Volume 1: Reincarnation Cycle First...

  Under the bright moonlight, overlooking the vast and dense forest, one can also feel a sense of tranquility that is boundless and profound. Especially with the mist that shrouds the forest like a layer of gauze, it adds to the mystery of this swampy forest where life and death coexist.

  Of course, this kind of mysterious feeling should only exist among ordinary people or martial artists. For those who coexist with heaven and earth, can reverse the fate of heaven and change their destiny, the dense forest of Guo Zhan should be nothing more than a backyard, strolling leisurely?

  In the autumn and winter, the marshy forest is often shrouded in thick fog. Although it's relatively safer than summer days, the mist contains a lower concentration of toxic gases, making it less deadly. However, if one isn't fully prepared, it's best not to leave the house covered with sedge grass at night, or else they might inadvertently get poisoned and die while navigating through the dense fog in the darkness.

  This was a point that the Ze Nu people, who had lived in the dense forest of Guo Yan for many years, would never forget. After all, no one would joke about their own life. However, in a village of over 1,000 Ze Nu people in the northwest part of the Guo Yan forest, at such a late and quiet hour, there was a figure as silent as a wild cat that had sneaked to the north of a large wooden house in the center of the village.

  Through the dense fog, one can vaguely make out that this is a man in his thirties with regular and robust facial features. Although it's deep autumn, he only wears a single garment with numerous patches on his upper body, and both sleeves are torn to the elbow. However, his thick skin seems to be resistant to the cold. At this moment, there is mugwort inserted into his nostrils, and he is also holding a mugwort stem in his mouth. His eyes, though slightly tired, shine brightly with a hint of vigilance, yet unintentionally reveal a trace of tension.

  "At this time, the big ancient one guarding the food warehouse should be asleep, right!" The nocturnal man whispered in a voice that no one could hear, his body lightly leaning against the wooden house on one side of the Jukaku horn, his eyes darting around.

  Next to the wooden gate locked with rusty iron chains, a man who was even more robust than the night-walking man was snoring loudly. The snore rose and fell with his body's undulations, apparently having entered deep sleep.

  The man who was traveling at night had a few points of joy flashing in the corner of his eye, and his movements were quite skilled. He nimbly flipped over the sharp antlers and then crept to the side of the wooden house's large door, where he quietly took down the iron chain on the door.

  The man walking at night was extremely quiet in his movements, highly concentrated in spirit, afraid of making even the slightest sound, to the point where he didn't even notice the snoring sounds gradually becoming more peaceful beside him.

  It wasn't long before the iron chain that had been wrapped around it a few times was removed, and the nocturnal man quietly opened the door and slipped in with his waist bent. Just then, the snoring gatekeeper suddenly opened his eyes, stood up, stared at the wooden door that had just been opened a crack, and a faint cold smile appeared on his face, with a hint of anger in his smile.

  That night, a man carrying a large bundle of black objects came out when the surrounding firelight was transparent, and the crowd's excitement made him shocked and his body trembled, dropping the thing he was holding, which turned out to be nearly 100 kilograms of dried meat.

  With a thud, the night-traveling man knelt down with a pale face and knocked his head towards the middle of the group of people surrounding the wooden house: "An Ze Da Hu, spare my life!"

  "Spare my life?" A man wearing a wolf skin cloak, with a silver nose ring on his nose, stared at the night-traveling man, his eyes flashing with a hint of gloom: "Da Kang, what kind of place is this food warehouse? You can't not know, right?"

  The night-traveling man who called out to Da Kang hastily replied, "Reporting back to An Ze's household head, Da Kang knows that the food warehouse is a place for storing food and medicine, it's for our several thousand people in Guzhai Xibei Ze's household... Inside, apart from the daily necessities of everyone, there are also fixed quotas of goods that need to be handed over to the main house..."

  "You knew that there were goods to be handed over to the host family, yet you dared to steal. Don't you have any fear of losing your head?" An Ze Yi looked at the people around him with a serious expression: "The host family has rules, those who steal food from the warehouse will be killed."

  "It's time to kill!" Da Gu, who was in charge of guarding the food warehouse, touched his buttocks unnaturally: "An Ze, the head of the household, the hundred catties of black buckwheat that went missing last month must have been stolen by this guy Da Kang too. He even got me punished with twenty big sticks!"

  Everyone responded in unison, and the great thief Da Kang was suddenly pointed at by thousands of people. Hearing the shouting and killing voices around his ears, Da Kang sat on the ground, with no remorse in his mind, but only reluctance to leave his family's lonely children and widowed mother.

  He raised his hand, and the noisy voices of the crowd suddenly disappeared, revealing that An Ze's prestige was extremely high. With a satisfied glance at the crowd, An Ze's expression suddenly became sinister under the light of the fire: "Da Kang, did you hear that? Killing you is everyone's will, who told you to steal things? Da Gu, Da Feng, take him away!"

  Dàgǔ Dàfēng is Anzé's right-hand man. Dàgǔ is a rough and impulsive person, but Dàfēng has some cleverness to him. Just as Dàgǔ was about to charge forward with his sleeves rolled up, Dàfēng suddenly spoke up from beside Anzé's right hand, raising an eyebrow: "Head of the household, I wonder if you could spare Dàkāng's life?"

  "What do you mean, Big Wind? Are you asking me to go against the rules of the main house?" An Ze looked at Da Feng with a somewhat sinister gaze.

  At the moment when Da Kang's eyes flashed with a hint of hope, Da Gu was also stiffly standing by: "What's wrong with you, Big Wind? Did a donkey kick your brain? You actually want to plead for Da Kang, but if the head of the household goes against the rules of the main house, he will be stripped of his position as the head of the household and even lose the right to practice martial arts. Can you bear this crime?"

  The strong wind shook its head disapprovingly and looked straight at An Ze: "Master, the strong wind has always been your loyal subordinate, of course, it will not do anything that is detrimental to Master, please believe me!"

  "Then give me a good reason to spare his life, and if it's within the rules, I might just let him off!" An Ze seemed to trust Da Feng a lot, and after he said that, he took a step back.

  "It's almost winter hunting season, and the young men in our northwest household are already not very well-off. If we kill Da Kang, it will be even harder to gather the originally tight production quota...". Dafeng replied: "If we can't complete the production quota set by the main house, this punishment is extremely severe."

  An Ze fell into deep thought, as the head of a large household, he enjoyed the greatest power in a Ze Nu village household and could cultivate his inner strength, but at the same time, he also had to bear the corresponding responsibilities. If he couldn't complete them, all his powers would become an illusion, and the master's family would never want someone useless as the head of the household.

  This situation made Da Kang's heart even more hopeful, his eyes looked at Da Feng with gratitude, thinking that he had misunderstood him all along, thinking he was a sinister person, but didn't expect that at this critical moment, only he spoke up for him.

  "Many people have great power, and Da Kang is also a good hand. Just past the autumn hunt, if it wasn't for him, that spotted python would have run away!" Big Wind continued: "Of course, Da Kang's serious crime of theft cannot be exempted just because of this. I remember the master has made such a rule: If a slave makes a certain contribution to the village household, he can offset his crimes."

  An Ze nodded: "Dafeng, what can this Da Kang contribute?"

  The strong wind looked at Da Kang, and his expression suddenly became lustful: "Da Kang's wife Xiao Hui is just about to give birth, if he can send Xiao Hui to the village as a midwife, it would also be considered a contribution to the village's prosperity..."

  As soon as the words came out, everyone was discussing it. The faces of those who had previously spoken against sparing Ruo Da Kang's life were all delighted. It turns out that this "birth mother" is equivalent to a public property of the village household, only for breeding descendants. Before pregnancy, every adult male can follow her, and Xiao Hui has been coveted for a long time.

  "Damn you, Big Wind!" Hai was staring at Big Wind with a mixture of shock and gratitude, his whole body trembling as he spoke, spitting out words: "To think that you'd come up with such a despicable idea..."

  "Kindness is being treated as a donkey's liver and lungs!" Da Feng looked at Da Kang with disgust and sneered, "Da Kang, it's just you outsiders who are so arrogant. What does your previous identity matter? Now you're all Ze Nu people. What dignity and character can you still talk about? Survival is the only truth. If you die, won't Xiaohui from your family still have to take this path?"

  " Bah..." Da Kang suddenly stood up: "I, Lu Kang, would do anything for my son, even if it means being a thief, but my wife, even in death, would never be a prostitute..."

  At the height of the raging wind, An Ze's face floated with a few hints of a sly smile: "Lu Kang? What a noble surname! It seems that you were indeed someone with some status before, but unfortunately, now you are just a slave of Ze, and in this northwest household, you have to listen to me. If you don't follow what I say, I won't have any reason to spare your life!"

  "As a man, I stand tall and proud, but to beg for life using my wife's chastity? I, Lu Kang, will absolutely not do it!" Lu Kang looked straight at An Ze: "You want to kill me? Then kill me!"

  He licked his lips, and in fact, An Ze was also very tempted by Xiao Hui's plump body. Da Feng's proposal was indeed to his liking, but Lu Kang's current demeanor made it impossible for An Ze to back down. He waved his hand and said, "Take him down, and execute him at the East Gate!"

  Dagu and Dafeng exchanged a glance, both spitting out a mouthful of thick phlegm as they walked towards Lu Kang. Just then, a still somewhat childish but full-bodied roar suddenly exploded: "Halt!"