My cultivation method shines upon all heavens.

In the early morning, a light drizzle enveloped the entire Yinhu County.

Deep in Qingshui Lane, in a dilapidated courtyard.

"Squeak—"

The blackened wooden door of the main house was pushed open.

Lu Ming stepped out, turned around and closed the door, then called out loudly towards the kitchen on the left:

"Mother, I'm going to the training ground today to take the martial arts exam."

He was wearing a linen shirt and carrying a gray coarse cloth bundle on his back. He had a handsome face and a slender but upright figure.

The stove fire was burning brightly in the kitchen, its orange-red light reflecting off the window, where smoke mingled with the rain and mist.

"Ming'er, wait a minute!"

A figure rushed out of the kitchen.

Shen Ru was only in her early thirties, dressed in a plain dress, but a few strands of silver hair were already tucked into her temples.

With flour still on her hands, she rushed to Lu Ming before she could finish speaking and shoved two piping hot pancakes into his arms.

The heat scorched my chest through the coarse cloth.

"Take this flatbread with you for lunch."

She looked up at her son, her eyes filled with barely concealed worry.

"The world outside is very chaotic. When you encounter problems, remember to back down and don't be stubborn or act impulsively."

She paused slightly, lowering her voice even further:

"While I was doing laundry yesterday, I heard that another family in Blackwater Lane had been wiped out by migrants who rushed in."

Lu Ming's eyebrows twitched slightly: "Are there many refugees lately?"

"It's more than just a lot!"

Shen Ru sighed, her eyes filled with an overwhelming worry:

"The north is suffering from a severe drought, while the south is experiencing severe flooding, and the demons outside the city are becoming increasingly rampant. Now, outside the east gate, there are countless heads stretching as far as the eye can see."

"Once you leave this door, be extremely cautious and do not act impulsively."

Lu Ming tucked the flatbread into his pocket, grinned, and revealed a set of white teeth:

"Mother, don't worry, I know."

He waved his hand, turned around, and pushed open the courtyard gate.

Raindrops hit my face, and a chill crept in through my collar.

However, just as he stepped out of the door, he caught a glimpse of a figure flashing past the alleyway on his right before disappearing behind the wall.

He didn't stop walking, but the smile on his face slowly faded.

"Back down? There's no way out."

He withdrew his gaze and turned into the bluestone alley on the left.

The stone slabs gleamed from the rain, and murky puddles filled the gaps. He stepped over them and strode toward the north of the city.

He was originally just an ordinary person on Earth.

With one blink of an eye, he found himself in a chaotic world of martial arts overrun by demons.

The wilderness is vast, and demons roam freely.

The imperial court and martial arts sects each drew their own lines, barely managing to maintain a semblance of life thanks to individual martial arts experts.

His father was a clerk in the county government. When he went to the countryside to check the land registers of those who had fled, he was dragged into the forest by a demon that sprang out of the wilderness, and his body was never found.

Now, the widow and her orphan are left with only a meager amount of money, surrounded by wolves.

"The Heavenly Heart Scroll... what exactly is the [Heart Imprint]?"

As he walked, his eyelids drooped slightly, and his gaze fell to the bottom of his eyes.

There, a closed scroll is floating up and down, its ancient patterns appearing and disappearing.

This was something that accompanied him through his transmigration. When he touched it with his mind, it only gave him the information that he needed to refine the so-called Heart Seal in order to unlock it.

But what exactly is the Heart Seal?

He guessed, based on the name, that it was likely something that left a mental imprint.

To this end, he borrowed all the handwritten copies treasured by his father's old friends, flipped through yellowed ancient books, and touched cold, lifeless antiques...

Unfortunately, nothing was found.

"Perhaps, only by truly stepping into the path of martial arts will there be a chance to awaken it."

A slight thought stirred within him.

This martial arts examination was originally a forced choice, but now, in retrospect, it may not have been entirely a disaster.

In this chaotic world, martial arts achievements are the ladder to change one's fate; once you climb up, the sky seems higher.

However, when he thought of those who had forced him down this path, his face suddenly darkened.

While he was thinking, he had already stepped through a puddle, avoided the swill and rotten vegetable leaves piled up on the roadside, and turned through several streets and alleys.

Along the way, men's curses, women's wails, and children's heart-wrenching cries poured out from the low houses on both sides.

He quickened his pace without making a sound.

The North Gate is visible in the distance.

Qingshui Lane is located in the southern part of the city, but the martial arts examination venue was set up outside the north gate.

Just then, the road ahead suddenly became noisy, and the crowd surged to both sides like a tide, with exclamations rising and falling:

"The Chief Priest! The Chief Priest of the Way of Peace has arrived!"

Lu Ming turned sideways and leaned against the roadside, looking up.

At the city gate, a white-haired Taoist priest dressed in an apricot-yellow robe sat upright on a bamboo chair, being carried into the city by seven or eight believers.

The bamboo chair swayed gently, the Taoist priest closed his eyes and lowered his eyebrows, holding a whisk in his left hand and a single-section wooden staff in his right, chanting incantations.

"By following the Way of Peace, one can attain a peaceful life, perform peaceful deeds, and enjoy peaceful years..."

"Heaven's way is impartial, always favoring the virtuous, bringing peace and tranquility, and protecting us from calamities..."

"Reciting the Taiping True Scripture eliminates sins from past lives; worshipping the Yellow Heaven Great Law brings blessings in this life..."

Two young Taoist boys, one on the left and one on the right, kept scattering yellow talismans drawn with cinnabar.

The talisman paper, soaked by the rain, drifted crookedly to the ground, and the crowd immediately bent down to grab it, not caring that mud and water splashed all over their faces.

Soon, more and more people spontaneously followed behind the bamboo chairs, chanting aloud as they did so.

The sound waves piled up one after another, from a few scattered words into a buzzing torrent.

By the time the chanting passed in front of Lu Ming, it had grown to the force of a mountain roaring and a tsunami crashing down.

"Hey, the Taiping Dao is a bit eerie, it's best not to get involved with them."

A hoarse voice sounded from beside me.

Lu Ming turned his head and saw an old man smoking a pipe standing next to him.

The embers in the pipe flickered in the rain, and the white smoke was scattered by the rain, drifting away in wisps.

The old man was wearing a white short jacket, his shoulders and back were slightly hunched, and his face was deeply lined with wrinkles.

"Fifth Uncle, I knew you would come."

Lu Ming greeted him with a smile, "You've taken the martial arts exam for over twenty years, so you definitely won't be absent this time either."

Fan Wu rolled his eyes at him, puffed out his cheeks, and exhaled a puff of smoke.

The two walked out side by side, their footsteps making a dull thud on the wet stone slabs.

Fan Wu, with a pipe dangling from his lips, chatted idly:

"Alas, three days ago, two martial artists from the yamen went out on patrol and were swallowed by a flying barbarian. That thing jumped down from a tree, its head flew three feet away, and with a snap of its teeth, the men were gone... It's getting more and more dangerous outside the city."

"Isn't it the same in the city?"

Lu Ming gave a bitter smile. "Yesterday, the canal wharf had just finished paying wages when the bodies of several canal workers were discovered and dumped in a dark alley. All their money is gone. How will those families survive from now on?"

Fan Wu sighed and tapped his pipe against his lips:

"Our Liu Qingtian has recently come up with some new schemes, such as the 'non-martial arts tax' and the 'single and poor tax'... These scholars really know how to play games."

As he spoke, he suddenly stopped, turned to the side, and fixed his gaze heavily on Lu Ming's face:

"Young man, listen to your fifth uncle's advice. Give up the military examination and become a civil official like your father, wouldn't that be better?"

"There are only ten spots for martial arts candidates each year, and those spots have long been snapped up by a few powerful families in the county. What good can Wang An possibly do by forcing you to participate in the martial arts examination?"

He worked as a low-level official in the yamen for decades, without any official position or status, but with his smiling face that made him a familiar face to everyone.

In addition, his cultivation level was mediocre, so no one bothered to take him seriously. They just let him participate in the martial arts examination every year as a way of thinking, and they turned a blind eye to it.

But Lu Ming is different.

This child has studied literature and martial arts since childhood, and has a solid foundation. He is a real threat to those powerful families' sons.

He had known Lu Ming's father for many years and couldn't bear to watch his old friend's son go to his death.

Lu Ming paused, raindrops sliding down his forehead and dripping to the ground.

He tugged at the corners of his mouth, a bitter smile appearing on his lips:

"Fifth Uncle, this guarantee document was forced on me by Wang Bantou, who took my father's pension and added fifty taels of silver."

Do you think he'll let me go?

The words were spoken softly, yet they struck Fan Wu's heart like a heavy hammer.

Wang An, the head of the county yamen, came from the powerful Wang family in the county and was a notorious ruthless official.

He was greedy and tyrannical, devouring wealth and harming the people.

Any small family he sets his sights on will be exploited to the bone, and then various accidents will be orchestrated to ensure their extinction.

Finally, they forced the woman into prostitution, swallowing up her entire fortune without leaving a trace.

That military examination document was the rope handed over by Wang An, and also the signal that this cat-and-mouse game had begun.

From beginning to end, Lu Ming was just a piece of meat on his chopping board, at his mercy.

Right now, the only thing Lu Ming can do is to participate in this martial arts competition as the other party wishes, and carve out a way to survive on the edge of a knife.