Double Dayun

"Ohh-roar..."

A spine-chilling sound rang out from within the storm, shaking heaven and earth and drowning out even the thunderous sandstorm.

After that single roar, all fell quiet again. Outside the Five-Colored Altar, only the sandstorm continued to rumble.

Jiang Zhu woke from his daze with his mind utterly blank. A stabbing pain pierced his brow, as though a hole had been bored clean through it. A shrill buzzing filled his ears, and his eyelids felt so heavy that opening them took all his strength.

Crimson filled his vision. The reddish-brown earth was cold and desolate, and a curtain of light shrouded the sky. Rough stones lay beneath him. Not far away, a group of young people in their twenties stood on a stone platform.

They looked tense, clustered in twos and threes. Those at the center all held implements, as though guarding against something.

Jiang Zhu lay sprawled on the ground, observing his surroundings while gathering his strength. Before long, another deafening sound reached his ears.

Clang... The bell rang long and clear, its solemn, mighty voice resonating like the great ceremonial bells of old.

Jiang Zhu had only just begun to recover when the sound rattled him into another daze. He looked toward its source.

Golden light surged from a man holding a small bronze bell. Radiant golden light poured from the bell and enveloped him, as though he had donned a dazzling suit of golden battle armor, like a deity descending into the mortal world.

Beside him, another man with a gentle appearance stepped forward with an ancient bronze lamp in hand. He blew hard at its wick, sending a searing jet of flame erupting outward.

The flame shot eight or nine feet out and knocked down an unknown creature with a hideous appearance.

The unknown creature was about the size of an ordinary person's middle finger. It resembled a crocodile, but had no legs, and black scales covered its entire body. It stared coldly at the gentle-looking man like a vicious ghost, its piercing, wretched roar sending chills down everyone's spine.

Its exposed fangs were terrifyingly sharp, glittering with cold light like tiny boning knives.

Beside the gentle-looking man stood a burly man with thick eyebrows and large eyes, swinging an enormous bronze plaque with all his might.

The dazzling light radiating from the bronze plaque enveloped his entire body. Bathed in Buddhist light, he looked like a god of war brandishing his weapon.

The others rushed forward as well, their implements glowing as they hacked and smashed at the hideous crocodile-like creature.

Though surrounded and pursued from every side, the creature was too fast. Like a streak of black lightning, it darted and dodged across the stone platform, leaving them hard-pressed to finish it off anytime soon.

Watching the scene before him, as though a myth had come to life, Jiang Zhu's head filled with question marks.

Where the hell had I ended up?

Was this even Earth anymore?

Rip!

The sound of something piercing the curtain of light rang out. Several ugly creatures identical to the first broke through it. Their gazes were as chilling as those of evil spirits, and they stared at everyone with utter hatred, as though nursing a blood feud that could never be reconciled.

Their stares sent chills down Jiang Zhu's spine, but he could do nothing. The pain in his brow was unbearable, and his entire body lay limp and powerless.

"Why are there so many?"

"What kind of creatures are these?"

"Pang Bo, stop chasing it. Let's stay together."

The voices from nearby gave Jiang Zhu a sudden jolt.

Pang Bo, Mars, unknown creatures resembling crocodiles, and young men and women holding Buddhist implements of all shapes and sizes.

Jiang Zhu's brain froze for a moment, then a flood of memories surged through it.

I'd transmigrated? Into Shrouding the Heavens, at that?

A sword art, neither Pingluan nor Immortal Tribulation!

This was Shrouding the Heavens, that magnificent, vast world where beauty drew sighs along the road to immortality, and time cut down heaven's chosen like a blade.

Good news: I could cultivate!

Bad news: after cultivating, I might get killed by some brute!

Even worse news: even if nobody killed me, a bunch of old geezers in the forbidden zones were waiting for dinner.

The body's lingering memories surfaced as well. A strange look crossed Jiang Zhu's face. I'd actually become one of Ye Fan's university classmates, a background extra who died on the Five-Colored Altar when a Little Divine Crocodile pierced his skull?

"Aooo-roar..."

Suddenly, a roar that shook the soul rang out. Even the sandstorm outside the Five-Colored Altar seemed to freeze in an instant, leaving only the beast's thunderous roar rolling and surging through the air.

The earth trembled continuously, and the Five-Colored Altar shook along with it, forcing Jiang Zhu, who lay sprawled on the altar, to break off his recollections.

The earth shook violently again. A terrifying aura surged from a thousand meters away, reaching up to the azure heavens and down to the Yellow Springs, roiling between heaven and earth!

Despite the sandstorm blocking their view, everyone still saw two blood moons appear amid the ruins of the Great Thunderclap Temple.

The place resembled an extinct volcano that had erupted anew. Red sandstorms blotted out the sky and sun, and boulders the size of millstones crashed down near the Five-Colored Altar amid rolling thunder and relentless upheaval.

At that moment, a female classmate who had visited the snowy region explained the vicious creature's possible origins. He might be the Crocodile Ancestor, an unparalleled demon suppressed by the Buddha, while the smaller creatures were his descendants.

I was going to die, die, die.

Jiang Zhu wailed inwardly, but with a gaping hole in his head, his body refused to obey him. Merely opening his eyes was already his limit.

Seeing no way to save himself, Jiang Zhu blinked frantically, hoping his classmates would notice him.

Help me, help me, h-help, help!

But everyone else was discussing the Crocodile Ancestor with tense expressions. No one noticed him.

A rustling sound reached them as thousands upon thousands of little crocodiles appeared outside the Five-Colored Altar, straining to burrow inside.

Boom!

Just then, the Five-Colored Altar trembled. A Taiji Eight Trigrams Diagram appeared in the sky, five-colored runes flowing and light blazing-a sign that the Starry Sky Ancient Road was about to open.

At the same time, however, a terrible tremor came from the ruins of the Great Thunderclap Temple over a thousand meters away. The two blood moons rose several dozen feet higher. The terrifying creature suppressed underground was breaking free of the subterranean palace's restraints, seeking to burst out onto the surface.

The Taiji Eight Trigrams Diagram in the sky had already taken shape, with eight-trigram runes flickering ceaselessly around it.

Everyone was watching the Eight Trigrams Diagram in the sky now. No one noticed him.

Jiang Zhu's heart, which had hung in suspense, finally gave up the ghost.

I was tired. Let it all end. Hurry up.

Wait, why wasn't I dead yet? Could a mere fatal wound really not be enough to kill someone?

With his head wide open, his thoughts were hardly coherent, and they wandered off course at the slightest provocation.

Jiang Zhu pulled his thoughts back and carefully searched for anything that might keep him alive.

Just then, something suddenly drew Jiang Zhu's attention. He discovered an object inside the gaping hole in his head.

The object had an unusual shape, resembling neither metal nor stone, and was brownish-green all over.

It had a broad rim and a narrow base. The bottom resembled a ritual cauldron, but lacked legs. Its middle looked like a simple, ancient clay pot, with a handle on either side and intricate runes and totems carved into its body. Its lid resembled the roof and eaves of an ancient celestial palace, grand and imposing.

The moment Jiang Zhu's mind touched the pot, a strange power surged from it and began repairing the hole in his head.

At the same time, a stream of information entered Jiang Zhu's mind.

This pot was called the Demon-Refining Pot. It could smelt the bloodlines of demonic beasts, refine away their impurities, and return them to their origins, obtaining the purest source bloodlines. These could be merged into the human body to strengthen oneself, while also granting the innate abilities contained within those source bloodlines.

It could also refine otherwise useless demonic beast blood into precious blood rich in energy, which could be used for cultivation.

The Demon-Refining Pot also contained a strange space, so vast that it seemed capable of holding heaven and earth within it.

But why did those marks on the Demon-Refining Pot look so much like sword scars?

So this was my cheat-or rather, the culprit behind my transmigration. After comprehending the information transmitted by the Demon-Refining Pot, Jiang Zhu finally understood.

Before transmigrating, Jiang Zhu had been on his way home from work. Since he lived in the suburbs, he had to cross a national highway every time he went home. Plenty of accidents had occurred on that road. He was always cautious when crossing it, and that day had been no exception.

Just as he reached the middle of the road, a Dayun heavy truck came roaring toward him from the right. Jiang Zhu's sharp eyes and quick legs carried him swiftly around and running back the way he had come. Who could have known that another Dayun would come hurtling past behind him? The last thing Jiang Zhu saw was the Demon-Refining Pot hanging from the front of the truck.

Recalling the cause of his transmigration, Jiang Zhu sighed. He was just a lowly corporate drone. Did he really warrant two Dayun trucks?

Good thing I always used incognito mode!

Fortunately, he still had a younger brother at home, who should take good care of their parents.