The Source of All Evil

Xiao Chen was thrown into the stone jar, where for thousands of years he endured a purgatory of torment. Thunder roared in his ears as chaotic radiance swirled around him, plunging him into a terrifying world.

For centuries he floated in a thunder pool, struck daily by the five elements of lightning. His body was shattered countless times, but just as he was about to succumb, the lightning would recede, allowing his frame to regenerate.

After centuries, he sank into a world of flames, scorched by netherfire, his skin splitting open day after day.

Another age passed, and he descended into a pool of blood, where foul gore corroded his flesh to ruin, his bones dissolving, his vital essence drained.

Later, he was cast into a great millstone of heaven and earth, his body and soul ground to paste, his divine sense torn asunder.

Yet he never reached the end of life. Each time he was on the verge of annihilation, he was pulled back from death's brink.

Through every form of horrific torment, his flesh and spirit did not wither but grew stronger, as though a pair of terrible hands were forging him.

It was a process of excruciating suffering, tasting nearly every kind of punishment. Xiao Chen wondered if he had fallen into the eighteen levels of hell, descending one level every few centuries to endure a new torture.

At last, he truly sensed that a dark shadow was directing all of this.

The shadow was using the stone jar to refine him—treating him not as a living being but as a treasure, shaping him like a weapon according to its will.

All of Xiao Chen's acupoints blazed with light, especially the three hundred sixty-five major points, where three hundred sixty-five indistinct figures opened their eyes simultaneously, roaring in fury.

The dark shadow's massive hands seemed to move for them, using the hellish forces of the stone jar to temper Xiao Chen's body and suppress the three hundred sixty-five figures.

Every acupoint shone with divine radiance, each containing a vast emptiness that transformed into a mysterious realm—each acupoint a chaotic universe, three hundred sixty-five such universes converging into one, bearing supreme might.

Perhaps this was what the dark shadow truly valued. It refined Xiao Chen, suppressing the three hundred sixty-five figures, seeking to fuse all into one.

Yet it did not press too hard. Centuries, millennia passed. Xiao Chen descended through more than ten levels in the jar, enduring endless torment, finally crashing to the ground in a grotto.

The sound of iron chains shook the depths, pounding against his eardrums.

"Is this the world inside the stone jar?"

He surveyed his surroundings. In the distance, chaos obscured all vision. Near him, sheer stone walls rose, a vast grotto stretching before him.

The dark shadow's power could not reach the deepest depths of the stone jar. At this region, those great hands retreated.

Perhaps it intended to drive Xiao Chen here, using the power of the jar's depths to continue refining him. There was no other path—he could only explore deeper into the jar.

Xiao Chen walked into the grotto. He knew this was the true interior of the stone jar. From outside, it was but a small vessel, but within lay an enormous world.

Footsteps echoed.

Ahead, a beautiful figure wandered aimlessly—the peerless female corpse, moving through the grotto. The clanking of chains in the distance made the jar world seem deeply mysterious.

Xiao Chen was startled. He followed silently. This female corpse was unfathomable. Though she seemed to have lost her consciousness, her instincts remained powerful.

Ahead, a sea of flickering ghost flames surged like an ocean, but the female corpse passed through as if wading through gentle lake water, all flames extinguishing before her.

When Xiao Chen reached the same spot, he felt unbearable heat, his body scorched, blood boiling, skin splitting open.

The powerful female corpse moved with instinct alone as though walking on level ground. Xiao Chen was deeply shaken.

A yin wind howled. Deep in the grotto, a multicolored shadow lunged at the female corpse like a clawing ghost.

Though it lacked an overwhelming oppressive pressure, Xiao Chen sensed a terrifying aura, like a sharp divine sword tearing through the sky.

His heart trembled. A Stone Man King of the Heavenly Realm!

He recognized the aura. This shadow was connected to the Stone Man King who had been devoured by the dark shadow on the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps.

Its stone body had long since decayed, leaving only a remnant spirit, but even so, it could not be underestimated. Though it no longer had the combat power of a Stone Man King, it was still a formidable malevolent ghost—a lost soul without self-awareness.

But even this powerful remnant spirit was blasted away by an invisible force when it touched the female corpse.

The ghost let out a piercing howl, charging again. This was the remnant spirit of a fallen Stone Man King. Though lacking its former might, it tried to merge with the corpse.

At that moment, the female corpse instinctively chopped down with her right hand, soundlessly splitting the ghost in two.

Then she paused, as though perplexed. Between her slender fingers swirled rays of light—the ghost's primal power.

With a final shriek, the ghost was refined into pure essence by an unknown force and absorbed into the female corpse's body.

Xiao Chen drew a sharp breath. This female corpse was hair-raising—destroying enemies and seizing their essence through pure instinct, a terrifying ability.

The female corpse continued forward, as though drawn by something, heading deeper into the grotto.

Xiao Chen's heart churned. He followed unhurriedly.

The path widened. A swamp appeared, less than ten li across but putrid and foul. Several broken limbs lay in the mire—Stone Man King remains, fissured and nearly shattered.

Xiao Chen recognized them. They belonged to the Heavenly Realm Stone Man Kings devoured by the dark shadow. It had thrown them into the jar as well.

What did it intend? Was it feeding them to some sealed horror within the jar?

Two arms, a leg, and half a torso suddenly burst from the swamp, recombining midair to attack the female corpse. The result was foreordained—the stone body shattered into motes of essence, all absorbed into the female corpse.

Now Xiao Chen gradually understood what the dark shadow meant by "cultivating the strongest body."

It had thrown the broken Stone Man King bodies, their remnant spirits, along with Xiao Chen and the female corpse, into the stone jar, letting them devour each other until a single supreme being emerged.

Like raising a war hound: nine dogs in a sealed room, the true hound king devouring the other eight before seeing the light of day.

Perhaps the dark shadow valued the female corpse most. Unable to enter the jar itself, it guided her by instinct, luring her with remnant spirits and broken king bodies, hoping she would consume the sealed horror at the jar's deepest point and then emerge as its tool.

Further ahead, the view opened. At the grotto's deepest point lay a vast azure ocean. A colossal island rose in its midst, covered with palaces and halls, and at the center stood a sinister stone prison, surrounded by heavenly palaces—it was the source of the clanking iron chains.

The female corpse stood at the ocean's edge, gazing at the giant island, hesitating.

At that moment, a drifting voice echoed across the sea: "Out… kill my way out…" It sounded like a ghost's whisper in the empty air, eerie and chilling.

The female corpse slowly stepped forward. Waves surged, yet she moved with ethereal grace, swiftly approaching the island.

The sea roared. A tsunami arose, a white wall of water rolling toward the female corpse.

A wild-haired creature with a pair of stone king wings rode a stone beast, wielding a bizarre weapon—a phoenix-winged stone halberd—and charged, shouting, "Out… I want out… kill my way out!"

The drifting voice now boomed like thunder, as if a million evil souls wailed. Countless cultivators seemed buried beneath these waters.

"Halt…" The wild-haired creature's voice grated like metal scraping metal. His speech was halting, his mind unclear. "Who goes there?"

"This is… the Source of All Evil?" Xiao Chen called from far behind.

"You seek the Source of All Evil? Do you have the Three Sovereign Mirror? Do you have the Five Emperor Tower?" The creature's voice became more mechanical.

"No."

"Death to those who trespass!" The wild-haired creature's speech grew more fluent, yet he seemed increasingly like a being without thought or feeling. He pointed his phoenix-winged stone halberd forward.

The female corpse opposite him said nothing—could say nothing, for she had lost her soul. Driven by instinct, she advanced toward the creature.

She trod upon the waves, her white robes fluttering, like a cold celestial maiden descending to the mortal world. Though soulless, she bore an innate grace—a paradox that lent her a strangely captivating beauty.

Her five fingers brushed against the sharp halberd with a clang, suffering no damage. Bare-handed, she blocked the king-level stone weapon.

— End of Chapter One. There are two more chapters later; comrades, please wait until tomorrow morning to read them.