Chapter 1: Loading Into The Game World
In the afternoon of June, the wind swept in with the breath of midsummer, and the air simmered with an increasingly intense heat.
Outside a stretch of continuous ancient architectural complex, a pavilion bearing a Daoist sect Eight Trigrams emblem stood beneath three towering old elm trees.
Wearing a simple T-shirt and jeans, Chen Han slumped in the pavilion with a weary expression.
His mood was complicated.
A month earlier, he had thought heaven was still treating him fairly well. Although his parents had long passed away, he had been given a handsome appearance, and his girlfriend was a national style goddess with more than three million fans, admired by everyone.
But a month ago, after coughing up blood once, he was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer.
He could not understand how, at the age of twenty-four, in the prime of his youth, his life had suddenly become so short, especially when there had been no signs beforehand.
Helplessly, Chen Han looked at the continuous Chen Clan ancient architectural complex of the Daoist sect heritage family before him.
The Chen Clan was also one of the few remaining Daoist sect heritage families that still existed as a clan in modern times.
As the sole heir and direct descendant of the Chen Clan, after his parents passed away, he naturally became the patriarch and the primary owner of this entire ancient building complex.
If this were a big city, having ownership of such an ancient architectural complex at the age of twenty-four would mean he could lie down and count money. Unfortunately, the Chen Clan was in a village under a small county like Linhe County, which was rather awkward.
Even though his parents had integrated and leased clan resources under the banner of tourism and applied to the county for funds to develop tourism, the number of visitors they attracted was limited. As a result, the clan members did not enjoy much bonus and had all left home to work elsewhere.
In fact, his initial approach to his girlfriend, this national style goddess, had not been entirely pure in motive. He wanted to use her influence as a Douyin creator with more than three million fans to promote the Chen Clan ancient architectural complex, since that was the most mainstream method of scenic spot promotion on Douyin.
National style goddess plus ancient buildings, was that not the perfect match?
Yet the bad news had suddenly descended.
With the little time left in his lifespan, he could only flee back here in embarrassment.
He truly had many regrets.
After all, he had only just successfully gone all the way with such a beautiful girlfriend, and now he did not even know how she was doing.
He had also not yet fulfilled his parents’ dying wish: to promote the Chen Clan ancient architectural complex.
Back then, his parents had died in a debris flow while going to the county to apply for investment to develop the Chen Clan ancient architectural complex tourism project.
Now that things had turned out like this, he really felt sorry for the two elders.
Sighing, he could only pin his final hope on an image in his mind:
【《Shu Shan Swordsman》 game world loading 99%……】
He did not understand why, when he was just watching a game advertisement and happened to get an electric shock, a trace of warm current had rushed into his body, and then this loading screen had appeared in his mind.
After repeated checks, he confirmed that this was not an illusion.
It should be what people on the internet often called a cheat ability appearing.
So, faced with an incurable disease that modern medicine had no method to treat, he placed his hopes on this miraculous and unbelievable phenomenon.
Finally, an ethereal voice sounded in his mind:
【《Shu Shan Swordsman》 game world loaded successfully. Congratulations on successfully transmigrating into the 《Shu Shan Swordsman》 game world. Your fantasy journey officially begins!】
“???” Chen Han looked blankly around the pavilion.
He had successfully transmigrated? To where?
Before his eyes was still the familiar Chen Clan ancient architectural complex, the distant village was still familiar, and the country road was still there.
At this moment, the ethereal voice sounded again in his mind:
【Urgent report from the Shu Shan Alliance: the Blood Demon has broken through the divine artifact seal. The various sects have united to enter the extreme Demon Realm to eliminate the Blood Demon. Although they failed to seal the Blood Demon again, they gravely injured it, forcing it to flee and temporarily fall silent!】
【To prevent the Blood Demon from recovering and making a comeback, and to protect all regions from being disturbed by the demonic creatures under the Blood Demon’s command, the Shu Shan Alliance sects, led by the Emei Sect, will dispatch disciples to various places to establish affiliated sects. Therefore, you have chosen to return to the family that raised you!】
With this ethereal narration, Chen Han discovered a very simple game interface had appeared in his mind.
It only had: character panel, task center, warehouse.
And nothing else, not even a basic game screen.
This was even more off.
After studying it for a while, he found that with a single thought, the character panel interface opened.
Name: Chen Han
Age: 24
Lifespan: 29 days 8 hours 50 minutes 23 seconds.
Constitution: none
Realm: none
Passive skills: none
Active skills: none
A very simple introduction. Aside from a lifespan of less than one month, there was nothing at all.
This was his information.
Director Liu of the city-affiliated hospital really was capable, just as he had said: only one month left, do whatever you want to do, try not to leave regrets.
Shocked by this panel, Chen Han immediately opened the task center, where a newbie task appeared:
【You have returned to the family and found that the family is threatened by a dog demon. Please expel the dog demon that has intruded into the family as soon as possible and obtain the reward: sect residence construction tablet.
Task requirement: expel the dog demon from the family’s territory!】
“???” Chen Han stared blankly at this task.
Dog demon?
Perplexed, confused. What the hell?
In a modern civilized society, where would such a thing come from?
No, earlier the game system had prompted that he had successfully transmigrated into the 《Shu Shan Swordsman》 game world.
Damn it, he clearly had not transmigrated successfully.
“Senior brother, what are you doing here?” A clear and pleasant voice rang out.
He saw a girl with a fine figure and delicate, beautiful features, wearing a set of hanfu, glaring at him angrily: “Can you be a bit more diligent with the tourism promotion of the Chen Clan ancient architectural complex? That was master and mistress’s dying wish. Look at what you’ve done in the month since you came back. Yesterday I promoted us on Douyin and attracted a group of county tourists. They will arrive soon, so take care to host them properly.”
Seeing his junior sister’s angry look, Chen Han smiled. The promotion of the Chen Clan ancient architectural complex really was thanks to her. If she had not worked hard on Douyin, performing sword dance and practicing Tai Chi in her videos to attract some tourists, it would have been very difficult to maintain.
“Xiao Yu, thank you for your hard work.” Chen Han could not help sincerely thanking her. Looking at the hanfu she wore, he also praised, “Your hanfu today looks very beautiful.”
At this compliment, the anger on Xiao Yu’s pretty face vanished instantly, and she beamed like a flower. “Senior brother, you also think it’s pretty? The ‘Xiao Yu Za’ account already has 600,000 fans. I promised the fans I would wear this hanfu set to perform a sword dance.”
“Xiao Yu is a big internet celebrity now.” Chen Han smiled and rubbed her head. In his heart, he thought again of his girlfriend, the national style goddess with more than three million fans. If not for his late-stage lung cancer, he might already have found a chance to bring her to the Chen Clan.
She and Xiao Yu would probably get along well.
“Senior brother, don’t make fun of me.” Xiao Yu spoke with some shyness, but there was a hint of pride visible on her pretty face.
Anyway, being praised by her senior brother made her very happy.
Having successfully appeased his junior sister, Chen Han tried asking, “Xiao Yu, I’m playing a game. The newbie task is to drive off a dog demon that has intruded into the family, but right now I have no idea where the dog demon is. Maybe it doesn’t exist at all. What should I do?”
Xiao Yu touched his forehead. “Senior brother, are you dumb? Ask nearby NPCs. Don’t games have NPCs?”
Chen Han gave his beautiful junior sister a complicated look.
He had asked, but it was no help.
As he was thinking, the ethereal voice of the game sounded again:
【An unknown error has occurred in the game. Data lost…… System has detected a large number of data packet fragments. Collecting data packet fragments for update in progress……】
【New data packet (1) loaded successfully. The dog demon has appeared in the Chen Clan ancient architectural complex. Please expel it as soon as possible!
Hint for dog demon characteristics: covered in yellow fur, and missing a section of its tail after fighting with other demonic beasts.】
In the next moment, something that shocked Chen Han happened. A blue halo suddenly appeared, encircling the whole Chen Clan ancient architectural complex.
Seeing that his junior sister’s expression did not change, it was obvious she could not see this blue halo.
Moreover, a game map guide actually appeared in his mind.
Was that not the Chen Clan ancient architectural complex?
Now two dots had appeared on it, one white and one red.
The white dot’s position was clearly him.
The red dot should be the dog demon.
“Holy crap!” Chen Han suddenly had a bad feeling. Could it be that since he had not transmigrated successfully, the game system had directly spawned a dog demon into reality?
That would be disastrous.
With his sickly body, how was he supposed to drive away a dog demon? Even the Chen Clan members might be harmed.
Not daring to hesitate, he hurried toward the position of the red dot.
That spot was the outer courtyard of the main hall of the Chen Clan. As a Daoist sect heritage family, the main hall enshrined the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation, also known as Emperor Zhenwu.
Daoist sect heritage families usually selected a main deity to receive offerings and followed the scriptures, moral cultivation, and codes of conduct promoted by that deity.
Besides subjugating demons, the Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation was also a true god who guarded the nation and protected all beings. In the past, the Chen Clan had followed this principle and sheltered the ten miles and eight villages.
The Chen Clan ancient architectural complex had also been funded by donations from the people of the ten miles and eight villages in those days.
But times had changed, and now the younger generation in this area did not even know about the Chen Clan ancient architectural complex here.
As for the family’s martial arts, even he, the patriarch, had only learned the superficial forms. He had performed them at a school gala, only to be teased a few times as “dancing art” and asked, “What if the opponent doesn’t cooperate with your moves?”
Panting heavily, Chen Han reached the outer courtyard of the main hall of the Chen Clan. Even such a short distance was a huge drain on him now.
But when he saw the outer courtyard as quiet as usual, he was once again confused.
Where was the dog demon?
He could see that the position of the red dot and the white dot almost overlapped. The dog demon was right here.
“Woof woof!”
A bark caught his attention. He saw a little earth dog lifting one leg to pee against the corner of the wall in front of him.
Was that not a stray dog from the village that often wandered around here?
【The dog demon has reached you and is recklessly releasing thick demonic energy. Please expel the dog demon as soon as possible!】
“???” Chen Han looked at the peeing little earth dog, utterly baffled again.
This was the dog demon?
Peeing equaled releasing thick demonic energy?
He deliberately checked the little earth dog’s tail and found that a small section was indeed missing.
This……
