Night. It is the time when regretful spirits awaken.
Everyone who has ever died here will manifest their spirits. Those who die here will be trapped in the valley forever.
I told Shun Jin on my first night of training in the Bloody Valley. I warned her not to interact with them.
Do not answer their calls. Do not approach them. Do not look at them.
Whoever sees a regretful spirit in the Bloody Valley, their soul will also be trapped in this place forever. Their body will be stolen by another spirit and made to commit suicide.
Just like this, in front of me, I am chatting with the spirit of a devil cult disciple who died here.
"Hey. Night."
"You... Who are you... You are not human... You are like him..."
What was the regretful spirit person I was talking to, who looked at me with curiosity because I had no spirit? Or so it seemed to them.
They were like shadows, but not black. Basically, the shadows we see are always black, but they were white. The destroyed bodies and human skeletons were clearly visible. Like rotting in water.
"Him?" I asked. Does the Bloody Valley have a ruler? The king of evil spirits? That makes sense. A place that turns into a gate between two worlds, the spirit world and the mortal world, must have a cause. Perhaps he was one of those who reached the peak of cultivation and died? He still held a grudge and rose from the dead, then cursed this valley so that all the strangeness in this valley was created? Possibly.
"He... The ruler of the spirit world... The spirit king..." The regretful spirit in front of me said.
"Oh, I see."
I wasn't very interested. Whoever it was, I was too lazy to meet him.
Many spirits now swarmed around me like ants. One or two tried to tear at me, two or three tried to bite me, and unfortunately, they were disappointed because they couldn't do anything to me.
Except for Shun Jin. Below me. In the hole she found. I'm sure she's not focused on cultivating right now because she's hearing disturbing whispers. If she opens her eyes, I'll hear her scream soon. If not, I'll be amazed at her for being able to stay focused on cultivating despite being disturbed by regretful spirits.
"Ah? AHHHHHH!!! Get away from me! Ghost!!!"
See? And she'll probably faint after that. Or she'll immediately close her eyes and focus on cultivating again, no matter if she feels nauseous and dizzy because her spirit is slowly eroding if she interacts with regretful spirits. If that happens, Shun Jin will die.
Should I check on her? I don't think so. She's not a child anymore.
Back then, on my first night, they whispered stories from my childhood and stories about my father and mother. But I didn't pay much attention to them. They could peek into the memories of living beings. But they couldn't remember their lives when they were still alive as humans. Ironic.
Now let's get into the discussion of the dark Qi here.
In this world, there are two types of Qi, namely ordinary Qi or pure Qi that humans usually breathe. And dark Qi that exists in certain places. Usually, ordinary Qi does not have much effect on living beings. Because that Qi is like ordinary air. While dark Qi, its like poisonous fog. If an ordinary living being inhales poisonous fog, of course, their body will be poisoned. If not treated, they will die.
Similarly, dark Qi is poison for humans who are used to breathing ordinary Qi. In addition, dark Qi has other effects such as destroying muscles and bones. That's why I brought Shun Jin here to make her body metamorphose. She must get used to dark Qi. So that her body adapts to become much more immune than ordinary humans and is able to contain a large amount of Qi. That way, she can enter the first stage of cultivation.
Mortal Realm or Body Tempering.
The first time I trained in this place, almost all of my friends who came with me died on the first day, leaving a few hundred children. On the second day, it became dozens. On the third day, it became a dozen, on the fourth day, no more than the fingers of two hands, and so on, until five children managed to survive for one month.
I, Rastella, and three others whom I had killed before I left the Devil Cult.
Not only is it poison for the body, but the dark qi, even though it can be neutralized and absorbed by the human body, also has side effects such as causing people to lose their sanity. It makes their mental state deteriorate to the point where they are born as madmen who can never become normal humans again. Well, in the devil cult, it seems that going mad is a necessity. That's why they send new children to train in this cursed place. To make them mad and strong quickly.
There is a price for cutting short time. And that price is not cheap.
I sat meditating above the spot where Shun Jin was hiding in the hole. Ignoring the whispers of regretful spirits that continuously swarmed me like ants only to be disappointed. Until morning came.
***
"Ugh..."
Shun Jin emerged from her hiding hole with a face like someone stressed and sleepless for years. I could see several strands of her hair falling from her head. I'm perched on top branches of the white trees with some eye-winged bird.
She then walked around, looking for water to drink and wash her face. She ate a fruit that she immediately vomited but forced herself to eat to fill her rumbling stomach after a night of cultivating to purify the dark qi.
Her eyes were wide with vigilance, she dared not take risks, approaching strange things she saw from a distance like monster carcasses and mountainous spirit beasts. Or the dark red tree next to the piles of corpses.
She even started hallucinating about me. Or at least she acted like it.
"Crazy man! I know you're always watching me from afar! I'm fed up! Take me out of here! I might go crazy by tomorrow morning! I give up!" Shun Jin shouted loudly, calling the eight-eyed monkeys closer to the source of the sound.
Seeing the monkeys approaching, Shun Jin, like a mole, immediately returned to her hiding hole. After that, she did not come out until the next day.
On the third day, she did the same thing. Eating crying baby fruits from the white trees. Drinking puddles of blood-red water. Shouting my name. Then hiding in her hiding hole again.
The fourth and fifth days were also the same. But Shun Jin looked increasingly crazier and more disheveled. Her hair was falling out, and more and more black veins appeared on her body. Her eyelids also became darker like a panda.
On the sixth day, she stopped her routine. She no longer shouted at me. She even bathed in a puddle of water containing intestinal tendrils and slashed at those intestinal tendrils without caring anymore. After she was satisfied with her bath, she came out and ate the crying baby head fruit from the white trees and talked to an eight-eyed monkey that approached her.
For some reason, the monkey suddenly became familiar and docile near Shun Jin. After finishing their conversation, Shun Jin did not hesitate to slash the monkey's neck until it died. And drank its blood. And ate its core. She had truly gone mad.
She also now dared to approach the piles of monster and spirit beast corpses near the dark red tree. She dissected those corpses and ate the monster and spirit beast cores raw. She no longer cared that her entire body was covered in blood and the raw core tasted very bitter and unpleasant.
That night, Shun Jin did not cultivate in her hiding hole. She cultivated on the top slowly moving open dark red tree.
I whistled in amazement. Shun Jin was completely a different person now. That night, her entire body cracked and she ascended, successfully entering the Mortal Realm, the earliest cultivation realm.
She became more beautiful, and her body was not as stocky as before. She became more perfect as a woman, and her beauty increased many times over. Her dark eye bags disappeared. Her hair grew back thick and her skin glowed pure white. Although she looked thin and slender—except for her breast and buttocks, those parts were still large—Shun Jin's muscles had become denser and harder than wood. Her bones were as strong as iron. She was ready to embark on the path of cultivation.
On the seventh day, it was the day she would leave the Bloody Valley. Before white snake ate her from behind.
***