Although the number of Cultivators and top warriors couldn't compare with others, someone from Dazhen had always been among the top three in the rankings of the mightiest.
What was Divine Dynasty compared to Dadui, except for its borders? In all other aspects, it was inferior by an order of magnitude.
It was the Stele of Earth Deity Origin that gave Emperor Dui a glimmer of hope for a turnaround.
Because, in terms of territory and population, it had not yet fallen below the criteria of a Divine Dynasty.
With the Stele of Earth Deity Origin and other steles that recorded relevant information as guides, they could indeed take the risk.
As of today, the effects had manifested.
At least in terms of overall strength and top warriors, they had indeed surpassed their previous selves by an order of magnitude.
Even he, Emperor Dui, when bestowed with various blessings and exerting full power, had already reached a state surpassing the Ninth Tier Peak.
He had originally intended to transform himself from Emperor Dui into an Earth Deity and dispel all of Dadui's disasters in one fell swoop.
Now, however, such an unexpected situation had arisen.
It was different from what he had anticipated and different from what the records stated.
He faintly sensed something was amiss, yet it was already too late to turn back.
While Emperor Dui was preoccupied with his own affairs inside the nine-story building,
other abnormalities began to emerge in Dingmao City within Divine Country.
Many Incense-eating People had vanished without a trace.
Soon, they discovered that these Incense-eating People had appeared in the current Dingmao City.
They had been expelled by the Divine Country because they were all contaminated with filth.
A family of Incense-eating People returned to their home in the current realm's Dingmao City, to find it covered in dust, long abandoned. The first thing they did was set up a shrine, find an incense burner, and locate various types of incense.
The family sat around a square table with a dirty small incense burner at the center, in which a stick of incense was inserted.
As the faint smoke rose, the head of the family stretched his neck and inhaled sharply, his nostrils flaring widely.
The thick smoke entered his body, then suddenly, he started coughing violently, his face turning red as if he was about to cough out his lungs.
The others hurried to support him, patting his back.
Yet, when the others attempted to inhale the incense, without exception, they all ended up coughing uncontrollably and feeling miserable.
The feeling of floating on cloud nine, utterly content and in a daze, from the past, never emerged again.
Only discomfort, exceptional discomfort.
A teenage Incense-eating Person, breathing in the incense fire, was so distressed that tears and snot streamed down his face, as if fire was erupting from his mouth.
The teenager looked at his mother and pointed to his mouth.
"Mother, my mouth is so uncomfortable, very dry. My stomach is also in pain, constantly making noises, as if something is moving inside."
Right on cue, his stomach began to growl. His face turned pale with terror, as if he had received a frightful scare.
As the family sat there, the oldest elder, observing the teenager's rumbling stomach, began to recall a very distant memory.
"This... could it be hunger?"
The elder touched his own stomach and felt the same sensation; his stomach was rumbling too.
That feeling awakened his past memories and the primitive survival instincts in his bloodline.
Not for incense fire, but for something to fill his stomach.
Following the hazy, ancient memories, the elder searched the house.
Quickly, he found in a room things that were not present in their home in Divine Country.
He opened the rice and flour containers, finding nothing but ashes that had once been grain.
After arriving here, he felt it even more clearly, his body extremely uncomfortable.
It was as if his lungs were on fire, and there was also an inferno raging in his stomach.
His throat was dry and sore; then he scooped up some rainwater from the courtyard's water tank and, gritting his teeth, drank it down.
The water with a slight odd taste was like sweet rain at this moment.
After gulping it down, the fire in his stomach felt less scorching. He coughed, spitting out a mouthful of black phlegm, and his lungs felt much better.
However, the sensation of hunger then began to burn fiercely, igniting his blood and his instincts.
Those who ate such things, those who did not consume incense fire, were all considered Evil.
But when primitive instincts took over, setting his instincts on fire, the deeply ingrained concepts in his mind started to collapse.
In less than two hours, the elder led his family out of the home, heading beyond the city.
Green light began to gleam in their eyes, indicative of their extreme hunger.
What did Evil matter, what did ingrained concepts, execution, anything mean to them at that point?
When a person is extremely hungry, and you tell them, "You can have a full meal, but you'll still die,"
they, driven mad by hunger like wild beasts, will only remember the words "full meal."
The whole family, seemingly out of their minds with desperation, rushed out of Dingmao City.
In the wild wastelands outside the city, in what were once fertile fields, lay ripe, unripe grains, fruit trees, and vegetable plants.
These, now like weeds, would fall to the ground after ripening, turning back into mud, repeating this cycle endlessly.
The family reached a wheat field, all eyes on the elder.
Recalling his childhood, the elder found a ripe stalk of wheat, stripped the grains, rubbed them in his palm, and then gently blew away the chaff, leaving only the grains, which he stuffed into his mouth.
He began to chew clumsily. After a few bites, the instant the wheat's fragrance and sweetness touched his senses, he rediscovered his instinct, chewing vigorously and slowly.