Chapter 69: A Chaotic World

  Although An Jing had wondered, “What if the clothes on these dead bodies have identifying marks?” he khe wilderness had more thaown. If push came to shove, he could always head to aown and blend in.

  As the gunshots faded into the distance, An Jing stood up and moved toward the spot where both sides had retly cshed.

  He no longer had to worry about the nguage barrier; danger was now his sole .

  Still, despite the risk, An Jing had to act. It was not only about the clothing; he also wao test his lud see if there was aill alive.

  The battle here had evidently been brutal.

  When An Jing arrived at one of the skirmish sites, he became certain this world was both like and uhe Huaixu Realm—and unlike his previous life as well.

  Although the gang members in these wilderowns dressed in diverse styles, the core designs were quite simir. For instahey had bulletproof rain cloaks woven from fibergss, everyone carried a gas mask, and their ical hats were fitted with trailing veils verted into high-teformation dispys.

  The ical cloak-and-hat ensemble shrouded the wearer, prote from acid rain, while the steel gas mask hid most of the face, filtering out toxic fumes and miasma.

  From a distance, everyone resembled a lone fisherman on a boat.

  It was only upon closer iion that one realized how advaheir gear really was.

  “These rain cloaks and ical hats, even their flying-sword cases, are all Magical Artifacts.”

  The Sword Spirit sounded surprised. “They’re all Magical Artifacts—this world’s Artifact Refinihods are over the top.”

  “All of them are Magical Artifacts?” An Jing asked as he hurriedly stripped the rain cloaks and ical hats from the bodies, along with the ons they had been using.

  Upon the Sword Spirit’s remark, he froze mid-a. “As I recall, whether you follow the Martial Path or Qi Refining, you have to be a cultivator to wield a Magical Artifact, right…?”

  “Exactly. While some Magical Artifacts be used by mortals, these aren’t in that category.”

  The Sword Spirit affirmed An Jing’s suspi. “Every corpse here was a cultivator—albeit weak, mostly iernal Energy realm. Not a single mortal in the bunch.

  “Actually, it’s more than that. From what I sense, apart from a few children, everyone in that city is a cultivator.”

  “Universal cultivation…” An Jing murmured while tinuing to search the bodies. Then he asked, “Does that imply everyone in this world possesses a Spiritual Root?”

  “No.” The Sword Spirit shook Its head. “Spiritual Roots are more plex than that. There may be secret teiques to alter them, but you ’t reach a point of truly ‘universal Spiritual Roots.’

  “Besides, ‘universal cultivation’ doesn’t mean everyone bees an Immortal God. Here, they must have standardized these methods so that anyone train in the most basi of vital esseernal Energy and harheir Innate One Qi.

  “In other words, everyone develop Internal Energy, but only a select few go on to bee Internal Fortifiartial artists.”

  With these words, the Sword Spirit’s voice took on a hint of admiration and nostalgia. “Even so, it’s araordinary feat. Even in the era of Huaixu, only the major sects could raise everyone uheir care to the level of a cultivator.

  “Look at these gang members. All of them possess a Magical Artifact. That kind of thing just wouldn’t happen without universal cultivation.”

  An Jing listened closely, his rummaging slowing. On impulse, he asked, “What about Fate Artifacts? Where do those fit in?”

  “Fate Artifacts have been around sint times, but they became more on only after Huaixu’s great catastrophe,” the Sword Spirit expined.

  “I vaguely recall a grand cultivator who studied them saying that a Fate Artifas when someoh a matg Heaven-Ordained Fate entrusts their Divine Soul to a vessel. In other words, more Fate-holders means more Fate Artifacts—and versely, the stronger a Fate Artifact bees, the more it ences the emergenatg Heaven-Ordained Fates around it, creating mutual reinfort.

  “Fate Artifacts don’t follow a tiered hierarchy. Even the weakest among them has a singur, extraordinary ability that’s hard to replicate. And when pced in the hands of someone whose Heaven-Ordained Fate matches it, it unleash unimaginable power.

  “Some of the truly rare and formidable Fate Artifacts are willing to wait for their ‘artifact bearer’—one who possesses the matg Heaven-Ordained Fate… That’s all I remember. My knowledge is inplete.”

  An Jing made a mental note of this. The Subduing Evil Sword Spirit possessed a mysterious, lofty heritage—ohe personal sword of an a Immortal. Yet even the Sword Spirit didn’t know precisely when it had been fed or owers it tained.

  “Uood.”

  Before long, after choosing his gear, An Jing took a rain cloak and ical hat from the smallest corpse and put them on.

  This particur gang member wasn’t much older than An Jing—fourteen or fifteen, with a striking face—yet he had still taken up a gun and perished here.

  An Jing couldn’t help recalling the Huaixu Realm… These two worlds shared one sad simirity: human life here was equally cheap.

  As for the guns themselves, there lenty to learn.

  Just like the firearms An Jing had found on the exploration team in that initial cavern, these gang members used two categories of ons: gunpowder ons and Spiritlight Guns.

  Yet the Spiritlight Guns in the cavern were siderably bigger and bulkier, demanding a huge amount of Internal Energy to fire. In that tense moment, An Jing had never had enough Internal Energy to eveheir capabilities.

  In trast, the gang members’ Spiritlight Guns were lighter and far more portable.

  These required much less Internal Energy than the older Spiritlight Guns. Even someoh only Internal Energy Like Threads could likely manage a shot or two, activating the spiritlight.

  Naturally, these newer guns had limited power. Most of the bulletproof rain cloaks on the corpses had been shot through by gunpowder ons or some other peing-style armament. The smaller Spiritlight Guns, when fired against those reflective cloaks, left only bck scorch marks—whereas gunpowder ons could sometimes break through and kill a martial artist if fortune favored the shooter.

  Just then, An Jing heard cmor from the dire of the town. Clearly, if he had thought of looting the bodies, others would do the same. Most likely, both sides of the firefight had sent people to salvage their lost equipment.

  Having gathered enough, An Jing quickly left with two Spiritlight Guns, three pistols, and a handful of small trihe most valuable loot he could manage in such a short time.

  Among the odds and ends were a few dubious drugs. Some seemed medial, while others were definitely more sinister.

  He needed no prompting from the Sword Spirit to realize these were traband halluogens—one g the packaging was enough. Some had already been used, most likely to bolster their ce during the battle.

  Donning the torn, bloodstained cloak, along with the ical hat and gas mask to ceal his features, he melted into the darkness of the wilderness with his newly acquired arms.

  Far from peaceful, the night was deafeningly tumultuous.

  He wasn’t sure if this was normal for this alternate world or if some ret event had sparked all this turmoil. Everywhere he turhe wilderness was in uproar, with nearly every gang and fa at war.

  An Jing passed through four wilderowns, and in eae, multiple fas were locked in bat, bullets streaking in all dires.

  “What kind of deranged pce is this world?” he muttered.

  He narrowly avoided stray bullets on multiple occasions. Oually hit his bulletproof cloak, but thankfully came from too great a distao pee. The close call made him break into a cold sweat. “Is there any pce here where I get some peace?”

  As he wandered farther, An Jing realized there was no true safe haven anywhere. He even spotted wolf-like savage beasts fleeing from the outskirts of the towns.

  When he and the beasts crossed paths, both parties simply backed off.

  Evidently, even these creatures deemed humankind’s violent chaos to be beyond reason.

  Beyond the main towns y many smaller settlements. Some were proper vilges, while others were makeshift clusters of junk, steel sheets, and shipping tainers, serving as gathering spots for drifters.

  All these wanderers bore arms. Though their supplies were minimal, they kept their ons in prime dition.

  Ever wary of the battling gangs, they stayed in their hideouts, stantly on the lookout. An Jing found no ce to approach them.

  Meanwhile, there was also something strange about the distant “rge city.”

  That colossal metropolis loomed on the horizon like a mountain range, abze with light tonight, as though a fallen moon bed in a hazy glow. Flying shuttles, twinkling like fireflies, buzzed around its perimeter. Even from afar, An Jing could vaguely sehe u within.

  “Could this be… ected to that Immortal Path warship somehow?”

  Weighted down by his spoils, An Jing slowed his pace, eyeing the colossal city with a ptive look.

  He remembered that not long ago, the wilderness hadn’t seemed quite this chaotic. But he’d beeoo briefly to know if this was typical or if something had ged.

  Lag a reliable way to learruth, all he could do was guess, and that feeling was far from f.

  Fortunately, An Jing soon found a solution—

  He mao capture a gang informant—an injured survivor who had barely escaped with his life.

  (End of Chapter)