The Reversal of Heaven Begins with The Smiling, Proud Wanderer

Ashuang was an orphan girl whom Lin Mu took in after he came to Fuzhou. She was down-to-earth, capable, and quite obedient. Upon hearing this, she didn't ask any questions and immediately agreed, then went to do her errand.

About half an hour later, Ashuang returned carrying a black pottery jar: "Master, you want more arsenic. The pharmacy manager asked a few questions and even made me sign before he would sell it to you."

"Well done, you can go now."

Lin Mu dismissed the man and looked at the medicine jar on the table.

Arsenic can kill insects and repel rodents, but most people buy very little of it, so pharmacies don't keep much in stock.

Moreover, arsenic was a highly poisonous substance in ancient times, and purchases were required to be recorded to prevent poisoning.

Lin Mu picked up the medicine pot, and a system notification sounded.

[Ding! Reversible drug detected—arsenic.]

Arsenic: Trace amounts of arsenic can be used topically to treat stubborn skin diseases, parasitic infections, and scabies. With special processing, it may also have some therapeutic effect on leukemia, liver cancer, and myeloma...

Side effects: Acute poisoning, corroding the gastrointestinal tract and internal organs, causing nervous system disorders, skin and mucous membrane damage, carcinogenicity, death...

[Negative Reversal: Strengthens the internal organs and overall constitution, refreshes the mind, and consolidates the body's foundation.]

"It's really good!"

Lin Mu immediately took a small pinch with a spoon and poured it into a teacup. Boiling water was poured over it, and the powder instantly dissolved, producing a little white foam.

He picked up the teacup and hesitated for a moment.

Fortune favors the bold, cheers!

With his body facing upwards, Lin Mu steeled his heart and drank the spiked tea in one gulp.

As the tea entered my throat, the burning sensation I had imagined did not occur. Instead, a warm current spread from my stomach to my limbs and bones.

Lin Mu felt his muscles swell slightly, and his complexion improved. He couldn't help but chuckle, "This isn't poison at all; it's clearly a top-grade tonic. It's just that the taste is a bit off. I'll add some honey next time."

"Drink this one, then three more! Drink as much as you can, as long as you don't die! Let's go!"

Please give my new book flowers, votes, and add it to your favorites!

Chapter 2: First Steps into the Martial World

Time flies like an arrow, passing by quietly.

More than a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

In a small courtyard west of Fuzhou, the moonlight was as clear as water.

Lin Mu sat cross-legged on the bluestone slab, picked up a small pinch of snow-white powder with his fingertips, and mixed it into the honey water without hesitation.

The poisonous sweet water slid down his throat, instantly turning into a warm current that flowed through his limbs and bones, causing the pure yang energy circulating in his meridians to surge several times over.

This is the thirty-sixth day that Lin Mu has been taking the highly toxic substance to refine his body. From the initial palpitations and trepidation, he has now become accustomed to it.

"call--"

He exhaled a long breath, and a faint white mist rose from his body.

Over the past month, he has tried arsenic, poison, and even the deadly sap of the arrow poison tree. The more toxic the drug, the more significant the physical enhancement after the reversal.

Now his bones and muscles are three times stronger than an ordinary person's, and his internal organs are ten times stronger. He has mastered the "Evil-Repelling Sword Technique" faster than expected. Now, when he circulates pure Yang Qi, his movements are as fast as a ghost, and his strength far surpasses that of martial artists of the same level.

"As my physical condition improves, my resistance to toxins is also increasing. Poisons like arsenic no longer have much effect on me!"

"We need to find something even more poisonous. The Three Corpse Brain God Pill from the Sun Moon Cult seems pretty good..."

With the negative reversal system, what others fear as poison is a good medicine for Lin Mu to strengthen his body.

I'm not afraid of its toxicity, I'm afraid of its toxicity not being strong enough.

Strolling through the courtyard, accompanied by a clang, Lin Mu drew his fine steel longsword, forged using the blast furnace steelmaking method.

The sword's appearance was inspired by the Burning Soul Sword, with a blood-red blade. Lin Mu even sacrificed an animal for it.

The ancient practice of using living people to forge swords actually had a scientific basis.

Due to the limitations of ancient furnace technology, the temperature was relatively low, making it difficult to reach above 1500 degrees Celsius.

The human body contains a large amount of fat, which is equivalent to highly concentrated oil.

When a person jumps into the furnace, the grease becomes fuel, causing the furnace temperature to rise rapidly in a short period of time.

In addition, carbon in the human body can increase the hardness of metals.

Under the catalysis of substances in the human body, iron in high temperature will undergo a chemical reaction, which will turn iron into almost steel.

Lin Mu was naturally not that cruel; he used pigs, and the effect was about the same.

By adding the blast furnace steelmaking method and a certain proportion of carbon, high-carbon steel can be produced by heating pig iron with high carbon content and oxidizing and decarburizing it.

It can be said that the sword in Lin Mu's hand, if placed in the martial arts world, would be a divine weapon that could cut through iron like mud.

Besides swords, Lin Mu also practiced with steel knives, steel needles, steel wire, steel shields, inner armor, and several spears.

Lin Mu even made two compound bows, just in case.

If he had more time, he could have even made muskets and cannons.

As for the present moment, he is more concerned with improving his personal combat skills.

With his longsword in hand, Lin Mu unleashed the Seventy-Two Styles of the Evil-Repelling Sword Technique.

A meteor falls, flowers bloom to reveal the Buddha, a flute is played on the river, demons are swept away, and purple aura arrives from the east...

The sword flashed like lightning, ruthless and vicious, and unpredictable.

Its essence boils down to three points: speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness!

In this matter, the Evil-Repelling Sword Technique had reached a state of perfection in Lin Mu's hands. Under the moonlight, the blood-red light shimmered, and each sword strike was wrapped with scorching pure yang true energy.

With a slight flick of his wrist, the tip of his sword traced a mysterious arc, and a half-foot-long pale golden sword aura shot out, precisely slicing through the flower branches two zhang away.

The broken surface still bears charred marks, which are caused by the burning of pure yang qi.

"The second stage has finally been completed."

Lin Mu sheathed his sword and stood there, feeling the surging true energy within his dantian, his heart pounding with excitement.

The Sunflower True Qi within the Evil-Repelling Sword Technique is divided into four levels.

Upon reaching the fourth level of cultivation, one can achieve harmony between Yin and Yang, balance between the real and the unreal, and generate life from the interaction of Heaven and Man, thus nurturing all things.

Dongfang Bubai was exceptionally talented and a martial arts prodigy, but it took him more than ten years to master the Sunflower Manual.

Based on his current cultivation progress, Lin Mu will be able to reach the level of Dongfang Bubai within a year, or even surpass it.

A life lived on cheat codes is just that unreasonable.

"It's time to complete the side quests!"

Previously, due to insufficient strength, Lin Mu did not want to venture into the martial world rashly.

Another issue is that the location of the Lin family is unknown.

It is April 1st now.

There are only 22 days left until Liu Zhengfeng retires from his criminal activities.

According to the plot, the Qingcheng Sect will take Lin Zhennan and his wife to attend the ceremony, and Lin Pingzhi will also appear at that time.

This is the perfect time to complete the "Return the Item to Its Owner" side quest.

The next morning, Lin Mu stored his valuables in the system space, summoned the housekeeper and Ashuang, and instructed them to take good care of the house and the business he was running.

He then rode a fast horse straight to Hengshan.

Traveling day and night, Lin Mu deliberately took detours to find infamous mountain strongholds along the way to verify his martial arts skills.

Black Dragon Village, Wolf Valley, Soul-Severing Slope...

One by one, mountain strongholds were reduced to flames by his gun or sword, and the blood of the bandits became his best whetstone.

These bandits were a hundred times more cunning than martial arts instructors, using every means possible, from sprinkling lime and blowing sleeping pills to setting tripwires.

Lin Muqi's swift horse tragically perished on the journey.

Two days ago, Lin Mu was resting at a roadside inn when someone blew him a sleeping pill in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, the negative reversal system worked effectively, reversing the negative effects in time and turning the drug's effects into "refreshing and invigorating" effects; otherwise, he might have died in a daze.

This experience served as a wake-up call for Lin Mu, and from then on, he would set up some warning traps before going to bed each time.

He wasn't afraid of being poisoned, but he was in danger if he were assassinated by a hidden arrow.

On April 18th, Lin Mu officially stepped into the territory of Hengshan.

That day, Lin Mu stormed Black Wind Stronghold alone, using steel needles as concealed weapons to casually shoot and kill several gatekeepers.

He held his sword to the neck of the last bandit and asked, "Where have all the people from the stronghold gone?"

"In reply to the great hero, a few days ago, the famous hunchback from the north, Mu Gaofeng, killed our chieftain's only son and robbed the village of its wealth. Today, we found a hunchback in town, and our chieftain led us down to take revenge."

The bandit replied, trembling.

Upon hearing this, Lin Mu swiftly turned and slashed the throat with his sword.

It is said that murder and arson bring wealth and honor. Lin Mu sought out these mountain bandits not only to improve his combat experience but also to plunder them.

He had looted a lot of gold and silver from the several mountain strongholds that had been destroyed before, and used it to buy herbs and poisons to refine his body.

Today, however, they came up empty-handed. After searching the entire stronghold, they found very little of value.

They did manage to rescue several women who had been abducted by the mountain stronghold.

Seeing their pitiful state, Lin Mu left them some money and then let them go down the mountain.

Whether they survive after descending the mountain is none of Lin Mu's concern.

A fire was set ablaze over the mountain stronghold. Lin Mu walked down the mountain, thinking to himself, "We're very close to Hengshan City now. Continuing to use the Evil-Repelling Sword Technique will easily cause unnecessary trouble. I should change my weapon!"

With this in mind, Lin Mu sheathed his longsword and took out a Six Harmonies Spear.

The spear is considered the king of weapons, primarily due to its widespread historical application, combat effectiveness, and tactical value.

As the saying goes, an inch long is an inch strong.

Among experts of the same level, it's very difficult for someone using a sword to defeat someone using a gun.

Shooting skills are easy to learn but difficult to master. As the saying goes: "A month for a stick, a year for a knife, a lifetime for a gun, and a treasured sword always at hand."

The reason why there are so many swordsmen and knife-wielders in the martial arts world is mainly because swords and knife-wielders are easy to carry and have internal energy that can be released to increase the killing range, thus eliminating the advantage of long spears.

Lin Mu had previously studied the Six Harmonies Spear Technique at a martial arts school for a period of time.

After gaining extraordinary comprehension from the Negative Reversal System, combined with his current cultivation level, his marksmanship is unparalleled.

The Six Harmonies Spear in his hand was also made of high-carbon steel. It was thick and long, over ten feet long, and weighed sixteen pounds. The spearhead was over a foot long and had a blood groove and a red tassel. It was definitely a deadly weapon.

Thanks to the body-refining properties of poison, Lin Mu's strength is several times that of an ordinary person, and he can wield a 16-pound spear with ease.

Just as they reached the official road at the foot of the mountain, Lin Mu, who was on the hillside, noticed a group of bandits attacking a hunchback not far ahead.

[This plot seems familiar... Is it Lin Pingzhi?]

Lin Mu remembered that Lin Pingzhi had once pretended to be hunchbacked.

The time, age, and location all match up now, so it's highly likely to be true.

Because there are many versions of "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer," and there may even be parallel worlds, Lin Mu cannot be sure which version he is in.

Even if those characters from novels stood in front of him, Lin Mu might not recognize them if they didn't introduce themselves.

But this time he guessed right.

The hunchback in front of him was indeed Lin Pingzhi in disguise.

Since the Qingcheng Sect destroyed the Fuwei Escort Agency and his parents were arrested, Lin Pingzhi, a young nobleman who had been pampered since childhood, was left to wander the streets.

To escape being hunted down, he begged along the streets, living a life of constant wandering.

A few days ago, when he went to the Fuwei Escort Agency branch, he met two disciples of the Qingcheng Sect and learned the truth that the Qingcheng Sect destroyed the Fuwei Escort Agency for the sake of the "Evil-Repelling Sword Manual".

Meanwhile, he learned that Yu Canghai was taking his parents to Hengshan, so he stole the branch office's valuables and traveled day and night to Hengshan.

Unexpectedly, they were surrounded by a group of bandits shortly after leaving the town.

Lin Pingzhi asked nervously, "What do you want to do?"