Shiyang County.
Night fell, and the lights at the end of the street grew dim.
A man and a woman stood facing each other.
Both were around eighteen or nineteen. The woman wore a light pink ruqun, a faint smile on her delicate face, and carried a box of osmanthus cakes in her hand.
The man was named Gu Lin, and at this moment his face was expressionless.
Li Qingwu held out the pastry and said in a soft, sweet voice:
"Gu Lin, I queued for two hours at Shixiang Pavilion to buy this box. It's for you."
Gu Lin didn't take it, and asked bluntly:
"What is it?"
Seeing his attitude, the woman's smile gradually faded, but her tone remained gentle, with a trace of caution:
"Give me another hundred taels of silver."
Gu Lin sneered, grabbed the pastry and slammed it to the ground, then retorted:
"A thing worth fifteen wen, and you want a hundred taels? Even the top courtesan of a brothel doesn't earn money as fast as you!"
"You..." Li Qingwu's cheeks were covered in frost, and she raised a finger at him, unable to speak for a long time, her eyes churning with intense emotion.
Since a few days ago, her former groveling suitor had undergone a drastic change in temperament. In the past, as long as she put on a stern face, he would smile apologetically and hand over silver. With a wave of her hand, Gu Lin would follow like a dog.
And now he actually dared to speak to her harshly!!
Li Qingwu forced down her discomfort. To test whether this was a game of playing hard to get, she bent down and removed her phoenix-head embroidered shoes, revealing skin as white as snow.
"Look quickly, I injured my ankle cultivating that secret manual."
"I train hard and strive to improve myself so that in the future I can stand before you and protect you. You have no strength to truss a chicken; when others bully you, you will always have me."
"If I don't have enough silver to buy pills, my cultivation will progress slowly..."
The young girl looked pitiful and delicate.
Unexpectedly, Gu Lin felt a wave of revulsion upon hearing this, and directly interrupted:
"Shut up!!"
He loathed the woman before him to the extreme!
Two days ago, he had transmigrated into this world and discovered that his predecessor had truly been stupid and contemptible, toyed with in the palm of this bitch's hand.
Over three years, she had swindled nearly a thousand taels of silver out of him!
The Gu family had originally been a well-off household, happy and secure. They owned a two-courtyard residence and two shops, but now they had nothing and could only rent a broken-down house!
His predecessor had been mired in the beautiful dream woven by that bitch, unable to extricate himself, even willing to tie himself at her feet like a dog. Truly pitiful and hateful!
When Li Qingwu heard the words "shut up," she was instantly furious:
"Gu, you think you're so manly now? You're nineteen and still haven't opened your meridians to attempt transforming force. Apart from me, who would even look at you? You think you study hard—have you opened a Literary Palace? You've read until you don't even have eyesight anymore. You have to lean over the edge and stretch out to turn a page, and when walking at night you have to feel along the wall for fear of tripping. Don't you think you're just a vermin wasting food?"
She simply stopped being polite, her voice sharp and piercing:
"A pitiful rat in the gutter, I can take care of you and be close to you, and you should be grateful to the point of tears! Slap yourself and apologize right now, and I'll let the matter of you cursing me pass!!"
"I'll count to three!"
"One!"
"Two!!"
Gu Lin's gaze was extremely cold. He stared at her for a long time, then turned and strode away.
He did not declare that he would repay the thousand taels of silver.
It wasn't that he didn't want to.
He wished he could carve up this bitch with a knife right now, piece by piece.
But he was powerless.
Never mind that killing someone meant paying with his life—before this bitch, he was as fragile as an ant, unable to withstand a single blow.
Grand words without strength are pale and powerless!
"Very well!" Li Qingwu shouted, unable to contain her fury.
Even this dog dared to defy her to her face?
Had he gone mad?
Shouldn't he be offering up silver with both hands, just to win a smile from her?
Watching the figure recede into the distance, the more Li Qingwu thought, the more humiliated she felt. Amid the anger was also a sense of shame—this dog actually didn't wag its tail, and dared to bark at her?
It took a full incense stick's time before Li Qingwu slowly digested the emotion of humiliation.
She was just about to leave.
Suddenly.
Without any warning, a pungent fragrance poured over her.
She looked up, and her pupils abruptly constricted.
She saw a woman with disheveled hair and brightly colored dress running along the distant eaves, blood staining the hem of her skirt red, her aura flickering erratically.
In Li Qingwu's understanding of cultivation, this person had surely suffered qi deviation!
Danger!!
She suppressed her fear and pretended nothing was wrong as she quickly walked away.
"Stand there." The woman's voice was hoarse. She leaped down from the eaves, her movement technique extremely fast, and in an instant blocked the way.
Li Qingwu felt as if struck by lightning, her spine turning cold, her legs trembling. The fragrance rushing at her face seemed like tangible killing intent, about to devour her.
"Spare me..." She instantly fell prostrate on the ground, shaking like a sieve.
The beautiful woman did not attack. Her tone was grim as she said:
"Find me a man whose primordial yang has not leaked and offer him to me for caibu, or I'll kill you with one palm strike!"
Her aura was growing more and more erratic. If she couldn't find a cauldron to replenish a bit of yin-yang qi, she would be devoured by the poisonous qi within her body.
Li Qingwu was in despair, thinking that in the prime of her youth she would unluckily be buried here. Hearing this command, a spark of hope ignited in her heart.
She wiped away her tears and, with almost no hesitation, said in a trembling voice:
"Senior, follow me. There is one person who is just right!"
That's right—it was the running dog Gu Lin, who had left two quarter-hours ago!
The Hehuan Sect woman couldn't wait, and said viciously:
"If there is any falsehood, you'll be sliced to pieces!"
Li Qingwu hurriedly led the way. Sensing the other's increasingly chaotic aura, the fear deep in her heart gradually faded.
She was no layman in cultivation. On the contrary, her cultivation talent was quite good. She vaguely guessed that this woman's current state was on the verge of death, and she likely didn't dare to mobilize her dantian qi again. Even jumping down from the roof just now had relied purely on physique strength.
If it was only physique, she might not be without a chance to escape.
The reason she obeyed was, first, she didn't dare stake her life on a gamble; second, she could use the woman's hand to eliminate Gu Lin!
"Since you dare to resist and curse me, it seems you've come to your senses and don't plan to support me anymore. Besides, your family has been squeezed dry. To avoid you spouting nonsense at Shiyang Academy and staining my reputation, you'd better leave early!"
"To be one of my followers is the greatest honor of your mediocre life!"
A trace of coldness flashed through Li Qingwu's eyes.
If that Gu fellow really went around spreading rumors to gain sympathy, she might suffer rejection. Her reputation was more important than his worthless life!
......
At the beginning of the hai hour, the night grew deeper.
Gu Lin walked through the familiar alley carrying a lantern, only three li from home.
He suddenly stopped, smelling a rich fragrance.
Bang bang bang—
Rapid footsteps came from behind.
Gu Lin turned his head and saw a woman covered in blood.
He slowly stepped back.
The woman rapidly closed in, raised her leg and kicked the lamp post broken, plunging the alley into darkness.
"You..." Gu Lin felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, his face pale.
The woman seized Gu Lin's neck with one hand and placed the other on his lower abdomen at the navel. That beautiful, cold face revealed a trace of a smile as she said with relief:
"Primordial yang not leaked, no cultivation—that little girl found an excellent candidate!!"
After speaking, she drew a bottle of pills from her sleeve, took one out and forced it into Gu Lin's mouth.
In the past, she would only need to use the Hehuan Sect's charm technique, but now she needed an aphrodisiac to help.
Gu Lin's face twisted, unable to resist, his back pressed hard against the wall, his gaze utterly despairing.
After transmigrating here, could he only live three days? In this cruel world, was an ant's life so cheap?
"Lie down quickly!" The beautiful woman stared fixedly at the cauldron, her face twisting unpredictably, intense pain coming from her organs. Her eyes yearned for heaven's favor.
She knew her own miserable condition best. Even if she drained the cauldron dry, she only had a fifty percent chance of surviving this half-hour.
Yes, only a half chance of living.
Without a cauldron to save her life, at most twenty percent!
It all depended on her luck.
Gu Lin didn't move. His despairing gaze slowly grew distant. He realized what was going to happen, but he didn't want to lie down. He wanted to strictly guard his last shred of dignity.
Rip—
The woman forcibly pushed Gu Lin down and tore off his outer robe.
.....
......
Gu Lin gazed up at the black dome of the sky. The pain of his body was far surpassed by the humiliation in his heart. A true man should stand tall between heaven and earth, yet he had fallen to this, his manner of death so laughable and pitiful.
Gradually, his whole body grew weak, dizzy and faint, so feeble that even closing his eyes was difficult. But his body did not obey his will, and the woman's voice echoed in the alley.
He didn't know how long had passed when the woman suddenly rose, hurried and panicked.
Rumble—
A thunderous explosion burst within her dantian, true qi reversed and poured back, transforming into blade-like force that swept through her entire body.
She immediately sat cross-legged and forcibly drove her cultivation method, trying to soothe the violent qi of her qi deviation.
Just as she completed one Microcosmic Orbit, blood seeped from the woman's seven orifices, her heart burst open, and blood gushed like a spring from her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears—utterly horrifying.
In the end, she had no good fortune.
The half chance of survival—she didn't have it.
All around was utter silence. Gu Lin was weak and powerless. Only after half an incense stick's time could he crawl to his feet and stare at the corpse in the pool of blood.
Everything had happened in the blink of an eye. He didn't understand what had occurred. He only knew that he had lived, and the woman who had humiliated him was dead.
Suddenly!
His mind spun dizzily, and specks of golden light appeared before his eyes, gradually converging into the three words 《Merit Book》.
"Merit Book?" Gu Lin's emotions churned—both confusion and pleasant surprise, mixed with a trace of anger.
Was this his golden finger?
He had transmigrated three days ago and longed for a golden finger to descend, so that he could carve out a place for himself in this cruel world. It had truly come, but why only after he had been humiliated?
But in an instant, his anger vanished.
In his mind, lines of golden text emerged.
【Indirectly eliminated the woman who committed many evils. The woman belonged to the "Bing Nine Star" category of sin. Obtained five hundred Merit Points. Reward: max-level Xuanming Divine Palm】
【Martial Dao: 500/1000, breakthrough to Meridian Opening Fifth Layer】
【Confucian Dao: 0/1000】
【Art Dao: 0/1000】
【Witch Gu Dao: 0/1000】
In that instant, Gu Lin's Seven Meridians and Eight Vessels slowly expanded. Waves of indescribable qi forcibly squeezed his meridians, his qi and blood climbing steadily, every acupoint brimming with abundant power.
He opened his eyes and could see a toad motionless at the corner of a wall extremely far away.
One had to know that he was severely nearsighted—he had never even clearly seen the evil woman's face from beginning to end.
But now, he could see things so clearly?
Gu Lin was overjoyed. He instinctively punched at the air, and his fist stirred up a gust of wind. This force was truly terrifying!
"Meridian Opening Realm! I've become Meridian Opening Fifth Layer?!!"
Gu Lin shouted excitedly in his heart, a brilliant smile appearing on his handsome face.
Not only that, but in his mind flashed move after move, the Xuanming Divine Palm rehearsed tens of millions of times, so proficient that it seemed a single strike would carry max-level power!
"Merit Book, obtaining merit gives rich rewards?"
"Besides Martial Dao, it also involves Confucian Dao, Art Dao, and Witch Gu Dao?"
After transmigrating to this world, Gu Lin knew the cultivation system of Yuhua Shenzhou. Most people cultivated Martial Dao, and many scholars would open a Literary Palace and walk the path of Confucian Dao, cultivating the world's Noble Spirit.
And confucian-martial dual cultivators were one in ten thousand!
A person's energy and time were limited. Even a Heaven's Chosen of peerless talent could not master both; one always had to choose one and abandon the other.
And he had the chance to advance on both fronts?
As for Art Dao, that was an even nobler existence!
Art Dao, the domain of Spiritual Power. Low-tier Art Practitioners refined pills and formations; high-tier Art Practitioners Seek Fortune and Avoid Calamity, stirring up fortune. Mysterious and terrifying!
And Witch Gu Dao—stepping onto this path, one raised Gu Insects to kill from afar without leaving a trace. The world's Gu Insects were bizarre and varied, and the methods of its experts were endless. It was said that a Witch Gu Dao grandmaster could even perform the legendary art of curses, manipulating others from thousands of miles away!
"The Merit Book is too heaven-defying. Calm down... calm down..."
Gu Lin slowly restrained his excitement. He glanced at the corpse on the ground, afraid that staying longer would attract others, so he picked up his robe and fled the dark alley.
......
On the way home, Gu Lin did three things along the way.
Carried an old woman across a bridge.
Bought a bowl of plain noodle soup for a beggar.
Watched over a little girl licking a candied hawthorn alone, preventing her from being abducted by child traffickers.
To his disappointment, the 【Merit Book】 did not react.
It seemed merit was limited to eliminating evil!
Returning to the small house on Kangle Street, his parents had not yet returned home. Gu Lin could hardly contain his excitement. He washed up early and lay on the bed, carefully sensing the Hidden Force within his body and the Bright Force between his fists and palms.