Chapter 4: Substitute Statue

In the dantian was a Daoist statue.

It sat on a lotus throne, ancient in age, its features blurred and difficult to recognize, even the folds of the Daoist robe on its body had been worn smooth.

It looked ordinary, no different from those ancient ruins in the wilderness, but on its head and shoulders, there were three balls of blue ghost fire.

This object was the culprit behind his transmigration!

Li Yan's past life often required business trips. Every time he arrived at a place, he would inevitably visit museums and antique markets, which could be considered an amateur hobby.

Of course, he knew his own limits; although he understood some things, he wasn't a professional, so he only looked and never bought.

Only this object, placed on a stall, looked plain and ordinary—no matter how you looked at it, it was a fake made to look old—but he was inexplicably attracted and bought it.

Not long after, he woke up to find his soul had transmigrated to this world.

Over these years, he had been researching it.

The origin of this treasure was eerie, but he had already figured out its function: it was similar to a substitute doll.

The three fires on the head and shoulders could substitute for a life.

Every time he encountered a disaster and died, one fire would extinguish.

In other words, he still had three chances to be reborn.

And the other function of the statue was to exchange injuries.

Whether internal injuries, poisoning, or wounds from blades and weapons, they could all be transferred to the statue within a breath.

Simply put, it was like a dead-servant with limited abilities.

Now, on the statue's neck, a small claw mark had unexpectedly appeared.

Li Yan dared to hunt Blind Old San because he had this treasure to fall back on.

Not only that, over these years, he practiced martial arts like a madman, not fearing internal or external injuries, repeatedly crossing the limits of his body, all by using this substitute statue to exchange injuries.

The saying "a long illness makes a good doctor" holds true; his strong control over his own body was also accumulated through injuries large and small.

And his fair skin was also a side effect of exchanging injuries.

Now the statue looked complete, but in reality, it was full of cracks inside.

Li Yan knew he had to use it carefully in the future and couldn't rely on it too much, otherwise, if the statue's injuries accumulated too much, it might extinguish a fire.

Of course, with his current control over his body, he could easily hover between limits, and the Ten Great Plate Exercises were as familiar as breathing, so he wouldn't get injured at all.

After warming up, Li Yan moved again.

It looked like a routine, but every move was full of changes and difficult to predict.

These were all his family's true striking methods: Thirty-Six Cloud Hands, Nine-Road Leg Techniques, Thirty-Six Grabs, using supporting and slashing as the mother, grouping as the form, zero moves and scattered strikes, gathered into a string.

True striking methods are far less good-looking than choreographed moves, but as the saying goes, "laymen watch the excitement, experts watch the doorway." Li Yan's simple and ugly-looking movements were full of killing intent.

Initially, Hei Dan was considered the strongest among his peers in the village, his tail held high, but it was precisely by accidentally seeing Li Yan practicing fist techniques that he broke into a cold sweat, knowing there were people beyond people.

Every move he made was powerful, and stretching his body produced a *crackling* sound.

His large tendons trembled, and his tendons and bones rang together.

According to the classification in the *General Essentials of Military Classics*, he had reached the peak of "Bright Jin."

Don't underestimate this point; reaching this realm meant he was no longer an ordinary person. In the martial world, he was qualified to earn money in any escort agency.

Not to mention, Li Yan was only fourteen.

The next step was the surging of the qi membrane, wrapping the tendons into a circle, and practicing "Dark Jin."

Martial arts in this world are prosperous, and Dark Jin is also considered a third-rate expert in the martial world, capable of leading escort guards or, like his father, making a name for himself.

And at Li Yan's age, if some martial arts halls in Chang'an City knew, they would definitely come with gifts to take him as a disciple, perhaps becoming a pillar of the hall in the future.

However, an inharmonious sound came from the courtyard.

"Humph, what's the use of practicing these!"

The voice was old; it was his grandfather, Li Gui.

The old man didn't know when he had returned to the courtyard with his crutch.

Li Yan smiled after retracting his fist. "Grandpa, why are you so hot-tempered? It's just a beast; are you afraid I can't handle it?"

"What counts as a beast?"

Li Gui knocked the ash off his pipe and still had a dark face. "In the beginning, I shouldn't have passed down the fist techniques. Once you practice martial arts, the killing intent arises, and you'll attract trouble."

"Your father didn't listen and ran off to be a blade-wielder, and died. You're also a troublemaker. Do you really want to cut off my Li family's incense?"

Li Yan followed with a smile and didn't refute.

This world had many similarities to his past life, but also differences.

For example, martial arts—things like "embracing the dan to form a gang" or "reversing the innate" only existed in novels in his past life, but in this world, they were real.

Geography was basically similar to his past life, but the historical dynasties were different.

Now it was the Great Xuan Dynasty, the ninth year of Yuanheng, and it had been established for a hundred years.

Another difference was that the individual martial power in this world was extremely astonishing. Some famous grandmaster experts could take a head from among ten thousand troops, and they were full of courage, often sneaking into the palace to assassinate.

In troubled times, they occupied one side, and when dynasties changed, they roared through the wind and clouds.

His grandfather was a fierce soldier in the army, having practiced his kung fu to the peak of Dark Jin, one step away from Hua Jin, with a bright future, but he lost a leg while suppressing a rebellion on the border.

Plus, he offended his superior at the time, so after several years in the military, he only got some farmland and a "Hundred Battles Mighty" plaque awarded by the Ministry of War.

That was the one hanging outside the door.

The "Hundred Battles Mighty" plaque wasn't something everyone could get. Relying on this, his father could have originally entered the county government to be a constable, but he chose to mix in the martial world as a blade-wielder, which was a thorn in his grandfather Li Gui's heart.

Of course, elders should be respected, but words don't necessarily have to be listened to. Nowadays, the world is still peaceful, and his grandfather wanted him to be a stable farmer.

But Li Yan knew clearly that in any world, the fist must be hard.

Having a blade and not using it, and not having a blade at all, are two completely different things.

Seeing Li Gui still angry, Li Yan rolled his eyes and sat on the threshold, grinning. "Grandpa, tell me about the ice plains again?"

Li Gui snorted. "You've heard it so many times, and you still want to hear it!"

Although he said so, he still lit his large tobacco pipe and puffed a few times, seemingly falling into some kind of memory. "That ghost place, it really wasn't a place for humans..."

"At that time, the Great General of the Northern Border rebelled, colluded with foreign tribes to invade the south, and we were ordered to suppress them. Under the leadership of General Zhang, we entered the extreme northern ice plains, determined to kill all the remnants..."

"That place was filled with ice and snow. In the dense forest, whether it was tigers, bears, or vicious wolves, they were all terrifyingly large. The Blind Old San you killed really doesn't count for much..."

"The most terrifying thing was the weather. The ice mist was vast, and ten steps away, you couldn't see anything. Many people froze to death on the road..."

"Besides those fleeing rebel remnants, there were also people in the forest—white skin, red hair, blue eyes, wearing animal skin clothes. They ran when they saw us."

"I heard from the accompanying scholar that they were the Shaman of the Northern Luo Sha people. I really didn't expect people to be in that ghost place..."

!.

"In the following time, more and more people died. They always had nightmares. When they woke up, they had frozen into ice sculptures, still with smiles on their faces. It was terrifying..."

"We finally caught up with the enemy, but just as both sides were fighting, a white-hair wind suddenly rose. Many old comrades died, and the remaining remnants were also frozen to death. Only we dug ice caves to survive..."

"Although I lost a leg, compared to those old comrades buried in the ice plains, I'm lucky..."

Listening to the old man's story, Li Yan remained silent.

The geography of this world is similar to his past life. According to his grandfather, the place they went to should be Siberia.

Only, it seemed even more dangerous than his past life.

He had heard these stories many times. Pestering his grandfather to tell them again was just to divert his attention.

Although he scolded him fiercely, Li Yan knew how much trauma the death of his father—the white-haired sending off the black-haired—had brought to his grandfather.

Elderly people like to recall the past. The ice plains trip was the greatest achievement of his grandfather's life. Talking about it more would prevent him from thinking about those sad things.

After a while, the old man's story finally finished, but the muddled feeling came up again, seemingly forgetting what he had just said. His eyes were turbid and dull. He looked at Li Yan for a while and suddenly said, "Yan-wa..."

"Grandpa, you say."

"Remember to find a wife with big hips."

"Big hips are a bit ugly."

"What do you know? Big hips are good for childbearing."

"Fine, fine, you have the final say..."

Li Yan smiled, but his eyes were somewhat dejected.

In these two years, his grandfather had become increasingly forgetful, and his body wasn't good.

When his father was alive, he would come back a few times every year to tell him about the martial world, the secret language of the underworld, and those eerie legends.

Although interesting, if he could, he would rather stay in the small mountain village for a lifetime, just to have his grandfather live a few more years...

On the old locust tree at the village entrance, Blind Old San's corpse had been hung up.

When the adults of Li Family Fort passed by, they took a few looks and then hurried to the fields. After all, they had seen plenty of wolves.

No matter how ferocious "Blind Old San" was while alive, once dead, all those legends would become jokes. In the end, the work in the fields was more important.

But the naughty children in the village had fun, picking up stones one after another.

"Beat Blind Old San!"

"Smash, smash it to death!"

Accompanied by laughter, stones flew out, and Blind Old San's corpse hanging on the tree was smashed until it was bloody and mangled, swinging left and right...

Night fell, and the moonlight was as cold as water.

Tonight, however, was a bit different from ordinary days.

Insects didn't chirp, birds didn't call, and even the frogs in the river ditch closed their mouths.

On the old locust tree by the earthen road at the village entrance, "Blind Old San's" corpse hung quietly. After being ravaged, it was tattered, and the blood had long since turned black.

In the distant wheat fields, several shadows drilled out. Looking up under the moonlight, they were several smaller wolves.

Village head Li Huairen's idea was completely wrong.

Wolves can hunt cooperatively, but they also hunt their own kind.

In the old days, they could scare away wolf packs only because there were many veterans alive in Li Family Fort, and the hung wolf corpses were dense, producing enough deterrence.

The scent of a lone wolf's corpse, on the contrary, would attract nearby wolves.

However, looking at "Blind Old San's" corpse in the distance, the pack circled a few times, but they were clearly somewhat fearful and never approached.

Suddenly, they seemed to be frightened, whimpering and scattering into the wheat fields, disappearing into the dark night.

Then, a cold wind rose, the old locust tree rustled, and shadows flickered in the darkness, like a swaying beast...

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(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 5 =====