Chapter 1 It's Time

"It's time!"

At the very moment when Hu Ma, alone with his blade, forced back the Panshan army, his courage surging, his blood qi soaring to the heavens, an enormous Kongming lantern rose, far too large and bright, the flame within leaping wildly like a suspended sun.

From mid-air, it cast a brilliant light, directly upon Hu Ma, who was charging forward, his blade held horizontally. Behind him, it cast a colossal shadow.

The next instant, on the other end of the battlefield, another Kongming lantern rose, mirroring the first, one on the left, one on the right, casting Hu Ma's second shadow from a different direction.

One to the left, one to the right, both pitch black, tall, and menacing.

"Caught in a web, burdened by two lives, I know you've been sent into this game by the Hu family, and you're not happy about it."

As the shadows appeared, the Panshan King was already alarmed by this monster that had sprung from nowhere, even considering rising and moving further away from the battlefield. But at that moment, a slender and graceful shadow appeared beside him.

On this battlefield thick with blood, she moved as if weightless, sighing softly as she gazed into the distance. The guards beside her were shocked but suddenly found themselves unable to speak.

Then, her gaze slowly swept across them, and two guards carrying longbows involuntarily walked over.

Turning mechanically, they stood on either side of her, nocked arrows, and then, using every ounce of strength, raised them high.

"Swish!"

Two arrows suddenly left the bowstrings, instantly traversing nearly a hundred zhang, striking Hu Ma's shadows cast by the huge Kongming lanterns. Both hit precisely in the head, the arrow fletchings quivering.

"Shu shu shu shu..."

As the two signal arrows landed, the remaining archers, even if they didn't fully understand, closely followed suit. Countless arrows rained down upon the spots where Hu Ma's shadows fell.

With each arrow that landed, Hu Ma felt his body become heavier.

His body was covered with them, as if countless silver needles had been hammered in. It didn't hurt, but it was numb. His whole body no longer seemed to be his own, but rather like a puppet, frozen in place.

He raised the blade in his hand, but couldn't bring himself to swing it.

"They've made their move?"

Hu Ma gritted his teeth slightly, his eyes glancing to the side. At the instant his shadows were pinned down, the night sky above him resounded with whistling sounds. Countless arrows flew from afar, and in an instant, an unknown number of them landed on his body.

But the Shou Suiren's (Gravekeeper) body was sturdy. Even these arrows could not harm him. Some bounced off his body upon impact, others penetrated half an inch, crooked and askew.

But at the same time, in a corner of the battlefield, a figure in wide robes and sleeves emerged from the dark shadows, then took out a whetstone from his bosom, sprinkled a little water on it, and vigorously began to sharpen a blade.

Clang clang clang!

The sound of sharpening steel seemed to drown out the chaos on the battlefield, reaching everyone's ears with perfect clarity.

At this moment, on the entire battlefield, all the blades, spears, halberds, and arrows seemed to become sharper, especially the arrows flying towards Hu Ma, their tips gleaming with a dazzling cold light.

Chi chi chi!

This time, all the arrows seemed to be imbued with some kind of mysterious power, instantly piercing Hu Ma's body.

He almost instantly became a hedgehog.

But at the same time, as his charging movements ceased, and the arrows rained down, the sound abruptly disappeared. The courage he had cultivated on the battlefield suddenly retreated from the battlefield, quickly converging.

Like an endless tide, all of it flowed back into his body at this moment. The entire battlefield fell into an eerie silence.

"Quick, that bastard's been hit by arrows..."

"Relay the Panshan King's order, this man is a demon, kill him without exception, burn him to ashes..."

"Oil troops, oil troops quickly follow up, pour oil all over him, burn him to ashes..."

"..."

In the distance, the army formation was still advancing in chaos, shouting and urging. One troop after another, carrying gourds on their backs, quickly approached Hu Ma.

"Forget it!"

At the moment when Hu Ma was shot full of arrows and his breath ceased, Immortal Goodness and the others were already stunned.

But facing such an army formation, neither she nor Old Abacus had the ability to intervene. However, Zhou Si Guniang (Fourth Miss Zhou) finally couldn't hold back.

Although Hu Ma had told them to just watch from here, she wasn't his subordinate, just someone he had defeated. Why should she listen to him?

Not only would she not listen, but she also reached into Hu Ma's carriage and took out two Ming Wang (King of Light) mallets, her figure rushing forward, a few leaps, and she had already charged into the battle formation, blocking Hu Ma, swinging two big hammers.

Troops of soldiers, along with the gourds emitting a pungent smell, were all smashed away by her.

She forcibly protected Hu Ma's corpse amidst this army formation.

"Although I don't know what you're trying to do, and I don't understand everything Sister Miaoshan says..."

In the midst of her frantic actions, she didn't forget to glance at Hu Ma, thinking to herself, "But I really admire you guys. You can't really just die here, can you?"

...

...

In the realm of Zhongyin (Intermediate Existence), Hu Ma gently opened his eyes.

He felt none of the pain of being pierced by ten thousand arrows, nor did he panic because he had arrived in this oppressive and bizarre space. Instead, he felt that everything was natural. Looking up, he saw that this time, the realm of Zhongyin was different from every previous time.

He saw that around him, there were floating corpses everywhere, one after another, drifting in the air in unchanging postures.

Some were horribly disfigured, as if they had been hacked to death with knives and axes, while others were fierce in expression, as if they had been chopped in two with one blow. There were densely packed corpses of all kinds. At first glance, there must have been tens of thousands of them.

Only a portion of them near him looked as if they had died on the battlefield, while more were raggedly dressed commoners, their faces wearing stiff, numb, and desperate expressions.

They all had their eyes closed, without a trace of awareness, not moving at all.

Only among these countless people, Hu Ma opened his eyes, and slowly waited.

Sha sha sha...

As expected, he didn't have to wait long before he heard the familiar rustling sound. In addition, there was even the sound of abacus beads being flicked. He looked through the floating corpses and saw the monster covered in eyes gently approaching.

Watching its body twist, splitting into two, then two splitting into four, instantly filling the entire Zhongyin realm, lightly floating in front of each floating corpse.

Two served one, one flicking the abacus beads at the dead body, the other recording.

Despite the thousands of dead people here, it wasn't flustered at all. One could even sense a kind of lighthearted joy from it.

Then, just as it was getting closer and closer, Hu Ma gently pushed aside the floating corpse next to him, revealing his face, looking at it with a faint smile.

He said, "Hello, we meet again..."

"Ah..."

The monster suddenly saw Hu Ma's face among the countless floating corpses, and was so frightened that it froze on the spot.

After a long while, it actually let out a earth-shattering scream, suddenly hugged the ancient book in its arms, and turned to run.

"Bring that thing here for me to see!"

Hu Ma roared, not even bothering to condense the Meng family's mental cultivation method, he hurriedly chased after it.

But it was unknown whether the previous few times entering had made this thing wary, but now it was running extremely fast, and it hugged the ancient book in its arms, making it impossible for Hu Ma to touch it even a little like last time.

However, even though it had precautions, Hu Ma also had precautions. In the midst of his stern shouts, an invisible roar spread throughout this world, and Hu Ma reached out his hand directly.

Being in the battlefield, Hu Ma had fought against an entire army, cultivating a courage that made the entire battlefield tremble. Now in the yang world, he seemed to have died, but a tiger doesn't lose its prestige even when it's dead, and his courage remained.

Moreover, having been to this place twice, he also deeply understood that the realm of Zhongyin did not theoretically exist, it was just a mutual induction between divine souls. Theoretically, there was no spatial distance.

Last time, he had only touched the ancient book a little, and had glimpsed a lot of vague information.

So this time, as long as he could grab this book, he would definitely be able to see clearly the past and future, all the matters.

At this moment, his heart surged, and he desperately reached out, as if he was affecting this world. The densely packed floating corpses were all entangled with his karma and began to move, like a cage, instantly trapping countless monsters around him.

The Zhongyin realm has no substantial existence, everything depends on fate. Hu Ma's fate is extremely heavy, and he has cultivated momentum. Now, this movement allows him to borrow the momentum of his heavy fate, pulling other floating corpses to help him block the monster.

And Hu Ma finally did not hold back, pressing close and grabbing at the ancient book in its arms.

Unlike last time when his fingertip only touched it a little, this time, he actually grabbed it firmly.

Caught off guard, it was grabbed by him. In the countless eyes all over its body, the panic and fear were revealed, and it cried out in a lost voice, "You shouldn't look..."

But Hu Ma no longer had time to say anything. The moment he grabbed the ancient book in his hand, he felt an endless stream of information pouring into his mind from the ancient book in its arms.

His three lives, everything in the past, came rushing, clear and incomparably.

...

...

"Is he really dead?"

At this moment, under the Panshan King's banner, someone caught sight of Hu Ma being surrounded on the battlefield in an instant, with only a reckless man wielding two large hammers protecting him. Seeing that he was about to be besieged by the army, they were also shocked and doubtful.

The slender woman beside the Panshan King said coldly, "It's only just begun, it's your turn to make a move."

As she spoke, she had already turned to the north, narrowing her eyes.

"He's forcing those who plotted against him to make a move at this time?"

At the same time, Old Abacus had realized Hu Ma's purpose, and was feeling somewhat frightened, but suddenly heard a thud behind him.

Old Abacus was startled, and suddenly turned around, only to see Hu Ma's father, Hu Shan's coffin.

The coffin lid actually jumped for some reason, as if someone was pushing it.

Could it be a ghost?