Minglong

Chapter 1: Deep Mountain Tombs
North of Danzhou, Zihui Mountain.

Lightning flashed across the sky, and raindrops as big as soybeans hit the old tent, making crackling sounds.

Xie Jinhuan lay on the floor, his head was dizzy, his throat was as if he had swallowed a razor blade, and he called out hoarsely:

“Dad… Dad… Lao Deng?!”

"Where are the people? Is it worth it to go to the government office..."

Xie Jinhuan called the servants and maids at home again, but still no one responded. Feeling thirsty, he could only grit his teeth, stand up, and grope for the teapot by himself.

But as soon as he stretched out his hand, he was stunned.

Heavy rain poured down, causing the tent cloth to vibrate violently. A candle lamp was hung at the entrance of the tent, illuminating several beds on the floor inside the tent and a corpse outside the door!
The corpse lay beside the campfire, its clothes torn and its face covered in blood. Its chest was pierced by an iron mace and nailed to the ground.

The iron mace is silver-white, with a round tail and a beast-shaped frame. It is engraved with the word "Tian Gang". It is his weapon...

Shit, what did I do?!
Xie Jinhuan suddenly turned over and looked around, only to find that he was lying in a strange tent. Outside was the dark forest in the mountains. He was holding a sword in his hand, and the big bed in the mansion and the lackeys were all gone.

What the hell is this place? I've been kidnapped?!
Xie Jinhuan was completely bewildered. As his mind regained clarity, his memories returned:
He was unexpectedly reopened more than a decade ago. He was born in the capital of the Daqian Dynasty. His father was the lieutenant of Wan'an County. His mother died early. He is the only son in the family...

A real man should not live his life to be inferior to others. He has been determined to kill the local natives since he was three years old!
At the age of sixteen, he had accomplished nothing and was transferred to Lingnan with his father. On the way, he encountered a monster...

Then it was gone.

The last scene in Xie Jinhuan's memory was of him being chased by a monster throughout the woods.

The next second, he was lying here with a corpse in front of him.

what happened?

Didn’t run away from the monsters and reopened it?
This won't do. I finally made it to puberty, and I haven't even tasted the saltiness or sweetness of a rich man's wife...

Xie Jinhuan sensed something was wrong and quickly raised his sword as a mirror, checking his reflection in the candlelight.

Fortunately, his appearance hasn't changed much, he is still himself.

But he is obviously more mature than before, and has grown a lot taller...

Could it be that several years have passed?
Xie Jinhuan frowned and thought hard. He couldn't remember his recent experiences, and he didn't even know whether his father was dead or alive. He could only look at the corpse outside the tent to judge his current situation.

Wow…

The heavy rain washed away the blood on the corpse's face, but the pale face still retained the fear of life, and the appearance was not familiar.

Blood spread from under the corpse and gradually seeped into the cave not far away.

The entrance of the cave is located under a mound and looks like a 'mausoleum', but the interior has completely collapsed.

Judging from the furnishings in the tent, there were four people in total, and they had been camping here for at least three days. He was dressed cleanly, so he must be an outsider.

Xie Jinhuan could probably deduce what happened after seeing this:

This group of people were tomb robbers digging a grave here. He ran over midway, and the conflict between the two sides caused the mausoleum to collapse. Three people were buried in the tomb. The old Taoist escaped and was stabbed to death by him at the entrance of the cave...

"But why am I here?"

Xie Jinhuan was like someone with a hangover, completely unable to remember his recent experiences. After carefully observing the surrounding traces, he felt that the strength displayed was not like his style.

To win at the starting line, Xie Jinhuan began working hard even when he was still using a pacifier. However, his focus wasn't limited to martial arts; he also dabbled in music, chess, calligraphy, painting, astronomy, geography, conversation, and bodybuilding...

His original intention was to become a jack of all trades, but the consequence of learning everything was that he was not good at anything.

Because other projects took up too much of his time, he didn't reach the eighth level of martial arts until he was sixteen years old.

His only achievement was that he had paid attention to his appearance and manners since childhood. He was handsome, well-dressed, and well-spoken. All the wives who met him were impressed. It could be said that he was rapidly heading in the direction of "Lao Ai"...

Judging from the traces at the scene, he killed the old Taoist with just a casual move, without even using much strength. His strength is probably at least a hundred times stronger than before!
Have I gone into the alchemy furnace of Taishang Laojun?

Xie Jinhuan felt the immense power within his body that could kill a female dragon, and he became increasingly confused.

Unable to remember the reason, he could only search the tent to see if he could find any clues.

As a result, I finally figured out my current situation, but at the same time I also discovered something very scary!

In addition to the luggage and tools in the tent, there were also some documents and the apprentice's tomb-robbing notes.

According to the notes, it was the autumn of the eighth year of Jingning, he was nineteen and a half years old, and three years had passed since his father was transferred to Lingnan.

The current location is not the poor and barren southern border, but Danzhou, which is only a hundred miles away from Jingzhao Prefecture.

As the Tomb Robbers' Chronicles turned to the latest chapter, a few lines of crooked handwriting came into view:
August 5th: Master, searching for dragons and caves, discovered a large tomb behind Zihui Mountain. Master speculates that this is where the "Qixia Immortal" retreated from life and death, and that there must be precious techniques and treasures within... August 8th: Today we broke ground and unearthed the tomb door. It has a Taoist seal on it, which looks like a demon-suppressing talisman. Master says it's to prevent Qixia Immortal from becoming possessed during his retreat...

August 9th: I had a dream. In the dream, I met a female demon in red clothes. She had big breasts and a fat butt. I felt that she liked me. Unfortunately, my master slapped me awake and I continued to dig graves...

Night of the 9th day of the eighth lunar month: The tomb door was finally opened. Inside were many female burial objects. In the middle was a demon-suppressing coffin, and on top of it was the "Zhenglun Sword" that had been lost for a hundred years in Zihui Mountain. It was indeed a treasure. We had to find a way to extract the sword...

The record ends here.

"Demon-suppressing coffin, red-robed female demon, Zhenglun sword..."

Xie Jinhuan had known since childhood that the Daqian Dynasty was filled with all kinds of demons and monsters. When he suddenly saw these words, his heart skipped a beat and his eyes glanced at the long sword in his hand for self-defense:

The sword is three feet and three inches long, dark blue throughout, and engraved with the words "Zheng Lun"...

Isn’t this the sword on the demon-suppressing coffin?
Xie Jinhuan secretly thought that this was not good!
The fact that this sword appeared in his hand must be that this group of fearless tomb robbers had already opened the demon-suppressing coffin and released the red-clothed banshee.

He came here inexplicably, perhaps wanting to stop the tomb robbers from committing suicide, but he failed and was injured by the demon, so he forgot his recent experiences.

This happened just now. If it was really the banshee who came out of the coffin that caused the current situation, then the demon might still be here...

Thinking of this, Xie Jinhuan's heart sank and he looked around cautiously.

At this moment, there was an unexplained movement outside the tent:
rub~ rub~
The sound sounded like an unknown creature tearing meat.

Xie Jinhuan's face suddenly changed, and he quickly pointed his sword at the entrance of the tent.

click-

At this moment, a flash of lightning in the sky briefly illuminated the camp outside the tent.

Under the heavy rain, the bonfire was completely extinguished. The originally burnt roasted rabbit was dragged to the side, and a dark shadow was pecking at it with its head down.

The black shadow's hair was as black as coal balls, with only amber eyes that reflected a faint light under the lightning, like two ghostly fires floating outside the tent.

Xie Jinhuan carefully identified the shadow and felt that it looked familiar. He tried to call out:
"Coal briquettes?"

"Guji?"

The black eagle that was pecking at the roasted rabbit froze when it heard the sound.

Perhaps because he was afraid of being caught stealing food and being scolded by his master, he quietly put the roasted rabbit back to its original place, and then squatted in the rain, pretending to be on guard seriously.

Xie Jinhuan was so frightened that he almost swore when he saw this scene.

The Black Hawk's name was Coal Ball. She was Xie Jinhuan's personal servant who bought her from the Flower and Bird Street in the capital for half a string of coins.

The vendor said it was a 'Black-winged Roc', a descendant of a mythical beast, with a wingspan of a thousand feet when fully grown, and it feeds on dragons.

As a result, Xie Jinhuan took good care of him and successfully raised the 'Black Winged Fatty', who was one foot tall and one foot around the waist. His favorite food was 'Mushroom Stewed Flying Dragon'.

Fortunately, the unscrupulous businessmen are not so shameless as to dye pheasants to deceive people. Coal balls are indeed more intelligent and can understand what people say. As long as it does not involve making a living, they will never lie.

Xie Jinhuan didn't bother to pick up his personal servants at this time, and came forward with a sword in hand to ask:

"Did you see the monster?"

"Goo?"

Meiqiu looked around, quite confused.

When Xie Jinhuan saw this, he knew that he didn't see it.

But judging from the Grave Robbers' Chronicles, the red-clothed banshee has most likely already emerged from her coffin!

His memory was fragmented, and he had no idea of ​​his current situation. He didn't dare stay here for long, so he quickly pulled out the Tiangang mace from the corpse and used the demon-suppressing sword as a talisman.

"Hurry up, there are goblins in this place."

"Goo~"

Coal Ball was very well-behaved. Seeing this, he picked up the roasted rabbit from the campfire, flapped his wings and hopped after it, disappearing into the endless rainy night.

As the man and the bird left, the camp fell silent, and the eerie atmosphere in the mountains gradually dissipated.

It seemed as if some invisible entity had also left the deep mountain mausoleum along with Xie Jinhuan...

(End of this chapter)