Under the setting sun, Chen Xu's hand caressed the volume of "Chronicles of the Strange and Mysterious."

While telling a story, he said to Wei Yuan:

"Human sacrifice is just the beginning. Later, people discovered that compared to offering prayers to the heavens, burying the dead directly in the ground was more effective in fertilizing the soil.

Opening up wasteland was arduous, lacking food was even harder. In this area, each day people would freeze, starve, and die of illness. So initially, the village didn't lack corpses.

Later, the village sorcerers researched a method using talismans to create human fertilizer, which sped up the land clearing..."

The faster land clearing resulted in the villagers of Xiaopo Village beginning to lack bodies.

Chen Xu recounted briefly how the villagers started with stealing corpses together, progressed to abducting living people, and after successful cultivation on the wastelands, and several years of harvest, Broken Jade River flooded multiple times, destroying the villagers' homes repeatedly.

The small hedgehog listened intently, pondering:

"This place isn't good. I see the riverbed is twisted, and the stream rushes very fast; during a flood, there would be no place to direct the excess water. So, this place is unsuitable for building a village.

But those people won't leave... they can't bear to part with their cultivated land."

Chen Xu nodded, stating that from the villagers' perspective, the flooding of Broken Jade River was truly cruel.

Imagine their great efforts and sacrifices to clear the wasteland; only a few years of harvest, and then a flood strikes time and again.

Who wouldn't feel devastated?

And the way the villagers of Xiaopo Village coped with their frustration was by offering sacrifices to the River God.

Chen Xu informed Wei Yuan: "Initially, the villagers sacrificed young boys and girls from their households to the River God, but even with such offerings, the flooding of Broken Jade River did not cease.

On the contrary, the village sorcerers found that using young boys and girls to refine sacrifices not only greatly increased their cultivation but also allowed them to control the water flow of Broken Jade River to some extent.

Thus, the sorcerers became quasi River Gods."

Wei Yuan, listening, couldn't help but exclaim, "Hey! Mr. Wei, that Immortal Witch, could it really be the sorcerer from a hundred years ago?

Can she live for so many years?"

Chen Xu shook his head, uncovering another layer of truth:

"No, the sorcerer practiced evil techniques, and although his cultivation advanced rapidly, the accumulated malice was too much; he was struck down in a ritual, and died by suicide within a dozen years.

For several decades after, there were no sorcerers in the village.

However, the villagers of Xiaopo Village had become accustomed to sacrificing young boys and girls to the River God in turn.

Until thirty years ago, the great rupture of Yuan Cang River..."

Saying this, Chen Xu perceived the world's cycles as a fascinating circle.

Again, it was thirty years ago, the great rupture of Yuan Cang River, its extensive and profound influence seemed omnipresent.

Just like the great drought a hundred years ago—

Feng Yuanbai once said, now there's another looming drought in the Northern Border.

Floods, droughts, earthquakes, cold waves... the types of natural calamities are just those few, and yet the beings living on this land have to repeatedly face the battering of disasters.

Whether human, monster, or even the flora and fauna lacking spiritual intellect, all live as if they are fighting against the heavens.

Speaking of the village's stories with Wei Yuan, Chen Xu gradually felt a sense of personal enlightenment.

Previously viewing the cover of "Chronicles of the Strange and Mysterious," he felt he had grasped something, yet hadn't fully comprehended it.

Now, looking again with a clearer understanding, it felt different.

Could that hidden divine dragon among the cloud sea and perilous cliffs be a true divine dragon, or was it merely an image of myriad beings contending with the heavens?

As the thought just arose, Chen Xu felt an inexplicable surge of energy fiercely erupting within his chest.

Contending with the heavens!

Who isn't?

Observing the road ahead, it seems like a vast sky;

Someday, when I see the sky again, it will be like the path beneath my feet.

With emotions tumbling in his chest, Chen Xu suddenly moved his hand to open the always closed "Chronicles of the Strange and Mysterious."

Whoosh!

At the same time, the Innate Qi within his Dantian surged, and within moments, it circulated through his entire body.

[Cultivation: Meridian Passage Realm Late Stage 72%]

A burgeoning strength arose from his limbs and bones, merging unconsciously into the torrent of Innate Qi.

Chen Xu's cultivation soared drastically within moments, jumping from fifty-something percent directly to seventy-two percent in the late stage of the Meridian Passage Realm!

So this is cultivation.

While carefully sensing the changes of Innate Qi in his meridians, he looked at the world before him, and it appeared clearer.

He slowly exhaled, and Wei Yuan seemingly had some subtle perception, curiously asking Chen Xu:

"Mr. Chen, did something good happen to you?"

Chen Xu smiled: "Indeed, something good happened; I gained some cultivation from reading your book."

"Huh?" Wei Yuan was stunned.

It looked at Chen Xu, then at the book by his side, which had barely been opened a page, struggling to understand how it could lead to cultivation advancement.

Yet Wei Yuan rejoiced for Chen Xu, exclaiming, "Mr. Chen, this book is yours to keep; return it when you're bored with it."

Embarrassed, it added, "Actually, I could gift the book to you, but before my teacher left, he said these books couldn't be given away; once gifted, the magical essence would dissipate from the book once removed from the nurturing bookcase.

Mr. Chen, I'm sorry I can't give it to you."

The little hedgehog felt remorseful for not being able to give the book to Chen Xu.

What a naïve little creature!

Chen Xu's heart ached with tenderness; unable to resist, he reached out to gently stroke the soft spikes on top of the hedgehog's head.

The soft spikes were now folded back, looking particularly docile, and Chen Xu's touch wasn't pricked at all.

Wei Yuan's small eyes glimmered as he watched him.

Chen Xu said, "Ah Yuan, never feel ashamed for being unable to give; a benevolent person loves others, yet first loves oneself."

Wei Yuan somewhat understood, but not completely.

However, it did not stop it from nodding and prompting Chen Xu, "Mr. Chen, since the sorcerer died long ago, how did the evil ways come about in Xiaopo Village now?"

The little hedgehog wanted to hear the whole story.

Chen Xu then explained: "It was thirty years ago when Yuan Cang River's rupture again influenced Broken Jade River, causing Xiaopo Village to suffer another flood.

The villagers decided to draw lots, selecting a fifteen-year-old girl to wed the nonexistent River God.

The girl chosen back then is now the Immortal Witch.

After the flood receded, the fields were submerged once again, and the fifteen-year-old Immortal Witch was sunk into Broken Jade River by the villagers.

But she didn't die; instead, she absorbed the long-dormant resentment and Demonic Qi from the riverbed, cultivating into demonic power.

She emerged from the waves, claiming to be the bride of the River God, and an earthly representative of the River God.

Commanding villagers to bow and worship her, she implemented cultivation and revenge."

The small hedgehog exclaimed again upon hearing this.

Not just the little hedgehog, similar sounds seemed to emanate simultaneously from the nearby dense forest.

Wei Yuan was startled, immediately shouting, "Who's there?"

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