139: Chapter 139 The First Spiritual Resource.

...

No matter where you go, heading towards inhabited areas is never wrong.

Chu Ran walked towards the village where cooking smoke rose, with Lin Yuhen following behind him.

Lin Yuhen's face had turned as red as a bubble tea kettle because of the words Chu Ran had just spoken.

"The spiritual energy you provided is too little."

Her mind was in turmoil at this moment, unsure whether she should be relieved for escaping death or resentful of the other party's undisguised contempt...

Although every word the other party said was an undeniable fact...

They were currently in the state of having just entered the Moon Radiance Secret Realm, like an almost empty spiritual energy jar. Smashing this jar, aside from expending some effort, would yield only a pitiful amount of spiritual energy...

Perhaps it wouldn't even be worth two bowls of rice from the local inhabitants here...

After arriving at the village, Chu Ran saw the local inhabitants here.

They weren't three-headed and six-armed as legends described, nor were they holy figures enveloped in divine light, lofty and aloft...

The group before them lived simply and roughly, no different from the most ordinary common folk on the outside continent...

Bent over in the fields, they held only the most primitive and crude farming tools.

Many of the men wore only rough animal hides, most bare-chested, without even a decent set of clothes. Their entire beings bore only the simplicity and resilience tempered by wind and frost...

Noticing the intrusion of outsiders, the villagers quickly gathered into a silent human wall at the village entrance.

No clamor, no probing, only tense and vigilant gazes, like blades tempered with chill, fell upon Chu Ran and Lin Yuhen.

Being stared at so intently with such guarded eyes, Lin Yuhen felt extremely uncomfortable all over and instinctively shrank behind Chu Ran.

Steadying himself, Chu Ran took the initiative to step forward, speaking as gently as possible:

"May I ask... do you know what place this is?"

All eyes around turned towards the old man at the center of the crowd. Clearly, this person was the most respected leader in this village.

The old man slowly stroked his graying long beard, his cloudy eyes sweeping over the two of them, and spoke calmly:

"You are... Gods Chosen Ones?"

Hearing the words "Gods Chosen Ones," Chu Ran's heart jolted violently, and a light instantly shone in his eyes.

He guessed right!

The people here indeed knew the secret of the trial!

As long as he could gather information from their mouths, this trial would no longer be a directionless struggle!

Chu Ran immediately nodded, his joy almost overflowing, and was just about to press for details about the secret realm and the trial when the old man's calm yet weighty voice slowly fell once more:

"We are the same as you. We are all Gods Chosen Ones."

A light, seemingly casual sentence struck Chu Ran and Lin Yuhen's hearts with the force of a thunderclap.

The joy on Chu Ran's face was as if doused with ice water, instantly freezing him in place, completely solidified.

As joy faded, bewilderment surged, and disbelief flooded over him like a tide.

These local inhabitants, dressed in simple clothes, draped in animal hides, like the most ordinary mortals...

Weren't actually natives of this secret realm, but were Gods Chosen Ones swept into the trial just like them?

Then how long had they been living here...?

And what had they experienced to become what they were now?

An absurd and terrifying thought silently exploded within his heart.

The gazes of the crowd remained vigilant, yet now tinged with a bit of numbness and sorrow.

Seeing Chu Ran's instantly frozen expression, the old man sighed softly, a sigh carrying a weariness that even the long years could not smooth away.

"Did you think we were the innate inhabitants of this land?"

He slowly turned around, looking towards the dilapidated, simple village behind him. His gaze swept over the people draped in animal hides, their faces numb, his voice so low it seemed to drift from an abyss.

"We were once like you, spirited and ambitious, stepping into this so-called trial, thinking we could seize creation, ascend to the peak, and become people favored by the gods."

"But we... never made it out."

Chu Ran's heart sank heavily.

"If one's spiritual energy is exhausted and they become a mortal before the trial ends, they will be trapped here forever, day after day, year after year..."

"Techniques, treasures, and power from the outside world are difficult to use in a place without spiritual energy. We lost our way back, lost our cultivation, and in the end, even decent clothes and sufficient food gradually ran out. We can only eke out an existence here like the most ordinary mortals..."

The old man raised his eyes, those eyes that had long seen through life and death, and quietly settled on Chu Ran.

"We are not the original inhabitants."

"We are... the Gods Chosen Ones trapped here..."

As these words fell, Chu Ran felt half the blood in his body turn cold.

These simple, crude, mountain-wild mortal-like people before him were actually all Gods Chosen Ones who had come to participate in the trial, just like him.

And their current appearance was the most real, most brutal outcome of this trial...

The losers eat dust, the strong survive. This devouring law remains unchanged no matter where you go!

...

Perhaps because it had been too long since they had seen outsiders, the "local inhabitants" here seemed somewhat warmly hospitable, even bringing out their remaining spiritual food to entertain Chu Ran and Lin Yuhen.

There was no spiritual energy here, but ingredients grown from the land could provide spiritual energy, replenishing a portion of what was lost.

They generously took out their stored spiritual food to prepare a lavish feast. Chu Ran didn't have such a great need for spiritual energy and didn't eat a single bite.

Lin Yuhen, whose realm had fallen and was in a state of depleted spiritual essence, was like a long drought meeting sweet rain. She almost wolfed down most of the spiritual food.

Pure spiritual energy surged into her body. Her originally precarious cultivation soared violently, directly breaking through the shackles and settling firmly at the Star Radiance Initial Realm!

With long-lost power returning to her body, the tension that had tightened Lin Yuhen's brows for many days finally eased, and a faint but genuine smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

She subconsciously looked up at Chu Ran beside her, her fingertips tightening slightly—the other party's earlier words, half-truth, half-jest, still left her uneasy. But now, the youth's eyes were calm and unrippled, without a hint of killing intent or the slightest covetousness.

It seemed those words were just a joke after all...

Lin Yuhen looked at Chu Ran, her expression somewhat dazed. She felt this youth before her seemed different from anyone else she had ever met...

She had interacted with many deities from the Kaiyang Divine Territory. She dared to say that if it had been any Kaiyang deity by her side earlier, given her previous weak and defenseless state, her soul would have already scattered and her bones would be nowhere to be found.

But this youth before her had never harbored the slightest evil thought...

"We wish you both smooth sailing on the road ahead, that you may break through the predicament and leave this desperate place early." The leading long-bearded elder stepped forward, his face full of kindness, sincerely wishing them well, his eyes filled with simple expectation.

"Thank you, Senior." Lin Yuhen and Chu Ran exchanged a smile, bowing in unison to express their thanks.

Chu Ran turned to look back. The local inhabitants who had been wary of them moments ago now wore gentle, faint smiles on their faces.

The smiles were faint but warm, as if sincerely blessing the travelers from afar, yet also seeming to hide some indescribable, profound meaning...

Amidst the peaceful atmosphere, a trace of subtle, almost imperceptible eeriness quietly seeped through...

"One last reminder for you two: you must always be careful outside. After crossing this mountain, there is a demon god in that lake!" the old man reminded.

Although sensing a hint of strangeness, Chu Ran still smiled and replied, "Thank you. Also... you all don't need to be too pessimistic. This could also be seen as a form of longevity in disguise."

Hearing this, the old man was first stunned, then laughed, "It does seem that way, huh..."

The spiritual energy in this world was exhausted. The local inhabitants trapped here had long lost the foundation for cultivation. Their physical bodies were frozen in an eternal state—they wouldn't age, wouldn't die, and wouldn't even feel hunger or pain.

The spiritual energy in that spiritual food was, to them, merely a mirage, utterly incapable of filling the long-dry spiritual sea within their bodies...

A state where one can neither live properly nor die—this could be seen as a kind of torment, but it could indeed also be called longevity...