Fu Realm

The guard weighed only a little over a hundred jin to begin with, but when He Lingchuan caught hold of him, the man felt exceptionally heavy, as though he had caught a whole Jiao Yu. Fu Shanyue had told him long ago that ordinary mortals could not stay in the Fu Realm for long, or their lives would quickly be in danger; even cultivators arriving for the first time would feel their bodies weigh heavily. Experiencing it firsthand now, he found the gravity to be roughly three times that of the mortal realm. The guard straightened up. "Many thanks, Lord He." Before entering the Eye of the Storm, everyone had already placed a cleansing bead inside their cheek, which was what allowed them to breathe and speak normally. Otherwise, the air in the Fu Realm was toxic, and even cultivators would not last long. He Lingchuan looked around. As far as the eye could see stretched an expanse of barren emptiness, nothing but mountains, rocks, and sand. Only every few dozen zhang would a tuft of low-creeping vegetation sprout from a fissure in the ground, resembling fur more than grass, though the tip of each blade was almost always capped with a pale white pearl. These were cleansing beads. Cleansing bead grass was the only surviving plant life in the Fu Realm. It was said that its seeds originated from the mortal realm, carried here by storms to take root and flourish. Each time the Eye of the Storm opened and the mortal realm's air poured into the Fu Realm, the cleansing bead grass would intercept it and condense it into beads. Beyond this, the land was utterly barren. Yet the surface was by no means monotonous. The soil showed a wide variety of colors—yellow, red, blue, green, purple, and black, covering nearly all seven hues of the spectrum. There were also bizarre, honeycombed rocks, hills shaped like mushrooms, and terraced mountains. Climbing up to a high vantage point offered a vista of vast, desolate grandeur. Furthermore, clusters of crystals frequently grew from the earth. Some resembled crystal, others solid rock, varied in color and size. The smallest were like snowflakes, while the largest rivaled hills. With all four of them assembled, He Lingchuan took out a box, checked it, and pointed north. "Let's go. We'll rendezvous with the others." This box was the Tracking Bee compass, a new product from Songyang Mansion. Songyang Mansion had already established ties with the Crown Prince of Chiyan, so before the Grass Sea hunt began, they had sent over trial samples. Without question, it was the most popular piece of gear. Rumor had it that Songyang Mansion had sold sixty or seventy Tracking Bee compasses on the opening day of the Grass Sea event alone. The Chiyan team had already marked the vanguard with the bee pupae stored inside the box. When latecomers like He Lingchuan entered the Fu Realm, they could use the Tracking Bees' traits to locate their companions. Having just crossed realms, they immediately felt the strain with their very first steps. It wasn't merely the burden of carrying twice one's own weight; even the internal organs and brain felt a dragging downward pull. Blood pooled into the lower limbs, struggling to circulate back up to the heart. Gathering qi in his dantian, He Lingchuan found the circulation of his true power noticeably sluggish. Worst of all, this world lacked even the faintest wisp of spiritual energy. Compared to this place, even the mortal realm's spiritual energy could be called abundant. This meant that cultivators entering the Fu Realm could not replenish their true power, unless they brought their own profound crystals. Here, everyone had to budget their strength with meticulous care. He Lingchuan circulated his true power, steadied his breathing, and gradually adapted. What set cultivators apart from ordinary mortals was their stronger physique, enabling them to endure far harsher conditions. Near the Eye of the Storm, a garrison from Lingxu City was stationed to prevent Donao beasts from wandering into the mortal realm. As He Lingchuan and his group approached, an officer stepped forward to warn them: "Don't head west." "Thank you for the warning. Why is that?" "There's a Thunder-Wielding Behemoth to the west. Go that way if you want to die." Having done his duty, the officer clamped his mouth shut tighter than a clam. He Lingchuan instinctively looked west. Sure enough, flashes of lightning flickered over the distant mountains, illuminating heaven and earth as bright as day. Was this the "powerful entity in the forbidden depths of the Fu Realm" that Fu Shanyue had repeatedly warned him about? It didn't seem particularly deep in—just a walk to the west and you were there. He immediately passed over a banknote. "Sir, what manner of creature is this Thunder-Wielding Behemoth, and how far west before one encounters it?" The denomination was large, showing ample sincerity, and the officer's expression softened. "If ten go, ten die; if a hundred go, a hundred die. More than five hundred qing to the west is the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth's domain. That creature is officially recorded as one of the Seven Overlords of the Fu Realm. It stands two and a half zhang tall, stretches six zhang long, and carries innate lightning that can blast right through you without it ever having to close in." The officer tucked the banknote away. "This time the Eye of the Storm happened to open right along the border of the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth's territory—bad luck. We sent scouts west earlier, and nine out of ten never returned." "Fortunately, the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth is lazy and doesn't like moving around, or else we'd have to beg the National Preceptor to open the Storm Gate elsewhere." He continued, "Also, according to hunters returning from the front, a massive beast tide has appeared to the northwest. It's extremely lethal, so watch yourselves." He Lingchuan drew a sharp breath, thanked him, and headed out. Generally speaking, the lighter a Donao beast's hide and the larger its build, the stronger it was. Of course, one could not rule out the rare few that evolved camouflage to trick opponents into thinking they were formidable. And in the Fu Realm, where gravity was roughly three times that of the mortal realm, size was indeed directly proportional to strength. For that Thunder-Wielding Behemoth to reach a length of six zhang, its power was beyond question. An overlord-tier monster could easily take on a thousand men. Furthermore, with its innate gift of wielding lightning, no hunting squad would ever provoke it. They pressed northward. As they marched, the others saw He Lingchuan frequently bending down to scoop up a handful of earth, a few crystal clusters, or grains of fine sand, stowing them in his pouch. Everyone assumed he was simply fascinated by everything as a newcomer, but in truth, this was requested by the divine bone necklace. Indeed, the Dafang Pot seemed rather interested in this foreign realm as well, prompting He Lingchuan to collect samples for its amusement. Continuing north, carcasses of Donao beasts grew common along the way, of every variety imaginable. "Donao beast" was merely the mortal realm's collective term for any creature native to the Fu Realm that produced floatstone. Just as monsters and demons in the mortal realm came in endless forms, the Donao beasts of the Fu Realm were bizarre and diverse—some stocky, some long and slender, some running on four legs, others on six. Yet those that stood and walked on two legs like humans were extraordinarily rare. He Lingchuan wondered whether this was due to the gravity. Gaping holes pitted the carcasses of these Donao beasts. Beyond the floatstone gouged from their skulls, the crystal clusters growing on their bodies were often prime materials for artifact crafting. Over the centuries, Lingxu City's craftsmen had discovered numerous uses for parts harvested from Donao beasts. The farther out they traveled, the more dead Donao beasts they found, sometimes in entire nests or packs. Evidently, they had been hunted down. During the first five days of the race, the participating teams had virtually exterminated all Donao beasts within a hundred li of the Eye of the Storm, west excluded. As a result, He Lingchuan and his companions could travel safely, their path littered with Donao carcasses and newly grown cleansing beads peeking from the fissures. Every few hours, new cleansing beads would mature, so the group had to keep an eye out to harvest them. If competing teams wanted to hunt down more floatstone, they had no choice but to venture further afield. This was not only a contest of combat prowess and stamina, but also one of financial resources and logistical carrying capacity. He Lingchuan also noticed monster-like creatures resembling oversized earthworms beside the Donao carcasses. Ranging in length from a few chi to several zhang, they crawled in clusters of several or even dozens over the corpses, writhing and gorging themselves. He Lingchuan couldn't locate their eyes no matter how hard he looked; perhaps these creatures were naturally blind. Their feeding method was peculiar: gripping the prey with a sucker at the front, they twisted and spun their fleshy bodies to tear off a chunk of meat. He Lingchuan could even see the chunk of meat form a bulge that traveled down the creature's body. His companion explained that these were turbellarians, scavengers native to the Fu Realm. They produced no floatstone, and their bodily fluids were corrosive, so hunters had zero interest in them. As for the other bizarre, sneaky little creatures, they weren't worth dwelling on. Led by the Tracking Bees, He Lingchuan and his group took no detours. After marching north for the better part of a day, they arrived at a stretch of low hills. Here, carcasses of Donao beasts were piled into small hills. The group climbed to high ground and looked out; this scene stretched for several li. The crimson earth had been stained purplish-black with beast blood, an ominous sight. Deathly silence hung over the area, broken only by the intermittent squelching and clicking of scavengers enjoying their feast, sounding like someone shuffling along in soaking-wet cloth slippers. He Lingchuan frowned, for the corpses of numerous contestant hunters appeared here as well. There were both humans and demons, and their deaths had been gruesome. Yet the scavengers of the Fu Realm showed no interest in them whatsoever. Items off the menu weren't worth touching. At a glance, there were at least twenty or thirty bodies. He Lingchuan's companions had each entered two or three times before. One crouched down to examine the scene. "Looks like they ran into a beast tide." "A beast tide?" He Lingchuan had heard the term right after entering the Fu Realm. "Just like wild cattle and horses in the mortal realm, Donao beasts often move in packs. Sometimes a single pack numbers in the hundreds." He Lingchuan shaded his eyes with a hand and gazed into the distance. "There's far more than a hundred beasts here." "Packs can also band together to migrate, and that's what's called a beast tide. There's no telling how many there could be." His companion gave a wry smile. "When they stampede, it's an unstoppable horde. Anyone in their path is as good as dead." He Lingchuan knew that Donao beasts also preyed on one another, forming a complete ecological chain. Those at the bottom of the food chain didn't eat grass, but fed on crystal clusters and nutrient-rich soil, while higher-tier Donao beasts preyed upon them. Killing, fighting, feeding—living creatures were the same anywhere. "They retreated that way." He Lingchuan pointed toward the southwest. As an experienced hunter, he could discern the signs of a fighting retreat. Moreover, even when disadvantaged, the contestants hadn't forgotten to cut out the floatstones and other valuable parts from the beasts' carcasses. One of his teammates suddenly gasped. "One of ours." He rushed over and crouched beside a body. He Lingchuan followed him over. Indeed, it was one of Fu Shanyue's personal guards, his throat slashed. What killed him had likely been massive, razor-sharp claws, evidenced by two claw marks across his chest made with such force that half of his lungs had been torn out. "It was probably a heavy-claw beast trailing the beast tide. Those monsters like to shadow prey." Just as predators always hovered around wild herds in the mortal realm. "Here's more!" another called out. "Old Bao and Wei San are dead too!" Not far off lay two more bodies of Chiyan guards—in truth, one human and one bear demon. He Lingchuan had originally opposed having that bear demon join the starting lineup. It hadn't been agile to begin with, and under the Fu Realm's gravity, its movements were even more sluggish. Seeing it lying there now, he let out a heavy sigh.