"Good m, Uncle...""Mm, good m, Fengyu..."

  Fengyu had woken up early and was already at the vilge's road jun. After greeting Meixiu’s father, he started cheg whether the cargo was securely tied. He would give it a tug here, a here.

  Once he had finished iing everything, the two of them said goodbye to Meixiu and her mother a off.

  The ox cart carrying the goods rolled forward with Meixiu's father leading the way, guiding the ox, while Fengyu followed behind, making sure the cargo stayed firmly fastened.

  Along the way, Meixiu's father would stop at various points to expin things to Fengyu about the local area, as well as share iing stories from his time delivering goods with Fengyu's father.

  Of course, he also reted terrifying tales he had heard from the small town...

  "Legend has it that after the sus, evil Demons e out to devour people. Some Demon hunters kill these evil spirits to protect the people..."

  Meixiu’s father even boasted about having seen a Demon. But Fengyu didn’t believe him, thinking to himself that if he had actually seen a Demon, he wouldn’t be standing here, telling stories.

  "Uncle, didn’t you say the evil Demo people? So, how did you survive?" Fengyu asked.

  "Haha, didn’t you realize I was just bragging? I’ve never seen a Demon. The st person who told me that story also said the same thing. I’m just passing oale, but you know, stories aren’t always true. In my 25 years, I’ve never seen a Demon. I think it's just a made-up story to warn children not to sneak out at night..."

  Indeed, in many backward vilges, people were isoted, and even if someone did enter a Demon, if they weren’t part of a Demon-hunting squad, they wouldn’t survive to tell the tale.

  After about three hours, they arrived at a small town. This was actually Fengyu’s first time experieng a town from the Taisho era (1912-1926) of Japan. In his past life, he had read that it was a brief but retively stable period in Japan’s history.

  As he looked at the bustling town, Fengyu couldn’t help but remember a phrase—fn nd…

  His eyes dimmed.

  I wonder how my parents are doing now... What will they think when they realize I’m gone?

  Meixiu's father noticed the sadness in Fengyu's eyes and thought perhaps he was missing his parents. He said, "Fengyu, e o’s deliver the grain to the mert. Afterward, I’ll take you to get something tasty."

  Soon, they reached the mert where they settled the price for the grain.

  Afterward, the two of them wahe lively streets, with Meixiu’s father stantly pointing out various things he thought Fengyu might have never seen before. After all, in his memory, Fengyu had never left the vilge to visit a town.

  But Fengyu only wao hurry bae, to make up for the time lost today, practig his sword teiques, and preparing for the possible dahat might soon desd upon him.

  Though most of the things he saw were familiar, some small items, special to this little isnd try, were quite o him.

  At this point, small isnds had already begun to have firearms, and some prosperous districts had even started building crete high-rises.

  In the end, the two of them bought some daily ies and a few snacks for Meixiu, then hitched the ox cart and started heading back to the vilge.

  The sun was still up, as it set ter during this season, and by the time they returned home, it hadn't yet gone down. The fiery red su bathed Fengyu's face.

  As he felt the light breeze on his face, Fengyu sehat his body was somehow different.

  But he didn’t think much of it, perhaps just missing his past life a little...

  After all, it was a fn nd...

  After tidying up, Fengyu began practig his sword teiques, making the most of the remaining daylight.

  The days passed by quickly. Half a year went by in a fsh. During this time, Fengyu’s daily routine hardly ged—cooking for himself, practig his swordpy, and the weekly deliveries.

  Yet there was one stant: a pair of small eyes that would watch him every day. At first, it had felt a bit awkward, but over the months, it had bee a familiar part of his daily life.

  Fengyu occasionally visited Meixiu’s house for meals—after all, having someone else eant more time to practice his sword teiques, which was always wele.

  Over the past six months, Fengyu would push himself to exhaustion in his practice, but with the system’s help, his body would recover fully by the day. His swordpy was getting faster and mile.

  As a result, the number of sword swings in the system had already reached 700,000.

  Now, every day he was nearing 10,000 swings, showing just how fast he was improving.

  Perhaps that’s what they meant by "When your heart has a goal, the sword es naturally."

  Moreover, over the past months, Fengyu had noticed something strange about his body. It seemed to be growing quickly. From his previous height of 1.45 meters, he had already reached about 1.60 meters. That was a huge ge for just six months.

  After all, the people of this small isnd had generally shorter statures, while Meixiu’s family hadn't ged much—they ate, drank, and lived fortably.

  "Almost there," Fengyu thought. "At this rate, my sword swings will soon reach 1 million, and the system will activate."

  "And why do I have this uneasy feeling... like something bad is about to happen..."

  Fengyu, shirtless, stopped practig and furrowed his brows as he gazed into the distance.

  "That dire..." he thought. "It feels uling."

  His wooden sword lowered as Meixiu, puzzled, asked, "Brother Fengyu, why did you stop? Did something happen?"

  Fengyu shook his head and didn’t say much. After all, it was just a feeling in his heart—maybe he was just overthinking.

  But soon, Fengyu’s unease roven true...

  "Hey, have you heard? Over in the neighb vilge, they say a mai has appeared. Several people have gone missing, dragged up into the mountains aen. By the time they were found, there was nothi but scraps of meat and torn clothes. It was all ed up..."

  "Now the whole vilge is in panic. People won’t go out, and everyone’s log up tight at night... I hope the officials kill that dam before more people die."

  "Yeah, they better kill it quickly. If it gets tired of eating the people from the vilge and es here, it’ll be trouble..."

  "Fet it, just make sure to lock the doors and windows tight, and put some oo the bed. Better safe than sorry, right?"

  "Right, right..."

  That m, a group of elders in the vilge had gathered, gossiping idly.

  Fengyu listeo their versation, his brows furrowing as he felt an uneasy tightening in his chest. The dire of the danger was unmistakably the neighb vilge...

  "No wonder I’ll have to face the maing monsters of this world so soon..."

  "And this body’s sixth sense... it’s s."

  Fengyu muttered to himself, but soon, he rushed bae to practice his swordpy, pg an axe and a chopping knife by his bedside.

  Although he khat if it really was a maing Demon, knives and axes wouldn’t work—only the Demon Syer Corps’ Nichirin Swords could kill them.

  Still, si was happening, he thought, Just go with the flow, and began his daily sword practice.

  A week passed without i, but on the eighth day, the dreaded news arrived in Fengyu’s vilge...