Although at first Harold only began following the old woman due to her unique aura, soon he was drawn into the worship of Lord Ruthra. It was quite strange at first: according to the old woman's method, there was no need to present any offerings to Ruthra as others did. This would form a trading relationship with the god, where you are trading something in return for something else. Instead, she asked Harold to just devote himself to Lord Ruthra without any ambition.
"Whatever is the best for you, Ruthra will give it to you." In the old woman's words, this is the true blessing.
Harold followed the old woman for twenty-five years, until her eventual death due to old age. By this time, Harold was also deeply in devotion to Ruthra. Like the old woman, his way of worship was simple meditation while chanting Ruthra's name or singing hymns praising Rudra.
For years he traveled from one village to another, living a very simple life.
When he reached his old age, he decided to settle in a small mountain village to spend the rest of his life. The villagers also welcomed him warmly because of his tranquil aura and kind personality. The village chief arranged for him to live with a little girl around the age of twelve years, who had recently lost her parents due to a pandemic.
Harold began his life as the young girl's grandfather from that day on. Even though she was not related to him by blood, eventually Harold accepted her as his family and lived a fulfilling life every day, accompanied by the laughter and bickering of the little girl.
"Grandpa, I am going to the mountain to collect herbs," Emily called out to Harold, who was sitting cross-legged in the living room.
Harold opened his eyes and smiled. "Be careful. Recently, there are rumors that some foreigners have been spotted at the periphery of the medicine mountain."
"Uncle Shine and the group of mountain hunters will be accompanying us this time, so there is nothing to worry about. I will be back before lunch," Emily said hurriedly before she ran off from the house with her straw bag on her back.
Harold shook his head with a smile and re-immersed himself in his meditation.
Time passed. About an hour later, he was once again woken from his meditation by the sound of horses and the screaming of people.
With a frown on his face, Harold supported himself with his walking stick and came outside to see what was happening.
The scene outside made Harold's expression change. At the entrance of the village, a vast array of horses and people wearing black armor were standing with swords and spears. The pure killing intent radiating from their bodies covered the entire village with an oppressive atmosphere.
Some of the villagers could also be seen crying as they looked toward the front of the army. It seemed to be twelve long spears planted on the ground with a human head skewered on its tip.
Harold squinted his eyes, but due to his blurry vision, he couldn't see the faces clearly. With a heavy heart, he slowly walked toward the front with his stick. All the villagers who saw him looked at him sympathetically and moved to the side, allowing the old man to walk forward.
Harold was confused by their sympathetic stares, but he soon got his answer when he reached the front. Staring at one of the heads, his old body trembled and tears unknowingly flowed from his eyes.
Emily's head was placed on one of the spear tips, with blood still dripping from her severed neck. Her eyes were wide open in fear and there was the picture of a human skull drawn on her forehead with a knife.
"From now on, this place belongs to the Skull Demon Cult. You guys have one day to completely vacate this place. Otherwise, you will also face the same fate as these twelve people," one of the burly men shouted with an eerie smile on his face as he observed the fear and sadness in the eyes of the villagers in front of him.
"Who... did... this?" Suddenly a trembling, aged voice rang out out of nowhere, piercing through the silence created by the fear of the Skull Demon army.
All the soldiers fixed their eyes on the hunched old man who was looking at one of the human heads with tears in his eyes.
The burly soldier burst out laughing when he saw this. "Old fool, is that your grandchild? If you are here for revenge, it was me who cut her head off her body with a single swing of my blade. Tell me, what are you going to do?"
Other soldiers also laughed along as they mocked Harold, as though they are finding great pleasure in seeing the helpless expression on the old man's face.
But suddenly, their expressions stiffened as the chaos elemental chi around them began flowing toward the hunched old man who was standing in front of them.
The red-colored chaos elemental chi floated in from all directions and formed the illusory shape of a horrifying demon face behind Harold.
The face was large and brutal, with long wild hair flowing outward like dark flames. Its eyes were bright red and narrow, carrying a cold and constant anger that made the entire visage feel alive. Its brows were tightly furrowed, sharpening its fierce expression even further. Two long canine teeth jutted from its mouth, giving it a brutal, predatory appearance that made one's hair stand on end.
At first, the chi disturbance was only limited to the chaos element, but as soon as the demon face appeared, every elemental chi in the surrounding area started to retreat as though it is afraid of something. Even the soldiers on horseback began to shiver uncontrollably when they saw the terrifying face.
"Face of the Destroyer..." one of the soldiers muttered in horror as he looked at the demon face.
Swoosh.
Before anyone could further speculate anything, the demon face turned into a red beam of light and entered the old man's body. Everything became quiet for a moment before strong and wild lightning arcs began crackling all around Harold with an overwhelming killing intent which pressed on everyone like an invisible mountain.
Harold lifted his head and scanned the group of people in front of him with his ruby-red eyes. He was no longer hunched like before, and his skinny body was now filled with strong muscles which tore his shirt open, leaving his upper body bare.
"Today I will twist each of your heads off and skewer them on a spear, just like you did to my granddaughter. If I can't do that, I will leave my life behind. It's my promise in the name of Ruthra."
Harold said emotionlessly. The next second, his body moved with terrifying speed, appearing before the burly man who had mocked him first.
Before the man could understand anything, Harold lifted him by the neck. With his bare hands, he twisted the man's head from his body and threw the now-twitching corpse to the side.
Everyone, including the villagers and the Skull Demon Cult members, were stunned by this sight. But it was only the start. Harold was just like a lion among a pack of sheep, as he massacred anyone he saw without even giving them a moment to struggle. Even the horses were not spared, as their heads were exploded or crushed under Harold's punches and kicks.
Although many soldiers tried to cast elemental spells at him, their horror only deepened as the spells disintegrated into nothing by the wild and unrestrained chaotic lightning arcs dancing around Harold.
The villagers watched in stunned silence as the wise old man, who was considered the symbol of peace until then, turned into a killing machine who tore the fearsome members of the Skull Demon Cult into pieces.
There was no particular technique or anything else. Some of them had their limbs torn away, while others had their heads twisted off their necks. Even the ones who tried to run away were chased and hunted down.
In less than an hour's time, more than a hundred soldiers and horses fell in front of the village entrance, with their bodies dismembered or crushed into bloody paste.
Harold looked indifferently at the bloody scene in front of him without even an ounce of sympathy or compassion in his eyes.
"Skull Demon Cult... right? Originally I only wanted to live the rest of my life peacefully. But now I want to kill. Kill, kill, kill, kill and kill every last one of those bastards," Harold roared like a madman as he looked at the severed head of Emily, which was still resting on the spear tip with a frozen expression on her face.
...
Draven's dream also ended with that, and he opened his eyes in the real world. But before he could understand anything, the chaos essence chi around him turned into a whirlpool and condensed into a demon face behind Draven.
Although it looked similar to the one which appeared in his dream, its size kept on increasing as it grew bigger and bigger to the point that it was more than ten times larger than the one which appeared in his dream.
Loki's expression changed when he felt the energy fluctuation around Draven. Even Silas appeared in front of Draven with a serious look on his face.
"How did he cultivate such a horrifying Chaos God Transformation without an elemental core?" Loki asked Silas with an anxious look on its face.
Silas remained silent. He kept his eyes on Draven as he watched the demon face turn into a beam of light and enter Draven's body.
Draven's body stiffened for a moment before it began to expand rapidly, as if he were about to explode at any second. Silas quickly waved his hand, and Draven's body stabilized under the infusion of Silas's strong vital chi.
His Ultimate Demon Physique also operated at full volume, as it constantly absorbed the vital chi around Draven, trying to stabilize the wild chaos elemental chi inside his body which kept on surging all around due to the absence of an elemental core to focus it at a point inside his body.
Silas also suppressed the chaos elemental chi with his strong cultivation, making its mad dance inside Draven's body somewhat weaker, giving his Demon Physique the time it needed to stabilize his body.
Under the suppression of Silas and the Ultimate Demon Physique, the chaos elemental chi slowly blended into Draven's vital chi, flowing along with it out of his 360 acupoints, creating a strange resonance which is hard to describe in words.
As time passed, a small heart slowly took shape at the right side of his chest, and several vein-like branches extended from it, forming a complex network inside his body, eventually ending at the 360 acupoints.
By this time, Draven's body also stabilized and the painful expression on Draven's face relaxed. But just then, he felt a new but faint heartbeat at the right side of his chest. It was a strange feeling to describe.
What's even more surprising was that the chi which circulated all around his body was now not pure vital chi, but a new kind of chi which was a mix of vital chi and chaos elemental chi.