Liu Yi stared blankly at the Liu Family Village before him, unable to recover his senses for a long time.
After a long while, he finally took a step forward and slowly walked toward the village.
Along the way, those familiar sights came into view; one hundred and thirty years felt as if it were only yesterday.
The entire Liu Family Village had changed very little, still consisting mostly of thatched huts, but the people in the village were no longer the familiar faces of back then.
Liu Yi walked straight toward the direction of the ancestral graves in his memory.
When he arrived at the ancestral graves, he recognized the tombs of his parents and his eldest brother, Liu Qin, at a glance.
The rest of the burial mounds were very unfamiliar to him, presumably belonging to Liu Qin's descendants.
Looking at the graves before him, Liu Yi's eyes instantly reddened as tears welled up and overflowed, a surge of sorrow flooding his heart.
His heart trembled, and he immediately realized this was the influence brought about by the memories and obsessions of his predecessor.
He took a deep breath, then took out offerings such as incense, candles, and paper money, solemnly paying respects to his parents and eldest brother in turn.
After finishing the offerings to his parents and eldest brother...
Liu Yi only felt his whole body relax; his spiritual terrace was clearer than ever before, as if even his Soul was light enough to float away.
This was the dissipation of his predecessor's final obsession. From now on, he could be completely guided by the consciousness of his previous life, no longer affected by his predecessor.
He let out a long sigh of relief and walked toward the direction of his former home.
Although he didn't intend to reveal his identity and reunite with his brother's descendants, he wanted to see how they were living and give them the wealth he had prepared along the way.
After all, these people were the only ones in this world with whom he shared a blood relation.
Within moments, Liu Yi was standing at the location of his former residence in his memory.
The house before him had long since changed its appearance; only that crooked-necked jujube tree in front of the door still stood tall, its cracked bark still bearing a few marks from childhood climbing.
In a trance, he seemed to see his young self and his eldest brother again, standing on their tiptoes and holding bamboo poles to knock down jujubes.
At this moment, crisp laughter came from beneath the jujube tree.
Two children, six or seven years old, were chasing each other around the tree. One of them, a little boy with pigtails, looked up at the branches.
This scene gradually overlapped with the images deep in his memory, causing him to lose himself for a moment.
"Big brother, you've been standing here for a long time. Did something happen?" A crisp, childish voice suddenly rang in his ear.
Liu Yi snapped out of his memories and looked down to see Liu Jun and Liu Wei looking up with their small faces, their clear eyes full of curiosity.
He unconsciously curled the corners of his mouth into a gentle smile: "Little ones, is this your home?"
"That's right! This is our home," Liu Jun and Liu Wei answered clearly.
Just then, an elderly voice came from behind: "Young brother, is there something you need help with?"
An old man with white hair, Liu Hai, came walking slowly while leaning on a cane, his gaze carrying a hint of wariness.
Liu Yi slowly turned around, staring at the old man's wrinkled face, and asked, "If I may ask, what is your relationship with Liu Qin?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Hai's pupils shrank slightly, and his cloudy eyes instantly became sharp as he sized up the young man before him. "Liu Qin is my great-grandfather. May I ask who you are?"
Liu Yi's gaze was like a torch as he scrutinized Liu Hai, slowly saying, "I have known him for many years and once received a favor from him. I have come today specifically to repay that debt of gratitude."
As he spoke, he took out a heavy money bag from his robe and handed it to Liu Hai.
He then turned his gaze to Liu Jun and Liu Wei, who were playing nearby, and said in a gentle tone, "These two children are bright and clever, with Spiritual Qi in their eyes. If cultivated carefully in the future, they will surely achieve something."
Having finished, without waiting for Liu Hai to ask further, Liu Yi turned and left.
He left behind only a stunned Liu Hai, standing frozen in place while holding the money bag.
Liu Yi glanced back at Liu Family Village, then turned and departed.
He had heard in the village earlier that the Mountain Bandits of Black Wind Fortress frequently raided surrounding villages, and several had already suffered.
The government had organized men for a suppression campaign but was soundly defeated. Now the Mountain Bandits were becoming increasingly arrogant, burning, killing, and looting everywhere; it was unknown when Liu Family Village would be targeted by them.
Liu Yi was not surprised by this. After all, in these dark times, many commoners had no choice but to take to the hills as outlaws.
On the way from Yunping City to Liu Family Village, Liu Yi had destroyed an unknown number of Mountain Bandits, using many of the fierce ones as test subjects for his techniques.
Letting them serve one last purpose could be considered a small contribution to the world.
It was also because of this that his Sun Swallowing Art could iterate and update so quickly.
Since Black Wind Fortress threatened Liu Family Village, he would simply eliminate them. For him, this was an easy task.
He could also use these Mountain Bandits to test his newly created Yin Swallowing Art and Star Swallowing Art, verifying the effects of absorbing lunar and stellar power.
While thinking, Liu Yi suddenly noticed a scrawny Little Yellow dog lying by the side of the road ahead.
Its eyes were full of helplessness. Seeing someone approach, it let out a weak "woof."
He was slightly taken aback; he hadn't expected to see such a look in a dog's eyes.
Moreover, this dog resembled the Chinese Rural Dog from his previous life, making it look very endearing.
After a moment of silence, he walked up to check on it and found the puppy was starving, so he immediately took out food to feed it.
"You are all alone now, and I am also alone. How about I become your master from now on?"
While eating the food, Little Yellow barked twice and wagged its tail happily, as if it understood his words.
Seeing how intelligent it was, Liu Yi smiled and said, "From now on, I am your master, and your name will be Little Yellow."
Little Yellow wagged its tail excitedly and licked Liu Yi's palm with its tongue.
Liu Yi picked up Little Yellow and held it in his arms, continuing to stride toward Black Wind Fortress with a cold smile on his lips:
"Let's go. Today, your master will take you to punish evil, promote good, and act as a hero."
Little Yellow seemed to understand its master's words, raising its head to let out two clear barks and gently pawing at his lapel.
Meanwhile, deep within Black Wind Fortress, blood mist filled a gloomy secret chamber.
A heavy stone door blocked out the light from outside. In the center of the vast chamber, a ten-meter-wide blood pool rippled strangely.
Sixty corpses hung upside down above the blood pool. Dark red blood continuously flowed from the wounds on their necks, dripping steadily into the pool and blooming into eerie blood flowers on the surface.
In the center of the blood pool, a naked middle-aged man sat with his eyes closed, surrounded by a swirling halo of blood-colored light.
With his steady breathing, the blood in the pool seemed to be summoned, transforming into ferocious blood pythons that scrambled to surge into his body.
A thick smell of blood filled the enclosed space, making the entire chamber look like a purgatory.
If a Cultivator saw such a scene, they would surely cry out in alarm: "Blood Demon Art!"
The so-called Blood Demon Art was a Cultivation Technique that used blood for cultivation.
In this era where Spiritual Qi was becoming increasingly scarce, there was once a shocking demonic genius.
He thought of using human blood as a substitute for Spiritual Qi, like a Medicinal Pill, creating this inhuman cultivation method.
As soon as the Blood Demon Art was born, countless commoners suffered its poison.
The blood within a Cultivator's body contained powerful energy, making them the primary targets for practitioners of the Blood Demon Art, leading to many Cultivators meeting with disaster.
A great war between righteous and demonic forces broke out because of this. Although the Devil Head was ultimately slain, the Cultivators also suffered heavy losses, and countless Sects fell into decline.