UGB Chapter 1 Awakening
Chapter 1 Awakening
Icy cold, bone-chillingly cold.
A nauseating stench, a deeper, more suffocating stench of decay, rushed into my nostrils, violently assaulting my drowsy consciousness.
Lin Mo suddenly opened his eyes.
The night was deep and dark, devoid of starlight, save for a waning moon veiled by thin clouds, casting a pale and indistinct glow. By this faint light, he made out his surroundings—a mountain of corpses, twisted, stiff, and contorted in agony, piled one on top of another. He was in the middle of this mountain of bodies, his tattered clothes soaked with sticky, warm blood that clung to his skin, the coldness seemingly originating from the already stiffened corpse beneath him.
This is... a mass grave?
The thought had barely formed when a vast, chaotic flood of memories, not his own, surged into his mind like a burst dam, bringing excruciating pain. He groaned, his hands gripping the cold earth beneath him so tightly that his knuckles turned white from the force.
Lin Mo, an insignificant illegitimate son of the Lin family in Jiangnan, was mediocre in talent and timid in character. He was framed and beaten half to death after accidentally discovering his elder brother's collusion with outsiders to steal the family's secret medicine. He was then thrown into this mass grave like trash.
"I...I'm not dead?" He, or rather, Lin Mo in his current state, murmured, his voice hoarse and dry, like a broken bellows. He could feel his heart beating strongly, his blood flowing through his veins; this vibrant life force was undeniable.
Not only did they not die, but they were... reborn!
He was the king of the shadows, a top assassin—Shadow Blade—feared by countless powerful and influential figures. His skills were unparalleled, his heart as cold as iron. On his final mission, with his target's head in hand, he was stabbed in the heart from behind by his most trusted partner…
The soul of Shadow Blade has taken over the body of this boy who has only recently died.
Now that he was resurrected, the flame of revenge quietly ignited in his heart, both for the unjustly killed Lin Mo and for the betrayed Shadow Blade. But for now, survival was the top priority.
He tried to move his body, preparing to crawl out of the pile of corpses. However, as soon as he exerted force, he noticed something unusual. This body… its meridians were unusually unobstructed! The flow of qi and blood far surpassed that of his previous life's body, which had undergone countless trials and tribulations. The barriers that ordinary martial artists would need to overcome to open up over several years or even decades seemed to have never existed in this body. His internal energy flowed smoothly and without obstruction, almost without the slightest hindrance.
This is definitely not the physique of a "mediocre" illegitimate son! The Lin family... seems to have missed something, or rather, concealed something.
Before they could investigate the strange phenomenon, a series of chaotic footsteps and faint shouts drifted over on the night breeze from afar.
"Hurry up! Bury these unlucky things quickly, and clean them up before dawn!"
"Damn it, this job is the worst luck imaginable!"
They're soldiers! They've come to clean up the bodies!
Lin Mo's eyes sharpened, and the alertness and instinct of a Shadow Blade instantly overwhelmed the discomfort and confusion of his recent rebirth. He immediately held his breath, suppressed his aura, disguised himself as a corpse, and lay motionless among the pile of corpses, with only his eyes sharply observing from the shadows.
Seven or eight soldiers in tattered, patched clothes approached, cursing and swearing. Some carried shovels and straw mats, while others dragged makeshift carts. They clearly loathed the job, their movements rough as they carelessly dragged corpses off the carts and threw them onto them, or kicked them directly into the large pits that had been dug beforehand.
The pungent stench of the corpses made them curse incessantly, and some even took out their wine flasks and gulped down several mouthfuls, trying to dispel the smell with the spiciness of the cheap liquor.
A soldier walked up to Lin Mo and muttered, "There's one here that looks fresh, not completely rotten..." As he spoke, he reached out and tried to grab Lin Mo's ankle to drag him away.
It's now!
Just as that rough hand was about to touch his ankle, Lin Mo moved! Still as a virgin, swift as a rabbit! He suddenly exerted force in his waist and abdomen, and his body sprang up like a venomous snake that had been gathering its strength for a long time! There was no need to think at all; his combat instincts, honed through countless trials in his previous life, drove his actions.
"Snap!"
A crisp cracking sound rang out. His right hand, fingers like a knife, swiftly and precisely sliced into the soldier's Adam's apple. The soldier's eyes bulged out, his face still showing astonishment and greed, and he made a strange "hoarse" sound before collapsing limply to the ground.
This sudden turn of events left the other soldiers stunned for a moment.
"A ghost!"
"It's come back to life!"
Terrified screams immediately rang out.
Mass grave, midnight, corpses rising from the dead...
These elements combined were enough to destroy the courage of these ordinary soldiers.
Lin Mo gave them no time to react. The instant he killed the first man, he used the momentum to leap forward, pouncing like a cheetah towards the nearest soldier. The soldier instinctively raised his shovel to block, but Lin Mo ducked, avoiding the shovel's swing, and his left hand flashed out, grabbing the soldier's wrist and twisting it forcefully!
"Ah!" With a scream, the shovel slipped from his hand. Lin Mo caught the falling shovel handle with his right hand, flicked his wrist, and stabbed the soldier hard in the chest with the end of the handle. The soldier immediately curled up and fell to the ground like a shrimp, foaming at the mouth, clearly beyond saving.
In the blink of an eye, two people were killed!
The remaining soldiers finally came to their senses and realized that this was not a zombie, but a living, ruthless master!
"Grab your weapons! Charge!" a squad leader, who seemed to be the leader, shouted sharply, drawing his sword from his waist. The other soldiers also picked up shovels and clubs, and mustered their courage to surround him.
Lin Mo's eyes were cold and unwavering. He weighed the shovel he had snatched in his hand; the rough farm tool seemed to come alive in his grasp. Facing the slashing saber, he dodged to the side, the shovel whistling through the air as it swept across, striking another soldier wielding a club squarely in the face. Instantly, the soldier's nose caved in, and blood splattered everywhere.
His movements were completely unpretentious.
Simple and efficient.
Each strike was aimed directly at the vital points, making full use of the dim lighting and the opponent's panic.
At this moment, the assassin Shadow Blade's killing skills were on full display.
"Thud!" The side of the shovel cleaved into a soldier's neck like a sharp blade, and blood spurted out, staining half of Lin Mo's cheek red, warm and salty.
He wiped his face, his eyes remaining calm, like a deep pool. He had already torn a gap in the encirclement. He didn't linger, knowing full well that this place was not safe to stay in. If he attracted more soldiers or real martial arts masters, with his current weak body and the crude "weapon" he had, he would have no chance of survival.
Break through!
He suddenly hurled the shovel at the squad leader, forcing him to dodge in a panic. Taking advantage of this opening, Lin Mo moved like lightning, rushing towards the outer edge of the pile of corpses, towards a direction where the trees were relatively sparse.
"Stop him!" the squad leader roared in exasperation.
Two soldiers tried to step forward to stop him, but Lin Mo slipped through the gap between them like an eel, simultaneously striking them both heavily in the ribs with his elbows. A dull thud and a painful groan rang out as the two men staggered and fell to the ground.
Lin Mo kept running forward, leaving the terrified shouts and dying groans behind him far behind, and plunged headlong into the denser, dark forest at the edge of the mass grave.
The night wind whistled in his ears, carrying the unique scent of mountain vegetation and the lingering stench of corpses. He walked barefoot on the cold, rough rocks and withered leaves, feeling a sharp pain, but this pain only made him more alert.
Within his meridians, his internal energy flowed naturally and smoothly as he ran, even subtly drawing upon the cold, deathly aura of the surrounding environment—the accumulated corpse energy of the mass grave over the years. This corpse energy seemed to resonate subtly with some latent power within him, allowing him to escape faster than expected and with greater endurance.
This body indeed holds a secret.
But now is not the time for investigation. He needs to find a completely safe place to carefully sort through the chaotic memories in his mind, figure out the condition of this body, and... plan his next path of revenge.
The ruthlessness of Shadow Blade and the injustice suffered by Lin Mo intertwined in his heart, ultimately coalescing into a cold yet unwavering will.
No matter what lies ahead, no matter what secrets this body holds, from the moment he crawled out of this mass grave, he was no longer an ant at the mercy of others.
Blood debts must be repaid in blood.