Chapter 1 – Anping Dao Palace

Great Spirit Dynasty, Spirit Awakening Year 1199, a blood moon hung in the sky, staining the world crimson.

The following year, illuminated by the blood moon, evil aberrations frequently emerged within the Great Spirit Imperial Dynasty, with demons and monsters wreaking havoc incessantly. Massacres of towns and cities became all too common.

To address the chaos brought by the blood moon, the Great Spirit Imperial Family joined forces with the aristocratic families of the nineteen provinces to establish the Dao Palace system.

—Across the nineteen provinces, the imperial court established a total of thirty-six Dao Palaces to cultivate Qi Refiners capable of combating evil spirits.

Among these Dao Palaces, thirty-three were ordinary, while three were upper-tier.

All eligible children and youths were required to undergo Spirit Root Talent testing between the ages of thirteen and fifteen.

Those with talent would be taken into the Dao Palaces, receiving support and instruction from the imperial court and aristocratic families.

Mist Province, Anping City, housed a sizable Dao Palace, and today was the day it opened its doors.

…

“Don’t push…”

“Make way, let me through…”

“Father, don’t worry, I’ll take care of myself.”

Outside the Dao Palace today, the scene was bustling with activity, carriages and horses crowding the streets. However, most people here were either spectators or parents sending off their children. True Dao Palace disciples were few and far between.

Those qualified to cultivate the Dao were rare in any world, truly one in ten thousand.

What excited Mu Lin was that he was among the exceptionally fortunate few. What relieved him even more was that today, he would leave his grandfather behind and enter Anping Dao Palace alone to cultivate.

“Grandfather, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of myself and cultivate diligently.”

“Good, good, good!”

Mu Lin’s assurance brought a look of relief to the pale-faced old man.

Holding Mu Lin’s hand, he rambled on at length before carefully slipping him a worn-out pouch, whispering, “There are one hundred and eight Spirit Stones here. Take them for now. If you need anything in the Dao Palace, be sure to tell your grandfather.”

The old man’s words left Mu Lin with mixed emotions. In the end, he could only suppress his feelings and bid the elder farewell.

After parting from the old man, Mu Lin… breathed a sigh of relief.

To be honest, the old man had been genuinely good to Mu Lin, giving him the majority of his life’s savings and promising to exhaust all efforts to gather resources for him. Faced with such an elder, Mu Lin only wanted to leave quickly, which might seem heartless.

But he had no choice.

Mu Lin’s current soul was not the original owner’s.

To gather cultivation resources for the original owner and prevent him from falling behind at the starting line, the old man, as a Qi Refiner, had been traveling between major towns, accepting employment from wealthy aristocratic families, risking his life to combat evil spirits for them.

Under such circumstances, he naturally couldn’t bring the original owner along.

For safety’s sake, he had arranged for the original owner to stay in the prefectural city, which avoided most troubles.

Unfortunately, the evil spirits and demonic monsters in this world were too numerous, and even the prefectural city couldn’t guarantee absolute safety.

A few days earlier, the original owner had been caught up in an anomaly disturbance.

Mu Lin, the transmigrator, had taken over the body only after the original owner died.

What troubled him even more was that during that anomalous event, the original owner’s soul had been largely destroyed, and Mu Lin had only fused with fragments of his memories.

Faced with the old man in such a state, Mu Lin naturally felt wary, especially since the old man was a Qi Refiner.

Fortunately, the old man was a cultivator who had started late in life and was not particularly strong.

During that incident of Anomalies causing chaos, many of those affected suffered soul damage, drastic changes in temperament, or became mentally impaired.

Among them, Mu Lin did not stand out as particularly unusual.

Because of this, he was able to avoid exposure in front of the old man.

However, although he remained undetected, being around a Qi Refiner still made Mu Lin nervous.

Now that he could leave the old man’s side, he naturally breathed a sigh of relief.

  ”After spending half a year at the academy and filling in the gaps in my foundational cultivation knowledge, I shouldn’t have to worry about being exposed the next time I see the old man.”

Just as Mu Lin was walking and silently pondering these thoughts, he was bumped into with a “thud.”

Turning to look, Mu Lin’s expression turned somewhat odd. A chubby young man, laden with large and small bundles, was walking through the Dao Palace, sweating profusely.

The bundles were so many that they practically buried him.

“Brother, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Realizing he had bumped into someone, the chubby young man grew anxious. Unable to free his hands, he could only bow in apology to Mu Lin. As he bowed, several of the bundles on him immediately fell to the ground, causing the sweat on the young man’s face to increase even more.

This scene almost made Mu Lin laugh. Out of goodwill, Mu Lin picked up the fallen bundles and said with a smile, “It’s fine… Do you need a hand?”

“Of course I do. Thank you, brother. From now on, you’re my sworn brother, Zong Xiu…”

This chubby young man was an outgoing and lively person, and a local of Anping City. After Mu Lin helped him with his things, he immediately struck up a conversation with Mu Lin.

In their chat, he expressed his helplessness over his parents stuffing him with so many things and also shared some bits of gossip.

As a local from a fairly wealthy family, he was privy to a lot of information. From his words, Mu Lin indeed filled in many gaps in his knowledge, such as:

“Brother Mu, have you heard? This time, the Ji family, one of the prominent clans in our Anping City, has a direct-line daughter entering the Dao Palace. If we could marry… well, that’s too wishful thinking. But if we could catch her eye, we’d be set for life.”

“Also, in our batch, there are three cultivators with first-class talent, and as many as nineteen with second-class talent…”

When mentioning second-class talent, Zong Xiu’s tone grew slightly heavier, and he seemed a bit proud. This made Mu Lin raise an eyebrow.

“Brother Zong, are you second-class talent?”

“Hahaha, just lucky, just lucky. By the way, what’s your talent level, Brother Mu?”

“Third-class.”

“First-class prodigies, second-class talents, third-class mediocrity… third-class is ordinary, but it’s not bad either. At least third-class talent won’t hold you back too much. Many have cultivated to become great masters with it. In our Great Spirit Imperial Dynasty, isn’t the Commander of the Night Watchers a third-class talent?”

Walking alongside someone with such a lively personality, Mu Lin didn’t find the journey boring.

However, the Dao Palace was vast, and it took them a full half an hour to reach the residential area. Between helping with the bundles and still recovering from his illness, Mu Lin was thoroughly exhausted.

“Phew… finally here.”

Afterward, with the help of the Dao Palace’s external manager, Mu Lin and Zong Xiu each occupied a small house.

No shared accommodations. Although they were merely disciples of the Dao Palace and not yet true Qi Refiners, cultivators were scarce and possessed extraordinary abilities no matter where they went. Thus, they were already considered half-nobility.

Because of this, everyone’s treatment was exceptionally good.

From the ever-restless Zong Xiu, Mu Lin learned just how privileged the disciples of the Dao Palace were.

“Brother Mu, did you know? To deal with the Blood Moon crisis, our Great Spirit Imperial Dynasty not only built thirty-six Dao Palaces but also established one hundred and eight Martial Academies.”

“But those Martial Academies, I hear, have only large communal bunks, with dozens of people crammed together. It’s truly pitiful.”

“Oh, right, there’s also a little rumor.”

As he spoke, Zong Xiu’s chubby face glanced around. After confirming no one was nearby, he said with a somewhat lecherous tone, “To better protect us, after the first academic year, we can go to the Martial Academies to select bodyguards. It’s said that many of the bodyguards there are beautiful female disciples, quite a few of whom are noblewomen. Hehe…”

Looking at his rather lecherous grin, Mu Lin pulled away slightly with a hint of disdain. Then, he reminded him, “We can indeed select bodyguards, but first, the selection is mutual—they have the right to refuse.”

“Second, it’s best to prioritize strength when choosing bodyguards. After all, the Dao Palace trains us and grants us so many privileges not for our enjoyment. Once we graduate, we must go to various places to exorcise demons, vanquish monsters, and eradicate Evil Spirits. That’s a life-or-death endeavor.”

“Assigning us bodyguards is to better protect us. If we only pick the pretty ones…”

Mu Lin didn’t finish his sentence, but Zong Xiu already understood his meaning.

Thinking about having to go to the battlefield three years later, Zong Xiu felt a chill in his heart. All his lascivious thoughts vanished, and his face turned somewhat pale.

“Evil Spirits, Anomalies… I’ve heard these things are practically impossible to kill…”

(End of Chapter)