Spring had passed, and the ice and snow in the north should have lted according to past routines, but this year was different. The surge in spiritual energy made the lingering ice in the Mortal World unusually tough. In a ti lacking food, this deadly weather proved fatal.
It made the already difficult survival of the common people even harder.
Since the serpent disaster, the Northern Territory had suffered heavy casualties. Near the Capital City in the north, areas not invaded by the giant python could previously hold on. But that was only up until six months ago. By this year, the Imperial Court had essentially lost the ability to govern locally. Almost every district below the county level was out of control, with refugees everywhere. Daily, thousands either starved to death or were killed by mutated livestock.
Great Lian City, close to the Northern Sea, had so mariti resources. Before the catastrophe, life there was relatively prosperous. The citizens of Great Lian City used to be among the better-off in the north, but now things were different. Being near the coast, it was easier to suffer from water demon attacks. With the Imperial Court no longer suppressing and the mutation of spiritual energy, demons grew more rampant, turning nearly every city and county into ghost towns with hardly any human presence, just cold skeletons and eerie shadows of the past.
Yet, in this small town, many people had gathered.
In usual tis of disaster, refugees would flee to large cities where the granaries were generally full. Governnt offices and civil officers, to avoid unrest, would at least establish disaster relief shelters and distribute porridge. However, this ti it was unusual. Tens of thousands of ragged refugees had gathered in this inconspicuous small town. Many were so hungry they were just skin and bones, staying here with their families, seemingly very persistent.
"Husband, is it really useful?"
In the crowd, in a secluded corner, a family of four watched from a distance.
Even in broad daylight, the town emitted a gentle Buddha Light. In the days of deep winter, people could feel a trace of warmth here, dispelling the dreadful chills.
"It’s correct. I rember, it’s not mistaken. There is a thod to transcend the world here. Similar disasters have occurred before, but as long as there is Buddha Light, there will be a way...."
The wife looked at her husband feeling sowhat estranged. He used to be a man who did not believe in spirits, always relying on himself. Whenever there were difficulties, he would find a way out for the whole family by himself, including escaping the snake disaster to Great Lian City. Relatives who initially stayed in the north had no news.
Initially, his decision was to go through Southeast Pass to seek a way out in the territory of the King of Qin, Chen Qing. For so reason, a few days ago, he suddenly led the whole family back to this small place, claiming there was a path of redemption for the family here....
"Head of the household..." the woman whispered cautiously while looking outside: "I feel sothing is wrong here; perhaps... we should leave?"
Among the crowd outside, it was not only people. She had clearly seen many wearing human clothes but with demon faces, and she spent every night uneasily with her children, worried about the demons hidden among the crowd coming to steal and eat her children, she had heard of such things. Just the other day, a woman cried that her three children had disappeared, but her husband, heart as hard as iron, no matter how the woman sobbed and scread, was unwilling to leave the place to search for their children.
In the end, when the woman made a big fuss, the husband even violently killed her!
She had seen heartless acts before, but never had she been so frightened as now.
Because she saw that many of the onlookers at that ti were indifferent, behaving as if it were none of their concern, including... her own husband!
She always rembered that her husband was a warmhearted person. Back when they were in the village, if soone in the neighborhood had any issues, he would lend a hand, but this ti... it was completely as if he had changed into another person...
Yes, she had felt it from a few days ago, her husband... seed like another person.
"Is anyone there?"
Suddenly, a gentle voice sounded outside.
Her family had chosen a dilapidated thatched cottage because the roof had been completely leaking, which was why it had been uninhabited. Her husband was quite skilled in carpentry and quickly repaired the house. Since it was a bit far from the town center, it hadn’t been noticed yet, back when her husband hadn’t yet changed so drastically.
"Who is it?"
The husband looked outside coldly.
The two children also cautiously looked over. Standing at the door was a young, gentle-faced scholarly man dressed in white, seemingly not a bad character.
This literate and reasonable man indeed seed more reassuring than those starving refugees outside with green glinting eyes.
"Sorry to disturb..." the Scholar said gently: "My na is Chen Lin, guided here by Buddha Light, to visit and resolve my karmic debts from past lives. Seeing that the town seems to have filled up, I thought about finding a place outside to stay, never expecting that this secluded cottage still had soone."
Upon hearing the other being guided by Buddha Light, the husband’s originally cold face showed a trace of warmth, quickly standing up and saying, "My brother, are you also guided here?"
"It appears so, brother," the Scholar said with a gentle smile: "Your complexion is rosy; it seems you’re not lacking food. To provide warmth and fullness for your family in such chaotic tis, you must be a capable man. Under these circumstances, you did not go to the Capital City or Jiangnan to avoid trouble, but ca here. You must not be ordinary."
"It seems we are like-minded!" The man imdiately burst out laughing, glanced outside to make sure there was no one else, then hurriedly invited the Scholar in: "Please, co in sir."
The Scholar smiled and nodded, stepping inside.
The woman, upon hearing about the past life, felt a chill in her heart. She had always felt her husband was sowhat deranged these past few days, and now it wasn’t just her husband. What did this past life refer to?
Could this so-called mory of past life be the reason why her husband had beco so unrecognizable?
"Sir, your clothes are spotless, not like an ordinary scholar. It seems...you must be from a Noble Family, right?"
"You have a good eye," the Scholar smiled. "I’m a descendant of the South Sea Chen Family."
"The South Sea Chen Family?" The man scrutinized him and nodded: "Is it the Chen Family that retreated from Capital City to the Southern Sea? That’s a prestigious family. You gave up the protection of the Chen Family to co here? Aren’t you afraid?"
"There was indeed so hesitation," the Scholar smiled bitterly. "In these chaotic tis, the Chen Family is one of the few families capable of offering protection. And now that the Chen Family has allied with Jiangnan, it’s even more stable. But I always feel that, compared to the things in my mory, family possessions are nothing. My true path lies here..."
"It seems you and I are the sa," the man exclaid, seemingly having found a kindred spirit. "These days, each ti I dream a different life. Sotis I don’t know whether I am in a dream or in reality. Coming here, I just want to know, which one is ."
"Although you dress ordinarily and possess no Spiritual Power or Divine Skills, your deanor is extraordinary. It seems that in your dreams, you must have encountered extraordinary events. You must have been... a great figure before?" the Scholar squinted and speculated.
The man confird, seeming to recall sothing. His gaze beca puzzled but also frenzied!
In his dreams... he had dominated the Storm and Cloud, even the Four Seas Dragon Kings dared not provoke him. Kings of the Human Race seed no better than livestock in his eyes. How could he be like now, insignificant as ants, dependent on others even for a full al?
That dream was so real that it made him even more unable to accept his current days. That’s why he had to co here, to search for the truth!
A dream?
The woman listening to the two n talk, watching her husband’s confused yet frenzied eyes becoming even more unfamiliar. It was like this again; she had sensed it long ago, The way her husband looked at her and their children was not like a husband and father’s gaze but... like looking at food...
Sotis she doubted whether her husband’s mind had been seized by a Water Demon.
And now, this Scholar suddenly appearing was further bewildering her husband. No, she had to think of sothing...
But suddenly, just as she was about to do sothing, a gentle voice ca into her mind.
"Madam, do not act rashly. Your husband is deluded by the charms of the Buddha Kingdom and has already lost his reason. Do not provoke him casually, else he might do sothing insane."
The woman was startled and sharply turned her gaze towards the Scholar still chatting rrily with her husband.
Was it he who was secretly talking to her?
Should she believe him?
What exactly... is he?
This Scholar was none other than Chen Qing, originally planning to go directly to that temple to investigate, but unexpectedly found so many people gathered here.
And naturally, Chen Qing did not dare to approach easily, as he didn’t know how many of Buddha’s Incarnations were hidden among these tens of thousands of people, and with his Spiritual Power completely gone, a slight misstep could capsize his plans.
Especially this person before him.
Although he still appeared to be an ordinary person, once the mory of his past life was activated and the seed hidden inside his body sprouted, he might instantly find sothing from the Dream Space to prove his self-identity, becoming a Great Demon!
This place was a breeding ground for demons; anyone could transform into an extrely terrifying being in a flash!
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