A Youth in Another Life

Bang!

The piercing shriek of brakes tore through the long night.

Qin Sang was still hesitating. It was not that he lacked the courage to drag his enemy down with him, but he still had family—his parents, his brothers...

The searing pain wracking his body dragged him back to reality. There was only pain. His hands and feet would not obey him. His body seemed twisted out of shape, crushed into a narrow corner, with jagged iron frames baring their fangs around him.

The car spun violently. Streetlights gathered into neon along the roadside, turning his vision into a kaleidoscope. A red line appeared before him, and the dim yellow Jade Buddha hanging at its end traced a short arc before smashing into the bridge of his nose.

Amid the interweaving light and shadow, fountain-like blood submerged the Jade Buddha. An artery in his neck must have ruptured.

"A car accident!"

Qin Sang regretted it beyond measure. The other side had made the first move. He should not have hesitated!

Death... everything he had done, everything he had striven for, everything he had cared about, all lost its meaning, shattering like flowers in a mirror and the moon in water.

The only thing he could think of seemed to be what kind of place he was about to go to...

It had to be hell.

"I want to live."

Qin Sang's eyes were wide open.

The inertia from the collision had yet to run its course. He was still spinning. The Jade Buddha before him swayed and swayed, as though it were swinging straight into his soul.

A vortex of darkness swallowed him.

Boom!

The blazing sun burned like fire.

The rocky mountains were steep, their jagged stones piled everywhere, with scarcely a trace of green. Sporadic, short birdcalls drifted from afar, adding several degrees to the oppressive heat.

Along the rugged mountain path, a convoy of prison carts moved slowly onward. Several fierce-looking burly men galloped on horseback beside the convoy, cracking their whips to drive the horses and shouting curses.

These burly men on horseback were not dressed like constables. Their conduct made them seem more like bandits and mountain thieves.

The prison cages on the carts were crude as well. One glance showed they had been made recently; the wood still exposed fresh white grain.

Every cage was crammed full of prisoners.

Qin Sang's hands and feet were bound. Curled up in a corner of the cage, some clarity gradually returned to his gaze.

Ever since regaining consciousness, he had been muddleheaded. Though he had occasionally enjoyed brief moments of lucidity, only today had he fully digested this body's memories.

This body also bore the surname Qin. He came from a village called Wang Family Village. His parents were farmers in the village, and he had two elder brothers. He ranked third in the family, so the villagers called him Sanwa. He had not yet reached adulthood and did not even have a formal name.

The Qin family was hardworking, and with so many able-bodied workers at home, their life was fairly comfortable. But how much gold and silver could they possibly dig out of the soil?

Father Qin and Mother Qin thus began to entertain other ideas. Not only did they send Qin Sanwa to study, but once he had just turned fifteen, they took him to seek out Shopkeeper Wang, hoping he could find a livelihood.

Shopkeeper Wang was an old friend of Father Qin's and also from Wang Family Village. In his younger years, he had built up a shop in a nearby small city. He was far wealthier than the village farmers and was considered a respectable man.

Seeing that Qin Sanwa was honest, Shopkeeper Wang was willing to keep him by his side as an apprentice. Qin Sanwa's parents were naturally overwhelmed with gratitude and hastily agreed.

This was Qin Sanwa's first time leaving home since birth. Amid his fear, he strictly followed his parents' teachings and worked with exceptional diligence, earning even greater favor from Shopkeeper Wang. Whenever he went out to purchase goods, he was willing to bring Qin Sanwa along.

Unexpectedly, the world was in chaos. Not long after the shopkeeper and his young apprentice set out, they encountered this band of mountain bandits on the mountain road. Shopkeeper Wang's head was cut off with a single stroke, while Qin Sanwa was bound and thrown into a prison cart, his life spared for the time being.

Poor Qin Sanwa had never encountered such a calamity. Before long, he died of fright, leaving his body to Qin Sang.

Like a cuckoo occupying a magpie's nest, the unfamiliar body gave Qin Sang a distinct sense of alienation and strangeness. Every sign in his memories showed that this was a world vastly different from his previous life, but Qin Sang had no mood to care about any of that.

The sun grew increasingly vicious. His body was exhausted, and his wounds throbbed unbearably. Qin Sang forced himself to stay alert and blinked his sore, dry eyes. His gaze suddenly swept over the last carriage in the convoy, and he abruptly recalled what he had seen during a lucid moment three days ago. Though it was noon, a chill ran down his spine.

Looking ahead and behind, only a few prison carts remained.

There was no time. He had to find a way to escape!

The convoy had traveled north for more than ten days. They were now extremely far from Wang Family Village, and Qin Sanwa's memories could offer no help. Qin Sang did not even know what territory they had reached.

At first, they had traveled along the main roads. This band of mountain bandits committed every evil imaginable and had captured many people.

Once they had captured enough, they deliberately took routes through wilderness and mountain forests, carefully avoiding other people.

In this desolate wilderness, there was no one to call for help.

If he wanted to live, he could only rely on himself!

Five people were crammed into the narrow prison cart. Qin Sang's bones ached from the crushing pressure as he wriggled backward.

The people locked in the prison cart were all young, strong men. Like Qin Sanwa, they were pitiful innocents who had been captured.

Qin Sang shoved hard several times, yet not a single curse came in response. He heard only a few weak groans, and despair washed over him.

Including himself, the prisoners were starving and feeble. The mountain bandits, meanwhile, were all powerful and sturdy, with horses beneath them. How could they possibly escape?

Just then, a light breeze drifted over, bringing a rare touch of coolness. Ahead, a jade belt came into view. Beyond the mountains lay a river neither too large nor too small, its broad surface calm and glittering, its currents gentle.

Several ancient trees stood along the riverbank. Waist-high yellow grass carpeted the entire river beach, rustling loudly whenever the wind blew—a perfect place to bury corpses.

"Whoa!"

The leader of these mountain bandits was a burly man with a thick beard. Having led the group to the riverbank, he turned his horse around and rode back toward the final carriage.

Unlike the other prison carts, this carriage was covered by a black cloth, making it impossible to see who was inside. The person within had never emerged.

Before reaching the carriage, the leader dismounted. The ferocity vanished from his face as he lightly approached the carriage, dropped to both knees, and respectfully said, "Reporting to Immortal Master, this is the Sinking Water River. The Sinking Water River connects to the Wuling River. We have already entered the territory of the Great Sui Kingdom."

The carriage was silent. No response came. The leader prostrated himself on the ground and did not dare rise.

After some time, a hoarse and grating voice finally came from within. "Build rafts and cross the river. Continue north."

The bearded man hurriedly acknowledged the order. Just as he was about to rise, a violent fit of coughing suddenly came from the carriage. "Quick... send two Blood Food in... cough, cough..."

Qin Sang shuddered in alarm, and then all the prisoners began to stir restlessly.

Whenever that Immortal Master asked for Blood Food, two prisoners would be sent into the black-clothed carriage. An hour later, two corpses would be carried out.

Three days earlier, Qin Sang had accidentally seen what those corpses looked like. Living people went in, yet shriveled mummies came out. Their flesh and blood had been sucked completely dry, leaving only skin stretched over bone.

Those sunken eye sockets remained vivid in his mind, as if they were telling him of boundless terror, shattering his understanding of the world to pieces.

If his five senses had not been so clear, Qin Sang would have thought he had arrived in the eighteen levels of hell. Yet he could not remember which level's torture involved squeezing every drop of flesh and blood dry.

"Get out!"

The leader ordered his men to cut trees and build rafts, then personally dragged two people down from the nearby cart.

Qin Sang secretly let out a breath of relief, but the despair in his heart did not lessen in the slightest. If he could not escape, he would only live a few days longer than those two. What was there to be glad about?

Qin Sang stared fixedly at the bandits building the rafts. These bandits worked with astonishing efficiency; in the blink of an eye, a wooden raft was nearly complete. Qin Sang could only pray that they had cut corners and that the raft would overturn and fall apart in the river.

Compared to being sucked dry, he would rather drown in the river. He would treat this life as nothing more than one extra dream before death.

The leader strode quickly toward the carriage, dragging the two unlucky men along. They used the last of their strength to cry and scream, while the riverbank bandits laughed without end.

The sound of water, wind, blades, footsteps, shrieks, groans, and savage laughter...

All manner of sounds rushed into his ears. The entire world suddenly became unbearably noisy. Qin Sang felt incomparably agitated, as though the sky and earth were spinning around him. His head grew heavy, and he was about to faint when he suddenly heard a thunderous roar.

"Demon Lord! Let's see where you can run this time!"

Qin Sang abruptly raised his head and saw a dazzling white light flash atop the mountain. It tore through the air, brighter than the sun.

The white light flickered and surged. It seemed to be a sword!