Eternal Life Begins with Learning

As he looked again at the boy darting across the sprawling rooftops, a strange light glinted in Chu Mu’s eyes.

The old man was dead. Of the whole operation to eliminate the Rebels, only three of his disciples had survived.

And this boy, if he remembered correctly, was one of those disciples.

As for why the boy hadn’t used such skills during the previous mountain encirclement, that was no longer Chu Mu’s concern.

’All my thoughts now... are on that boy.’

’True Martial Arts are something to yearn for. In that case... wouldn’t Immortal Gods... drive a man to madness?’

Li Jinghong had clearly gone mad. The bloody wounds covering his body didn’t seem to affect him in the slightest.

His usual haughty demeanor was gone, replaced by a savage expression. His eyes, filled with nothing but raw greed, were locked onto the fleeing boy.

One pursued, one fled!

In the blink of an eye, they were about to vanish into the night.

Driven by a strange sense of anticipation, Chu Mu cast aside his hesitation. His previous dawdling posture vanished completely.

Chase!

Compared to the Inspectors who had successfully cultivated their Qi Blood and possessed near-superhuman physiques, Chu Mu was clearly not yet capable of traversing the rooftops as if they were flat ground.

Like many of the other Inspectors, he sprinted along the streets and alleys, heading in the direction the boy had fled.

Nanshan Town was not large to begin with. After just a few minutes of this chase, they had already left its borders and entered the mountain forests that surrounded it.

Seeing them enter the dense woods, Chu Mu’s adrenaline-fueled state of mind began to cool.

He would never forget the ordeal he had suffered in these very forests that one night.

He slowed his pace slightly. As the Inspectors beside him surged into the dense woods one after another, Chu Mu followed, keeping a steady but unhurried distance.

The forest was dark and gloomy, but the shouts that rang out from time to time guided the pursuing Inspectors.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Chu Mu had taken no more than a dozen steps into the woods and was still cautiously surveying his surroundings when a sudden roar erupted from the forest ahead.

Chu Mu looked instinctively and saw flames surging toward the sky. A shockwave rolled out, and a cloud of dust and smoke billowed toward him.

The thick smell of gunpowder immediately flooded his nostrils.

’Gunpowder? An explosion?’

Chu Mu was stunned. He subconsciously glanced around. If not for the presence of the other Inspectors and the fact that the forest was unchanged, he might have thought he had transmigrated again!

’Since I haven’t transmigrated again... then this gunpowder explosion?’

Chu Mu stared blankly at the raging flames ahead. The acrid smell of gunpowder from the rolling shockwave couldn’t have been stronger.

To a modern person, the smell of gunpowder was of course not unfamiliar.

After all, whether it was New Year’s firecrackers or the celebrations at weddings and funerals, fireworks were always a part of it.

Chu Mu was certain he hadn’t been mistaken. The scent of gunpowder in his nose was potent.

The blaze before him was clearly a gunpowder explosion!

Chu Mu felt like his brain was short-circuiting.

First, the appearance of a Resentful Soul had nearly shattered his worldview. Now, there was a gunpowder explosion...

One after another, things that exceeded the current era were emerging, and they seemed to be two diametrically opposed concepts.

The appearance of the Resentful Soul undoubtedly proved the existence of Extraordinary beings like gods and ghosts, beyond his own understanding. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

But what about this gunpowder explosion?

’Could this also be an industrial age?’

Suddenly, Chu Mu remembered the paper money, whose craftsmanship also didn’t fit this era...

From that perspective, the appearance of gunpowder didn’t seem so impossible.

But if gunpowder of such power existed, why wasn’t it used for mining?

Countless questions flooded his mind, but clearly, the time and place did not allow for deep thought. Amidst the rolling shockwave and soaring flames, the fates of Li Jinghong and the many skilled Inspectors who had been at the front were now unknown.

Not to mention the potential dangers that could follow such an ambush.

Chu Mu drew his saber and scanned his surroundings warily. ’A blade can’t kill a ghost, but it can still kill a man!’

But after a period of vigilance, there was no other movement in the area, aside from the dissipating firelight and smoke, and the occasional splat of shredded flesh and blood hitting the ground.

When the raging fire subsided, the flickering light revealed several massive craters in the ground, each about ten feet wide.

Unexpectedly, Li Jinghong had not died in such an explosion.

His already tattered clothes had been reduced to ash, his shoulder-length hair was now a charred mess, and his entire body was a bloody pulp. He was a truly miserable sight.

"Thousand Households!"

"Sir!"

At a time like this, there was no shortage of people eager to show their loyalty. Inspectors rushed forward; some helped him up, while others stood guard with their sabers drawn, watching the surroundings.

"Saltpeter... gunpowder..."

Li Jinghong shook off the supporting Inspectors. Sniffing the thick smell of gunpowder, he peered into the depths of the dark forest, the light in his eyes growing brighter.

"Relay my orders! Command the County Patrol Inspection Camp to deploy to Nanshan Town!"

"Order the Third and Sixth Squads to change posts and guard the Inspection Office dungeons. Wu Shuo, you’re in charge. You must guard that corpse well!"

Li Jinghong showed none of the anger one would expect after being ambushed. Instead, he issued his commands methodically.

Finally, Li Jinghong looked again at the dark forest before him. After a moment of contemplation, he added, "Pass this down: from this day forward, anyone who discovers the whereabouts of the Rebels and reports it for confirmation will be rewarded. Those with an official post will be promoted one rank and receive 3,000 silver. Those without an official post will have their entire family exempted from Forced Labor for life and receive 3,000 silver!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the once-noisy forest fell instantly silent.

Faced with a reward so generous it was almost unbelievable, all the Inspectors were somewhat stunned.

’Just for discovering their whereabouts?’

’A promotion of one rank and a reward of 3,000 silver?’

Chu Mu took a deep look at Li Jinghong. Combining the Thousand Households’ behavior just now in the Fengyue Tower with the matter of exhuming the corpse, one fact became undeniably clear.

This Thousand Households was no ordinary person. He had definitely had some contact with and understanding of that mysterious, unknown world.

Otherwise, a man of his station would not have behaved in so many abnormal ways.

’Nanshan Li Family...’

Chu Mu repeated the name to himself. Earlier, in the Wind Snow Tower, when they first faced the Resentful Soul, Li Jinghong’s reaction upon hearing the name "Nanshan Li Family" had been the strangest part.

But it was very clear that Li Jinghong had initially relied on the Nanshan Li Family as a deterrent. Later, he must have realized how weak the so-called Resentful Soul was, which led him to conclude that its controller was not the powerful senior he had imagined...

’And then...’

’After all, when a child carries gold through a bustling city, how many people can resist having malicious thoughts?’

The truth of the matter was just that...

’Compared to the potential gains, a reward like this seems truly insignificant!’

’But this Nanshan Li Family...’

Chu Mu remembered that the travelogue and the geographical records he had once read both mentioned the existence of Nanshan.

Nanshan Town and the Nanshan Iron Ore, though named after Nanshan, did not represent Nanshan as a whole. They were merely insignificant parts of it.

Strictly speaking, the forest he was in now, and even the surrounding mountain range that stretched for thousands of miles, were all part of Nanshan.

’And the Li Family...’

Chu Mu frowned. ’It seems... the County Magistrate’s surname is also Li?’

...