Chapter 01: Transmigrating into a Treasure Hunt Massacre
Xie Bailu was bewildered when she woke up. She remembered falling asleep in her bed, but now, when she opened her eyes, the dreary ceiling of her rental apartment was gone. Reflected in her pupils was a clear, cloudless sky. The ground beneath her was hard-packed earth, and the air carried the scent of fresh grass, and… the thick stench of blood.
Xie Bailu remained stunned for a moment, thinking she must be dreaming.
But everything felt far too real.
Her slightly curled fingers could feel the rough texture of the soil. With every breath, a throbbing pain flared just below her navel, and her mouth was filled with the bitter, metallic taste of rust.
She slowly sat up and pinched the back of her hand, not holding back. The sharp pain made her shudder.
Is this… transmigration?
Xie Bailu desperately wanted to understand how she had ended up in this situation, but her current environment didn’t allow for it. Only after sitting up did she finally realize that the overwhelming smell of blood came from the corpses scattered around her. She was sitting in a pile of bodies.
Xie Bailu’s pupils contracted, her muscles freezing in terror. She slowly looked down and saw that she was wearing a pale blue, ancient-style dress. The delicate, fair hands were not her own.
It seemed she had transmigrated into someone else’s body. The person she now inhabited was most likely already dead, just like the corpses around her. She had possessed a dead body.
Xie Bailu had no memories of this body. She didn’t know who this person was, what world this was, or why the original owner had died here.
Just then, a figure descended before her. She stared blankly, unable to make out the person’s features against the glare of the sun. She could only tell it was a tall man dressed in clothes so red they were blinding, a sharp longsword held loosely in his hand.
The man gave the sword a slight shake, and something scattered from the blade. A single drop landed squarely on Xie Bailu’s face. A beat too late, she reached up, wiped it away, and brought her fingers to her eyes. Dark red blood stained her fingertips, and the stench of it rushed into her nostrils. Only then did she realize the man had shaken the blood from his sword.
A jolt went through Xie Bailu, snapping her completely out of the daze that felt like it had been separating her from reality.
Danger! This man is most likely the one who created this field of corpses, and now he’s coming for me because he sees I’m not dead!
A sword, ancient clothing… was this a wuxia world? No, the man had just descended from the sky. It was very likely a xianxia world.
Xie Bailu instantly regretted not staying on the ground and playing dead. But she had just woken up, completely unaware of her situation. How could she have known that a single movement would put her life in danger? Besides, who was to say this man wouldn’t have finished the job to ensure everyone was truly dead?
Xie Bailu stopped wasting time on internal debate and her mind raced, desperately searching for a sliver of hope.
The man stared at Xie Bailu for a few moments, as if trying to identify something, before chuckling. “I thought my memory was failing me. I was certain I’d killed you earlier.”
Xie Bailu froze. “…!”
At that moment, a white cloud drifted over the sun, finally allowing her to see the man’s face clearly.
He looked exceptionally young and devastatingly handsome. His dark eyes were long, narrow, and sharp. His long eyebrows were raised in a nonchalant arch, giving him an air of casual indifference. But the fact that he was discussing “murder” instead of the “weather” turned that casual demeanor into a terrifying cruelty.
The man’s wrist twitched, and the longsword trembled with the movement. He smiled with great interest. “Do you have some treasure that brings you back from the dead, or perhaps one that lets you feign death? Interesting. How about you show me one more time?”
Horrified, Xie Bailu cried out, “Wait… no, I don’t have any treasure!”
Treasure… it seems this is a high-stakes cultivation world. This man saw me die and come back to life, and now he wants to kill me again!
But the man paid her no mind, his wrist already moving to strike.
Xie Bailu blurted out, “It’s really not a treasure! I’m… a soul possessor!”
Hearing the words “soul possession,” the man raised an eyebrow and paused.
Seeing she had bought herself a chance, Xie Bailu quickly continued, “Senior, I just arrived in this body. I don’t know its original owner, and I don’t know you. If you spare me, you won’t have to worry about me leaking any information. I’m just an insignificant nobody. Please, let me go. I promise I will never appear before you again.”
She had no memories and no means of self-defense. Her only hope was to expose her “soul possession” to survive. She didn’t know why she had transmigrated here or if she could return upon death. With everything uncertain, she had to save her own life first!
The man looked down at the disheveled woman on the ground. Her hairpins were gone, her long black hair cascading around her, framing a small, pitiful-looking face. He had an excellent memory and recalled that this female cultivator had been mixed in with the treasure hunters, seeking revenge. The look she had given him earlier was one of raw hatred, as if she wanted to tear him limb from limb.
But now, her eyes were clear, filled with confusion and fear—completely different from before. However, if it truly was soul possession, where did the confusion come from? She looked like a white rabbit that had lived its whole life in a land of eternal spring, only to be abruptly transported by some powerful technique to a world of ice and snow—terrified and utterly lost.
He asked with considerable patience, “I have only ever heard of soul possession techniques; I have never witnessed one. Tell me, how did you do it?”
Xie Bailu was speechless. “…”
How did she do it? She had just made it up!
Not daring to keep the man waiting, she fabricated a story as she went. “I stumbled into a secret realm by accident and met a senior who had perished long ago but left behind a sliver of his soul. He said we had a karmic connection and granted me an opportunity that would allow me to possess another body once after death.”
Then she quickly added, “If you’re interested, I can take you to find that senior.”
Xie Bailu had no memories and knew nothing. Seeing his interest in “soul possession,” she could only brazenly spin a tale to buy time. Given the man’s apparent cruelty, she feared that if she claimed she could do it again, he would kill her just to watch. But if she said it was a one-time thing, he would lose interest and kill her immediately.
Looking at the corpses around her, she didn’t dare bet on his kindness. All she could do was stall.
The man lowered his gaze and stared at Xie Bailu, his expression unreadable. Suddenly, he raised his free hand and pointed behind her. “Bring me that cauldron.”
Xie Bailu wasn’t worried he was trying to distract her. She was an ordinary person with no self-defense; he could kill her effortlessly. She turned as he pointed and saw a small, palm-sized cauldron lying in the dirt not far away.
Clutching her aching abdomen, she got to her feet and slowly walked toward the cauldron. She had just picked it up and turned to go back when she was startled to find the man had appeared right behind her. The shock sent her stumbling back a step, nearly causing her to fall.
A hint of amusement touched the man’s expression. “It seems you truly don’t know what this is.”
Xie Bailu looked down at the cauldron in her hands. It looked ancient, with five indentations on its body. Two of them held dull, gray stones, while the other three were empty.
She looked up at the man, forcing a cautious smile. “Senior, I really wasn’t lying to you. I don’t know anything.”
“Don’t call me Senior. I am Ling Song of the Ling family,” the man said suddenly.
Hearing him state his name and origin, Xie Bailu thought he might have decided not to kill her. Who would tell their name to a dead person?
She quickly replied respectfully, “Sen… Young Master Ling, this junior is Xie Bailu, just a nobody.”
Ling Song’s dark eyes seemed to be studying Xie Bailu, yet also lost in thought. His voice was light, as if making small talk. “You don’t recognize the Five-Star Cauldron, and you don’t know me. What remote backwater did you crawl out of?”
Xie Bailu’s heart sank. The flicker of joy she had felt was instantly extinguished by a bucket of ice water. He wasn’t introducing himself; he was testing her!
Just as Xie Bailu was about to claim she was from some poor, remote village, Ling Song seemed to lose interest and lowered his gaze. “Forget it. It’s not important.”
In that instant, Xie Bailu’s heart, which had stopped for a second, began to pound wildly. He was still going to kill her! But if even soul possession couldn’t hold his interest, what else did she have? Should she tell him she was from the future and lecture him about airplanes, high-speed rail, equality, and how murder is illegal?
In what she thought were her final moments, Xie Bailu prayed that this was all just a hyper-realistic nightmare and that once she died, she would wake up in her small but cozy and safe apartment. At the same time, she turned and ran.
Whether she could escape or not, she couldn’t just stand there and wait to die!
Just as Xie Bailu felt a tangible killing intent at her back and her heart filled with despair, a furious roar echoed from the distance, the sound arriving nearby almost as soon as it was heard.
“Ling Song, you brat! You dare kill my disciples? You’re courting death!”
Ling Song’s sword, which had been aimed at Xie Bailu, abruptly swung back to block a ferocious incoming attack. Spiritual energy erupted from his back, knocking the assailant away as he leaped into the sky. The newcomer immediately gave chase.
Xie Bailu froze for a moment before realizing she was temporarily saved. She hadn’t even gotten a clear look at the newcomer, but his arrogant tone suggested he was a powerful figure. He had come for his disciples, so was it possible that the body she was in happened to belong to his sect?
Wait, would he be able to tell she was a “soul possessor”?
She glanced around again and noticed that the corpses on the ground wore different uniforms, seemingly from various sects. The clothes she was wearing didn’t match any of them.
Statistically speaking, the newcomer probably had nothing to do with her. The Five-Star Cauldron in her hand seemed to be some kind of treasure. If she threw it away, they would have no reason to come after her. The right thing to do was run!
Just as Xie Bailu was about to let go, a sharp pain shot through her finger, as if something had bitten her. The pain made her drop the cauldron, which rolled on the ground. A white steamed bun tumbled out of it, bounced a few times, and rolled to her feet. Then, the white bun spoke with an air of authority. “I have acknowledged you as my master! Quickly circulate your qi according to the incantation I recite, and I will take you away from this place!”
Following that, the white bun recited a passage of obscure, ancient text in a milky, child-like voice.
Xie Bailu was dumbfounded. “…?”
She looked down at her fingertip, which seemed to have been “bitten” by the cauldron, and then at the snow-white “steamed bun,” now grimy from rolling in the dirt.
Seeing Xie Bailu remain motionless, the white bun seemed to grow anxious. It leaped as high as her knee and, dropping the pretense, said quickly, “What are you waiting for? If we don’t run now, neither of us will escape when that madman comes back!”
Xie Bailu knew time was short. She guessed this white bun was probably the Five-Star Cauldron’s artifact spirit or something similar. Being acknowledged by it would be a huge opportunity for anyone, but there was one problem—
“I don’t know how to circulate qi!” she exclaimed, quickly adding, “I’m just an ordinary person! I don’t know how to cultivate! If you have a way, then you do that qi circulation thing and get us out of here!”
The white bun’s childish voice rose in pitch. “You don’t know how to cultivate? Aren’t you a soul possessor?!”
Xie Bailu felt it would take too long to explain and could only state the conclusion. “…Anyway, I don’t understand cultivation. Hurry up and think of something!”
The entire bun bounced around in agitation. “Something? What can I do? If I could do something, would I have waited until now, grasping at straws and picking a good-for-nothing like you?”
While listening to the white bun’s furious tirade, Xie Bailu glanced up at the sky. The two combatants were locked in a fierce battle, their forms a blur. Only the spiritual energy leaking from their fight made her feel deeply uncomfortable. She took a deep breath and decided not to rely on the artifact spirit. She would run on her own, as far as she could.
Xie Bailu took off running. After only a few meters, she heard the white bun shout anxiously behind her, “Where are you going? Take me with you!”
Xie Bailu ignored it. The cauldron was useless to her and would only bring her deadly trouble.
Seeing that Xie Bailu wasn’t listening and was getting farther away, the white bun paused before yelling, “Running away is useless! I’ve already acknowledged you as my master! Unless you die, you will always be the owner of the Five-Star Cauldron! He will definitely hunt you down and kill you!”
Xie Bailu’s steps faltered. Of course, she knew she couldn’t outrun a cultivator on foot. Her hope had been that he would leave her alone after taking the cauldron. But the white bun’s words had completely cut off that path.
She turned around and shouted angrily, “Then break the connection! A good-for-nothing like me is unworthy of being your master!”
The white bun shouted back, just as angrily, “You think I want you as my master? I wouldn’t have even looked at you if they weren’t all dead! If you don’t even know how to cultivate, why did you possess a body in the first place!”
Xie Bailu had no answer for that. She had no idea why she had transmigrated for no reason, only to be thrown into such a desperate situation.
Seeing the artifact spirit was just as anxious as she was, Xie Bailu calmed down and ran back. “I don’t know how to cultivate, so you’d better think of a solution quickly. Otherwise, we’re both finished.”
She knew nothing, but this artifact spirit seemed terrified of being caught by that man. That meant they were on the same side. As a native of this world, it had to have more options than her.
The white bun was momentarily speechless, hopping in anger several times before finally making a decision. “I will teach you how to cultivate! You’d better learn well!”
Xie Bailu frowned. She wasn’t afraid of learning—it had once been her only way out and her greatest strength. The problem was, how could an ordinary person possibly learn to cultivate in such a short time?
She glanced anxiously at the sky. “Is there enough time?”
The white bun rolled a little, as if it too were looking up, though it had no facial features to see with.
“There’s time!” the white bun said. “Although that newcomer is a major realm higher than the madman, that madman has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He won’t die so easily. If we hurry, we might just make it!”
A spark of hope ignited in Xie Bailu’s heart. She immediately followed the white bun’s instructions and focused on learning.
The white bun didn’t start with the basics. If not for the fact that the body Xie Bailu inhabited already had a cultivation base, it would have been impossible to teach an ordinary person how to circulate qi in such a short time. Fortunately, the body was a cultivator’s, so all she had to do was follow its instructions.
However, when the white bun started talking about acupoints and meridians and was met with Xie Bailu’s blank stare, it nearly gave up, almost preferring to let the madman catch and dismantle it.
In the end, it resorted to forceful teaching, ramming its body against Xie Bailu’s major acupoints to show her how to guide the spiritual energy within her. Getting Xie Bailu to control the meager amount of spiritual energy left in her damaged Dantian was another ordeal entirely.
While listening to the white bun’s exasperated explanations, Xie Bailu focused inward. Perhaps it was an instinct left by the body, but internal vision wasn’t difficult for her. By assuming a meditative posture and closing her eyes, she seemed to enter a mystical world formed by the glowing network of her body’s acupoints and meridians.
But she didn’t dare get lost in the wondrous sensation. While following the white bun’s guidance on how to move spiritual energy through her meridians, she also kept a worried eye on the sky.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t make out anything.
It was the white bun who, seeing she couldn’t concentrate, began giving her a play-by-play of the battle while urging her to learn faster.
Through the white bun’s disdain-filled commentary, Xie Bailu learned that the madman was at the mid-stage Golden Core realm, while his opponent was at the early-stage Nascent Soul realm. The madman was initially at a disadvantage, but he fought without fear, his attacks wild and unrestrained. When he was wounded so badly he nearly fell from the sky, he consumed some kind of pill and forcibly raised his cultivation by a minor realm to the late-stage Golden Core, and continued fighting.
While painfully dragging the ball of spiritual energy from her Dantian through her meridians, Xie Bailu secretly prayed that the two of them wouldn’t reach a conclusion anytime soon. No matter who won, her situation wouldn’t be good.
The white bun suddenly cursed, “Even now, that old geezer isn’t using his full strength! So what if he’s two hundred years older than the madman? What’s wrong with a senior bullying a junior? That madman didn’t seem to feel any shame when he was about to kill a mortal good-for-nothing!”
Xie Bailu was speechless. Alright, alright, stop cursing. One moment ago I was in the science channel, and now I’ve been thrown into the fantasy channel. The fact that I can even get the spiritual energy to move in my meridians is a testament to my amazing learning ability, okay!
The next moment, the white bun cheered, “Yes, just like that! Skewer that madman!”
After realizing that holding back might lead to his own demise, Ling Song’s opponent finally unleashed his full power. Ling Song was immediately put in a perilous situation and was even run through with a sword.
Xie Bailu looked up curiously, just in time to see the man who called himself Ling Song not only ignore the wound from his opponent’s blade but also take his own sword and stab it back into the same wound. She stared, dumbfounded, and the ball of spiritual energy inside her trembled.
No wonder the Five-Star Cauldron’s spirit called the man a madman. Who stabs themselves? He was insane!
“A madman, he’s truly a madman!” Compared to Xie Bailu’s shock, the white bun was purely furious. “Forcibly raising his cultivation by a major realm! Isn’t he afraid of dying from his grievous injuries!”
Seeing Xie Bailu’s confused look, the white bun took a breath and explained, “That madman’s life-bound sword is named Shishang. By injuring himself, he can temporarily raise his realm. The more severe the injury, the greater the increase. Right now, he’s already at the early-stage Nascent Soul realm!”
Xie Bailu was stunned. This Ling Song was ruthless to others, but even more so to himself. He was impossibly hard to kill!
She heard the white bun urge anxiously, “Quick, quick, they’re about to determine a winner! That madman often kills opponents above his realm, and he’s never lost to someone at the same level!”
A chill ran down Xie Bailu’s spine. She quickly resumed her efforts and finally completed one full circulation of qi as the white bun had instructed.
Seeing this, the white bun said hastily, “Quick, grab the Five-Star Cauldron! While circulating your qi as I taught you, sequentially perform the five hand seals for Jia-Chen, Ji-Hai, Gui-Wei, Geng-Wu, and Ding-You!”
As soon as it finished speaking, it was met with Xie Bailu’s still clear and blank gaze.
Before Xie Bailu could ask, it realized the problem and actually “grew” two small hands from its bun-like body to demonstrate for her.
“Faster, faster, that madman is about to win!” The two small hands on the white bun’s sides formed the seals at lightning speed as it urged her on in a panic.
The five hand seals were simple, so Xie Bailu had enough presence of mind to think that if it had been someone prone to panic, they both would have perished here with the way this artifact spirit was rushing her.
After hastily memorizing the five seals, Xie Bailu immediately circulated her qi and performed them. As she completed the final seal, she felt herself transform into a streak of light and shoot into the distance.
At the same time, the battle in the sky reached its conclusion.
Ling Song was covered in blood, but his red robes masked the worst of it. His opponent, however, had half his head sliced off by a single sword strike. His Nascent Soul dissipated, and his body fell lifelessly to the ground.
Ling Song cast a lazy glance in the direction of Xie Bailu’s escape before he, too, could no longer hold on and plummeted from the sky.