Chapter 1, Arrival in the Wilderness

Outside the stone pit, the continuous Mangya Ridge stretches for about eight to nine hundred miles, and it is merely a branch of the northern ridge of Tushan.

The troll saw Chen Xun floating at the edge of the cave and asked, "What realm is this?"

The towering figure of the deity on this day is indeed the old Daoist who, as mentioned by the troll, will stop at nothing to eradicate the trolls even if it means crossing the boundless void

He watched helplessly as the golden tear completely seeped into his heart, ultimately leaving only a palm-sized burn mark on his chest

Afterward, the void mirror suddenly vanished, and apart from the rolling thunder that concealed its form among the mountains, it was as if nothing had occurred

There was even a dragon-like creature that burst forth from the ground, but as it flew into the air, it was struck by lightning and reduced to ashes, leaving only a massive skeleton to fall into the valley

A gust of wind swept through, and the troll, with its jade-like snow-white bones and dark golden, somber organs, in the blink of an eye, weathered like a stone mountain that had endured for millennia, turning into powder so fine it could not be further reduced, scattered by the wind... In the end, only a few shimmering, multicolored gemstones remained, scattered throughout the valley...

to eliminate completely

The milky-white mist swirls between heaven and earth, while the continuous Python Tooth Ridge stretches across the vast wilderness, hidden among the mist, resembling a blue dragon.

Upon waking up again, Chen Xun found himself lying naked in the deep valley of Mangya Ridge

The towering ridges, strikingly magnificent, crumbled into powder before Chen Xun's eyes

The old man Dao Xu has taken away this Emperor's magic horn, crossing the endless void only to seek complete annihilation. At this moment, I can only let you, an insignificant ant, benefit. This Emperor is unwilling...

In the void atop the Jueling Mountain, at the center of the lotus petal vortex, there emerges a mirror-like bright opening, from which a towering figure appears, seemingly reaching out from the endless void to observe this world.

The troll's voice was like thunder, and Chen Xun immediately fainted, perhaps one could also say he was scared into unconsciousness

Magic Angle

It is uncertain how much time has passed, but eventually the thunder and dark clouds gradually dissipated, leaving behind a clear sky with no clouds, and only countless mountains reduced to rubble, a chaotic scene that speaks of the ferocity of the divine wrath just moments before

Chen Xun felt his body gently touched by something resembling rippling water, and then he saw a towering figure, embodying supreme celestial might, emerging from the boundless void, ultimately fixing its gaze upon the valley transformed by the six-armed giant troll.

Chen Xun tied the grass rope hanging from the bottom of the medicine basket around his waist, securing the basket firmly. Just as he climbed along the cliff and had not gone far, large dark clouds began to gather on the eastern horizon

Chen Xun's mind was in a state of chaos, and he could hardly move a muscle. He watched in horror as the six-armed giant tore open its own chest, extracting a heart that was larger than a horse and pulsating like thunder, holding it in its hand

Beyond the intangible giant screen, purple lightning released from the void could find no outlet, striking the distant mountains and causing landslides and earthquakes everywhere.

The sight of the clouds stirred something within him, and Chen Xun's previously pent-up emotions began to ease. He bent down to carry the medicine basket on his back, contemplating the continuation of his journey

How vast this world is, is something that Chen Xun, who has been trapped in Mangya Ridge for more than three years, can hardly imagine

The distant mountains rise majestically, yet a mere touch of purple lightning can cause landslides and earthquakes

Three years ago on Earth, he was merely a young student who had just graduated from medical school. After graduation, he left the school and had two months of leisure time before officially reporting to the hospital where he had signed a work agreement. He packed his bag, carrying the melancholy of just having broken up with his girlfriend, and set off alone on a journey to the summit of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Chen Xun took a deep breath, stood up, walked to the edge of the stone pit, and gazed into the distance at the rolling, surging sea of fog. He looked at the faintly discernible mountain ridges within the fog, resembling sharp serpent fangs winding endlessly.

Chen Xun then confirmed that the six-armed giant troll had been completely killed under the bombardment of lightning, its remaining scales resembling rusted iron flowers, peeling off piece by piece

I am but an ant

On the giant troll's mountain-like body, the flesh and blood quickly withered and peeled away, turning into wisps of smoke upon touching the ground, ultimately revealing a snow-white skeleton resembling jade, along with the black and golden lungs, stomach, liver, spleen, and other organs within. The heart, which had been removed earlier, left behind a large gaping void.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Xun was drawn to the edge of the void's eye, where a grotesque giant face with a pair of large green horns on its forehead suddenly emerged from the aperture. With a green face, sharp fangs, and a gaping maw, it possessed three blood-red giant eyes, the central eye on its forehead emitting a dark, eerie glow, while the breath exhaled from its nostrils was filled with the scent of volcanic sulfur.

He did not understand why the majestic Xumi Mountain's Daxue Peak, under a clear blue sky, would suddenly experience such a violent and bookish tornado. He had no time to escape and was swept into the black wind column, being pulled into the air by the immense suction.

The humidity at the halfway up the mountain is particularly heavy, with dew seeping from the walls of the stone crevice, making the ground slippery. The young man found a stone slab to sit on, reached into the medicinal herb basket, and pulled out a piece of beast meat that had just been roasted last night, tearing off small pieces to chew on.

The clouds in the sky swirl, quickly forming a gigantic vortex capable of engulfing the entire snow-capped peak of Mount Sumeru. Lightning tears through the sky, silver serpents dance wildly, and amidst the flashes of lightning and the roars of thunder, a dark, oppressive column of wind is released from the center of the vortex, causing stones to fly and trees to break in the world.

Chen Xunqiang suppressed the impulse to worship the towering figure, and faintly heard the towering figure murmuring in the air: After one hundred thousand years of cultivation, to have achieved only a single horn along with these hundred bone elixirs, it is no wonder that it is so useless

For more than three years, Chen Xun has been unable to step beyond a radius of one hundred miles, let alone explore the vastness of the world outside.

The dark portal, when it first emerged in the void, was not large, only about the size of a stone millstone occasionally seen in rural areas, yet it possessed an infinite suction, mercilessly devouring countless large trees and boulders swept up by the wind, as well as all living and dead creatures such as antelopes and yaks from near and far

The mountain wind grew stronger, howling fiercely between the rugged cliffs

The misty sea has not yet dispersed, and dark clouds are approaching again. Accustomed to the bizarre changes in the weather of the western wasteland, Chen Xun leaned against the cliff, vigilantly observing the changes in the clouds at the horizon

The six-armed giant troll lay seemingly unscathed in the valley, now unimaginably enormous, its body stretching from head to toe, measuring at least four to five hundred meters in length, resembling a sprawling mountain range as it lay motionless for a long time

The more than twenty pieces of silk pages, having passed through the hands of countless individuals, are worn at the edges. The characters and patterns on the silk text have become blurred and indistinct, yet the young man carefully cradles them in his hands, reading with great interest

A greater force of thunder is still brewing between heaven and earth, with blue arcs of light flashing everywhere, and the trolls seem to be hesitant to emerge from the void's eye as a result

The desolate wilderness is filled with fierce birds and beasts, and only near the tribe is there a slight sense of safety

Chen Xun and a dozen wild men came down from the mountain and settled in a tribe called Wumang on the northern slope of Mangya Ridge, where they lived for three years

Chen Xun crawled through the desolate mountains and cliffs, enduring hardships for over two months, yet he still could not find his way out of the mountains. Ultimately, he encountered a group of more than ten wild men dressed in animal skins who had entered the mountains to hunt, and it was then that he realized he was no longer on Earth

This Emperor

As the troll struggled to pull half of its body out of the narrow opening, Chen Xun could finally see that four of its six arms were severed at the elbows. Its body was covered in naturally occurring black scales, dark and dull, with large patches peeling off, revealing numerous wounds of varying depths, from which oozed hissing, smoking blue blood

It felt as if countless metal needles were piercing him mercilessly, or as if he were being burned in the hottest flames. Waves of excruciating pain that gnawed at his very bones caused Chen Xun's entire body to twist and convulse uncontrollably.

Go ... ...

Yet within the golden droplets of blood seems to be concealed an endless, indomitable roar and howl, relentlessly bombarding Chen Xun's fragile soul, causing him to wish for death

Chen Xun wished he could die, yet his consciousness inadvertently remained awake, as if the six-armed giant troll wanted him to thoroughly "enjoy" the ultimate agony brought about by the stripping of tendons and bones, as well as the piercing wails of his soul

Before dawn, he left the village and climbed for most of the day. By the time he reached the mountainside, he was utterly exhausted. The young man found a stone crevice that could shield him from the wind. Seeing that it did not resemble a nest of fierce birds or beasts, he took off the medicine basket from his back and crawled inside to rest

The Way of Emptiness

The vegetation in the valley seems to sway like turbulent waves, with countless dead branches and decayed leaves swirling up, flying across the sky and covering the ground.

dragon-like creature

The young boy is dressed in animal skins, with a grass rope tied tightly around his waist. Beneath his disheveled hair is a delicate face that appears frail, yet his exposed shoulders are muscular and strong, marked by several cuts from tree vines and jagged rocks.

Amidst the vast and hazy mist, a young boy, carrying a woven herbal basket on his back, grips a vine hanging down from the cliff, searching for footholds among the jagged and sharp mountain rocks, striving to climb towards the ridge

Although it is only about 20 to 30 li from here to the village at the foot of the mountain, the dangers that arise after dark are unpredictable. If Chen Xun cannot reach the ridge ahead by noon, he will have no choice but to descend the mountain early

The rolling sea of fog was soon swept away by the raging winds, the dark clouds obscuring the heavens and the earth, and faintly one could hear the mournful roar of a giant beast. A massive arc of lightning struck the distant ridge, and the curtain of rain approached swiftly from afar.

The Tu Mountain, with its main range extending for thousands of miles, is merely a corner of the Western Wilderness. The vast expanse of the Western Wilderness, spanning over a hundred thousand miles, is just one of the nine regions of the boundless Cloud Wilderness continent

Chen Xun did not know how many times he had read the silk book, nearly every word and every painting was etched in his memory, yet whenever he had a moment of free time, he could not help but take out this scroll to read it again, hoping to uncover more secrets of this world

It is strange that whenever a drop of blood falls from the troll, countless branches of electric serpents and lightning strike the surrounding space, instantly causing the fallen blood to vanish without a trace, as if rejecting any foreign substance from tainting the Earth

The endless divine consciousness swept across the majestic mountains of a million desolate regions in an instant, also brushing past the seemingly insignificant body of Chen Xun

The sky was dark and gloomy, and amidst the flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder, Chen Xun could see that the six-armed giant troll was even larger than when it appeared on Earth, sitting at a height of about thirty to forty meters, resembling a stone mountain before him; the green giant horn on its forehead was also broken halfway, with a dark greenish-black liquid oozing out.

The enormous heart floated in mid-air, rapidly shrinking, and ultimately condensed into a small drop of golden blood in a strange glow, resembling a teardrop, which fell onto Chen Xun's chest

The stone pit is somewhat slanted inward, allowing rainwater to seep in, quickly forming a puddle. Chen found a high spot, sat against the wall, and placed a short-handled wooden spear across his knees for protection, on guard against any wild beasts that might also seek refuge in this stone pit from the rain

Endless Void

Tushan, the foremost of the Western Wilderness Ridges, features sheer cliffs rising thousands of feet. The ridges and valleys are abundant with pine, paulownia, and vines. Jagged and peculiar rocks abound, and there are beasts resembling sheep but with horse-like tails, whose fat can treat lacerations

Meanwhile, the invisible giant curtain that had blocked countless purple lightning bolts shattered in an instant like a crystal bottle. Those enormous bolts of lightning, carrying the might of heaven and earth, immediately found their target, converging from the surrounding ridges to strike together upon the body of the six-armed giant troll

Countless purple columnar lightning bolts rained down from the void, a hundred, a thousand, even ten thousand times more violent than any lightning that had ever struck the wasteland. Yet the six-armed giant troll sitting before him seemed to be shielded by an invisible giant curtain behind him, preventing the myriad thunders, which carried the might of heaven and earth, from encroaching even a fraction.

The apex of the wind column is not a void of chaotic clouds, but rather a dark, shadowy orifice, so dark that not a single ray of light can be seen, and the nearby light is severely distorted and deformed

Where can he escape to?

On the road from Lhasa to Jiangzi, one passes by the legendary Mount Sumeru's Great Snow Peak. At the foot of the mountain, the sun shines brightly under a clear sky, while suddenly, at the summit of the snow peak, clouds surge, creating ripples upon ripples.

After finishing the meat of the beast, the young man wiped his hands on the beast's hide twice and took out a scroll of silk from his bosom

However, there was no tornado this time

Chen Xun nimbly climbed back into the stone crevice, watching as a curtain of rain quickly descended outside, thinking that even if the heavy rain were to stop now, the cliff would be slick and wet, making it impossible to consider climbing up the ridge to pick the wild bellflower today

Every drop of the green liquid, upon falling to the ground, sizzled as it corroded a bottomless pit, turning soil and stone to dust, which frightened Chen Xun into crawling away on all fours

Just when Chen Xun thought everything had settled down, the clear sky, devoid of clouds, rippled endlessly like the surface of a lake. It was reminiscent of the situation he encountered at the foot of the snowy peak of Mount Sumeru, where the void gave rise to boundless clouds, forming countless vortexes resembling lotus petals, imbued with an indescribable sense of solemnity and grandeur

Countless enormous beasts and ferocious birds perished under the thunder and lightning among the mountains

Chen Xun was already so frightened that his limbs went weak

Golden blood, like the hottest fire, sizzled upon Chen Xun's chest, and in the next moment, it permeated into Chen Xun's body through his sweat pores at the fastest speed, akin to molten metal's heat flow, drilling into Chen Xun's heart

However, these twenty-odd pages of silk manuscripts contain no more than three to four thousand characters in total; how many secrets can Chen Xun possibly uncover from them?

This thin scroll of about twenty pages, when it first came into Chen Xun's hands, still bore the faint characters "Western Wilderness" on the cover, but later the writing was worn down to only a faint grayish-white trace

The rain continued unabated, and Chen Xun found himself trapped in the stone pit, unable to escape. With nothing to do, he could only reflect on the strange events that had occurred in his life over the past three years

Upon encountering the six-armed giant troll, Chen Xun was nearly scared out of his wits

The six-armed giant troll originally had a giant eye that emitted a dark, ghostly light in the middle of its forehead, beneath its green horn; at this moment, it was no longer visible. The other two eyes, resembling the giant eyes of a blood-red abyss, turned to look at Chen Xun, whispering softly:

Chen Xun's limbs are paralyzed, what kind of world is this

With a loud "huh" from the six-armed giant troll, Chen Xun was immediately propelled thousands of meters away, landing on a cliff that seemed endless both above and below.