Chapter 01: Escape from the Clutches of Death

Yunzhou City, Yandang Mountain.

In the early morning, the urgent sound of hooves broke the silence of the mountain path. A dragon-scaled cloud horse, covered in silver-white scales and floating like a cloud, was carrying a young man covered in blood, galloping desperately.

The young man looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, with a wind-worn appearance. The blood on his body had long dried, making him look extremely dirty. It was unclear how long the young man had been riding the dragon-scaled cloud horse...

"Whinny..." The dragon-scaled cloud horse suddenly let out a mournful cry, its legs buckling, and it fell to the ground, twitching a few times before it could no longer get up.

The young man on the dragon-scaled cloud horse was thrown off and rolled into the nearby grass, falling into a deep unconsciousness.

Upon closer inspection, a dagger was still embedded in the dragon-scaled cloud horse's hindquarters, continuously bleeding! It was by continuously bleeding the dragon-scaled cloud horse that it had been able to maintain its potential, allowing it to keep running until now, covering such a great distance...

By the time they reached Yandang Mountain, the dragon-scaled cloud horse had finally run out of blood and reached the end of its life.

...

"Rustle," Shen Chen opened his eyes, his arms suddenly pushing him up as he tried to sit up.

However, the intense pain from his arms and body made his slightly youthful face contort in agony.

"Whew..." Shen Chen took a deep breath, barely suppressing the pain, and shakily got up, looking around alertly.

This was a very simple thatched cottage, with nothing but a three-legged, dilapidated table propped up haphazardly with stones, making it look quite out of place.

"Where am I? It's definitely not that place... Great! I finally managed to escape..." After confirming for a long time, Shen Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief, a smile appearing on his scarred face, but it immediately pulled at his wounds, causing him to groan in pain.

"Big brother, you're finally awake! That's great! I'll go tell grandpa and brother right away..." Hearing the sound, a girl dressed in tattered clothes, with a faint red ribbon, ran in, her mouth full of gaps, shouting loudly, and then turned and ran out like the wind.

Shen Chen was originally a small-time gang leader in a coastal city of the Earth's Huaxia country. During a fight with another gang, he was slashed by someone. When he woke up, he found himself in another world, and the body he had taken over was also named Shen Chen.

The continent Shen Chen had crossed into was called Tianlong Continent, vast and boundless, stretching for tens of thousands of miles, divided into nine provinces and eighty-one main cities, each with dozens to hundreds of subordinate counties.

In the past, a powerful warrior had unified the Tianlong Continent, establishing a powerful empire, and the continent was named after this strongman. This strongman was the eternal emperor of the Tianlong Continent—the Tianlong Emperor!

A thousand years ago, after the Tianlong Emperor ascended to heaven, the Tianlong Empire lost his protection and gradually declined, eventually disintegrating. The lords of the nine provinces and eighty-one main cities carved out their own territories, establishing numerous dynasties.

The body Shen Chen had taken over was originally a direct descendant of a prominent family, enjoying endless wealth and honor.

However, through the memories of his original body, Shen Chen discovered that few of his family's descendants had lived past eighteen years old. Around their eighteenth birthday, they would suddenly fall ill, fall into a coma, and eventually die.

Shen Chen was now fifteen years old, with only three years left until he turned eighteen!

In other words, if Shen Chen couldn't find a way to solve his family's hidden illness, he would have no more than three years to live.

A few months ago, Shen Chen was accidentally noticed by an outer sect elder of a major sect and was forcibly taken to the sect to be a fire-tending child.

Shen Chen originally thought that by joining the major sect, he might find a way to cure his family's hidden illness, and he was quite excited for a few days.

However, Shen Chen later discovered that the outer sect elder did not intend to take him as a disciple but was interested in his unusually powerful soul, planning to use him as a furnace to refine a high-grade spirit pill.

Three days ago, when the outer sect elder tried to knock Shen Chen out to refine the spirit pill, Shen Chen fought for his life and managed to escape by chance...

However, due to the might of the major sect, Shen Chen dared not return to his family and could only flee desperately, eventually collapsing from exhaustion. It seemed that he had been saved by the old man mentioned by the little girl.

After a short while, a white-haired, hunched old man and a black, sturdy young man who looked to be about fourteen years old walked in.

Shen Chen could see that both the old man and the young man were ordinary people. The old man looked to be nearly eighty, with his vital energy almost dissipating, and he had at most the strength of the second or third level of the Blood Fusion Realm.

The black, sturdy young man had a simple and honest face, with his blood and vital energy just beginning to be stimulated, making him quite tall and strong, and he had the strength of the first level of the Blood Fusion Realm.

"Thank you, old sir, for saving my life!" Shen Chen bowed deeply in gratitude.

"You don't need to be so formal, young man! Meeting you in such a state is also a matter of fate. Rest and recover here with me." The old man laughed heartily, nodded, and then turned to leave.

After a short while, the little girl with the gapped teeth came in again, holding a bowl of medicine that emitted a faint black glow, like ink.

"Big brother, this is the medicine grandpa made for you. Drink it while it's hot! After drinking grandpa's medicine, you'll recover soon." The little girl said with a smile.

Shen Chen looked at the little girl gratefully, affectionately patted her head, and took the medicine.

Based on his original memories, Shen Chen could identify that the bowl of medicine contained at least a dozen healing and blood-replenishing herbs, with no abnormalities, so he drank it with confidence.

As the medicine went down, Shen Chen felt a warm sensation all over his body, and his wounds began to itch and slowly heal. Even some of his internal ailments began to recover.

"This old man has such profound medical skills..." Shen Chen marveled inwardly.

In no time, Shen Chen had been staying at the old man's house for over half a month, and his injuries were almost fully healed. The people from the major sect had not come after him, so he was finally at ease.

Shen Chen gradually became familiar with the old man, the little girl, and the taciturn, honest young man. He learned that the village he was in was called Chenjiagou, and most of the villagers were surnamed Chen. The old man's family, however, had just moved in and was not surnamed Chen but Wang.

The old man was named Wang Hao, and he was eighty-three years old, making a living by gathering herbs and was a well-known physician in Chenjiagou. The little girl was named Wang Zixin, his granddaughter, and she was twelve years old. The black, sturdy young man was named Wang Yue, his grandson, and he was fourteen years old.

During these half a month, it was the happiest and most relaxed time for Shen Chen since he had crossed over. Both Grandpa Wang Hao and Wang Zixin were very warm and friendly to Shen Chen, making him feel a long-lost sense of family.

Wang Yue, however, despite his young age, always had a serious expression, as if he had a lot on his mind, and he was always indifferent to Shen Chen. Over time, Shen Chen got used to it.

One day, Chenjiagou suddenly became bustling with people, all excitedly coming out of their homes and gathering at the village's only square. In particular, the young men and women in their teens were dressed in new clothes, looking very spirited.

It turned out that this day was the day when the Liuyun Sect, to which Chenjiagou belonged, was selecting new outer sect disciples.

The Liuyun Sect, as one of the dozens of sects in Yunzhou, was not particularly outstanding and could only be considered a second-rate sect in Yunzhou. In the entire Tianlong Continent, the Liuyun Sect might not even rank in the top thousand, making it a very ordinary small sect.

However, for the young men and women of Chenjiagou, the Liuyun Sect, which covered hundreds of miles and had dozens of subordinate villages and small towns, with nearly a thousand outer sect disciples and over a hundred inner sect disciples, was a major sect that they could only look up to.

Everyone dreamed of entering the Liuyun Sect and being proud to become a disciple of the Liuyun Sect. Moreover, after entering the Liuyun Sect, their family's taxes would be reduced by half, and if they could become inner sect disciples in the future, their families would become wealthy and powerful.

Therefore, all the young men and women took the entrance selection of the Liuyun Sect very seriously, as it was almost the only way for these peasant children to change their fate.

With nothing to do, Shen Chen also followed Wang Yue and Wang Zixin to the square.

At this moment, two middle-aged men in silver-white robes with flowing cloud patterns on the cuffs were standing on the square, apparently the disciples sent by the Liuyun Sect to handle the entrance selection.

In the center of the square, several stone locks and bronze tripods of different sizes and weights were placed, used to test the strength of the entrance disciples.

The smallest stone lock weighed three hundred pounds, and the only bronze tripod weighed over a thousand pounds.

The entrance requirement for the Liuyun Sect was that one must be under eighteen years old and able to lift a bronze tripod weighing over a thousand pounds!

In the Tianlong Continent, being able to lift a thousand-pound bronze tripod meant having the strength of a thousand pounds, equivalent to the strength of an adult ox, hence it was called "one ox strength."

In the Tianlong Continent, "one ox strength" was equivalent to the first level of the Blood Fusion Realm!

Therefore, the minimum standard for the Liuyun Sect to select disciples was the first level of the Blood Fusion Realm.

Although the Tianlong Continent was rich in spiritual energy, not everyone could reach the first level of the Blood Fusion Realm before the age of eighteen.

The Liuyun Sect would almost every year go to the hundreds of villages and towns under its jurisdiction to select disciples, but the number of disciples they actually admitted each year was less than a hundred, meaning that among the hundreds of villages and towns, only three or four out of every hundred young people could enter the Liuyun Sect.

This showed how difficult it was to enter the Liuyun Sect.

However, for Shen Chen, who came from a prominent family, it was not difficult at all. Shen Chen had taken a large amount of precious herbs since childhood and had already reached the first level of the Blood Fusion Realm before the age of ten.

However, to save Shen Chen's life and prevent him from dying mysteriously at the age of eighteen like the other members of his family, he was strictly forbidden from practicing any martial techniques or cultivation methods from a young age.

In other words, Shen Chen had the strength of the first level of the Blood Fusion Realm but did not know any cultivation methods. His ability to escape from the major sect was purely due to luck.

Seeing everyone's enthusiasm for joining the Liuyun Sect and becoming an outer sect disciple, Shen Chen suddenly had an idea.

"Now that I can't return home and can only hide, perhaps entering the Liuyun Sect, a minor sect, might not be a bad choice..."

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End of Chapter 01