Devouring demons, I attain immortality.

A quiet night.

A faint candlelight shone in the dilapidated City God Temple, like a lighthouse in the darkness, tearing a hole in the thick, lacquered night.

It was late at night, and a cold wind was blowing in. Suddenly, a blizzard arrived, and the ground was covered with thick layers of snow.

The people resting inside the temple were suddenly awakened.

"Phew... I had another nightmare."

Lin An yawned sleepily, just about to stretch, when he suddenly realized something was wrong.

By the dim candlelight, my gaze swept across the space, but it was empty. Only the statue of the City God, with his compassionate expression, stood still in the dilapidated temple.

Looking at this unfamiliar environment, Lin An stood up abruptly, goosebumps rising all over his body.

"Where am I?"

As the information flooded his mind, Lin An felt a sharp pain in his head and quickly grabbed the wall for support.

A moment later, he was stunned.

I woke up from a nap and found myself transported to another world?!

Lin An quickly adjusted his emotions and processed the information in his mind.

This is the Great Qian Dynasty, a world of turbulent intrigue and rampant demons. The court's etiquette and music have collapsed, and officials are incompetent and lazy. It is no exaggeration to describe it as a world where "the rich feast while the poor freeze to death on the streets."

Lin An looked at the hempen clothes he was wearing. The original owner of the body was a scholar who, despite the villagers' objections, resolutely set off from his hometown of Qingshi County to prepare for the imperial examination. Unexpectedly, he encountered a snowstorm only three days after setting off, so he stopped in this dilapidated temple, planning to continue his journey once the snowstorm stopped.

"What a poor, pedantic scholar! Even in this state of affairs, he still dreams of going to the capital to take the imperial examination?" Lin An muttered to himself.

Just then, Lin An suddenly heard the rustling sound of footsteps on snow, and two voices could be faintly heard from outside.

He hurriedly hid in a corner, clutching the bundle to his chest. In this desolate wilderness, he couldn't tell who the other person was.

"Hey, damn it, why is it so cold? Luckily, we brothers are in luck and can go inside and rest for a bit."

"you do not say!"

The two men entered from outside one after the other. The scarred-faced man who entered first immediately spotted Lin An in the corner.

"Big brother, watch out! Someone's there!"

Then came the sound of a sword being drawn.

The two were extremely flustered, but when they saw Lin An's scholarly attire, they put their knives away.

The scarred-faced man spat and cursed, "Damn, he's a pedantic scholar! He scared the hell out of me!"

Lin An looked at the two people's attire; their clothes were strange and extremely ill-fitting, and his heart sank.

This appearance, along with the sword at his waist, suggests he's no ordinary person!

The two men unsheathed their swords, slammed them to the ground with a thud, and plopped down, glaring menacingly at the corner. "Kid," they said, "get us some food you have on you!"

Lin An touched the meager amount of food in the bundle, sighed silently, and had no choice but to obediently toss the bundle over.

"Hey, you're smart to know what's good for you!"

The two men opened their bundles, picked up the dry biscuits, and began to wolf them down. Lin An watched helplessly as the two men devoured the already meager rations.

Scarface wiped his mouth and said calmly, "Second brother, this kid has already seen our faces. He might report us to the authorities for stealing the Xuan Tian Seal after we get out. Maybe we should just kill him!"

"Yes, what you say makes sense."

Another man, as he spoke, touched the scabbard beside him, stood up, and walked towards Lin An in the corner.

Lin An was immediately terrified.

"Brothers, I'm just a poor scholar. I didn't hear anything you said, and I won't go around telling anyone. Please don't kill me!"

Lin An was on the verge of tears. How could he encounter such a thing right after transmigrating? This was an undeserved disaster!

"Kid, you're unlucky to have run into us Yin-Yang Thieves. My blade is fast; it won't hurt you."

Clang!

The blade was drawn, its gleaming edge dazzling Lin An's eyes, and the burly man brought it down with a swift motion.

Lin An's face was contorted in pain, his body curled up in the corner, and he subconsciously raised his hand to cover his head.

boom!

There was no pain as expected. An explosion rang out inside the City God Temple. Lin An hurriedly opened his eyes and then saw a bizarre scene.

A faint white light shield appeared in front of him. As the blade fell, the white light rippled. The next instant, the blade shattered with a bang, as if an invisible force had struck the big man's chest.

The big man was stunned for a moment, and then he was sent flying.

In mid-air, his entire body exploded, and blood splattered onto the old wall.

Lin An, who was seeing such a terrible sight for the first time, turned pale and began to vomit uncontrollably.

"Second brother!"

The scarred-faced man was filled with grief and indignation upon witnessing this sudden turn of events.

He pointed at Lin An and roared, "I never expected you, this pedantic scholar, to be waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump. You want the Xuan Tian Seal? No way!"

He pulled a square seal from his robes, forced out his blood and spat it onto it, causing a flash of blood to appear in the dark, dilapidated temple.

"Mysterious Heaven Seal, suppress this bastard!"

Looking at the square seal that was flashing with blood-red light, Lin An couldn't help but feel a sense of worship. He struggled to hold on, and could only hide in the corner and remain motionless in the face of the scarred man's approach.

The seal rapidly expanded, flew to the top of Lin An's head, and fiercely suppressed him.

However, the white light continued to ripple, and an invisible force spread, recreating the scene exactly as before.

boom!

Fang Yin was forced back by an invisible force, shooting backward like a cannonball toward Scarface. Scarface had no time to dodge and was instantly pierced through the chest, while Fang Yin was pinned to the wall.

Scarface, his face full of resentment, fell straight to the ground.

Everything returned to normal. The dilapidated temple was silent except for Lin An's heavy breathing.

After a long while, Lin An finally dragged his exhausted body out from the corner.

It all felt like a dream.

[Automatic owner protection has ended!]

Host: Lin An

Cultivation level: None

Spiritual Value: 0

Multiverse Mall: Open

[Two streams of blood energy detected that can be absorbed!]

[Time Wood Qi and Blood: 200 Spirit Values!]

[Timely Fire Qi and Blood: 200 Spirit Points!]

The sudden voice and panel in his mind startled Lin An, who was then filled with excitement.

He stared at the corpses inside the dilapidated temple and murmured, "I was just a stranger passing by. I never expected you would be so cruel. Now you're just reaping what you sowed."

"Devour!"

[Successfully absorbed! Cultivation level has broken through! 400 Spirit Points gained!]

Host: Lin An

Cultivation level: Late stage of Body Refinement

Spiritual Value: 400

Multiverse Mall: Open

My body suddenly felt light, and with every movement of my hands and feet, I could feel a substance slowly entering my body and cleansing my meridians, which felt extremely comfortable.

Lin An understood; this was called spiritual energy.

Only cultivators can truly sense the existence of spiritual energy in this world.

Arriving at the old wall, Lin An pried out the square seal embedded in it. After examining it, he found it to be only the size of a palm. The seal, which should have four corners, was missing two corners. Its body was made of some unknown material, resembling both jade and iron, and felt slightly warm to the touch.

The bottom of the seal is engraved with two large characters: Xuan Tian.

A suggestion quickly came to mind.

[Mysterious Heaven Seal: Fifth-tier Battle Spirit Weapon (Damaged), the treasure of the Mysterious Heaven Battle Palace, condensing the fortune of the Mysterious Heaven Battle Palace. When used in battle, it circulates spiritual energy, increasing combat power by 30%!]

From the original owner's memories, it was learned that this Xuantian Battle Palace was the first battle palace in Qingshi County.