"Just how long is this old bastard going to sleep? He is not dead, is he?" After making sure the old man was still breathing, Yang Ze kept on poking at him for a while, but he didn't wake up.

"In that case…" Yang Ze merely snapped his fingers, and with it a clone appeared beside him, which rushed towards the village before coming back after fifteen minutes, carrying a bucket of water from the water well.

Yang Ze simply let out a breath as his clone poured the bucket over the old man before dissipating.

"Huff… huff… huff…" The moment the water fell upon the old man, he finally opened his eyes in panic. His panic only intensified when he saw the young boy standing in front of him with a blank expression.

"Are you awake now?" Looking at the old man who was still struggling to sit, Yang Ze simply grabbed him by the corner as he helped him sit with his back resting against the black tree.

"...."

"...."

The two of them didn't speak a word but merely looked at each other in silence for a while. It wasn't until a few more minutes passed that the old man broke the silence.

"Who are you?" This was the first time in his life he saw a man this strong and at such a young age as well.

Yang Ze merely scoffed at his question before placing the other end of the long black branch he was holding in his hand upon the old man's chin.

"Looks like you are still unclear about your position." With a smile, Yang Ze raised the stick and, without an ounce of hesitation, smashed it upon the back of the old man's right hand.

*Thud

"AAAAAAHHHHH" The sound of wood hitting flesh was accompanied by the sound of the old man's scream as his body began to writhe around, hoping to lessen the pain, but with Yang Ze holding him by the collar tightly, it was an impossible task.

"Shut up." Dropping the wooden branch on the ground, Yang Ze clenched the old man's mouth with his fingers, bringing his screams to an abrupt halt.

"Now, I am going to ask a few questions." With every word he spoke, Yang Ze's voice grew cold. "I want honest answers, otherwise…" He didn't complete his sentence, but the old man understood the meaning behind those words as he simply nodded in response.

Even though his face was red from the pain and anger he was feeling, he didn't dare to refute the young boy. As for using the black fog… he thought about it, but the time wasn't right. He had a feeling that if he dared to even think about using the black fog, his outcome would be much more miserable.

"Good." With a nod, Yang Ze took a few steps back, making some distance between the two of them.

"Who are you?" Although Yang Ze knew from the group of girls that the old man was a priest, he still wanted to hear it from his mouth. Besides… he was more interested in the personal panel of the old man that had only a single word in it… [Apostle]

"Don't you know?" The old man replied with some confusion. He didn't believe that the outsider would be aware of his identity.

"....." Yang Ze didn't answer but merely raised the black stick in his hand and was about to smash it into the old man's hand once again. But before he could even do it, the old man hurriedly spoke further.

"My name is Mo Wen, and I am the priest of the village."

Afraid that Yang Ze wouldn't stop, Mo Wen kept on speaking further.

"It was my mistake to attack you out of nowhere. I should have talked to you first instead of jumping to a conclusion, but as you might have known… we aren't on the best terms with the outsiders."

"..." Listening to the old man's constant chattering, Yang Ze merely raised an eyebrow. This old man was much more cooperative than he thought. He had imagined him to be defiant and refusing to answer, but to his pleasant surprise, the old man was the complete opposite.

Yang Ze thought for a while before asking the question that he wanted the answer to.

"What is this place?"

His question made Mo Wen stunned for a moment as the latter looked at him with some disbelief.

"You… You mean this village?" He still asked with some hesitation.

"No." Yang Ze simply shook his head in refusal. "I mean this place."

Pointing his fingers around him, Yang Ze continued further.

"Why is this place so different from the outside?"

"There are no trees, no grass, no animals… everything just seems so lifeless. What is this place?"

*Gulp

This time, the old man finally swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He truly wasn't expecting this brat to be completely unaware of his surroundings. It seems like it was him who overthought and misunderstood the situation.

For a moment, Mo Wen couldn't help but curse himself for being so hasty and acting so rashly. Had he known, he would have tried with a different approach. Unfortunately for him, it was too late.

"Do you want me to repeat the question?" His silence only made Yang Ze raise the stick in his hand.

"It's a cursed land." This time, Mo Wen didn't hesitate to answer.

"Legends are that a long time ago, a god cursed this land."

"And from that day on, this place changed to a lifeless zone."

"And the people living in this land are the sinners."

Yang Ze couldn't help but narrow his eyes as he listened to the old man. From the looks of it, he didn't seem to be lying.

"Are there gods in this world?" Yang Ze couldn't help but mutter to himself. In his mind, the so-called 'gods' must be some powerful cultivator. After all, don't the mortals and low-level cultivators call Core Condensation realm powerhouse 'gods'?

In Yang Ze's mind, it must be similar to this, but when he saw the personal panel of the old man, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

"The girls told me about what took place here one year ago." Taking a short pause, Yang Ze spoke further. "How about you tell me the complete story?"

"What god do you worship? What exactly happened one year ago? And are there any other villages in this place?"

"Tell me everything that you know."

Yang Ze's words made the old man think for a moment as he cursed the stupid brats for revealing too much. If not for his current state, he would have personally taken care of those stupid wenches.

"We worship the God of Sea." Taking a deep breath, the old man's eyes flashed with devotion as he began to speak.

"A long time ago, the entire world was submerged underwater. The humans were treated as rations by the Demonic beasts."

"And it was at that time that a man rose up and brought an end to the reigns of the Demonic Beasts. It was he who fought for our freedom and brought the land above the water."

"Interesting. Go on…" Yang Ze signalled him to speak further with a nod, as to whether he believed the old man or not… no one beside him knew.

"The Demonic beasts were enraged by this, so they launched the attacks."

"And just when the human race was on the brink of extinction, the water god sacrificed himself to save the human race by killing the entirety of the Demonic Beasts and sealing the beast god in an endless ocean."

Yang Ze quietly listened to the old man while occasionally giving him a nod. Although there were a lot of things that didn't make any sense, he wasn't here to find any proof or challenge their beliefs. They could worship each other for all he cared. He was here to gather information about this place. As for the truth in the information… he couldn't care less.

"So what happened a year ago?" Yang Ze asked in a soft voice. Though he didn't care about the so-called gods and the beliefs of these people, he was very much interested in the black fog. Its ability to shatter his manifested item was something that intrigued him greatly.

"A year ago…" Muttering these words, the events that took place a year ago flashed past the old man's mind as he gritted his teeth in anger.

"It was the damned outsider." Just mentioning the outsider was enough to make him enraged. "We live in this place to honour the sacrifice of our god as well as the curse the demonic beast's ancestor placed upon us… the true bloodline of the Sea god."

"The curse binds us to this place. Even if we want to leave, we can not."

"Occasionally, there would be outsiders… greedy wenches intent on ruining our peace."

"To them, the sacrifice of our god is a fabricated story. And to prove it, they would venture into the sacred cave."

"But the truth is that those greedy wenches are after the sacred artifact and nothing else."

Speaking till here, the old man went silent for a long time, his eyes occasionally looking towards Yang Ze, wondering if he was going to ask about the artifact or not.

"Tell me what happened a year ago." Yang Ze couldn't care less about the so-called artifact, he just wanted to know what happened here a year ago.

"...." Though the old man was surprised that the boy wasn't asking about the artifact, he still answered him.

"A year ago, the village chief saved an outsider. She brought her home, nursed her, fed her and even trusted her."

"But the outsider betrayed that trust."

"She merely wanted to take the artifact and for that, she directly rushed inside the sacred cave and ruined the seal that was used to suppress the Demonic beast ancestor."

"The result was that the demonic beast ancestor, even in his suppressed state, managed to drag every single villager inside."

"It was with great effort and sacrifice that I was able to save myself and the children of the village"

"After that… I stayed inside the cave, constantly suppressing the beast. I could only come outside once a week."

"Earlier, when I saw their clothes, I knew there was an outsider present in the village."

"I was afraid that history would repeat itself and the village would once again face the catastrophic events that occurred a year ago. Hence, the reason I attacked you."

Speaking till here, the old man went silent. He even closed his eyes as he began to take in deep breaths, as if merely narrating these events left him out of energy.

During the entire time, Yang Ze didn't say a single word, but quietly watched the old man.

It wasn't until the old man finished speaking that he finally let out a sharp breath and spoke in an emotionless voice.

"Everything you told me is plain bullshit. Isn't it?"

The old man's eyelashes trembled as he slowly opened his eyes, and this time, his eyes were pitch black, like an endless abyss.

In that instant, time itself seemed to have paused as an oppressive aura permeated the very fibre of the land Yang Ze was on.

The old man simply raised his hand, and with that, the ropes around his wrists turned into nothingness.

He slowly stood up, completely ignoring the figure of the young boy in front of him, who had retreated a few steps and was looking at him with a grave expression.

The old man then looked around leisurely before looking in the direction of the village as a sneer ran across his face.

He then patted his clothes before snapping his fingers as a pitch-black gown appeared on his body, along with a dark crown upon his head and a black walking cane in his hand.

It was only then that he looked at Yang Ze in front of him before opening his mouth to speak a single word that was enough to answer Yang Ze's question.

"Yes."

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