Chapter 4

In the blink of an eye, another half-month had passed, and it was already mid-March. The weather was getting warmer, and Tongshan County was a frontier town in Yongling Prefecture, which was under the jurisdiction of Chong'an State in the Great Jin Dynasty.

The area was surrounded by dense mountains, and about two hundred miles to the north was the forbidden land of the human race, the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge, the territory and kingdom of demons. Fortunately, behind the Great Jin Dynasty and the local feudal states, there were immortal sects protecting them. It was said that the sect leader of the immortal sect behind the Great Jin Dynasty had made some kind of agreement with the demon king of the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge.

Therefore, the demons of the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge did not cross the boundary to hunt humans on a large scale. At most, they would engage in small-scale activities, similar to the commoner adventurers of the human race. Otherwise, Tongshan County would have long become a hunting ground for demons, and no one would dare live there.

However, there was one benefit to having demon territory nearby: the natural environment was not destroyed. Demons preferred to live in nature more than humans. Therefore, the fresh scent of grass and trees from the primitive mountains outside Tongshan County made the people in the county feel more of the spring atmosphere.

Zhu Lingwu could finally step out of his courtyard and formally experience this new world. Now he realized that the body he had possessed, with its so-called ancient shamanic mutation constitution, was truly extraordinary. Just lying on the bed, his body would grow muscles.

Under the influence of this constitution, his appearance had changed. His skin, which was originally like jade, gradually became rough and dark. Even without using his soul to inspect internally, Zhu Lingwu could feel the strength this body brought him. It was truly a natural gift of strength. To adapt to this body, Zhu Lingwu had spent a lot of effort in secret, otherwise, he might accidentally break someone's arm with a casual touch.

It was said that when this child was born, he had broken the midwife's finger and torn a hole in the copper basin used for his bath, causing a significant stir at the time. No wonder this body, though only eight years old, looked more like a ten-year-old. However, after being struck by lightning, his body had shrunk back to normal.

But just a few days later, Zhu Lingwu already felt his body growing. He estimated that when he reached the age of puberty, his body would grow rapidly like a sapling, becoming tall and strong.

With such a body, Zhu Lingwu would not be able to become a refined and weak young nobleman like the ordinary scholar-officials. Especially, his hair had not grown back, and Zhu Lingwu was somewhat worried that he might become bald. Even if he were bald, he couldn't be without eyebrows. He couldn't possibly learn to draw them like women.

Although the young noblemen of today seemed to enjoy painting their eyebrows and applying makeup like women, Zhu Lingwu, a shaman-demon from another world, could not adapt to such troublesome things.

On this day, following the nature of the original owner of this body, Zhu Lingwu wore a brocade robe with carved patterns, stepped into a pair of short boots made of unknown leather, and hung jade pendants, jade amulets, and sachets around his waist. With every step, he made a sound, and he finally stepped out of the gate of his courtyard.

Of course, a few servants and attendants followed him, all teenagers between thirteen and sixteen years old, specifically to serve him. These young men wore simple short shirts and followed Zhu Lingwu, ready to run around and fulfill his needs. This was a common sight for young noblemen, even though Zhu Lingwu was only eight years old.

A servant named Liangcai, who was the closest to Zhu Lingwu, stood by his side, helping him relay messages.

The place Zhu Lingwu was heading to was the specially designed training room where the Baghdad batteries were placed. He could make all the decisions himself.

"Liangcai, have they really adjusted the intensity of the electrical discharge of those magical artifacts as I instructed?" Zhu Lingwu asked the servant beside him, taking light steps without turning his head. The Baghdad batteries were explained by Zhu Lingwu as a special kind of magical artifact.

Being able to have a living body again was truly wonderful, especially a young child's body full of vitality. If not for his current identity, Zhu Lingwu would have wanted to shout and scream to the heavens to release his joy.

He had been in this world for several months, but during this time, he had been confined to his courtyard, being cared for by beautiful maids to recover his body. His adoptive father in this world had placed him under house arrest.

Now that he had finally stepped into this world, his mood was indeed very good. Moreover, he could now practice the so-called Ninefold Lightning Body Cultivation Technique, and the future seemed to be shining with golden light, welcoming him to embrace it.

Although he had not personally operated the production and adjustment of the Baghdad batteries, he had remotely directed the family slaves through Liangcai.

As for whether anyone had been electrocuted or injured during the process, he did not need to worry about it, nor did he care. The servant Liangcai would not report such things to him; he only wanted the results.

If the people below could not handle it, they would face family rules as punishment. If everything was done as Zhu Lingwu instructed, he would naturally reward them with money.

"Yes, Young Master, absolutely. Everything went smoothly according to your method! I've already had them test it several times, and the levels of electricity have been marked as you instructed!" The servant Liangcai followed Zhu Lingwu's steps, neither too far ahead nor too far behind, and carefully replied.

Zhu Lingwu nodded in satisfaction. This way, he could practice the Ninefold Lightning Body Cultivation Technique with peace of mind. However, he had not seen the Baghdad batteries with his own eyes, and he would not be at ease until he had personally adjusted them.

The private residence in the back of the Tongshan County government was not very large, as it was a temporary residence for officials, and it was not allowed for officials to bring their families to live there.

If it were another county magistrate, they would have already set up a separate residence in the county to live more comfortably. However, Tongshan County was a special place, too close to the forbidden land of the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge, making it somewhat unsafe to live there.

Official institutions like the Tongshan County government were built with the help of high-level cultivators, who created protective arrays and restrictions, providing a sense of security.

Therefore, Zhu Lingwu's adoptive father could only settle his family in the back of the county government and did not bring many family members. As mentioned earlier, if it were not for the unexpected result of the bloodline evaluation, Zhu Lingwu might have been left in the family's ancestral land.

The Zhu family of Chilong Prefecture in Chong'an State was one of the three top-tier noble families in the country. Their ancestral land was located in a place with abundant spiritual energy in Chilong Prefecture, and the ancestors of the Zhu family had sought protective arrays and restrictions from the immortal sects when they built the ancestral land, making it relatively safe.

In fact, noble families across the country, based on their family's strength, would choose suitable feng shui locations to establish their ancestral lands, which were like independent small countries.

Noble children rarely left their ancestral lands, as the abundant spiritual energy there was convenient for their cultivation and protected them from unexpected dangers.

Zhu Lingwu's adoptive father, out of love for his son, did not want him to hear cold remarks in the ancestral land, so he brought him along to take care of him. Unfortunately, things still went wrong.

Now, as the only young master of Tongshan County, Zhu Lingwu naturally had significant power in the county government. He had transformed an idle warehouse into his personal training room.

Of course, saying that the private residence in the back of the county government was small was relative. It took about ten minutes to walk from Zhu Lingwu's courtyard through the courtyards and alleys to reach his training room.

From the outside, it looked like an independent courtyard. It originally stored some farming tools for the county government, which were distributed to poor commoner farmers during the farming season. Now, all of these tools had been moved to other places.

There were also two family slaves guarding the courtyard. The people Zhu Lingwu assigned to this task were family slaves brought from the ancestral land, whose families lived in the Zhu family's ancestral land.

If they betrayed him, it would affect their entire families, so he did not have to worry about them leaking the information he had instructed them to keep secret.

Seeing Zhu Lingwu arrive, the guards at the gate hurriedly greeted him, calling him "Young Master" and "Little Master."

Zhu Lingwu glanced at them, imitating the behavior of the original child, and did not pay much attention. Liangcai, who was following him, stepped forward, "Alright, don't get in the way. Young Master is in a hurry to see what's inside!"

The two guards did not say much more, just bowed and stepped back. The few family slaves following Zhu Lingwu ran up to help him open the courtyard gate...