Chapter 1: Good and Evil Ultimately Reveal Their True Colors

The mountain path was rugged. He was chasing a lame mountain goat and entered the dense jungle halfway up the mountainside. Just as he was about to deliver the finishing blow, a massive, sand-colored leopard suddenly burst out from ten meters ahead and pounced on him!

He drew his dagger, creating more than a dozen bloody holes in the sand leopard, but it was all too late.

Man and leopard tumbled, falling together into a hundred-meter-deep abyss. Even in its dying moments, the sand leopard lashed out, biting him on the neck.

With a soft 'snap', a jade talisman at his waist burst into red light and shattered.

In that instant, the last image frozen in his vision was four bloody fangs!

He Lingchuan opened his eyes blankly. His vision slowly focused, and through the gaps between slender branches and long leaves, he saw white clouds drifting in the blue sky.

From this angle, it seemed as if he were lying under a tree, looking up at the sky.

Yet, something felt off.

He paused for a few seconds, then suddenly realized something.

That wasn't right. The intersection he had just passed only had concrete walls, utility poles, and vendor carts, and the short, thin street trees were reduced to just two bare branches. Where could slender branches and long leaves come from?

With that jolt, he immediately noticed that the patch of sky above him was only palm-sized, and all around him were sheer cliffs and solid rock, with dense vegetation.

In other words, he was in the mountains.

More precisely, he was at the bottom of a gorge, as he could hear water nearby, and the cliff face seemed to extend dozens of meters above him.

Just as he tried to sit up, pain suddenly swept through his entire body, causing him to gasp for air. This also produced a strange, gurgling sound, like a broken bellows.

He Lingchuan looked down to find more than a dozen bloody holes of various sizes and countless scratches on his body. His right lower leg was fractured, with the stark white bone protruding from the flesh.

He tried to lift his hand, but intense pain shot through his chest. He had no idea how many ribs were broken.

In just a few seconds, He Lingchuan realized he was lying on his back, covered in blood, barely clinging to life.

What had happened?

He remembered taking only a few steps past the intersection when a sharp pain hit the top of his head, as if he'd been struck by a heavy object, and then everything went black.

That row of residential buildings was known for objects being thrown from high altitudes, and pedestrians had complained multiple times to no avail. He Lingchuan didn't know what had struck him, but it certainly shouldn't have resulted in him being covered in bloody holes and lying in a valley, right?

Fortunately, his neck wasn't broken, so he could still turn his head freely.

The sky was bright, but the bottom of the gorge was damp and dim, with exceptionally lush vegetation. He Lingchuan turned his head and suddenly saw something yellow with black spots resting on some bird's nest ferns, lying about three meters in front of him.

"Hmm? Is this... a leopard?"

If it weren't so difficult to lift his hand, He Lingchuan would have truly wanted to rub his eyes for a clearer look.

"Holy cow, what a huge leopard!"

Its size was comparable to a lion or tiger; it lay on the ground, its large mouth half-open, big enough to easily fit a human head.

He Lingchuan was startled, his scalp tingling.

It was absurd; this creature was at least twice as large as he thought possible.

It was bad enough that he was severely injured, but he was also stuck at the bottom of the valley with a fierce beast!

But he soon noticed that its eyes were tightly closed and it wasn't moving, and the blood stains flowing from its orifices had already dried.

Its body was also covered in wounds, several of them very deep, not mere scratches. Most incongruously, its lower tooth held a red string, to which was tied a light-colored, crescent-shaped pendant of unknown material, made conspicuous by the green moss.

Dead?

After worrying for a while, he still didn't dare to go forward and check. On one hand, he could barely move; on the other, he feared the beast wasn't completely dead and might seize an opportunity to attack.

It was then that He Lingchuan noticed his clothes were different from what he had been wearing before. The tunic reached his knees, a leather belt cinched his waist, and he had metal bracers on his wrists.

He turned his hands over and found thin calluses on his palms and at the base of his fingers. A bloody dagger lay in the grass about a foot away.

So, why exactly was he here?

As soon as the question arose, countless memories, none of them his own, flooded into his mind. He Lingchuan felt as if his head was about to explode, and he groaned in discomfort.

The memories were too complex; he didn't have the energy to go through all of them. He could only pick out a few key points: he seemed to have transmigrated. The owner of this dying body was also named He Lingchuan, the eldest son of He Chunhua, the Prefect of Qiansong Commandery in Jizhou of the Yuan Kingdom. He had gone hunting in Gourd Mountain but was attacked by a sand leopard, and both had fallen off the cliff.

All memories stopped abruptly at this point.

He Lingchuan couldn't help but look at the cliff directly above. So, he really had fallen from such a great height. Even with the sand leopard cushioning the fall, the original body had suffered too many injuries and died before waking up, its vessel taken over.

He didn't know how his consciousness had become attached to a dying body, but what was the point of it all?

To die again?

Blood was still flowing from his wounds; he felt like a water balloon full of holes that would soon drain dry.

Just then, a bit of white fluff drifted down from a dwarf kapok tree on the cliff face, landing precisely on the sharp, outwardly-turned fur of the leopard's ear.

He Lingchuan saw clearly: the leopard's ear twitched!

Besides the smell of rust, he also tasted a bitter flavor in his mouth: this creature was still alive.

The original body had stabbed it a dozen times, even using it as a cushioning meat shield. Yet, the original body was dead, and this leopard hadn't expired!

If it wasn't dead, could he possibly survive?

In this moment of life and death, He Lingchuan's mind became clear. He suddenly remembered that he still had medicine on him.

With trembling hands, he took out a jade vial from his pocket, pouring out the only pigeon-egg-sized pill inside.

It was dark black, with impurities and an earthy smell, like a mud pill hastily rolled together. Yet, he remembered that this was a miraculous medicine that the original body's father, He Chunhua, had painstakingly acquired from a great shaman, rumored to be able to sustain life.

His father's profound love for his son might just save his life now.

Eat it, crawl out for help before the leopard wakes up, or... strike first and kill it?

Although it was a fierce beast, how much strength could it have left after sustaining so many additional injuries?

But could his own injuries withstand another major exertion?

He Lingchuan was still undecided, but he had to take the medicine first before he could plan his next move.

Just as He Lingchuan was about to put the pill into his mouth, he heard a muffled voice say, "Share half with me."

Startled, he nearly dropped the pill. "Who?"

Is there another living person at the bottom of this cliff?

But he couldn't see a second person; instead, the leopard lying on the ground opened its eyes.

"Me."

"Mon-mon..." He Lingchuan's teeth chattered, and his vocal cords wouldn't obey him. "There's a demon!"

A wild beast suddenly speaking—what else could it be but a demon? Dying, and encountering a demon—what extraordinary luck.

That this world actually had demons was truly thrilling.

The leopard's yellow eyes stared at him, its voice sounding like it came from its chest: "Share half the medicine with me, or I'll bite you to death!"

After the initial surprise, He Lingchuan was no longer afraid. "Why should I give it to you? Whether I share it or not, you'll bite me to death." He didn't know why he had suddenly become calm, perhaps because they could communicate.

"Share the medicine with me, and I won't bite you. And... and I'll save your life," the leopard said, its pronunciation muffled, as if it wasn't used to speaking.

He Lingchuan didn't believe a word. "Believe you? You're the reason I'm half-dead!"

He also noticed that the leopard remained lying on the ground, not moving at all. That's right, this creature was also severely injured and wouldn't live much longer.

Realizing this, the dying beast wasn't so terrifying anymore. Should he crawl over and finish it off, to avenge the original body and himself?

"I was mistaken earlier; I thought you were a pursuer, a killer, which is why I dragged you down with me," the leopard said, sounding weak after just a few words. "Now the real pursuers are also at the bottom of the cliff, heading this way. I can hear them."

It twitched its ears.

"Someone's coming?" He Lingchuan exclaimed, delighted. "We're saved!"

"Those coming may not be human," the leopard said grimly. "If you don't help me, you won't escape death either. My tooth broke off; they'll think you took it." With that, it opened its large mouth for him to see.

The leopard's left canine tooth was missing, leaving only a bloody hole.

He Lingchuan was bewildered. "What does your lost tooth have to do with me?"

"Everyone knows we like to hide treasures in our large teeth. If the tooth is gone, the item is gone too," the leopard demon snarled. "Because of these things, my clan was massacred. Do you think they'll spare you?"

So the pursuers weren weren't saviors, but rather reapers of death? It seemed he had fallen into a whirlpool of trouble as soon as he arrived. He Lingchuan was a bit disoriented. "How do I know you won't truly harm me?"

"I'll make a blood oath!" the leopard demon said through gritted teeth. "If I harm you again, I'll die from my heart's blood flowing backward!"

It sounded like a trivial oath, but He Lingchuan suddenly had a feeling, knowing that this oath would truly be effective.

For no reason, he just knew it, he was certain, as if this was one of the rules of this world, something any living creature could sense.

A small tree in the distance moved. The leopard demon was right; something was indeed approaching.

Before overthinking, He Lingchuan split the pill in half and threw one half over.

The leopard demon barely managed to lift its mouth and eat, then lay back in its original position, closing its eyes and remaining still.

Its position was further out, so even if the pursuers arrived, they would see it first.

He would then improvise based on its reaction.

He Lingchuan also took the medicine. As the pill went down his throat, a wave of earthy, foul-smelling nausea rose in his stomach, making him feel agitated and want to vomit. He barely managed to suppress the urge to throw up, wondering if the pill his father gave him could have been swapped.

But once this wave of nausea passed, the pain in his body was significantly reduced. A surge of strength quietly grew in his limbs, and his breathing became much smoother, as if he could roll over and start walking.

Of course, this was an illusion; his leg and breastbone were still broken.

Then he heard footsteps and the rustling of branches and leaves, getting closer and closer.

He Lingchuan suddenly crawled forward two steps, picked up the short dagger from the ground, then lay back in his original spot, pressing the dagger under his arm, half-buried in the dirt.

This way, if the newcomers didn't move him, they wouldn't see his hidden weapon.

Life was too precious to entrust to the leopard demon that had just tried to kill him, let alone to unknown strangers.

He narrowed his eyes into slits. Before long, two figures appeared in his sight: one tall and one thin, both wearing tight-fitting attire, walking towards them.

"Hey, found it!" the tall one exclaimed, overjoyed. "Phew, finally we can report back!"

"This leopard fell down," the thin one said, looking up at the cliff. "Strange, it's a demon after all. Even if it was cornered, how could it have fallen down?"

"I knew it," the tall one said. "There's blood on the cliff; it probably rolled down." At this moment, he also spotted He Lingchuan in the darker area within, letting out a surprised sound. "There's a person there."

The shorter man glanced and laughed, "What unlucky fellow! Look at him and the leopard—both are full of holes. They both fell off the cliff! And we wasted so much effort tracking them!"

He Lingchuan closed his eyes, tilted his neck, covered in blood, and held his breath, not daring to let his chest rise and fall too quickly. Being in the shadows, he looked no different from a dead person.

These two had no interest in him. They just kicked the leopard demon a couple of times, and seeing no reaction, confirmed it was dead.

The shorter man suddenly exclaimed, "Look, the necklace! So the item really was on this leopard demon!"

He Lingchuan knew what necklace he was talking about. At the time, he couldn't move and was wary of the fierce beast, so he hadn't dared to go check.

But the tall one was eager. "Is this what the higher-ups told us to get?" He glanced at He Lingchuan again, somewhat cautiously. "By the way, go see if that person is dead. If not, finish him off."

The thin one spat, then reluctantly walked towards He Lingchuan, casually drawing a knife from his waist.

He Lingchuan had originally held a glimmer of hope, thinking that as fellow humans, they might show some compassion or offer help. To his surprise, the man hadn't even approached before drawing his knife.

His attitude, killing as easily as butchering a chicken, clearly indicated he was an experienced hand.

He Lingchuan's heart immediately turned cold; he finally realized that the leopard demon hadn't lied.

"What kind of world have I fallen into!" First a leopard demon, then humans—all wanted him dead.

The tall one bent down to retrieve the necklace.

As he bent and lowered his head, the leopard demon, which had been lying still, suddenly leaped up, its large mouth open, and bit his neck.

With this sudden, violent attack, the tall man was immediately pinned to the ground. But he reacted quickly, drawing a short knife from his waist and plunging it deep into the leopard demon's belly.

The leopard demon twisted its head in pain. With a snap, the tall man's neck broke.

He Lingchuan remembered how this leopard demon had previously ambushed him on the cliff, equally swift as lightning. Who knew that even after severe injuries, it still had such residual courage? It was a good thing he hadn't approached it earlier.

The thin man heard the sound and turned back, seeing his companion being tackled by the leopard demon. Without time to think, he swung his knife at its head.

The leopard dodged, its steps a bit wobbly, but it quickly pounced.

The thin man swung his knife again, when suddenly he was shoved hard in the lower back, and a cold, sharp metal object pierced his waist, instantly draining him of strength.

An ambush! The dead man on the ground had actually ambushed him!

This sudden blow caused him to stumble forward two steps, and his knife missed its mark.

The leopard demon seized the opportunity and, with two bites, severed his carotid artery, sending blood splattering high.

The thin man fell to the ground, twitching a few times, his last thought being confusion.

Wasn't the man on the ground bitten by the leopard and injured when he fell from the cliff? Why had he suddenly teamed up with the leopard to ambush him?

Wasn't this supposed to be a simple task? How could he be so unlucky!

Before he could understand, he breathed his last.

The dagger was stuck in the thin man's lower back. He Lingchuan, still panting, picked up the victim's knife and looked warily at the leopard demon. Just getting up to stab someone had caused him immense pain, and his wounds had reopened. But he couldn't care about that now; the external threat was gone, and the conflict was now squarely between him and the leopard demon.

The problem was, he realized that even after taking the life-sustaining medicine, he couldn't walk more than a few steps.

After all, his injuries were too severe, and his leg was still broken.

The leopard demon took two steps towards him, then suddenly collapsed to the ground, panting for a long time before saying, "The medicine... it's wearing off."