A piercing scream tore through his vocal cords. The cold blade of the iron sword had just slashed across his neck, and the sensation was still vivid. His eyes, now weightless and floating in the air, met the cold death, and a sense of disgust and fear settled over his entire body.
How long had he been screaming?
He realized that he was howling alone under the dark night sky.
"Is... is this...?"
He cautiously felt his uvula and the back of his neck. His throat was intact, and the familiar smell of cow dung wafted around him. The smell was so familiar that he blinked and carefully looked around.
The familiar cold, the familiar darkness, the familiar smell of cow dung.
That's right.
This was the stable.
It seemed to be the same place and time when he had come back to life.
"......?!"
He couldn't believe it and opened his mouth wide.
Could this be the third reverse travel?!
He would have to wait until morning to check, but it felt the same. He felt his body with trembling hands, but it was still the body of a child. He knelt on the spot, trembling, and remained silent for a long time.
He was feeling a boiling emotion throughout his body.
The intense joy of being able to start again.
The bitter sadness of having to live again after facing death twice.
And the intense desire for revenge and anger that made his spine stiff.
A voice filled with hatred immediately escaped his lips.
"Village chief... you... broke the promise...!!"
The village chief had commissioned the Black Night Gate assassins!
It was as if he was taking revenge for his own revenge. Even though he had decided to forget everything!
In the end, he had suffered a loss, and since he had actually died, a fierce killing intent was swirling inside him. But he forced himself to calm down and took rapid breaths. His mind was spinning.
"Ha... ha... ha...!!"
Sweat poured down his face as the inner energy from his dantian surged up as if it had been waiting.
'As expected... my inner energy has been passed down!'
Lei Long Yiqigong (Thunder Dragon One Qi Gong)!
It was a secret technique of the Green Dragon Martial Hall and a top-tier inner energy cultivation method. I had refined all my previous Sancai techniques into Lei Long Yiqigong and practiced it diligently for three years.
My current inner energy is unmatched by anyone of the same age. Even late-stage prodigies in their late teens would find it hard to match my solid inner energy, and now that I was younger, it was even more impressive.
Age is very important in martial arts, especially in inner energy cultivation. The younger you are, the easier it is to break through your meridians, and your inner energy grows faster, and your physical abilities improve more easily. If I start practicing Lei Long Yiqigong diligently from now on, it's not impossible to reach the level of a top expert in ten years.
But right now, I was almost dying because of Lei Long Yiqigong. My emotions were fluctuating too intensely, causing the energy of Lei Long Yiqigong to surge around, strongly stimulating my meridians. If this continued, I might fall into demonic possession. I desperately suppressed my emotions and bit my lip hard enough to draw blood.
"Ha... ugh... aaaa...!!"
I was bellowing like a beast, banging my head into the straw pile in the stable, and I punched the stone wall of the stable.
Kwaang!!
A child's tender hand should have been bloodied from hitting a stone wall, but instead, a fist-shaped scar was left on the stone wall. This was proof that my inner energy had deepened to the point where I could break a stone wall with just my bare hands.
After a long silence.
I finally managed to control my inner energy and emotions and took a deep breath.
"Phew... I'm alive."
If I had fallen into demonic possession here, I would have been worse than dead. Living as a cripple and never being able to cultivate inner energy again would have been a fate worse than death.
Once I calmed down, my mind became clear. I wiped the blood from my lips with my arm and thought.
'Right. Calm down first. This is my third life. If I fail again, I won't be able to live a proper life. Let's calmly plan for the future.'
Since my inner energy has been passed down, I can take revenge anytime.
At the same time, I couldn't hide the question that arose in my mind.
'Why? Why did I reverse travel this time? Is there something in common with the previous times?'
I need to think carefully.
What is the principle behind reverse travel?
After pondering the question, I came to a hypothesis.
"Secret Book of the Dark Sky (Tian'an Mishi)."
That's right.
The common point in both reverse travels was that I died while possessing the Secret Book of the Dark Sky. In the first death, it seemed that just touching it was enough to activate its effect. In the second death, I had it in my pocket. There was no other common point I could think of.
If this is the case, the task ahead of me is simple.
I need to go to the cave, obtain the Secret Book of the Dark Sky, and carry it with me. No matter how great a fortune I encounter, this must be done first.
However, there was one thing that bothered me.
I frowned because I couldn't resolve it.
"... Why is the starting point of this reverse travel today? Why?"
I couldn't understand. Even if I could reverse travel using the Secret Book of the Dark Sky, why did I have to come back to the time when I was called 'cow dung' and worked as a servant in the village chief's house? If I had reversed to my 20s or 30s when I was a bodyguard, I would have been much more confident in advancing my plans. The years of hardship and waiting in a child's undeveloped body would be an unbearable ordeal.
I realized that to resolve this question, I needed to decipher the strange script written in the Secret Book of the Dark Sky. The book contains content that I can't read, but if I can decipher it, I will understand the Secret Book of the Dark Sky in detail.
After organizing my thoughts, my mind felt clear. I also realized what I needed to do first.
"Alright. I'll leave the village."
I don't need to flatter the village chief to get money to go to the Green Dragon Martial Hall. Since I already have a top-tier inner energy technique, I can easily endure cold, heat, and hunger, and I have sufficient self-defense skills. What I need to do now is head to the cave as quickly as possible.
Thud
As I was about to leave the stable, grabbing some usable rope and a hammer, someone with a grim expression blocked my way in the darkness.
"Damn it... What are you making noise for in the middle of the night? Cow dung."
"Jinmanzai."
"You... You don't call me Young Master?"
The one shouting was Jinmanzai, the village chief's son. He was truly a human trash, a worthless fool who I didn't even think was worth killing. But in the current situation, he was an obstacle to my escape, so I spoke calmly.
"I'm not in a good mood right now. It's best if you move out of the way."
"What? This brat!"
Jinmanzai kicked at me with his front foot. This was a very effective way to gain the upper hand in fights between boys of the same age, and it revealed that Jinmanzai had experience in brawls. But I smiled coldly and easily deflected his attack.
"Oof..."
As Jinmanzai lost his balance and staggered, I steadied him.
"Ouch."
Jinmanzai struggled to move but couldn't budge an inch because of my grip on his arm. It must have felt like being tied with chains.
I whispered in his ear from behind.
"Stay still, idiot."
"......"
Jinmanzai, overwhelmed by my killing intent and pressure, couldn't even breathe and stood trembling. It seemed that my killing intent was still being emitted along with my inner energy. I left Jinmanzai behind and left the village.
This time, I won't be chased by the village chief in a ridiculous manner. Last time, I almost wiped out the village chief's family and fled with all the secrets, so they likely chose the extreme measure of hiring assassins. But they won't hire martial artists just because 'cow dung' scared Jinmanzai and fled in the middle of the night. Given the village chief's character, he would probably just mock me from inside his house, thinking I would starve to death somewhere.
'Even if they chase me, it's fine. As long as I get the Secret Book of the Dark Sky, I can start over.'
At this point, no matter what happens, I can get the Secret Book of the Dark Sky first. I looked down at the village, now submerged in darkness, with a hateful gaze. I thought I had taken revenge, but my anger still hadn't subsided.