In one of the taverns in Jing City, called the Wandering Dream Tavern.
Feng Li Wu was sitting at one of the tables opposite a window on the third floor of a building.
The Wandering Dream Tavern was considered one of the best taverns in Jing City and one of the top ten taverns in the Southern Xin Ya Empire for several reasons, the most important of which were its possession of the best types of wine and its possession of Yi Chao Yu, known as the Lady of the Wandering Dream. She was a musician who played an instrument called the Qin, which was considered the instrument of the Wandering Dream. Whoever heard it would enter a dream where they would see themselves achieving their greatest desires and ambitions, and everything within the dream would be 100% realistic to the listener in terms of their sense of the reality around them. This is why the Wandering Dream Tavern became famous and was named after that instrument.
On the third floor, Feng Li Wu was looking out the window with a vacant gaze towards the streets of Jing City, ignoring the sweet sound of the Qin instrument that made the people around him forget themselves.
Despite this, Feng Li Wu was not interested in those melodies or who was singing them. However, a faint, cold smile appeared, devoid of any joy or happiness, as if his lips were merely moving.
"Yi Chao Yu is truly cunning. The Wandering Dream weapon, although it makes those affected by it enter the Wandering Dream, they must pay a price, which is addiction, and secondly, their own dream becomes food for it to feed on.
Yi Chao Yu, to rapidly increase her refinement level without anyone suspecting, is a genius." Feng Li Wu's tone was devoid of any praise, stating facts. Although the Wandering Dream weapon's ability was to devour dreams to increase the owner's refinement speed, one must also be talented in using the Qin instrument. The higher the level of skill in playing it, the greater the refinement speed. Using a tool without talent makes it scrap. It's like giving a child a firearm, or a monkey a banana and some money. The child will choose candy, and the monkey will choose the banana because the child knows what a gun is, but the monkey is ignorant, as that money could buy it a lot of bananas. The same applies to humans; ignorance of how to use a tool makes the greatest weapons mere scrap metal thrown in a corner.
Feng Li Wu drank the glass of wine in front of him, looking into the void as if it were his only companion in this life.
Boom. Boom.
Boommm.
Smashing, breaking.
Smash.
In an instant, a deafening explosion shattered the table Feng Li Wu was sitting at and the floor. Nothing remained of it except the chair he was sitting on and the glass of wine he was drinking.
There was a young man with a strong, massive physique, over two meters tall. The upper part of his body showed the wounds and scars he had sustained throughout his life.
His eyes were blood red as he looked at Feng Li Wu, who seemed utterly indifferent to his presence.
The man's gaze was filled with intense hatred and a desire for revenge.
"Venerable Great Chaos, Feng Li Wu, we meet again. I am Tu Gu, I have come to end you..." Before Tu Gu could finish his words full of anger, hatred, and murderous intent, he had already turned into a bloody pulp. Fat, flesh, bones, internal and external organs flew through the air.
His eyes had fallen into the wine glass of a lady, killing her instantly from a heart attack. Some of the brain matter, filled with fragments of her skull, entered the mouth of a 13-year-old boy, who was crying from the shock of what had happened. The brain matter tore his neck and disfigured his mouth. The brain matter hadn't even entered his body when it was already something baffling. What was he doing? The only reason was that he was providing for his family.
As for the fat and flesh, it covered the faces and food of everyone, without exception. The internal organs were scattered on the third floor like Halloween decorations, but in a terrifying way, causing the weak-hearted to vomit and die from heart attacks. Most of the patrons of the Wandering Dream Tavern had either become accustomed to blood or had never witnessed such brutality before.
The remains of Tu Gu's corpse, with intestines still attached to the remnants of his body, were expelling the waste of his last meal along with blood that flowed profusely, forming pools of blood before falling to the ground with a loud sound like a rock falling on a lake.
Gloops.
The faces of those who remained were black-eyed. Some had gone mad because their minds had suffered a severe shock.
In his view, Tu Gu's death or survival was the same. People get sick and sad when someone they know, a loved one, or anyone dies. But they would never be affected if an animal died, no matter how, humanely or inhumanely. Heaven and Earth are fair in how you live and how you die, and they are merciless. Therefore...
Their minds were affected by that beautiful dream. Then some regained consciousness, with blood and human organs everywhere. Some suffered severe psychological shock. Despite this, Feng Li Wu's expression was indifferent to everything happening around him.
Feng Li Wu was not merciful. If life does not show mercy to me, why should I show mercy to it? This was the question that revolved in Feng Li Wu's mind, but after his long experience, he found an answer: Show mercy and you will be shown mercy; show no mercy and you will not be shown mercy. This was Feng Li Wu's law in his past, present, and future lives. After finishing the wine in his glass, he placed it by the window, paid for his meal, and then left as if nothing had happened.
As Feng Li Wu wandered through Jing City, his eyes fell upon several phenomena, a mixture of good and evil.
It was a world full of betrayal everywhere. Good is not absolute, and evil is not absolute. There are no eternal enemies or eternal friends, except when interests converge or betrayals become useless.
In a world where mercy is bought with humiliation and flattery, pride has become a rare currency.
Feng Li Wu's expression was as cold as frost, showing no emotion of any kind as he looked at the death of millions of entities and races.
What is the difference between the death of a human and an insect? Are they not both creatures? Do they not both have souls? Do they not both have the right to live? If life is a right for every creature, then death is also a right for every creature. Why the difference? If a child dies, they mourn him and say he didn't see the world yet. If a young man dies, they say he is at the beginning of his life and hasn't lived anything. If an elder or an old man dies, their grief for him is less, and there is almost no attention. But if a wicked, treacherous, despicable person dies, they rejoice and congratulate the killer, calling him a hero. And if a creature not related to humans dies, they don't care at all. They just issue a penalty to the killer, at most, or a very minor punishment.
"Heaven and Earth are fair in how you live and how you die, and they are merciless at the same time. He who is not merciful, if life does not show mercy to me, why should I show mercy to it? Show mercy and you will be shown mercy; show no mercy and you will not be shown mercy.
I will not show mercy in this world. Everyone is a hero in their own life story, and all are supporting characters. They are also supporting characters in the life stories of other entities, and every ending of a story is the beginning of another story. Beginnings are not always beginnings; they can be the end of something else, and vice versa. Endings are not always endings; they are the beginning of something greater."
As Feng Li Wu was wandering, he noticed a young man, about 21 years old, with a little girl, about 16 years old, selling at one of the stalls. Feng Li Wu's eyes widened as he looked at them, and a faint smile devoid of emotion appeared. He put his hand in his pocket and took out a wanted poster. It was a picture of two children with the words "dead or alive" and a reward of 100 million high-level spirit stones. The boy was named Mao Xiong Xun and the girl was Mao Ji Su, wanted by the Mao sect, one of the most powerful and wealthiest sects in the Western Continent. However, Feng Li Wu's target was not the reward; he considered it worldly and of no benefit to him. His target was something greater within the Mao sect.
He decided to go to them later.
"Mao Xiong Xun and Mao Ji Su, the children of the sect leader, Mao Min Seok. A truly disgusting departure. They want to kill them to make the nephew of the sect leader the new leader." His tone was filled with apparent disgust, but at its core, it was devoid of emotion. His tone was more of an assessment and confirmation than disgust.
Feng Li Wu turned his gaze towards several men and women, sensing their murderous intent towards those two children, suppressed. However, they couldn't hide their eyes, full of murderous desire and lust towards Mao Ji Su. This increased Feng Li Wu's coldness to an extreme, to the point that ice appeared around him, and some people next to him froze to death. Despite this, he chose to remain, as the right moment had not yet arrived. He decided to let things take their course.
After several hours, at 20:32, Mao Xiong Xun and Mao Ji Su closed their stall and headed to their home, which was a dilapidated hut with one room, a kitchen, and a dilapidated bathroom. From the first glance, one would think that even stray dogs wouldn't live there, let alone humans. Yet, two orphaned children lived there, expelled from their family and deprived of their rights before they could even enjoy them.
"Brother Mao Xiong Xun, it seems it won't be a meal day. We haven't sold anything in two weeks, and our goods are about to spoil. What will we do then?" Mao Ji Su's tone was full of sadness, tears streaming down her blue eyes as she looked at her tattered, torn dress, filled with dirt and holes, her legs full of bruises, and her fingernails, some of which were torn off and some with hardened blood. Her feet were bare, causing her to sustain many injuries.
Mao Xiong Xun hugged his sister, resting his head on her chest, muttering in a low voice as he wiped her hair, which was dirty with dust, thorns, and some mud.
"Don't worry. As long as we are together, nothing bad will happen to us. Remember my words, if our goods spoil, we will have to do any other work. The important thing is that we stay together." Mao Xiong Xun's tone had some calmness and pity for their situation, which was pitiful to the lords of the Western Continent. But after their father, Mao Min Seok, died, the situation changed when their uncle, Mao Ki Chan, staged a coup.
"Let's go home. As for the money, I've been saving money from our work over the past 8 years." Mao Xiong Xun's tone was calm as he wiped away his sister Mao Ji Su's tears, which had hardened in her eyes and cheeks.
Smack.
Mao Ji Su delivered a punch towards Mao Xiong Xun, filled with immense anger and rage. "You scoundrel, how dare you hide money when we need it? You despicable person! But thank you anyway. How much have you collected during this time?" Her tone was a mixture of anger, confusion, and relief.
Mao Xiong Xun put his hand on his chin, trying to recall the money he had collected. "I think 10 mid-level spirit stones and 20,000 low-level spirit stones. We can buy a blacksmith shop. I learned how to forge weapons from teachers who are considered elites in the art of weapon making. So we'll be fine, don't worry."
They headed towards their dilapidated home with signs of happiness on their faces. Despite this, there were about 15 people lying in wait for them in the alleys to follow them. With a malicious smile, far from carrying even a speck of good.
As soon as they reached their home, Mao Seong Hun felt that something was wrong. There was a faint smell of blood, and someone wanted to hide it, but he detected it. Being Mao Seong Hun at the late stage of the solid foundation of level 3, he had trained rigorously during the 7 years he lived within the Mao sect. Therefore, he had a good intuition for danger. He noticed that the roof of the hut was no longer covering it, which made him scared, but he regained his composure and looked at his sister.
"Mao Ji Soo, go back. This place is not safe." Mao Seong Hun's tone was calm, unfitting for his age, despite being a cultivator in the late stage of solid foundation, level 3, layer 3.
In addition to his arduous training, as he was to be the heir of the Mao clan, his combat abilities were not to be underestimated. This was one of the reasons he had not been robbed for the past 8 years. However, he remained at the same rank without any increase due to stopping his training to earn his and his sister's daily bread and to meet some of her needs.
"Alright, brother. I trust you. So, what do we do? Our money is still inside." Her tone carried a great deal of worry and fear, yet she remained holding onto Mao Seong Hun's waist, hiding behind his back. Her appearance was a mix of cuteness due to her extreme beauty and disgust because she was dirty and smelled terribly. However, this did not deter greedy eyes from falling on her. Beauty is both a blessing and a curse. Therefore, she always stayed with her brother for protection from any trouble that might befall her.
A light, cold laugh, like frost devoid of any happiness or contentment, echoed from inside the hut. Only a cold sound resembling laughter emanated from within the hut, causing the bodies of both Mao Seong Hun and Mao Ji Soo to tremble.
After several seconds, the clouds began to disperse, revealing the moon, which illuminated the hut.
The expressions on the faces of Mao Seong Hun and Mao Ji Soo turned to extreme shock, causing Mao Ji Soo to lose consciousness immediately. Inside the hut was a heavy-duty massacre. There were 15 bodies of deformed men and women.
Their bodies were full of holes and contorted in difficult-to-reach ways.
The bodies of the 15 were skinned and their flesh removed; their stark white skeletons were visible.
Each body was floating in the air.
The expressions on the faces of the bodies were a mixture of pure, unadulterated horror, fear, and pain.
Their skulls were visible, their eyes almost bulging out.
The inside of their faces was completely disfigured, evident by the flesh of the right cheek being torn off.
As for the upper part of the men's bodies, all the skin and flesh had been brutally ripped off.
Their stark white skeletons were visible in some places on their chests, and their internal organs were crushed, flowing out of a wound like a thick, dark red liquid. Their hands were broken and twisted in difficult ways.
As for the women, they were the same, except that their bodies showed signs of sexual assault, especially with traces of semen on their mouths, disfiguring them. The smell of blood lingered on them and on the floor. Notably, the severed penises of the six men were stuck to their vaginas.
All the men were completely castrated, meaning even the place where semen collected had been removed entirely.
Mao Seong Hun could not look for more than two seconds. The smell of blood gradually increased until it became unbearable. These people were the mercenaries who had tried to kill and assault Mao Ji Soo, now hanging and horribly mutilated.
Mao Seong Hun's stomach began to contract, and he vomited what little he had eaten in days, as his stomach was empty.
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
This phrase repeated over and over inside the dilapidated hut in a tone filled with fear, pain, sadness, horror, pleading, and absolute pure terror. The voices of those people echoed repeatedly inside the dilapidated hut, each time more terrifying to the listener than the last.
Mao Seong Hun's face was filled with his own special terror. His entire body was shaking violently as he looked and listened to everything happening inside the dilapidated hut where he had lived for nearly 9 years. However, the matter did not end this way. Black fire appeared out of nowhere around the corpses, slowly beginning to burn them.
The bodies did not char immediately but slowly.
Their skeletons began to protrude from the midst of black flames, slowly turning into charcoal, then into nothing, even into a smoky dust.
Seconds after the black flames appeared, deafening screams shook the entire hut. They repeated the same phrase as before, but with more fear, pain, sadness, horror, pleading, and terror than before.
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
"Help us... Help us..."
Mao Seong Hun's tears began to fall profusely from his eyes as he fell to the ground, covering his ears and eyes, unable to hear or see what was happening inside the dilapidated hut.
"What is happening? Someone tell me, what is happening? Why, why is this massacre happening in my home, specifically? Someone tell me!" His tone was filled with anger and sadness as he screamed with all the strength he had left.
"Because they dared to meddle with my domain, their punishment is this." Feng Li Wu's tone was as cold as frost, showing no emotion as he looked at Mao Seong Hun from the other end of the hut, above one of the walls.
Mao Seong Hun's expression turned to even greater horror than before.
"The Great Lord of Chaos, Feng Li Wu..." He fainted before he could finish his sentence, as the shock exceeded his endurance.
Feng Li Wu's gaze was devoid of any emotion as he looked at Mao Seong Hun and his unconscious brother, Mao Ji Soo, muttering in a cold tone like frost, showing no concern for the situation: "If their minds were not reinforced, they would have lost their minds, or even their lives, seeing all this." Feng Li Wu's tone was devoid of any emotion or feeling. He described the situation as a 100% probable outcome.
Feng Li Wu's eyes widened as he felt something strange happening, but he didn't know what it was. This made him more cautious. The full moon, with its cold silver color, began to turn a deep red, and the sky turned a bloody red. The moon looked as if it were weeping blood.
Feng Li Wu raised his head to find the sky beginning to crack, splitting in half, and then bleeding profusely. Streams of blood flowed like waterfalls, filled with eyes, limbs, and extremities of various beings. Then, several long, dangerously pale arms emerged, with large, sharp-clawed hands, each hand covered in blood to a terrifying extent.
They were all directed towards Feng Li Wu.
As soon as they neared Feng Li Wu, they began to disappear.
Feng Li Wu had erased them directly without any noticeable effort.
"Lord of Trials, you have finally appeared in your true form." Feng Li Wu's tone was, as usual, as he looked at the sky where a being of medium build, wearing a black suit, began to appear. He had six sharp-clawed hands covered by white gloves. The Lord of Trials covered his face with a laughing devil mask and his hair with a black hat.
His appearance was that of a noble young man from the 15th century with a touch of the 19th century. He descended while holding a cane in his right hand.
As soon as he reached the ground, he looked at the two children for a second before turning his gaze to Feng Li Wu. He placed his hands on his left chest, over his heart, before bowing a noble, aristocratic bow.
"Lord Tom Fraglessen, I didn't think you would do all this to summon me. You are too monstrous. I liked you a lot. I told you in the past that you are my favorite, hahaha." His tone was devoid of any admiration, only superficial admiration that barely touched the core of his feelings, but his laughter held a few specks of it.
Several minutes passed, and no one spoke. Feng Li Wu felt that there was another reason that made the Lord of Trials appear, even though his true motive shouldn't have been his appearance. It was somewhat illogical. He could control another person and talk to them, as had happened in the previous two trials.
"Hahahaha, Lord Tom Fraglessen, you are truly a wonderful person. Yes, I came for another reason. It's about those two children. Someone from my world outside the narrative wants them to stay alive and for you not to harm them, otherwise, even if you were Ji Yao Li, you wouldn't last even two seconds. Alright."
"And as I said in the previous chapter, the third trial comes after autumn following summer. I have completed the first and second. Only half of the third, fourth, and fifth trials remain. So, good luck, because you will need it badly."
The Lord of Trials disappeared again without allowing Feng Li Wu to say anything. He had not come to converse but to announce that Feng Li Wu's actions had consequences, and they were truly serious, not just a joke.
Feng Li Wu turned his gaze towards Mao Seong Hun and Mao Ji Soo, his eyes empty, devoid of any emotion or reaction to the words of that Lord of Trials.
He raised his head to the sky again, which returned to normal as if nothing had happened. However, Feng Li Wu did not want to kill them; he needed them alive to carry out his plans. As for that mysterious entity that did not want the two children to die in the trial, it was considered memories. Yet, Feng Li Wu felt that this was not just a trip to the past, but something much larger. However, what had just happened was just an unexpected setback for him.