Fire Monster

Chapter 1 Soul Fusion
"Cough, cough, cough!"

A violent and painful cough suddenly woke Zhao Guanshan from his deep sleep. His entire lungs felt like they were on fire and were torn apart by the crazy coughing.

This force from within was so strong that it almost lifted his thin body off the bed.

Tears, snot, and consciousness all mixed together, and the head was buzzing, as if the whole person was made into a human skin drum and was being beaten crazily by the evil spirit...

They were happy, but Zhao Guanshan was in pain.

After a long time, Zhao Guanshan collapsed on the bed, like a dead fish, with his brain tissue coughed away.

Only the black eyes were left staring in the darkness.

There was also a smell of blood, and he was coughing up blood.

The night is dark, but not quiet.

I don’t know what his cough alarmed.

The darkness was like sticky, foul-smelling sludge pouring in from outside, trying to suffocate him to death.

In despair,
"Stab!"

A faint light came on, illuminating the small room and dispelling the darkness.

It seemed like an illusion, as there were faint malicious mutterings in the darkness, but they soon became silent, and the faint oil lamp at the bedside dimmed again, as if it had never been lit.

Darkness was still the true color of the room, but it was obviously different. A little light came through the gaps in the doors and windows, and daybreak was approaching.

Zhao Guanshan, drenched in cold sweat, sat up with difficulty, feeling confused and frightened.

But his body was so weak as if it had been hollowed out that he had no time to think, because his head was also aching, as if a golden hoop was being put on it!
Following the memory in his mind, he groped for a water gourd, opened the lid, and a fishy and sour smell came out, but he really couldn't care less. He gulped down two big mouthfuls. It was sour, bitter and numb. How could this be water?

But I feel better now.

Zhao Guanshan carefully closed the lid of the water gourd.

Lying back on the wooden bed that was emitting a foul and musty smell all the time, Zhao Guanshan held the oil lamp in one hand. His heart gradually calmed down, and his thoughts gradually recovered, and even seemed to become clearer and more agile.

His name is Zhao Guanshan. He was born in 1983 in the Tianjue calendar and is 17 years old this year. His parents died in an attack by evil spirits seven years ago, leaving him only a first-level imperial seal hut and some property, which barely supported him to survive for so many years. Now he is studying at Linjiang Prefecture Taoist Temple and will graduate in another half a year.

But in his mind, no, he has been having some strange dreams since his parents died seven years ago.

In the dream, he was also called Zhao Guanshan, but he was a Chinese from Earth, born in 2001, and lived in Lotus Lane, Licheng, Shandong Province. He had just graduated from university, had only been a social animal for three months, and had just broken up and had not yet found a new girlfriend...

But these dreams have always been fragmented, with tall buildings, airplanes, high-speed trains, giant ships, middle school English teachers, and college seniors, and they are very incoherent.

Zhao Guanshan always thought that he was possessed by a demon, and that it was one of the sequelae caused by the evil spirit that invaded him.

But until today, in this dream, all the fragments of the past were straightened out and pieced together, and he finally realized that something was wrong.

Yes, he is not him.

But he is not him either.

He could recall the scent and curves of the beautiful senior schoolmate on Earth. They were very tempting, but not attractive.

He can also get used to everything abnormal in this strange world. It is very evil, but he is not afraid.

The souls of two people from different worlds merged together. If the fragmented dreams before were a rejection reaction, now it should be 1+1>2.

Yes, this is how Zhao Guanshan feels at the moment.

Except that his body was weaker and more difficult to endure, his mental state was like a fire, exceptionally healthy and clear, as if he had suddenly attained enlightenment.

"This should be considered my golden finger, um, or a little advantage at the beginning."

Zhao Guanshan laughed. He had to admit that after the two souls merged, what it brought to him was not fear, but a passion to challenge the future, just like sitting in front of the computer with full confidence, watching the moment when the download of a new game was about to be completed.

Riding a horse and wielding a sword, the world is mine!
"But my start is not very optimistic."

Memories of the past flashed through his mind like flowing water, and Zhao Guanshan frowned slightly.

Because, he is about to die.

When his parents in this world passed away, he also suffered a serious attack from evil spirits and nearly died. Although he managed to save his life in the end, the foundation of his body was basically destroyed. So he would often cough madly at night, and recently he had even started coughing up a lot of blood.

He has been studying very hard these years just to get the status of a Qi Refiner apprentice in the final examination half a year later.

Then he will receive a special subsidy from the Linjiang Prefecture Dao Palace, a dose of marrow cleansing liquid, which can restore his foundation to 80% of its previous state.
This is the only way he has access to that can save him so far.

Otherwise, he would either die of illness or become one of those strange, evil monsters outside the Imperial Seal Wall that has lost even the last bit of humanity.

Otherwise, you will receive hospice care from the Taoist Palace, or be burned to ashes.

Thinking about his efforts over the past few years, Zhao Guanshan was very confident that he could pass the final examination and become an apprentice of a Qi Refiner.

Because the final examination is divided into three types: liberal arts, military, and morality.

Zhao Guanshan was too weak, so he had no chance of passing the military exam from the start.

Only the chosen ones with great potential can go to the science department. And the liberal arts department is what he is best at, and he basically got full marks.

However, even if he passed the assessment, he could only be an apprentice of a Qi-refining master doing logistical support in the future.

This is the job with the worst pay, the most tiring work, the highest risk of unexpected danger and no ability to protect oneself.

But without a job, things would be even worse, as one would be forcibly dispatched by the Taoist Palace to be cannon fodder on the Imperial Seal Great Wall.

There is no way around it. Since the coming of divine punishment, the world has changed drastically.

Most of the mortals who once lived are now dead.

Even if Zhao Guanshan’s ancestors were once high-ranking immortal cultivators, so what? They are dead just like that.

He is the descendant of an immortal cultivator, but now he has fallen to this state?
In order to survive, the surviving immortal cultivation sects united to form the Taoist Palace. They tried every possible way to reform and find ways to resolve the heavenly punishment. The immortal cultivators and their descendants became beasts of burden, and could no longer be free and easy.

Based on Zhao Guanshan's experience on Earth and his memories, he felt that this was a good idea. The immortal cultivators in this world were launching an industrial revolution in immortal cultivation.

Expand productivity and popularize knowledge as much as possible.

What a familiar scene.

While thinking,

A loud crowing of a rooster interrupted Zhao Guanshan's thoughts and it was daybreak.

It was somewhat difficult to get up from the bed, and there was no need to wash up because there was no conditions for that.

There was no breakfast either, so he drank all the water in the gourd. He had to hold on until he reached the Taoist temple, where food and water for the day would be distributed.

He packed up, took the water gourd, and put the palm-sized oil lamp into a hide backpack. This oil lamp was the last sealed magic weapon left to him by his parents, and it was also the earliest model developed after the advent of the divine punishment. It had a single function and poor protective effect, but it did save him many times.

Of course, this is under the premise that there is a first-level Sealed Hut, which can resist the invasion of more powerful evil spirits.

Like last night, there should have been a stray evil demon that escaped and was attracted by the blood he coughed up, and then stopped by the Imperial Seal Hut, but that strange evil power still seeped in a little bit, and just that little bit almost killed Zhao Guanshan. Then, at this time, the Imperial Seal Oil Lamp could play an effective role and dispel it.

But then again, if Zhao Guanshan was in good health, had completed the most basic twelve cycles of Qi Refining, and cultivated the first breath of pure Yang Qi, then even without the Imperial Seal Hut, he could prevent those evil demons that had escaped and roamed around from getting close to him.

After all, the evil demons that could infiltrate the Imperial Seal Great Wall are of low quality.

When you push open the door, all you see is a grayish-white mist, which is almost the most common basic color in Linjiang Prefecture. There is no sunshine, no green trees or red flowers, nothing at all.

"It would be so nice to stay on Earth, but I traveled here to suffer."

This thought flashed through Zhao Guanshan's mind. On the other side of the Earth, even the weakest mortal could breathe fresh air, drink clear and sweet water, fill his stomach, and play games.

But here, the weak have no right to survive.

He glanced around out of habit, and saw rows of imperial seal huts, all of which were level one, the lowest level of defense.

This is a slum lane, equivalent to low-rent housing on Earth.

"Zhao Guanshan, you are still alive, what a surprise."

A young man of the same age as Zhao Guanshan walked out of the nearby Imperial Seal Cottage. However, he was almost a head taller than Zhao Guanshan, about two meters tall, and was much stronger, enough to hold up the frail Zhao Guanshan.

This is his neighbor since childhood, former playmate, good friend, current classmate and heir to his estate - Yang Mao!
That’s right, it’s the heir to the estate, very realistic.

Yang Mao saved Zhao Guanshan once, so Zhao Guanshan promised that if he died one day, all his inheritance would be inherited by Yang Mao, which was recorded in the provincial government office with an imperial seal.

Protected by the laws of the Dao Palace.

So the thing this guy looks forward to most when he wakes up every morning is seeing Zhao Guanshan die.

Unfortunately, fate was unfair and Yang Mao never got what he wanted.

Oh, it is worth mentioning that Yang Mao is also an orphan. Most of the teenagers living in Slum Lane are orphans.

And if nothing unexpected happens, their children will also become orphans in a few years or even a dozen years.

There's nothing we can do. After the divine punishment came, everyone kept dying and we got used to it.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Zhao Guanshan pulled the corner of his mouth with difficulty, said nothing, and turned around to close the door of the Imperial Seal Cottage.

On the door, there is a complex seal the size of a fist. This is the source of the Seal Hut's defense. There is a faint light blue light flickering on it, which means that there is not much energy left inside and it needs to be recharged.

The nature is similar to charging a mobile phone on Earth.

However, Zhao Guanshan was already short of money.

Due to his weak health, he could not accept the bounty offered by the Taoist temple, so he could not earn extra money and had to live off his savings. Unlike his neighbor Yang Mao, he was strong, thick-skinned, and well-trained. He had already cultivated the third breath of pure yang energy, which was equivalent to an ordinary first-level sealed magic weapon.

Therefore, he had to find another way, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to make it to the assessment in half a year.

Thinking of this, Zhao Guanshan gave a difficult smile and looked at Yang Mao.

Yang Mao, Yang Mao, his first pot of gold came from this person.

(End of this chapter)