In the southern region, there were ten thousand mountains.
In a dark and damp cave, a drop of water fell from a stalactite hanging from the cliff on the ceiling, hitting the forehead of a delicate-looking boy who appeared to be thirteen or fourteen years old.
The boy's lips turned purple, and he shuddered from the cold water, slowly opening his eyes.
He looked up at the dark ceiling for a moment, struggling to sit up.
The pain all over his body made him gasp for air, but his strong will allowed him to endure it. He sat up and leaned against the damp and slippery cave wall behind him, causing a series of clanging sounds and moans from the two or three hundred people chained to him.
Startled, the boy looked around, only to find that there were at least two or three hundred people around him in the darkness.
"Where am I?" The boy was surprised and confused.
He thought for a moment but found that he couldn't remember anything about his past except for his name, Yuan Ming.
Before he could figure out what was going on, a loud "boom" came from a distance, causing his heart to race. It sounded like a heavy iron door being pushed open.
Then a burst of fire lit up the darkness, and several burly men with torches, wearing animal skins and cow horn knives, led in a tall, half-naked man.
In the flickering light, Yuan Ming saw that these people had reddish-brown skin, bulging muscles, and a wild and primitive aura.
Especially the half-naked man who led them, his muscles were more robust than the others, and he exuded explosive strength, like a wrestler in a temple.
However, their hairstyles were quite peculiar, with all the hair on their heads shaved except for a topknot, which was tied into a thick braid.
As Yuan Ming looked at them, the words "Wog" popped into his mind for some reason.
With this thought, fragments of his memory began to piece together, showing scenes of bustling streets, magnificent mansions, and people wearing luxurious clothes. Seeing his own ragged clothes, Yuan Ming was sure that he and these "Wog" were not the same kind of people.
Just as Yuan Ming was full of confusion, the half-naked man suddenly looked over at him and spoke in a strange language.
Yuan Ming listened to the unfamiliar pronunciation and understood it all of a sudden.
It was the Wog language!"The man said, 'This is the last one, be quick and don't miss anything.'
The savage men in animal skins all held torches and approached, each taking out something that looked like a wild animal bone with a thumb-sized red stone embedded in it.
'Who are you people? What do you want?' Yuan Ming asked in the savage language, trying to remain calm as one of them approached him.
The naked man glanced at him in surprise, while the savage in front of him let out a low growl and swung his torch towards his cheek.
Yuan Ming dodged to the side, and the torch grazed his shoulder and hit the wall, sparking a fire.
The flying sparks frightened the person next to Yuan Ming, who screamed and squeezed into the crevice under the rock wall.
In the light of the fire, Yuan Ming saw that the man was bare-chested and wore a skirt made of dry grass. He was dark and skinny, with messy hair, looking no different from a wild man.
The savage bent down and grabbed the wild man's ankle, pulling him out with a sudden force. He then held the animal bone above his head while the wild man struggled.
The animal bone first lit up with a blue ghostly light, and then the red stone in the middle also lit up.
However, the red light immediately went out as soon as it appeared.
The naked man frowned and shook his head, while the savage holding the wild man's ankle did not hesitate to draw his curved knife and chop down on the wild man's head.
A scream rang out, and the wild man's struggling stopped abruptly, gradually falling silent.
'Murder, he killed someone...' Yuan Ming felt a warm blood splatter on his face, and his breath was filled with a nauseating smell of blood. He felt numb and forgot to continue running away.
Of course, he couldn't escape anyway.
His wrist was still bound with a cold chain, tied to the still-warm corpse.
Before he could even react, the light in front of him dimmed, and a bone was sent to him.
With the blue ghostly light, a red light flickered like a candle flame, but it did not immediately go out.
It wasn't until a few breaths later that the red light slowly went out.
The man in animal skin holding the bone pressed his hand on the hilt of his knife and looked back at the naked man.
After a moment of hesitation, the naked man nodded.
The man in animal skin then released his grip on the knife, turned around, and walked towards another person.
It was only after his figure disappeared that Yuan Ming emerged from his fear.
Suppressing all his doubts and shock, he looked around and realized that almost all the people bound by chains around him were wild men with disheveled hair.
Like him, they were all tested with the animal bone on their heads in a panic.
Those whose red light flickered and went out were killed with a single blow, while those whose red light lasted a moment were spared.
For a while, the sound of wailing, screaming, and metal clashing from the chains filled the air."For about an hour, the whole cave was filled with a strong smell of blood.
The naked man saw that all the tests were completed and began to give orders. Check latest chapters at NoveI~Fire.net
Then, Yuan Ming and the surviving ten people were all released from the chains, but they were all handcuffed and shackled again and brought to the side to wait.
Yuan Ming was uneasy and didn't know what these people were going to do, so he didn't dare to ask.
But from the actions of those southern barbarians just now, it was not difficult to see that these people had passed some kind of selection and should not be killed for the time being.
At this moment, the leader of the naked man suddenly took out a silver bell about an inch long from his waist, held it in his hand with a wooden handle, and shook it.
A clear bell sound echoed in the empty cave.
At the moment Yuan Ming heard the sound, he felt like his head had been hit hard, without any pain, but he felt a severe dizziness, and even the scene in front of him appeared blurry.
In the hazy illusion, Yuan Ming saw a glow above the heads of the corpses in the cave, and then one blurry figure after another floated out.
After the shadows floated out of the corpses' heads, they overlapped one after another, and finally became exactly the same as the corpses.
Yuan Ming was shocked and realized that those floating shadows were all real.
But they all hung their heads and their legs were suspended in the air, floating above the corpses.
Yuan Ming looked at the naked man, who was holding the bell and shaking it again.
The same clear sound echoed, but this time Yuan Ming did not feel dizzy. He watched as all the floating shadows flew towards the bell in the naked man's hand.
As they approached, the shadows turned into a light spot and disappeared into the bell.
"Could it be... these shadows are their souls?" Yuan Ming couldn't help but think of this, making him shiver.
If it weren't for passing that mysterious test, he would not only have lost his body but also his soul like those people.
"Not bad, there are thirteen. Alright, let's go back and prepare to return." The naked man put away the bell, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said.
It seemed that shaking the bell just now was also a burden for him.
Three days later, in a misty valley in the Ten Thousand Mountains.
A team with blue animal skins covering their faces walked through the purple and blue poisonous mist.
These people were clearly divided into two categories. One was the southern barbarians wearing animal skins and carrying curved knives, but there were only a few of them, scattered among the team, maintaining order. The other category was the prisoners in shackles, with their upper bodies bare, forming a long dragon, silently walking with their heads down.
Yuan Ming was among the latter, walking with difficulty with the crowd.Over the past few days, they had been traveling through mountains and muddy lands. Yuan Ming had not spoken a single word, nor had anyone asked him any questions. However, through the sparse conversations among the wogs, Yuan Ming learned that their current location was called "Southern Border," and their destination was Bi Luo Cave.
According to the Southern Border men, Bi Luo Cave was a place blessed by the gods and a sacred place for their cultivation. They were the chosen ones, sent to receive the blessings of the gods.
Considering the bizarre behavior of these people, Yuan Ming didn't believe that Bi Luo Cave would be a good place, and what awaited him would certainly not be anything good. However, at this point, he could only take things one step at a time.
What was even worse was that he still hadn't regained any of his memories and couldn't remember who he was.
But the "Central Plains" in his remaining memories was much more prosperous compared to this uncivilized land. He should have come from there, but why did he end up here, severely injured? Was he framed by villains or hunted down by enemies?
Yuan Ming's mind was filled with thoughts, but he secretly decided to find out the truth!
Fortunately, the Southern Border men did not make things too difficult for them along the way.
During the journey, they would distribute food to the prisoners at regular intervals, although it was only some hard-to-swallow dried fruits and pitifully little dried meat. They would also apply some herbal ointment to treat their injuries.
It was during the treatment process that Yuan Ming discovered that he had more than thirty wounds of various sizes on his body, including lacerations, abrasions, and penetrating injuries. Even one of his ribs was broken.
The herbal ointment applied by the Southern Border men, however, was quite effective. In just three short days, almost all of his external injuries had healed, leaving only the broken rib, which would take some time to recover. Aside from some pain, it didn't affect his movements.
Now that they had entered this poisonous valley, the Southern Border men even distributed animal skins for poison protection. This made Yuan Ming even more cautious.