“Mmm?”
Su Zimo looked over.
The voice was way too soft, almost like a mosquito.
If not for his strong hearing, he might not have noticed it.
His gaze landed on a female cultivator in the crowd.
The female cultivator’s hair was disheveled and she was curled into a ball, hiding in the crowd. However, there was a hint of vitality and vigor in her eyes compared to everyone else.
“You are…”
Su Zimo’s gaze froze. As though he recalled something, he probed, “Tang Shiyun?”
The female cultivator nodded repeatedly when she heard that name.
She wiped away the mud on her face and revealed her facial features. Although she was still dirty, she could be recognized.
“It’s really you!”
Su Zimo was surprised.
To think that he would truly be able to meet an old friend in Southern Duel Sect.
Tang Shiyun stood up and wanted to walk towards Su Zimo. However, she hesitated for a moment out of fear.
“Come over. I won’t hurt you.”
Su Zimo nodded.
When she heard that, Tang Shiyun mustered her courage and walked out of the crowd.
The number one beauty of Southern Duel Sect in the past was no longer as elegant as before.
Back when the two of them first met in the ancient battlefield, they were both at the Golden Core realm.
But now, Su Zimo had already entered the Conjoint Body realm and became an omnipotent Mighty Figure.
Yet, Tang Shiyun was only at the Nascent Soul realm.
The difference between them was getting wider.
In the ancient battlefield back then, there were hundreds of thousands of paragons—how many of them could truly catch up to Su Zimo?
“Did you see a monk from Dapamkara Monastery 10 years ago?”
Su Zimo looked at Tang Shiyun and asked in a deep voice.
Recalling for a moment, Tang Shiyun asked, “Was he a young monk that carried a green lantern?”
“That’s right!”
Su Zimo’s eyes lit up as he asked, “Where is he? Is he still alive?”
Back in the Dao Inheritance Ground, Ming Zhen appeared and fought alongside him. His Destiny Dharmic Weapon was a green lantern!
“Ten years ago, thanks to this monk, some Southern Duel Sect cultivators managed to escape,”
Tang Shiyun sighed gently. “However, that monk’s cultivation realm was not high enough and he still could not defeat the young master of the Blood Vine race and was suppressed by the latter. After so many years, he must have… died.”
Su Zimo gripped his fists gently with a cold expression.
“Fellow Daoist… no, Senior Su. Are you here to save us?”
Tang Shiyun realized that the difference between them was too great and it was no longer appropriate to address him as Fellow Daoist. She changed her manner of speech hurriedly and asked uneasily.
“Yes,”
Su Zimo nodded and took out some elixirs to store in a storage bag before handing it to Tang Shiyun. “Share these elixirs and leave this place as soon as possible!”
Tang Shiyun’s hands trembled as she received the storage bag, tears rolling down her face instantly.
However, the other cultivators were still numb as they watched the scene in a daze without any joy of seeing the world once more.
“These people…”
Gazing at the expressions of those cultivators, Su Zimo felt a sense of sadness.
Tang Shiyun smiled bitterly. “Ten years ago, the Blood Vine race attacked this place and our sect master died in battle. Three Mighty Figures and a Half-Martial Ancestor died.”
“However, we could not defend against the Blood Vine army. In less than a day, the entire Southern Duel Sect fell into the hands of the Blood Vine race.”
“Apart from the monk who helped hundreds of people escape, the other hundreds of thousands of disciples were reared like beasts by the Blood Vine race just so they could eat fresh food.”
“All these years, the Blood Vine race imprisoned us here and sealed our Dharmic powers. We can’t even commit suicide!”
At that point, killing intent spewed from Su Zimo’s eyes.
Tang Shiyun lamented, “For the past 10 years, the Blood Vine race has consumed more than a hundred Southern Duel Sect cultivators daily. No matter how we begged or struggled, nothing changed. We could only watch as our fellow sect mates decreased bit by bit.”
“That’s hundreds of thousands of our sect mates! Right now, we’re the only ones left!”
Tang Shiyun could not hold on either and broke down mentally, bursting into tears.
When those cultivators opened their eyes everyday, they did not know if they could survive the day or if they would be eaten as food.
“Initially, we had a sliver of hope,”
Tang Shiyun’s face was filled with tears as she gave a bitter smile. “After all, hundreds of our sect mates escaped. We hoped that they would seek help from the other upper or super sects. Perhaps, some experts of our human race might come and save us from our misery.”
“However, we waited for a year, two years, five years… and no one came.”
“Eventually, we gave up.”
Su Zimo was silent.
He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned incomparably pale!
Even if Southern Duel Sect cultivators sought help, no sect or faction would rush over to save them from their misery.
Who would provoke a great enemy like the Blood Vine race for some cultivators that were unrelated to them?
Humans had led peaceful lives for way too long.
They no longer had the drive and edge of the ancient era. None of them possessed the unyielding toughness to fight the primordial races courageously!
Ancient wise sages of the human race, be it low-level cultivators or Mighty Figure and Patriarchs, were righteous and took care of one another. If they were to see this scene today, they would probably shed tears of frustration and bleed from the depths of their hearts!
Right now, most of the cultivators had even forgotten the sufferings of humans in the primordial era!
They forgot that in the ancient war, Patriarchs died, Emperors were killed and countless human experts fought with all their might in exchange for the peace of the human race!
Even a super sect like Dapamkara Monastery, one of the six Buddhist monasteries, was only concerned about their own wellbeing—who would stand out to save everyone from Southern Duel Sect?
“I’m a little late,”
Su Zimo looked at everyone from Southern Duel Sect and said slowly, “But don’t worry, with me here today, no one will be able to hurt you guys!”
Apart from a few who had a sliver of hope reignited in their eyes, the rest were still grim and numb.
“Fellow Daoists, he’s Desolate Martial, the Dao Lord Desolate Martial who shook the world and established the Martial Dao!”
Trapped here, Tang Shiyun’s understanding of Su Zimo was still stuck at some of the rumors she had heard in the past.
She did not know that Su Zimo was already a Conjoint Body Mighty Figure either.
“In Myriad Phenomenon City, he was the one who suppressed the Rakshasa and God race and rescued the human paragons! Now that Dao Lord Desolate Martial is here, we have a chance of escaping alive!”
Tang Shiyun looked at everyone from Southern Duel Sect and took out the elixirs from the storage bag, handing them to the cultivators as she spoke.
Most people were indifferent.
“What’s the use of a Dharma Characteristic Dao Lord? Even a Half-Martial Ancestor was killed! Everyone is dead! Hahaha!” A cultivator burst into laughter in a deranged manner.
Su Zimo had a sorrowful expression.
Although these people were still alive, they were no different from dead people.
“Dao Lord Desolate Martial, please kill me and give me a swift ending. That will be the greatest relief for me,” A cultivator kowtowed to Su Zimo and begged softly.
“Dao Lord Desolate Martial, please grant us death!”
A large number of cultivators knelt down.
When he saw that, Su Zimo’s eyes reddened and he had nowhere to vent the rage and sadness in his heart. Eventually, he reared his head and howled!
“Blood Vine race, I’m going to make you guys pay with blood!”
