Novels online

Chapter 804: Seven Profound Gate

"All in all, he was just a common sight in these chaotic times—an unlucky wretch whose family was ruined and scattered," Bai Mo mused, having just finished sorting through the memories of this previous body.

The only thing on his entire person that might still be worth anything was an ancestral jade pendant around his neck.

But in these chaotic times, where lives were as cheap as grass, food that could fill one's belly and weapons that could save one's life or take another's were the only true hard currency. Amidst the rebel forces, everything else was mere fleeting cloud.

Beneath clothes stained with blood and torn with several large holes, the body, which had several bone-deep wounds before Bai Mo's possession, was slowly healing under the nourishment of the Demon Sun Immortal Venerable's remnant soul's innate soul power.

Of course, the price was that the innate soul power, which was already scarce before the possession, was now pitifully meager.

However, this was also necessary. This sole surviving wisp of remnant soul could not withstand the torment of another possession. Once the newly possessed body died, the Immortal Venerable, who once dominated the world and was incomparably arrogant, would only be buried with it.

......

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Finish eating and quickly grab your gear! Get ready for a big battle against the official dogs!" a burly, rough-looking military leader shouted, banging a broken gong as he walked.

The large camp where Bai Mo was located was a refugee camp, specifically for accommodating ordinary people like his former self, who had been displaced by the chaos.

The rules of the refugee camp were also very simple: serve as cannon fodder, charge at the front to exhaust the enemy's arrows and stamina. For every time one returned alive, they would get a full meal.

After all, in the age of cold weapons, even the most elite soldiers had limited stamina.

After continuously hacking down ten or twenty people, their hands would still get tired.

If fifty or a hundred people came for one soldier to hack down, they probably wouldn't be able to kill them all, even if they collapsed from exhaustion.

"Remember the rules, alright? Whoever can bring back one official dog's head will be rewarded with two extra steamed buns. Bring back five heads, and you can join the Tiger Vanguard Camp, where every meal is guaranteed to have meat and be filling!"

"Yes..." the crowd responded weakly.

These refugees only had sharpened wooden sticks and bamboo as weapons. A rare few with a firewood chopping knife were considered to have excellent weapons. To kill a fully armed government soldier, and then also cut off their head, was no ordinary feat of difficulty.

However, the refugee camp also had another unwritten rule: as long as one survived ten charges, they could join the ranks of veteran soldiers in the regular army camp. While it wouldn't guarantee meat with every meal, it would at least guarantee enough to eat.

In the refugee camp, everyone lived a day-to-day existence, so naturally, no one was inclined to speak much.

Meanwhile, Bai Mo, casually holding a wooden stick, stood amidst the crowd, using his last vestiges of spiritual sense to repeatedly examine the jade pendant around the former body's neck.

Because he discovered that this seemingly unassuming jade pendant actually contained a small universe within it.

Under his spiritual sense's perception, the words "Historical Text" appeared inside the jade pendant.

Not only that, these four characters for "Historical Text" were not written in Dao Chen Realm script, but in the script of his life before his last, from Earth.

"What's the deal with this 'Historical Text'?" As he was now, he was merely a wisp of the Demon Sun Immortal Venerable's remnant soul from back then. A large portion of his memories had already been lost, and the term "Historical Text" was not among them.

......

"Follow me! Kill the official dogs!"

"Eat your fill! Dress in fine clothes!"

"......"

As the great battle was about to begin, simple and crude slogans echoed among the rebel army.

Though the slogans were simple and crude, they struck directly at the hearts of the rebel soldiers.

After all, those who joined the rebel army to revolt almost all had tragic pasts they wished never to speak of again.

"Charge with me!"

"Kill one to break even, kill two to profit!"

"Charge!"

The battle process was utterly unremarkable. Neither the rebel army nor their enemies had any miraculously brave warriors capable of fighting a hundred on their own. Hatred, however, was not lacking, but sallow faces and emaciated bodies from long-term malnutrition, and listless fighting, were the norm.

Of course, even on the government army's side, the situation was actually not much better than that of the peasant army.

Military pay was long insufficient, not to mention it had to endure layer upon layer of embezzlement. What truly reached the soldiers' hands was less than one-fifth.

Except for the personal guards of various generals, who had enough food and meat to sustain daily physical training and combat drills, ordinary soldiers outside of these personal guards barely scraped by day to day. Some were even forcibly conscripted, mere laborers who had received only basic training.

"How long has it been since I last held a weapon and killed someone?" Holding a sharpened branch, Bai Mo intuitively thrust a few times in the melee. He seemed to have stabbed into something resembling muscle.

But whenever he wanted to deliver a fatal blow and press deeper, a voice would always emerge in his mind, saying: "Humans are precious; do not kill."

It was this voice that made him hold back fifty percent of his strength in every attack.

That seemed to be the voice from his life before his last.

Regarding that life, Bai Mo's memories were already very blurry. It wasn't that the Immortal Venerable didn't possess eidetic memory; it was just that this wisp of remnant soul that escaped simply didn't carry many records from his Earth life.

......

After the not-so-intense battle, Bai Mo returned to the refugee camp. The camp had gained some new faces, and lost some old ones.

The old man who had been escorted into the refugee camp by a group of soldiers last time, this time, again entered, surrounded by a group of soldiers.

"This one, this one... and these two, follow me." The old man scanned everyone around him, and pointed out a few young men who seemed relatively young.

"Master Mo has given an order! You few lads, why aren't you hurrying out?" The leading soldier lightly kicked the boy closest to him who had been pointed out, and shouted.

Among those pointed out, was Bai Mo.

Bai Mo took a look. Those selected were all still relatively strong and healthy, and their eyes, compared to the other walking dead, still held a glimmer of spirit, despite their fallen state.

"This old man observed your performance today. All of you are barely qualified to participate in the Seven Profound Gate's outer sect entrance examination. Now I'm giving you all a chance. Whoever doesn't want to go can leave now." The old man said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Silence reigned.

"Good! Xiao Qi, take them to get cleaned up. We'll return to the main hall tomorrow."

"Everyone, follow me..."

"Master, I... I still have a young... younger brother. If I leave, he definitely won't survive. I beg you to let me bring him along." As the group prepared to turn and leave, one of the shabbily dressed young men suddenly fell to his knees, pleading.

"Bring him." The old man didn't think much of it, and lightly tossed out a remark before leaving.

The kneeling young man pushed himself up with both hands, and joyfully sprinted back to the refugee camp to fetch his brother.

"Seven Profound Gate..." It seems to be in the former body's memories, apparently a large organization in Taizhou. Bai Mo walked alongside the attendant named Xiao Qi, while pondering this somewhat familiar name.