Substitute Divine Statue

Within his Dantian stood a statue of a Taoist.

It sat upon a lotus throne, ancient in age. Its features had been worn too vague to recognize, and even the folds of its Taoist robe had been smoothed away.

It looked utterly ordinary, no different from the ancient ruins scattered through the wilderness. Yet atop its head and on each shoulder burned a cluster of ghostly blue flame.

This was the culprit behind his transmigration!

In his previous life, Li Yan's work often required business trips. Whenever he arrived somewhere new, he would visit its museums and antique markets, an amateur enthusiast of sorts.

Of course, he knew his own limits. He understood a little, but was no professional, so he only ever looked and never made a purchase.

Except for this thing. It had sat on a stall, plain and unremarkable, looking every bit like some artificially aged fake, yet he had been drawn to it as if possessed and bought it.

Not long afterward, he woke from a sleep to find his soul transported into this world.

Over the years, he had been studying it.

This treasure had an eerie origin, but he had figured out its function. It was much like a substitute doll.

The Three Fires atop its head and shoulders could stand in for his life.

Whenever he met calamity and died, one flame would go out.

In other words, he still had three chances at rebirth.

The statue's other function was to exchange injuries.

Whether internal injuries, poison, or wounds from blades and weapons, all could be transferred onto the statue in the space of a breath.

Put simply, it was like Deadpool, only with limited abilities.

Now, a small claw mark had appeared on the statue's neck.

Li Yan had dared to hunt Blind Old Three precisely because this treasure had his back.

Not only that, over these years he had trained martial arts like a madman. Unafraid of internal or external injuries, he had pushed past his body's limits time and again, using this Substitute Divine Statue to exchange the damage.

Long illness made a doctor; his formidable control over his own body had likewise accumulated through injuries great and small.

His pale skin was also a side effect of exchanging injuries.

The statue now looked intact, but its interior was in fact riddled with cracks.

Li Yan knew he would have to use it carefully from now on and not rely on it too heavily. Otherwise, if the statue accumulated too many injuries, one of its flames might go out.

Of course, with his current control over his body, he could already stroll easily along the edge of his limits. The Ten Great Coil Exercises were as familiar to him as breathing, so he would not be injured at all.

After warming up, Li Yan moved again.

They looked like set forms, yet every move changed in countless ways, impossible to predict.

These were all his family's true fighting methods: Thirty-Six Cloud Hands, Nine Road Leg Technique, and Thirty-Six Grabs. With Bracing Slash as the mother and combinations as the form, scattered, unstructured strikes were strung together in sequence.

True fighting methods were far less pleasing to the eye than choreographed forms. But as the saying went, outsiders watched the spectacle, while insiders watched the craft. Li Yan's seemingly simple, ugly movements brimmed with blazing killing intent.

Hei Dan had once been considered the strongest among the village boys his age, so proud his tail had nearly curled into the sky. Yet after accidentally seeing Li Yan practice boxing, he had broken into a cold sweat and learned there was always someone greater beyond.

Every move of his was powerful and majestic. When he stretched his body, crackling sounds erupted.

His great sinews trembled, his tendons and bones ringing in unison.

By the classification in the General Military Treatise, he had reached the Peak of Manifested Strength.

Do not underestimate that. Anyone who reached this realm was no longer ordinary. At any escort agency in the martial world, they would be qualified to earn their keep.

What was more, Li Yan was only fourteen.

His next step was to make the qi membrane surge, wrap the sinews into a circle, and cultivate Hidden Strength.

Martial arts flourished in this world. In the martial world, Hidden Strength could be considered a Third-Rate Expert. One could lead Escort Guards on protection runs, or, like his father, make a name for oneself in the world.

And at Li Yan's age, if certain martial schools in Chang'an City learned of him, they would surely come bearing gifts to take him in, perhaps making him a pillar of their school in the future.

Yet an unharmonious voice came from the courtyard.

"Hmph, what use is practicing all this!"

The voice was old. It was Li Yan's grandfather, Li Gui.

No one knew when the old man had returned to the courtyard, leaning on his cane.

Li Yan withdrew his fists and smiled. "Grandpa, why are you so worked up? It's only a beast. Are you afraid I can't handle it?"

"What does a beast matter?"

Li Gui knocked the ash from his pipe against his shoe, his face still dark. "We never should have passed down the boxing. Once you practice martial arts, the urge to kill arises, and then you go stirring up trouble."

"Your father wouldn't listen, ran off to become some blade-wielder, and got himself killed. You're another one who gives me no peace. Are you really going to cut off the Li family line?"

Li Yan smiled apologetically along with him and did not argue.

This world had many similarities to his previous life, yet many differences as well.

For instance, martial arts. Things like Embrace the Core, Form the Gang and Reverse Innate had existed only in novels in his previous life, but in this world, they were real.

Its geography was basically similar to his previous life's, but its historical dynasties were different.

It was now the ninth year of Yuan Heng under the Great Xuan Dynasty, which had stood for a hundred years.

Another difference was that individual martial prowess in this world was astonishing. Some renowned grandmasters could take a man's head amid ten thousand troops. They were also bold beyond measure, casually infiltrating palaces to carry out assassinations.

In chaotic times, they occupied territory and ruled one region; when dynasties changed, they howled with the wind and clouds.

His grandfather had once been a fierce soldier in the army. He had cultivated to the Peak of Hidden Strength, only one step away from Transformed Strength, with a bright future ahead of him, until one leg was ruined while suppressing unrest on the frontier.

On top of that, he had offended his superior at the time. After several years in the military, all he received was some farmland and a plaque bestowed by the Ministry of War reading "Victorious in a Hundred Battles."

It was the plaque hanging outside their gate.

The "Victorious in a Hundred Battles" plaque was not something just anyone could receive. With it, his father could originally have entered the county yamen as a Constable, but he had chosen to roam the martial world as a blade-wielder instead, leaving a thorn forever lodged in his grandfather Li Gui's heart.

Of course, elders had to be respected, but their words did not necessarily have to be obeyed.

The times were still fairly peaceful, and his grandfather wanted him to live steadily as a farmer.

But Li Yan understood that in any age, one's fists had to be hard.

Having a blade and not using it was completely different from having no blade at all.

Seeing that Li Gui was still angry, Li Yan's eyes shifted. He sat on the doorstep and grinned. "Grandpa, tell me again about the Icy Plains?"

Li Gui snorted. "How many times have you heard it already? And you still want me to tell it?"

Though he said that, he still lit his long tobacco pipe and took a few puffs. Seemingly sinking into some memory, he said, "That damned place really wasn't fit for people..."

"At the time, the northern frontier's great general rebelled and colluded with foreign tribes to march south. We were ordered to wipe them out, then entered the Far-North Icy Plains under General Zhang's command, determined to slaughter every last remnant..."

"That place was ice and snow as far as the eye could see. In the dense forests, whether tigers, bears, or wolves, they were all frighteningly huge. The Blind Old Three you killed was nothing..."

"The weather was worst of all. Ice fog filled the air. You couldn't see anything more than a dozen paces away, and quite a few men froze to death on the road..."

"Besides those fleeing rebel remnants, there were people in the forest too. White skin, red hair, blue eyes, dressed in Animal Hide clothes. They ran whenever they saw us."

"A scholar traveling with us said they were Rakshasa Shamans from even farther north. Never thought people lived in that damned place too..."

"After that, more and more people died. They kept having nightmares, then woke up frozen into ice statues, smiles still on their faces. It was damn chilling..."

"We finally caught up to the enemy, but while both sides were fighting, a White Wind suddenly rose. Many old comrades died, and the remaining remnants froze to death too. Only we who dug ice caves managed to cling to life..."

"Though I lost a leg, compared to those old comrades buried in the Icy Plains, I was already fortunate..."

Listening to the old man speak, Li Yan remained silent.

The geography of this world resembled that of his previous life. Based on what his grandfather said, the place they had gone should have been Siberia.

It simply seemed far more dangerous than in his previous life.

He had heard these stories many times. Asking his grandfather to tell them again was merely a way to shift his attention.

Though his grandfather cursed fiercely, Li Yan knew how deeply his father's death—white-haired man sending off black-haired man—had wounded him.

Old people liked reminiscing about the past. The journey across the Icy Plains was the greatest achievement of his grandfather's life. If he spoke more of it, he would not think of those painful things.

After a while, the old man finally finished his tale, but his befuddlement came over him again. Seemingly forgetting what he had just been talking about, he stared blankly at Li Yan with clouded eyes for a while, then suddenly said, "Yan boy..."

"Yes, Grandpa."

"Remember to marry a wife with big hips."

"Big hips are a little ugly."

"What do you know? Big hips make for easy childbearing."

"Fine, fine. You have the final say..."

Li Yan wore a smile, but there was a hint of sorrow in his eyes.

Over the past two years, his grandfather had grown increasingly forgetful, and his health had worsened as well.

When his father had been alive, he would return several times each year, telling him of the storms and tempests of the martial world, the secret cant of the Spring Code, and all those strange tales and legends.

They had been interesting, but if he could choose, he would rather spend his whole life tucked away in this little mountain village, so long as his grandfather could live a few more years...

At the entrance to the village, Blind Old Three's corpse had already been hung from the Old Locust Tree.

The adults of Li Family Fortress only spared it a few glances as they passed, then hurried off to the fields. After all, wolves were nothing unfamiliar to them.

No matter how vicious "Blind Old Three" had been while alive, once it died, all those tales became laughingstock. Work in the fields was still what mattered most.

But the village brats had found entertainment, each picking up a stone.

"Hit Blind Old Three!"

"Smash it! Smash it to death!"

Amid giggles and laughter, stones flew wildly. Blind Old Three's corpse hanging from the tree was smashed into a bloody pulp, swaying wildly from side to side...

Night fell, and the moonlight was cold as water.

Yet tonight was somewhat different from usual.

The insects did not chirp, the birds did not call, and even the frogs in the river ditch had shut their mouths.

On the great locust tree beside the dirt road at the village entrance, "Blind Old Three's" corpse hung quietly. After its rough treatment, it was torn to pieces, and the blood coating its body had long since blackened.

Several shadows rustled out from the distant wheat fields. Under the moonlight, they raised their heads to look, revealing themselves as several smaller wolves.

Village Chief Li HuaiRen's thinking had been entirely wrong.

Wolves could hunt cooperatively, but they also killed their own kind.

The wolves had been driven away in the old days only because Li Family Fortress had many surviving veterans, and wolf corpses hung thickly everywhere, creating enough deterrence.

The scent of a lone wolf's corpse, on the other hand, would draw in nearby wolves.

Yet as they looked at "Blind Old Three's" corpse in the distance, the pack circled it several times, clearly fearful, never daring to approach.

Suddenly, as if startled by something, they whined and scattered into the wheat fields, vanishing into the night.

Then a cold wind abruptly rose. The great locust tree rustled, and vague shadows shifted in the darkness, like a swaying ferocious beast...

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