Courtyard House: Time Traveler Not Yet a Ghost

The pale golden soul, like a weary bird returning to its nest, silently disappeared into the cross-legged body in the treehouse of Yanshan Wasteland. A faint light flashed between its brows, then vanished. He Damin slowly opened his eyes. Deep within them, the ever-swirling Tai Chi phantom seemed even clearer and more vibrant than before, reflecting the gradually brightening sky outside the window, yet as if reflecting another, even more vast and profound world.

He did not get up immediately, but instead focused his mind on his dantian—no, nowadays it may no longer be simply called "dantian".

Upon internal inspection, the original location of the Qi Sea had been replaced by a perfectly round golden elixir the size of a longan, its entire body shimmering with purple-gold light, and its surface adorned with ever-growing Tai Chi Dao patterns. However, this golden elixir was entirely different from the "solid spiritual energy crystals" and "carriers of the Great Dao Laws" condensed by those powerful predecessors as described in Daoist scriptures.

Its "inside" is not a solid, seamless entity, but rather a space.

No, to be more precise, it was a nascent little world.

He Damin cautiously probed his divine sense into the golden core. There was no obstruction; it was as if he had opened a portal to his own origin.

The scene before him caused even this Golden Core cultivator, who was used to life and death and whose heart was as hard as iron, to be slightly stunned.

This is a vast and silent world.

The sky was a soft, seemingly eternal pale gold, devoid of sun, moon, and stars; the light seemed to emanate from the world itself, scattering evenly. The outline of the land was somewhat similar to the medicinal fields and hot springs of his previous secluded valley, but its area was hundreds or even thousands of times larger! Roughly estimated, this flat, solid land was a full ten square kilometers! Equivalent to 1,500 acres! Compared to the pitiful hundred acres of black soil in his previous Taiji Space's Yang pole, it was a world of difference. Moreover, this land was not the ethereal feeling of a simple "storage space," but real soil imbued with a faint vitality and spirituality; one could feel the earth's weight and inclusiveness with every breath. In the distance, the undulating mountain shadows and winding veins of water vapor seemed to be gradually solidifying, though they were still very blurry at the moment.

The land was no longer the chaotic, crowded place where he habitually piled up supplies. The various supplies that had once crammed in, leaving almost no room to walk—weapons, ammunition, food, cloth, gold, silver, and machinery plundered from the Japanese warehouses—were now scattered sparsely across the vast plain, like seashells on a beach, appearing exceptionally empty and desolate. He even needed to concentrate his divine sense to scan carefully and accurately locate certain specific items.

"Ten square kilometers..." He Damin was shocked. This was almost the size of a small town! No wonder he had previously thought that a hundred acres of land was cramped and only fit for storing miscellaneous items. Now, with this vast expanse ten times larger than before, let alone storing the existing supplies, even if several large Japanese military stations were emptied, it probably wouldn't fill even a corner.

But what is even more wondrous lies beneath the earth.

His divine sense extended downwards along the soil. At a depth of about a kilometer, he touched a region completely different from the vibrant world above—the "Reincarnation Space," which evolved from the Yin Yin part of the original Tai Chi Space.

There is no concept of up, down, left, or right here, only an eternal, hazy void. Within this void, six light holes, each about ten feet in diameter and of different colors, slowly rotate, like six ancient eyes, suspended in the void, emanating an aura of mystery and unfathomable power that stirs the soul.

Six light holes, each with a distinct color and aura:

A noble purple-gold light shimmered, its aura peaceful yet lofty, faintly accompanied by celestial music and chanting (the Heavenly Dao).

A gentle, milky white color, carrying the complex fluctuations of human life and the seven emotions and six desires (humanity).

One is a dark, scarlet red, churning with violent thoughts of battle, slaughter, and resentment (the Asura Path).

One is a murky, earthy yellow, permeated with the stench of ignorance, wildness, and instinct (the animal realm).

One is a dark, ghastly green, radiating greed, thirst, and endless resentment (Hungry Ghost Realm);

The final path is a deep, lightless blackness, from which only extreme cold, pain, and despair seep out, as if capable of freezing the soul (the Hell Path).

The cycle of rebirth in the six realms!

Although it was only the most primitive and crude prototype, far from perfect, and lacking the complete chain of laws for guiding, judging, and reincarnating souls, it did exist! Moreover, He Damin could clearly feel that a faint but extremely high-level power of reincarnation, containing concepts such as "rebirth," "cause and effect," and "karma," was slowly emanating from these six light holes, permeating the foundation of the entire small world above, seemingly subtly nourishing and stabilizing the underlying rules of this new world.

"The cathode transforms into reincarnation... the anode forms the world..." He Damin's consciousness withdrew from the golden core and returned to his physical body. His heart was filled with turbulent waves, and he could not calm down for a long time.

According to the Daoist canon, for cultivators at the Golden Core stage, the Golden Core is the foundation of the Great Dao, the essence of life, and the source of supernatural powers and magic. Later, when the Golden Core shatters to form the Nascent Soul, the Nascent Soul is the "god" born within the Golden Core, the cultivator's second life, a manifestation of the Great Dao. But my own Golden Core… it directly contains a small world that is evolving, complete with the rudiments of the Six Paths of Reincarnation! What is this? The foundation of the Great Dao has become a "seed of a world"?

"This path of cultivation... did it go astray from the moment the Taiji space merged with the golden core? Or... did it embark on a path that no one has ever walked before?" He Damin frowned slightly. He recalled all the records in "The Daoist Primordial Elixir Path," and even the fragmented Xianxia settings he had read in his previous life, but he couldn't find a description of a similar situation. Others' golden cores were solid, highly compressed crystals of spiritual energy and laws, the ultimate condensation of energy; his own golden core, however, was an entrance to a space, the embryonic form of a world.

"So, what's the next step? How does the Golden Core transform into an Infant?" He felt an unprecedented sense of bewilderment. According to the orthodox path, one should continuously strengthen the Golden Core, comprehend deeper laws, and when the time is right, the Golden Core will spontaneously respond, breaking free to become an Infant. But the "shell" of his Golden Core is the barrier of the world, containing a ten-square-kilometer realm and a cycle of reincarnation. How can he "break through" it? And where will the "Infant" come from? Must he nurture a "World Spirit" within a small world as his Nascent Soul?

Unprecedented and without precedent, all methods, experiences, and lessons learned have lost their meaning at this moment. His cultivation method has become completely unfamiliar, and the path ahead is shrouded in an unknown mist.

After a long silence, He Damin slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, his eyes regaining their firmness.

"The road is made by walking. Since no one has ventured into this place before, then I, He Damin, will forge this new path!" His confusion was only temporary; the composure of a top assassin and the courage to explore the unknown quickly took over. The unknown also meant infinite possibilities. This small world, this nascent cycle of reincarnation, might bring unexpected power and opportunities.

Putting aside his confusion about the path ahead in cultivation, he once again immersed his consciousness in his Golden Core micro-world. This time, he focused on examining the supplies piled up on the vast plain, especially... weapons.

With a thought in mind, his "vision" quickly locked onto a relatively concentrated area of ​​military equipment.

The first thing that caught his eye was a dozen or so steel behemoths that seemed out of place in their surroundings—Type 95 fighters and Type 96 land-based attack aircraft! They lay quietly on the leveled ground, their paintwork somewhat faded, but their structures largely intact. These were his spoils from the raid on the Japanese Nanyuan Airport. The airport's defenses had been instantly destroyed by the Soul-Refining Banner, and these dozen or so aircraft, along with their spare parts and fuel, became his trophies. He hadn't figured out what to do with them, so he simply stored them in his spatial dimension. Now, in this vast little world, they had become a rather visually striking "landscape."

A glance reveals a dense array of firearms and artillery, categorized into different types, resembling a miniature arms exhibition.

Light machine guns: a total of 108, mainly Type 11 (Taisho 11) and a small number of Type 96 (Taisho 11) light machine guns, their gleaming barrels gleaming coldly. This was the standard number of light machine guns assigned to an infantry regiment of a Japanese Class A division (3 per infantry company).

Heavy machine guns: 36 units. The heavy Type 92 heavy machine guns are like silent iron beasts, with complex heat sinks and heavy tripods on the gun body, which tells of the terror of their continuous firepower. It is also a regimental-level configuration (12 units per infantry battalion).

The artillery positions were more conspicuous:

92式步兵炮：12门！其中6门是联队直属，另外6门来自步兵大队（每个大队2门）。这些70毫米口径的曲射步兵支援火炮，是日军中队级别的攻坚利器。

70毫米/75毫米级别火炮：6门70毫米92步兵炮和4门41式75毫米山炮（或38式75毫米野炮）组成更远程的火力群，射程可覆盖五公里以上。

反装甲与特殊用途炮：4门94式37毫米速射炮，专打机枪火力点和简易工事；还有平射步兵狙击炮（少数中队配备）和极少数部队才有的97式20毫米自动炮（反坦克用），也赫然在列。

Close-quarters weapon: grenade launchers, a total of 76! 50mm caliber, standard equipment for Japanese infantry squads, a nightmare in urban and mountain warfare.

Besides these heavy weapons, neatly stacked like a forest nearby were over six thousand Type 38 rifles! Their black stocks, slender barrels, and gleaming bayonets exuded a chilling killing intent. These rifles were enough to arm two fully equipped infantry regiments.

The mountains of ammunition boxes were a shocking sight. A rough estimate suggests that the total weight of all types of bullets, shells, and grenades was no less than **42 tons**! The gleaming yellow bullets, the dark green shells, and the neatly bundled grenades formed small mountains exuding an aura of destruction.

In addition, there were mountains of military rations, canned goods, medicines, clothing, fuel, engineering equipment, communication equipment, military vehicles and motorcycles... a vast array of supplies, almost encompassing most of the logistical reserves of a standard Japanese field division. What previously seemed bloated and cumbersome when packed into a hundred acres of space now occupies only a few small corners when scattered across ten square kilometers of land.

He Damin's divine sense slowly swept over this silent yet dangerous "armory," and he felt little joy at possessing power, but rather a cold indifference.

"Supplies...especially weapons, are in serious surplus." He thought calmly. For him personally, most of these weapons were useless. The Soul Refining Banner, Taoist magic, and martial arts were his foundation. These guns and cannons might only be used in specific situations, such as using those twenty-odd aircraft to carry out a long-range precision bombing, or using artillery to destroy an important target from a distance.

"Perhaps... we can give them to those who need them in the future." A vague thought flashed through his mind. But he immediately suppressed it. The time was not right, and people's hearts were unpredictable. If such a massive amount of weaponry were to leak out, the consequences would be unpredictable.

His gaze once again fell upon the vast, burgeoning ten square kilometers of land. Before, he had only considered those hundred acres of black soil as wasteland for storing miscellaneous items, never even considering cultivation. Now, facing this land a hundred times larger than before, a thought involuntarily arose within him:

"So much land... are we really going to leave it barren? Or is it just going to be used as a larger warehouse?"

In his past life, he was an assassin, and in this life, he has spent most of his time in battle and scheming, making him completely unfamiliar with "cultivation." But at this moment, looking at this small world that belongs to him and has boundless potential, a strange feeling welled up in his heart—perhaps, besides battle and destruction, creation and growth are also part of the Great Dao?

Though the path of cultivation is uncertain, the inner world is beginning to take shape. Should he continue to focus on hunting and increasing his power in the outside world, or begin to explore the mysteries and potential of this inner world? He Damin sat quietly in the treehouse, the morning light of the Yanshan Mountains outside the window fully illuminating the valley. His eyes were deep, as if piercing through the wooden house, piercing through the Yanshan Mountains, and seeing a more distant future full of unknowns and possibilities.

The Golden Elixir has transformed, and the path ahead has been forged on its own. Perhaps the Path of the Thousand-Faced Yama truly begins from this moment.