The Haotai Hotel was a mere three kilometers from the Walmart. Yet, this journey was no longer through a society with flowing traffic, but rather through a city at the end of the day, overrun with zombies.
The streets were cluttered with abandoned vehicles and toppled billboards, and the path was anything but clear, fraught with myriad obstacles. It took a van a full two hours to finally reach the supermarket.
The car door swung open with a whoosh.
Zhao Hong alighted swiftly, followed by three dogs: Dahei, Daho, and Erho, the most loyal, cunning, and ferocious of his spirit hounds.
Zhao Hong cast a skeptical glance around. His vision and hearing, far superior to that of ordinary men, easily discerned something unsettling near the supermarket: an eerie quietude, devoid of even the faintest growl of zombies, with only the occasional scurrying of rats.
He was no stranger to territories ruled by high-level zombies, but such desolation and silence were unprecedented.
"Let's go in and have a look," he suggested, pointing towards the Walmart Supermarket. At his command, the spirit hounds growled softly and advanced into the supermarket via three different paths. Shortly after, their howls echoed through the building.
Zhao Hong furrowed his brow. Experienced in the nuances of canine sounds from his days in the dog business, he knew these barks signaled no danger.
"Leave someone with the car, and come up with me," he said casually.
Soon, Zhao Hong and his companion reached the fifth floor of the supermarket unimpeded. The scene before him made his heart skip a beat. Five years had passed since the outbreak of the zombies, and he had grown accustomed to sights of gore.
However, this bizarre spectacle was new to him. Throughout the supermarket, from the first to the fifth floor, were scattered bits and pieces of zombie flesh. It was the height of summer when flies should swarm, yet none dared approach this place.
The sight on the fifth floor was particularly dreadful. Several large bathtubs lay there, each containing only a layer of dried, black-red blood filled with impurities.
In a nearby corner, two desiccated, emaciated zombies lay, their bodies riddled with holes from which red plants sprouted, though now these plants were all dead, having seemingly sucked dry all the nutrients from the zombies.
A tightness gripped Zhao Hong's chest at this chilling discovery.
"Boss... what should we do now?" The stalwart man beside him trembled visibly.
"Are you cold?" Zhao Hong suddenly asked.
The man shivered, "Cold, very cold. The temperature here is very low."
A sense of dread inexplicably rose in Zhao Hong's heart. The outside temperature was at least thirty degrees. Yet, inside the Walmart, he felt chilled to the bone. This was utterly abnormal.
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Zhao Hong knew well that one must not linger in places that defy normalcy! "Let's go." He dared not stay any longer and turned to leave.
Once back in the car, he slowly regained his composure. "Did you bring gasoline?" Zhao Hong, lighting a cigarette and exhaling rings of smoke, suddenly asked.
"Yes, Boss. Your orders?" Both men nodded.
"Burn this shit place down," Zhao Hong said calmly.
Moments later, thick, black smoke billowed above the Walmart. The piercing chill seemed to dissipate with the flames. Zhao Hong's anxiety finally eased.
"Let's go back." He casually flicked his unfinished cigarette out of the car window, propped up his legs, and said.
The van started again and soon vanished into the streets.
In the lush forests outside Green River City in the Mystic Azure Realm of Yu Country, the empty space suddenly twisted. In the blink of an eye, a figure appeared out of nowhere, startling the birds atop the trees and scaring away the squirrels on the branches.
"I'm back." Chu Xuan surveyed his surroundings, took a deep breath, and smiled. The air here was filled with Spiritual Qi, far fresher than that of the apocalyptic planet.
"First, I need to ascertain whether the flow of time is consistent between the two realms," he mused. "The second task is to acquire materials for corpse refinement and seeds for numerous spiritual plants. The third matter is to locate the covert trading hubs of demonic cultivators from the Infinite Sect and the Corpse Puppet Sect, to purchase the Blood Refining Array.
Having formulated his plan, Chu Xuan immediately donned a human-skin mask and transformed his appearance from a stern-looking young man to a formidable, bald-headed fellow.
Although facial transformation was considered an unconventional art, Chu Xuan had escaped many perils using it. Now, disguising himself had become second nature.
"I recall that three hundred miles south of Green River City, there is a canyon rich in Spiritual Qi, where a marketplace is situated," Chu Xuan mused. He drew forth a flying sword and set off toward the south of Green River City.
This flying sword, a lower-grade flying magical tool, traveled at a speed of three hundred miles per hour, consuming one small spiritual stone for every thousand miles traveled. It was a second-hand magical tool he had once purchased from the Infinite Sect. Both its speed and consumption were mediocre. Should he acquire surplus spirit stones in the future, he certainly intended to invest in a superior flying magical tool.
An hour later, Chu Xuan arrived at the marketplace.
"Peace Market," he announced as he strode into the market. A thousand miles further south of Peace Market lay the mountain gate of the Divine Star Sect, one of the five major orthodox sects of Yu Country.
Naturally, the small marketplace was not directly controlled by the Divine Star Sect but was managed by cultivating families under the sect, mostly established by Foundation Establishment stage cultivators from the Divine Star Sect who had little hope of advancing. Offspring born into these families, once identified as having spiritual roots, were immediately sent to the Divine Star Sect for cultivation, thereby strengthening their families.
Peace Market was controlled by the Wu family, whose patriarch was a nearly two-hundred-year-old Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. The cultivators who came here to sell and trade were mostly at the initial or middle stages of Qi Refining; even those at the later stages were rare.
Chu Xuan was well aware of all this intelligence before he arrived. As a demon cultivator often targeted by others, venturing blindly into unknown territories without such information could lead to dire consequences.
Upon arriving at Peace Market, Chu Xuan did not rush to purchase the items he needed. Cultivators, with their extended lifespans, knew well how to overcharge newcomers. His unfamiliar face appearing for the first time would surely prompt the sellers to inflate their prices. Thus, he decided to stay for a few days. For the initial days, he adopted a strategy of looking much and buying nothing.
Chu Xuan found a teahouse catering to cultivators, ordered a pot of spiritual tea, sat, and quietly sipped, listening to the conversations around him. Cultivator discussions were not like those of ordinary people, who speak without restraint. Some were quite cautious, even using Spiritual Qi to mask their speech.
As a Qi Refining stage cultivator, eavesdropping on others' conversations was challenging, but Chu Xuan had a unique advantage—each of his ears harbored a Listening Insect. These tiny creatures amplified his hearing, allowing him to catch much of what was said around him.