He had no idea how much time had passed.
When He Kan woke up again, he felt utterly exhausted, with a hint of soreness all over his body. Opening his eyes, he saw the beams of the ceiling above him, and the faint scent of medicinal herbs lingered in the air.
He Kan blinked, trying to clear his vision, and struggled to lift his upper body from the bed.
It was only then that he realized he seemed to be in a place resembling a clinic. Judging by the decor, it appeared to be from ancient times. It is more like the simplicity of the Xia and Zhou dynasties rather than the Tang or Song. There were many finely polished stoneware and bronze items neatly arranged.
“Knock knock!” There was a knock on the wooden door outside, not hurried or slow.
He Kan turned his head towards the door and said, “Come in.”
The door was pushed open, revealing a group of soldiers from Jiantiansi. One of them looked very familiar to He Kan. It was the boy who pointed at him and shouted loudly.
But this time, the boy was not as reckless as before. Instead, he seemed cautious, stealing glances at the mature and composed middle-aged officer from Jiantiansi standing in front.
“Nice to meet you for the first time. I am Zhou Ping, an officer of Jiantiansi,” the middle-aged man in the lead gave He Kan a glance, confirming he was conscious. Only then did he nod and introduce himself. He spoke very steadily, neither hurriedly nor slowly, without any arrogance.
He Kan nodded weakly and responded, “Master Zhou, you may call me He Kan.”
“Could you tell us why you were at the river near Xiaoping Village?” Zhou Ping asked as he lifted his gaze to meet He Kan’s. He held a pen and paper in his hand—a detail that stood out, given the use of paper and pen amidst the otherwise bronze-clad world.
At some point, the soldiers who had crowded the doorway left, except for the young man who had initially pointed the talisman at He Kan. He stood behind Zhou Ping.
After entering, Zhou Ping had closed the door and sat down a short distance from He Kan’s bed.
Understanding that this was an inquiry, He Kan decided not to hide anything. He straightforwardly shared his story: “My home is in in Xiaohe Village, over a hundred miles away. I came to the city because our village has been plagued by strange creatures, and the sorcerer we relied on passed away due to old age. We’ve been unable to continue farming. Fortunately, the old sorcerer once recognized my potential as a magician, so I came to Daqi City to study.”
“I didn’t expect to meet a caravan on the way, and they forcibly abducted me as blood sacrifice.”
“As for what happened next, I have no recollection,” He Kan carefully chose his words.
As for the spider, the illusions—sorry, he was just an ordinary villager. He really didn’t know anything.
It is good that as an ordinary civilian, he did not scream when encountering this incident. It is normal that he just has a few unclear memories.
“Did the caravan leader make you ingest anything?” Zhou Ping suddenly asked.
“They did,” He Kan didn’t hesitate to answer, recounting his experience. “A group of people caught me and forced me to consume something. However, I was in a dazed state and couldn’t remember clearly. I only managed to vomit it up in a hidden spot before passing out again.”
“When I woke up again, I was already being offered as a blood sacrifice.”
Zhou Ping seemed to have no doubts about He Kan’s words. He nodded, jotting things down on his paper. He asked a series of other questions afterward.
He Kan answered everything openly.
After about half an hour, Zhou Ping’s questioning finally came to an end, and even He Kan felt quite exhausted by this point.
Zhou Ping then put away his pen and paper. Lifting his head, his appearance was unremarkable, except for his pitch-black eyes, which seemed to peer deep into people’s souls. His aura was enhanced by those eyes. Pausing for a moment, he asked with apparent indifference, “You said you were heading to Daqi City to become a sorcerer?”
Zhou Ping interpreted He Kan’s statement of “seeking training” as aiming to become a sorcerer.
Naturally, it wasn’t a wrong interpretation.
He Kan nodded. That was indeed his plan. After regaining consciousness, many of his memories had resurfaced—memories of his remote and desolate village, some of the elderly villagers, and of course, the original body’s memory of this world.
In this world, most of the land was occupied by monsters, and ordinary people constantly faced the threat of becoming their prey. Even near Jiantiansi, incidents of monsters devouring people were common.
Sorcerers were the only means to combat these creatures.
“Yes, that’s my intention.”
Zhou Ping seemed unsurprised by his answer.
He turned to the youth behind him—a clever-looking boy with a handsome appearance and lively behavior. As Zhou Ping looked at him, the young man immediately understood.
The youth, named Xie Pingping, quickly pulled out a talisman from his pocket and respectfully handed it to Zhou Ping.
Zhou Ping accepted the talisman and offered it to He Kan.
He Kan was puzzled. “?”
“Take it. If the monsters left any lingering curses on you, this cleansing talisman should provide some protection,” Zhou Ping explained.
Without hesitation, He Kan accepted it. In this world, the most terrifying thing about monsters wasn’t just their ability to harm people but also the curses they left behind.
Many who narrowly escaped death from the hands of the strange creatures didn’t succumb to the monsters themselves but to the lingering curses they left.
“Thank you,” He Kan thanked sincerely. In fact, he did not lie. It might be because he awakened the Buddha Bone Demon Spider in his previous life. He had no strength in his body.
This was also why he had seemed so weak when he first spoke, he had no strength whatsoever at the moment.
Although He Kan was fairly sure that the strange fish monster had been completely devoured, he didn’t want to take any chances. The cleansing talisman, clearly drawn by a skilled sorcerer, wasn’t cheap.
The items of sorcerers were never cheap.
These two genuinely wanted He Kan to survive, they had given him the talisman without knowing his exact situation. A sincere “thank you” was only fitting.
“You’re welcome.”Zhou Ping shook his head and was silent for a moment, indicating that He Kan was welcome.
Zhou Ping pondered for a moment before speaking, “All those disguised as a merchant caravan are dead. The monster they were worshipping has disappeared, and the fox-like monster leader committed suicide in prison.”
It was as if Zhou Ping was either revealing something or saying nothing at all, just casually offering a reminder.
“Your talent is very strong.”
“That monster may have been eaten by your talent.” Zhou Ping said..
“My talent?” He Kan repeated, lifting his gaze to Zhou Ping. At this point, the officer from Jiantiansi had already put away the pen and paper, and it was clear that what remained was purely casual conversation.
“If you’re interested in becoming a practitioner, you might as well go straight to Jiantiansi. The officer responsible for recruitment would likely be quite pleased to welcome you,” Zhou Ping said with a nod.
“You’re not the only one. Many civilians who have encountered monster attacks have had the chance to awaken their talents. They can also awaken by visualizing strange creatures. I heard you’re interested in going to Jiantiansi, and it just so happens that the tri-annual summoning of Jiantiansi is coming up. You could take this opportunity to try.”
This was a kindness from Zhou Ping, though it seemed to come rather unexpectedly.
He Kan thought for a moment.
Zhou Ping, however, seemed ready to leave, as though his visit had purely been to ask a few questions and had nothing to do with specific details about the monsters.
As he was closing the door, Zhou Ping suddenly remembered something and turned back to say, “This is the Huichun Bureau in Daqi City. You’ve been unconscious here for about three days.”
Wait, how long?
He Kan had initially thought he was at Jiantiansi’s medical bureau and had mentally prepared for it. Normally, Jiantiansi’s medical fees were slightly cheaper than elsewhere, and they even allowed for delayed payment. After being kidnapped, there was no way He Kan had any money left. Even if he had some, it would have been taken by the members of the caravan.
This meant He Kan was now broke, utterly penniless.
And he had stayed in the Huichun Bureau of Daqi City for three days. Great, now he had no idea how he was going to pay for this hefty expense.
From the moment he had met Zhou Ping until now, he had maintained an obedient and polite demeanor. But for the first time, cracks appeared on his expression.
No way. Was he going to be thrown into jail for not being able to pay his medical bills?
“…” He Kan’s face looked terrible.
Zhou Ping admired He Kan’s expression for a while. Perhaps he had known that He Kan had been pretending all along, so he did not expose him. Until just now, when he saw the half-grown child on the bed with a bad expression, finally showing the childishness of his age. Zhou Ping smiled a little.
“But…” Zhou Ping paused and dragged out his tone.
“But what?” He Kan couldn’t wait to hear more. He suddenly remembered something. Jiantiansi always encouraged citizens to kill monsters.
Usually, there would be a reward for killing a monster.
At this point, He Kan cared about nothing else. All he wanted to ask about was how they were dealing with the fish-headed creature.
Zhou Ping stifled a smile, looking at He Kan’s eager expression. With rare warmth, he said, “Once you’ve recovered, you can go to Jiantiansi to claim your reward. That merman monter was a yellow-ranked monster, and you should be able to collect around 200 taels of silver.”
Two hundred taels of silver would easily cover the three-day medical bill and lodging, with about a third left over.
He Kan did the math and finally felt relieved. Just as he was about to ask Zhou Ping what exactly a yellow rank meant, the calm and steady officer from Jiantiansi waved his hand and left with the young man by his side, making sure to close the door as they went.
The room suddenly became quiet, leaving only He Kan behind.
He Kan lay back down on the bed, turning his head to look out of the window. As he thought it over, he realized that ever since he had transmigrated, this world had seemed like an ancient era similar to the Xia Dynasty, but people here speaks vernacular, used bronze tools, and held various rituals to worship gods and spirits. And yet, there were paper and pens, which only came out in the Han Dynasty.
The oddest part was that he was currently wrapped in a cotton quilt.
These things clearly didn’t belong to the same era, yet they had inexplicably appeared together.
And then there were the monsters.
This was something He Kan had never encountered in his previous two lives.
The only monster he had seen since coming to this world was that so-called merman, though He Kan didn’t believe it was a merman at all. It had initially been nothing more than a lump of flesh. Moreover, from the memories of this body’s original owner, the remote and desolate village he came from had even more monsters lurking outside, and they constantly relied on sorcerers and warriors for protection.
“Forget it, since we are here, we should make the best of it.” He Kan muttered to himself, rubbing his temples. There was one more thing He Kan hadn’t mentioned before. There was one more thing that He Kan had not said before. The caravan leader said that the “merman” he was offering sacrifices was the ancestral spirit at the beginning. But judging by how reverent he was, it was more like he was the servant or slave of the creature.
There was definitely someone behind the caravan leader, pulling the strings.
Zhou Ping’s earlier comment about the caravan leader’s suicide confirmed He Kan’s suspicion. The person behind the scenes must have discovered that the matter was leaked and killed the caravan leader as soon as possible. Regardless of whether the caravan leader intended to commit suicide, he committed suicide now.
What made He Kan hesitate, though, was the question of the connection between the mastermind and Jiantiansi.
Jiantiansi’s prison wasn’t so easy to infiltrate.
“…” He Kan thought slowly, his mind drifting as he fell into a deep sleep.
Three days later.
He Kan wore the only set of clothes he had, holding the 50 taels of silver that remained after paying 150 taels to Huichun Bureau out of the 200 he had received from Jiantiansi. With nothing else in hand, he returned to the entrance of Jiantiansi.
He Kan gazed from afar at the long line of people crowding the entrance.
It really was the entrance to Jiantiansi. The tall, oil-sealed doors stood imposing, and not far away were several small sheds made of green cloth not far away. Inside the tents sat a few people, mostly headed by the person in the middle.
Every person in line either wept or smiled as they stood before the tents.
