Chapter 1 The Beginning

Whirr~

Deep within his soul, the Da Yi Diagram rippled with watery light.

After forty days and the expenditure of one hundred thousand Daoli (units of Dao power), he had finally deduced the complete world coordinates of the Huang Tian (Yellow Heaven) Realm from the fragmented spiritual imprint of the Zombie King.

[Consumed 66,000 units of Daoli... Entering the Human Path of the Huang Tian Realm]

Buzz~

As the watery light flickered in his mind, An Qisheng felt a momentary daze, as if he had been instantly elevated to the ninth heaven.

An indescribable Dao aura swirled around his mind, and in an instant, he saw that bizarre and chaotic place once more.

"Distorted light and shadows, inverted time and space, abstract and strange... Is this the dream passage? Or..."

An Qisheng's heart stirred.

"And, only the Human Path..."

Each time he traversed worlds, he passed through this strange place. He couldn't yet fathom its secrets, but he had many guesses.

Perhaps, it was a mix of the dreams of countless creatures from countless universes?

Or perhaps, it was a dimension higher than reality, connecting many universes, a passage that could only be entered by the soul, or through dreams?

Since returning from Jiu Fu Realm, An Qisheng had tried more than once to sense this passage, but he couldn't.

It seemed that this bizarre land was even deeper than dreams...

Whoosh~

Thoughts flashed through his mind.

The myriad scenes around him transformed and blurred, and a ball of light emitting a grayish-white glow came into view.

This was...

In the final moment, An Qisheng caught a glimpse of something above the grayish-white light ball.

It seemed to be an even more magnificent ball of light.

That ball of light was extremely vast, and its color was gold...

Was that the real Huang Tian Realm?

........

Whoosh whoosh~~~

The Yin (negative) wind blew, crows cawed, and the faint green flames of graves flickered across the desolate wilderness. Occasionally, a mournful wind sounded like a ghost's wail.

From time to time, the sound of several wild dogs with glowing green eyes gnawing on bones could be heard, "Crunch, crunch."

This was a mass burial ground.

The nearest sign of civilization was ten *li* (Chinese mile) away.

Ten *li* of graves, with ghostly flames everywhere, crows cawing, and wild dogs gnawing on corpses.

Amidst the howling Yin wind, only a small, desolate Yizhuang (mortuary) flickered with a faint light.

Awoo~

In the night wind, beneath the bright moon, several wild dogs howled at the moon.

Their ghastly green eyes darted left and right, and finally, they fixed on the Yizhuang.

Hungry!

So hungry!

Gnawing on corpses all night hadn't filled their bellies, but had instead intensified their ferocity.

On ordinary days, they wouldn't dare approach the Yizhuang.

But tonight, it seemed that the Yizhuang had lost its human presence, replaced by the familiar stench of rotting corpses...

Cold!

Icy cold!

A bone-chilling cold!

As the last shreds of consciousness returned, a sense of sorrow arose in An Qisheng's heart...

This was the last sensation of this body.

When a person died, everything was empty. All memories vanished with the wind, leaving only fragments.

And strangely, this body had no memories at all, and even emotions were extremely faint.

"This is a dead body..."

The weariness and coldness emanating from the body... An Qisheng subtly sensed this body.

Agony, fatigue, hunger...

All kinds of reactions surged into his mind like a tide.

This was a body of a youth of about sixteen or seventeen years old, but in reality, this body was worse than an old man about to be buried, because this body was already dead.

Completely dead.

The blood had congealed, the muscles and bones were stiff, the internal organs were constricted, the heart was no longer beating, and death spots had already appeared on the skin, emitting a foul, nauseating odor from the inside out.

Fortunately, this body hadn't been dead for too long.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to reverse it.

Buzz~

A trace of relief flashed through his mind, and An Qisheng's spirit gradually spread.

The dead corpse no longer had any resistance, and naturally, An Qisheng took control of this body.

His powerful Xinli (mind-force) stimulated the body, the organs, and even every inch of muscle and bone.

The corpse, which had already stiffened, twitched like a severed snake.

Thump~

After what seemed like a moment, or perhaps a long time, the heart, which had stopped beating for a long time, suddenly pulsed for an instant within the chest cavity.

A wisp of blood energy was born and spread throughout the body.

This body had been dead for about two hours, which wasn't too late. Even so, rigor mortis had already begun to spread, and the congealed blood was causing the skin to turn black.

Even with An Qisheng's current powerful spiritual force, it was impossible to revive it all at once.

Continuous stimulation was needed to activate the remaining vitality of this body.

Woof woof~~~

Awoo~

Crackling~

Before his senses had fully recovered, An Qisheng could already hear the sounds of tearing and collision coming from all around, as well as the sound of wind rushing in...

He couldn't open his eyes, but after capturing the strands of sound, they formed images in his mind.

A dilapidated house with wind whistling through every crack, so bare that it couldn't even be described as having four walls.

A tattered bed,

A mottled wooden table, two long benches, and...

A crude ceramic teapot.

Finally, four dog-like beasts, two *chi* (Chinese foot) tall at the shoulder and weighing about forty *jin* (Chinese pound), and a smaller dog were fighting?

Huh?!

A pain in his leg.

An Qisheng suddenly opened his eyes!

All kinds of colors rushed into view. In the yellowish house, in front of the battered wooden chair and long table, a half-grown yellow dog was whimpering in misery, fighting with three vicious dogs with ghastly green eyes like wolves.

It was clearly losing, covered in blood.

And one of the vicious dogs was tearing at his thigh, ripping off a large piece of pale, bloody flesh!

"Beasts!"

Xinli (mind-force) erupted instantly, stimulating the internal organs, and the last bit of strength in his dying body surged up, stimulating the joints.

Crack!

His joint twitched, and his arm sprang up reflexively. His pale fingers, facing the night wind rushing into the broken house, pierced the vicious dog's eye socket.

The corpse wasn't agile, but fortunately, the body was stiff enough.

This finger-poke was no worse than a wooden stick, and it instantly pierced through the vicious dog's eyeball.

Awoo~

With a miserable cry, the vicious dog rolled on the ground, large amounts of blood mixed with brain matter flowing from its eye socket.

The remaining vicious dogs were startled.

Seeing the corpse in the house suddenly sit up, they were all frightened. They whimpered and tucked their tails, fleeing from the house.

And the vicious dog whose eyeball had been pierced let out a few cries of agony before stiffening and no longer twitching.

"Phew!"

A mouthful of rotten air was exhaled from his body, and large amounts of cold sweat flowed out under the stimulation of Xinli (mind-force).

Although these vicious dogs were fierce, they were dogs after all, not wolves. Their instinct was to run when startled.

Woof woof woof~

At this moment, the half-grown yellow dog, covered in blood, limped closer. Before it could reach An Qisheng, it collapsed to the ground.

Large amounts of blood pooled on the ground.

Woof woof~

It raised its head, its bleeding, one eye looking at An Qisheng, letting out a reluctant whimper.

"That's a good dog..."

An Qisheng glanced at the yellow dog.

The yellow dog was skin and bones from hunger, covered in blood, and one of its eyes had been bitten out. At this moment, its body was twitching, and its single eye was beginning to turn white.

Clearly, fighting with those four corpse-eating vicious dogs was completely beyond its limit.

But even so, this yellow dog was still guarding its dead master. It was indeed a good dog.

An Qisheng glanced at the yellow dog, then wiggled his stiff body and struggled to sit up cross-legged.

This body was extremely stiff, and even a single movement required him to stimulate his joints, and the corpse's own involuntary movements.

In itself, it had lost all vitality.

Buzz~

Xinli (mind-force) erupted, and his powerful spiritual force spread throughout his body, stimulating it without considering any consequences.

Such stimulation was extremely damaging to the body.

However, no matter how great the damage, it didn't matter, because the body itself was already dead.

Fortunately, it had only been dead for two hours. If it had been dead for a day, even An Qisheng wouldn't have been able to reverse it.

Whoosh!

Inhale!

Exhale!

Gradually, his chest heaved, and the dead and rotten air within his body gradually expelled, and the greenish-black color on his skin gradually faded.

He opened his eyes again.

Without thinking further, An Qisheng leaned forward, pressing his finger on the yellow dog's body, stopping the bleeding, and vibrating his strength to stimulate its vitality.

Then he tore off his clothes to bandage the yellow dog.

Woof woof~

The yellow dog let out a low moan. Although it was no longer twitching, its life hung by a thread, and it could die at any moment.

"Whether you live or die depends on your own destiny."

An Qisheng stroked the yellow dog's head and struggled to get up.

He looked outside through the open door.

The night was deep, the wind sounded like ghosts wailing, distant phosphorescent lights flickered, and there were graves everywhere.

This was a mass burial ground.

Was this another ancient world similar to Da Xuan?

Woof woof~

The yellow dog moaned softly, its lone eye wearily opening and closing again.

Although the Yizhuang leaked wind from all sides, it wasn't completely devoid of anything. An Qisheng first drank his fill of water, then found several cold, hard cornbread buns that the body's owner had hidden in a corner.

He knocked on them. Not bad, they couldn't break rocks.

He reluctantly ate a few cornbread buns with water, and An Qisheng finally breathed a long sigh of relief. His stomach began to churn, and this body could be considered to have initially come back to life.

"This body died cleanly, without leaving any memories..."

An Qisheng set up a stance in the house, slowly stretching his muscles and bones.

This corpse was incomparably stiff, and its blood had almost completely congealed. It couldn't be restored by simply stimulating it with Xinli (mind-force). His slow boxing was still stimulating his muscles and joints. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to throw a punch.

His body immediately emitted a sound like a broken bellows.

His muscles, bones, and joints trembled, making a grating and unpleasant groaning sound.

In his heart, he silently communicated with the Da Yi Diagram:

"I want this body's information..."

Buzz~

As the Da Yi Diagram trembled slightly, a stream of text flowed out:

[No Name]

[Born in the Human Path of the Huang Tian Realm, Liang Prefecture under the jurisdiction of the Da Qing Dynasty, An Nuo County, half-crazy and half-foolish, without father or mother, living by watching over the Yizhuang for others, relying on the yellow dog for survival...]

[Because of its foolishness and pure soul, it was taken away by a wild Daoist passing by, becoming one of the materials for refining a Bai Gu Ren Mo (White Bone Human Devil)]

Along with the flowing text were the sporadic and fragmented memories of this body's owner. Although he was foolish, he wasn't completely ignorant.

His memories also contained some useful information.

"No wonder there weren't any injuries or any memories left..."

An Qisheng slowly stopped his boxing stance, a cold light flashing in the depths of his eyes.

"Bai Gu Ren Mo (White Bone Human Devil), could it be, the legendary spell, or, magic treasure?"