"Hundred Alliance Calendar, Year 423, June: Shanniu Village, under the jurisdiction of Anning Town, vanished overnight. This included the villagers and every building in the village. The original site became a flat plain, and the truth has yet to be found."
"Hundred Alliance Calendar, Year 423, July: The sound of an opera performer singing inexplicably came from the home of a wealthy merchant south of Haiyuan City. The City Yamen's investigation yielded nothing. The merchant invited martial artists and Anhung Temple mages to drive out the evil. The next day, the merchant's entire family, along with the martial artists and mages, had all turned into white bones."
"Hundred Alliance Calendar, Year 423, September: A farming family in Nanan Village rescued a young girl and took her in as their daughter-in-law. In the middle of the night, the house shook. The girl transformed into a blue-skinned monster and left, while the farmer's son vanished without a trace."
"Hundred Alliance Calendar, Year 424, March: All the night watchmen in Xin'an Town vanished. At daybreak, the streets were covered in blood. No one dared apply to become a night watchman again."
"Ten Thousand Alliance Calendar, Year 425, December: Walking corpses that bit anyone they saw appeared in Haiquan Town. Those bitten by them would turn into walking corpses as well. More than half of Haiquan Town fell. Haiyun City dispatched powerful experts, who forcefully slaughtered the walking corpses and saved Haiquan Town. However, the town was gravely weakened and declined into a third-rate town..."
Only when he reached this point did Jiang Yuan see a supernatural incident that humans had resolved. Yet it was merely an isolated case; more often, the cases simply began without explanation and ended without resolution.
As Jiang Yuan flipped through case file after case file, his scalp went numb and an inexplicable chill rose in his heart.
At that moment, a gentle voice sounded by his ear.
"Xiao Yuan, do you find these things frightening?"
Jiang Yuan looked over and found Wenzhao standing tall and jade-like by the door, his deep eyes fixed on Jiang Yuan.
Jiang Yuan nodded instinctively.
"Xiao Yuan, you must understand that fear comes from the unknown and from insufficient strength. Once we understand a thing's true nature and possess the strength to contend with it, we will no longer fear it."
Wenzhao spoke lightly then, looking every bit like a teacher in a private school clearing away his students' doubts.
"To ordinary people, these are unknown ghosts. But to martial artists like us, though these ghostly things are bizarre, there are still traces to follow."
"The martial path is humanity's finest weapon against these ghostly things. That is why I support your study of martial arts."
"A martial artist fights people, fights Heaven, fights ghosts!"
For some reason, Jiang Yuan could feel a faint pressure radiating from Wenzhao, like that of an arrogant lion that looked down on all beneath it.
The originally refined and scholarly Wenzhao had revealed a deep, imposing pressure.
Is this what a martial artist is?
Wait! What the hell is that?! Jiang Yuan's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
Just as Jiang Yuan was marveling at Wenzhao's overwhelming presence, he spotted a figure in white appearing behind Wenzhao.
Two hands, whiter than a corpse dead for three days, slowly stretched forward, seemingly intending to cover Wenzhao's eyes.
Yet Wenzhao showed no reaction whatsoever. Even when those hands reached before his eyes, he noticed nothing, as though he had gone blind.
The City Yamen was empty. Only two candles Jiang Yuan had lit beside the Archives Room to read the case files cast any light; farther away lay an expanse of pitch-black darkness.
Jiang Yuan felt as though sandpaper were lodged in his throat. He wanted to warn Wenzhao, but all that came from his throat were hoarse, rasping sounds.
Panic surged through Jiang Yuan. Throwing caution to the wind, he unleashed Ten Directions Fist, while desperately stimulating his strange bone with all the blood and qi in his body.
Jiang Yuan's strange bone was fire-attributed. Perhaps strange bones could restrain ghostly things.
That was Jiang Yuan's thought at the moment.
A scorching sensation faintly radiated from his chest.
The next second, Jiang Yuan felt his fist being lightly grasped. Yes, lightly grasped. His tremendous strength seemed to have sunk into a swamp, vanishing without a trace.
Uncle!
Jiang Yuan had not expected Wenzhao to stop him, but when he looked up—
He found not the slightest trace of confusion on Wenzhao's face. Instead, there was approval.
Seeing Wenzhao's expression, Jiang Yuan's tense heart immediately relaxed.
"Xiao Yuan, you did very well. You did not fear the bizarre."
Jiang Yuan relaxed inwardly.
That was right. Wenzhao was a renowned powerhouse. In this mid-martial world, a powerhouse like him should count as an expert. How could he...
Hm?
Jiang Yuan's mouth fell open.
Semi-transparent, dark crimson blood-colored tentacles, seemingly alive, emerged from Wenzhao's body. The tentacles coiled around the white-clothed ghost.
Then...
It... it ate it?
At that moment, eating was the only word Jiang Yuan could use to describe it. The dark crimson tentacles wrapped around the white-clothed ghost. The next second, the ghost struggled endlessly, then steadily shrank beneath the membrane formed by those dark crimson tentacles.
As though...
It had been digested!
The dark crimson tentacles withdrew into Wenzhao's body, while Wenzhao acted as though nothing had happened.
That moment carved itself deeply into Jiang Yuan's heart.
He returned to the escort agency in a daze, Wenzhao's words still echoing in his mind.
"Humans and ghosts are like wild beasts and ordinary people. Wild beasts can eat ordinary people, and ordinary people can eat wild beasts. Ghosts can feed on humans, and humans can feed on ghosts as well."
Jiang Yuan gently pressed his brow, digesting everything that had just happened.
Unlike the unfortunate transmigrators in novels from his previous life, struggling bitterly to uncover the truth of the world, Jiang Yuan was second generation. His uncle had directly torn open the veil shrouding this world.
The martial artists of this world were truly fierce.
It seemed the martial path was humanity's primary means of resisting the bizarre in this world!
At that moment, Jiang Yuan held a book tightly in his hand.
Written on it were the words:
Record of Demons, Monsters, and Oddities
In this world, besides humans, there were bizarre entities. These bizarre entities could be divided into demons and monsters, and oddities.
Demons and monsters either transformed into ordinary people, hiding among the crowds and choosing people to devour, or occupied a region of mountains and rivers, committing every evil under the sun.
Oddities, meanwhile, were divided into Ghosts and Ghouls and strange anomalies.
Ghosts and Ghouls could be killed, escaped from, or even eaten. They were roughly similar to the ghosts Jiang Yuan knew from his previous life. Strange anomalies, however, were different. Each might possess no inherent offensive power, but every one of them came with its own domain.
Domains altered certain rules within their range and were exceedingly bizarre, making them difficult for ordinary martial artists to handle.
These oddities with strange domains were called strange anomalies. Moreover, bizarre entities appeared and vanished like ghosts, making them difficult to record.
Fortunately, strange anomalies accounted for only a small proportion of oddities.
Beyond that, there were powerful creatures such as Exotic Beasts, which were entirely separate from bizarre entities and were not recorded in the Record of Demons, Monsters, and Oddities.
Compared with bizarre entities, Exotic Beasts posed far less danger. Humanity had already learned to make use of them.
For instance, consuming Exotic Beast meat could aid cultivation. Among the cultivation resources Jiang Yuan received each month from the martial academy was some Exotic Beast meat.
At that moment, Jiang Yuan suddenly thought of something.
Martial artists in this world had methods to deal with bizarre entities. Then why had Wenzhao been able to detect that white-clothed ghost but unable to detect the ghostly thing attached to Jiang Yuan?
Furthermore, by all rights, the escort agency had so many experts stationed within it. Those powerful martial artists could not possibly allow bizarre entities to appear on their own territory. There should have been no bizarre entities inside the escort agency at all.
Yet Jiang Yuan had indeed encountered that ghostly thing. Even Wenzhao, with his formidable strength, had been unable to detect it. Although Jiang Yuan had shattered it with a single punch, he guessed that had a great deal to do with his strange bone.
What exactly was going on? Could it be that the original owner of this body had truly been killed by that ghostly thing?
A chill ran through Jiang Yuan's entire body.
Treacherous commoners are plotting against me!
"This world really is dangerous..."
Jiang Yuan closed his eyes and murmured, flipping open the book in his hand before suddenly opening his eyes.
"Good thing I have cheats. Let's begin! Second Life Simulation!"
[Mundane World]! [This simulated life journey has begun]
Before you continue