met free Chapter 23 Differences · 8
Chapter 23 Differences · 8
Dawn had not yet arrived, the moon had not yet completely set, and everything was still in darkness, but a white light had already appeared on the distant horizon.
Before the rooster crowed, a person emerged from the cave, rubbed his sleepy eyes, looked around, and then walked to a tree not far away. After that, the sound of flowing water could be heard.
Just as the sound of flowing water disappeared, the next second, a sound like something being cut appeared in his ear, as if a breeze was blowing. Then he felt a chill on his neck, and at the same time, a hand covered his mouth from behind.
At that moment, he realized something, but a feeling of drowning came over him. His throat felt like it was filled with water, making it difficult to breathe, and his mind began to feel dizzy.
He lost consciousness a few seconds later, and then the boy behind him gently put him down.
Huo Yuhao glanced at the corpse lying on the ground, and after noticing the calluses on the other person's right hand that would appear from years of farm work, he took the long knife from the body.
Then he put away his knife, took out the crossbow he had prepared behind him, nocked an arrow, and quietly walked into the cave.
The morning sun had risen on the horizon, the stars had disappeared, and the boy emerged from the cave, unchanged except for the lingering smell of blood on his body.
Then he left and headed south.
This was more than a month after he left Shrek City. After leaving through the North Gate, he arrived in the territory of the Heavenly Soul Empire and followed the main road to the Lima Plain.
The boy's goal is the Star Luo Empire in the south, the place he fled from, and the place where his mother is buried. Therefore, he needs to cross the border of the Heavenly Soul Empire to get there.
This process, of course, couldn't be a simple straight line drawn on a map. Instead, it involved following a road with a not-so-short bend before entering the territory of the Star Luo Empire.
After all, he didn't want to cross the Star Dou Great Forest directly yet, so this was the only way he could go.
During this journey, the boy did not ride in any caravan carriage, but walked all the way.
As he walked alone onto the main road, looking at the scenery before him, although there were no ruins or deserts, the boy's mindset was as if he had returned to the wasteland.
He walked and looked around, unlike when he first left the Duke's mansion and ran desperately towards the Star Dou Great Forest. He didn't stop for long along the way.
At that time, besides wanting to obtain a spirit ring to become a spirit master and fulfill the vow made at his mother's grave, he subconsciously wanted to escape that place.
It seems that as long as I run forward with all my might, the Duke's mansion behind me and that memory can drift away from me.
Since returning from the wasteland, I wasn't in such a hurry. Instead, I walked around like this, looking at the scenery around me and the dust kicked up by the carriages that passed by on the main road from time to time.
For more than a month, the boy walked along the way, cultivating every moment. No matter what his body was doing or what his mind was thinking, the soul power flowing around his body had become a subconscious behavior that did not require conscious control.
Within a month, his soul power finally broke through to level 15, and at this rate, it wouldn't be long before he reached the level 20 soul power required by Brother Tianmeng.
In a sense, this is the first time the boy has truly set foot on this land.
From the time he was born to the time he left the Duke's mansion at the age of eleven, his memories were filled with every little detail of his life with his mother and everything he experienced within the Duke's mansion.
In the context of that memory, the only areas he had ever been to were the woodshed in a secluded corner of the Duke's mansion and a grove of trees outside the courtyard where he would sneak out without anyone noticing.
In his memory, his life with his mother, and finally, the burial of her by his own hands, all took place there.
Then, the boy's first long journey was to secretly leave that place and go to the Star Dou Great Forest to obtain a soul ring.
Ironically, he had no idea what Douluo Continent was like before, and his life was confined to that small space.
The journey to the Star Dou Great Forest was largely an escape from the deepest fear hidden in my heart.
The boy first experienced the vastness of the world with his own eyes after arriving in the wasteland, at the Mojave outpost on the hillside, standing on the highway and looking out over the entire Mojave region.
At that time, he had not yet been recruited into John's Ranger squad, and his mind was in a state of confusion; all he knew was how to get back.
But standing there, gazing into the distance, watching the distant mountains of Mojave and the dust billowing in the wind, the desolate and empty landscape allowed a suppressed emotion, which had been weighing on my heart since childhood and lingered in that small space, to be released with a single breath.
That was the first time he had seen that the world could be so vast, no longer just a woodshed or an area enclosed by walls.
The howling wind blew towards him, and all he could hear was that sound, but an unprecedented tranquility was spreading through the boy's heart.
After many experiences, the boy returned by chance, but he was no longer himself. This was not only due to what he had learned in the wasteland, but also to a change in his mindset.
It's like a bird in a cage; after soaring through the sky, its attitude towards the cage changes.
After leaving Shrek City, he set foot on this land once again, and for the first time ever.
This journey was destined not to be a sightseeing trip, but rather a journey back to see the state of this land with his own eyes to verify whether the idea in his mind was necessary.
During the journey, he encountered wild animals in the forest and also met bandits in the mountains. Faced with these situations, the boy tried his best to eliminate them, because even if he escaped, others would encounter them later.
However, they didn't encounter many wild beasts, but bandits seemed to exist on every mountain. One or two Soul Masters with cultivation levels of only one or two rings could gather a group of people to occupy the mountain and become kings, while Soul Masters with higher cultivation levels were not common among bandits.
After all, no one who can cultivate to the level of a high-level Soul Master would want to become a bandit; they would all go to the empire or a sect to become a guest elder.
However, the sheer number of bandits made Huo Yuhao frown. Although bandits were not uncommon in the wasteland, they were significantly suppressed within the controlled areas of organizations like the New California Republic.
Especially the Caesar Legion. Even though Huo Yuhao didn't have much affection for this organization that practiced slavery, he expressed his approval of its efforts to eradicate bandits and the strict prohibition of addictive substances within its borders.
But at this moment, I am on the Douluo Continent, in this part of the Heavenly Soul Empire, and I have seen so many bandit gangs, big and small, even though many of them are not many in number.
However, the boy still lamented in his heart the inefficiency of the empire's governance. Although he had not yet seen the entire empire, he could foresee the extent of its governance capabilities just from the bandits he had encountered.
He also observed that among the bandits who were eliminated, the vast majority did not have much experience wielding a knife, and the calluses on their hands looked more like those left from wielding a hoe.
This situation made him even more disgusted, and that disgust was directed at these empires. These empires on the Douluo Continent, which claimed to be ten thousand years old or ruled by the current royal family for several thousand years, had a history far longer than all the history experienced by humans in the wasteland.
However, based on this one aspect alone, Huo Yuhao did not have a good impression of these empires that had existed for tens of thousands of years, and the idea in his mind was therefore constantly determined to be realized.