It all started with one person becoming a shaman, but the Stand user...

Ultimately, the final image was a clear combination of ancient martial arts and fantasy elements.

The Legend of Qin: The Bad Guys

……

What lay before me was a scene of dilapidated shacks, haphazardly constructed straw mats, and even mere shacks dug from the ground, barely large enough for one person to curl up in.

Perhaps it could be called a "village" if that word doesn't seem too shabby for the place.

There was no planning here; everything seemed chaotic and rushed.

The ground was muddy and filthy, filled with an unidentified stench of smoke, fermenting excrement, and a putrid smell that mingled with disease and despair.

The air seemed to freeze, pressing heavily on every breath.

Everywhere you look, there are men, women, young and old, but it's rare to see any healthy young or middle-aged men.

More often, they were people who looked withered and dressed in rags like beggars.

They sat motionless or looked around blankly, their eyes clouded like dusty glass beads, filled with a deep-seated hunger, an inescapable fear, and a kind of numbed despondency.

Simply walking in such an environment and witnessing all of this was an immense test of mental endurance for Qing Hemiao, a transmigrator who had lived through two relatively peaceful eras.

"I sigh deeply and wipe away my tears, lamenting the many hardships of the people's lives."

Without any warning, this sentence suddenly appeared in Qinghe Miao's mind.

He suddenly felt a sense of admiration for his ancestors.

I wonder if Qu Yuan felt the same way when he wrote this passage.

In contrast, based on his experience, he originally thought his hometown was backward and remote.

Looking back now, it seems even more like the idiom "Shangri-La" (世外桃源) that originated from Tao Yuanming's writings.

"Great."

Qinghe Miao couldn't help but laugh at himself inwardly:

"In such a short time, you've already connected two classic literary allusions. It seems that the skill [General Literature (Proficient)] is really not for nothing."

He had to force himself to think that way to avoid focusing on the uncomfortable scene before him.

However, the gazes from those around him were ever-present, making him equally uncomfortable.

From the moment Qing Hemiao suddenly appeared on the edge of this area, many eyes were fixed on him.

There was nothing in that gaze, yet it sent chills down your spine.

It's hard to say whether he felt more uncomfortable in a polluted environment or a more polluted one.

He took a deep breath, and then felt nauseous at the contents of the air he inhaled.

I forced myself to calm down and quickly scanned my surroundings.

Finally, he stopped in a corner. There, an old woman was curled up, holding a small, thin child whose age was almost impossible to tell.

The old woman was dressed in tattered clothes, emaciated, and had dull, lifeless eyes.

When Qinghe Miao stopped in front of her, she instinctively shrank back and tried to move backward, but she seemed to have no strength at all, and just hugged the child in her arms even tighter.

Qinghe Miao hesitated for a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

Those were the few large pancakes that his family had left over.

To make it easier to carry and to avoid being seen, he had deliberately torn it into a mess.

It was casually wrapped in a tattered, not-so-clean rag that had been discarded from wiping tables at home.

Even though he had tried his best to make the cake look unrecognizable.

But when the tattered cloth was opened, the old woman curled up opposite her stared intently at the tattered bundle in Qing Hemiao's hand, her eyes that had been dull and murky.

Qinghe Miao remained calm and did not directly hand over the tattered bundle in his hand.

Instead, mimicking the etiquette from period dramas he remembered, he placed one hand in front of his chest, bowed slightly, and asked in as calm and polite a tone as possible:

"I am Qingmiao, a humble Taoist priest. In my youth, I traveled the world with my master. Recently, I wished to return to my hometown, but I accidentally lost my way in the mountains and ended up here. May I ask, sir... where is this place? And... how old am I now?"

These few words, which were neither entirely classical nor classical, were all he could manage.

That's right, Qinghe Miao knows what kind of world this is.

After drawing the "copy" called "Painting Rivers and Lakes: The Bad Guys" from the system panel, I did some initial exploration.

He discovered that entering the "copy" was similar to using a substitute produced by the system.

As long as he concentrates his mind and selects a dungeon from the system's [Dungeon] section, he can directly appear in this unfamiliar world.

Currently, this method does not seem to have strict limits on the number of times or time, at least not for short periods.

It just takes a toll on his physical and mental strength, and feels a bit more strenuous than maintaining a Stand.

However, its advantage lies in the fact that each use is only for one time, which is well within acceptable limits.

This discovery drastically changed the tone of his "time traveler life".

From being confined to the world of "Under One Person" (a fan fiction genre), it has instantly leaped to the "Multiverse" genre, which can operate across dimensions!

This is an unexpected and huge life-saving trump card.

He had finally managed to draw the Stand [Subspace Miasma], which he considered his last resort for survival.

Before they even encountered any danger, after using it a few times, they now have an even better "escape method".

Encountering a danger that cannot be overcome?

With a single thought, a person can vanish from this world and disappear into another!

Who can do anything to him?

At least within the world of "Under One Person," it would be very difficult to find a way to trace across worlds.

However, the current starting environment is far from friendly.

The most pressing issue now is that he needs to know exactly where he is and what point in the story is at.

It's important to understand that even in modern society with GPS navigation and electronic maps, this is still a significant development.

Even food delivery riders can get lost in the city, let alone in a real ancient world without any modern landmarks.

As soon as he emerged from the "dungeon" entrance, he landed directly in a remote, untouched forest, completely in the dark.

Forget about the specific geographical location, they couldn't even discern the general direction.

Actually, his original intention as a "dungeon" was to "level up by fighting monsters".

Logically speaking, it wouldn't be wrong to just use whatever you find on the spot and kill whatever you encounter, and manually gain experience.

Anyway, in a primeval forest like this, there must be some unwanted jackals, tigers, and leopards, right?

But then he thought, what if he could find a way to join the "protagonist group" of this world?

This allows time travelers to maximize their advantage of knowing the general course of history.

In addition to experience points, you will also have the opportunity to come into contact with higher-level martial arts manuals, divine weapons, or unique cultivation methods in this world.

Compared to simply killing monsters for experience points, it's more cost-effective.

It was with this intention of "piggybacking on the storyline" that Qinghe Miao did not stay in one place, but chose a general direction to move forward.

Chapter 28 Cake

With his legs strengthened by Qi, Qinghe Miao walked for several days before finally seeing the human settlements in the distance.

As a result, this is still the scene that greets my eyes.

But having no currency of this era on him, he saw this scene from afar and his mind raced.

He found a secluded corner, quickly returned to his home, and went straight to the kitchen.

In those days, most rural households outside the Great Wall only had freezers purchased through the rural appliance subsidy program, not refrigerators.

In addition, it's winter outside the Great Wall, and there are many people in the family, so there's no need for that thing.

Therefore, many leftover foods are simply placed in the cupboard.

I hope to exchange this for some basic information.

Seeing the food in Qinghe Miao's hands and understanding his meaning, the old woman's eyes flashed with hope for a fleeting moment.

Holding her barely breathing child in her arms, she struggled to organize her thoughts as she spoke:

"Master...you...you came from outside those mountains? We...we go east from here, to the territory of the 'King Liang,' and we have to cross the Lai River. There's water and an official road there, but we dare not go! The Liang soldiers are very fierce; they conscript men and take them away, and they never come back. Many of them are dead, and they're hanging from the trees by the roadside, which is terrifying."

To the north lies 'Master Liu's' territory. There are checkpoints in the mountains; any strangers who dare to cross will be beheaded as spies, their heads hung on poles. To the west, the mountains deepen, into old forests—the 'Man-Eating Valley'! There are wolf packs, many wolves, and also...and a band of soldiers who were defeated two years ago. I hear they've all turned into mountain demons, preying on lone wolves. Right here, right at the foot of 'Huangbao,' leaning against the fortress wall, you can still...you can still catch your breath."

"As for age?"

The old woman repeated the question blankly, a look of almost numb confusion on her face:

“People like us don’t remember any reign titles or emperors. All I remember is that it was the year after a great flood inundated our village. My husband was taken away around that time and never came back.”

What? What? What is all this?!

Qinghe Miao felt a headache coming on.

He didn't expect to hear a clear date like "the year of Zhenguan" or "the year of Tianyou" from an old woman from the lower class who looked like this.

But I always thought that the other person could at least name a few well-known places that spanned ancient and modern times, such as "Chang'an", "Luoyang", "Bianliang" and "Yizhou".

Even just mentioning the name of a prefecture or county would be helpful!

And the result?

Who is the "King of Liang"?

Who is "Master Liu"?

"Man-eating Valley", "Huangbao"... What kind of place names are these?

Will I be able to find it on Baidu Maps after I get back?

There is also "flooding".

What kind of flood chronology is this?

But seeing how the old woman was racking her brains to answer the questions, Qinghe Miao knew that he wouldn't get any more information.

I can only jot down a few keywords for now, and then try to find more professional information at internet cafes and other places when I get back.

Let's see if we can deduce a rough location and time.

He again raised one hand, bowed slightly, and maintained his polite tone:

"Thank you for your guidance, Grandma."

After saying that, he no longer hesitated and gently placed the tattered cloth wrapping the flatbread in front of the old woman on a relatively clean ground.

Upon seeing this, the old woman's withered body trembled violently. Holding the child, she immediately knelt down before Qing Hemiao with a thud.

He kept kowtowing, muttering incoherently:

"Thank you, Living Bodhisattva! Thank you, Living Bodhisattva, for saving my life! Bodhisattva, please protect me! Bodhisattva, please protect me..."

Qinghe Miao was helpless.

No matter how you look at it, he seems to be pretending to be a Taoist priest.

Even if they become immortals, they wouldn't be bodhisattvas, since they're not from the same department.

But he naturally wouldn't care.

I cannot accept such a grand gift, nor can I bear to see this scene continue.

Having obtained the information he wanted, Qinghe Miao did not linger any longer.

He dodged the old woman's kneeling worship and took one last look at the two children curled up in the tattered rags.

He turned around and hurried back towards the mountain forest he had come from.

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