Ink-Clad Creator

Li Xian slowly opened his eyes amidst a strong, pungent smell of blood that could be used as a spice packet.

"Huh? This after-sales service isn't right..." he thought confusedly. "Didn't they say I'd reached my destination at the Yama's Palace? Why did they send me back here?"

To be precise, he was reborn—but this initial experience was truly hellish.

He found himself kneeling on the ground in a standard "admission of guilt" posture, with a newly dug pit half a person deep in front of him, which also served as a "dormitory".

To make matters worse, a familiar dampness and subtle smell emanated from my crotch.

"No way, officer," Li Xian lamented inwardly, "The rebirth gift pack also comes with a 'scared to death' experience card? Does that even make sense statistically?"

Before he could even sort out the troublesome situation, a knife flashed beside him!

Swish!

A head, its expression still one of utter bewilderment, traced a parabolic trajectory—though not gracefully—and landed precisely in the pit in front of it. The headless corpse followed closely behind, getting kicked like a sack of potatoes by the executioner, and tumbled into the pit.

"Only one left!" A cold-looking young man flicked the blood off his sword, speaking as if he were announcing the last dish on a menu.

"This little lecher was scared unconscious just now, but he's awake again. Hurry up!" a burly man with a full beard urged, as if rushing through a process.

"He...he looks quite young, perhaps...his crime doesn't warrant death?" A soft voice rang out, sounding like celestial music to Li Xian. He quickly looked up.

A young girl stood beside the young man, her eyes like autumn water, looking at the trembling "wet man" on the ground with a hint of pity.

Their eyes met briefly in the air before the girl quickly looked away.

"Wow..." Two words popped into Li Xian's mind at an inopportune moment, "So beautiful! If she were in our school, the list of school beauties would have to be reshuffled!"

"Hmph!" The young man snorted coldly, instantly pulling Li Xian back from his aesthetic pursuits to the execution ground livestream. "Still so presumptuous even on the verge of death! Look at those thieving eyes, if not lewd now, they'll surely turn to evil in the future! Kill him to prevent future troubles!"

Upon hearing this, the executioner raised his blade, its cold light reflecting off it, ready to make intimate contact with Li Xian's neck.

"Fine, this rebirth experience card only lasts one minute." Li Xian closed his eyes in despair. "I'll just consider it winning 'Thank you for your patronage' in a lottery. Hopefully, the customer service will be more professional next time I'm transmigrated..."

suddenly!

A sharp, whistling sound of wind breaking through the air exploded beside him and then vanished in an instant, as fast as a hiccup.

"ah--!!!"

Immediately afterwards, screams erupted all around, enough to fill a horror movie with background noise. Li opened his eyes in confusion, only to hear a muffled thud behind him.

He saw that everyone in front of him, including the cold-faced young swordsman and Qiu Shui, all stared wide-eyed and gaped, collectively putting on a show of "seeing a ghost".

It really is a ghost story.

The executioner raised his knife, performed a difficult spin in the air, and with a series of movements that defied the laws of mechanics, cleanly and decisively slit his own throat.

His head flew off, blood gushing out like a fountain, giving Li Xian, who was standing directly in front of him, a free full-body "Hot-Blooded Skin".

"Stand up."

A cold, unquestionable command popped into his head like a pop-up message.

Li Xian's body moved faster than his brain. With a single command and movement, he stood up abruptly—muscle memory? Not at all, he was simply scared.

"Pick up the knife on the ground." The second pop-up window followed immediately.

Like a newly powered-on robot, Li Xian bent down and picked up the still-warm butcher's knife. The knife was heavy, and his arms, which had been "weak as a chicken" in his previous life, began to protest.

"Raise your sword and charge out." The third command was as concise as a final announcement.

Li Xian raised his knife. He knew these people wanted to kill him (except perhaps the pretty girl), and the instinct for survival overcame his confusion. He yelled and charged into the crowd with the knife in hand—his posture resembled lifting a barbell, but he couldn't lose his momentum! His acceleration was a bit slow; the resistance mainly came from his soaked pants and weak legs.

"You're courting death!" The cold-faced man roared in fury, his sword flashing like lightning as he thrust it straight at Li Xian's heart, determined to pierce him through.

Li Xian, who knew no martial arts, could only stand there dumbfounded, watching helplessly as the sword tip approached. Then, something miraculous happened: the sword tip, as if it had suddenly seen an ex-girlfriend, awkwardly veered off course, grazing his clothes and sliding away.

"Huh?" The man felt a tremendous force suddenly pull his wrist, and his sword path was completely out of control.

"Young Master, what's wrong?" Before the words were finished, a sword and a saber attacked from both sides.

As a result, the knife and sword seemed to have planned it in advance, and they "brushed past" Li Xian, both missing their mark, and the wielders almost collided.

"What are you doing?!" a dignified middle-aged man shouted.

In that short delay, Li Xian had already charged a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) away with his "barbell".

"Don't even think about escaping!" The imposing middle-aged man leaped into the air, his movements graceful and his inner strength surging.

"Turn around! Right front, grab that woman!" The command in my mind, like GPS, once again provided precise navigation.

Li slammed on the brakes (almost tripping himself) and turned to rush towards the beautiful girl. He figured he was probably under some kind of spell or suffering from post-concussion syndrome.

"Lingshan, get out of the way!"

The young girl, Xiao Lingshan, watched helplessly as the blood-covered "wet man" rushed towards her. She tried to dodge, but suddenly found herself bound tightly by an invisible force, unable to move even a finger.

"I..." She opened her mouth, but no sound came out; only fear showed in her eyes.

"Put a knife to her neck!" the command was given in the brain.

This time, Li hesitated. Looking at the girl's slender, delicate neck, like a white swan, and then at the blood-soaked, heavy cleaver in his hand…

"This thing is too heavy, what if my hand slips..." he muttered, and simply threw the machete away with a "clatter", and casually "borrowed" a beautiful short sword from the girl's waist.

The short sword was beautiful, with a small ruby ​​inlaid on the hilt and subtle patterns on the blade. Li Xian carefully placed it against the back of the girl's neck—maintaining a safe distance as much as possible!

Now, they were hesitant to act, fearing the consequences. The usually decisive young lord, sword in hand, hesitated to step forward. The others also braked abruptly.

The imposing middle-aged man, Elder Tian, ​​his face ashen, silently circled behind Li Xian and secretly raised his hand. A golden thumb ring on his index finger flashed with a faint light, and a highly condensed wisp of internal energy shot out, aiming directly at Li Xian's heart! This was the "Subduing Force" of the early stage of the Heavenly Origin Realm, specifically designed to break through protective qi!

"laugh--"

The energy struck, and then... it was like a pebble sinking into the ocean, without even a splash.

Li Xian felt a slight itch on his back, like a mosquito bite, and shrugged in confusion. "Static electricity? Or just psychological?"

Elder Tian's dignified expression finally crumbled, replaced by surprise and uncertainty. "Quickly, invite the Fortress Master and all the elders! Come to Flower Boat Mountain immediately!" His voice was fast and urgent, with a slight, almost imperceptible tremor.

Meanwhile, under the constant guidance of his mental GPS, Li Xian was escorting (or rather, instructing) Xiao Lingshan, moving deeper into the valley. Behind them, a large group of people followed closely, like a tour group afraid of losing their guide, creating a bizarre scene.

"At first I thought it was an auditory hallucination," Li thought to himself as he walked. "But this 'auditory hallucination' seems... to be helping me? It doesn't make sense logically, but it exists phenomenologically." Well, for now, following the script is better than getting killed off immediately.

Flower Boat Mountain, true to its name. Li Xian was heading towards the deepest part of the valley at the bottom of the "boat". The path narrowed and narrowed until it disappeared completely, leaving only withered branches and fallen leaves underfoot. The surrounding trees grew denser, the light dimmed, and a chilling wind blew, creating an atmosphere that was truly oppressive.

The "tour group" then began to whisper among themselves:

"It looks like a dead end ahead? If we surround him, he won't be able to escape!"

"Don't forget, Miss Xiao is still in his hands...that little lecher!"

"Shh! Keep your voice down!" Someone secretly glanced at the young master, whose face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

These whispers reached the ears of Han Yunyang, the young master of the fortress, making him even more agitated. "Elder Tian, ​​we can't wait any longer! Let's attack together and save our junior sister!"

Elder Tian's expression was grave: "Young Master, please calm down. This boy... is quite strange. Let's wait for the Master and the elders to arrive before devising a foolproof plan. We'll keep a close watch on him; Miss Xiao should be safe for now."

He couldn't understand why his years of arduous cultivation of internal energy had no effect on that kid. What level was he at? If he truly possessed extraordinary abilities, why had he been kneeling and waiting to be slaughtered, even...wetting his pants?

I can't figure it out, I really can't figure it out!

Of course, Xiao Lingshan, who was forced to act as a "human navigation support" with a short sword "placing" against the back of her neck, was also puzzled.

She had only one thought in her mind, repeatedly refreshing the screen:

"What...what's going on?!"