Lin Hanzhou's consciousness struggled to take shape amid a chaos of darkness.
He first noticed an overpowering stench of blood.
It was a hundred times stronger than the smell he had encountered in the palace square all those years ago.
The earthy stench and the faint sourness of corpses just beginning to rot assaulted his nostrils, making his stomach churn.
Next came the sensation of touch.
He felt as if he were lying on a warm, sticky "bed."
He instinctively moved his fingers and touched cold, rigid limbs and coarse hemp clothing.
"Hm?"
Lin Hanzhou's eyes flew open. Before him lay a scene straight out of hell.
The setting sun was blood-red, dyeing the entire sky a strange, dark crimson.
He was in a small village square, and beneath him, beside him, and all around him, more than a hundred bodies lay strewn about.
There were white-haired elders, strong young men, women whose faces were frozen in terror, and even... babies still swaddled, their eyes not yet fully open.
Fear and resentment were frozen on every face, capturing the final moment of their lives.
Their blood had gathered into thin streams, soaking the yellow earth at the village entrance until it turned dark brown.
This was a scene of slaughter, a hellish aftermath of a one-sided massacre.
Though Lin Hanzhou had once been an emperor and had seen death countless times, the horrific sight before him still made his brows knit tightly.
He slowly rose from the mountain of corpses and looked around, his mind full of questions.
"The last dynasty? Is this the world I've crossed into? And I start out in a place this gruesome?"
He could feel how abundant and youthful the power within his body was.
His second-stage cultivation in the Qi Gathering Realm and his Martial Arts Prodigy talent were both in place.
But before he could make sense of anything, a bone-chilling killing intent shot out without warning from the shadows behind him.
A streak of razor-sharp light darted toward the back of his neck, swift as a venomous snake gliding through the night.
An ambush?!
And from an opponent who was no pushover!
Any ordinary second-stage martial artist, caught off guard and facing such a vicious, well-aimed killing blow, would likely have met their end.
But Lin Hanzhou was no ordinary person.
The moment he saw the mountain of corpses, he had already been on full alert.
The instant the killing intent appeared, he sensed it.
Lin Hanzhou didn't even turn around. He simply shifted his steps, and his figure slid three feet to the left like a ghost.
The deadly flash missed him and, with a "thunk," sank deep into a corpse in front of him.
"H-He dodged it?!"
A voice full of astonishment came from the shadows.
A young man in a long, blue-green robe patterned with clouds held a sword in his hand, his face full of disbelief.
He had thought his strike was perfect, both in timing and angle.
Even a Martial Master of the same rank should never have been able to evade it so easily.
Yet what happened next shocked him even more.
The instant his attack missed and his composure wavered, Lin Hanzhou had already closed in.
"I can't believe I've barely crossed over, and things are this exciting."
The thought flashed through Lin Hanzhou's mind. Without hesitation, he drove a straight punch at the other man's face, packed with the surging power of a second-stage Qi Gathering Realm cultivator!
He used no flashy technique, only the purest force and speed.
His fist roared through the air, pulling a visible white trail of compressed air behind it!
Feeling the terrifying force bearing down on him, the young man's expression changed dramatically.
He tried to dodge, only to realize that Lin Hanzhou's movement was so exquisitely precise that it had already cut off every avenue of escape.
He couldn't understand how a youth who looked no older than seventeen or eighteen could not only have the cultivation of a Martial Master, but also move with such seasoned precision.
It made no sense!
What he didn't know was that Lin Hanzhou's century-plus in the Great Sui world had not been wasted.
Though the lack of spiritual energy had slowed his cultivation, he had long since trained his movement and swordsmanship to perfection.
Did he have any idea how much a hundred and fifty-one years of painstaking cultivation was worth?!
With no time to think, the young man could only pour all his true energy into his sword and brace it across his body to block the blow.
"Clang—!"
A deafening boom, like a great temple bell, burst through the air.
The instant fist and sword met, the young man felt a terrifying force surge along the blade and flood into his body.
It was as if a frenzied giant beast had slammed straight into him. His arms went numb, the skin between his thumb and forefinger split open, and blood sprayed everywhere.
He was sent flying dozens of meters before barely managing to steady himself.
"Pfft!"
He spat out a mouthful of blood.
Propping himself up with his sword, he dropped to one knee, his face full of horror.
Just one punch had left him seriously injured.
He realized he had picked a fight with someone far beyond his reach.
"Sir... who exactly are you?"
He forced the question out through his pain, then hurriedly introduced himself, hoping his background would intimidate his opponent.
"I am Zhou Fengyu, a disciple of the Cloud Glow Sect, one of the three great sects of the Great Gan Dynasty."
"My master is Grandmaster Luoxia of the Cloud Glow Sect. Surely you've heard of him."
He put heavy emphasis on "Cloud Glow Sect" and "Grandmaster."
In his view, no one in the Great Gan martial world could possibly have failed to hear of the Cloud Glow Sect's prestige.
And no one would dare offend a grandmaster's direct disciple.
Yet Lin Hanzhou's expression remained as cold and impassive as ever, as if he hadn't heard a word.
Cloud Glow Sect? Grandmaster?
What were those supposed to be?
If you've got the nerve, go summon him here right now.
He started forward again, using his movement technique to charge at Zhou Fengyu.
Zhou Fengyu's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Wasn't he afraid?
He actually wasn't afraid of the Cloud Glow Sect?!
How could someone cultivate to this level without ever hearing of the Cloud Glow Sect?
"Sir! Please, wait!"
"I was reckless just now. I've offended you!"
"I'm willing to compensate you for what happened today. If you're not satisfied, we can talk it over."
Seeing that Lin Hanzhou wouldn't be swayed, Zhou Fengyu shouted in a panic.
He had the potential to become a grandmaster one day. He didn't want to die here for no reason.
Lin Hanzhou sneered inwardly.
You attacked first, and every strike was meant to kill.
Now that you've lost, you want to make peace?
Since when had the world been that kind?
He had never shown the slightest mercy to anyone who tried to kill him.
He didn't slow down. If anything, he sped up, launching another punch with a sharp whistle as it drove straight toward Zhou Fengyu's chest.
Seeing this, Zhou Fengyu was terrified and could only raise his sword to block again.
But how could someone as badly injured as he was withstand Lin Hanzhou's full-force strike?
"Crack!"
A crisp bone-breaking sound rang out.
The long sword in Zhou Fengyu's hands was knocked flying.
Lin Hanzhou's fist slammed squarely into his chest.
"Pfft—!"
Zhou Fengyu's chest caved in deeply, visibly collapsing before their eyes.
Like a kite with its strings cut, he flew backward again, leaving a spray of blood in his wake.
"You..."
His face was as pale as paper as he struggled to beg for mercy once more.
But Lin Hanzhou gave him no chance. In an instant, he was standing before him.
In his hand was the very sword he had just knocked from Zhou Fengyu's grasp.
The icy blade was already pressed against Zhou Fengyu's neck.
"Next time, before ambushing someone, remember to size up your own weight first."
Before the words had even faded, Lin Hanzhou swept the sword down in a clean, decisive stroke.
A fine head soared into the air.
Zhou Fengyu, the Cloud Glow Sect's grandmaster's direct disciple, still had endless fear and resentment in his eyes.
But none of it could change the fact that he was dead.
After finishing off his opponent, Lin Hanzhou casually flicked the blood from the sword.
He went over to Zhou Fengyu's corpse and began the familiar business of "searching the body."
Soon, he found a money pouch in Zhou Fengyu's robes, containing several dozen taels of silver in loose coin.
Besides that, there were two stitched-bound manuals.
One was titled Cloud Glow Heart Method.
The other was titled Flowing Cloud Sword Technique.
Lin Hanzhou didn't look through them just yet. He simply tucked away the silver and manuals.
Once he had done all that, he could finally calm down and sort through the memories of the body's original owner.
Before you continue