Soul-Reaping Messengers

With Magnetic Rotation, powerhouses who had reached the Twentieth Heaven no longer needed food. Magnetic Rotation's power could automatically transform the matter around them into the nutrients they needed.

After surviving on the wind and dew from the start, Lu Bian had undergone yet another transformation of life. He had gone from needing to breathe through his nose and mouth to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to drawing it into his body automatically.

This change had taken his training efficiency to another level.

Now it was hard for him to get tired. Once he started practicing, he could go three or four days before taking a break.

Stillness bred restlessness.

After staying in one place for a long time, Lu Bian wanted to travel again.

He was in Dali Kingdom now, a place of wind, flowers, snow, and moonlight, blessed with some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world. It felt like a waste of his now excessively healthy body to stay cooped up at home.

During the first half of his life, when he was sick, Lu Bian had often seen classmates and friends posting travel photos on their social media. They would say that nothing beat their own beds, but deep down, he'd longed to travel far away like them and be able to withstand the rigors of the journey.

When the urge struck, he went.

Lu Bian mounted his donkey and headed for the capital of Dali Kingdom.

Off to Dali.

Before crossing over, he'd heard plenty about the fame of Cang Mountain and Erhai Lake in Dali. Now he could see them for himself.

Dali Kingdom was a small nation tucked away in a corner, surviving between Great Song, Great Liao, and Western Xia thanks to its advantageous location. Its territory was modest, but it was rich in resources and home to many small tribes. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the Qin Imperial Road had been built here, and Yizhou Prefecture had been established under the rule of the central empire. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, it had been called Ning Prefecture. Then, in the Sui and Tang dynasties, it had become the independent Nanzhao Kingdom. After two failed campaigns by Great Tang, the two sides had formed an alliance at Diancang Mountain. Now Dali Kingdom had been established, inheriting the territory of Nanzhao Kingdom... This land had been deeply influenced by the Central Plains in every way.

"Is anyone there? Help... Help..."

As Lu Bian walked along a mountain path, he suddenly heard someone calling for help from a deep ravine below.

Lu Bian got off his donkey and peered down into the ravine.

A man carrying firewood was shouting.

"What happened to you?" Lu Bian jumped down and asked, standing beside him.

If it was a demon out to take someone's life, Lu Bian would treat it to an Ultimate Palm Thunder. If it was just an unlucky mountain dweller, he'd help him up.

"I was out chopping wood today, and I was carrying a bit too much. I slipped and fell. I only started calling out when I heard someone walking along the path above." The woodcutter quietly explained.

Seeing that the woodcutter's face was deathly pale and his body was trembling, Lu Bian asked, "Where are you hurt? Or are you sick?"

The woodcutter pointed to his leg. "My leg..."

"It's just broken. No problem."

Lu Bian placed a hand on the woodcutter's broken leg and gave him cell-recombination therapy.

"All right, try moving around," Lu Bian said.

"...Sorry for the trouble, but I can't get up. I'm carrying too much firewood."

Lu Bian reached out and untied the rope binding the firewood to the woodcutter, so he could stand.

"Thank you! Thank you!"

His leg was fine and his life had been saved. The woodcutter knelt before Lu Bian to thank him, but Lu Bian quickly held him up.

"How can I ever repay your great kindness?!"

The woodcutter burst into tears.

"Don't shed crocodile tears. Just let me stay at your place for the night, and that'll be repayment enough," Lu Bian told him.

"Good! Good!"

Lu Bian carried the firewood up first, then helped the man up.

He had his donkey carry half the wood, so the man wouldn't lose his balance again, fall off the path, and tumble back into the ravine.

The woodcutter led the way. In the distance, Lu Bian saw a village halfway up the mountain, with terraced fields beside it—ordinary rice terraces.

"Coo-coo! Coo!"

As they drew close to the village, Lu Bian heard a spotted dove calling.

He used to hear the dove's melodious cry when he was nearing his grandmother's house.

A sense of nostalgia welled up in him.

"My house is the second one up that slope."

The woodcutter pointed out his home.

"The first house at the bottom of the slope belongs to my elder brother. My parents live with him and his family."

"My family's surname is Chai. My parents only had two sons, my brother and me. My wife died giving birth a few years ago. When I go out to work, my mother and sister-in-law look after my child."

"Oh, I see." Lu Bian nodded.

Hearing the woodcutter pour out his whole family situation in one go, Lu Bian silently marveled at the simple-heartedness of the mountain folk.

After leading Lu Bian into his courtyard, the man surnamed Chai put down the firewood and invited him to sit and rest.

"A-Quan, you have a guest?" someone called to him from outside the courtyard.

"Uncle, I accidentally fell into a ravine today. This big brother here saved me."

"Oh! He's the one who saved your life!"

"Yeah!"

A-Quan boiled some water and put wild mountain tea leaves into the kettle.

"Benefactor, I'm going to talk to my elder brother about something. Please rest at my house for now."

Lu Bian nodded.

After a while, A-Quan came back.

"Benefactor, would you be willing to stay for another couple of days? My elder brother says we have to thank you properly."

"I... shouldn't impose on you for too long."

"I'll keep traveling tomorrow," Lu Bian told A-Quan.

"Is that so? Then I'll go tell my elder brother."

A-Quan hurried back down the slope.

Before long, Lu Bian heard a pig let out a bloodcurdling squeal.

He got up and looked down from the slope.

A-Quan had actually gathered a bunch of people. He, his brother, his father, and some relatives dragged a huge black pig out of its pen, carried it to a chopping block, and slaughtered it.

A-Quan's elder brother took a knife and carefully butchered the black pig. Then people from half the village showed up. Every household brought out its tables and chairs and set them along the village road, preparing for a pig feast.

A-Quan came up the slope. "Benefactor, this is my elder brother. Just call him A You. He heard you were leaving tomorrow, so he decided to slaughter a pig today and treat you."

"Uh..."

"It's all right. We were going to slaughter this pig for New Year anyway. We'll just celebrate early," A-Quan told Lu Bian.

"Oh, all right."

Lu Bian couldn't think of anything else to say. The mountain folk were so warm and sincere that he was moved.

Lu Bian felt that A-Quan and his brother were going a bit overboard with their gratitude, but refusing would hurt their feelings even more.

The sun sank in the west, but the whole village was bustling with activity. All twenty or thirty villagers had come to eat at the pig feast hosted by A-Quan's family.

The entire pig was eaten that day. Not a scrap of meat was left.

"This is homemade wine from our village. It won't get you drunk!"

Lu Bian sat at the main table, eating meat as villagers young and old took turns offering him drinks. He discovered that the women in the village could drink more than the men, and even the children had been taught to drink from a young age.

They drank and ate as night fell. A great bonfire was lit in the village, and some villagers began dancing around it.

They danced after eating, and they danced after drinking themselves silly. The villagers didn't stop until late into the night.

They said the homemade wine wouldn't get anyone drunk, but more than half the village had gotten drunk.

The weather was still warm, and the night wasn't cold. One by one, people sprawled across the tables, while those who were really drunk lay on the ground.

Lu Bian was the most sober of all. He found a good spot to lean against and rest.

He'd eaten far too much that night. Everyone at his table kept piling more food and rice into his bowl. If he looked away for even a moment, someone would refill it when it was only half empty. The villagers' enthusiasm had even made Lu Bian, usually so shy around people, feel overwhelmed.

He rested with his eyes half closed...

In the middle of the night, Lu Bian suddenly opened his eyes.

His Magnetic Rotation sense told him that two unusual magnetic fields had appeared.

Following the two unusual magnetic fields, Lu Bian saw two people.

One was black, the other white.

One wore a hat that read "I'm here to catch you," while the other wore one that read "There you are."

"Black and White Impermanence!" Lu Bian cried out in surprise.

Black and White Impermanence, who had been hooking souls, turned around at once and looked at Lu Bian.

A childhood nightmare had come to life. This was the most terrifying kind of Chinese horror!