Chapter 3 Yan Han (Please Collect)
The next day.
Zhong Shenxiu walked out of the wooden cabin and saw in the sky three suns arranged in a triangular formation, squinting his eyes.
There was no doubt!
In the sky of this world, indeed, there hung three great suns!
Compared to the previous world, this world made Zhong Shenxiu feel even more the loneliness of a transmigrator.
This was a truly different world!
With three suns during the day and two moons at night, it was a world of three suns and two moons!
At the same time, it was also a world truly possessing supernatural powers!
"Mr. Su, you're awake!"
Just as Zhong Shenxiu was feeling somewhat emotional, he saw a huge dog's head coming close to his face, greeting him familiarly in the Yan Han language.
That yellow fur, the alert eyes, and the red tongue sticking out all had a slightly ingratiating intention.
This was clearly a creature with the head of a dog on a humanoid body!
And it damn well seemed to have the blood of a Chinese rural dog!
Zhong Shenxiu almost punched it.
Fortunately, the memories he had organized last night surged up, causing his body to stiffen, and he barely squeezed out a smile, "Good morning, Huang Jun!"
This kind of unique being was called 'the Quanrong Clan', a faithful and enthusiastic tribe on the borders of the Yan Han Empire, maintaining a good relationship with the Yan Han people and together resisting other disasters on the frontier.
As for adding the word 'Jun' after their name, it was also a custom of the Second Yan Han Empire as a form of respect.
The myriad customs, languages, and even racial species within this vast empire gave Zhong Shenxiu a subtle sense of familiarity— a familiarity that he had never felt in his previous world.
If one were to trace these origins, then they probably would have to start from the early history of the empire's civilization.
It is said that the origin of the Yan Han people was a group of Han people who migrated from the Eastern Continent!
No mistake!
The entire Yan Han clan, in terms of this world, was also a group of transmigrators!
When Zhong Shenxiu first discovered this fact, he was very speechless for a while.
These 'ancestors' allegedly could not bear the constant wars and fights among immortals and various disasters in the Eastern Continent, so they entirely migrated to this Grotto Heaven world and thrived and established a settlement.
The ancestors from the Eastern Continent were once very proud.
After all, their original world had Daoist cultivators, demons, and even rumored immortals who achieved enlightenment!
Even more so, there were mighty beings capable of exhibiting supreme Divine Skills, roaming the Three Thousand Worlds with a troop of followers!
This group of refugees, who seemingly escaped from the world of Journey to the West, upon arriving in this new world, needless to say, had their share of throwing their weight around, and even gradually conquered cities and enemies, establishing the Yan Han Empire.
Unfortunately, they severely underestimated the supernatural powers of this world and the technological advancements that came with the integration of different civilizations.
As a result, the Yan Han Empire collapsed, and it was an incredibly unsightly collapse.
The ancient cultivators, it is said, suffered severe casualties, and many inheritances were abruptly lost.
Today's Second Yan Han Empire was an entity that barely rose from the remains of the Yan Han Empire.
The Yan Han people no longer dared to underestimate the dangers of other worlds, integrating into this new world with a much humbler mindset. Despite several times of being shaken by storms, it has existed to this day for a thousand years.
The clan known as 'Quanrong' were one of the ethnic groups that the Yan Han people tried to draw in.
In the frontier, facing common dangers and disasters, many Yan Han people even had life-and-death relationships with the Quanrong Clan.
The creature before him, which seemed to have the bloodline of a Chinese rural dog, was named 'Huang Xie'. Huang Xie had some friendship with Su Daoshi who had previously been banished here; they could be considered friends.
"Hmm, today the squad leader has ordered us to patrol Black Mountain…"
Huang Xie stuck out his tongue, "Mr. Su should be careful not to fall out of line like last time… You must know that Black Mountain is dangerous; it is a demonic sacrificial site of Heisting County. Although it was later conquered by the Yan Han and cultivators came to exterminate the demons, the residual aura is still harmful to us…"
"Thank you!"
Zhong Shenxiu thanked him, grabbed a ceramic cracked bowl, and went in line to get his meal. Looking at the rows of Quanrong soldiers and the seated squad leaders, a piece of information surged in his mind.
'Yan Han military system, five in a squad, ten squads to a troop, with the troop leader called squad leader… Here in 'Black Mountain Castle', being a squad leader is neither significant nor trivial, but still counts as a notable figure…'
As for Su Daoshi, he was just an ordinary soldier. Moreover, he wasn't just an ordinary soldier serving his term, but the lowest class of 'convict'; ordinary people wouldn't even want to be friends with him, but the Quanrong people didn't care about this.
The Su, a prominent family of the Yan Han Empire, once regarded as a family of the county rank; unfortunately implicated in a major case, the main family line was all executed, and Su Daoshi, an offshoot, was banished to the frontier, having been there already for six years!
Six years of torment, his relatives either scattered or dead, leaving the young man constantly thinking of revenge!
To seek revenge, he needed power!
Su Daoshi, with his family's deep knowledge, even thought of a wicked and unorthodox method, seeking to master the art of ghost possession to open the gates of cultivation!
The Su Family, after all, was once a family of the county rank.
According to the classifications of county magnates, county ranked families, prominent families, and nobility gates, they reached the second level of nobility, and of course, some family members had come in contact with the Yan Han specific paths of cultivation. Although Su Daoshi wasn't from the main family and didn't have the complete teachings, he secretly memorized a practice called the 'Profound Yin Soul Fragment'.
This practice was just 'Daoist Skill,' not the true 'Daoist Art,' which couldn't lead to the path of immortality but could still manipulate lonely souls and wild ghosts with ordinary human spirit and Qi-Blood, mastering some paranormal abilities.
Being of a prominent family lineage, Su Daoshi knew this practice was crude and held no hope for longevity but instead would reduce his own spirit and life span.
But for revenge, he couldn't stand idly!
He spent years using his position to explore Black Mountain where he discovered the ancient sacrificial site of the Heisting Count—an ominous black crevice—and recklessly attempted to summon spirits.
The Heisting Count was a noble title among the ethnic groups, and this Earl Country had a long heritage of worshiping malicious spirits, destroyed by the Yan Han, turning it into a cursed land. The young man recklessly sought to harness the residual energy for cultivation, hoping to summon one or two vengeful spirits.
His disappearance a few days ago was him taking a risk!
As a result… truly sinister entities possessed him.
Even worse, it was more terrifying than ordinary spirits!
The young man couldn't control it and even got consumed as food, tortured to death last night.
And this terror still lingered inside Zhong Shenxiu's body!
'This… what kind of shit is this?'
At this moment, Zhong Shenxiu kept ridiculing inwardly: 'What the East calls spirits, the West might call demons or devils, vengeful spirits… This Su Daoshi, using Eastern spells to subdue Western vengeful spirits, could this be the legendary—messing things up?!'
'You died, but you left me a ticking time bomb inside my body, are you forcing me to show off?'
Zhong Shenxiu felt a cold sweat on his forehead.
The demon inside him caused trouble every time there was a double full moon night, and it was even worse during the Blood Moon.
This kind of 'trouble' meant devouring the host's life and everything else.
Moreover, it came with intense pain.
Su Daoshi's body hadn't collapsed yet, but his spirit couldn't endure it more than a few times before he died painfully from the agony!