289: A fake city

This is a cliché yet bizarre story.

The story begins when this town was still called Li Family Town.

That wasn't too long ago.

Li Family Town was located in a small border country within the Great Qian.

Initially, it was just a barren village with fewer than a hundred households.

Due to the turbulent situation in Great Qian and its declining national strength, the imperial court found it difficult to restrain its vassal states as before, and many of them gradually fell into decay.

Beijiang Kingdom, where Li Family Town was located, was one of them.

This place was remote, with thin Spiritual Qi, and had always been ignored.

Local Cultivators found it difficult to Breakthrough their Realms, and even Qingxu Grotto-Heaven would not come here to recruit Disciples.

Thus, the people here became increasingly unscrupulous.

At that time, landlords and officials one after another joined the Demonic Path, causing the entire country to secretly become a demonic nation.

As Li Family Town was an ordinary village, if the villagers couldn't pay their taxes, they might be seized by those demonic Cultivators to be used as Cultivation Materials.

For this reason, the villagers had no choice but to start changing, and they also began to try to Cultivate the Demonic Path.

Whether it was good luck or bad, not long after they stepped into the Demonic Path, the Emperor of Qian stabilized the government and began to purge the disloyal states.

At that time, because their immersion in the demonic way was still shallow, they escaped the purge.

But with the whole village having entered the Demonic Path, the seeds of madness had already been planted in their hearts.

If they continued to Cultivate those low-level demonic Cultivation Techniques, they would inevitably be eroded by Heart Demons.

However, coming from such a remote place, they were unaware; instead, they thought they had obtained a massive Opportunity, believing that the great families and officials had all suffered heavy blows.

As long as they persisted and were a bit more careful, they would surely be able to take their places and become a legendary cultivation Family.

Perhaps things had reached an extreme and were bound to turn around; after enduring years of suffering, the village actually welcomed an Opportunity—the birth of Xiao Shumiao's true form, a Spirit Tree seedling.

Upon discovery, the villagers were ecstatic and cultivated it with great care.

Under the influence of the seedling, the land gradually became imbued with spirituality, not only allowing for the planting of spiritual plants but also assisting in Cultivation.

That would have been the best time to turn over a new leaf and switch from the Demonic Path back to the Righteous Path.

But progress in the Demonic Path was too fast, and they were unwilling to Cultivate step by step.

So they continued to practice demonic arts and gradually merged into a Family, which was the original Li Family.

As the Family expanded, Li Family Village gradually became Li Family Town, and the population increased from a few thousand to tens of thousands.

Although the population increased, the overall Aptitude did not fundamentally improve due to the collective demonic cultivation.

Most people still had mediocre talent, so even more people threw themselves into the Demonic Path.

Although Demonic Path Cultivation was fast, the consumption was even greater.

Originally, with the Spirit Tree present, they didn't need to commit slaughters like other demonic Cultivators; they could sustain themselves just by relying on the Spirit Tree.

But as the population grew, the Spirit Tree's supply gradually became insufficient, only able to satisfy the core members of the Family.

If they wanted to continue improving, they could only turn to the Righteous Path and seek an orthodox Legacy.

The Main Branch at that time thought exactly this.

They had originally practiced demonic arts because they could Cultivate without bearing too much blood-guilt from slaughter; now, if they had to bear it, they were unwilling to walk that old path.

In any case, the Main Branch did not lack resources and could plan things out slowly.

But the Side Branches couldn't wait.

The Main Branch already occupied more resources, and now transitioning slowly was no different from abandoning all the Side Branches.

This was seen as an act that harmed the Family, so a conflict broke out within the Li Family; all the Side Branches united in rebellion, massacring the Main Branch, with only a few survivors.

From then on, the Li Family completely turned toward the Demonic Path.

They could have used a better way to resolve the dispute, but practicing demonic arts had long since affected their sanity.

The Main Branch did something that directly harmed the interests of the Side Branches, and the Side Branches didn't even try to negotiate, subconsciously uniting to slaughter the Main Branch.

Thus, the Li Family merely swapped one group of irrational Cultivators for another group that was even more irrational.

As soon as this group took power, they began a plan to transform the Spirit Tree.

Initially, they fed the Spirit Tree with animal blood and meat, then switched to Yao Beasts, and finally, it became humans.

After harming a large number of living beings, they attempted to use a secret technique to turn the Spirit Tree into a Ghost Tree and worshiped it, wanting to turn this place into a Yin Accumulation Land for their Cultivation.

But the good times didn't last.

When mountain rocks, stones, grass, or trees become spirits, they are either extremely good or extremely evil.

This Spirit Tree belonged to the former.

After gaining sentience, it knew how it had been watered and raised, and understood what it would become if things continued this way; so it stopped absorbing nutrients, attempting to end its own life.

But how could the Li Family agree?

They tried every possible way to extend the Spirit Tree's life, becoming so overwhelmed that most Family members were out traveling to find solutions.

Just then, a young girl quietly arrived here.

She was an orphan of the Main Branch, with a low status, and was treated with cold indifference in the Family.

But she had a special Physique, born with a strand of Pure Spiritual Qi, and thus was full of curiosity and kindness toward things imbued with spirituality, which naturally included humans.

So even though she suffered injustice and was often beaten and scolded, she still loved everyone in the Family.

It was just that no one accepted this love.

Until she accidentally discovered the Spirit Tree that was about to wither and die.

At that time, the Li Family people were searching everywhere for a cure, and the Spirit Tree was left unguarded, so she slipped in.

Out of pity for spiritual things, she felt heartbroken for the dying Spirit Tree and began trying to comfort it, watering it and fertilizing it, hoping it wouldn't die.

Every day after that, the girl would come at a set time, sometimes bringing a little food to bury under the tree to share with it, even though she couldn't even eat her fill herself.

Gradually, the girl came to treat the Spirit Tree as a friend and even gave it a name, Xiao Shumiao.

In the days that followed, besides praying for it daily, she would lean against it to tell stories and sleep.

Most of her stories were just things she had read in books, not personal experiences, and the limited "happiness" she spoke of sounded only pitiful to others.

But it was precisely these things that gave the tree spirit the idea of living on.

It knew that if it lived, the Li Family would harm even more people, but even if it died, they wouldn't stop the slaughter.

Since it couldn't change anything, it at least wanted to watch the girl grow up and try to change her fate.

As a Spirit Tree, it wanted to save her.

Since its birth, it had passively devoured countless living beings; although it wasn't voluntary, it was powerless to stop it, and thus was in agonizing pain.

So it truly yearned to save a life with its own hands before it perished, even if it was only one.

It knew that with the girl's situation, without external help, she would likely die quietly in some corner, and even if she had been dead for a long time, no one would care.

Now, she needed it!

So the Spirit Tree began to absorb nutrients again, trying to restore a bit of vitality.

Seeing the change in the Spirit Tree, the Li Family was overjoyed and quickly recalled the Family members.

With the return of most people, the girl was driven out again and could no longer see her friend, left only to depend on a stray dog she had adopted.

The Spirit Tree knew the girl couldn't come back because of it and felt anxious, so it began to absorb blood and meat in large quantities, wanting to become stronger—strong enough to communicate with the Li Family and make them allow the girl to come again.

But these people were already irrational, and having practiced demonic arts for a long time, their minds were even more muddled.

With their confused minds, and the fact that some returning tribesmen had indeed learned some skills, once they noticed the Spirit Tree's emotions were directed toward that orphan girl of the Main Branch, they seized her for research.

After inspection, they discovered that the girl actually had a special Physique; although they didn't recognize many special Physiques, the feeling of abundant Spiritual Qi on her made them believe it was her Physique that had awakened the tree spirit.

Thus, they believed that the Spirit Tree's continued growth and its craving for both blood and the girl was because it wanted to devour her and coveted her special Physique.

Perhaps by sacrificing this girl, they could completely heal the Spirit Tree and let it transform into the Ghost Tree they dreamed of.

And so, a few days later, during a feeding, the Spirit Tree tasted a familiar and spiritual flavor.

At that moment, the Ghost Tree the Li Family had long anticipated was finally born.

In just one night, the entire Li Family Town was wiped out, and everything within a hundred miles turned into a Yin Accumulation Land.

"That's the story."

"Later, that fellow used some kind of secret technique to revive all the townspeople, but they were split in two."

"During the day, they are human outside; at night, they are zombies in the Zombie City."

"They are unwilling to leave not because they can't survive elsewhere, but because after that tree implanted memories in them, they subconsciously don't want to go."

"So this city was fake from the very beginning; there isn't a single living person inside."

Zhou Yan sat among the ruins, telling this cruel and melodramatic story to everyone.

It could be said that every step the Li Family took was on the wrong path; they completely brought it upon themselves.

It's just that their actions implicated many innocent people.

After listening, everyone looked at the surrounding town—which was originally prosperous but now filled with the stench of corpses and an air of decay—and couldn't help but sigh.

Because the time flow in the Zombie City is different from the outside world, they stayed there for one night, but several days had passed outside.

And after Zhou Yan shot those zombies, the corresponding people outside also turned back into corpses, rotting and stinking over these past few days.

There was nothing more to say, so the Middle-aged Man and his Dao Companion took their leave first.

They were just ordinary Qi Refining Cultivators; after these successive experiences, they couldn't stay for another moment.

So after thanking Zhou Yan profusely, the two quickly fled this unlucky place.