"Died at twenty… what a pity."
Lu Yuan muttered softly, then added,"Let's light some incense."
A match scraped past, and a ghostly blue flame flickered to life.
Lu Yuan lit three sticks of incense and bowed three times toward the lonely grave before him.
"This is the first incense from the Jade Emperor Hall of Mount Tai on Earth.Even emperors used this stuff back in the day. Good quality."
"Consider yourself lucky."
After speaking, Lu Yuan firmly inserted the three incense sticks into the soil atop the grave.
The incense had barely settled—
Hiss—
A cold gust of yin wind slipped straight down the back of his neck.
Lu Yuan twisted his neck slightly, his joints cracking with a crisp sound.
This feeling…cold and sinister.
Before he could think further, hurried footsteps and heavy breathing sounded from behind.
"Brother Lu! All the graves on this side have been incensed!"
Lu Yuan turned around.
A fat boy and a skinny boy, both teenage disciples, were running toward him, their faces carrying the honest, clumsy air unique to half-grown youths.
The fat one was called Xu Erxiao.The skinny one was Wang Cheng'an.
They were his junior brothers at this rundown Taoist temple beyond the border.
Lu Yuan was the senior disciple.
"Alright. Find a spot and rest."
Lu Yuan flicked the dust from the hem of his Taoist robe, concise as ever.
"Wait till it gets dark. Then we catch it."
He walked toward a withered tree nearby.
Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an hurried after him, pulling out their rock-hard rations while lowering their voices, eyes filled with curiosity.
"Brother Lu… that Old Master Xu…did he really turn into a jiangshi?"
Lu Yuan paused mid-step.
His gaze passed over the desolate graveyard and landed on an imposing stone monument in the distance.
Upon it, blood-red characters invisible to ordinary people slowly surfaced.
[Name: Xu Chengxuan][Type: Jiangshi][Cultivation: 48 years][Weaknesses: Thunder, Lightning, Fire][Time Until Breaking the Coffin: 11:58:35][Danger Level: ★★]
This was the capital that had allowed Lu Yuan to survive for the past year since transmigrating.
He withdrew his gaze, sat cross-legged beneath the tree, and tore open his dry rations.
"Guaranteed."
Lu Yuan's tone was firm.
"Tonight at ten sharp, he'll sit up in that coffin."
Hearing this, Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an exchanged glances. Any doubt vanished, and they sat down as well.
Though they'd just checked the area—the compass showed no reaction, and they hadn't smelled even a trace of corpse aura—
compared to the ancestral tools passed down by their forefathers, they trusted Brother Lu more.
Because Brother Lu had never been wrong.
"Brother Lu, if you've got nowhere to go for the New Year, come to my place?"Xu Erxiao asked while gnawing on his cold flatbread.
"My home's in Qixia Town—not far. My mom makes dumplings with thin skins and huge fillings. They'll knock you dead!"
Before he finished, Wang Cheng'an shoved him aside.
"Come to my house! Brother Lu, my sister's really pretty!If you don't go soon, she'll end up marrying someone else!"
Lu Yuan ignored the two clowns and looked down the mountain.
Below lay Ningyuan Town.
The crowds were dense, the noise so loud it seemed to rush up the mountainside—lively beyond measure.
He tore off a large bite of meat-stuffed flatbread and said vaguely,
"We'll see. There's a lot going on at the temple during the New Year.The old man might not let me go."
Today was the final big market before heavy snow sealed the mountains.
Once the white gales of the frontier began, snow would bury houses whole.No one would be able to leave—everyone would be stuck on their heated brick beds for the entire winter.
So everyone was acting like lunatics.
Selling furs.Selling mountain goods.Sugar figurines.Martial performers.
Everyone brought out their best skills.
Even the prostitutes on the second floor of the town brothel were unusually enthusiastic today.
Each waved red silk scarves, their ample hips twisting like spinning tops, as if trying to hook the souls straight out of their customers.
Everyone wanted to earn enough today to survive the entire winter.
Watching this scene brimming with earthly vitality, Lu Yuan felt dazed.
It reminded him of his hometown in his previous life.
Same bustling markets. Same liveliness.
Come to think of it, it had been almost a year since he transmigrated to this world.
Unlike other novel protagonists, he hadn't possessed a prince or noble at the start.
What about him?
An ordinary high school student—dropped naked into this world.
Luckily, within two days, he'd been picked up by the shameless old Taoist of True Dragon Temple and unexpectedly awakened a system.
At least he wouldn't starve.At least he'd gained a bit of fame.
Over the past year, relying on the system and everything the old Taoist taught him, the title of "White-Robed Little Daoist" had gained some recognition nearby.
It just wasn't the transmigration experience he'd imagined.
Working his ass off exorcising demons, earning a bit of pitiful money—only to hand it straight over to the old Taoist in exchange for booze.
Forget it.
That old bastard had dragged him out of the snow back then.
Consider it repayment.
"Holy shit! Brother Lu, look! That woman's ass is huge!"
Wang Cheng'an somehow produced a monocular telescope and excitedly scooted closer.
Hm?
Lu Yuan glanced at him.
Wang Cheng'an's face was glowing as he shoved the telescope over.
Lu Yuan didn't take it, wearing an expression that said you idiots are hopeless, and continued eating his smoked meat flatbread.
Xu Erxiao couldn't wait. He snatched the telescope.
"Where? Where?"
Wang Cheng'an pointed eagerly.
"Marketplace entrance! That group that just came out! See them?"
A few seconds later—
Xu Erxiao's mouth fell open. His Adam's apple bobbed as he let out a heartfelt sigh.
"Sweet mother of mercy… that's obscene."
"Ass wider than shoulders, tits bigger than her head!Even that foreign mare we saw on the border last time doesn't compare!"
Tits bigger than her head?
What kind of insane description was that?
Lu Yuan's hand froze.
The next second, expression unchanged, he reached out and took the telescope.
"Nonsense. Let me criticize this properly."
He raised the telescope and aimed it at the marketplace below.
Xu Erxiao was still smacking his lips dreamily.
"Damn… if I could marry a woman like that, I'd happily lose ten years of my life…"
Lu Yuan ignored him.
He found the target almost immediately.
With just one glance, he couldn't look away.
She was a woman so breathtakingly mature and seductive it bordered on unreal.
She sat on a broad sedan chair carried by six muscular men—yet it still swayed slightly.
Because her figure was simply too tall and voluptuous.
Her estimated height alone was at least 1.9 meters, completely crushing the generally slender men and women of this era.
She reclined lazily against soft cushions.
Inside, she wore a perfectly tailored silk qipao, the smooth fabric clinging tightly to curves that made one's heart race.
Over her shoulders draped a heavy black sable cloak.
Her jet-black hair was arranged in an exquisite bun, adorned with a golden orchid hairpin that shimmered faintly.
From her earlobes down her long swan-like neck hung plump pearls—both seductive and noble.
In her hand, she toyed with a long smoking pipe with a jade mouthpiece.
One flawless jade-like leg was crossed over the other.
Through the slit of the qipao, a flash of spring scenery was revealed.
That leg—plump, long, dazzlingly white—bare, without the fashionable stockings of the time.
Then again, legs of this caliber needed no embellishment.
More lethal still was the raised jade foot.
The arch was pale, while the toes and heel carried a intoxicating rosy hue.
Each of her five delicate toes was painted with bright red nail polish.
…
It was like a strawberry-flavored Alpenliebe milk candy.
That thought popped into Lu Yuan's mind for no reason.
"This woman is insanely hot!" Wang Cheng'an exclaimed."Even a thousand-year fox spirit wouldn't have this level of slutty allure!"
Xu Erxiao nodded furiously.
"By the gods… such presence. Like the Queen Mother of the West stepped out of a painting…"
Lu Yuan said nothing.
He simply looked again—quietly.
Then he noticed something else.
This woman's entourage was anything but simple.
Besides the sedan carriers, over twenty black-clad guards followed closely, temples bulging, eyes sharp—clearly trained fighters.
And at the very front…
there was a group of Taoist priests clearing the way.
They wore snow-white Taoist robes made of fine material—nothing like the coarse hemp clothing Lu Yuan's group wore.
Lu Yuan adjusted the telescope, focusing on the emblem on their chests.
It was a complex pattern embroidered with gold thread, shaped like auspicious clouds.
The instant he saw it—
Lu Yuan's pupils shrank violently.
He dropped the telescope.
The relaxed expression on his face vanished, replaced by shock and solemnity.
Wu Qing Temple?!
The number-one Taoist temple beyond the border.The strongest Taoist sect.
Why…why would their people appear in a backwater town like Ningyuan?!
This was not a good sign at all…