Chapter 1: Taming Beasts with Blood

“Jade pagodas excavated from an ancient tomb in Miaojiang, don’t miss it!” A tanned, middle-aged man dressed in traditional Miao clothing shouted in front of a bus stop, but he was largely ignored by the crowd.

“How much?” Yang Ling had wanted to ignore him, but he saw that the so-called “jade pagodas” were rather exquisite. He involuntarily thought about getting it for his nephew, who had been pestering him for new toys.

“It’s not expensive, 280 dollars, it can bless you and your family with good health and smooth careers…”

“Five dollars!” Yang Ling loosened the knot on his tie, interrupting the swindler. “Take it or leave it!”

Yang Ling had just found his first job since his graduation, and he did not know when his first paycheck would arrive. He was a true member of the “moonlight clan”. Perhaps from tomorrow onward, he would resign himself to five dollar meals from a fast food stand by the road. If he could not afford that, he’d have to eat plain buns with water.

…

After a bit of haggling, Yang Ling bought the jade pagoda for 10 dollars, but he convinced the man to give him a canvas bag priced at eight dollars for free. He had a relaxed look, while the man from the Miao tribe grumbled. He had not been able to sell these jade pagodas for a few years now, and even garbage collectors found them too heavy to take. He had no choice but to sell them at a very low price.

It was the time of evening when everyone was getting off work, and the bus was like a can of sardines. The bus arrived a little late, so even the ladies did not mind squeezing in with the sweaty, smelly men to get home a little earlier.

The person in front of Yang Ling was a petite lady wearing a black suit. She had light makeup on, and her lashes were thin and long, but from his angle, he saw that the lashes had been trimmed. Of course, he could also steal glances at her cleavage. It was hot, and the ladies were not wearing much.

Some time later, Yang Ling felt the jade pagoda in his hands become hotter. Coincidentally, the tip of the pagoda was resting right on the perky buttocks of the lady in front of him. He did not feel anything at first, but quickly, the suited lady in front of him felt that something was off.

With the movement of the bus, the suited lady felt a wave of heat hit her buttocks, as if there was a hard stick propped against her. To make things worse, even after she stepped an inch forward, that stick followed her. It was also becoming hotter. That feeling was like…

She turned back to glare at Yang Ling, but saw that he was pretending to be ignorant. The suited lady was as ashamed as she was furious, her face red. She wanted to reprimand Yang Ling, but she didn’t know where to start. She could not put up with this anymore, but she had no space to move away. The thing on her back was becoming hotter and hotter. Her heart began to beat faster as she became more and more ashamed.

What if it flows out?

The suited lady was uneasy. She felt as though the thing that was prodding her was going to tear the sanitary pad she just put on before she got off work. She was only wearing a thin skirt today. If she bled through the pad, it would definitely leave a large stain. She would be so ashamed.

Shame, anxiety, fear, anger, helplessness…

The suited lady felt many emotions. Even though the next stop was her destination, she felt that time was dragging by too slowly. The so-called “luxury air-conditioned bus” was moving slower than a snail. The boiling stick behind her made her think about a donkey, an exceptionally large, mutated donkey.

“Miss, are you alright?” Yang Ling noticed that the suited lady’s face was red, and that she was frequently looking back at him. He thought that she could not find a handle to grab on and was uncomfortable from squeezing in with the people on board. He said kindly, “If you are feeling uncomfortable, you can come to the back, and I’ll try standing in front of you!”

Try standing in front of me?

The suited lady nearly fainted. This man is shameless! He’s been rubbing against me throughout the journey, and now he’s saying that he wants to try standing in front of me! How far are perverts on buses willing to go these days?

“Ummm…”

The bus took a sudden turn, instantly tilting to the left. Under the inertia, the people on the bus leaned into one another. The suited lady felt the thing behind her pierce inward like a shovel against the sponge-like sanitary pad. Blood seeped out.

“You pervert. Despicable, shameless, lecherous pervert!” The suited lady felt the thing become hotter and hotter, and she couldn’t stand it anymore. She wanted to whip out a pair of scissors and turn the despicable Yang Ling into a twenty-first century eunuch.

Despicable, shameless, lecherous pervert?

After the lady’s shouting, even the driver of the bus turned to look out of curiosity, nearly running down a jaywalking old lady.

I’m a pervert?

Looking at the teary lady, then looking at the jade pagoda that was coincidentally propped against her butt, Yang Ling shook his head. He had just wanted to buy a toy, but now, it had created such a huge spectacle.

“Miss, are you talking about this steaming big guy?” Yang Ling lifted the unusually hot jade pagoda under the scrutiny of everyone in the bus.

Steaming big guy?

After witnessing Yang Ling bring up the jade pagoda from behind the suited woman’s buttocks, the people on the bus understood and broke into laughter. As for the furious suited lady, her face became redder than liver. All she wanted to do was dig a hole for herself to hide in. She jumped off the bus the moment she reached her stop.

After successfully clearing his name, Yang Ling was incredibly curious about the hot jade pagoda. He meticulously inspected it on his second-hand computer desk the moment he got home.

The jade pagoda was black. Even though it was only the length of a chopstick, it was carved with various images. There were images of Miao people crawling on the ground in prayer, and some were raising their hands and shouting. There were also ferocious wild beasts, including several golden dragons, each one of them lifelike.

Other than that, there were streaks of red on the tip of the pagoda, and they smelled like blood. He recalled the ashamed lady and her short skirt, which had been stained with traces of blood. Yang Ling more or less got the idea. His heart shook when he thought about her perky buttocks and her cleavage.

Yang Ling curiously ran a cleaver over the jade pagoda, then looked incredulously at it after seeing that there were no scratches.

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“Tsk tsk, this pagoda is harder than a cleaver. What kind of jade is this made of?” As he was distracted, he accidentally cut his right index finger with the cleaver.

“What did that shyster say about blessing me with good health? D*mn, how unlucky!”

Yang Ling shook his head as he prepared to set the jade pagoda to the side. Unexpectedly, when he touched the jade pagoda with his bloodied right hand, the pagoda released a radiant light. It was absorbing the blood in his body through his wound, and it was stuck to his right hand as if super glued. Even weirder, a violent tornado appeared out of thin air.

As he was pulled up into the air, Yang Ling realized in fear that his limbs were rigid. His entire body was numb. Following which, he felt a massive headache and quickly lost consciousness. The landlord who had coincidentally walked past Yang Ling’s house was dumbfounded as he saw a black hole swallow Yang Ling, but not the other things in the house. He passed out in the corridor.

In his daze, Yang Ling dreamed a weird dream. He dreamed of an ancient worshipper wandering in a primordial forest. The worshipper had a weird pagoda-shaped brand between his brows.

Whenever the worshipper came across a ferocious beast, he would bite the skin of his finger and drip a drop of his blood on the creature to tame it. After that, he could tame the beasts using mere gestures. The gestures became faster and faster, each more mysterious than the last. In the end, he could even control the weather, becoming as powerful as the deities in legends.

Some time later, Yang Ling felt a chill as he slowly opened his eyes.

There were several clouds in the blue sky. A clear stream meandered through a network of tall trees beside him, and he could hear the cries of frogs nearby. Clearly, this was not the lousy park that demanded a two dollar entry fee near his apartment. It was also not the small hill behind the apartment used for rearing chickens.

Yang Ling rubbed his eyes in disbelief as he surveyed the tall trees around him. Even though there were pine trees all around the mountains in his old house, he had never seen pine trees as tall as these. The trunks of these trees were about the size of a truck. He doubted that ten people holding hands would be enough to fully encircle the tree. The roots exposed on the ground were woven like spider webs, each root thicker than his waist.

“The primordial forest from Xishuangbanna?” Yang Ling understood that this was not an illusion, nor was it a dream. He pinched his thigh to check.

Collecting himself, Yang Ling shook his head and walked cautiously to the clear stream. He had just wanted to wash his face when he suddenly trembled. He saw that a pagoda-shaped mark had appeared between his brows, identical to the one on the worshipper in his dream. After he observed it carefully, he found a faint indication of blood on the tip of the pagoda, as if this pagoda was the one he bought at a discount from the Miao man, the same one that nearly got him labelled as a pervert. This one was just considerably smaller.

Am I seeing things?

Yang Ling was dumbfounded. He did not understand where the mark of the pagoda had come from, nor did he know how the black-hole-like tornado could have brought him here. He had the faint feeling that everything was due to the so-called jade pagoda excavated from a ten thousand year old Miaojiang tomb.

As he could not make sense of anything, Yang Ling opted to wash his face with the clear water of the stream first. After he energized himself, he heard a faint roar. At the same time, he caught the faint scent of blood. He made his way over in curiosity. His scalp crawled immediately when he saw a cluster of thumb-sized mutated bees attacking a rhino-like beast. The bees were taking bites at the giant beast, each bite ripping away chunks of flesh.

In immense pain, the rhino manically charged in all directions. It uprooted several tall trees like a bulldozer, but it was unable to flee from the terrifying bees.

There was a sharp black horn on the head of every bee. Every time a bee charged downward, the horn was like a blade, gouging a hole in the flesh of the rhino. After that, it would bite down with its sharp teeth and rip off a chunk of flesh. The pain would make the rhino bellow loudly.

Without anywhere else to go, the rhino charged straight for the cluster of shrubs Yang Ling was hiding in. Just as he was worried about getting trampled to mush by the rampaging rhino, the bulldozer-like beast thumped onto the ground. It no longer had the strength to get up.

Looking over, every hair on Yang Ling’s body stood on end. He saw the bees devour the meat on the rhino’s front legs, leaving behind a large chunk of exposed bone.

Yang Ling witnessed a more harrowing scene soon after. The cluster of bees pierced deeply into the body of the rhino and crunching sounds could be heard. Soon after, the massive rhino was picked clean. There was only a puddle of blood left where the rhino was.

African man-eating bees?

In his shock, Yang Ling sprawled on the ground and slowly retreated backward. He was cautious, fearful that he would catch the attention of the bees. He had retreated several meters and had just started to stand so he could run away when he heard a light snap. He had carelessly broken a thumb-sized branch.

“Not good!” Yang Ling was alarmed. He saw a scout bee fly toward him, its sharp teeth clearly visible.

Am I going to die here?

Yang Ling was suddenly covered in a cold sweat. Even the powerful rhino with thick skin and muscles could not fend off the bees, much less me. I can’t beat it, nor can I run from it. What can I do?

At this critical moment, Yang Ling suddenly recalled the actions of the mysterious worshipper in his dreams. He bit on his index finger and pressed it on the head of the bee that was charging over. At that moment, a silver glow escaped the yellow bee. The silver glow formed mysterious symbols, then the bee obediently landed on his arm.

Even though it was only a drop of his blood, Yang Ling felt as though the blood in his body had been emptied. He was drained, his head dizzy. At the same time, he felt a wave of heat enter his body. He felt the pagoda-shaped mark between his brows burn. Following which, a foreign memory appeared in his mind.

In his daze, Yang Ling felt as though he had arrived at a mysterious space. In front of a tall pagoda, the mutated bee was flying through the air happily. It flew over to Yang Ling excitedly when it saw him.

There were two ancient words, Wizard’s Pagoda, carved onto the door of the giant pagoda. The body of the pagoda was filled with various pictures. Some were images of mysterious sacrifices, some fierce beasts, each one of them lifelike. This was especially so for the golden dragons carved near the top of the pagoda. They were incredibly realistic. In fact, one could faintly hear their lightning-like roars.

Out of curiosity, Yang Ling lightly pushed on the door of the jade pagoda. Behind him, the tamed bee excitedly followed him in. There was a billowing fog behind the door. He could faintly make out a human-sized stele. There were ancient Chinese characters carved on the stele.

“With the primal powers of the Wizard’s Pagoda, absorb the blessings of heaven and earth and grab the essences of the sun and moon…” Yang Ling tried his best to decipher the ancient text on the stele. “With the primal wizarding powers, let blood essences guide you and train your soul…”

A long time ago, in order to chase after a belle from the Chinese department, Yang Ling had memorized countless ancient poems. The side effect of that was that he now recognized several ancient Chinese characters. To think that it would prove useful here.

There was a passage explaining the text on the bottom, followed by a mysterious mantra. Finally there was an inscription of people in weird poses. Looking over, Yang Ling felt a sense of familiarity, as if these poses were similar to the ones used by the worshipper in his dreams when he was taming beasts.

After looking at the stele for some time, Yang Ling more or less got the idea of what was happening. The stele was a record of a mysterious wizarding spell. The spell was split into seven levels, Blood Wizard, Spirit Wizard, Earth Wizard, Heaven Wizard, Divine Wizard, Soul Wizard, and Wizard Deity, respectively. The deeper your wizarding powers, the faster you could tame wild beasts. You could also tame wild beasts of greater numbers and strength. After practice, you could not only tame wild beasts, you could also use their powers and purify their spirits. You could even manipulate the weather just like the worshipper in the dream.

After thinking for a moment, Yang Ling realized that he had unintentionally become a beginner Blood Wizard when he got his hands on the Wizard’s Pagoda. Even though he was still a great distance away from the Wizard Deity, he had indeed stepped past the hurdle to practicing wizardry. In so doing, he had not only averted a crisis, he had also used his blood to tame a mutated bee.