Chapter 1: The Yin Evil Sect

  ……

  To the west of Kang State, there is a mountain range known as Tianmai, which is famous for its majesty, danger and evil.

  Its majesty, the main vein stretches across the north and south, winding for over 380,000 miles, its back connecting heaven and earth, birds exhaust their strength and cannot cross. Its danger, branch veins crisscrossing, towering mountains and steep ridges in the hundreds of millions. Thousands of feet of sheer cliffs, tens of thousands of feet of hanging precipices can be seen everywhere, making it difficult for even mountain apes to climb. Its evil, miasmic valleys and poisonous pools, malevolent swamps and wicked ridges are countless, with ferocious beasts occupying the roads, ghosts and monsters roaming about, even if a cultivator who has achieved success enters, they will also be reduced to nothing but bones if they are not careful.

  Near the southern end, there is a branch called Yinfeng Mountain Range. This range extends northeastward for more than 30,000 miles, enclosing a large area with the main range at an angle. The warm southeast monsoon winds are blocked, and the hot southwest winds cannot pass through either. This region is swept by north winds all year round, and due to its unique terrain, the north winds can only swirl within this angle. As a result, it is overcast and windy here throughout the year.

  It is said that many years ago, a powerful commercial empire suffered a defeat. Several million soldiers protecting the emperor and hundreds of thousands of noble families fled into this seemingly spacious gorge, only to find themselves trapped in a dead end. Naturally, nearly 4-5 million people, along with pursuing troops, engaged in a fierce battle here. Afterwards, corpses littered the fields, and countless vengeful spirits remained.

  Time has passed, that great commercial empire had disappeared for many years. And the victorious Great Chen Empire, after being brilliant for thousands of years, dissipated more than 30,000 years ago.

  Nowadays, in this vast area known as the Valley of Yin and Yang, it has become increasingly gloomy and eerie. At night, dark clouds cover the sky, and you can't see your fingers when you stretch out your hand. In the mountains and valleys, there are howling winds, wailing ghosts, and dense demonic shadows. Ordinary people who hear this would be terrified out of their wits.

  However, just as thousands of demons and ghosts were about to emerge, the mountain in the middle of the valley, which had its peak cut off, was unusually bustling.

  That mountain was a huge square with hundreds of miles, and it's unknown who had cast a great divine power to cut off nearly half of it. On this platform, magnificent halls stood tall, and exquisite pavilions were countless. However, those halls were majestic but felt cold and eerie, with heavy yin energy. The pavilions were delicate but the fine carvings were either skulls or evil spirits. Especially the main gate's hundred-zhang-high archway seemed to be made of countless white bones, with rows of ferocious vengeful spirits nailed inside, wailing and cursing, struggling and scolding. If someone approached, they would often be entangled by tens of thousands of vengeful spirits and disappear without a trace in just a few breaths.

  At the highest point of the pagoda, three huge characters "Yin Xie Zong" were written in a dense and majestic manner. If you look closely, you can discover that each character seems to be a living thing, slightly twisting and turning, and from time to time, a blurry and ferocious human face can be seen, constantly emitting a fierce and resentful aura. These are the ancestral spirits of several famous sects that were destroyed by Yin Xie Zong, later refined into ghost infants through the Wan Xie Great Array after years of torture. The ghost infant not only endures the suffering of Yin Xie's torture at all times but also must fight to defend the sect when it is attacked. It is truly a fate worse than death.

  Such scenes seemed to have formed a canvas of purgatory.

  July 14th.

  Every ten years, today is the grand day of Yinsha Sect. On ordinary days, the old ancestors from various peaks, caves and valleys will gather together to exchange their experiences and treasures. Of course, the most important thing is still the once-in-a-decade Disciple Allocation Day.

  Any sect, if it wants to continue for a long time and expand, cannot be achieved by just one or two masters. The inheritance of the sect is considered a grand event by every sect, regardless of whether it is an orthodox or evil sect. Cultivating immortality, so-called cultivating immortality, is not something that everyone has the qualifications for. To cultivate immortality, one must have a spiritual root to begin with. However, among ordinary people, those who possess a spiritual root are less than one in ten thousand. And among those who possess a spiritual root, nine out of ten are useless and cannot be cultivated. The remaining ones are also unequal in terms of quality.

  As a result, the Yin evil sect has a large number of people who are constantly searching for children with spiritual roots within and outside their sphere of influence. Within their sphere of influence, they can openly take them away. However, in areas beyond their control, they will secretly kidnap and deceive, using every means possible to get what they want.

  Within the sphere of influence of the Yin Family, they control three or four major countries and six or seven smaller ones. The total population is one billion. However, out of this population of one billion, only 600 to 700 children can be nurtured every ten years to become suitable for the Yin Family's purposes. In addition, there are also people from various branches and tribes under the Yin Family who are sent over, as well as those who have been brought in from outside their sphere of influence. According to historical records, the most they have ever taken in at one time is just over 900 children.

  This time, a total of seven hundred and sixteen people.

  ……

  His face was as white as a sheet. In fact, any thirteen-year-old child would have looked even more pitiful in this eerie and terrifying place surrounded by flames and wailing ghosts, like the underworld of Buddhist mythology.

  Like other children, some were even scared to tears.

  But after the child who cried the loudest was beheaded with one sword, hundreds of children, either frightened or because killing a chicken to scare monkeys had an effect, all quieted down.

  His face was very pale, first of all, he was indeed frightened by this gloomy and terrifying place. Secondly, it was due to his great disappointment in his heart. Since crossing into this ancient town-like place, he had also fantasized about living a life of his own, like other crossers, living a life of great fanfare. For this reason, since he could move around, he had never given up on training his body. In order to rely on this body in the future, to fight on the battlefield, kill enemies, and make achievements. Although his family was not a wealthy or noble one, it was still quite well-off, and he didn't lack food or clothing. As a result, at a young age, he had trained himself to be tall and strong, looking like a big boy of sixteen or seventeen years old.

  Suddenly obtaining the qualification for cultivating immortality, after being detected to have a spiritual root. Lei Dong was truly overjoyed and couldn't contain himself. Originally thought that this world he crossed into was an ancient world where various countries stood. Never expected that those legendary figures who only appeared in rumors actually existed.

  He couldn't help but be moved, originally even if he had the advantage of being a traverser, with good luck he could become a wealthy merchant, with better luck he could become a king or general, and with extremely good luck, he would at most become an emperor. A hundred years of life, in the blink of an eye.

  But once he knew that this world was a world with cultivators, and he was lucky enough to obtain this qualification. Naturally, Lei Dong began to indulge in fantasies. With a robust and handsome appearance, wearing white clothes with fluttering sleeves, carrying a sword on his back, stepping on flying swords, killing monsters to level up, flirting with girls, most importantly, he could also live forever. It was truly a top-notch enjoyment.

  But what I never expected was that after being cultivated together for two years, I was brought to this ghostly place today. Yin Xie Sect, just hearing the name is not a reputable sect. Looking at the environment and the attire of the people, either evil or sinister, as well as the red and black uniforms with Yin Xie's fierce ghosts embroidered on them. It's clear that this is an evil sect.

  It seems that in books, evil can't suppress righteousness. Those seemingly powerful ghostly demons and evil cultivators will ultimately die at the hands of renowned righteous sects. Putting aside what's written in those books for now, I think about the White-Robed Fairy Sisters who have been on my mind for nearly two years. Once they see me, this evil cultist, they probably won't let me off easily and might even say something like "Demon Head, look at my sword!" before flying swords come swooshing towards me.

  Just thinking about these things made Lei Dong's mouth corners twitch with some bitterness.

  What made him even more distressed was that these over 700 children had been surrounded in a circle, with a dozens-of-zhang-square dueling arena in the center. It was indeed an evil sect, as even their dueling arena was built with eerie and sinister intentions, inlaid with countless dry bones and corpses, emitting a faint green glow and a chilling ghostly wind.

  On the martial arts arena, two disciples in their twenties were fighting back and forth. One of them, a tall disciple, was holding a sword hilt, commanding a small sword emitting a faint green glow to dance in the air, chasing after a shorter disciple. At the same time, he was laughing maniacally: "Junior brother, still not surrendering? Don't wait until my Green Flame Sword pierces your heart and refines your soul with the Green Flame!"

  That towering brother's yin fire sword was extremely agile, flying and dancing like a bird in flight or a fish swimming. The sword was extremely sharp, capable of cutting through gold and iron with ease. The most vicious part was that it had been tempered with yin fire, so when it came into contact with the body, it wouldn't burn the flesh, but instead would scorch the soul. The pain to the soul was ten times more severe than physical pain. An ordinary person who came into contact with even a tiny bit of it would be tortured to death in an instant, their expression twisted in agony, clawing at themselves until not a single piece of intact skin remained, truly an evil poison beyond compare.

  The Youhuo Sword is one of the flagship flying swords of the Yīn Shuāi Sect, and due to its immense power, many disciples choose to forge this sword. However, because of the varying levels of craftsmanship and material quality, the strengths and weaknesses of the swords are naturally different.

  That short guy also had a Yinyue sword, just not long ago, in the duel with that tall disciple, he persisted for a short while before being cut into two segments and fell to the ground like a dead fish. After struggling twice, the green light completely dimmed. It was clear that the level of their Yinyue swords differed.

  Nowadays, the short man is in a desperate situation, fleeing in disarray. However, his movements are still quite agile, and most of the time he can narrowly avoid the ghostly fire sword. Occasionally, when he fails to escape, a silver shield with eerie and sinister carvings would suddenly appear, blocking an attack for him. Unfortunately, after blocking several attacks, the silver shield is now covered in cracks and can no longer be used.

  People's hearts often sympathize with the weak, especially many children and teenagers. The crowd that was forced to watch Lei Dong and his gang, after listening to a person with a stiff face explain why they had to fight, mostly couldn't help but feel sympathy for the short and disadvantaged boy.

  However, Lei Dong had a different view. The short guy was hiding in a sorry state, but his face was calm and collected, without any sign of fear, as if he had some tricks up his sleeve. Otherwise, in this battle where surrendering would be acceptable, continuing to fight not only made no sense but also posed a risk to his life.