Chapter One: The Seven Mystical Chapters of the Lord's Secret Scripture

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The last rays of sunlight upon the earth illuminated a village resembling the depths of hell.

The once golden wheat fields now blazed with fire; homes, once called sanctuaries, had collapsed into ruins. The simple villagers were slaughtered like livestock, while the butchers wielding their blades cackled with twisted delight at the villagers’ despair.

Beneath one pile of rubble, the boy Lu Chun’s eyes were lifeless. A deep gash ran along his pale neck; only the faintest rise and fall of his chest betrayed a lingering thread of life, one unlikely to last.

Lu Chun’s dying consciousness brimmed with terror of death.

I don’t want to die! I mustn’t die! I absolutely cannot die!

He prayed to the legendary gods, but none answered; in the end, only his own will responded.

A fierce will to survive drove his body to act on instinct, struggling to crawl from the wreckage. Suddenly, his hand brushed against something hard.

It was a scroll of jade, carved from an unknown pitch-black stone. Strange patterns covered its surface—some resembling living creatures, others like a child’s wild scrawlings—touching it stirred a deep unease.

This is...

Lu Chun felt as though he’d seen the jade scroll somewhere before. In the next instant, the scroll erupted with a dazzling, multicolored black light.

“I have often heard... but it is a falsehood... truly, the Great Way pursues mortals... the towering one walks proud... the gods reveal themselves here…”

Chaotic, maddening knowledge took root in Lu Chun’s mind. Words were unnecessary; their meaning was self-evident.

Elixir of Immortal Sand... Flesh Mushroom to Extend Life... Lunar Corpse Dissolution...

The black glow of the jade scroll gradually faded. The patterns writhing upon its surface seemed desperate to break free, but ultimately dissolved and gathered into six ancient characters.

The Secret Sutra of the Seven Chapters of the Mysterious Lord!

In the midst of chaos, a flash of clarity struck Lu Chun. Memories long buried, belonging to another world, were unearthed. No wonder he found the scroll familiar—wasn’t this the very jade scroll he’d once picked up from a street stall in his previous life?

Youthful fantasies are not uncommon; Lu Chun had always loved collecting such imaginative trinkets. He’d been thrilled by his transmigration, never expecting that this jade scroll would journey with him.

No! Perhaps his transmigration had been caused by the scroll itself!

A brilliant light burst in his once-dead eyes as he clutched the jade scroll, as if seizing his own future.

At this moment, Lu Chun paid no heed to whatever hidden dangers the Secret Sutra of the Seven Chapters might hold. What danger could surpass the imminent demise of his own body?

No matter what, even if he became a mindless, twisted abomination, as long as he could live, that would be enough!

His parched lips trembled, and a hollow, rasping voice forced its way from his throat.

“Three souls, seven... spirits, return... soul to infant; rise to the Highest, command a thousand... spirits…”

Blood bubbled from his torn windpipe. Lu Chun felt an endless suffocation, his incantation growing ever fainter, until at last it was barely a whisper.

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“Well, well—there’s a lamb still struggling to live here.” The rubble was suddenly tossed aside. A gaunt, skeletal man gazed at the standing Lu Chun with a twisted grin.

“Heh heh heh, looks like your soul is special if you’re still alive. Just as well—my blood elixir still needs a main ingredient. You’ll do nicely.”

The man didn’t even bother releasing his martial soul; he strode forward at a lazy pace, savoring the moment. He loved nothing more than witnessing once-happy souls fall into terror and despair in an instant.

But to his disappointment, Lu Chun’s face was stiff and lifeless. Had he not sensed the faint vitality within the boy and the movement of his lips, the man might have mistaken him for a corpse.

“...Seven spirits guard... the right; listen in stillness... to the gods’ command, and... seek out ill fortune...”

“Muttering nonsense, are you! Hm? Didn’t expect you to have something good.”

Noticing the jade scroll Lu Chun clutched tightly, the man’s bulging eyes gleamed green as he reached out to seize it—only to grasp empty air, for Lu Chun’s body shifted at the last instant, dodging his hand.

Seeing this, the man’s mouth twisted. His green eyes locked onto Lu Chun, who still showed no expression, only his lips moving noiselessly. Enraged, the man shouted, “Trying to play tricks!”

A white, two yellow, and three soul rings appeared. A phantom bone claw struck down toward Lu Chun’s skull!

This time, Lu Chun neither dodged nor flinched, as though resigned to be crushed beneath that claw.

“Walking—unseen by men... Sitting—unknown to all...”

Bang!

The bone claw fell, and under its immense force, Lu Chun’s frail body was smashed into bloody pulp.

“Courting your own death.” Retracting his martial soul, the man spat on the ground and strode forward, intent on searching the remains for the jade scroll. After rummaging a long while and finding nothing, he assumed it had been destroyed, cursed under his breath, and prepared to leave.

But as he took his first step, he tripped and fell. Glancing back, he saw that the pile of flesh was writhing—and what had tripped him was a tentacle of bloody pulp.

“Glurrrr...”

A pair of eyes emerged from the mass, staring blankly at him. The writhing flesh formed a mouth, which opened and closed to utter a phrase:

“By order of the law, act now!”

The jade scroll floated within the flesh, and as the words fell, it opened on its own. From the first jade slip gushed ominous black mud.

The first chapter of the Secret Sutra of the Seven Chapters of the Mysterious Lord, the Reanimation Scripture of the Immortal Sand, chronicles the deeds of the Yellow Emperor and his medical arts. While another book, The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor, covers his healing, here the ritual truly restores the dead to life—the Immortal Sand Reanimation Rite.

Normally, the rite would require various materials and ceremonies, but the scroll Lu Chun possessed was the original source, an all-sufficient ritual in itself.

As for the missing materials, Lu Chun offered himself.

To sacrifice oneself to activate the ritual, then use the ritual to revive oneself—it might seem paradoxical, but in the Cthulhu mythos, what is rational is itself irrational!

Black mud, mingled with bloody pulp, writhed and slowly formed a human shape. Delicate features emerged on its head, and ivory hair cascaded to cover the naked form.

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“Mon... monster...”

Even as an evil spirit master, the man had never witnessed anything so bizarre—a pile of flesh forming a living person before his eyes, especially one he had personally crushed.

His withered face was painted with terror; frog-like eyes bulged so far they seemed about to drop from his skull.

The one returned from death seemed amused by some internal joke. His eyelids fluttered open, revealing deep green eyes. At the same time, his tender white skin split apart, and a multitude of crimson eyes fixed their gaze upon the man.

Lu Chun stretched, his newly sprouted arms spreading behind him. He took a deep breath and sighed, “Monster? No, this is magnificent evolution!”

Smack!

Before the man could react, he saw Lu Chun suddenly slap himself.

Freshly grown teeth fell out; one side of Lu Chun’s face burned with stinging pain. At this moment, two utterly opposite expressions warred upon his face—one side fervent, the other fierce—like two wills contending for control.

The fierce side drove his arms to tear at the fervent side, ripping the skin straight off his face.

“Get out of here!”

“Hahaha, what do you mean ‘get out’? From the beginning, we have always been one!”

“Get out!”

The two wills tore at each other in wild opposition. In the blink of an eye, the newborn body was in tatters—yet in the next, it was whole and unscathed again.

In the end, the fierce will prevailed, crushing, tearing, and devouring the fervent side. Lu Chun became whole once more.

He jerked his head up to face the evil spirit master, who was preparing to flee.

Sensing Lu Chun’s gaze, the man shuddered. Sweat poured down like rain, his bulging eyes shot through with blood. Confronted with this being beyond comprehension, he no longer had the courage to resist.

As terror gripped him, several jade-white arms gently caressed his body, their crimson eyes meeting his own. He was so terrified he reached his limit.

In his panic, he failed to notice that his body was slowly turning to blue cinnabar from the feet up. By the time he realized, only his head remained, cradled in Lu Chun’s arms.

Lu Chun smiled gently, parted his lips, and inhaled; the blue cinnabar flowed into his mouth. He could feel a surge of vitality within, strengthening his body and extending his life.

At the same time, after venting his beastly urge by taking a life, the madness in his soul was suppressed just a little.