wenyu's body, including private parts.

  A nauseating stench wafted from the altar, where a thick, blood-colored mist hung in the air, like the putrid carcass of some animal that had been left to ferment for ages, emitting a bizarre odor that made one feel queasy.

  Wen Ya himself didn't mind these, his tender little lips opening and closing, instead taking big greedy breaths of the air filled with that somewhat nauseating bloody aura.

  Moist mist entered the throat, instantly turning into thousands of fine hot streams, like a dragon swimming in the body of Wen Ya's infant, rushing wildly into her limbs and joints in an instant.

  Wen Ya could clearly feel that every time the hot flow passed through a place, his body underwent some strange changes. The surface of the altar, which was surging with rolling blood mist, seemed to contain a kind of magical energy, slowly seeping into his flesh, bones, blood, and meridians, strengthening him to a certain extent.

  As a former killer with impressive combat achievements, when he was trained in the training camp, the instructor's reprimand had been echoing in Wenya's mind: "No matter where you are, no matter how bad the situation is, remember that you must survive, no matter how humble or painful it is, as long as you still have a breath, there is hope!"

  Wen Ya's originally fair and tender skin was now covered in strands of dark red filth, looking eerie and strange. A bizarre smile spread across his face as he breathed heavily, causing the thick, nauseating fog around him to churn even more violently.

  Because in his heart, what is truly clear is that only strength is the most powerful guarantee of being alive!

  However, Wen Ya's somewhat crazy actions and the eerie expression on his face suddenly frightened a group of burly men beside him into silence, only to have them burst out laughing even more fervently.

  "Hahaha..." A burst of hoarse and dry laughter echoed, the voice wasn't very loud, but everyone present heard it clearly.

  The big men surrounding the altar suddenly gave way to a straight path, and a lean, short figure came directly to the center of the scene.

  At this time, Wen Ya also stopped swallowing the blood and looked up to see a withered and thin old man, who seemed to be nothing but skin and bones, tottering towards him with a snow-white animal bone in his hand.

  The old man hunched over, his back bent, with various strange ornaments made of white beast bones on his body. He looked exceptionally old, with disheveled hair scattered like a bird's nest, and long arms as dry as hemp stalks. His skin was wrinkled layer by layer, and the years had written countless deep lines on his face, carving out numerous deep gullies, like dried orange peel, looking quite terrifying!

  However, the group surrounding the bonfire, who were two or three heads taller than the elder, shouted loudly but showed great respect towards him, each and every one of them bowing deeply to greet him.

  The old man's face also had a smile on it, his mouth wide open with deep wrinkles, revealing only four or five yellow teeth left.

  That emaciated old man, resembling a withered hemp stalk, slowly retreated several steps, nodding repeatedly. In the eyes of Wen Ya on the altar, a faint, eerie green glow flashed, looking quite strange.

  The old man burst out laughing with a loud "hahaha" and suddenly started shouting loudly, waving his hands and feet.

  By the firelight, seven or eight burly men behind him quickly brought over a gigantic creature.

  This is a nearly ten-meter-long black python with wings, its entire body covered in dense, fine, reverse-scale-like black scales. On either side of its body grew a pair of bat-like black flesh-wings; each time it flapped them, it would stir up a gust of wind.

  And the black giant python, apart from its massive body, has a blood-red crest on the top of its triangular head, and in its scarlet and ferocious huge mouth, it constantly spits out chips.

  However, its back, which was covered in dense scales, had been beaten to a pulp and was constantly dripping bright red blood onto the ground. The tip of its tail seemed to have been broken off by something hard and was now dangling limply in mid-air.

  "Hiss"

  At this moment, the giant python shook its huge head violently, a pair of olive-green pupils gleaming with ferocity and cruelty, constantly struggling and shaking fiercely.

  But those seven or eight burly men were incredibly strong, each with bulging muscles on their shoulders, either pinching the python's neck or hugging its body, and they simply carried it over.

  The slightly flattened body of the small bucket has a coarse texture, with white stripes on its abdomen that appear eerily cold in the light of the fire.

  The black python opened its huge mouth, revealing hundreds of sharp teeth, white and gleaming. The blood-red tongue darted in and out, emitting a foul odor that wafted towards the infant's cheek lying on the altar, making Wen Ya's face twitch nonstop.

  He only felt a deep-seated fear, as if he were lying naked in the icy snow, chilled to the bone from head to toe, with thick goosebumps all over his body.

  That small bucket-sized python was pressed to the ground by seven or eight big men, still struggling and not giving up, its long red tongue sticking out of its mouth, still hissing loudly.

  The withered old man, however, was not afraid at all. He looked at the long snake in front of him and nodded his head in apparent satisfaction. A strange smile hung on his wrinkled face like dried tangerine peel, and he slowly stretched out his black, calloused palm to touch the python's head.

  However, as if sensing something, the black python seemed to be terrified to the extreme, not even daring to struggle, shrinking its head and trying to coil into a circle...

  The old man let out a strange, cackling laugh and somehow produced a black stone knife from nowhere. The knife was covered in intricate patterns and talismans that seemed eerily sinister.

  The black python seemed to have sensed the crisis too, and began to exert itself, thrashing about its sleek body violently, its enormous strength almost instantly breaking free from the control of seven or eight sturdy men.

  However, this could not save its fate. The withered old man held a stone knife and cut off the long worm's head with a clean and neat slash.

  The pungent red blood gushed out like a fountain, flowing across the stone floor, and immediately another eerie blood light appeared, set against the dimly swaying torches around it, looking extremely ominous.

  Suddenly, the air around seemed to be filled with a strong smell of blood.

  The withered old man's face lit up, not daring to delay, his right hand tightly grasping the snow-white bone staff pointed at the python corpse dragging on the ground, the deep wrinkles on his face trembled, and his mouth uttered a series of obscure and unclear monosyllabic sounds!

  At the same time, his withered palm, like a dry branch, grabbed a handful of unknown green powder from the animal skin pouch he was carrying and suddenly sprinkled it on the python's corpse!

  Wen Ya's eyes widened in shock as he saw a strange and terrifying scene...

  As the old man's voice rose and fell in a hypnotic cadence, the severed snake head suddenly let out a savage hiss.

  A vague, eye-blurring, pale green shadow similar in shape to that strange python was slowly extracted from the snake's head!!

  Wen Ya's whole body shook violently on the altar!

  His heart was racing, thinking of the strange phenomena that had appeared before, Wen Ya had already guessed that the faint light, which seemed very weak, was probably... a soul!!!

  However, everything that happened at this time no longer allowed him to make any choices for himself, and Wenya could only wait quietly for the development of events.

  As the withered old man's strange voice rose from low to high, increasingly urgent, gusts of gloomy wind swept around the empty stone cave, and ripples of hidden waves spread out, faintly visible.

  The light grew more intense, strange ripples swirling around the cave, as if living creatures were twisting and writhing in mid-air, an eerie sight to behold!

  Finally, as the shrill and sharp voice of the withered old man suddenly stopped, the snake-like shadow floating on top of his staff instantly transformed into a faint green glow that flashed into Wen Ya's body.

  Wen Ya couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine, although his willpower was far stronger than that of ordinary people, he still felt a hint of fear towards the unknown fate that awaited him.

  The withered old man let out a sly smile, his sleeve fluttering as he once again muttered an incantation under his breath. His voice rose from low to high, growing increasingly urgent, causing Wen Ya's entire body to shudder violently. The blood-colored runes that covered her whole body suddenly seemed to come alive on her skin, darting back and forth ceaselessly.

  A faint halo of light spread slowly from Wenya's pupils, and he felt an intangible mysterious power invading his body.

  Suddenly, a mysterious severe pain came, Wen Ya only felt that his nerves were pulled into countless segments by a huge force, and the severe pain instantly drowned out his consciousness...

  Her head tilted to one side, the infant's pale body curled up, and she fainted!

  At this moment, the withered old man looked as if he had gone through a serious illness, his pale face was even more frightening than before.

  His eyes bulged, his gaze fixed intently on Wen Ya who had fainted on the altar, a satisfied smile spreading across his dry face.