Its outstretched arm has been broken, leaving only the elbow, and its face seems to have been deliberately destroyed, leaving only a vague outline.
The stone statue is covered with moss and has some cracks of various sizes, but as long as you touch the cold outer wall, you can still feel the cold and vast will. It has been buried and covered for many years, but the power within the body is not affected by the years at all.
Zhang Cheng, with gray hair, stood beside the stone statue.
He is thirty years old this year, which is already an old man in the Jindan Kingdom. He has already felt that his teeth are loose, and his hands, feet, waist and neck are often sore or even tingling. Whether he is walking or refining alchemy, he has become less efficient.
Zhang Cheng looked at the face of the stone statue that seemed to be looking at him, put his palms against the stone wall, and said softly: "I need to find out the weaknesses of the gods."
"Exchange with me, Evil God."
"Give me your power, and I'm willing to pay any price."
The stone statue remained silent.
…
When he was eleven or twelve years old, Zhang Cheng and his younger brother Zhang Ye went to the wild to pick up rags whenever they had free time, just like other people of the same age.
Brothers working together can always gain something.
Zhang Cheng had a keen eye and a sharp mind, while Zhang Ye had a skillful and powerful hand. They dug out all kinds of valuable small things from the ruins and mountain valleys, including rusty iron sheets, broken copper utensils, broken stone pots, glass pieces, broken leather... these things were obtained.
Can be exchanged for sugar and rice in town.
Every time they return home with a full load, my mother will be very happy and then worried.
"Be careful, be careful of robbers."
Zhang Cheng always didn't care: "They can't catch us. We're following the [Divine Guards] or caravans, and they don't dare to come forward."
"There is also poisonous rain and poisonous fog. You must remember to bring a thousand-leaf umbrella and a face towel."
"I know, I know."
"Don't run around, it's not safe outside...it's most important that you practice your skills well."
My mother always said tirelessly: "Cheng'er, you have to make elixirs well, and Ye'er, you have to learn alchemy well. If you two learn your skills well, you can have enough food and clothing, and be safe in the city."
"Don't worry, Mom, we came out only after finishing our homework, otherwise we wouldn't be able to come out."
Zhang Cheng said with a smile.
At that time, he always felt that his mother was too nagging, always nagging the same words over and over again.
My mother is already thirty-six years old, which is indeed too old.
People in Jindan Kingdom reach adulthood at the age of twelve, and they are young from twelve to twenty-five years old. After twenty-five years, they will age visibly with the naked eye, and they will enter old age.
There is always poisonous rain in the sky, and many places on the ground are filled with poisonous gas and pungent acid gas, and there are few clean water sources. People in the village use well water every day, but they use water tanks to settle it, and only boil the upper water for drinking.
But there will still be a faint strange smell.
But these are nothing.
This is how everyone came here.
It's okay in the village, but the real danger is in the wild. In order to have enough to eat, people will still go to the wild to look for various relics, digging three feet into the ground to pick up rags.
But there are also poisonous animals in the wild.
The most common venomous beasts are insects, which vary in size. If bitten by them, it will be difficult to save without timely treatment.
Animal-like poisonous beasts are less likely to attack people, because it is difficult for them to survive after being injured in the wild. But once they are provoked or their territory is threatened, the poisonous beasts will launch the most ferocious attack, and the danger is far greater.
To poisonous insects.
But people also have ways to deal with it, and that is alchemy and alchemy.
Alchemy is the transformation and enhancement of various substances such as metal, stone, leather, and wood to create incredibly powerful tools. These include indestructible axes and swords, wooden oxen and iron horses that can carry goods, and can release fire and lightning.
walls, and flying balls that sense poisonous rain and poisonous mist.
Alchemy is the art of refining elixirs to enhance and change the human body. Some elixirs are extremely poisonous and can kill you if touched, some are magical elixirs that can heal injuries after being taken, some are rare elixirs that prolong life, and some can make human power infinite.
, obtain magical medicines with various supernatural powers.
These two forces that influence the world, as well as the entire Jindan Kingdom, rely on the blessing of the god "Mountain God".
In the earliest times, mountain gods regulated the entire world. There were no poisons at that time, people lived freely everywhere, food could be grown in large areas of land, rivers and lakes were filled with clean water, and people could live over forty years old.
But the arrival of the evil god from outside changed everything.
The evil god destroyed the past country and history, and wanted to completely destroy this place. The mountain god launched a fierce battle with it.
In the end, the evil god was killed by the mountain god. The evil god's blood turned into poisonous rain. His bones were buried deep in the ground, making it difficult for the soil to grow food. His flesh was eaten by many wild beasts and turned into poisonous beasts. His curse spread across all things.
The mountain god was also extremely weak.
Since then, the mountain god has been cultivating in the earth, and people have prayed for the mountain god and offered faith and animal sacrifices. People's piety can gradually restore the mountain god, and one day in the future, the whole world will return to its former brightness and cleanliness.
This is something everyone in the Jindan Kingdom knows.
The curse of the evil god will break out at any time, turning people into monsters, killing the people of the mountain god and various living creatures everywhere for the evil god. In order to curb the curse, the mountain god gave blessings to every child born and used the divine seal to restrain the curse.
It's a pity that even so, the evil god's hatred of death cannot be completely suppressed. The limit of human life span is forty years. All elderly people approaching the age of forty will be sent to Old Man Mountain, where they will be taken care of by the Divine Guards.
Prevent their curse from breaking out and let them spend their last days peacefully.
There are also old people who refuse to go to Old Man Mountain to escape.
The Divine Guards will conduct forced arrests to prevent them from turning into monsters and endangering the lives of the people.
Zhang Cheng saw with his own eyes an old man whose curse broke out.
It was a ferocious-looking old man, probably in his mid-thirties, who was blocked on a small slope by the Divine Guards.
The old man was so frightened that he trembled all over. He babbled for a while, his eyes suddenly bulged, and his face began to bleed. His neck suddenly lifted back, almost breaking, but the old man's chest bulged outwards and cracked.
Open it, and a strange oval-shaped bloody thing squeezes out from the inside.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The soldiers swarmed up, stuffed the strange thing back into the old man's chest, tied it tightly with a rope, and then put the old man, who did not know whether he was alive or dead, on the iron horse and took him away.
Zhang Cheng was picking up rags at that time, and this scene shocked him extremely.
At that time, he secretly made up his mind to treat his mother well and not let her become like that old man - it is said that the old man ran away because he was crazy. His son and daughter thought he was a useless person and often beat him and scolded him.
Give him food, so he runs away.
…
The day his mother was about to leave, Zhang Cheng suddenly realized that he was not as calm as he thought.
The escorting Divine Guards have arrived at the door of the house.
"Mom, you are only thirty-seven, you can go again when you are thirty-nine." Zhang Cheng tried his best to persuade.
"My health is not very good to begin with. I cough every day and my health is getting worse and worse. I can't take more than two steps and I'm out of breath. I fell down last time and I almost lay in bed and couldn't get up. I still need food for one more person at home.
...It would be better to go to Old Man Mountain as soon as possible. The state will support it and won’t cause you any trouble or burden.”
Mother packed her bags with a smile, stuffed old handkerchiefs, clothes and a blanket into her pocket, and tied them up skillfully: "It's not like you can't meet me. If you want to see me, just write an application and if approved, you can come to the town.
The old man looks at me from the mountain."
Zhang Cheng felt uncomfortable watching his mother leave under the escort of two soldiers.
The father died early in the wild, the mother left again, and now the two brothers are left to depend on each other.
"Brother, can we still see mom?" Zhang Ye, the younger brother, was dejected.
"Absolutely! We have to learn our skills well so that we can pass the application first!"
Zhang Cheng secretly made up his mind to become an alchemist as soon as possible.
…
Alchemists spend a lot of time perfecting the alchemy formula, but most new results are produced between fifteen and twenty-five years old, and then they are constantly optimized and perfected.
Zhang Cheng himself possesses a kind of boldness and ruthlessness that exceeds that of other people. This boldness has brought him one step away from death several times. It also allows him to test medicine on his own in a short period of time and achieve results that exceed those of other apprentices.
The second year after his mother went to Lao Lao Mountain, Zhang Cheng tried a new elixir [Calm Pill].
This is an elixir that can make a person clear-headed after being eaten. Although the grade rating is very low due to the large number of similar elixirs, it can be regarded as an achievement recognized by the highest organization of alchemists in the capital [Alchemy Department].
Zhang Cheng concealed his real achievement [PoWu Dan], and the tranquilizing pill was only a part of PoWu Dan.
This is a pill that can break many spells, but it has many side effects, including vomiting, nausea, bleeding and tinnitus. To ensure it is effective, you have to take at least three pills at a time, which is extremely harmful to the body.
In addition, the efficacy of Powandan is extremely unstable. It is essentially a poison. The toxin temporarily damages people's vision, hearing and other perceptions, making it difficult for other external abilities to take effect on it. When the elixir enters the body, the toxin has not yet penetrated the body.
Before a complete outbreak leads to temporary loss of the five senses, the drug is effective.
Zhang Cheng wants to find a magical elixir that can completely solve the problem of the evil god's curse and allow his mother to continue to live.
To solve the curse, you must first see the curse.
Time is running out and he must cherish every day.
After becoming an alchemist, Zhang Cheng successfully passed the application, and together with his younger brother Zhang Ye, came to the Old Man Mountain behind the town. After passing many checkpoints, he arrived at the halfway point of the Old Man Mountain. There were many old people living here, with their respective
Visitors meeting at home.
Most of the old people are in good spirits. Although their hair is white and their movements are slow, their skin is rosy. It seems that they have not been treated badly on weekdays.
Mother also slowly walked out of a room inside, her eyes lit up when she saw them: "Are you here? Ye'er is really tall, Cheng'er, you are not as tall as your brother, right?
Didn’t you have a good meal?"
"No way."
Brothers Zhang Cheng and Zhang Ye both laughed.
Then the two brothers chatted with their mother about their current situation.
In order to confirm the current status of the curse on his mother, Zhang Cheng took out the prepared Powan Dan from his pocket and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Cheng'er, are you hungry? I have pancakes here, and the pancakes on the mountain are delicious." Mother opened the cloth bag she carried with her and took out a hot scone.
Zhang Ye took it and ate it, with a smile on his face: "It's so delicious!"
"Slow down, slow down." The mother smiled and touched his face. She turned her face and looked at Zhang Cheng beside her: "Cheng'er, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"
"No, it's okay."
"You said you're fine? You have a nosebleed. What's wrong? What disease do you have?" The mother's face was full of worry.
Zhang Ye said: "Don't worry, my brother is in good health. He is an alchemist now. He must have stayed up too late."
"Um."
Zhang Cheng wiped his nosebleed and forced a smile on his pale face.
He tried hard to suppress his fear and confusion, and clenched his trembling fingers into fists.
Because under the power of the barrier-breaking pill, Zhang Cheng saw that his mother had turned into a white skeleton, and the bones of her hands could still move. The sight of the black skull made his hair stand on end.
Not only that, the old people around them were all skeletons. However, the people watching them were completely unaware of this, and the same was true for the guards next to them.
There must be some kind of magic that confuses everyone.
This is not Old Man Mountain, but a skeleton grave.
Old Man Mountain was built in towns one after another by the prophet under the orders of the mountain god. It is impossible not to know this situation.
The only possibility is that this is the true face of Old Man Mountain.
The old people who entered the mountain had long since died.
The mountain god who used to feel upright and heroic now shows his true face of gloom and evil.
Zhang Cheng wiped his nosebleed with his sleeve.
The world is not what it seems.
…
Zhang Cheng returned home, closed the door, and made sure no one was prying around, then told Zhang Ye about the incident.
The younger brother didn't believe it at all at first. However, during another visit two months later, he also took three Powan Pills and saw a horrific scene he had never seen before, and had to accept this cruel fact.
"Brother... why is this happening... Mom is dead..." Zhang Ye was stunned: "What should we do?"
Zhang Cheng looked into the distance, where was Old Man Mountain in the darkness.
"We have to escape from here, as far away as possible."
He wanted to say we want revenge, but he couldn't.
Because behind Old Man Mountain and the monsters it feeds, there stands the mountain god that cannot be resisted.
Zhang Cheng clenched his fists tightly, and finally slowly released them.