NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 120: The Man and The Abyss
Zhao Zhihao learned cultivation and magic and everything he knew from Hundun. He would find places where mana seemed to like together and he would rest there with Hundun and practice and practice until Hundun had finished tainting the area with negative energy. His whole trail of travels since he left the plateau would become known as the belt of death. It spread through the Russia-China border at the Plateau all the way down to the southern sea.
It took time for people to grasp what was happening so for a period of 5 years—the time it took for Zhao Zhihao to arrive at the southern sea— he wasn’t aware that people had been taking notice of him. Hundun’s work took months and months so it seemed to really fly by.
Hundun saved him and itself by warning him when it felt the clear presence of someone that could destroy it in its current form.
“ Young man, it’s dangerous here. You should change paths.”
Zhao Zhihao was not yet 20 but he had reached his maximum height. Just shy of 180cm, Quite Tall for someone of his upbringing. He thought it would be hard to find someone in China who would tower over him but as he looked ahead of his path he saw a man well past two meters tall.
Zhao Zhihao had a habit of analyzing people. When he lived back in his hometown he never saw a wide variety of people like he did now that he was actually out in the world and this caused him to stare, compare and question.
This man stood heavily on one of his legs, this was something Zhao Zhihao immediately fixated on, this meant the man was actually even taller than he seemed. His hair was ink black, this was pretty normal but what wasn’t normal was his eyes. His eyes seemed black but every slight movement he made allowed Zhao Zhihao to see other colors peeking through. His eyes were like a sunbeam snake’s scales, changing between all colors.
He was also incredibly familiar to Zhao Zhihao and he didn’t know why.
“What is so dangerous about it?” Zhao Zhihao asked.
“Negative energy will start pouring in any minute from demonic cultivators. Don’t worry about it, just turn around.” The man touched Zhao Zhihao’s shoulder and suddenly Zhihao blinked and he was in a town.
“W-What—?!”
—
Zhao Zhihao had been worried that Hundun would be erased by the man but Hundun had managed to run long before Zhao Zhihao noticed the man. They reunited near the seaport and Zhao Zhihao was overjoyed but he realized that this all ruined his plans.
If the man had already noticed them, then the trail, he and Hundun had left was probably going to disappear soon from others purifying it. He needed to gain credibility and start rallying people to help him. The problem was… In order to do that he needed to get stronger very quickly.
“Can you give me power?”
The hole in the ground that was Hundun seemed to shake, perhaps out of joy or for a warning.
Zhao Zhihao didn’t know how to interpret it but he reached his arm into the hole, he hoped that by entering Hundun he could gain power but he still had a bit of fear left in him. The last time he entered Hundun he was fine but every time still shook him to the core. The arm that he reached into it started to burn, Zhao Zhihao didn’t understand the sensation at first before he hurriedly ripped his hand out of Hundun. His arm wasn’t burning but his whole arm had turned a pitch-black color. He cradled his arm as the pain spread throughout his whole body and then to his chest, he faltered, Was this death?
He would just leave like this? Without even being of use to Hundund?
He suddenly coughed and black fluid spilled from his lips. The fluid settled on the ground for a second before flowing back into Hundun.
Zhao Zhihao tried again once he realized he hadn’t gained any power at all. He tried again and again, trying to hold the black fluid inside. He got to the point where he threw himself inside Hundun entirely, his fear completely dying through his many attempts and failures.
He stared at the emptiness inside Hundun.
“You simply don’t have the talent. Stop before I get sick of saving you.”
Zhao Zhihao was spit back out by Hundun. It had saved him time and time again but Zhao Zhihao’s persistence was beginning to get on his nerves.
Zhao Zhihao didn’t know how to feel. What would he do now? None of his plans will work without power. He had already reached his core type…It was impossible for him to get much stronger, especially when he didn’t even have the proper education when it came to cultivation.
—
Zhao Zhihao had a silver core naturally. Of course even back when he was traveling around aimlessly with Hundun, this wasn’t too amazing but even he could kill people. Though it didn’t seem that way in the weeks following the realization that his body couldn’t bear Hundun’s power. A thief got to him in his sluggish travels and Zhao Zhihao in his depressed stupor beat him to death with his fists alone. He actually hadn’t eaten in a while and while he stood above the corpse and stared at it, he started to clear his head as he weighed out his options.
Hundun peaked out from the shadows, It had been on the verge of deserting Zhao Zhihao for how useless he turned out to be. It came out only when it sensed that Zhao Zhihao might evolve from this experience instead of regressing further into the shell of a man he became over the past few weeks.
Zhao Zhihao drew a small blade as he stared, the idea became better by the second…until he stared at the thief’s chest. And on a whim… checked the person’s core.
Alexandrite. It was completely unused and practically the level of wood because of it but it was still Alexandrite.
Zhao Zhihao was never as angry as he was now.
“YOU! IF YOU’RE GOING TO WASTE IT THEN GIVE IT TO ME!” He knew that the man was dead and couldn’t hear him but it made him so angry. The thing he desired so badly, a stronger core, was in the hands of someone who did not even appreciate it.
Zhao Zhihao carved the core out with his knife, viciously scratching and tearing the skin.
He stared at the core in his hands for a while…
“What if…?”
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