Prologue

It was night!

It was raining!

The rain did not wash the gunpowder smoke from the sky. Instead, it plunged the whole region into deeper darkness.

On the official road between Luzhou and Taiyuan, a young man in white, wearing a red headscarf and a bamboo hat, galloped alone.

He paid no heed to the rain slapping against him. He only lowered his hat slightly and let the rain beat against his face below the brim.

"Hyah!"

There was more than rain. A cold wind blew, too.

It was the turning point between winter and spring. The earth had yet to warm, and the rain made the temperature even colder.

But the young man did not care. He lashed his horse again and again, wishing it could run faster.

The young man was named Li Cunsi. His original name was Lan Si, and he had been a member of the Qidian Orphanage on Blue Star. He was also an avid firearms enthusiast, passionate about assembling all kinds of guns. He had just finished his college entrance exams and should have been looking forward to a bright university career, but on the day of enrollment, a beam of light descended from the sky, whisked him away, and brought him to the world of Painted Rivers and Lakes: The Bad Guys.

As a fan of Chinese animation, Lan Si was naturally familiar with this world. Yet instead of the excitement most transmigrators felt, his heart was filled with fear. The story took place during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, another dark and chaotic age in Chinese history, no less brutal than the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians. It was a world where people truly ate one another.

Fortunately, his luck had been decent. He had met Li Keyong, King of Jin. For some reason, Li Keyong had taken to Lan Si at first sight, decided he was a once-in-a-generation martial arts prodigy, and adopted him as his sworn son. He taught him the Supreme Universe Art, gave him the name Li Cunsi, and made him the Fourteenth Taibao, following the Thirteen Taibao.

Several years later, Li Keyong's judgment proved right. Lan Si truly was a martial arts prodigy, rising from a complete novice with no knowledge of martial arts to a Medium Heaven Realm expert.

Knowing how dangerous the world of The Degenerates was, he had always kept a low profile. He spent years in seclusion, cultivating, and rarely showed himself.

Few people outside knew much about him. Even his martial arts level was known only to Li Keyong and Li Cunren, the sole woman among the Fourteen Taibao.

Until half a year ago.

Lan Si had reached a bottleneck and knew he could not break through to the Large Heaven Realm anytime soon. So he set his sights on the Five Thunders Heart Art, the technique of Zhang Xuanling, Celestial Master of the Celestial Master Mansion on Dragon Tiger Mountain.

He spent several months searching in Luzhou and found Zhang Xuanling, who had been driven mad after Li Siyuan set a trap for him.

Then, using his knowledge of the story, he spent half a month successfully tricking Zhang Xuanling into giving him the Five Thunders Heart Art.

The heavenly peak of Spirit Mountain, the icy fall; stars filled the halls of the shrine. Thunder rumbled, rain poured; the spring ran deep within the pool. A lamp burned in the eastern room, the western room lit up; through every hour, they never parted.

Knowing the general principles of the Five Thunders Heart Art, Lan Si mastered it without a hitch. He combined the Supreme Universe Art and the Five Thunders Heart Art, two of the finest techniques in the world of The Degenerates, and smoothly broke through to the Large Heaven Realm.

That one move had sent him tumbling into the abyss.

He had attracted the attention of the only being who stood at the pinnacle of the world of The Degenerates: Yuan Tiangang, the Bad Commander, a three-hundred-year-old monster.

Boom!

A thunderclap exploded.

The sky lit up in an instant, then sank back into darkness.

The rain grew heavier!

The official road turned slick and difficult to travel!

Several days of continuous travel had left Lan Si mentally and physically exhausted. The Blood-Sweating Steed beneath him let out pained whinnies.

"We're almost there. Once I reach Taiyuan, even the Bad Commander won't dare attack me openly." Looking toward Taiyuan, now not far ahead, Lan Si whipped his horse more frequently.

Boom!

Another thunderclap crashed.

Then the world blazed bright.

Just as the light faded and darkness returned, Lan Si inexplicably glanced ahead—and instantly froze.

In the flash of lightning, a figure with a gray cloth covering his face and a bamboo hat on his head stood a hundred meters ahead, hands behind his back, watching him coldly.

"The Bad Commander!"

Lan Si was shocked. He instinctively flung several Jin Heart Needles, then yanked the reins and turned off the official road.

"Hyah! Hyah!"

When he turned to look back again, the official road was nothing but darkness. The Bad Commander was nowhere to be seen.

Lan Si did not dare let his guard down. He urged his horse onward even faster, planning to take a side road into Taiyuan.

Once he took the side road and cut down the drawbridge, even the Bad Commander would not be able to catch him.

In the pitch-black rainy night, only the clatter of heavy rain and the urgent beat of hooves could be heard.

Just as Lan Si was about to reach the drawbridge, thunder boomed overhead again.

Boom!

A long, snake-like bolt of lightning flashed across the dark clouds.

In that instant, the entire sky was illuminated.

On the far side of the drawbridge, the Bad Commander stood waiting, as though he had been there for some time.

"Damn it!" Lan Si had not expected the Bad Commander to arrive so quickly. Caught off guard, his old horse stumbled, and he and the horse tumbled over the cliff. Fortunately, his inner strength was profound. Just before he fell, he sent energy surging beneath his feet, planted a foot on the horse's back, and used it to propel himself back onto the ground, escaping unharmed.

The rain gradually stopped. A breeze passed, the clouds dispersed, and pure moonlight poured down, bathing the earth in radiance.

Lan Si glanced at the mist-shrouded cliff below, then looked up at the moon. Finally, his gaze settled on the Bad Commander, who had somehow appeared at the entrance to the drawbridge. His heart sank.

"Sir, we have no grudge between us. Why pursue me so relentlessly?" Lan Si lowered himself as much as he could. He knew that unless the Bad Commander chose to spare him, there was no way he would survive.

The Bad Commander did not answer his question. His voice was hoarse as he said, "Li Cunsi. Date of birth unknown, place of origin unknown, true name unknown. No one knows your past. Three years ago, King Li Keyong took a liking to you, adopted you as his sworn son, and named you Li Cunsi, making you his Fourteenth Taibao."

"I never imagined that an insignificant nobody like me would catch the eye of someone of your standing. I'm truly embarrassed." Lan Si surveyed his surroundings without drawing attention to it, then respectfully bowed to the Bad Commander.

"Heh. An insignificant nobody? You're no nobody. What nobody could rise from a novice with no martial arts background to the Large Heaven Realm in just a few years?" The Bad Commander sneered. "You're an aberration who should never have existed. Keeping you alive will only cause trouble. You have two paths before you."

"One: death."

"Two—"

Before the Bad Commander could finish, Lan Si blurted, "I choose the second."

The Bad Commander replied in a deep voice, "Two: meet the same fate as that horse and be buried at the bottom of the cliff."

"Uh..." Lan Si's mouth twitched. Weren't both options a death sentence? He raised a hand and asked plaintively, "Um, could I choose a third path?"

"What do you think?" the Bad Commander asked impassively.

"Of course I can. For example, I could pledge my loyalty to you and act as your spy in Jin Kingdom. You see, I'm at least at the Large Heaven Realm. I may be nowhere near your level, but I could still—"

This time, Lan Si did not get to finish speaking. The Bad Commander flashed away, disappearing from where he stood. He reappeared behind Lan Si and threw a mighty punch infused with the inner power of the Tiangang Art. A fierce gale came roaring with it.

If that punch hit him, Lan Si would be dead or crippled.

Hearing the sharp rush of wind behind him, Lan Si had been ready. He no longer held anything back. He activated the Supreme Universe Art and the Five Thunders Heart Art at the same time. Lightning and blue flames swirled around him as he barely dodged the attack, then darted straight toward the drawbridge without looking back. He was as fast as Gui Mei. Once he crossed the bridge, he would be safe.

But Lan Si was fast, and the Bad Commander was faster. In the blink of an eye, he had caught up.

With no other choice, Lan Si met him palm to palm. That single clash broke Lan Si's right arm and badly injured his internal organs. He crashed onto the drawbridge, nearly dead.

"Pfft!" Lan Si spat out a mouthful of blood. He had known the gap between them was enormous, but he had never imagined it could be this vast. Before the Bad Commander, a Large Heaven Realm cultivator was no more than an ant.

The Bad Commander seemed unwilling to give Lan Si a moment to catch his breath. Even though Lan Si could no longer fight back, he surged forward and struck with all his strength.

Facing the Bad Commander's full-force attack, Lan Si knew there was no chance of survival. But he would never lie down and wait to die. He raised his left arm and drew a black handgun from inside his robes.

It was the only firearm he had successfully made without Li Keyong's knowledge. The gun could hold only a single bullet. He would not use it unless there was no other choice.

The smelting techniques in this world were simply too crude, and Lan Si knew next to nothing about forging. He was also afraid Li Keyong would grow suspicious, so he had managed to make only one antique.

"Bang!"

The barrel burst apart, and a black iron ball the size of a longan shot out, streaking toward the Bad Commander.

The Bad Commander had clearly not expected Lan Si to still be capable of fighting back. Caught slightly off guard, he reacted a beat too slowly. The bullet grazed his mask.

"Clang!"

The mask hit the ground. When the Bad Commander looked toward Lan Si, he saw him use the brief moment the bullet had forced him to dodge to summon the last of his strength and leap into the abyss.

Lying faceup, his consciousness fading, Lan Si took one last look at the Bad Commander on the drawbridge.

"What a bitter end..." With those words, Lan Si closed his eyes, and his figure vanished completely into the darkness.

P.S.: A new book begins! My previous work, Douluo: Stealing the Myriad Worlds System, is complete. Please support it!

Battle Through the Heavens: Treasure Exchange System is nearing completion.