Encountering Danger

Northern Abyss Cultivation World, Zhao Kingdom, Qingli Commandery.

A small village by the banks of Qingxi Creek sat isolated in the wilderness, with no other settlements for dozens of li in any direction. The village was called Qingxi Village, home to about a hundred households.

At the eastern edge of the village, a young boy walked eastward along the riverbank, his hands clasped behind his back like an adult.

It was already late autumn, and the riverbanks were covered in reeds. A gentle breeze swept through, sending the reed catkins dancing like a blizzard of snow.

A li beyond the village, the farmland gave way to thickets of shrubs.

These bushes were still lush and verdant, their branches dense with leaves. The drifting catkins settled on them in a thin layer, making the thickets look as if they bore frost and snow with unyielding grace.

The boy had no interest in the scenery. He wandered aimlessly, thoughts churning in his mind: "What rotten luck, getting struck by lightning even indoors. But lucky in misfortune—I've been reborn, and in this life, there's actually such a thing as cultivation."

He wasn't an ordinary child. He was a transmigrator, once an unremarkable office worker in the Huaxia Nation on Earth, named Wang Daoyuan.

He had crossed into this cultivation world because of a bead.

In his past life, Wang Daoyuan had been taken in as a child by an old Daoist, following him around to perform Feng Shui geomancy and exorcisms.

Later, that line of work grew harder to sustain. Fearing his disciple would have no livelihood, the old Daoist sent him to school.

Wang Daoyuan lived up to his master's hopes, got into university, and after graduation found a decent job in the city. The old Daoist enjoyed a few years of comfort with him.

When Wang Daoyuan turned thirty, the old Daoist—whose true age was unknown—finally reached the end of his life.

Before his passing, the old Daoist passed on his "legacy" to Wang Daoyuan. This legacy included a grayish-purple, translucent glass bead, along with some books on Feng Shui geomancy, divination, and fortune-telling.

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

He never knew what sin that bead had committed. As he was fiddling with it, a bolt of lightning struck. Wang Daoyuan was caught in the collateral damage and reduced to ash.

His last conscious moment was becoming a fist-sized figure trapped in a dark environment. When he regained his past-life memories, he was already a five-year-old child.

In this life, Wang Daoyuan was born in Qingxi Village and started clan school at age four.

According to the teacher at the clan school, the villagers of Qingxi weren't ordinary mortals but members of the Wang cultivation clan from Jade Spring Peak, a thousand li away. Every year, the clan's "immortals" came to test children who had just turned ten for cultivation aptitude.

Qingxi Village sat at the edge of the Wang clan's territory. A few hundred li to the east lay lands infested with demon beasts. As a result, "immortals" often passed through, protecting the village from beast attacks.

Wang Daoyuan had seen the clan's "immortals" a few times. They all wore white robes with golden-thread embroidery on their cuffs—the clan emblem, a fish with a dragon's head.

Before recovering his past-life memories, Wang Daoyuan had been no different from an ordinary child in intelligence. His parents had told him never to disrespect the "immortals," so he had always kept his distance.

Without realizing it, he had walked two or three li from the village.

Wild beasts and even demon beasts occasionally appeared near the village. The "immortals" had killed enough of them to keep them from attacking the village outright, but they still dared to target lone villagers nearby.

He turned to look at the village and realized he had wandered too far. The adults always warned that no one should leave the village alone, or they'd be taken by wolves.

Having just awakened his past-life memories, his mind was in a fog, and he had forgotten that rule.

Now that he realized it, he immediately turned back.

A five-year-old child was utterly defenseless against a wild beast—a perfect snack.

He hadn't taken more than a few steps when he heard the sound of snapping branches from a thicket over ten zhang behind him.

He turned to look. A black wolf burst from the bushes and lunged at him.

In his past life, he had practiced some so-called cultivation techniques with the old Daoist, but they hadn't amounted to much. He had also trained in some martial arts, enough to handle four or five grown men.

But now he was just a five-year-old. No amount of skill could make up for the lack of physical strength against a wolf.

Having lived two lives and spent thirty years with the old Daoist, Wang Daoyuan wasn't like ordinary people who froze in danger. He knew he couldn't fight the wolf, so he had to run and call for help.

He dove into the thicket ahead, shouting for help at the top of his lungs.

Wolves were far faster than ordinary humans and had incredible stamina. How could a five-year-old outrun one?

Even though he twisted through the bushes, using their dense branches to slow the wolf's calf-sized body, the distance between them kept shrinking.

In less than twenty breaths, the black wolf was less than two chi away. It lunged forward, jaws wide, aiming for him.

A wave of helplessness washed over Wang Daoyuan. "In my past life, I died to a random lightning strike. Reborn into a cultivation world, I wanted to make something of myself, and now I'm going to die pathetically in this beast's mouth."

At that critical moment, a black shadow shot out from the side, slamming into the wolf's flank.

The wolf's saliva had already dripped onto Wang Daoyuan, but the impact sent it tumbling over a zhang away.

The shadow landed, and Wang Daoyuan recognized it as his family's dog—Big Black.

Big Black bared its teeth, growling threateningly, eyes locked on the wolf.

Wolves had "heads of bronze, brains of iron, and waists of tofu." The wolf's waist had taken a hit and was injured. Its stance was off, but it didn't retreat. It bared its fangs back at Big Black.

Wang Daoyuan quickly moved behind Big Black, picked up a rock the size of his fist, and readied himself to throw it at the wolf.

The wolf was injured but still had most of its fighting strength. It hadn't faced Big Black head-on yet and didn't know the dog's capabilities. Leaving now would be a bitter pill to swallow.

Suddenly, the wolf struck first, charging at Big Black. Wang Daoyuan hurled the rock at the wolf's head.

The throw was weak, but the wolf instinctively dodged. Big Black seized the moment, lunging forward and clamping its jaws on the wolf's nape. The two tore into each other.

Big Black was smaller and weaker than the wolf, but the wolf's injured waist and Big Black's early grip on its neck evened the odds. After thirty or forty breaths of struggle, they separated, both bearing fresh wounds. It was a draw.

The wolf panted for a moment, then prepared to lunge again. It hesitated when it saw Wang Daoyuan holding another rock.

The wolf could win if it kept fighting, but it would be badly hurt. As a lone wolf, serious injury meant death. Eating a brat wasn't worth that risk.

The wolf feigned a lunge, and Big Black braced for a counterattack. Wang Daoyuan threw his rock again, but the wolf turned and ran.

Both boy and dog were stunned. When they snapped out of it, Big Black started to give chase. Wang Daoyuan said, "Big Black, don't chase. Let's go home."

The black wolf had barely run a few zhang when a water-blue longsword descended from the sky, pinning it to the ground. The wolf struggled a few times, then went still.