Chapter 1: Troubled Times

"Brother Changsheng, wake up..."

In a daze, Lu Changsheng heard a crisp voice calling out by his ear.

A sense of weightlessness, as if in a dream, lingered in his heart.

Just then.

An extremely bitter liquid flowed directly into his mouth, making him shiver several times in an instant.

A moment later.

Lu Changsheng struggled to open his eyes.

"Where is this?"

What came into view was a completely unfamiliar environment.

This was a thatched hut only a few meters in circumference, with the roof covered in unknown wild grasses.

Wisps of sunlight spilled into the room through the gaps in the eaves.

The entire room was quite dilapidated, with only an old wooden bed placed in the western corner.

A faint, strange, musty smell permeated the air, somewhat pungent.

A handsome-looking youth was standing by the edge of the bed, his brow furrowed with concern.

The youth looked to be about thirteen, wearing coarse linen clothes, his figure thin and his face sallow.

However, his pair of bright, large eyes looked quite spirited.

The voice from just now had come from this person.

"Brother Changsheng, you scared me to death. I thought you wouldn't make it. Those bastards are too damned, striking so hard..."

Seeing that Lu Changsheng had been motionless for a long time, Fang Tao cursed through gritted teeth.

After another while.

Seeing that Lu Changsheng still had a look of confusion, he couldn't help but tighten his expression.

"I'm Taozi, don't you remember? Did you hurt your brain..."

"It was me who carried you back from the street corner the day before yesterday. A month ago, you even promised to take me to the Mandarin Duck Pavilion to see the world..."

Fang Tao began to speak incessantly, trying to "wake up" Lu Changsheng.

Having grown up in Changping County since he was a child, he had heard of some strange cases of soul loss.

It was very similar to his Big Brother Lu's state, so he thought of saying some things from the past to try and wake the other person up.

Hearing the youth mention his brain, Lu Changsheng seemed to have a reaction, and a piercing pain came from the back of his head.

"Hiss... so painful."

Heart-wrenching pain.

He couldn't help but cry out, reflexively touching the back of his head, which felt somewhat damp.

Bringing it in front of him to look, his fingers were stained with a smear of bright red.

He had been cracked open!

Just at this moment, a massive amount of memories instantly flooded into the depths of his mind.

"Ah..."

With a miserable scream, Lu Changsheng fainted directly from the pain.

When Lu Changsheng woke up again, it was already evening.

The setting sun spilled into the room through the doorway, revealing a hint of crimson, appearing somewhat eerie.

Lu Changsheng leaned quietly against the wall made of mud, lost in thought.

Only now did he realize that he had transmigrated.

From an ordinary youth in his twenties on Blue Star, he had arrived in this strange world after a bout of heavy drinking.

The body he now occupied was also named Lu Changsheng, just turned twenty years old this year.

Influenced by the internet explosion of his previous life, he recognized the reality in an instant.

And he began to carefully recall the memories in his mind.

A moment later, Lu Changsheng had a preliminary understanding of his situation.

This place was located within the Great Zhou Dynasty, Qingning Prefecture, Changping County.

Six hundred years had passed since Qin Muyun swept across the world with absolute force to establish the dynasty.

However, due to Qin Muyun's old age and frailty, he had not attended court for the last three years.

Some dark forces within the Great Zhou began to stir.

Because Changping County was on the border of the dynasty, close to the southern barbarian territory, the changes were even more obvious.

Bandits ran rampant within the territory, and evil cults were rampant; it was extremely dangerous.

"Martial Dao? Great Zhou Emperor?"

Lu Changsheng's eyes flickered; the tip of the iceberg in his memory shattered his understanding.

To think there were martial artists who could live for hundreds of years; it was truly terrifying.

"Brother Changsheng, you rest well for now. We can slowly investigate Uncle Lu's affairs later."

At this time, a voice interrupted Lu Changsheng's deep thought.

The person who spoke was Fang Tao; seeing that Lu Changsheng had improved, he prepared to leave.

Lu Changsheng came back to his senses and smiled slightly: "Thank you for these past few days."

He and the Fang siblings were neighbors, and the two families had been related for generations, so their relationship had always been good.

This time, after his predecessor had his head cracked open and fell into a stinking ditch, it was the two of them who carried him back.

As for the Uncle Lu the other mentioned, that was the father of this body.

As an ordinary escort guard, he usually took on manual labor for the escort agency; he never expected that he would go and not return half a month ago.

Even the compensation from the escort agency had been issued, so he must have met with misfortune.

In this world, a human life was only worth ten taels of silver.

But this ten taels of blood-money hadn't even warmed up before he was knocked unconscious while out one day, which led to his transmigration.

It seemed someone had long been eyeing the money in his hands.

Thinking of this, Lu Changsheng's heart felt extremely cold.

At this moment, not only was he injured, but his strength was also very weak, so he could only choose to lie low first.

"What are you saying, Brother Changsheng? I'm still waiting for you to get better so you can take me out to explore."

Fang Tao smiled slyly, then turned and walked away.

Watching the other leave, Lu Changsheng didn't speak, leaning quietly against the wall to recover his strength. The air was very quiet, and his breathing was clearly audible.

By the time night fell, he felt that the sense of dizziness had lessened quite a bit.

Lu Changsheng braced himself and walked slowly outside.

Soon, he arrived outside the house.

Surrounding it was a small courtyard enclosed by dead wood, only about twenty meters in circumference.

Four thatched huts were situated to the south, consisting of two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a utility room.

He walked straight toward the utility room.

Trying to find some useful items inside.

He knew from his memories that there were quite a few small things his cheap father had collected over the years inside.

Although his predecessor had always scoffed at this "trash."

As an external member of the escort agency, traveling north and south for a long time, perhaps there would be some unexpected gains.

Before long, Lu Changsheng arrived outside the utility room.

The wooden door in front was half-open and somewhat damaged, clearly having been kicked open violently before.

His expression turned cold.

He didn't need to think to know that the entire courtyard had been ransacked by that group of thugs.

"Creak..."

Lu Changsheng pushed open the wooden door and walked in.

The room was not large, and everything was in a mess.

Scattered on the floor were several damaged animal furs and some useless books.

There were also some jars and pots, for unknown purposes.

One look and it was clear they weren't worth anything.

He walked slowly toward the northwest corner, squatted down, and picked up a book from the floor.

"Travels of Shuofang"

The four large characters on the cover came into view; fortunately, his predecessor had learned to read, otherwise he would have been completely blind.

Books were the first channel to understand this world, so naturally, they were his first choice.

After opening the pages, he began to study them carefully.

The book had only twenty-some pages, all telling the story of a martial artist named Zhao Shuo who traveled far and wide hundreds of years ago.

It recorded many local customs and practices from all over the Great Zhou, as well as some bandits and heroes he had encountered.

Lu Changsheng gradually became fascinated.

Time passed quickly, the moon climbed onto the branches, and night quietly descended.

The surroundings were very quiet, with only the "swish-swish" sound of turning pages remaining.

"In the 350th year of the Great Zhou, all the villagers of Xitou Village in Qingyun County disappeared mysteriously; after the county office searched without result, it was left unsettled..."

"In the 363rd year of the Great Zhou, the villagers of Caoping Village in Nanqiong County were scared to death..."

Half an hour later.

Lu Changsheng slowly closed the book, his face icy cold.

This world was far more terrifying than he had imagined.

The most terrifying things were not those bandits, but the mysterious existences hidden in the shadows.

Borrowing the faint light from outside, he proceeded to flip through all the books on the floor.

The more he understood, the more vigilant Lu Changsheng became.

Without sufficiently powerful strength, the area outside the county city was absolutely the most dangerous place.

Night had gradually deepened.

Outside, clusters of twisted tree shadows intertwined, like a group of demons wanting to devour people.

The surroundings were deathly quiet.

"Phew..."

Lu Changsheng let out a breath and was about to get up and leave.

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and walked quickly to a corner on the far right.

Then he used the back of his hand to knock on the stone bricks on the floor.

"Thump, thump..."

The crisp knocking sound echoed in the room.

Clearly, there was a hidden compartment underground to produce such a sound.

Only then did he remember what his predecessor's father had said: "Changsheng, if you ever encounter difficulties, remember the underground in the northwest corner of the utility room..."

Lu Changsheng did not hesitate and immediately pried open the floor tiles.

He saw a black wooden box lying quietly in a small dirt pit.

He picked up the wooden box and opened it to look.

Inside lay a yellow book and an item resembling a medicinal herb.

A fresh fragrance rushed to his nose.

This is...? Lu Changsheng picked up the medicinal herb, his face full of confusion.

"Detected hundred-year-old Polygonatum, absorb or not..."

At this moment, an electronically synthesized voice suddenly sounded, giving Lu Changsheng a fright.

"Who!"

He shouted softly, but received no response.

"Could it be a Gold Finger?"

The other side had not responded for a long time, so he immediately reacted, his expression flickering.

Next, his guess was indeed confirmed.

"Detected energy source, absorb or not..."

Another electronically synthesized voice sounded, extremely cold, without any emotion.

"Absorb."

Lu Changsheng thought silently.

Just then, a warm current flowed rapidly into his body.

Immediately following, a blue panel visible only to him appeared in the void in front of him.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 2 =====