Chapter 15: In the Year of Great Chaos, People Eat Each Other

If you can’t cultivate, then just wash up and go to sleep.

It was expected—after all, the original host had already been drained dry.

It’d be a miracle if your body could still cultivate.

Yu Ke lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

The moonlight flowed like water; the night fell once more in silence.

Yet at that moment, the [Kun Xu Ding] in his mind suddenly glowed faintly and trembled slightly.

[Cooldown complete. Proceed with simulation?]

[Saved for twenty years. Continue?]

Yu Ke saw the flickering screen on the ding and immediately perked up.

Action time!

Choose to continue simulation.

With his response, the [Kun Xu Ding]’s glow intensified, its patterns seeming to come alive, shimmering brilliantly.

[This year, you’ve just turned twenty. You stare at the letter in your hand, lost in thought—your father is in dire straits.]

[Thus, you decide:]

1. Remain in the mountains to cultivate.

2. Descend the mountain.

3. Participate personally (0/3)

Yu Ke hesitated—according to previous progress, even simulating ten years in the mountains would yield slow advancement.

Better to start a new scenario.

After all, any change to the Kun Xu world’s progression brings rewards.

Personal participation was unnecessary.

He made up his mind.

Yu Ke selected 2: Descend the mountain.

[You resolutely decided to descend the mountain and rush to aid your father. This decision caused great shock within your sect—some were astounded, others sneered, believing you merely feigned concern.]

[You had secluded yourself for five years, never interacting with fellow disciples; even the newest initiates called you eccentric, obsessed only with cultivation.]

[Unlike Lu Yu, who had wide social ties and was accompanied by a group of like-minded Sanzhen disciples when leaving the mountain.]

[Everyone held mocking thoughts toward you, holding no expectations for your future.]

[No one believed you could achieve anything by descending the mountain.]

[You departed alone—only your master came to see you off.]

[The Daoist smiled: “Disciple, you should have descended long ago. Now is the perfect time.”]

[Under your master’s guidance, you learned your father’s location.]

[Hulao Pass—the greatest pass under heaven.]

[Lu Chen bade farewell and began his northward journey alone.]

[The northern journey was long and arduous.]

[Along the way, refugees surged like a tide, pouring in from the north, their eyes filled with terror and despair.]

[Bones of the starved littered the roads; for miles, no rooster crowed; the horror of trading children for food shook you to your core.]

[These words were no longer mere text—they became living scenes before your eyes, forcing you to truly feel the suffering and brutality of this world.]

[One day, you encountered an old man, exhausted, ravenous, yellow-skinned and emaciated, his eyes brimming with grief for his lost family.]

[You felt pity and gave him some of your rations; the old man thanked you profusely.]

[Yet you never expected that he would try to kill you that night—luckily, your innate talent for discerning character had already put you on guard.]

[You had trained in martial arts for years; your body was strong. The old man was no match for you—you subdued him, and he begged for mercy.]

[A sliver of compassion remained in your heart; gazing at his aged face, you chose to spare him.]

[The next morning, the old man reappeared before you—followed by several peasants, ragged and clutching hoes and farming tools, their eyes gleaming green like packs of starving wolves.]

[The old man pointed at you and croaked: “He has wheat!”]

[At these words, the peasants’ eyes instantly blazed with unprecedented hunger.]

[One sneered: “Kill him and take the grain!”]

[Another added cruelly: “Better to boil him—we’ll all have a full meal!”]

[Each of them bore the stench of blood—clearly, they had all taken lives.]

[Even the old man, once from their village, now feared them.]

[They had fled south for twenty-seven days due to war, surviving only on straw and bran—their food was long gone.]

[From their tone, you guessed their intent: when they first fled, everyone had some food and still clung to morality; later, when food ran out and even tree bark was devoured...]

[People turn evil after three days of hunger—what of twenty-seven?]

[The refugees dared not slow down—the distance to Yizhou in Daqing was still half a month away. If the Northern Xuan cavalry breached Hulao Pass, they would have no chance of survival.]

[As for whether Hulao Pass could hold—they no longer believed it could.]

[The court’s corruption had long shattered the people’s trust in the north; they could only hope to cling to life in this chaotic age.]

[The five men advanced step by step; their farming tools had become weapons of death, their eyes gleaming with excitement as they stared at you.]

[At the same time, you sharply sensed several more figures lurking in the nearby grass—those hungry, glinting eyes, another pack of flesh-eaters.]

[Faced with the five surrounding you...]

[You decide:]

1. Beg for mercy—perhaps they’ll spare you.

2. Spare them.

3. Kill the five.

4. Participate personally (0/3)

Yu Ke stared at the three options that appeared.

Remembering the old man’s ingratitude, he thought: In a chaotic age, one must have the heart to kill.

And if he spared them again, it might invite greater disaster.

Killing these five would also intimidate those following behind—kill one to warn a hundred.

Yu Ke selected 3: Kill the five.

[All five were untrained peasants, exhausted from their journey—they were no match for you.]

[You expended little effort to kill them; the old man begged again, but this time you showed no mercy.]

[This was your first kill, yet you felt little reaction—perhaps because you’d seen too much death along the way.]

[In a chaotic age, one must have the heart to kill—you warned yourself.]

[The figures in the grass were terrified and slowly retreated; you ignored them and turned away—no one dared follow.]

[Shortly after you left, the bodies of the five had vanished.]

[You continued northward.]

[Worse news arrived in increasing numbers.]

[Spring had passed; the Northern Xuan army swept forward, and within half a month, six cities fell. The commanders of Ziyang and Lucheng fled at the first sign of danger.]

[Along the road, refugees stretched like a long dragon; bones littered the earth.]

[Wherever the Northern Xuan army broke through, slaughter and plunder were countless: able-bodied men were beheaded; infants were skewered on spears and swung about as sport.]

[The regions they passed through became barren wastelands; when spring swallows returned, they nested in the trees.]

[These few lines could not capture the cruelty of reality—you witnessed countless tragedies as you marched north.]

[Now, the last of the righteous armies converged at Hulao Pass.]

[The Northern Xuan army gathered outside Hulao Pass, forming a standoff.]

[If Hulao Pass fell, beyond the Shanhai Pass lay no obstacle—the Northern Xuan could advance straight into the Central Plains and conquer the south.]

[The battle for Hulao Pass gripped the hearts of all under heaven.]

[It took you a full month to reach Hulao Pass.]

(End of chapter)