[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete":3,"chapter-starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-chapter-89":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Starting from the Apocalypse, I Alone Severed Eternity",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2312471,4518,"Chapter 89: Ink Painting, Tongchang County","starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-chapter-89",89,"\u003Cp>(PS: The previous chapter was heavily revised, adding over 2,000 words.)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi was startled and uncertain—how could sunlight reach him when he was clearly buried underground?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could someone outside be casting a powerful light spell?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that didn’t make sense—his profound intuition had detected no trace of magical energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi’s mind shifted, and a wisp of fluctuation spilled from his brow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was his spiritual sense; the earlier misty little sword had merely been its particulate state.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In particulate form, spiritual sense could attack a living being’s soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Creatures with fragile souls would die instantly, becoming vegetative.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even those with strong souls would suffer soul damage and be hindered in their actions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, spear and shield are relative.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When a Qi Refiner’s spiritual sense encounters a stronger soul, it suffers backlash.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The caster suffers soul injury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, under normal circumstances, Qi Refiners rarely use soul attacks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They more often employ spiritual sense in its wave state.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In wave state, spiritual sense can replace the senses, receiving information from the surroundings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Including touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing, and intuition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This meant Fang Shi released his wave-state spiritual sense and made contact with the soil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could not only see, but also hear, touch, smell, and even taste.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could also sense the spiritual energy changes within it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was unbearable for ordinary people—normal objects were tolerable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But filthy, repulsive things—how could mortals endure them?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet transcenders could—or rather, those seeking to advance on the path of transcendence must.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without fearless spirit, without unwavering will.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Merely the transformation of transcendence was enough to shatter a mortal’s mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In later stages, a single sweep of spiritual sense rendered all phenomena as clear as patterns on one’s palm, all things known within the heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hence Daoists speak of non-action, Buddhists speak of equality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both reflect the inner transformation required for transcendence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi’s current spiritual sense value was five, so his detection range was five meters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Detection precision equaled perception intensity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This did not mean spiritual sense could not perceive objects beyond five meters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But beyond that range, precision plummeted drastically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like nearsightedness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi now exploited this trait to observe the outside of the cave entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon observation, Fang Shi froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The environment outside had changed drastically, somehow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pit was still the same pit, the city still the same city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only difference: this city was no longer underground—it now lay on the surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sun hung high, its scorching light warping the air above the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How could this be!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leaving aside the fact that he had entered at night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How could an underground city suddenly appear on the surface without cause?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A massive-range teleportation spell?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But how could such a being exist on Blue Star now?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, before his rebirth, no such anomalies had occurred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was this another alteration brought by his rebirth?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After observing the situation, Fang Shi hesitated no longer—he scrambled out of the tunnel in a few quick motions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter what, he had to get out and find out what was happening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Fang Shi finally stepped outside, he froze again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As mentioned earlier, spiritual sense was convenient but limited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Objects beyond its range suffered a cliff-like drop in precision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Fang Shi stepped out and saw the sun with his own eyes,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He discovered the sun resembled an ink painting, delicately placed against the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its style was utterly different from a real sun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A painting?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could this be some kind of environmental spell?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, Fang Shi’s eyes narrowed—he spun around sharply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The statue behind him had also transformed into ink-painting style.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its cheerful expression now looked more lively, even more absurd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A faint divine glow seemed to flicker, mocking Fang Shi’s foolishness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>BOOM!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi slashed his sword straight at the statue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This wasn’t just to vent anger—it was a test of this world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These statues weren’t special; before his rebirth, they’d all been torn down with no unusual effects.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A gust surged again—but it unfolded like a painting, threads of ink forming wisps of smoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>CRASH!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The statue split cleanly in two, then exploded into fragments under the supersonic shockwave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its internal structure, too, resembled ink painting—simple, clear, sharply layered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi refused to believe it—he kept cutting the statue into finer pieces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how finely he divided it, the painting style never changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, as time passed, the surrounding environment began shifting into the same style.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Fang Shi himself began transforming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His Dragon Earth Sword, his clothes, his arms—even his entire body—became figures within the painting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Damn it! Is this physical transformation—or perceptual distortion?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I haven’t even figured out the underground palace’s changes, and now this bizarre phenomenon?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The surroundings, the objects—turned into a traditional Chinese ink painting, they were exquisite and beautiful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vital and lively, simple brushstrokes conjured rich, exquisite atmospheres.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in reality, they were horrifying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No good—I must go into the city. I refuse to believe even that legendary Golden Corpse has changed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi didn’t care about mere visual alterations—he feared the consequences such changes might trigger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was the purpose of this change simple?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlikely. And this transformation coincided precisely with the underground city’s relocation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It raised suspicion: a hidden connection between the two.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not far along, Fang Shi saw a person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A man fishing beside the moat, wearing a bamboo hat and a straw raincoat, a bamboo basket beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His painting style matched the environment—like colored ink painting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi walked up beside the fisherman and peered down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The coffin in the river had vanished entirely; instead, fish swam and played within it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Old man, where is this place?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fisherman was an old man, his face creased with wrinkles, sharply defined by ink lines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing Fang Shi, the old man did not answer—he stared at Fang Shi with a strange look.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a moment, he murmured softly: “Young man, you’re not from around here, are you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be honest, Fang Shi didn’t fully understand—the old man’s speech was strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it was clearly a Han-language dialect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only the accent and intonation differed greatly, like regional dialects.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Fang Shi remain silent, the old man added: “Young man, this is Tongchang County.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you have no business here, leave quickly—the grand sacrifice is coming soon. Outsiders aren’t welcome.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi’s expression didn’t change; even if he didn’t understand the words, his perception sensed the old man’s emotions—distance and warning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More importantly, the old man was perfectly at ease with the ink-painting scene, seeing nothing wrong with it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Old man, tell me more.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man didn’t understand what Fang Shi was saying and growled impatiently, “Leave quickly, you’re scaring away the fish.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi sensed the old man’s impatience and silently walked away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the Dantian was opened, his spiritual platform became clear and his wisdom sharp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just a few simple phrases triggered rapid collisions of thoughts in his mind like lightning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi began to grasp the old man’s language.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, it belonged to the Sino-Tibetan language family; with careful study, Fang Shi could still understand the meaning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to fully comprehend it, he would need large-scale statistical analysis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, Fang Shi hoped the old man would speak more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But even if he didn’t, Fang Shi had already noticed soldiers patrolling the city walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He believed the city’s population was certainly large.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ancient cities were actually small; a few square kilometers constituted a city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet that didn’t mean few people lived there—houses stood densely packed along streets paved with blue stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The streets were narrow, the buildings so tightly clustered they would make modern urban planners blush.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, the main road Fang Shi walked was relatively wide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Street vendors hawking their wares and the constant flow of pedestrians became Fang Shi’s subjects for study.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The townspeople saw Fang Shi’s strange attire, his loose hair, his long sword at his waist, and his long bow slung across his back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly not from an ordinary family, they all kept their distance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the guards at the city gate dared not stop him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not to mention the sword and bow—just his finely crafted clothing was beyond what a common family could afford.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was unquestionably of noble rank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was why Fang Shi could stroll freely through the streets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially since he deliberately walked down the center of the road.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was a position reserved for nobles alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a commoner to walk there would be a grave taboo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Business has been too good lately—the County Magistrate plans to hold a grand sacrifice.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“All the supplies needed are so vast, even the county’s wealthiest merchants can’t handle it alone.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The clerks in the yamen have ordered many new clothes from me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Saying they need fresh garments to wear during the spirit sacrifice.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another man shouted, “You’re foolish! How dare you take this business? It’s not that the wealthy merchants don’t want to monopolize it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s because the yamen’s treasury is empty—they can’t pay a single coin.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“During past sacrifices, the wealthy merchants were all cheated. Now none are willing to contribute.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s why this ‘good fortune’ fell to you!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh no!” the first man panicked. “What do I do? I bought cloth on credit—I won’t be able to pay back, and they won’t let me off!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What can you do? Just accept your bad luck. Do you dare defy the County Magistrate?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We artisans have no land in the countryside—we survive solely by our skills.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you anger the Magistrate, and he sends men to block your door every day, will you still do business?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then came a chorus of sighs and groans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Outside the door, Fang Shi leaned against the wall of the alley, listening quietly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His perception was so sharp that even standing outside the house,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>he could easily hear every sound within.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After wandering for two hours, Fang Shi finally managed to barely understand the locals’ speech.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But throughout his listening, two words kept recurring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Grand Sacrifice!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the term Fang Shi first heard from the fisherman by the river.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was repeatedly mentioned by townspeople.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It meant the County Magistrate was preparing another ritual.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the guise of procurement, he was forcibly seizing supplies, causing widespread resentment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially in past sacrifices, when the Magistrate had no money, he simply imposed taxes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He collected the money and used it for the sacrifice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, he stopped even collecting taxes—instead, he demanded supplies from the rich under the pretense of donations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, even the rich had no surplus left, so he turned to lower classes for money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was utterly absurd!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The purpose of a sacrifice was to stabilize the people’s hearts and ensure steady production.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Tongchang’s Magistrate turned everything into chaos, imposing heavy levies without restraint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi had reason to suspect the sacrifice was merely an excuse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was the Tongchang Magistrate trying to make a fortune off it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, given the bizarre nature of this place,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>at the city’s center—the yamen—lay a Golden Corpse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This sacrifice might indeed be real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But something was odd: the sacrifice was not dedicated to the Ten Thousand Gods near Tongchang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was dedicated to a being called Hong Zhen Da Miao Ci Hui Tian Zun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And His statue was not kept in any temple, but illogically placed inside the yamen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This behavior was extremely strange, utterly violating ritual propriety.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi had overheard several Confucian scholars expressing discontent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in Tongchang County, the Magistrate was the supreme heaven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The “Lord of a Hundred Li” was no joke—especially in the Wei-Jin era, local officials were controlled by regional aristocratic clans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Magistrate’s family was the most powerful clan in the region.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was also the clan patriarch, the one with the greatest power—his word was absolute authority.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Jin Emperor’s orders were less effective here than the Magistrate’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Correct—Fang Shi had clearly overheard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The townspeople here lived in the Jin Dynasty period; whether Eastern or Western Jin, those were later terms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, this was not modern times—no wonder the accent was so strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Modern Mandarin was then merely a local dialect; others not understanding it was normal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But perhaps the people of Tongchang weren’t even speaking the official language.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dialect to dialect—how could anyone understand?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had Fang Shi not gained an intelligence boost before entering, and analyzed the local speech, he’d be as deaf as a stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good thing the setting here is so bizarre—it’s definitely not real antiquity.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Otherwise, if everyone were real people, I’d think I’d been reborn into ancient times again.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi truly didn’t understand: his original rebirth had seemed normal, yet now all sorts of anomalies had occurred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The changes at the Pure Yang Qi site were understandable—it was a Qi Refining lineage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi had gained immensely, suffered no loss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what followed was deeply strange—he no longer knew whether he was trapped in an illusion\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>or had entered a realm where reality itself was twisted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like the Infinite Wilderness’s Ten Thousand Beasts Garden—any creature entering would speak and possess wisdom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi hoped it was the first case; the second would be a nightmare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An illusion could be broken and ended—but the second required an interdimensional teleportation spell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was a ninth-tier spell—he couldn’t possibly handle it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He planned to leave the county.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d gathered enough intelligence; staying longer meant facing the suspicious Grand Sacrifice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shi had no intention of confronting a County Magistrate who might possess legendary combat power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He would tour the outskirts of the county, to see if the countryside the locals spoke of actually existed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, every city in every era needed rural resources to sustain itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This would further confirm the nature of this strange land.\u003C\u002Fp>",2282,"2026-06-20T12:43:33.559Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","8acfa5fb4d34312e471957fdc4d1fc49583b8ae4b1a3d4af7e7a6b3e14c8e700","starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-chapter-90","starting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-chapter-88",109,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstarting-from-the-apocalypse-i-alone-severed-ete-cover.jpg"]