Chapter 3: The Fate Book of Life and Death, Summoning Yama!
The tome within the depths of his consciousness flipped open on its own, revealing an authoritative ghost deity seated upon a blood cloud on the title page, with three heads and six arms, wearing a treasure crown.
In each of the six arms was held a magic artifact; a dragon's head grew from the left shoulder, a tiger's head from the right, and in the center was a faceless head wearing a treasure crown with thick bull horns.
Although the appearance was terrifying and ghastly, when Wang Yuan caught his first glimpse of the deity, a boundless sense of security surged from the depths of his heart.
For but one reason, "The Azure Dragon to the left, the White Tiger to the right, the old ox at the waist, slaying gods and Buddhas in their way!"
The next moment.
"Fate Book, summon and dispatch Yama—!"
A shout like the deep tolling of a giant bell rang in his ears, causing his spirit to tremble.
With the clarity of an epiphany, his gaze fell upon the seal that the ghost deity made in front of its chest, and he subconsciously stood up a single hand, pinching out an identical hand seal.
Ghost King Altar Seal!
With a powerful tiger roar echoing majestically, the three-headed ghost deity leaped right off from the title page.
In an instant, Wang Yuan's eyes shone brightly with divine light, and patchy tiger stripes emerged on his cheeks, even the character "Wang" faintly visible on his forehead.
The aura around him also changed abruptly, the primal hunting instinct within his bones awakened, cold and ferocious, like a fierce tiger emerging from the woods.
He felt as if his consciousness was being pulled away, suddenly becoming a third-party observer to his own body, able to influence it but no longer in full control.
Whoosh!
Like a coiled spring, his body shot up from the ground. With force exerted from his feet, the hair that had entwined his legs was easily snapped.
Wang Yuan could clearly feel that his strength hadn't increased in the slightest.
But a cool breath flowed within his body, quietly dispelling the deceitful force of [Weird] that made one feel powerless to respond, turning the hair that served as its medium as useless as wilted grass.
Without hesitation, Wang Yuan roared angrily and pounced towards the [Weird] presence, with a bloodthirsty aura swirling around him, like a hanging-eyed tiger choosing its prey.
The Tomb Guardians of the Wang Family passed on both scholarly and martial traditions, and most of the clan members had martial skills, including Wang Yuan.
Furthermore, when his main consciousness was asleep, while appearing foolish on the outside, he was in fact simple-minded and singularly focused, resulting in astonishing strength and far faster progress in martial arts than ordinary people.
A fool's punch was especially painful, precisely so.
Not yet fifteen, he had already cultivated the [White Tiger Military Art] recorded in the Wang Family's inherited "Thirty-Six Martial Arts Books·Volume Eight" to the first realm, the minor achievement of [Bone and Flesh Outer Appearance].
External Strength: muscles taut like bowstrings, bones as hard as refined steel, 639 strips of muscle freely moving as if alive;
Inner Strength: blood vibrant and lively, internal organs as solid as iron plates, every inhalation and exhalation generating powerful forces that pull at the sinews and fascia.
Though still not considered prominent in the world, taking down a few strong men who relied solely on brute force was now exceedingly easy for him.
With one step of "Crossing Tiger and Mountain," he reached the slow-reacting Female Ghost.
His two hands came together like a sledgehammer, ferociously pounding, releasing all the force in his body onto her chest.
[White Tiger Military Art·Tiger Embracing Seal]
Boom!
The originally unstoppable [Deceit Object] was now like a ragdoll, fiercely smashed away and flying into the altar, then thumping down onto the ground with a thud.
Wang Yuan couldn't help but be astonished; after factoring out the unsolvable abnormal power, this female ghost did not have more strength than an ordinary woman?
And he was slow to react, even slower than the village women.
He strode forward, knelt on her back with his knee, and swung his fist down hard on the back of her head.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Pure qi flowed back and forth within his fist, dissolving the abnormal power that protected the Female Ghost layer by layer.
After three heavy and powerful punches, the "Weird" creature directly exploded into a splash of water and vanished without a trace, leaving only a small piece of crystal-like, transparent bone fragments on the ground.
Wang Yuan didn't stop there, he got up and slapped the "Corpse Account Scripture" on the altar with all his strength.
The chanting that was barely audible by his ears suddenly came to an abrupt halt, and the yellowed "Corpse Account Scripture" twisted and transformed into a piece of clean leather as white and soft as a girl's skin.
This "Deceit Object" seemed to have been easily killed by his palm infused with pure qi.
Picking up the bone fragment with one hand and the leather with the other, two lines of text immediately appeared in Wang Yuan's mind:
"Deceit Bone, weighing two taels and three qian."
"Deceit Skin, weighing one tael and one qian."
An icy smile slowly spread across Wang Yuan's face, which was covered with tiger stripes; under the dim light, he almost looked more like a "Weird" creature than the actual "Weird".
Then.
"No, no, no... stop it!"
In the midst of his main consciousness's powerless resistance, his body, acting entirely on instinct, stuffed them into his mouth and, after chewing twice, swallowed them raw.
Unexpectedly, while the source of these things was complicated to explain, they actually tasted really good!
The Deceit Bone was like eating sturgeon, all cartilage and no bones, while the Deceit Skin was like eating the skin of a thick but not greasy pork knuckle, truly a taste to be savored for a long time.
"Delicious!"
Wang Yuan subconsciously licked his lips and realized that he had regained control of his body, with the tiger stripes on his body also fading away completely.
At the same time, a warm current surged up in his stomach, nourishing his body's Qi-Blood and making it increasingly vigorous and powerful.
Staring at his fists that had just killed a "Weird", his eyes became brighter:
"Ghost King Altar Seal? Small Book of Life and Death? Kill a 'Weird' with three punches?"
In a world full of various demons, ghosts, and especially unsolvable "Weird", what could provide a greater sense of security than a Golden Finger?
Although the "Ghost King Altar Seal" didn't directly give Wang Yuan great power, it gave him the possibility of violently breaking through when facing "Weird".
Other mortals could only passively abide by the rules of the "Weird" game, with their lives in others' hands, at best choosing between dying sooner or later.
But for Wang Yuan, there was a third option.
That was— to kill it!
Of course, the precondition was, after eliminating the gap in abnormal power, that he actually could beat it.
He didn't believe that all the "Weird" were like the ugly monster he encountered today.
After calming his emotions, Wang Yuan sat back on the altar and began to study the "Small Book of Life and Death" seriously.
Perhaps stimulated by the "Weird", this mysterious book that had been hidden in his body for who knows how long, finally opened its arms to him.
Once his consciousness focused on the cover, the pages immediately started flipping, passing the title page with images of Ghost Gods seated, revealing another set of text.
[Biography Entry – Keeper B: Wang Yuan
Place of origin: Ancient Locust Ridge, Daling Village, Beimang Mountain, Luoyang Prefecture, Junzhou
Occupation: Reserve Guardian of the Luoyang Royal Mausoleum at Beimang Mountain
Age: Fourteen years and three hundred thirty-one days
Life Span: *****
Abnormality: None
Life Chart: 7, White Tiger Holding Position
(The Four Pillars and the Eight Characters represent the year, month, day, and hour of birth, each matched with the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, to form a set of eight words, which together create the four-pillar life plate.
Born with innate murderous aura, the Eight Characters are exceptionally strong, one in ten thousand!)
Qi Fortune: -6, Dark Clouds Overhead, the Three Fires (Blessing, Prosperity, Longevity) are about to be extinguished, extremely ominous!
Fate: 1, A floating duckweed in a sea of suffering, a withered tree struggling to hear the sound of spring rain, nothing goes well in the face of strong winds, this life is adrift with nothing to rely on.
(Note: A rare unlucky soul, it's a miracle he has survived until now.)
Cultivation: Small accomplishment of "Inner Strength" in the first realm "Bone and Flesh Outer Appearance" of "Martial Arts and Military Skills"; Daoist Skill has not yet been started.
Yin Morality: 752+243 (Weird) +87 (Deceit Object)]
Even though Wang Yuan had speculated about the function of the "Small Book of Life and Death" in advance, he still turned pale when he saw the judgment above.
'I really am so unlucky, sorry to disappoint you!'
It took him a while to collect himself before deciding not to take this book too seriously, starting to figure out the meaning behind each entry in the biography.
Whether he's unlucky or not is clear even to a blind man, now the key question is how to use this treasure to save his own life.
Soon, Wang Yuan discovered that, aside from his life span, which was currently unclear.
As long as he focused on this page of biography, annotations corresponding to it would automatically emerge in his mind, and they were considerately adjusted according to the reading habits of him, the keeper of this book.
Among them, "Abnormality" refers to innate strange phenomena.
Legend has it that the Buddha had thirty-two features and eighty fine qualities, and many famous figures throughout history had their own innate strange phenomena, such as "Eyes Heavy with Double Pupils," "Double Arm Over Knee," "Eagle Vision and Wolf Glance."
And each strange phenomena corresponded with a miraculous ability.
Clearly, in this life, aside from being handsome, Wang Yuan had nothing else.
Afterward, "Life Chart" refers to the innate life plate structure formed by the Four Pillars and Eight Characters; "Qi Fortune" is a person's great fortune over the years.
When fortune comes, heaven and earth assist; when it goes, even heroes are not free.
"Life" and "fortune" together are called fate, which determines a person's honor or disgrace, rise or fall and serendipitous encounters throughout their life.
To ordinary people, once born, the birth time Eight Characters are set, meaning the "Life Chart" is unchangeable, but "Qi Fortune" can be promoted.
In Wang Yuan's understanding, "Life" can be seen as a car and "Fortune" as a road. There are good cars and broken cars, and there are smooth highways as well as rugged mountain paths.
Even a broken car on a smooth highway might achieve something; a good car on a rugged path might inevitably encounter struggles throughout life.
For instance, himself, possessing a good car (White Tiger Holding Position) but running on the most treacherous path (-6, Dark Clouds Overhead, the Three Fires are about to be extinguished, extremely ominous).
That was naturally because, although the crisis of "Weird" was temporarily resolved.
As long as Clan Leader Wang Yunhu and the evil mage behind him existed, the ensuing troubles were bound to follow, escalating even to the point of pushing Wang Yuan to death in the Netherworld.
However, having studied the "Small Book of Life and Death," Wang Yuan was no longer as defenseless as he was at the beginning.
Gazing at the "Yin Morality" entry, which was also the core ability of the "Small Book of Life and Death," his smile could no longer be restrained:
"Yin Morality realization, Fate Book, summon and dispatch Yama! So that's how it is."
He reached out and gently wiped over his "Dark Clouds Overhead" [Qi Fortune].
...
The next morning, there was light rain sprinkling from the sky.
Bang!
The doors of the sealed temple were violently pushed open from the inside.
Covered in ash, hair disheveled, and with the imprint of floor tiles on his cheeks, as if he had been in a dazed sleep on the ground all night, Wang Yuan staggered out.
He walked aimlessly in the rain, murmuring to himself:
"Like a person, like a fish..."
"You're like a person, you really are like a person, don't kill me, please don't kill me!"
"..."
To the onlookers, the youth, who had been dull before, seemed to have gone completely mad overnight.
Cluelessly, he walked in the rain, soaking his clothes in a matter of moments, a sight that tugged at the heartstrings.
From a doorway next to the temple,
Clan Leader Wang Yunhu picked up a blue and white porcelain tea bowl, sipped on some freshly brewed Dragon Well tea, and sighed deeply upon seeing Wang Yuan's retreating figure:
"Alas, what a pity for Brother Yuan."
Though he spoke with regret, seeing Wang Yuan's current state relieved him.
The situation was settled!
Death by "Weird" meant everyone would avoid involvement at all costs.
No matter how profound the legacy left by Wang Yuan's ancestors, no one would risk getting involved with "Weird" to investigate the truth here.
Wang Yunhu, with an impassioned heart, signaled with his eyes to a couple of idlers nearby, who nodded in agreement and quickly followed after Wang Yuan.