Encountering Danger

Northern Abyss Cultivation World, Zhao Kingdom, Qingli Commandery.

A small village by the Qingxi River stood alone in the wilderness, with no other human habitation for dozens of li around. The village was called Qingxi Village and had over a hundred households.

At the eastern end of the village, a little boy walked east along the riverbank with his hands clasped behind his back like an adult.

It was already the season of clear autumn, and the riverbank was carpeted with reed fluff. When the breeze blew, the reeds danced in the wind like snow filling the sky.

A li beyond the village, the farmland ended, leaving only clumps of shrubs.

The bushes were still lush with branches and leaves, verdant everywhere. Reed fluff drifted over and laid down a thin covering upon them, giving the bushes the proud bones of one who braved frost and snow.

The little boy had no mind to admire the scenery before him and wandered aimlessly. He mused to himself, My luck is truly rotten. I got struck by lightning while sitting indoors. The one blessing amid misfortune is that I was reincarnated—and this world actually has cultivation.

He was no ordinary child, but a transmigrator. In his previous life, he had been an utterly unremarkable office worker from Huaxia Nation on Earth, named Wang Daoyuan.

Because of a bead, he had transmigrated to this world of cultivation.

In his previous life, Wang Daoyuan had been adopted by an old Daoist priest as a child and followed him everywhere, reading Feng Shui geomancy and driving away evil spirits for others.

Later, that bowl of rice became harder and harder to eat. Fearing that Wang Daoyuan would have no means of making a living in the future, the old Daoist sent him to school.

Wang Daoyuan did not disappoint the old Daoist's hopes. He eventually got into university and, after graduating, smoothly found a decent job in the city. The old Daoist also enjoyed a few years of peaceful comfort thanks to him.

When Wang Daoyuan was thirty, the old Daoist, whose age no one knew, reached the end of his life.

Before the old Daoist ascended, he passed down his "robe and bowl" to Wang Daoyuan. This "robe and bowl" included a translucent glass bead, gray with a tinge of purple, as well as books on Feng Shui geomancy, divination, fortune-telling, and the like.

Wang Daoyuan buried the old Daoist near the thatched hut where master and disciple had lived for nearly twenty years, then examined the belongings he had left behind.

Who knew what sin that bead had committed? While Wang Daoyuan was playing with it, lightning suddenly struck it. Wang Daoyuan suffered the calamity of the fish in the moat as well, reduced to flying ash by the bolt.

His final consciousness was of himself becoming a tiny person the size of a fist, dwelling in a dark environment. By the time he recovered the memories of his previous life, he was already five years old.

In this life, Wang Daoyuan had been born in Qingxi Village and began attending the Clan School at the age of four.

According to the teacher at the Clan School, Qingxi Village's villagers were not ordinary mortals, but members of the Wang Clan cultivation Lineage of Jade Spring Peak, a thousand li away. Every year, "immortals" from the Lineage came to the village to test children who had just turned ten for cultivation aptitude.

Qingxi Village lay on the edge of Wang Clan territory. Several hundred li to the east was a land occupied by Demon Beasts. Thus, "immortals" often came and went here, protecting the village from Demon Beast attacks.

Wang Daoyuan had seen the "immortals" sent by the Lineage several times. They all wore white robes, with the family emblem embroidered in gold thread on both cuffs—a fish with a dragon's head.

Before Wang Daoyuan recovered the memories of his previous life, his intelligence had been no different from that of an ordinary child. His parents had also warned him repeatedly never to show disrespect toward "immortals," so he had always dared not get too close to them.

Before he knew it, he had already walked two or three li away.

Wild beasts, and even Demon Beasts, often appeared near the village. They had merely been frightened by the "immortals" slaughtering them and did not dare attack the village rashly. Still, they had the nerve to attack villagers who wandered off alone nearby.

He turned and looked back at the village, only to realize that he had gone rather far from it. The adults always warned him never to leave the village alone, or wolves would carry him off.

Having only just awakened the memories of his previous life, his mind was still in a mess, and he had forgotten about that.

Now that he remembered, he immediately turned around and headed back to the village.

To a wild beast, a five-year-old child had no power to resist and was a perfect snack.

He had only taken a few steps after turning around when he heard the sound of trees snapping from a thicket more than ten zhang behind him.

He turned to look and saw a Black Wolf burst out of the thicket and pounce toward him.

In his previous life, he had practiced some things with the old Daoist that were supposedly cultivation techniques, though he had never achieved anything with them. He had also trained in some martial arts, enough that four or five burly men could not get near him.

But now he was only a five-year-old child. No matter how good his skills were, without physical strength to support them, there was no way he could defeat a wolf.

Having lived two lives, and having spent more than thirty years with the old Daoist in his previous one, Wang Daoyuan naturally did not become so flustered that his hands and feet lost their purpose when danger struck. Knowing full well that he could not beat the wolf, he could only run and call for help.

He drilled into the shrubs ahead while shouting for help at the top of his lungs.

A wolf ran far faster than an ordinary person and possessed tremendous endurance. How could a five-year-old child possibly outrun one?

Though he scrambled wildly through the thickets and used the dense branches to hinder the Black Wolf's calf-sized body, the distance between them continued to shrink.

In less than twenty breaths, the Black Wolf was less than two chi away from him. It suddenly lunged forward, opened its jaws, and bit toward him.

A sense of helplessness rose in Wang Daoyuan's heart. In my previous life, I was muddleheadedly struck dead by lightning. I was reincarnated in the cultivation world, hoping to make a name for myself, yet I'm going to die so miserably in this beast's jaws.

At that critical moment, a black shadow sprang out from the side and pounced on the Black Wolf, slamming directly into its waist.

The Black Wolf's saliva had already dripped onto Wang Daoyuan, yet the shadow knocked it more than a zhang away.

When the shadow landed, Wang Daoyuan finally saw that it was the dog his family raised—Big Black.

Big Black bared his teeth and let out low, rumbling growls of warning, staring fixedly at the Black Wolf.

All wolves had heads of copper, brains of iron, and waists of tofu. The blow to the Black Wolf's waist had injured it somewhat, and its stance was now a little strange. Yet it did not leave, instead baring its teeth at Big Black in challenge.

Seeing this, Wang Daoyuan immediately hid behind Big Black, picked up a stone about the size of his fist, and prepared to smash it at the Black Wolf at any moment.

Although Big Black had struck the Black Wolf and injured its waist, the wolf still retained more than half its fighting strength. It had not fought Big Black head-on just now and did not know the dog's true measure. Leaving like this left it unwilling to accept defeat.

Suddenly, the Black Wolf struck first, charging at Big Black. Wang Daoyuan immediately threw the stone in his hand at the Black Wolf's head.

Though the throw carried little force, the Black Wolf instinctively dodged aside. Big Black seized the chance, pounced forward, and bit down on the Black Wolf's nape. Wolf and dog tore into each other.

Big Black was noticeably smaller and weaker than the Black Wolf, but the wolf's waist was injured, and Big Black had gained the initiative by biting its nape. After tearing at each other for thirty or forty breaths, the wolf and dog separated. Both had gained several wounds, leaving them evenly matched.

The Black Wolf panted for a while and was about to pounce again when it saw Wang Daoyuan holding up another stone and hesitated.

If it kept fighting, the Black Wolf could indeed win, but it would also be grievously injured. It was a lone wolf separated from its pack; grievous injury meant death. Suffering severe wounds just to eat such a little brat was absolutely not worth it.

The Black Wolf made a motion as though it were about to pounce. Big Black prepared to counterattack, and Wang Daoyuan hurled the stone in his hand again—but the Black Wolf turned and ran.

Both boy and dog were somewhat disheveled. Once they came to their senses, Big Black rose to chase after it. Wang Daoyuan said, "Big Black, don't chase it. Let's hurry home."

But after the Black Wolf had run only a few zhang, a water-blue longsword descended from the sky and nailed it to the ground in a single stroke. The Black Wolf struggled a few times, then stopped moving.