Eerie Transformation, Soul-Stirring Terror!

At that moment.

Jiang Tu felt that he had formed an exceedingly subtle connection with this world.

The feeling was profound and mysterious, like a resonance between heaven and man. He took a deep breath and tried to guide that sensation of merging into the earth—

Whoosh!

His figure vanished from where he stood.

Beneath the ground, a shadow darted swiftly like a fish entering water. Wherever it passed, the soil silently bulged before quietly closing again, leaving no trace behind.

Hiss! Crash!

At the doorway, he burst out of the earth, cold moonlight spilling over his body.

Drenched in sweat, Jiang Tu braced himself against the door and gasped violently. His chest heaved, his legs went weak, and it felt as though his body had been hollowed out. Yet he still could not help shouting in a low voice!

"It worked!!"

The Earth Escape Technique!

The first truly supernatural ability of his life! It could stand shoulder to shoulder with Daoist Sect spells!

Jiang Tu clenched his fists in excitement and cheered under his breath.

This ability excelled in practicality and mobility. He could leave whenever he wanted, flee whenever he needed... If he truly encountered danger, he could immediately use Earth Escape to get away, catch his enemy off guard, and flee at lightning speed. It suited him perfectly!

Though he could currently only travel three to five steps, and only once a day, the future was full of promise!

The sensory experience of Earth Escape was exceptional as well. The instant he merged into the earth, it was as if the earth itself had become a part of his body—no, his body and the earth had fused together, inseparable! There was not the slightest suffocating feeling he had imagined. He could even breathe more smoothly than when standing aboveground.

The sea was wide enough for fish to leap, the sky high enough for birds to fly!

With roots beneath his feet, he had confidence in his heart!

"Good!" Jiang Tu wiped away his sweat and grinned.

Eighth Grade "Field Steward"—achieved!

More importantly, now that he possessed a genuine supernatural ability, that wondrous feeling of becoming one with heaven and earth filled him with even greater anticipation for future sequence breakthroughs. As his grade continued to rise, would he truly be able to merge with heaven and earth and command the great Dao of heaven and earth?

This was what it meant to transcend the mundane, shed mortality, and seek immortality!

Wonderful!

He could not wait!

The night passed without incident.

The next day, when the sky had only just begun to brighten, Jiang Tu got out of bed. He found several farmhands nearby and gave them instructions in the courtyard.

He planned to dig a vegetable cellar inside the house, then dig a deep well in the backyard.

The farmhands carried hoes and iron shovels as they stood in a circle, listening to his orders.

Jiang Tu explained everything in great detail: how deep the vegetable cellar needed to be, how to reinforce its walls, how to set beams for its roof... where to dig the deep well, how deep to make it, how to lay the well curb, and how high the well platform should be.

His true intentions were hidden beneath his words.

Beside the vegetable cellar, he intended to secretly dig another underground dry field. He would open a skylight to maintain sunlight. In the future, he could transplant the crops harvested from his fields, as well as the premium-quality dryland crops obtained through Evolution Settlement, and cultivate them in secret.

Likewise, inside the deep well, he would carve out a water chamber beside the well wall and reclaim it into a paddy field. By drawing in running water, he could prepare for aquatic premium-quality crops and rice seeds.

He could not entrust these matters to anyone else.

The farmhands would only be responsible for digging the vegetable cellar and the well. He would secretly do the rest himself.

"Brother Tu, you just got yourself a farmstead and you're already making such a fuss—digging a cellar and drilling a well. You really can't sit still! When other people buy a house, they spend the first year recuperating and building themselves up. But look at you."

"Exactly! Tidying things up in such a hurry—could it be that you're planning to marry a wife?"

"Heh, now that you mention it! I reckon that's exactly what Brother Tu has in mind. Think about it: a new house, a new well, a new vegetable cellar, and once the courtyard is properly arranged, wouldn't it give the matchmaker something good to talk about when she came calling?"

Everyone burst into laughter.

"That's right, that's right! You should have married long ago! You're nearly thirty—how can you not have someone by your side who knows whether you're cold or warm?"

"Brother Tu, I'll introduce you to someone later! There's a girl in my wife's maternal village—fresh and lovely! She's called the village's single blossom!"

Jiang Tu smiled and responded to each of them, but something stirred faintly in his heart.

He had mentioned taking a wife before, but that had merely been an offhand excuse to tactfully refuse Manager Qian's overtures. His real goal was immortality, Evolution, sequence breakthroughs, and ascending to heaven. The things ordinary people yearned for—marrying, having children, passing down the family line—held no meaning for him, at least not for now.

But hearing these people bring it up again and again made him quietly wary.

That was right! On the surface, he was now an ordinary farmer, already twenty-seven years old. If he kept putting off arranging a marriage, it would seem far too suspicious.

In this world, if a man in his prime had a house, land, and property yet never started a family, anyone who saw it would have a few words to say.

And if enough people talked, suspicion would inevitably arise.

If he was putting on a show, he had to see it through to the end.

Later... perhaps he ought to find himself a "fake wife"?

Jiang Tu lowered his eyes and calculated inwardly.

There was no rush. This matter required long-term planning. Once his foundation was steadier, finding an excuse to "marry" a wife from elsewhere would not be difficult.

There were no years in the village.

Stars shifted and time changed, the world transformed, and the days hurried past.

Every day, Jiang Tu worked diligently in the fields, mingling with farmers, tenant farmers, and servants. He remained a hardworking and capable master, never sparing effort at work, never treating others harshly, and handing out rice, grain, and meat during every festival.

Occasionally, under the persuasion of matchmakers, he went out to meet prospective brides. He went through the motions, ate a meal, then returned and brushed the matter aside with evasions.

The farmstead grew larger year by year. It began as a small two-story building, then was expanded to three stories, then into an inner and outer courtyard. Later, a long corridor was built, a goldfish pond was dug, several flowering trees were transplanted, and a few modest scenic touches were added.

At some point, the plaque reading [Jiang Family Farmstead] was replaced with [Jiang Family Courtyard]. Though it could not compare with the deep compounds and grand residences of truly wealthy households, among the farmers of Locust Tree Village and their tiny plots of land, it had become the most imposing estate around.

The fertile fields outside the courtyard grew from the original ten mu to twenty, then thirty... and eventually, a full one hundred and twenty mu!

There were plow oxen in the fields and sheep grazing on the land. All manner of crops were rotated according to season, growing splendidly and yielding bountiful harvests every year. In the distance stood a row of newly built homes for farmers and servants, all neat blue brick and gray tile.

Without realizing it, Jiang Family Courtyard had hired nearly thirty farmers, along with five servants to manage daily life, sweep the courtyard, feed the cattle and sheep, guard the gate, and keep watch at night. Each had their own duties, and everything was in perfect order.

The story of Jiang Tu, who had started from nothing as a hired hand, continued spreading among the farmers. Whenever he was mentioned, everyone praised him endlessly.

"Brother Tu is truly a great benefactor!"

"Isn't that so? He never withholds wages, hands out rice and grain during the holidays, and occasionally even hosts a feast for all the households. He's far better than those wealthy families!"

"That man truly knows how to farm, and he's different from those people with Awakened Wisdom... Whenever he talks about scratching a living from the soil, he explains everything so clearly that people gain a great deal from listening!"

But there was another matter that people discussed even more often over tea and meals.

Jiang Tu had passed thirty. After the New Year, he would be thirty-three, yet he still had no wife or concubines by his side, nor even a single child under his knee. Everyone around him was deeply concerned about his marriage, and those wishing to introduce someone came in an endless stream, nearly wearing down the threshold of Jiang Family Courtyard.

The twenty-eighth year of the Jingtai Era, Winter Solstice.

Snow drifted over the great river. The year had deepened into winter.

Both banks of the Spirit River lay blanketed in white. A thin layer of ice had formed over the river's surface, crystal-clear beneath the bright silver moonlight. The bustling ferry crossing of old had become much quieter. Several ferries sat moored by the shore, their hulls covered in snow, while the north wind swept across the wilderness and rolled up clouds of snow spray.

Icicles hung from the branches of dead roadside trees. Occasionally, a branch snapped, startling several winter crows into flight as they cawed and flew away.

Smoke from cooking fires was thin in the village, and every household kept its doors and windows tightly shut.

Twenty li outside Dajiang County, deep in a desolate forest, late at night.

Tap tap tap tap—

A frantic sprint!

A man dressed in rough farmer's clothes was fleeing for his life through the dense forest.

He carried a man and a woman across his back, with four children tucked beneath his arms. He was covered in blood and panting like an ox. A bone-deep wound on his left arm emitted black vapor that continually corroded his flesh and seeped blood, staining half his robe blackish red.

Yet lotus flowers seemed to bloom beneath every step he took, and he moved with astonishing speed. A single step carried him four or five zhang, far beyond the capabilities of ordinary people.

Still, he felt he was too slow and desperately accelerated, as though some boundless terror pursued him from behind. One step slower, and he would be doomed beyond redemption!

In the darkness, from the direction of Dajiang County—

Flames soared into the sky.

Thick smoke rose through the night, forming huge pillars that dyed half the sky dark red. Blood flowed everywhere, corpses carpeted the ground, and cries, screams, and the thunderous collapse of houses blended together. Even from so far away, they could still be faintly heard.

Numerous bizarre shadows flitted through the ruins.

They were absolutely not living people!

Those shadows moved stiffly, their joints twisted at grotesque angles. Some walked backward, some had heads turned completely around upon their necks, and some constantly swelled and shrank as they swayed unsteadily.

Specters!

There were countless numbers of them, hundreds upon thousands, spreading across the earth like a black cloud.

Crack!

A thunderbolt tore apart the night sky, its ghastly white light illuminating the dense forest.

In that flash of lightning, several grotesque specters could be seen in the distance. Their faces were as pale as paper, with no eyeballs—only two black hollows. Their mouths split all the way to their ears, revealing jagged sharp teeth. Their flesh was bloody and mangled, white bones exposed beneath scraps of meat. Black water seeped from their bodies as they walked, dripping onto the ground with a sizzling sound.

Run!

Keep running!

Wang Congyun, who had been traveling down the mountain for five and a half years, gritted his teeth and never stopped moving. He did not dare turn around, but the howls, chewing, and crawling of those specters surged toward him from behind like a tide, drawing ever closer!

Crack!

The bushes to one side suddenly rustled violently.

A ferocious face poked out, and a wave of stench struck him head-on. Drool dripped down as the specter revealed three faces—one in front and one on each side. Each face bore a different expression: laughing, crying, or numb. Six eyes stared fixedly at the children under Wang Congyun's arms.

"Ah—!" The children screamed in terror and desperately shrank backward.

The Many-Faced Specter sprang from the woods at incredible speed and lunged straight at them!

Wang Congyun's pupils contracted sharply. He had no time to dodge, much less draw his Daoist sword. Both his hands were occupied, and people were still slung over his shoulders. His heart was willing, but his strength was lacking.

There was only one way!

He bit through the tip of his tongue. Agonizing pain exploded in his mouth, and a scarlet stream of blood burst forth, containing supremely hard and pure Daoist Sect true qi. It became a blood arrow that struck the lunging Many-Faced Specter squarely in the face!

In the next instant, the aura around him plummeted, as though he had paid an enormous price.

Pfft!

The bloodline touched the specter's face with a shrill corrosive hiss. Sizzle, crackle—its three faces twisted at once, flesh rotting as black water splattered everywhere. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a puddle of meat sludge, splashing onto the ground and leaving a string of little pits that smoked with bloody vapor.

Wang Congyun did not even have time to catch his breath. He continued running, and only after fleeing several more li did the howls of the specters gradually fade behind him.

Much later.

After sprinting forty li to a secluded mountain ravine, he finally stopped. Sheer cliffs rose from both sides as though carved by a blade, while the dried-up streambed between them was strewn with jagged rocks. Moonlight leaked through the gaps in the gorge, illuminating the ravine floor in a ghastly white.

Wang Congyun hurriedly stopped and gently set down the man and woman he had carried on his back. Then he carefully placed the four children from beneath his arms onto the ground.

Afterward, he collapsed on the spot atop the pile of rocks, gasping great mouthfuls of air. His chest rose and fell violently, his throat rasping hoarsely. Sweat mixed with blood and ran down his body. Beneath the moonlight, his lean side profile was revealed, somewhat simple and honest in appearance.

At that moment, his entire body was trembling.

Whether from exhaustion, fear, or both, he did not know.

After a brief rest, he ignored himself and struggled to his feet, carefully examining the injuries of those he had saved. The man and woman had both fallen unconscious. The four children were awake, but each was trembling in a ball, their eyes vacant, as though fright had driven their souls from their bodies.

Wang Congyun reached out to check the man's breathing. It was still heavy and strong. He only had a few superficial wounds, none fatal. He had likely been frightened beyond measure...

But the woman was already heavily pregnant. After suddenly suffering such a calamity, she barely had half a breath left!

She would not live long!

What should he do?!