After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 1

Deep springs echo in the forest, birds sing in the secluded mountains.

An ancient, simple manor was hidden among the mountain forests, with white walls and black tiles that evoked a sense of tranquil elegance at first sight.

Indeed, it was a blessed sanctuary in the wilderness.

However, at this moment, only Li Chi remained alone in this great manor. He looked around at the stone platform overgrown with weeds and sighed.

This was Li Chi’s third day since transmigrating to this place.

Three days ago, Li Chi awakened on the stone platform to discover he had become a deity. He had looked at his post-transmigration appearance in a spring pool within the courtyard—black hair and dark eyes, pure and noble, reminiscent of the gleaming sunlight reflected off snow-capped mountain peaks.

No matter how harsh or critical a person might be, they could find no fault with this face. If one were even more appearance-conscious, they might well declare him a celestial being of pure heart who never touched earthly ground, based on this appearance alone.

However, the divine power within this body was nearly depleted, and the divine form was unstable and ethereal—clearly the appearance of one who had recently suffered severe injuries. Judging from these wounds, the original owner had likely already dissipated.

The original owner seemed to have dissipated completely and thoroughly, leaving Li Chi no memories whatsoever, only some residual understanding of this world that would only trigger upon encountering corresponding phenomena. Moreover, Li Chi retained little of his own pre-transmigration memories, perhaps a side effect of crossing over.

Fortunately, these fragmentary triggered recognitions prevented him from being completely ignorant.

Through these triggered cognitions, Li Chi recognized that the simple stone platform where he had awakened was actually an altar.

This altar was severely damaged from age, but its material was fine and white, smooth as beautiful jade. The stone platform retained extremely intricate runic carvings with traces of spiritual energy condensed upon them.

When Li Chi awakened, he was positioned at the place on the altar where deities were worshipped. He could sense a weak connection between himself and this altar.

This altar had been used to worship the deity he had originally been before transmigration. Even though the altar had long been abandoned, this connection had never been severed.

Perhaps the original deity had encountered an enemy he could not resist, which is why he chose such a remote location, following this thread of connection to flee here hoping to hide, only to succumb to his severe injuries after reaching this place.

Now that Li Chi had inherited this body, he had likely also inherited the enemy who had gravely wounded the original.

He would need to prepare for that unknown enemy.

But in his current bodily condition, he could accomplish nothing. He needed to first heal his wounds, stabilize his divine form, and replenish his divine power.

Li Chi decided to remain here. First, the spiritual energy in the mountain forest was pure, and although this ancient manor had been abandoned, it was constantly surrounded by a stable and ethereal aura—a decent blessed land suitable for recovery.

Second, this great manor had been abandoned for a long time and was located deep in the mountain forest with few people around, making it unlikely to be discovered.

Third, he had no memory of the original’s past. If he left this place to find somewhere else, he might inadvertently walk right into his enemy’s sight. This place was the original’s final choice, presumably somewhere he considered safe.

Now, three days had passed, and Li Chi’s originally depleted divine power had finally shown some pitiful trace of restoration. He estimated that if his total divine power capacity were compared to a pond, this current amount couldn’t even cover the bottom—it would likely be exhausted after just a few uses.

But he couldn’t continue cultivating like this. He still didn’t know where he was, and there was an enemy of unknown identity. Three days was not a short time; he needed to assess his surroundings.

Li Chi walked to the ancient, heavy wooden door at the edge of the courtyard wall and gently pushed.

The door lock automatically fell, and Li Chi stepped out of the courtyard.

Weeds grew wild between the stone cracks, some paths had been completely overgrown by vegetation, yet the structure of the manor remained largely intact, merely covered with a thick layer of dust bearing some bird and beast footprints.

The rooms contained only heavy furniture that was difficult to move, all still positioned exactly where they had originally been placed, with everything else completely empty. It appeared that the manor’s original owners had left this place voluntarily after making preparations.

Li Chi only took a cursory look around before heading toward the main gate of the manor.

Outside the gate, the original road had long been swallowed by wild grass and shrubs, with even the paved stone slabs cracked and displaced by plant growth.

To the right of the main gate stood a massive boulder, mostly buried underground with a small portion exposed above ground. The boulder bore an extremely wide crack from which grew a pine tree requiring two people to embrace, with strong, gnarled branches. Unfortunately, the originally verdant needles had all turned yellow and withered.

Li Chi pressed his hand against the trunk. Including the roots buried deep underground that had split the massive boulder, this pine tree had lost all signs of life.

He shook his head regretfully and looked up at the plaque hanging above the main gate.

Although the plaque still hung properly in place, it was covered with spider webs, which were in turn laden with thick layers of ash and dried branches and leaves, completely obscuring the characters on the plaque.

Li Chi brushed his sleeves, and a gentle breeze swept up to the plaque, rolling away the spider webs and revealing the inscription.

“Li Manor,” Li Chi read aloud.

He looked at the plaque for a moment, then lifted his foot and stepped back into the manor. With a sweep of his long sleeve behind him, the two great doors closed with a creak.

This Li Manor had been abandoned for at least two hundred years and had likely been forgotten by the world. Without divination methods, probably no one could find this place. But if his unknown enemy possessed such methods, what difference would it make whether he stayed here or elsewhere?

After this consideration, Li Chi decided to settle here temporarily. Since it would serve as his long-term residence, he couldn’t help but familiarize himself with it thoroughly.

Li Chi began touring the manor again, but this time, unlike his previous cursory examination, he looked at everything carefully and in detail.

As Li Chi moved about, another consciousness hidden within Li Manor became troubled.

The Manor Spirit had no name—it was the spiritual consciousness born from the entirety of Li Manor.

He was a rare existence. Only ancient manors with thriving populations and long-standing heritage had the possibility of giving birth to a manor spirit, but this was merely the most basic requirement. Manor spirits could not be born in places where spiritual energy was thin or in cities heavy with turbid qi.

Beyond this, many other fortuitous coincidences were required.

Though the Manor Spirit was an object spirit, he drew half his sustenance from spiritual energy and half from human presence, closely connected to the people residing in the manor. As the Li clan gradually declined, his power also weakened.

When the last member of the Li clan left, it was an unavoidable choice. Before leaving, he had arranged spirit-stabilizing formations for the Manor Spirit and entrusted him to watch over Li Manor, hoping to return someday in the future.

However, nearly three hundred years had passed, and Li Manor had remained abandoned until now. Over all these years, the Manor Spirit had become extremely weak.

Being an object spirit, he possessed long-lasting patience and was bound to Li Manor, unable to leave this place. Even if he waited until his own dissolution, his emotions would remain undisturbed.

However, three days ago, a deity had suddenly appeared in Li Manor.

Conscious of his weakness, the Manor Spirit had not revealed himself but had been observing from the shadows. The more he observed, the more shocked he became.

This suddenly appearing deity possessed a noble and refined aura and appeared to be no evil god, but rather a righteous deity ordained by the Divine Court.

When he first appeared in Li Manor, his aura was somewhat unstable, leading the Manor Spirit to deduce that he intended to use this place to heal his wounds.

The deity’s spiritual energy absorption and circulation over the following days confirmed this speculation.

But it was precisely this cultivation practice that the deity engaged in for healing that filled the Manor Spirit with amazement.

The Manor Spirit had been born during the prosperous times of the Li clan and had witnessed countless visiting cultivators, but none had ever possessed spiritual energy as pure as this deity’s.

Typical cultivation methods either drew spiritual energy into oneself or used spiritual energy to cleanse the body, but this deity’s cultivation method was entirely different—it involved fusion and unity with heaven and earth. His every movement, sitting, and action was in perfect harmony with nature.

Though this was a cultivation method the Manor Spirit had never seen before, he could vaguely sense that this approach was far more sophisticated than any he had previously witnessed, and also far more difficult.

Each day when Li Chi practiced, the surrounding spiritual energy, influenced by his absorption and circulation, became increasingly clear and pure, like pristine snow on towering peaks, reflecting bright and crystalline sunlight.

Not only did this spiritual energy show no signs of depletion, it became increasingly concentrated and pure, condensing into sweet spiritual mist during Li Chi’s daily practice, which in turn nourished heaven and earth.

Over these few days, blessed by this sweet dew, the Manor Spirit felt his weakened spiritual form had recovered considerably.

Therefore, not only did he harbor no ill will toward Li Chi, who was using this place to heal, but he actually felt grateful.

However, the Manor Spirit had not expected Li Chi to remain here for long. Such a noble deity would naturally have access to better blessed lands; this place should merely be his temporary resting spot. Moreover, the deity had only practiced on the altar these three days, showing no interest in Li Manor itself. This also confirmed the Manor Spirit’s thoughts.

But now, after three days had passed, why had this deity suddenly taken an interest in Li Manor?

When the Li clan finally left this place, they had been unable to take everything with them. Those belongings and the formations protecting the Manor Spirit had been placed in a hidden storehouse.

If this deity continued exploring like this, he would soon discover this storehouse!

Although such a deity might not necessarily be interested in the contents of the storehouse, this was still the Manor Spirit’s responsibility.

The Manor Spirit became troubled.