Chapter 1: Beneath the Abyss Lies Nothing but Light
Shiyang County.
Night had fallen, and the street lamps flickered dimly at the road’s end.
A man and a woman stood facing each other.
Both looked to be around eighteen or nineteen years old. The woman wore a light pink ruqun, her delicate face carrying a faint smile, holding a box of osmanthus cakes in her hand.
The man was named Gu Lin, his expression utterly blank.
Li Qingwu held out the pastries, her voice soft and sweet:
“Gu Lin, I waited two hours at the Fragrance Pavilion just to buy this box. It’s for you.”
Gu Lin didn’t take it. He asked bluntly:
“What do you want?”
Seeing his attitude, the woman’s smile faded slightly, though her tone remained gentle, tinged with careful hesitation:
“Give me another hundred taels of silver.”
Gu Lin sneered, slapping the pastries out of her hand onto the ground, retorting sharply:
“Fifteen wen worth of goods, and you want a hundred taels? Even a top courtesan doesn’t earn money that fast!”
“You…”
Li Qingwu’s face turned to frost, she raised a hand to point at him, unable to find words for a moment, her eyes churning with violent emotion.
Ever since a few days ago, the once-groveling suitor had undergone a complete change in temperament. In the past, all she had to do was put on a cold face, and he would smile and hand over silver in apology; a wave of her hand, and Gu Lin would follow her around like a dog.
Yet now he dared speak to her so coarsely!!
Li Qingwu forced down her discomfort. To test whether this was merely a ploy to make her chase him harder, she bent down and removed her phoenix-head brocade shoes, revealing skin as white as frost and snow.
“Look at this. My ankle got injured practicing that secret manual.”
“I’ve been working so hard, striving to improve myself, all so that one day I can stand before you and protect you. You’re delicate and defenseless—if anyone ever bullied you, you’d always have me.”
“If I don’t have enough silver to buy pills, my cultivation progress will slow down…”
The girl looked utterly pitiful.
But Gu Lin only felt a chill of disgust at her words and cut her off directly:
“Shut up!!”
He loathed the woman before him to his very core!
Two days ago, he had crossed over into this world, and discovered that his predecessor had been truly foolish and pathetic, played like a puppet in this vile woman’s hands.
Over three years, she had swindled him out of nearly a thousand taels of silver!
The Gu family had once been well-off and happy, owning a two-courtyard house and two shops. Now they had nothing left, reduced to renting a run-down home!
His predecessor had been utterly lost in the beautiful dream this vile woman had woven, even willing to chain himself at her feet like a dog—truly pathetic and infuriating!
Hearing the words “shut up,” Li Qingwu’s fury ignited instantly:
“Surnamed Gu, do you think you’re so manly now? Nineteen years old and you still haven’t opened your meridians to attempt Energy Transformation. Besides me, who else would even look at you twice? You think yourself so studious, but have you even opened a Literary Palace? You’ve read so much your eyesight is ruined—you have to lean over and squint just to read a book, and you grope along walls at night for fear of tripping. Don’t you think you’re nothing but a grain-wasting parasite?”
She no longer held back, her voice growing sharp and shrill:
“You’re a pitiful rat in the gutter, and I’ve deigned to look after you—you should be grateful to the point of tears! Slap yourself and apologize right now, and I’ll let this pass!!”
“I’m counting to three!”
“One!”
“Two!!”
Gu Lin’s gaze turned bitterly cold. He stared at her for a long moment, then turned and walked away.
He didn’t throw around big words about paying back the thousand taels of silver.
Not because he didn’t want to.
He wished he could carve this vile woman apart piece by piece right then and there.
But he was powerless.
Never mind that murder demanded a life for a life—before this vile woman, he was as insignificant as an ant.
Empty bravado without strength meant nothing!
“Very well!”
Li Qingwu snapped, her anger uncontainable.
This dog dared defy her to her face?
Had he lost his mind?
Shouldn’t he be offering up silver with both hands, just to earn her smile?
Watching his retreating figure grow distant, Li Qingwu grew more humiliated the more she thought about it, her fury now mixed with a sense of insult—this dog wasn’t even wagging its tail, and dared bark at her instead?
A full incense-stick’s worth of time passed before Li Qingwu slowly digested her humiliation.
She was just about to leave.
Suddenly.
Without warning, a pungent fragrance swept toward her.
She looked up, her pupils shrinking sharply.
In the distance, atop the eaves, a disheveled woman in vividly colored robes came running, blood staining the hem of her skirt, her breath erratic and unstable.
In Li Qingwu’s cultivation knowledge, this person had clearly succumbed to Cultivation Deviation!
Danger!!
She suppressed her fear and pretended nothing was wrong, walking briskly away.
“Stop right there.”
The woman’s voice was hoarse. She leapt down from the eaves, her movement technique astonishingly fast, blocking the path in an instant.
Li Qingwu felt as though struck by lightning, her spine turning to ice, her legs trembling. The fragrance rushing toward her felt almost like tangible killing intent, threatening to swallow her whole.
“Spare me…”
She collaped to the ground instantly, shaking like a sieve.
The beautiful woman made no move to attack, her voice cold and eerie:
“Immediately find me a man whose Primal Yang remains intact, to offer up for my cultivation—or I’ll kill you with a single strike!”
Her breath was growing more erratic by the moment. If she couldn’t find a cauldron to replenish even a trace of Yin-Yang Energy, the poison within her body would consume her.
Li Qingwu was drowning in despair, cursing her rotten luck to meet her end here in the prime of her youth—but hearing this command, hope flickered to life within her.
She wiped away her tears and, almost without hesitation, said in a trembling voice:
“Senior, follow me—there’s someone perfectly suited!”
That’s right—it was Gu Lin, the lackey who had walked away just two quarter-hours ago!
The Hehuan Sect woman couldn’t wait, snarling viciously:
“If you’re lying, I’ll flay you alive!”
Li Qingwu quickly led the way, and sensing the other woman’s increasingly chaotic breath, the fear deep within her gradually eased.
She wasn’t a complete novice at cultivation—quite the opposite, her talent was considerable, and she guessed that this woman’s current state was teetering on the edge of death, likely not even daring to circulate the Energy in her Dantian, having relied purely on physical strength to leap down from the roof just now.
If it was only physical strength, she herself might not lack the chance to flee.
She obeyed for two reasons: first, she didn’t dare gamble her own life; second, she could use this woman’s hand to eliminate Gu Lin!
“Since you dared to defy and curse me, it seems you’ve come to your senses and no longer intend to support me. Besides, your family’s already been drained dry. To keep you from spreading nonsense at Shiyang Academy and tarnishing my good name, you’d best leave now!”
“Being one of my followers was the greatest honor of your mediocre little life!”
A flicker of coldness passed through Li Qingwu’s eyes.
If that surnamed Gu went around spreading rumors to garner sympathy, she might face condemnation herself—her reputation mattered far more than his worthless life!
***
The Hour of the Pig had just begun; the night grew deeper.
Gu Lin carried a lantern through the familiar alley, only three li from home.
He suddenly stopped, catching a thick, cloying fragrance.
Thud, thud, thud—
Hurried footsteps sounded behind him.
Gu Lin turned his head and saw a blood-soaked woman.
He slowly stepped backward.
The woman closed in rapidly, kicking the lantern pole in half, plunging the alley into darkness.
“You…”
Gu Lin felt as though he’d fallen into an ice cellar, his face turning pale.
The woman clamped one hand around Gu Lin’s throat, the other pressing against his lower abdomen near his navel. Her beautiful, cold face broke into a smile of relief:
“Primal Yang intact, no cultivation base—that little girl found me the perfect candidate!!”
She then produced a bottle of pills from her sleeve and forced one into Gu Lin’s mouth.
Under normal circumstances, she would only need to employ the Hehuan Sect’s Charm Art, but now she needed the aphrodisiac’s help.
Gu Lin’s face contorted in agony, unable to resist, his back pressed hard against the wall, his eyes filled with utter despair.
Had crossing over only bought him three days of life? Was this cruel world truly this cheap with the lives of ants like him?
“Lie down now!”
The beautiful woman stared fixedly at her cauldron, her face twisting uncontrollably, her organs wracked with violent pain, her eyes desperate for fate’s favor.
She knew her own dire condition best. Even if she drained the cauldron completely, she’d only have a 50% chance of surviving the next half hour.
Yes—only half a chance to live.
Without a cauldron to save her, at most 20%.
It all came down to her luck now.
Gu Lin didn’t move, his despairing gaze slowly growing distant. He understood what was about to happen, but he refused to lie down—he would guard the last shred of his dignity.
Rrrip—
The woman forcibly pushed Gu Lin down, tearing off his outer robe.
***
Gu Lin stared up at the black sky, the pain in his body nowhere near matching the humiliation in his heart. A real man should stand tall between heaven and earth, yet here he was, reduced to this—dying in a manner both absurd and pitiful.
Gradually, his entire body grew weak, his vision blurring, too exhausted even to close his eyes, yet his body refused to obey his will. The woman’s voice echoed through the alley.
He didn’t know how much time passed before the woman suddenly sat upright, panicked and frantic.
Rumble—
A thunderous explosion erupted within her Dantian, true Energy surging backward like blades slashing through her entire body.
She immediately sat cross-legged, forcibly channeling her Art, attempting to suppress the violent Energy from her Cultivation Deviation.
She had barely completed one Minor Cosmic Cycle when blood began seeping from all seven of her orifices—her heart shattered apart, blood gushing from eyes, nose, mouth, and ears in a horrifying fountain.
In the end, her luck had failed her.
The fifty percent chance of survival—she didn’t get it.
All around, silence reigned. Gu Lin lay weak and powerless. After roughly half an incense-stick’s time, he finally managed to crawl upright, staring at the corpse lying in a pool of blood.
Everything had happened in the blink of an eye. He didn’t fully understand what had occurred—he only knew that he had survived, and the woman who had violated him was dead.
Suddenly!
His mind spun wildly, tiny points of golden light appearing before his eyes, gradually converging into the three characters: 《Book of Merit》.
“Book of Merit?”
Gu Lin’s emotions churned—confusion, delight, and a trace of anger all mixed together.
Was this his golden finger?
Three days since crossing over, he had longed for a golden finger to arrive, so he too could carve out his own place in this cruel world. It had finally come—but why did it have to come right after he’d been violated?
But in an instant, his anger vanished.
In his mind, line after line of golden characters surged forth.
【Indirectly eliminated an evil-doing woman. The woman’s sin corresponds to “Third Grade, Ninth Star” wickedness. 500 Merit Points awarded. Reward: Max-Level Mysterious Netherworld Palm】
【Martial Dao: 500/1000, Breakthrough to Meridian Opening, Fifth Layer】
【Confucian Dao: 0/1000】
【Arcane Dao: 0/1000】
【Witchcraft Dao: 0/1000】
In that instant, Gu Lin’s seven main meridians and eight extraordinary vessels slowly expanded, an indescribable Energy forcibly pressing through his meridians, his Qi and blood surging upward layer by layer, every acupoint suddenly brimming with abundant power.
He opened his eyes and looked around—he could see all the way to a motionless toad in the far corner of the alley.
He should mention: he was severely nearsighted. He hadn’t even clearly seen the evil woman’s face from start to finish.
Yet now, his vision was this clear?
Gu Lin couldn’t contain his joy. Almost instinctively, he threw a punch at the empty air, and his fist stirred up a gust of wind—this force was terrifying!
“Meridian Opening realm! I’ve become Meridian Opening, Fifth Layer?!!”
Gu Lin’s heart screamed with excitement, his handsome face breaking into a brilliant smile.
Not only that—in his mind, an entire set of moves flickered to life, the Mysterious Netherworld Palm rehearsed ten thousand times over, mastered so thoroughly that it felt as though he could unleash its full, max-level power the very first time he used it!
“The Book of Merit—gain merit, receive rich rewards?”
“Besides Martial Dao, there’s also Confucian Dao, Arcane Dao, and Witchcraft Dao?”
Having crossed into this world, Gu Lin already knew that the cultivation system of the Feathering Divine Continent was such that most people cultivated the Martial Dao, while many scholars would open a Literary Palace and walk the path of Confucian Dao, cultivating the Heaven and Earth’s Righteous Energy.
As for those who cultivated both Confucian and Martial Dao simultaneously—not one in ten thousand!
A person’s energy and time were limited. Even someone with extraordinary, peerless talent couldn’t master both at once—they always had to choose one and abandon the other.
And he had the chance to advance on both fronts simultaneously?
As for Arcane Dao, that was an even more exalted existence!
Arcane Dao—the realm of spiritual power. Lower-tier practitioners refined pills and formations; higher-tier practitioners could court fortune and avoid misfortune, stirring the very tides of destiny—mysterious and terrifying!
And Witchcraft Dao—once one stepped onto this path, they could raise Gu insects to kill from a distance without leaving a trace. The world’s Gu insects came in countless bizarre forms, and the masters of this path had methods beyond imagining. It was said that the grandmasters of Witchcraft Dao could even unleash the legendary Curse Art, controlling others from thousands of miles away!
“The Book of Merit is absurdly overpowered. Calm down… calm down…….”
Gu Lin slowly reined in his excitement. He glanced at the corpse on the ground, worried that lingering too long might draw attention, so he grabbed his robe and fled the dark alley.
***
On his way home, Gu Lin did three things in passing.
Carried an elderly woman across a bridge.
Bought a beggar a bowl of plain noodle soup.
Watched over a young girl licking a candied haw skewer alone, making sure she wouldn’t be snatched away by human traffickers.
To his disappointment, the 【Book of Merit】showed no response.
It seemed merit was only awarded for eliminating evil!
Back at the small house on Kangle Street, his parents hadn’t yet returned home. Unable to suppress his excitement, Gu Lin washed up early and lay down on his bed, carefully savoring the hidden power and explicit force coursing through his body and fists.
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