Calamity of Tomorrow

After carefully assessing the current situation and feeling everything was under control, Xiao Hun, a seventh realm cultivator, spoke, "The specific situation was supposed to be confidential to prevent information leakage, and I shouldn't have mentioned it before our arrival."

"That's why I previously told you that I wasn't aware of the specifics," he continued, addressing the other cultivators. "Originally, I planned to disclose the intelligence just before we reached the laboratory, but since we've now entered enemy territory and aren't far from the secret laboratory—plus with the situation regarding your flying sword—I think speaking a bit earlier won't lead to blame from our master."

"The information I know might be more than what those from the Plague Department know. After all, they are merely pawns of the Plague Department, while I am a direct disciple of Immortal Ming Yue. In fact, I have already reviewed the related archives of this secret laboratory kept at the Plague Department."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Bai thought to himself, 'It seems that although Immortals and Heavenly Beings are two factions, the Immortals' infiltration into the Plague Department, and possibly the entire Heavenly Court, is strong enough to gather much hidden intelligence.'

Xiao Hun then revealed, "This mission is related to demon beasts."

Surprised by this revelation, the other cultivators around them exclaimed, "Demon beasts!"

Xiao Hun explained, "If you've studied history, you should know that 'demon beasts' refer to both demons and beasts. They commonly appeared when the Heavenly Dao was twisted, no... rather even earlier, before the Heavenly Demon appeared.

"Among the demon beasts, the 'beasts' refer to mythical creatures that, besides humans, possess intelligence on our planet including various ordinary animals practicing cultivation, as well as divine and mythical beasts. They can cultivate just like humans and even have their own civilizations.

"The 'demons,' however, refer to practitioners of the evil path within the human, immortal, and god system, including some humanity-eradicating demon cultivators, certain evil gods, some demonic immortals... Before the appearance of the Heavenly Demon, the conflict between good and evil among the human race, and the global conflict between humans and beasts, were the main themes of struggle on our planet.

"Eventually, the beasts were almost exterminated by humans. During the great battle between good and evil, the evil humans and evil gods were also eradicated one by one. Humanity then entered a period of peace, and various technologies advanced rapidly, until an Immortal discovered the Heavenly Demon on Yinghuo Star, leading to the distortion of the Heavenly Dao over a century ago."

Listening to the other party's account, Zhou Bai, who had studied history at the Dao School himself and knew a little about the relevant content, realized that the historical records in the Heavenly Court were much more detailed than what was recorded by humans.

After listening, he asked, "Is this laboratory related to demon beasts then?"

Xiao Hun nodded, "Precisely, it involves mythical creatures. The original research focus of this laboratory was to examine the resistance of mythical creatures to the distortion of the Heavenly Dao and to investigate how they differ from humans after the distortion.

"You should know that many cultivators, in their madness, had deformed appearances similar to some past mythical creatures. Thus, studying the transformations of mythical creatures under the distortion of the Heavenly Dao became an important topic at that time."

Zhou Bai inquired, "Were there still mythical creatures at that time?"

Xiao Hun answered, "Naturally, there were some. Maybe some were struggling to survive? Or perhaps humans intentionally preserved some of them? Surely creatures like the mythical beasts among them have always been bred like livestock by the Heavenly Court.

"As for how they studied mythical creatures... 50 years ago, which was just over a dozen years after humans began transitioning their research to large-scale Dao cultivation, everyone was confident in adapting to the distortion of the Heavenly Dao, firm in the belief that 'humans will conquer nature.' Everyone at that time was quite radical, all seeking every possible means to save humanity. Whatever they did to those mythical creatures in the name of research, they were capable of anything," Xiao Hun continued.

Zhou Bai internally noted, '50 years ago... that was also about when Dr. Zhuang discovered the side effects of adjusting the Primordial Spirit and humans began focusing intensely on cultivation, shunning technological research.'

Xiao Hun went on, "According to the intelligence we gathered from the Plague Department, back then, the laboratory conducted extremely inhumane experiments on mythical creatures under the distortion of the Heavenly Dao and their deformation phenomena, and they achieved some results.

"It's said the Plague Department was very satisfied then and even allocated more personnel and resources.

"However, something strange later happened at the laboratory."

A female cultivator nearby curiously asked, "What happened?"

Xiao Hun frowned, seemingly puzzled by what he was about to disclose next, "It began when the person in charge of the laboratory, Master Ling Miao, disappeared."

"As the chief of a major laboratory and a sixth realm cultivator, his disappearance naturally triggered an investigation by the Heavenly Court."

"But there were no clues, the investigators checked the entire facility without finding any signs of a fight, no accidents, no out-of-control experiments, just some researchers who appeared numb and silent from carrying out experiments for a long period. Everything was so normal, as if Master Ling Miao had simply evaporated into thin air."

"The investigators thoroughly questioned everyone in the laboratory. Master Ling Miao had always maintained a serious and responsible attitude toward experimentation, with no signs of madness or loss of control. Nobody had conflicts with Master Ling Miao, nor had there been unusual incidents with his relatives or friends."

"Just when the investigation was about to enter a standstill, an investigator discovered something off about the meat in the cafeteria's freezer."

"For safety's sake, he secretly took this piece of meat for testing. The result was shocking... it was human flesh. Subsequent investigations revealed that everyone in the laboratory, aside from the investigative personnel sent there, had been secretly consuming human flesh."

"And Master Ling Miao had been divided and eaten by everyone."

"The absence of any signs of struggle or resistance, according to those who consumed flesh at that time, was because Master Ling Miao had willingly allowed himself to be devoured."

Xiao Hun shook his head, "It was assumed that the distortion of the Heavenly Dao had driven these researchers mad, so the Heavenly Court planned to completely seal off the laboratory to prevent further distortion from spreading."

Xiao Hun continued, "But an accident occurred during the sealing process, when the void, the side of the world where the Heavenly Dao resides, unexpectedly engulfed the entire laboratory, taking some of the staff along with it."

"Helpless, the Heavenly Court had no choice but to seal off the entire area with a powerful Array. This Array both contains and isolates, and even if one knows the solution, it's not something that can be broken in a short time nor can one simply enter. That's why I wasn't worried about the Plague Department's forces arriving before us just now. If they got here early, they would just be doing extra work for us."