Sha Qi Enters the Body, Inhuman Power

Atop the corner tower of the Yang Clan's fort, kind-hearted Carpenter Li clutched a wooden spear, trembling with fear.

Though he usually handled sharp-edged tools like axes and planes, Carpenter Li had never actually killed so much as a chicken. For one thing, he fainted at the sight of blood; for another, he could not bear the cries of animals at death's door. But most importantly, he had heard of the consequences of taking lives.

Once, Carpenter Li had heard a passing monk say that killing and taking lives was the most vicious and cruel of acts, the gravest of sins. Those who committed such evil deeds would, in mild cases, become entangled in resentment, their foreheads darkened as everything went wrong; in severe cases, they might even lose their minds and become bloodthirsty madmen who knew only how to kill and take lives.

Of course, if it had merely been something a monk said in passing, Carpenter Li would not have taken it seriously.

But something like that really had happened at Yang Family Fort.

It had been when the previous head of the Yang Clan ruled Yang Family Fort. Back then, however, Yang Family Fort was still called Yang Family Village. That Yang Family Village, which had no fort at the time, had also suffered a raid by the Hu people. Faced with Hu light cavalry charging on horseback with blades in hand, the people of Yang Family Village had virtually no ability to resist.

It was in that moment of peril that the previous head of the Yang Clan brought out the ancestral treasured saber and, single-handedly, slew more than a hundred Hu riders.

Yang Family Fort had won a resounding victory. It should have been a good thing.

But the problem lay precisely in that resounding victory.

After killing more than a hundred Hu riders in succession, Sha Qi had already entered the previous Yang Clan head's body. He was drenched in blood from head to toe, his eyes crimson.

Seven or eight Yang Clan descendants had intended to go greet him, only to be cut down on the spot by that two-handed war saber!

Fortunately, at the final moment, the previous Yang Clan head barely managed to regain his senses. He slit his own throat with a swing of his blade, sparing Yang Family Village from the calamity of being slaughtered to the last man.

But for Carpenter Li, who had been only a young, able-bodied man back then, that bloody scene of corpses strewn everywhere was something he would remember for the rest of his life.

Later, that saber was enshrined by the Yang family in their ancestral hall and was never used again. The able-bodied young man of that time had also learned a trade, becoming the Carpenter Li of today. He was charitable and kind to others, and was usually willing to help out young men who were willing to work. One reason was that he saw his younger self in those lads; the other was that he felt that so long as he did good and accumulated virtue in his daily life, he could avoid the disasters of war and blade.

But now, those Hu cavalrymen had come again.

It should be fine, right? Carpenter Li thought. After all, unlike back then, Yang Family Village now had its own fort. As long as everyone hid inside the fort, just as they had in recent years, those Hu light cavalrymen armed only with short bows and curved sabers would be unable to breach it and could only leave.

As for the family possessions outside the fort, and the grain in the fields that had yet to be harvested... at a critical moment like this, there was no time to worry about such things.

Being able to stay alive was already the best possible outcome. In these chaotic times, how could anyone dare hope for more?

"So, it should be fine, right?"

Watching the Hu people who had burst into the village race toward the fort in the distance, Carpenter Li could not help feeling uneasy.

It should be fine. The fort's high walls were sturdy enough; the Hu had no ladders, so they could neither climb them nor break them down. Even if some Hu men managed to scale the walls by piling themselves into human ladders, the able-bodied men stationed atop the walls would stab them down with spears. As for drawing bows and shooting arrows, the men on the walls could simply duck behind the low parapets to avoid the arrows, without suffering the slightest injury.

As for breaching the fort gates... that was even more impossible.

The fort gates had been built by Carpenter Li himself, fashioned from the finest hardwood, with planks a full foot thick. Though these two overly heavy doors had always drawn complaints from the Yang Clan descendants responsible for opening and closing them, whenever they faced Hu light cavalry, those doors, as thick and solid as walls once barred shut, still gave everyone inside the fort a reassuring sense of safety.

At times, Carpenter Li wondered whether it was because he had always accumulated virtue through good deeds that he had been able to find those eighteen trees of premium timber near Yang Family Fort. And his meticulous study of his craft over the years had turned those eighteen great trees into a solid bulwark protecting the fort.

"So, there definitely won't be any problem, right?"

With that thought, Carpenter Li poked his head over the low wall and took a brief look at the Hu riders drawing ever closer.

"There definitely won't be any problem... right?"

Carpenter Li's gaze froze.

In his line of sight, among the approaching Hu cavalry, a broad-shouldered, thick-waisted armored Hu warrior swung down from his horse.

And in that armored Hu warrior's hand was a two-handed battle-axe.

Could a single battle-axe really do anything against gates as thick and solid as walls?

"Yes! Absolutely!"

At that moment, Carpenter Li's back was completely soaked in cold sweat.

Because he had already seen the dried bloodstains clinging to that heavy battle-axe.

And the faint blood-red gleam in the armored Hu warrior's eyes!

"Quick! Logs and stones! Hurry!"

Almost on instinct, Carpenter Li shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Smash him! Throw them at him! Don't let him get close to the fort gates! Hurry!"

"...Huh?"

Hearing Carpenter Li react so violently all of a sudden, quite a few of the able-bodied men atop the walls were left bewildered.

Fortunately, some of them had already sensed the inhuman, terrifying aura emanating from the armored Hu warrior approaching the fort gates. Before the frantic Carpenter Li could rush over, they had already hurled the heavy logs prepared long ago down from the high walls.

Those things had originally been prepared to clear away the Hu cavalry's human ladders. Using them to smash just one man now seemed somewhat wasteful.

But in the next instant, those able-bodied men realized that not only was it not wasteful, it was not even enough.

Or rather, it fell far, far short.

"Hah!"

With a thunderous roar from the armored Hu warrior, the heavy battle-axe he swung cleaved the massive log crashing down at him cleanly in two.

Then, without losing any momentum, that heavy battle-axe slammed viciously into the thick fort gates!

Boom!

The dull impact was deafening, nearly rendering the able-bodied men atop the walls instantly deaf.

Beneath their feet, the ground shook as if mountains and earth were turning over.

"Wha..."

Staring at the two shattered gates that had already flown into the fort, and at the armored Hu warrior carrying his battle-axe as he led his men charging into the fort, Carpenter Li stood atop the corner tower with his mouth agape, unable to utter half a word.

It was then that the armored Hu warrior raised his head and met Carpenter Li's eyes.

With just one glance, Carpenter Li's knees went weak with terror, and he could no longer remain standing.

"Sha Qi enters the body..."

At that moment, Carpenter Li seemed to have returned to his youth, to that horrifying sea of blood and mountain of corpses.

That inhuman being had appeared before him once more.

"Monster!"

Thanks to Yishao Guang Yi Liunian, Muzi Li miss Tuzi Xiansheng Shi Ge Xiao Ke'ai, and Wo Chao Ai Ni de Fusu Lei Duanchang for their recommendation votes. I'm a newcomer with a new book; everyone's encouragement is my greatest motivation. Thank you all.