Fantasy: Immortality Begins with Absorbing Demons

Chapter 290 The Choice (Part 1)

After three days, with ample food and medicine, Han Yi's injuries had mostly healed.

Although his strength hasn't reached its peak, he can at least barely handle opponents at the martial arts master level.

The remaining injuries are all chronic and deep-seated ailments that require a long period of rest or the use of specific medications to fully recover.

In addition, he consumed all the food, including the black bear meat…

So, it's time to go out and find some medicine and food, and then... it's also time to check on the situation in An'yan City...

…....

Outside the dense forest, a tall figure dressed in black, wearing a straw hat, carrying a bundle, stood on a tall tree, gazing into the distance.

"This location seems to be near Yingjiabao..."

He looked at the surrounding terrain and then looked up at the sun to determine his location.

"In that case, let's go to Yingjiabao first..."

Han Yi spotted the direction, touched the tree trunk with his toes, and quickly flew away.

He remembered there was a market near Yingjiabao, where he could gather intelligence and buy some urgently needed supplies at the same time…

Yuhe is a small river like a silver ribbon, flowing down the mountain cliffs. The river meanders downstream, winding its way out of the dense forest and forming a concave basin in the plain.

The riverbank was surrounded by flowers, trees and shrubs, and water birds chirped from time to time, creating a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere, seemingly undisturbed by the An Yan City incident.

On the riverbank, Han Yi stared into the distance with a grim expression.

His mood was certainly not because the boatman who was supposed to take people to Yingjiabao was absent.

At this point, when disaster strikes, it's normal for the boatman to be absent.

"Why does it feel like the area affected by this demonic calamity has actually expanded a bit?!"

Han Yi was filled with resentment. On his way to Yingjiabao, he couldn't help but take a detour to visit the vicinity of Anyan City.

Three days have passed, and the thick, ink-like black mist surrounding An Yan City remains unchanged; in fact, it seems to have expanded outwards by another ring!

In three days, those who went out of the city to hunt down the demons, along with Ao Yang, Wang Youfang, and other strongest figures in the city, even if they were slow to notice, should have discovered the strange occurrences in An'yan City…

But now, An'yan City is still like this... which means...

Perhaps there were traps outside the city that killed Aoyang and his men, or perhaps... they discovered them, returned, but were helpless!

He still held a sliver of hope, and had a somewhat naive idea that Aoyang and his group could resolve the crisis in Anyan City.

"Is the situation in Anyan City truly beyond resolution...?" Han Yi murmured to himself, a trace of sadness flashing across his face.

An'yan City was shrouded in black fog. The fate of those who couldn't escape was predictable...

Since Ao Yang and his team hadn't dealt with the terrifying demon represented by that blood-red question mark, he didn't believe anyone else could handle it...

An Yan City marked the first step in his growth, with Bai Sanren, Qian Xue, Huang Ze, Li Feng, Huang Jiu'er, A Qiu, and others...

He spent his first New Year in the Bai family courtyard...

The beautiful memories of growing up and living have now been completely destroyed by an unexpected event about which he knew nothing!

“I don’t even know what that black fog is…”

He clenched his fists involuntarily. He had originally thought that after reaching the level of a Second-Grade Martial Master, he would have some ability to protect himself in this perilous world…

But to my surprise, my strength was still too weak...

Just a glance from that figure was enough to overwhelm her…

Looking at the gurgling stream and leaping carp in the river, Han Yi felt a sense of weariness for the first time.

But as soon as he relaxed for a moment, he immediately replied that in this cruel world, one cannot be weak at all. To survive, one must hone one's heart to be as hard as metal.

"To become stronger, you still need to work hard to become stronger!"

He desperately wanted to become stronger, driven by fear of the blood-red question mark, hatred for the demon, grief over the deaths of his loved ones, and anger at his own weakness.

He refused to believe it. With the system in his possession, what could a demon do?

Sooner or later, he will trample the owner of that blood-red question mark under his feet, and then... crush him with one stomp!

With this thought in mind and a firm belief in his heart, Han Yi found a slightly narrow river, suddenly pushed off the river pebbles, and his figure flew like a bat into the Yingjiabao market.

When Anyan City suffered disaster, the market also suffered.

Han Yi walked into the market and looked around. It was more like a survivors' gathering place than a market.

He frowned, avoiding the filth on the ground, and looked at the crowded people of all shapes and sizes.

Some people had tears streaming down their faces and their eyes were red and swollen, as if they were grieving for their family and friends in Anyan City.

Some of them were covered in rags and blood, like survivors who had miraculously survived the pursuit of the evil spirits throughout Anyan City.

But most people, like Han Yi, hurried along, dressed in black, constantly exchanging ideas and communicating at the roadside stalls.

"Wang Laosan, what's going on? Yesterday, ten taels of silver could buy a dou (about 120 jin) of grain, but today it costs twenty taels of silver! Why don't you just rob us?!"

"The price of grain changes every day. If you don't buy it, someone else will. Go away!"

"I'll buy it, I'll buy it..."

Such conversations are commonplace.

The once highly sought-after precious medicinal herbs, martial arts manuals, and treasured swords are now as common as trash, sold at bargain prices.

And the reason for this... Han Yi understood it instantly...

Anyan City is so large, with at least hundreds of thousands of people. Even if only 10% of them managed to escape before the black fog sealed them off, that would still be at least tens of thousands of people.

As the closest outlying force to Anyan City with martial arts masters stationed there, Yingjiabao naturally attracted a large influx of people when the environment was relatively peaceful.

With more people, the energy consumption increases!

Yingjiabao was originally a small town with only a few thousand people, so how could it possibly have so much grain reserves?

In addition, it was only early spring, and the grain had not yet ripened. The grain harvested in the previous season had long been bought up by the big grain merchants in the city and was trapped in the black fog. There was no way that the people would have any surplus grain.

Most of the people who fled the city were running away in a panic, and since they had to eat a lot of food, they naturally couldn't carry it with them.

So, what's most abundant right now... is people, while what's most scarce is food! And the price of food is rising steadily every day...

From the initial five qian of silver per shi, to five liang of silver per shi, and now to twenty liang of silver per shi…....

He watched as a rather attractive woman, leaning against a doorframe in a makeshift wooden shed in a dark alleyway, waved to someone outside…

And there were many beggars carrying broken bowls and wooden sticks, their faces pale and emaciated…....

A feeling of pity welled up in my heart...

"Alas... natural disasters and man-made calamities, suffering, it is the common people who suffer the most..."

Han Yi shook his head and sighed.

He didn't stop, ignoring the shouts of people along the street hawking their family heirloom swords and secret manuals. In addition, he made no attempt to conceal his martial arts master aura, so no one dared to stop him along the way.

He walked straight into a house deep inside the main road. Inside the house...

"I'm sorry, sir..." Fatty Zheng said weakly, "Our shop will be temporarily closed from today. If fate allows, then... we'll meet again."

Inside the room, the meat that had been hanging and displayed was now completely gone, as if it had all been sold out. On the table, there was only a greasy, yellowed cutting board and a huge copper-handled meat cleaver.

Zheng Xiangui, unusually, was not paralyzed and lying in bed, but instead kept putting something into a large package.

Looking inside, Han Yi could only see his dark, mountain-like back.

Fatty Zheng is, after all, a genuine martial arts master. He comes into contact with a large number of people every day, and with a mysterious force behind him, his intelligence network should be much more sophisticated than that of the average person.

I have a certain level of acquaintance with him, and perhaps I can get what I want from him.

"Fatty Zheng, it's me. I'm not buying meat..." Han Yi stepped forward and greeted him.

Hearing the familiar accent, Fatty Zheng paused slightly, put down what he was holding, and exclaimed, his belly fat bulging, "Hey, isn't this Brother Yuwen? What's wrong? With this demonic calamity upon us, aren't you hurrying to escape?"

"A demon...disaster?!" Han Yi stopped in his tracks, his brows furrowing.

"You're a martial arts master, how come you don't even know this little thing?" Fatty Zheng narrowed his eyes, making his already narrow eyes, which were already swollen by his fat, even narrower.

Although Han Yi was just using an alias, his outward strength was only at the Blood Refining stage.

But Fatty Zheng seemed oblivious to his sudden surge in cultivation, or rather, he had anticipated it.

After all, buying so much Martial Master quality monster meat at once, and eating it so quickly—only a Martial Master could consume Yin-type items so rapidly.

As for hiding one's strength, he could understand that. When you're out in the world, it's only right to keep a low profile.

"I just broke through too, I don't know anything." Han Yi didn't hide anything and asked frankly.

This Fatty Zheng is clearly the kind of cunning, shrewd old fox with an extremely wealth of life experience; there's no way he can hide it from you.

Besides, he had no need to hide it. The city and its surroundings were in complete chaos, so flexing his muscles would serve as a form of deterrence.

"A solitary martial artist... not easy... not bad..." Upon hearing this, Fatty Zheng immediately looked at Han Yi with newfound respect, clearly regarding him as a lone wolf with exceptional talent who cultivated alone.

"The calamity of the demons... it's exactly what it sounds like..." he said after a moment's thought.

The news of the demonic calamity and the obvious changes in An'yan City were impossible to stop; it had already spread far and wide.

Even if you ask an ordinary person in the market, they would know this very well; it's not a secret.

"So... the entire city of Anyan is now a prison, and no one can get out?"

After listening for a while, Han Yi gained a basic understanding of the concept of the demonic calamity, which was similar to what he had thought.

"Hmm, that's more or less true..." Fatty Zheng said with a bitter expression, "Where the demonic calamity passes, nine out of ten houses are empty, all industries are ruined, there's no smoke for miles around, and not a blade of grass grows..."

"If that's the case..." Han Yi's eyes gleamed, "What exactly is the cause of this demonic calamity? Could it really be a demon causing all this trouble?"

"The calamity was indeed caused by demons!" Fatty Zheng, perhaps tired of talking, simply plopped down on the ground.

With a loud bang, the small house shook violently.

"But no one knows exactly what it is, or what's inside!" he continued. "Because those inside can't get out, and those outside can't get in, nobody knows what's happening. All we know is that wherever a demonic calamity occurs, that place could become a dead zone!"

'Perhaps this demonic calamity is related to the blood sacrifice mentioned by the Yin Gu!'

At that moment, Han Yi had a sudden inspiration and an idea came to mind.

He learned about the blood sacrifice from the Yin Gu's mouth, and he also saw that blood-red question mark figure in the black mist of the city...

Of course, he could only think about these things in his mind and treat them as speculation.

"Then I wonder, this demonic calamity... has it occurred..." Han Yi asked.

If it were possible, who would willingly leave their hometown, especially when they are forced to do so?

"The method..." Fatty Han shook his head, "There was once a martial arts master whose hometown was devoured by a demonic calamity. In a fit of rage, he charged into the calamity..."

"The results of it?"

"The result? What result?" Fatty Zheng sneered. "Ten years later, the demonic calamity receded, leaving only a pile of bones!"

Han Yi was disheartened. The blood-red eyes of the demon in An Yan City, which resembled those of a demon god, seemed to indicate that its true realm far exceeded his expectations.

Seeing that Han Yi seemed to still have questions, Fatty Zheng waved his hand: "In short, you should know that even though there are countless experts in the Great Xuan Dynasty, if a region is struck by a demonic calamity, the best solution is... to abandon the place and wait for the calamity to dissipate on its own!"

Silence fell over the air.

Both of them remained silent, a sense of powerlessness rising in their hearts.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore!" Fatty Zheng forced himself to laugh and said, "Brother Yuwen, the demonic calamity has appeared. I wonder what your plans are?" "I don't know..." A look of confusion flashed in Han Yi's eyes. He had originally wanted to see if there was any good news from Fatty Zheng.

Unexpectedly, all I received was a series of disheartening bad news…