Fantasy: Immortality Begins with Absorbing Demons

Chapter 228 Amidst the Changing Situation

"This is a map!" Since arriving in this world, this is the first time Han Yi has seen such a detailed map.

The maps he saw on the market only marked the area to about thirty miles around Anyan City, and they were not detailed; they were just rough records.

In those days, the reason why ordinary people found it difficult to communicate with each other, dared not leave the city, and dared not travel far was because they did not know how to get to where they were, what dangers they might encounter, or which routes were safer.

Only martial artists of a certain strength, those involved in escort agency business, or those from families like Huang Shanjun's who frequently travel with merchant caravans, could know the situation outside. These were secrets painstakingly uncovered through countless lives and were not easily revealed. Han Yi himself had traveled to many places and meticulously recorded his observations in a hand-drawn map.

But his own rudimentary hand-drawn map was worlds apart from this detailed and clear map.

The value of this map alone, with its list of locations, danger zones, and solutions, is immeasurable.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it's priceless!

This map details the route from Anyan City to Xin'an Prefecture City, a distance of several thousand miles, with locations marked in red and blue.

The red characters, at first glance, all point to dangerous and strategic locations, either inhabited by bandits or ravaged by wild beasts. The characters are also annotated in small print, indicating which forces are not to be trifled with, the types of monsters that are rampant, their activity patterns, and the routes that can be taken to bypass them.

And the blue lettering…..

Anyan City, Nanhu Marsh... until the last blue dot, a blue line.

The blue dot represents Xin'an Prefecture City, and the blue area is a specially marked safe location. This route is clearly the safest route to the prefecture city!

This map was like a priceless treasure to Han Yi!

This is invaluable knowledge that no amount of gold or silver can buy!

He had always wanted to visit the prefectural city, and after opening his meridians, the lack of exchange of martial arts knowledge only intensified this desire.

This map is arguably his biggest find in recent days!

Han Yi carefully folded the map, wrapped it in oil paper, and tucked it close to his body.

He had a premonition that he would inevitably need to use this map in the future.

He continued to rummage through the package, searching for his finds. The gold and silver notes, needless to say, were put into his pouch, but another item…...

"Black Snake Legs!"

This booklet, which marks the origin of "Black Snake Legs," contains everything from diagrams of human body exercises to tips, techniques, and methods.

Most importantly...

Han Yi turned to the last page of the booklet. On a traditional Chinese ink painting, perhaps due to the artist's profound skill, a scene of dense forest and swamp was depicted with just a few strokes.

In the woodlands and beneath the swamps, twisted curves, like the shadows of snakes, stretch out sharply and send chills down one's spine.

This is a martial arts manual that includes visualization diagrams!

To become a second-level martial artist, one must cultivate a martial art that complements the first level of energy...

Han Yi recalled some of the things Bai Sanren had said to him…..

'A martial artist in the Meridian Opening stage needs to find and cultivate a complementary martial art that generates energy that complements their primary martial art. If they succeed in cultivating this complementary energy again, the two complementary energies will combine without conflict, and they can be called a Second-Level Energy Martial Artist. The same process continues until they become a Third-Level Energy Martial Artist!'

But can this martial art complement the "Qianyang Gong"?

Moreover, why is it necessary to find complementary martial arts to practice?

Han Yi was feeling a bit overwhelmed. It wasn't that he was complaining about the vagueness and ambiguity in Bai Sanren's words. After all, Bai Sanren was just a Blood Refining Martial Artist, and his knowledge of the Martial Master realm was mostly hearsay and conjecture.

What troubled him was that he knew nothing about martial arts or the basic knowledge of opening the meridians and entering the energy realm.

Thinking of this, he took out an old, brass-colored key from his pocket. It had a ring at the end and several holes in the middle.

Before parting ways with Bai Sanren and the others, Bai Sanren had given him this key.

Bai Sanren said that this was the key to his cabinet, which contained some miscellaneous books and classics left behind by Bai Yuechou.

After Bai Yuechou abandoned his wife and children and ran away from home, he once thought of burning all of Bai Yuechou's belongings to the ground. However, he couldn't bear to do so. He still hoped that Bai Yuechou would change his mind and return home one day. So, he locked all of Bai Yuechou's belongings in a cabinet.

"Alas, every family has its own troubles. Old Bai, your family is also unfortunate..." Han Yi sighed, feeling sorry for the tragic fate of Bai Sanren's family.

Crunch!

Han Yi walked out of the room and into Bai Sanren's room, pushing open the wooden door.

He first went to Bai Sanren's bedside and groped around the bed for a while.

Thump! The floorboards pressed down, and a hidden compartment flipped open.

"This old man is really rich..." Han Yi looked at the several gold notes and land deeds in the hidden compartment, his eyes gleaming with gold.

Unexpectedly, Bai Sanren, who usually dressed sloppily and wore tattered clothes and a white robe all day, was surprisingly wealthy.

Putting aside the gold notes, Han Yi glanced at these land deeds and immediately noticed that they were all shops on the outskirts of bustling areas, with hefty monthly rents.

"No wonder Old Man Bai, who eats and drinks all day long, could still easily support my previous cultivation..." Han Yi folded the land deeds and gold notes and put them back into the hidden compartment.

Although he was tempted by the wealth, it was ultimately not his. After a while, Bai Sanren and Qianxue would return from the city, and he would only need to keep an eye on these things.

Then he walked to the wardrobe beside the bed. Sure enough, the yellow wardrobe, made of nanmu wood, exuded an old and stuffy feel, and the brass lock on it was rusty, as if it hadn't been opened for a long time.

Click!

The key was inserted into the lock and struck the spring. Han Yi gripped the key handle and turned it to the right. With a crisp sound, the brass lock fell off and the cabinet door opened.

puff!

A cloud of dust rushed out as the cabinet door opened, and Han Yi had to fan it several times to blow it away.

Inside the cabinet were two large, vermilion wooden chests with pull rings on them, stacked together.

Han Yi picked up the pull tab, pulled it up, took out the two boxes, and placed them on the ground.

As the items were shaken, a smell wafted out—a combination of camphor-like insect repellent and preservative, and the smell of ink from paper stored for a long time. Han Yi opened the wooden box, which was filled with all sorts of things: silk, wooden plaques, picture albums, and so on, but most of all were booklets and classics with different covers.

He lifted the wooden box, tilted it, and dumped everything out. After the miscellaneous books and other items, a dusty booklet, bound with black rope, with a black leather cover, and rolled up like a scroll, rolled out.

He picked up the booklet casually, untied the ribbon, and began to read it.

"On the 20th day of the fifth month of the tenth year of the reign of Emperor Xuanwu of the Great Ming Dynasty, I received instruction from Elder Huang Ze as a first-level martial arts master. To advance further, I need to cultivate complementary martial arts techniques. However, the 'Bai Family Sword Technique' I practice is extremely incomplete. Even achieving the ability to open the meridians and channel energy is already my limit. How can I break through?"

'So difficult!!!'

"In the eleventh year of Emperor Wu's reign, while traveling near Nanhu Marsh, I encountered a strange man named Yin Chen. We fought fiercely, neither gaining the upper hand, and had a very pleasant conversation. His ideas were incredibly novel, and he promised to share everything with me if I joined his organization! Unfortunately, my father is still alive, my swordsmanship is not yet at its peak, and I have other commitments; I cannot agree..."

"This is... a diary?!" Han Yi looked at the booklet in his hand with great interest. This booklet, which looked like a notebook, was probably similar to a diary in Han Yi's understanding. Although the time was not continuous, it was clear that Bai Yuechou would record things whenever he encountered them.

More than a decade ago, Bai Yuechou seemed to have come into contact with a force that declared "severing all emotions and desires, cutting off all ties and affections" when he was young.

"But who keeps a diary, anyway..." he thought to himself.

Normally, people who can have normal conversations wouldn't go to the trouble of writing their innermost thoughts in a diary. Only those who have a lot to say but nowhere to confide in would write in a diary to vent their frustrations.

"Clearly, Bai Sanren's discipline of Bai Yuechou was indeed quite strict, no wonder there was a strong backlash later on..."

Han Yi shook his head. Leaving aside Bai Sanren's family education for the moment, he continued to flip through the diary.

In the fourth month of the thirteenth year of Emperor Wu's reign, I met Yue'er. My father was very pleased, and their wedding will be held soon...

In the thirteenth year of Emperor Wu's reign, in October, the grand wedding took place. Yue'er was kind and gentle, and they were very happy living together. Their days were sweet. However, there had been no progress in her martial arts for a long time. Was there really no way forward...?

"In the fourteenth year of Emperor Wu's reign, in June, Yin Chen sent a letter with a medicinal ingredient, revealing a secret technique to me. Through this ingredient, one could temporarily glimpse realms above the Martial Master level. This technique is wonderful, but after experiencing it, I felt deeply distressed. When will I be able to break through to a higher realm?!"

'In the eleventh month of the sixteenth year of Emperor Wu's reign, Yue'er gave birth to a daughter. Snowflakes, as large as goose feathers, fell from the sky, and she was named Qianxue (Thousand Snow). Mother and daughter were safe and sound. My father was overjoyed, and I was also extremely excited, but my heart was filled with complex emotions. I had made a breakthrough in my life, but my martial arts had made no progress. Although I could experience the feeling of a grandmaster through secret techniques, each time I awoke from that state, I felt utterly empty. Moreover, the medicinal ingredients were all used up… Perhaps I should write to Yin Chen and ask him to send a larger batch of medicinal ingredients next time…'

"So that's how Qianxue got her name..."

Seeing this, Han Yi found it somewhat amusing. Bai Yuechou, this father, was indeed a bit careless, but there was another possibility: this person's mind was not on this at all.

He rubbed his fingers together, preparing to turn to the next page, but before he could even turn the page completely, his fingers froze in mid-air, and he was completely stunned.

Because the next page contained nothing but three large, bright red characters, like fresh blood, with clear, bold strokes that seemed to pierce through the paper!

hatred!

hatred!

hatred!

"What... happened?!" Han Yi quickly flipped through the pages, trying to find the reason and see if Bai Yuechou had left any relevant records.

But at the back of the booklet, large swaths of blank paper flew by rapidly, forming an arc shape, as if mocking Han Yi's futile efforts.

"It seems that Bai Yuechou really didn't leave any written explanation..." Han Yi flipped through the remaining books and classics again, but finding nothing, he fell into deep thought.

"Could it be that there's something wrong with the medicinal ingredient?"

After much thought, Han Yi could only deduce this possibility from the diary.

From Bai Sanren's previous few words about Bai Yuechou's character, Han Yi could easily sketch out Bai Yuechou's appearance, physique, and personality traits.

This person is outstanding in appearance, exceptionally talented, and has extraordinary aptitude. What is even more remarkable is that he is able to devote himself to martial arts cultivation and not be tempted by external things. It is for this reason that Bai Sanren has high hopes for him and has pushed his family's martial arts to a higher level.

As for his personality, Han Yi can get a general idea of ​​his temperament by combining the written records in his diary and the words recorded by Bai Sanren.

Although he was obsessed with martial arts cultivation, he was by no means a heartless, ungrateful, or unreasonable person. Otherwise, how could he have rescued Lian Chengyue from the hands of bandits and tyrants, and why would he have mentioned his father, Bai Sanren, so many times in his diary?

However, on a stormy night, Bai Yuechou hastily left a letter without much explanation and disappeared. Something important must have happened to cause this huge change.

Bai Yuechou's diary mentions Yin Chen, the medicinal ingredient, and the new concept multiple times...

This is the only interpretation that can barely make sense...

The true story has been lost to the river of time, and no one can know for sure. Perhaps, only by finding Bai Yuechou can we glimpse what happened back then…

However, even his father, Bai Sanren, had no idea where Bai Yuechou had gone, making it all a mystery…

"Perhaps, Bai Yuechou really has been bewitched by evil forces, just as Bai Sanren said..."

Han Yi sighed. If he had no way to advance in martial arts, but there happened to be another place that could help him, he would still want to eat the outer layer of honey even if he knew it was poison wrapped in honey!

As long as there is a glimmer of hope, who cares about the outcome!

"Fortunately, there's still a road ahead. If all else fails, I can use the system to allocate points and forcibly carve out a path..."

He thought so.