The Haotai Hotel was a mere three kilometers from the Walmart. Yet, this journey was no longer through a society with flowing traffic, but rather through a city at the end of the day, overrun with zombies.


    The streets were cluttered with abandoned vehicles and toppled billboards, and the path was anything but clear, fraught with myriad obstacles. It took a van a full two hours to finally reach the supermarket.


    The car door swung open with a whoosh.


    Zhao Hong alighted swiftly, followed by three dogs: Dahei, Daho, and Erho, the most loyal, cunning, and ferocious of his spirit hounds.


    Zhao Hong cast a skeptical nce around. His vision and hearing, far superior to that of ordinary men, easily discerned something unsettling near the supermarket: an eerie quietude, devoid of even the faintest growl of zombies, with only the asional scurrying of rats.


    He was no stranger to territories ruled by high-level zombies, but such destion and silence were unprecedented.


    "Let''s go in and have a look," he suggested, pointing towards the Walmart Supermarket. At hismand, the spirit hounds growled softly and advanced into the supermarket via three different paths. Shortly after, their howls echoed through the building.


    Zhao Hong furrowed his brow. Experienced in the nuances of canine sounds from his days in the dog business, he knew these barks signaled no danger.


    "Leave someone with the car, ande up with me," he said casually."Yes," replied a sturdy man, stepping out of the car with bolstered courage to lead the way.


    Soon, Zhao Hong and hispanion reached the fifth floor of the supermarket unimpeded. The scene before him made his heart skip a beat. Five years had passed since the outbreak of the zombies, and he had grown ustomed to sights of gore.


    However, this bizarre spectacle was new to him. Throughout the supermarket, from the first to the fifth floor, were scattered bits and pieces of zombie flesh. It was the height of summer when flies should swarm, yet none dared approach this ce.


    The sight on the fifth floor was particrly dreadful. Severalrge bathtubsy there, each containing only ayer of dried, ck-red blood filled with impurities.


    In a nearby corner, two desated, emaciated zombiesy, their bodies riddled with holes from which red nts sprouted, though now these nts were all dead, having seemingly sucked dry all the nutrients from the zombies.


    A tightness gripped Zhao Hong''s chest at this chilling discovery.


    "Boss... what should we do now?" The stalwart man beside him trembled visibly.


    "Are you cold?" Zhao Hong suddenly asked.


    The man shivered, "Cold, very cold. The temperature here is very low."


    A sense of dread inexplicably rose in Zhao Hong''s heart. The outside temperature was at least thirty degrees. Yet, inside the Walmart, he felt chilled to the bone. This was utterly abnormal.


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    Zhao Hong knew well that one must not linger in ces that defy normalcy! "Let''s go." He dared not stay any longer and turned to leave.


    Once back in the car, he slowly regained hisposure. "Did you bring gasoline?" Zhao Hong, lighting a cigarette and exhaling rings of smoke, suddenly asked.


    "Yes, Boss. Your orders?" Both men nodded.


    "Burn this shit ce down," Zhao Hong said calmly.


    "Yes!"


    Momentster, thick, ck smoke billowed above the Walmart. The piercing chill seemed to dissipate with the mes. Zhao Hong''s anxiety finally eased.


    "Let''s go back." He casually flicked his unfinished cigarette out of the car window, propped up his legs, and said.


    The van started again and soon vanished into the streets.


    ...


    In the lush forests outside Green River City in the Mystic Azure Realm of Yu Country, the empty space suddenly twisted. In the blink of an eye, a figure appeared out of nowhere, startling the birds atop the trees and scaring away the squirrels on the branches.


    "I''m back." Chu Xuan surveyed his surroundings, took a deep breath, and smiled. The air here was filled with Spiritual Qi, far fresher than that of the apocalyptic.


    "First, I need to ascertain whether the flow of time is consistent between the two realms," he mused. "The second task is to acquire materials for corpse refinement and seeds for numerous spiritual nts. The third matter is to locate the covert trading hubs of demonic cultivators from the Infinite Sect and the Corpse Puppet Sect, to purchase the Blood Refining Array.


    Having formted his n, Chu Xuan immediately donned a human-skin mask and transformed his appearance from a stern-looking young man to a formidable, bald-headed fellow.


    Although facial transformation was considered an unconventional art, Chu Xuan had escaped many perils using it. Now, disguising himself had be second nature.


    "I recall that three hundred miles south of Green River City, there is a canyon rich in Spiritual Qi, where a marketce is situated," Chu Xuan mused. He drew forth a flying sword and set off toward the south of Green River City.


    This flying sword, a lower-grade flying magical tool, traveled at a speed of three hundred miles per hour, consuming one small spiritual stone for every thousand miles traveled. It was a second-hand magical tool he had once purchased from the Infinite Sect. Both its speed and consumption were mediocre. Should he acquire surplus spirit stones in the future, he certainly intended to invest in a superior flying magical tool.


    An hourter, Chu Xuan arrived at the marketce.


    "Peace Market," he announced as he strode into the market. A thousand miles further south of Peace Markety the mountain gate of the Divine Star Sect, one of the five major orthodox sects of Yu Country.


    Naturally, the small marketce was not directly controlled by the Divine Star Sect but was managed by cultivating families under the sect, mostly established by Foundation Establishment stage cultivators from the Divine Star Sect who had little hope of advancing. Offspring born into these families, once identified as having spiritual roots, were immediately sent to the Divine Star Sect for cultivation, thereby strengthening their families.


    Peace Market was controlled by the Wu family, whose patriarch was a nearly two-hundred-year-old Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. The cultivators who came here to sell and trade were mostly at the initial or middle stages of Qi Refining; even those at theter stages were rare.


    Chu Xuan was well aware of all this intelligence before he arrived. As a demon cultivator often targeted by others, venturing blindly into unknown territories without such information could lead to dire consequences.


    Upon arriving at Peace Market, Chu Xuan did not rush to purchase the items he needed. Cultivators, with their extended lifespans, knew well how to overcharge neers. His unfamiliar face appearing for the first time would surely prompt the sellers to inte their prices. Thus, he decided to stay for a few days. For the initial days, he adopted a strategy of looking much and buying nothing.


    Chu Xuan found a teahouse catering to cultivators, ordered a pot of spiritual tea, sat, and quietly sipped, listening to the conversations around him. Cultivator discussions were not like those of ordinary people, who speak without restraint. Some were quite cautious, even using Spiritual Qi to mask their speech.


    As a Qi Refining stage cultivator, eavesdropping on others'' conversations was challenging, but Chu Xuan had a unique advantage—each of his ears harbored a Listening Insect. These tiny creatures amplified his hearing, allowing him to catch much of what was said around him.