David Carter tugged at the corner of his mouth, which could be considered a smile. “I’m fine.” Although what had happened was rather bizarre—time travel and soul possession were no longer novel topics in the era he came from—it still took him several days to process it when it happened to himself. He didn’t shout or panic; years of self-discipline and nerves of steel kept him from asking foolish questions like where he was or what era this was. Instead, he carefully observed everything before him and drew his own conclusions: this was probably still within China’s borders. From people’s appearances and conversations, it was easy to tell, and even the local accent seemed to belong to the northwestern dialects. However, the people here wore simple, old-fashioned clothes and had their hair tied up in topknots—certainly not the attire of modern people. The houses and furnishings also confirmed that this was not the overcrowded, heavily polluted modern world.

But David Carter didn’t care much about his situation. He had no parents, no wife, not even friends. All the things that ordinary people cared about were meaningless to him. To him, what difference did it make where he lived?

What he was truly satisfied with was his current body. Having already been in his thirties, David Carter had felt his energy and strength decline day by day, but now he could feel the vigorous vitality in this new body. He stood up and, under the astonished gazes of the Hunter Carter family, stretched his arms wide and took a deep breath of the cool, unpolluted air, murmuring, “I’m still alive…”

……

A year passed in the blink of an eye…

The mountain village nestled against Niutou Mountain, so named because its two main peaks faced each other from a distance, resembling the two horns on a giant ox’s head. The mountain wasn’t very tall, but it was densely forested, with all kinds of birds and beasts roaming about. At dawn, mist would rise and drift through the woods, creating an extraordinary scene. In front of the village, a clear, shallow stream wound its way past, not deep nor fast-flowing, running from west to east around the village, with fish darting back and forth in its waters. The stream had a lovely name—Qingxi, or “Clear Stream.” With both mountains and water, the village’s location was especially picturesque and pleasant.

Zhao Family Village was secluded and peaceful. The people living here were honest and simple, open and friendly. Though none were wealthy, everyone was content with their lot and kind to others. After spending enough time here, it felt like a paradise far removed from the noise of the world, where one could easily lose track of the years.

If such a peaceful life were placed before the soul of any other modern person, they would probably find it dull. Don’t assume that beautiful scenery, mountains, and water are all that matter. In this backward mountain village, people still lived in the age of slash-and-burn agriculture, with no internet, no television, no telephones. For modern people, this might be a great tourist destination, but to live here long-term—nine out of ten would find the hardship unbearable. The one exception would be a “monster” like David Carter.

David Carter was one of the rare few who found life here deeply satisfying. After all his hardships, it was as if he had found a safe harbor in this place far from the world. The wild, beast-like killing intent that used to surge up in the dead of night gradually calmed in the face of this peaceful daily life. He didn’t know how long such days would last, but without realizing it, he had already come to see this place as his second home.

Though the mountain village was quiet, it wasn’t completely isolated. Every year after the autumn harvest, tax officials would come to collect a certain amount of taxes, which allowed David Carter to learn much about the outside world. This place was under the jurisdiction of Gongyi County, Western Qin, in the twenty-fifth year of Emperor Zhengde’s reign.

The name “Western Qin” gave David Carter pause for several days. Western Qin had appeared in Chinese history before. David Carter wasn’t a history expert, but he had read about the “Five Barbarians’ Invasion of China” in books, and remembered that the Xianbei people had established a Western Qin regime. But after asking around, it seemed that wasn’t quite the case here. As everyone knows, after the wars of the late Han and Three Kingdoms, the country was impoverished, and the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties brought no peace, leading to the later “Five Barbarians’ Invasion.” The regimes established by the non-Han peoples numbered sixteen, but all were short-lived. The historical Western Qin lasted only a few decades at most. Yet this Western Qin had already existed for over two hundred years, and the current emperor was a bona fide Han Chinese. At this point, David Carter realized that in this world, history seemed to have changed dramatically and was no longer reliable. He couldn’t be sure if this was still China, but at the very least, it was no longer the China he once knew.