Chapter 1

In an old and dilapidated Taoist temple, in the backyard, there stood a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old. His long hair, which reached his shoulders, was scattered across his back. At this moment, he was standing in an open courtyard, maintaining a strange posture as he practiced.

His muscles were very well-proportioned, without the stiffness of overdeveloped muscles, perfectly matching his physique.

With each breath he took, streams of white vapor entered and exited his mouth and nose. Beside him, a large tub of water was steaming, with various medicinal herbs floating on the surface.

If one looked closely, they would notice that the water in the tub was entirely black and emitted a medicinal fragrance.

"Exhale, inhale!" Wang Xuan stopped his breathing exercises, did a somersault, and jumped into the large tub of water, beginning his medicinal bath.

This was a daily routine he had been following for the past month since he had crossed over.

...

When he first crossed over, he was not in this Taoist temple but on the official road leading from the county town to other villages and the neighboring Ningbei County.

When Wang Xuan's soul crossed over, the original body was already dead, and his soul had taken over the body.

Upon regaining consciousness, Wang Xuan found himself in the middle of a fight. The original body was fighting a man named Li Si, who had bitten him with a poisonous scorpion and struck him in the chest, ultimately causing his death from the poison.

This was the scene when Wang Xuan crossed over.

After regaining consciousness, Wang Xuan immediately received the memory fragments of his predecessor, discovering that his predecessor was also named Wang Xuan and understanding the situation.

He then picked up the fallen sword and charged forward. Li Si was already at the end of his strength, having used up all his poisonous scorpions, leaving him unable to defend himself.

Wang Xuan and Li Si were evenly matched, and with the help of several constables from the county, they successfully captured Li Si.

What was more miraculous was that the scorpion poison had disappeared from Wang Xuan's body as soon as he crossed over, otherwise, he would not be practicing in the Taoist temple now.

To speak of the predecessor, he was originally a wandering orphan with no family or relatives. He would work wherever he went and then continue his wandering.

Until he arrived at this dilapidated Taoist temple, three miles away from Yangjiang County, where he stayed overnight. By chance, he discovered cultivation techniques.

A Qi Consumption Technique, a Spirit Cultivation Technique, a basic sword technique, and two spell secrets.

From then on, the predecessor stayed in this dilapidated Taoist temple to practice, spending a year there until a month ago when the county magistrate called him to help capture Li Si.

The county office had known about this nameless, dilapidated Taoist temple and the wandering Taoist for half a year. The Taoist had decent strength and often hunted in the mountains, selling the game in the county town to exchange for living supplies.

The predecessor's strength had improved significantly over the year, reaching the initial stage of the Inner Qi Realm according to the Qi Consumption Technique. He had planned to continue practicing here.

The county magistrate, in order to capture Li Si, who had committed robbery and murder and had considerable strength, eventually found Wang Xuan and made a promise.

If Wang Xuan could capture Li Si and bring him to justice, the Taoist temple would be given to him, along with the deed. Wang Xuan then agreed to join the constables in the operation.

Unexpectedly, Li Si knew the art of controlling beasts and was also at the Inner Qi Realm. The predecessor was killed due to carelessness.

This allowed the current Wang Xuan to take over, but since he had crossed over, he naturally intended to live well.

...

Wang Xuan was now soaking in the large tub. With each breath, the black medicinal liquid visibly became clearer, eventually turning into ordinary water.

"Exhale!" After absorbing the medicinal power, Wang Xuan leaped out of the tub, landing on the ground with ease.

"Who would have thought that a month of cultivation would finally bring me to the peak of the Inner Qi Realm. It seems it's time to start practicing the Spirit Cultivation Technique."

In fact, whether it was the predecessor or the crossed-over Wang Xuan, the Spirit Cultivation Technique had been practiced for a year, but progress was slow.

It was only after Wang Xuan's soul crossed over that the Spirit Cultivation Technique showed signs of breakthrough.

The cultivation technique clearly stated that after reaching the True Qi Realm with the Qi Consumption Technique, one could use the power of the soul to refine True Qi into magical power.

This was the reason Wang Xuan persisted in his cultivation. Possessing magical power meant entering the ranks of cultivators and being able to practice spells, rather than just being an ordinary martial artist.

That afternoon, Wang Xuan, dressed in a gray-black outfit, with his black hair flowing over his shoulders and a strand of hair on his right forehead fluttering in the wind, carried a horned deer and walked towards the county town.

Over the past month, Wang Xuan would go to the outer regions of the Qingyun Mountains behind the Taoist temple every few days to hunt and sell the game in the city.

He used the money to buy daily necessities and the rest to purchase medicinal herbs for cultivation.

Wang Xuan carried the horned deer leisurely towards the county town. It was summer, and the crops in the fields on both sides of the road were growing lushly, ready to be harvested in a few months.

Many villagers from nearby villages were busy in the fields, some carrying water in buckets and others bringing food, creating a lively scene.

When he reached the city gate, he saw a notice posted beside it.

"Bandit Li Si, having committed numerous crimes and reached the limit of his evil, has been sentenced to beheading at the city gate in three days by the county magistrate."

A literate person read the notice aloud, surrounded by a crowd of people.

"Who would have thought he would be executed so soon!" Wang Xuan glanced at the notice, then turned and entered the city.

He could still hear the chatter of the crowd around him.

"I've never seen a beheading in my life."

"Our county hasn't had a beheading in over ten years."

Wang Xuan quickened his pace and soon arrived at a tavern. He walked straight in and headed towards the kitchen.

The waiter immediately said, "Master Wang, you're here again. This one is quite big."

"Call your boss to check the goods; I have something to do." He then threw the horned deer onto the pile of ingredients in the kitchen.

Upon hearing that Wang Xuan had arrived, the boss quickly came to the kitchen. After seeing the horned deer, he instructed a servant to bring a scale to weigh it.

"Without the internal organs, the entire horned deer weighs a hundred pounds. The current meat price is twenty coins per pound, totaling two taels of silver. Including the deer skin, I'll give you two and a half taels of silver."

The boss stood beside the horned deer, quickly calculating on his abacus, and finally quoted a price to Wang Xuan.

Wang Xuan nodded, took the silver from the boss, bowed to him, and then left the tavern to buy grain and medicinal herbs on the neighboring street.

"The money for the medicinal herbs needed for tomorrow's cultivation is enough!" He weighed the silver in his hand and entered the herbal shop.