Chapter 1 Beginning

The information provided by the Dao Yi Diagram was scarce.

An Qisheng had no intention of searching in detail; after all, he was dealing with someone half-idiotic and half-senile, not worth wasting his Dao power on.

He would take his time after his body recovered.

He didn't practice the boxing for long. Once the blood in this body began to circulate, he stopped.

Blood was the source of life for the human body, transporting nutrients and driving metabolism. Once the blood flowed, most of the body's deathly aura would dissipate.

However, the enormous deficit caused to the body by the transition from death to life could not be compensated for all at once.

"The spiritual Qi of this world is even denser than that of Jiu Fu Realm, but..."

Slowly concluding his stance, a ripple appeared deep within An Qisheng's eyes.

The world was different; he had understood this since his trip to Jiu Fu Realm. This surprise lay in the gravity, the air currents, the body's structure, and also in the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth.

And the reason he stimulated his physical body with mental strength, using boxing to activate his blood, instead of drawing upon the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, was because when his mind awakened, ready to burst forth, he sensed a tremendous crisis in the darkness.

This crisis was as vast as the sea, as deep as the night.

Its source was none other than the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth!

The spiritual Qi of this world, was poisonous!

"This world is even more诡异than I imagined..."

An Qisheng lowered his arm, which had regained its color, his expression somewhat grave.

If his spirit had not already reached the point of divine enlightenment, enabling him to seek good fortune and avoid disaster, he would have already been caught.

At this moment, he was still unable to discern the strangeness hidden within the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth and needed to make contact with the people of this world to find out the truth.

Woof~

At this moment, the half-grown yellow dog, on the verge of death, suddenly struggled to stand up and, facing the door, let out a threatening growl.

It was very nervous, its blood-stained fur standing on end, as if it had been greatly frightened.

Whoosh~

Almost simultaneously, a bone-chilling gust of yin wind blew in, extinguishing the faint candlelight in the room.

Dark clouds obscured the moon, and a deep night descended, covering the entire Yizhuang (mortuary).

Accompanied by a low, ghostly howl of yin wind, the atmosphere became extremely eerie.

"Eh?"

An Qisheng moved and scanned the outside.

In the courtyard of the Yizhuang, four coffins were placed under a shed. Further away, the yin wind swirled dust, billowing across the entire burial ground, accompanied by scattered will-o'-the-wisps in the midst of occasional strange sounds, making it all the more eerie.

Apart from that, it was empty, even the carrion dogs were gone.

Although invisible to the naked eye, An Qisheng's mind vaguely reflected something: in the darkness of night, there seemed to be a strange being, invisible to the naked eye, approaching.

The sense of crisis in his heart rose like a tide.

Woof, woof~~~

The yellow dog became increasingly nervous, guarding the door, growling softly from time to time.

What is this thing?

A ghost?

A demon?

An apparition?

An Qisheng was alarmed but not panicked, concentrating his mind, watching with his mind's eye.

As his mind focused, his perspective changed, and faintly, he saw a huge figure floating over the burial ground.

Like a cow or a horse, without a real form yet not entirely illusory.

As if it existed in another dimension, fleeting, half its body underground, half its body above, moving with the yin wind, extinguishing the will-o'-the-wisps on the burial ground.

Then, a series of sharp howls, inaudible to human ears, erupted.

They sounded like angry curses, like pleas for mercy, like terror.

However, these tragic ghost cries all disappeared as the huge, cow-horse-like shadow passed by.

Then, the shadow moved, as if an ordinary person walking into a river, sinking deeper and deeper into the ground. Before long, it had completely disappeared underground.

Even with An Qisheng's perception, he could not sense how it disappeared, where it went.

It seemed to vanish into thin air, as mysteriously as it had arrived.

Whoosh~

As the shadow disappeared, the yellow dog collapsed to the ground, tongue lolling, eyes rolling back.

"An Yin Shen (underworld deity)? Niu Tou Ma Mian (ox-headed and horse-faced guardians of the underworld)? Or what?"

An Qisheng frowned slightly.

The screams contained very little information, and An Qisheng only knew a little of this world's language from the body's memories, only able to hear words like 'Yin Shen'.

However, he secretly noted these words, and once he learned the language and script of this world, he would understand their meaning.

"It seems, I need to see the people of this world..."

An Qisheng's mind raced.

Bending down, he picked up the yellow dog. If it survived this, the yellow dog should be fine.

However, like his body, it needed to rest.

........

Ten li (Chinese mile) away from the burial ground, were small villages.

Most of these small villages shared the same surname, or were descended from refugees or migrants, banding together and being exclusive. Some had only a few dozen households, while others had little more than a hundred.

Xiao Zhang Village was the largest of them, with nearly two hundred households. A high fence surrounded the village, guarded day and night, and there were many hunting dogs.

"My son, why did you leave your mother!"

"Old partner, how can I live alone without you!"

Early this morning, accompanied by cries, a group of people carried three coffins out of Xiao Zhang Village.

"Sigh!"

Village Chief Zhang sighed, a trace of pity on his face.

There were four people in this family, but who would have thought that only one old woman would be left after one night.

"Birth, old age, sickness, and death are decreed by heaven, please mourn in moderation."

The speaker was an old Taoist priest in a grey robe. He sighed softly, but his face showed no change, as if he was used to it.

He was about fifty or sixty years old, holding a bell in one hand and a gourd carved with black patterns in the other.

"My son..."

The old woman seemed not to hear, just kept crying.

The village chief and the old Taoist priest said no more, leading the procession forward.

Before long, they could see the Yizhuang in front of the burial ground from afar.

"We've arrived at the Yizhuang."

Village Chief Zhang glanced at the Yizhuang and cupped his fist towards the old Taoist priest, "Second Brother, I'm troubling you again."

"We're all neighbors, I'll naturally help if I can."

The old Taoist priest shook his bell and stepped forward.

The others followed.

This Yizhuang was funded by many nearby villages to temporarily store coffins and corpses.

Those who died unnatural deaths were most afraid of being tainted by human Qi. Once tainted, they could easily become zombies. Therefore, from small villages to large prefectural cities, Yizhuangs were set up to store the coffins of those who had died unnatural deaths.

And those who guarded the Yizhuangs were mostly those with incomplete minds, or very old people.

The former did not know fear, and the latter did not have long to live.

"Corpse Watcher!"

As soon as they entered the Yizhuang, a middle-aged man carrying food shouted:

"Where is he? Why isn't he coming out yet?"

The crying had been constant along the way, so An Qisheng had naturally heard it. Hearing the shouts, he slowly walked out.

The yellow dog, with its mended bones, limped behind him.

After a night of tempering his muscles and bones, An Qisheng was naturally very different from the original owner of the body, but few of these people paid attention to him and did not notice.

After handing him the food, they began to place the coffins.

However, the old Taoist priest glanced at An Qisheng and noticed something was wrong.

He was a Taoist priest from a mountain nearby, and he handled the funerals of some nearby villages. He was naturally familiar with this 'corpse watcher'.

At this moment, he noticed a strange feeling, but he did not know what was strange.

"Let's go back!"

After hastily placing the coffins, everyone was impatient to leave.

This Yizhuang had housed too many corpses, and even in broad daylight, there was a gloomy air about it. Normal people did not want to stay here for a moment.

From beginning to end, apart from the man carrying the food who said a word, there was only the old woman's cry.

An Qisheng chewed the cornbread slowly, a ripple appearing deep within his eyes.

He had already collected the mental imprints of these people and was entering their dreams.

His mental strength was far beyond what it used to be, and he had finished entering their dreams in a few moments. He now had a rough understanding of the world's script, language, customs, and human relationships.

He was currently in Liang Prefecture, An Nuo County, under the jurisdiction of the Da Qing Dynasty.

The Da Qing Dynasty had a vast territory, many prefectures, and a large population.

However, the furthest these people had ever been was An Nuo County, and that was all they knew.

"Second Brother, let's go."

At this time, Village Chief Zhang glanced at the other coffins and said.

"Mm."

The old Taoist priest nodded and left with the others.

After the others had gone far away, An Qisheng put the half-eaten cornbread into the food box and walked into the courtyard.

In the courtyard, including these three coffins, there were a total of seven coffins.

An Qisheng slowly walked to the three new coffins, sensed them for a moment, and then suddenly reached out and pushed open one of the coffin lids.

Inside was a middle-aged man, about thirty years old.

"As expected, there are no injuries..."

An Qisheng's eyes flickered slightly.

This person's method of death was the same as the original owner of this body, without any injuries. Obviously, his soul had also been drawn by evil magic. There was no need to look, the other two coffins were the same.

Whoosh~

Just as An Qisheng closed the coffin lid, the old Taoist priest returned, not knowing when, and came to the Yizhuang again.

"You, you've become enlightened?"

The old Taoist priest looked at An Qisheng with suspicion:

"When?"

He knew that this corpse watcher was born dull-witted, half-idiotic and half-senile. Although he could communicate simply with people, he was rigid in his actions, without spirituality, which was completely different from now.

"I've never been stupid."

An Qisheng replied vaguely.

If he wanted to pretend to be like the original owner, it would naturally be no problem. The reason he didn't do so was to lure this old Taoist priest here.

Because, the old Taoist priest had fluctuations of spiritual Qi on his body.

"Oh?"

The old Taoist priest was suspicious, could it be that he was pretending all along?

But, what was the purpose of feigning madness and foolishness?

Moreover, this corpse watcher seemed to be less than twenty years old, could it be that he started pretending before he was even ten years old?

An Qisheng's eyes shifted, and he asked proactively:

"Have you ever heard of the Bai Gu Ren Mo (White Bone Human Demon)?"

"Bai Gu Ren Mo (White Bone Human Demon)!"

The old Taoist priest was shocked, immediately putting aside his previous suspicions:

"Are you talking about the Bai Gu Ren Mo (White Bone Human Demon), one of the seventy-two demonic arts of the heretical Xie Dao (evil path)?"