The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult completely burned down and disappeared.
The sudden downpour was enough to extinguish the fire that had caught on the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, but the buildings, which had already largely burned, ultimately couldn’t withstand their own weight and collapsed.
Once the structures built on top of naturally formed high stone pillars collapsed, they fell in a chain reaction into the lake below.
Thus, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult turned into ruins overnight.
There’s no one left in this area. At least no harvesters.
The only harvesters remaining are two people who are lost and fleeing far away in the north.
But even that doesn’t seem like it will last long. They’re already being chased.
Feeling the bleak reality where no surviving harvesters can be seen, I looked down at my lap.
The corpse in front of me has crumbled white, looking not like a human corpse but like a collapsed plaster statue.
Given the weather, it’s strange that insects haven’t gathered already, but it seems all life-like materials have disappeared by the time it turned white.
I sat all day, and when the rain stopped, I got up.
Only white powder remained on my knees.
Looking around, I’m standing in the middle of ruins.
Wondering if it’s all over now as I look around, smoke is still rising from the village in the west.
There’s both white smoke and black smoke. The place where particularly black smoke is coming out a lot is the plaza where Heavenly Demon and Oh Myeongseong once competed in martial arts.
If smoke is coming out where there’s nothing to burn, it means they’re gathering something to burn. And there’s a familiar smell. The acrid smell of burning protein.
They’re burning corpses.
At least no living people are visible.
I stood surrounded by ruins and pondered briefly what to do.
It seems difficult to make harvesters in this world. The world captures people with purple hair without question.
So even the harvesters who barely survived far away in the north somewhere are being caught and dying one by one.
I have purple hair too.
I touched the treasure I had been holding since yesterday. It’s a weapon called Demon-Suppressing Sword.
I picked it up thoughtlessly because it’s a lightsaber, but I really can’t use it. It seems to be an object that uses qi.
But since it’s convenient to carry, shall I take it with me?
In case of emergency, it might become a useful item.
First, thinking about whether to go home, I climbed to a high place, cutting through the ruins to find the way.
Since the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s main building was built on stone pillars, all the paths are cut off. But it’s not that there are no paths at all.
In some people’s memories, there’s a way down.
So I wandered around the ruins looking for the place in the memories.
Most collapsed along with the buildings, but the old stone stairs that went down along the sheer cliff remained.
The size doesn’t fit me to walk, but I headed there.
If I fall to the ground like this, I can regenerate.
Following the stairs, I barely reached the ground while spiraling around the rock pillar. The ground has turned hazy with building debris that fell from above.
And under the water surface, there’s a lot of light gathered.
It probably means various creatures are having a party.
Closing my eyes to what they’re eating, I head towards the house where I lived. Of course, it’s not the destination. It’s just a stopover.
There’s no reason left to stay there anymore.
Perhaps because there’s a lot of wood among the building debris, there are many things floating on the water, so I walked from the stone pillars to the cliff.
I walk north along the cliff for a while. Then the cliff next to me gradually comes down and a path I can walk on appears.
If I go up the hill from there and head south, there’s a small, completely broken house about halfway between where I am now and the collapsed buildings.
It’s completely smashed because of the Sealing Needles. But no Sealing Needles are visible around.
I guess survivors took them away.
Entering the house, not only is there just a gaping hole, but the interior is messily turned over. It looks like someone rummaged through to see if there was anything to take.
There are only clothes for a tall woman or a child.
Looking at it this way, there doesn’t seem to be anything worth taking in this room.
Thinking metal tools might be sellable, I went into the kitchen. The kitchen is dark and quiet.
Huh? Dark and quiet?
Ah, come to think of it, the fire that always shone brightly isn’t visible.
Looking at where the fire used to be, it’s completely blocked with sand.
So I scooped out the sand, but there’s no trace of fire from the hearth anymore.
I don’t need it anymore anyway.
I decided to take a few dishes and head north.
North from my perspective.
The center in the world where people live.
There’s Mount Kunlun where immortals live.
There’s warmth there. Not immortals who aren’t much different from ordinary humans, but immortals at a level similar to the Great Kraken.
There must be a lot of warmth, right?
Right?
After looking around the kitchen with no more warmth one last time, I moved my steps towards my destination again.
Going down the hill, tall trees appear at a certain level.
Deep forest.
I don’t really want to come here because I was once bitten in the neck by a feline beast around here, and the memory of it teasing me remains, but.
I have to cross here to get out.
After entering the forest, I walk the opposite way the immortals and Taoists came. Traces they made while coming here still remain everywhere.
It would be nice if I could run fast like martial artists, but even if I run until my heart bursts, I’m not that fast.
So I keep walking without stopping. If I keep walking steadily like this, I’ll be able to reach it someday.
Unlike when Soo-oh pointed out that the forest was quiet, the forest is now noisy with all kinds of animal sounds. It probably means there’s no immediate major threat at least.
I never thought I’d be walking alone in a deep forest without a single person like this.
Three years later.
I’m walking a path that maybe we could have walked together.
A forest where only sounds that could be called white noise are heard.
It’s not that difficult because I’m following traces left by many people moving. At least I don’t have to walk where there’s no path, right?
After walking for a long time.
I suddenly looked far away.
Slightly east of north.
The last harvester was killed.
They died fighting while shouting “Heavenly Demon Divine Cult” loudly.
At least within the range I know, there are no more living people. If there’s anyone who might be alive, there’s one person, but.
I don’t think that person would have run away leaving behind the person they love.
If they did run away, there’s a high chance they won’t be caught.
Because she’s not a harvester, her hair is black, and according to Oh Myeongseong’s memories, she once lived outside hiding her identity.
So she has enough skills.
I’m not sure if she has the will though.
After walking for a long time, when I get hungry, I pick and eat edible plants nearby. Fortunately, since immortals and Taoists mainly eat vegetarian food, I know in detail about edible plants that grow in this world.
Even if memories obtained from those killed have gaps here and there, I can easily get information by cutting out those parts and cross-referencing.
So I eat plants I can eat moderately, and when the sun sets, I curl up moderately and rest my body.
My mind doesn’t sleep, but my body needs rest.
After one day passed like that, two days passed, and around the third day.
The dense primeval forest finally ended and a village where people live appeared.
In other words, it means walking will be much easier from now on.
I stepped into the village in a good mood.
But as soon as I entered, men wearing white turbans on their heads ran up and pointed swords at me.
“It’s a remnant of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult!”
“Purple hair! Someone call the Taoist!”
“It’s a huge woman. Is she dangerous?”
“The sun point isn’t protruding, and her hands are white.”
They pointed weapons but didn’t swing their swords. They drew their swords, but the person in front gave a hand signal to the person behind and walked towards me.
This man is shorter than me.
“What is it?”
“Are you a member of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
“Don’t you judge just by hair color?”
Weren’t you killing indiscriminately if someone had purple hair?
“We are not murderers. We only came here to save the evil cultists of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Are you from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
If you ask if I’m from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, well.
Now my contractor is gone, and the people I met in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult are already dead.
“No.”
The man makes a surprised expression.
“It must be a fox-like woman lying! Kill her quickly!”
Someone shouted from behind.
But the man made a thoughtful expression, looked me over, then asked me:
“Where are you going now?”
“Mount Kunlun.”
Then there’s a murmuring sound from behind.
Hearing sounds like “Taoist? Taoist-nim?”, it seems they’re pondering my identity.
Since it’s fine whichever they choose, I waited quietly.
The man who had been watching me quietly turned around to quiet the people behind him, then looked at me again and opened his mouth.
“If that’s the case, wait until the Taoist arrives. If you are a person who has done nothing wrong, you can go to Mount Kunlun with the Taoist.”
The man who said that glared at me and warned in a low voice.
“If not, you’ll have to pay the price for deceiving us.”
So I nodded.
“Alright. Let’s do that.”
Many people behind are making particularly surprised expressions. I guess it’s because I answered too lightly.
I really have no connection with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult anymore, so I have nothing to be afraid of.
My existence itself is dangerous, but if they raise that issue, I’ll think about it then.
Considering that those who attack me touch me regardless of their weapon.
Yes.
It’s not that dangerous.
Really.