Against The Heavens 28 Soul's Rest.

The town located at the bottom of the hill was very simple, with all the houses built out of wooden logs, none taller than one story. Each house was covered in silver paint, golden lanterns and carvings decorating a few of the houses that seemed like they belonged to the leaders of this town.

The moment Li Yang entered the town, he noticed something strange about the town. Despite being located in a place called the Cursed Realm, none of the people in the town were cultivators. Even the guards were only people who had slightly trained their bodies.

With no one in the town being a cultivator, how did they manage to survive for so long? Were there no Demonic beasts inside this Cursed Realm? And how had they arrived here, had they been here since the creation of the hidden realm, or were they people who managed to get past the black mist in the forest?

"Excuse me. I have only recently arrived in this town, and I would like to learn more about the history of this town. Do you have a library where I can read up on that?"

Li Yang looked around until he found an old man who was supporting himself with a wooden cane. He did not know if there was anyone in the town who actually knew about the history of the town, so he figured it would be better to check for a library first.

"A library? We do indeed have one, but if it is information about this town you want, I suggest talking to the Rune Keeper. He guards the library and has been doing so for countless years. If you can get him in a good mood, he should be able to tell you more than most of the books we have."

The old man looked at Li Yang with a curious gaze, but he still politely answered his question. The old man pointed at one of the buildings decorated with golden lanterns as he spoke, indicating that it was the library.

"I see. Thank you for the advice."

Li Yang thanked the old man and made his way towards the building the old man had pointed. The inside of the building was very simple, shelves filled with books filling almost every inch of the building. Right inside the entrance sat a bald man with gray skin and closed eyes.

"Excuse me, but are you the Rune-Keeper? I would like more information about this town."

Li Yang walked up to the bald man and asked politely. This bald man was the only person he could see inside the library, so he a.s.sumed that he was the so-called Rune Keeper.

"...Someone who has survived through the black mist? Very well, to you, I will talk."

The bald man slowly opened his eyes, revealing a pair of completely white eyes that did not hold a shred of life. Seeing these eyes, Li Yang instantly knew exactly what this bald man was. He was a golem, a puppet that had a soul implanted into it.

"How did you know that I survived the black mist?"

Li Yang had seen many golems before, so he was not shocked by the bald man being a golem. He was more interested in finding out how he immediately knew that Li Yang had survived the black mist.

"I have been here since the creation of this world, watching it, guarding it. I know everyone who has ever been born in any of the four towns. You are not one of them."

The voice of the bald golem was completely devoid of emotions. This was simply how golems were. Even though a soul had been implanted in them, they were incapable of showing emotions.

"This world was created many many years ago by four people, the Soul King, the Everlasting Queen, the Spear Empress, and the Sword Emperor. Why they created this world, I was never told."

The bald golem started talking before Li Yang got a chance to ask more questions. His words confirmed that it had indeed been Li Yang's old friends that created this place. Sadly, he did not get to learn why they had created this place.

"In the creation of this world, the four of them gathered their power together to ensure that it would be stable despite the pa.s.sage of the years. They tore out pieces of their own world and stored them in here, each piece placed here seemingly of great importance to them."

Hearing the bald golems words, Li Yang felt more certain that the emerald volcanoes he had seen were connected to the ones he and Fang Ying had toured in their previous life. Maybe they were even the same volcanoes.

"To keep the world safe, they placed many guardians and protective measures around the world. The black mist is one of these protective measures. The creators told me that if someone managed to bypa.s.s their protective measures, it was fine to tell them the story of this world."

"What if that someone was trying to steal some of the resources from this world?"

Li Yang did not know if there were others who could get past the black mist as easily as he had, but if there were, did that not mean that those people could freely rob all the resources of this Cursed Realm.

"Then they would die. Just managing to get past some of the protective measures does not mean that they will be able to acquire anything. The only thing they will be able to acquire anything from is the things of the four populated towns, and there is nothing of value in any of those four towns."

The bald golem let out a low snort as it responded, seemingly fully confident that no one would be able to acquire anything.

"What sort of guardians and protective measures are there?"

Li Yang had learned from his meeting with the black mist. He had been overconfident when he first entered, believing that he could be able to survive thanks to the experience from his past life. If he wanted to explore this Cursed Realm, he would need more information about some of its dangers.

"Besides the black mist in the forest, there are powerful Demonic beasts guarding all the important locations of this world, each beast being one that followed the four creators during their lives. After so many years, they have already sp.a.w.ned countless descendants that now roam this world."

"As to exactly what Demonic beasts guard the various places, I do not know Besides them, there are various arrays placed in places to prevent others from entering them, each array constantly changing and producing new effects. The four populated towns are the only safe place in this world."

The bald golem spoke about everything he knew, but it did not seem like he knew much about the guardians and arrays. And if he did know, it seemed that he would not talk about it.

"How did these people manage to arrive here without cultivation?"

Li Yang was slightly curious about how so many people without cultivation had managed to arrive here.

"They have lived and died in this world since it was created. Their ancestors were brought in here by the four creators when this world was first created. Over the countless years, they have lost contact with their cultivation roots and become what you see now."

After spending countless years here, the ways of cultivation were slowly lost, each new generation weaker than the other. In the end, it had become a world with no cultivators.

"There are four towns?"

Li Yang got his answer, so he changed the topic. The bald golem mentioned that there were four populated towns, so Li Yang was slightly curious about the other three towns.

"There are five towns. Four populated by people, as well as golems connected to me. And there is one dead town, located at the center of this world. Covered in perpetual snow that will kill anyone who is forbidden from entering the town. Only the four creators and their friends were able to enter that town as they wished."

"What is inside the dead town?"

Li Yang guessed that this dead town was the town covered in snow that he saw when he first left the forest. Since the town was located at the center of the Cursed Realm and covered in snow that killed almost everyone, it was clear that it served a purpose.

"I do not know, that information was never told to me."

"I see. Do the towns have names?"

Slightly disappointed by the response of the bald golem, Li Yang decided to ask a little more about the four populated towns.

"They do. This town is the town created by the Soul King, so it is called Soul's Rest. The one to the north is called Time's March. The one to the east is called Soaring Sword. The one to the west is called Spear's Advance. The dead town at the center of the world is called Thunder Flower Memorial."

"Thunder Flower Memorial?"

The names of the four populated towns were clearly based on the person who created them, so each town was named after one of Li Yang's old friends. The last town was not named after any of his friends, but its name gave Li Yang a good idea of what the Cursed Realm might really be.

"Is this a tomb for me and Ying'er?"

Li Yang could not help but mutter silently. Thunder Flower Memorial, the thunder from his old t.i.tle, as well as the flower from Fang Ying's name. Could this entire hidden realm be a tomb created for him and Fang Ying by their old friends?