Chapter 553 The Correct Path of Humanity (13,000 Words, Large Chapter Seeking Monthly Tickets~)

——Gods and Demons Chronicle, 830,014th year.

——New Calendar, Year 2, January 4th.

Akaki Province.

Located on the western side of the Tianyuan World's great continents, Akaki Province is situated in the far west. The Western Continent's continental plate collides with the Central Continent's plate here, causing mountains to rise and extreme geological changes. There are many volcanoes, hot springs, and surface lava lakes, hence the name Akaki (Red Mound).

Akaki Province Prefecture, deep beneath Mount Futan.

Tianyuan World, the 'Fire' Earth Vein Nexus.

Scorching air currents distort the atmosphere. Visible red heat waves surge incessantly deep within the earth veins, melting rocks and softening divine iron.

In the deep depths of the earth, the essence of the materialized fire element earth veins is exuberant. In spiritual vision, it looks like golden-red veins, the main trunks surging powerfully, while numerous capillary-like branch veins connect to every volcano and hot spring in Akaki Province.

And within some uranium-containing strata in the earth veins, there are even many natural nuclear fission reactors. Intricate and complex radiation and fluctuations in the earth vein spiritual energy form a perfect shield, making it impossible for even immortals, gods, and Heavenly Emperors to peek across the world.

But in this extremely hot place where even the indestructible divine iron softens, a colossal and majestic divine bird sits with folded wings in the center of the earth vein torrent, eyes closed in slumber.

Azure-golden spiritual light flickers. Without a doubt, this is the divine bird Zhuzhou.

During this period after killing Nan Zhengkai, Su Zhou had been researching the further promotion and improvement of the 'Five Virtues Qilin Art' and the 'Rotation of Immortality Art' with Ming Zhengde.

Using Sarah as a prototype, the two cultivation methods that were researched were truly simple to the extreme. Although the effects were weakened a lot, they were at least truly in the category of 'everyone can cultivate'. According to feedback from grassroots-level popularization, even farmers in rural towns could barely cultivate a foundation within ten days after learning to read.

This effect was naturally as good as it could be, and both were very satisfied.

After that, however, Ming Zhengde focused on coordinating with the divine birds of various clans to fine-tune the earth vein sacrificial pillars. Su Zhou also dispatched his incarnations to act secretly, carrying earth vein sacrificial pillars to the main veins of the earth veins.

According to Ming Zhengde, these one or two thousand years are precisely the period of large-scale earth vein activity that occurs once every seventy to eighty thousand years in the Tianyuan World.

And his plan was to rely on the Yingtian Chengqi Five Virtues Grand Array to connect almost independent main veins through the earth vein sacrificial pillars, guiding all the earth vein undulations to converge at one point, and finally erupting simultaneously, urging the operation of the Severing Heaven and Earth Grand Array.

The grand array formed by the power of all the earth veins in the entire Tianyuan World is a solid barrier that even the Divine Emperor could never shatter. It is enough to block immortals, gods, and heavenly demons for tens of thousands of years until the next earth vein fluctuation period appears, at which point the grand array will naturally collapse.

Tens of thousands of years is neither long nor short. For gods and demons, it is nothing more than a long dream. For mortals and even civilizations, it is long enough.

Ming Zhengde didn't know what he and humanity could do or to what extent during this period without the interference of gods and demons—but this was the only thing he could do.

As for what kind of ending humanity will face tens of thousands of years later, that is a matter for later.

In short, Ming Zhengde and Su Zhou were busier than ever during these two months.

Under Ming Zhengde's guidance, Su Zhou also gained an in-depth understanding of the essence of the 'Heaven and Earth One Qi Zhenyuan Golden Chapter'.

The Zhenyuan Golden Chapter, as Nan Zhengkai's fundamental cultivation method, was also one of the core components of Ming Zhengde's former earth-element Five Virtues Divine Light. After learning that Su Zhou wanted to construct a complete five elements cycle in his personal space, he personally took action, teaching Su Zhou the related methods of the five elements' transformation, filling in the last piece of the puzzle for the youth.

Now, deep within the earth veins.

The youth is cultivating to the most critical period.

In the depths of the scorching and brilliant fire earth veins, the mountain-like majestic divine bird sleeps peacefully, its posture solemn and towering, like an immortal idol.

But now, the idol is gradually fading—the earth vein energy is surging powerfully, but the divine bird's body is becoming increasingly dim. The warm crystal on its chest was originally brilliant, releasing a tyrannical life aura, but now it is gradually dimming, as if withering leaves.

——The Five Signs of Celestial Decay.

When blessings are exhausted and life ends, the clothes of the celestial being become soiled, the flowers on their head wither, they cannot lock their essence, a foul odor suddenly arises, and they detest their original seat. These are the five signs of decay.

At this moment, similar anomalies appear on Su Zhou: his wings lose color, his crystal dims, his claws become dull, his feathers fall, and his entire body decays.

"What is Zhuzhou...trying to do?"

At the other end of the earth veins, the current Vermilion Bird Yan Chilei watched this scene with a solemn gaze. The long-haired beauty in tight-fitting attire flapped her wings, her brow furrowed.

As the local landlord of Akaki, it was Yan Chilei who accepted Su Zhou's visit and took him to this earth vein for cultivation—at that time, she was quite happy. If Zhuzhou, whose strength was still above her own, could take another step forward, could he get closer to the realm of gods and demons than her? If possible, could she also learn from it to sublimate her own cultivation method?

But she never expected that Zhuzhou's so-called cultivation would directly cultivate himself to the point of the five signs of celestial decay, trembling all over, aging to the point of death!

Yan Chilei could clearly see that Su Zhou's entire body was constantly shedding feathers. Those azure-golden divine bird feathers, comparable to divine weapons, withered and fell, like autumn leaves.

"Is this really cultivation?!"

With great doubts in her heart, and due to Su Zhou's previous instructions, Yan Chilei endured her worries and did not remind Su Zhou of these anomalies. She watched uneasily from the side, witnessing Su Zhou's original boundless life aura gradually dissipating, disappearing as if sinking into the ruins.

For a moment, the Vermilion Bird even thought Su Zhou was really dead.

But at that moment, she heard a phoenix cry.

When his life aura weakened to the limit, the divine bird, aged to the extreme, opened its eyes, its gaze dazzling.

He raised his head and cried, spreading his wings.

Crack!

The sound of cracking rang out. The withered old skin on the surface of the divine bird's body burst open, revealing cracks. A powerful aura spread, and streaks of Jiamu lightning flashed.

Fragments of old skin broke off, revealing a crystal-clear new body. The majestic aura spread, making Su Zhou like the sun for a time. The entire earth vein was filled with a fragrance and aroma like plants and trees.

At this moment, around Zhuzhou's body, the old feathers were still constantly falling off, but new wings were being generated—using the Blade of Annihilation as a prototype, knife-like feathers were releasing incomparably sharp metallic energy, and Jiamu divine lightning surrounded the divine bird.

In the chest crystal that lit up again, the light of extremely hot flames flickered. The divine bird's body was filled with surging qi and blood, and its bones were solid. By borrowing the earth vein energy, the 'World-Shifting Immortal Body', which had been cultivated to a small success, fused the essence of the water and earth systems.

One annihilation, one life, one withering, one flourishing, one decay, one splendor, one yin, one yang.

"One life extinguished, one life born, rotating endlessly, this is immortality!"

A calm divine thought spread. Spiritual energy overflowed from Su Zhou's body, faintly condensing into five-colored patterns. The Rotation of Yin-Yang Immortality Art, a cultivation method created by himself, was now cultivated to the theoretical limit.

By using the more intense life-span absorption power in the earth veins to accelerate cultivation, Su Zhou directly dissipated his old divine bird body, and then used this as a foundation to relive his second life, causing the five-colored longevity flower to bloom!

If it were other wood-system cultivators, they could even use this to directly transform into the way of the divine tree, directly incarnating into a brand new divine tree body, saving the most fragile and longest juvenile growth period of the divine tree path!

"This, this is Nirvana?!"

At this moment, Yan Chilei, who witnessed this scene, was immediately shocked. She stared at Su Zhou, using the Rotation of Yin-Yang Immortality Art to reshape his foundation, directly upgrading his true body from the old version to version 2.0. Her eyes were full of shock: "So, so that's how it is... Condensing all the lifespan into one point, causing the external appearance to decay and become fragile, and then releasing the vigorous vitality to reshape the divine body!"

"Without destruction, there can be no establishment. Without giving up, there can be no gain. So that's how it is, this is Nirvana!"

"I understand!"

Having personally witnessed Su Zhou's successful Nirvana, coupled with the amazement of her own rejuvenation, Yan Chilei's heart was now full of enlightenment.

She even had an urge to experiment.

But Su Zhou had no idea what the other party had understood.

In fact, this was not Nirvana at all—without a doubt, Su Zhou was not a divine bird at all. The phoenix bloodline was fake. How would he know anything about Nirvana?

That was just the most ordinary snake shedding its skin (divine bird version), only it was done in the divine bird form to make it look more scary.

But no matter what, Su Zhou had indeed completed the goal of his recent hard cultivation.

Zhuzhou · Divine Bird Form Version 2.0!

Or, to use another adjective.

——Zhuzhou · General-Purpose Battle Form!

He could use multiple attributes, multiple incarnations, multiple attack methods, respond to all kinds of special enemies, and use various targeted restraint combat methods to launch devastating blows against the enemy.

If the Universe Battle Form represents Su Zhou's highest destructive power and combat strength, and the Sea Battle Form represents Su Zhou's peak achievements in the magical arts system, then the General-Purpose Battle Form is the most all-purpose form that can be used in any situation.

Su Zhou, who had finally gathered the Five Virtues and completed the energy cycle in his body, not only opened up another path for advancement, but also further strengthened the combat effectiveness of his original true bodies.

After all, the experience of the General-Purpose Battle Form can also be used on other true bodies.

Gathering multiple powerful inheritances and extraordinary organs, and integrating them to further innovate, is Su Zhou's path in terms of true bodies.

"'World-Shifting Immortal Body' partial construction can be used to optimize the skeleton of the Universe Battle Form, and 'Five Virtues Divine Light' can also be used to optimize the breath of the Universe Battle and Sea Battle Forms—in this way, my 'Four Extremes Gathering Spirit Divine Light Cannon' may be optimized into 'Five Virtues Rotation Divine Light Cannon'."

Smiling slightly, Su Zhou shifted his thoughts away from this aspect and looked at his personal space.

As Su Zhou's own five elements attributes became complete, the changes in his personal space also became very huge.

Unlike Su Zhou's main body, which is based on 'Fire', his personal space is biochemicalized with 'Wood' as the core.

The Divine Wood Wisdom Tree is located in the center of the world, and it is the foundation of the world, deriving the spiritual veins of Wood.

The fire element sun, where the spirit of the Blade of Annihilation dwells, is high in the sky, shining in all directions, deriving the spiritual veins of Fire.

The Divine Blade Blade of Annihilation is located in the mountain of knife sheaths, and the incomparably sharp golden light of the evil spirit traverses the area, deriving the spiritual veins of Metal.

The earth vein sacrificial pillars are located deep in the earth, and the huge jade marrow pillars that Su Zhou has transformed into dragon veins, deriving the spiritual veins of Earth.

And Water... Although Su Zhou does not have spiritual objects related to the water attribute to suppress this attribute, the ocean in the personal space is vast and naturally possesses the spiritual veins of Water.

Moreover, because of his trip to the reincarnation world last time, Su Zhou really took a lot of evil souls of the Water God, and many of these evil souls were taken by the Wisdom Tree to plant grass. Presumably, when all those evil soul grasses grow up, they can be used as objects to suppress the water attribute spiritual veins.

In the personal space, the five elements rotate, and the yin and yang intermingle into thunder. The weather is ever-changing, becoming more stable and solid than before.

The spirits of the five elements are condensing, transforming, and preparing to sublimate with Su Zhou.

In the fire element sun, the spirit of Teng Snake personally witnessed how Su Zhou changed this small world during this period, and how his cultivation affected this world.

"This, this is the great power of creating the world..."

"As expected, is this the power of the 'Myriad Wonders Origin Creation Chaos True Dragon'?"

Although Teng Snake's guess cannot be said to be wrong—after all, the personal space is indeed guided by Yala for cultivation, and the Origin True Dragon of the Tianyuan World is also one of Yala's derivatives.

Su Zhou himself speculated that this is likely a derivative of a part of Yala's supreme inheritance, the 'World-Bearing Scale', which she once revealed.

As long as the personal space is cultivated to great success, it can be transformed into a 'World-Bearing Scale'.

"Huff——"

At this moment, Su Zhou took a deep breath, and the surrounding vast fire element earth vein energy immediately turned into a spiritual energy vortex that rotated around his body.

For a time, even several earth vein tributaries were cut off because of this. The vast spiritual energy contracted, condensed, and finally became the fuel for the true body's spiritual energy engine, causing it to burn fiercely, its feathers crystal clear, and emitting divine light.

At this moment, the youth clearly realized that he was only one step away from the Heavenly Immortal realm.

As long as he figured out what kind of 'super life' he wanted to become, and knew what kind of form his future 'Heavenly Immortal path' and 'Heavenly Immortal true form' would take, then he could probably start transforming immediately.

Moreover, Su Zhou also realized that most of the immortals and gods in the Tianyuan World are not true Heavenly Immortals.

Just like the Ziwei Star Lord who condensed the Iron of Suppressing Demons and Subduing Demons, although he had great power and authority in the past, he was essentially just a land immortal who accepted the blessing of the heavens of the stars and possessed the power of a Heavenly Immortal.

Once deprived of authority, he would immediately fall to the realm of a True Person.

On the other hand, the Ziwei Star Lord who forged the Azure Sky Righteous Yang Ruler is very likely a true Heavenly Immortal. After all, being able to go to the so-called Ruins Sun River to intercept the power of the accretion disk, such a powerful degree cannot be explained without being a Heavenly Immortal.

"On the contrary, the Heavenly Emperor and Demon Lord of this level have always been terrifyingly strong—the Heavenly Emperor who wields the heavens of the stars, their strength among the Great Heavenly Venerates is probably one of the extremely powerful ones!"

Thinking like this, even Su Zhou, who is not afraid of the heavens and the earth, could not help but be a little afraid: "Not to mention that every Heavenly Emperor is talented and born in response to the times, just the 'Heavenly Dao Array' built by the Primordial Heavenly Emperor millions of years ago, which is enough to govern the world, cannot be confronted by ordinary human power."

"No wonder Ming Zhengde was reborn 30,000 times and never thought of advancing to become a god or demon, becoming the Ziwei Star Lord or dominating the heavenly demons, and helping the human race from the inside out—once entering the ranks of immortals, gods, and heavenly demons, I am afraid there is no way to resist the Heavenly Emperor and the Demon Lord!"

Shaking his head slightly, Su Zhou is not someone who would scare himself.

He is very clear that even such a powerful Heavenly Emperor and Demon Lord are equally fearful of the will deep in the earth veins of the Tianyuan World, the calamity called 'Great Ominous', and even directly withdrew the Immortal Heaven and the Nine Hells from the Tianyuan World, and did not even dare to enter the world with their true bodies.

It is precisely because of this that Ming Zhengde can design the foundation of the Severing Heaven and Earth Grand Array as a capital for resistance.

"We have done everything we can do."

Thinking like this, Su Zhou raised his head: "And the gods and demons must have done everything they can do."

He looked outside the world, at the earth above the earth veins, the mortal realm of Tianyuan.

"So."

The youth muttered softly, with flames burning in his eyes: "Which one is more correct..."

"Let's see!"

——Correct.

Correct.

What is correct, everyone has their own views. Even like-minded partners are just seeking common ground while reserving differences. The definition of correctness in their hearts must be different.

It is precisely because of this that many times, even though the career is successful, the group of people who fought side by side suddenly part ways, or even become enemies—this is because the external pressure is lacking, the foundation of 'seeking common ground while reserving differences' disappears, differences in correctness in the heart produce contradictions, which in turn deny each other, leading to disputes.

This is the source of struggle, the nature of contradiction, the foundation of all questioning, fighting, and even progress and innovation.

【The War of Correct and Correct】

But, for the Tianyuan World, because of the gods and demons, because of this unprecedentedly powerful existence, the pressure that is as vast as the sky.

Therefore, for the sentient beings in the mortal world of Tianyuan, the standard of correctness is too simple and broad.

That is... to live.

To live well and with dignity.

——New Calendar, Year 2, beginning of the year.

A remnant island in the Southern Continent, the outskirts of the capital city of the Righteous Sun Kingdom. Twelve-year-old Xiao Mo heard the clear sound of rain.

The rain dripped in the winter cold, crisp but cold, like a soul-knocking wind chime.

At that time, the sky was near dusk, and the rain was misty, stirring up layers of water vapor in the dim streets, and the half-crippled black-haired girl hurriedly pushed a pancake cart, looking for a place to shelter from the rain.

In the past, the entire Righteous Sun Kingdom moved away from the Central Continent and came to the remnant island of the Southern Continent to build a city and rebuild the foundation of the country. Because of limited resources, the entire country was divided into two worlds: 'within the city' and 'suburbs'.

There were tall buildings in the city, but in the suburbs, most were low-rise bungalows and precarious illegal buildings, and gangs were rampant everywhere.

Those who lived in the city were decent big shots, or relatives of military cultivators. They had stable jobs, assets and houses, and their living standards were not much different from those in the Central Continent.

But the suburbs were a mess, most of whom were ordinary people who had no assets and were coerced by the Righteous Sun Kingdom to come to the Southern Continent. They worked hard all day long, and most of what they earned was to be levied by the official and gangs. In addition, they had to face all kinds of emergencies and the harsh environment of the Southern Continent.

Xiao Mo's parents used to be soldiers in the Righteous Sun Army. They died of illness here because they were not adapted to the environment and miasma of the Southern Continent during the migration. Even Xiao Mo herself was bitten by local poisonous insects and crippled half of her leg, and her left knee was difficult to bend.

And because she was not killed in battle, the official of the Righteous Sun Kingdom was unwilling to pay even a pension, letting the girl who was alone at the time fend for herself.

Fortunately, among the former comrades in the same team, there were finally people who remembered some of the old friendship of her parents' generation, so they took her to the White Sail Gang in the eastern suburbs of the capital to help sell pancakes and do chores on weekdays, which could be regarded as surviving.

Generally, Xiao Mo would operate within the sphere of influence of the White Sail Gang, and the customers were also the laborers under the White Sail Gang. After a day, she could also get a few pancakes as a reward, so she didn't have to go hungry. Occasionally, if she was lucky, she could also eat some leftovers from the shop and taste some oil.

But today, because of a sudden winter rain, an accident happened.

"Fortunately, fortunately, the pancakes haven't been wetted too much, so I shouldn't be fined..."

The cold wind was bleak, and the sallow-faced and emaciated girl limped her pancake cart to the eaves of a house. After checking the pancakes, she breathed a sigh of relief: "As long as it's not broken, it's not a loss, and the shopkeeper won't blame me too much."

The ground in the suburbs was pitted and bumpy, and basically all of it was rotten mud road. Once it rained, it was full of mud and sewage. It was not an easy thing to push the cart smoothly to a place to shelter from the rain, let alone a half-crippled girl.

But before she could relax, she heard a few vicious tones coming from not far away.

"You're from the White Sail Gang, right?"

Raising her head blankly, Xiao Mo saw several hooligans in green linen clothes smiling coldly as they walked towards her. Before she could react, a sharp pain came, and the leader of the hooligans directly slapped the girl to the ground, and then kicked her into the water. He sneered: "You dare to appear here, don't you know that your boss lost the gambling fight, and these three streets nearby are all from our Green Clothes Gang?"

"You dare to hang the banner of the White Sail Gang, you're really fucking arrogant!"

A fishy smell came from her mouth and nose, and her eyes were full of stars. Even her teeth were a little loose, but Xiao Mo didn't yell, but skillfully curled up into a ball, hugging her thin body together, as if trying to hide in the mud.

She even deliberately rolled in the cold mud.

As expected, because Xiao Mo rolled in the mud, the hooligans from the Green Clothes Gang were too lazy to attack. They didn't mind bullying a thin little girl, but it didn't mean they wanted to get their boots dirty in the mud.

"Get out, don't come near here again!"

Saying so, they declared their sovereignty and casually overturned Xiao Mo's cart, took the money bag inside, and then left laughing and joking. A cart of dry cakes fell all over the mud.

"..."

After a while, the girl, whose dizziness in front of her had ended, slowly got up. She silently came to her overturned cart, laboriously lifted the cart up, and then picked up the soaked cakes in the rain. After taking a numb look, she put them back in the cart.

Then, she pushed back to the White Sail Gang's territory in the rain.

"...You said the Green Clothes Gang said that West Street was theirs, and then overturned my cart and took my money?"

Inside the shop, the shopkeeper chewed on the roasted meat. He frowned and put down the bowl and chopsticks in his hand.

This balding middle-aged man could of course see the palm prints and wounds on the face of the shivering girl in front of him, who was covered in mud. He knew that she was not lying, and things were likely to be like this. After all, the adult behind the Green Clothes Gang had been powerful recently and acted arrogantly. The White Sail Gang was generally on the defensive and did not confront them head-on.

But so what? He was not a philanthropist, and he was indeed annoyed by this, so he said indifferently: "I don't care about this. If you don't pay today's share, there will be no reward. I'll be merciful and not count the money for messing up the cakes, but the missing part will have to be made up in the future—it will be deducted from your future rewards."

"What are you looking at me for? Go, you're all dirty. At least rinse yourself clean in the rain before coming in to see me next time."

"..."

Nodding silently, Xiao Mo limped out of the shop. The rain was still falling, and the dirt road at night was dark and sticky. It took a lot of effort to pull her feet out of the mud.

Returning to the straw shack provided by the White Sail Gang in the suburbs, the mud on her body was indeed washed away by the rain, but the girl, who was also cold, shrank in the corner of the cold shack, covering her bony body with dew-covered straw.

Quilts were a rare thing that the poor naturally did not have. That was something that people who could live in adobe houses could have. Even these straws were not something that Xiao Mo could collect herself, but were brought by a friend.

"..."

In the pile of straw, the girl groped out a simple straw doll. The doll was very crude, but it had a roughly human shape. Staring at the doll, Xiao Mo seemed to see the faces of those Green Clothes Gang hooligans today, and she also seemed to see the shopkeeper's face. This trance-like moment made her subconsciously want to throw the doll away, or punch it with her clenched fist.

But thinking that this doll was the only thing her friend had given her, she took her hand back.

She fell asleep in a daze.

There was nothing in her dream, because the girl had not seen anything worth dreaming about in her life.

When she woke up, Xiao Mo had a high fever, and it was already noon.

The White Sail Gang member guarding this place had come to see her once, muttering, 'There's not enough land, where should I bury her?', and the shopkeeper also sent someone to take a look, shook his head, and left.

Struggling to get up, the girl, who had not eaten much for a day, was silent because she had no strength to speak. She dragged her body out of the shack. The rain had stopped, and the clouds had cleared. She basked in the sun, hoping to warm her body a little.

She had been sick like this a few times in the past, and she had recovered by basking in the sun. She hoped she could survive this time too.

But even if she couldn't survive, so what?

The humid air and the frosty wind after the rain, even in the sun, seemed cold. But in this situation, Xiao Mo felt hot all over, warm, and a sense of relief.

Until a pair of warm hands stretched out anxiously and pressed on her forehead, awakening the girl from her comfort and bringing a sense of realism-like headache and dizziness.

"Wake up! Xiao Mo, I brought medicine!"

That was a somewhat effeminate boy's voice, with urgency and a hint of crying. Because she perceived this, the pale-faced girl opened her slightly swollen eyes, and what came into her view was a delicate face.

So, she said weakly, "...A Luo?"

Without replying, the delicate boy breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Xiao Mo wake up. Without saying a word, he took out a small porcelain bottle from his arms, and then pointed out a white pill and put it into the girl's mouth.

The pill tasted sweet, and the fresh feeling instantly dispelled the drowsiness in her brain, and most of the hunger in her stomach also dissipated. Although she was still feeling hot and cold all over, she no longer had that ethereal, unreal comfort.

Soon, Xiao Mo woke up.

"...It must be expensive, this elixir."

After a moment of silence, the girl said with some difficulty, "No need... It's not necessary... Such a precious thing, used on me..."

"It's not expensive, I asked the master for it, and the master rewarded it to me... On the contrary, you, why are you so careless, you can still catch a cold and have a fever!"

The delicate boy's tone was effeminate, and his clothes were gorgeous and thin, in stark contrast to the girl's tattered linen clothes. It was clearly time to start changing his voice, but A Luo's voice was still slender and gentle.

Big shots always have some peculiar hobbies, which is not strange.

Of course, Xiao Mo didn't know this. She only knew that this peer who used to live in the shack area with her also had no parents. She had shared half a cake when he had no food, and he had also shared some food when she had no food.

Even when she was unhappy, he had collected some straw for her and made a straw doll.

—He said that she looked like his missing sister, and she also regarded him as a friend. The two of them had once imagined in the sun when they could eat a bowl of roasted meat like the shopkeeper. That was probably such a simple relationship.

But one day, A Luo was selected by a big shot who passed by, escaped the sea of ​​misery, and then was rarely seen.

This time, it should be the first time since he left.

The two whispered about their recent lives, the daily life of the slum, the arrogance of the Green Clothes Gang, the rules of the mansion, and the terrible master, and so on.

Children who are still young can only discuss these topics.

Then, A Luo was quickly taken away by the servants who came.

He had left without permission, and it was said that he would be punished. His master had a weird temper, and he had been even more moody recently. No one knew what punishment the boy who had left the mansion without permission would suffer.

The girl didn't know, she fell asleep again, and woke up the next day. She braced herself and continued to return to the store to work, and the shopkeeper glanced at the girl strangely, but didn't say much, and let Xiao Mo continue.

The cart continued to travel on the dusty or muddy road, and the days passed like this.

A few days later, Xiao Mo saw A Luo's figure on the street. There were bruises on his neck where he had been pinched hard, and a brand was also burned on his exposed arm.

He was pale, but he also saw Xiao Mo from a distance, and then happily winked back.

It was fortunate that both were still alive.

So life continued.

Xiao Mo was actually very lucky.

She had friends, people she could trust, and people who would help her.

In this Righteous Sun Kingdom's suburban slum, there were more people who didn't have any hope, and there would be no friends who could help them in times of crisis.

They might not even have a job that could be exploited, and no one would care about their life or death.

That was the real ordinary person.

Day after day, the Green Clothes Gang continued to grow in power, and the White Sail Gang retreated step by step. Soon, except for the core dozen or so streets, the White Sail Gang's sphere of influence was basically completely occupied by the Green Clothes Gang.

As a result, Xiao Mo also completely lost her job. She squatted at the door of the shack, thinking worriedly about how to catch a few more earthworms from the ground tomorrow, or catch insects on the tree. There were many people who were hungry, and sometimes even eating dirt might not be her turn.

Therefore, she needed to master the skills—for example, go to the suburban burial site. There were dead people there, there were many insects, and there were many weeds. Maybe there were some edible weeds.

As for whether it was unlucky or not...

She didn't care about that.

But when Xiao Mo set off to the burial site, the girl was annoyed to find that there were actually many people there, and wild dogs and wild cats with gloomy eyes were wandering around, also looking for food.

Even, in some places, the earth pits had been dug open...

Everyone obviously didn't care about this.

After working hard all day, she came back hungry again, and the girl sat blankly in the straw pile, dazed.

The deep night was the deepest in this Southern Continent's suburbs, because no light would be lit at night, only the residences of the gang leaders would occasionally have candlelight.

Because she was too hungry, she couldn't sleep. In a daze, Xiao Mo raised her head and looked at the stars in the sky.

Because the night was deep, the starlight was particularly bright, but even if it was bright, these stars shining in the sky could not illuminate half of the world.

Even, because of these lights, it set off the night even darker.

"...Do the stars really have meaning?"

She couldn't help but think like this: "They don't illuminate the night, it always feels strange."

But, at this moment.

Suddenly, in the north of the night.

A fire lit up, illuminating half of the sky.

The girl opened her eyes and looked in that direction in surprise.

It wasn't dawn yet, so it couldn't be the light of dawn.

What star was it? It could be so bright, it was amazing!

Then, countless dense points of light lit up. They were denser than the stars, like a rain of fire spreading across the sky, scattering in the sky and rushing towards this place rapidly, like a fire cloud covering the world.

"The New Dynasty!"

She could hear a voice like a wail, which was the familiar voice of the shopkeeper: "The New Dynasty's Southern Expeditionary Army is here!"

"The Southern Expeditionary Army is here!"

For a time, such exclamations sounded everywhere in the street. Whether it was a gang or an ordinary person, whether it was a powerful master or a lowly commoner in the slum, they were all panicked.

Xiao Mo was naturally no exception. As soon as she heard the name of the army, the fear in her bones was awakened.

That was the figure who sent her parents away and drove her out of the house. It was the power that made the shopkeeper smile ingratiatingly and even send out a lot of money.

Even the entire White Sail Gang was just a glove of a figure in the army. It was a synonym for power, a terrible symbol.

But, if she wanted to run, how should she run? And where could she run to?

"It's so poor here, they definitely won't come looking for me, right?"

The girl shrank in the corner, thinking like this with luck: "Even if they rob things, they should rob the shopkeeper and the masters."

But thinking like this, Xiao Mo became worried again: "But A Luo is still with the master..."

But that night, there was no riot as imagined.

The capital of the Righteous Sun Kingdom was silent.

No one resisted. The army masters who used to run rampant in the city and suburbs were silent, motionless, letting the rain of fire descend from the sky and settle in the city.

Then, the next day, teams set off to go to various parts of the city and suburbs.

However, unlike what Xiao Mo imagined, this army did not rush to rob those masters and merchants first, but instead directly headed towards the areas where the common people lived.

—What, what is this for?

In a daze, she thought timidly, hugging the straw doll in her hand: "I, I don't have anything."

But at this moment, a familiar figure appeared, accompanied by a panting voice.

"Let's go, Xiao Mo!"

It was A Luo, the boy seemed to be carrying a package on his body. He seemed to have run all the way, and was extremely tired, but even so, he still cheered up and took the girl's hand: "I secretly brought out travel expenses—now the city is in chaos, the master doesn't have time to pay attention to me, so we can escape!"

"Where should we escape to?" Although Xiao Mo was pulled up by him, she asked with some confusion: "Isn't it all the same?"

"We can't escape, A Luo."

"...Anyway, let's get out of here first."

Stuttering for a moment, A Luo's voice was still clear. The boy's voice