Chapter One: I Am Song Mu, the Young Scholar

“Heaven help us! My dear Mu is a child scholar of the Grand Wen Dynasty!”
“Which spiteful family envies the Songs so much? They want to sever the three-hundred-year scholarly lineage of our family!”
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Song Mu awoke from a haze, the distant cries of grieving women echoing in his ears, his thoughts still muddled.
He remembered only that moments ago, he was bargaining with a vendor at the antique market, his words sharp as knives, finally acquiring a copy of the “Compendium of Ancient and Modern Poetry” for just ten yuan.
He was about to take it home to examine its authenticity, when disaster struck—out of nowhere, a beer bottle plummeted from the sky.
The hurtling bottle grazed his head and shattered by his side, green shards scattering across the ground, sending him stumbling back, only for his foot to slip through a nearby storm drain grate.
As he struggled to free himself, a pink sports car came barreling toward him at breakneck speed...
Song Mu, ascending heavenward with the storm drain grate, only heard a tremendous crash before seeing, on the curb, a heavily made-up woman in the driver’s seat clutch her chest and scream in terror.
The windshield wipers, flailing wildly on a clear day, revealed the driver’s last desperate attempt to swerve.
Song Mu’s head struck the ground after two and a half somersaults through the air; the last thing he saw before death was the “Compendium of Ancient and Modern Poetry” falling open before him, his lifeblood staining the yellowed pages.
So, was he dead?
But why were there oil lamps in the underworld?
As Song Mu complained inwardly, his vision cleared: he was lying in a spacious, old-fashioned room, lit only by a single oil lamp on the bedside table, its weak flame casting a dim, yellow glow.
Beside him sat a thin, goateed old man, one hand on Song Mu’s wrist, the other stroking his beard in thought. Their eyes met.
“Oh! You’re awake?”
The goateed doctor, startled by Song Mu’s open eyes, absentmindedly plucked a hair from his beard, then frowned and hastily checked Song Mu’s pulse.
“The Outer Yang Ridge is a place of great evil. For someone as frail as Young Master Song to have spent half a night there is like walking through the gates of death. Waking so soon—let’s hope it’s not the final rally of a dying flame.”
The doctor muttered to himself, silently praying that Song Mu would not perish, lest it tarnish his reputation for miraculous healing.
Hearing the commotion inside, a short, stout man rushed in. Seeing Song Mu awake, he hurried to the doctor’s side, anxiously inquiring,
“Doctor Liu, is my nephew all right? The Song family has but this one heir left after seventeen generations! If Mu cannot survive, I, Song Liangda, will have failed both my brother and our ancestors!”
This was Song Liangda, Song Mu’s second uncle. Seeing his nephew awake, Liangda quickly leaned in with concern.
“Mu, are you all right? Tell your uncle—how did you end up at the Outer Yang Ridge? That place drains a man’s very life force!”

Song Liangda, wiping his tears, was gripped by terror, only to see Song Mu’s face contort in pain before crying out and fainting once more.
Moments earlier, Song Mu had been lucid, but as his eyes opened, the original owner’s consciousness surged in, a tidal wave of memories threatening to tear his mind apart.
“Doctor Liu, what’s happening to my nephew now? Please, do something!”
Song Liangda, panic-stricken, pleaded with the doctor. Doctor Liu, teeth clenched, checked Song Mu’s still-beating pulse, then spoke after a moment’s thought,
“Young Master Song may be suffering from depleted yang energy, tainted by yin. Second Master Song, fetch three doses of Qi-Tonic Powder. Administer them at once—perhaps we can yet save him!”
At these words, Song Liangda’s courage nearly failed him, but he nodded frantically and dashed out.
Doctor Liu produced two silver needles, swiftly pricking Song Mu’s forehead and the soles of his feet, then sighed deeply,
“The Song family’s scholarly lineage, passed down to this day, may truly be at its end.”
As Doctor Liu worked to save him, Song Mu’s mind was suddenly crystal clear, though overwhelmed by the massive influx of foreign memories.
This world was not the ancient one Song Mu had known. Here, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, the Spring and Autumn and Warring States, the Qin, Han, and Three Kingdoms all existed—but after the flourishing Tang, everything changed.
In the tenth year of the Tianbao era, a meteor fell to earth, landing in the imperial city of Chang’an. Suspended in the great hall, it dazzled with radiant light. At first, people saw it as an auspicious omen—especially since the southern Literary Star no longer shone, and all said the Literary Star had descended to earth. But anyone who touched the meteor died instantly, and many palace servants perished mysteriously. The imperial city was sealed, regarded as cursed.
Three years after the meteor fell, Chang’an was wracked by supernatural disturbances; demons and monsters appeared across the Tang’s vast domain. An Lushan rebelled, and the empire teetered on collapse. Though the An-Shi Rebellion was eventually suppressed, human calamity subsided, but the demon scourge rose.
Mankind mustered its armies to resist, but within seven years, monsters ravaged the land—a period known as the Seven-Year Demon Calamity.
At this time, a great scholar named Zhang Ce pioneered “Literary Power,” using the force of poetry and prose as weapons against the monsters. He led the scholars to devote themselves to ancient and contemporary writing, cultivating “Literary Power” to defeat their foes, and within thirty years, the greatest monsters were vanquished.
Thereafter, Emperor Li Long consolidated the realm with Literary Power, founded a new dynasty, and named it Wen. He assembled the greatest scholars to compile the “Complete Book of the Four Seas” to suppress the Demon Star, nourishing the dynasty’s scholarly lineage and securing two hundred years of prosperity.
By the calendar, it should be around 1100 AD, but with the Wen Dynasty’s rise, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms never occurred, nor was there ever a Song, Yuan, Ming, or Qing!
No Liu Yong, no Li Qingzhao, no Ouyang Xiu!
No Su Shi, no Xin Qiji, no Lu You!
No Guan Hanqing, no Ma Zhiyuan, no Bai Pu!
The Wen Dynasty, with its mystical “Literary Power,” had unveiled a new era for humankind!
This was a true scholarly age: study literature to gain rank; with rank comes Literary Power; with Literary Power, one can slay demons and safeguard the realm!
To cultivate Literary Power and strengthen oneself, one must master every classic, reciting books and histories backwards and forwards!
To wield Literary Power in battle, one must excel in poetry and song, transforming verses and lines into blades and spears to defeat the enemy!

Had he traveled to an ordinary ancient era, Song Mu would have cursed the heavens and resigned himself to fate.
But in a world where scholars ruled and poetry equaled power, Song Mu, a graduate student in Chinese language and literature, could barely contain a scream of excitement.
Though the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing no longer existed, the endless poetry and prose of later generations remained vividly alive in Song Mu’s memory.
The sea is vast for the fish to leap, the sky limitless for the bird to fly!
This world was like an unfinished ink painting, and Song Mu’s mind was filled with words—ready to write his story across this blank canvas!
Just as Song Mu marveled at his newfound purpose, he realized the background of this body he now inhabited.
This Song Mu, too, was the eldest grandson of the Song family’s seventeenth generation in Shiyang County, Jizhou, Western Jiangnan.
Three hundred years ago, the Songs settled here. In the second generation, a scholar named Song Xingzhi passed the imperial exam, and over the next three generations, five more scholars rose; the family flourished, especially during the chaotic demon years.
After the Wen Dynasty was established, the Song family became the premier literary line in Western Jiangnan. In the fourth generation, the family patriarch wrote influential works, and the Songs, among all those who preserved the poetic tradition, even outshone the illustrious Song family of Guangping!
Here, families of literary inheritance formed their own scholarly lineages; the great poets Li Bai and Du Fu founded poetic sects, their descendants born able to wield Literary Power through mastery of their ancestors’ works.
Later, the Wen dynasty’s founder reformed the imperial examinations, spreading the literary inheritance so that even commoners could earn rank and, by composing new masterpieces, share in the power of the nation’s literary heritage.
Thus, the Song family basked in glory for centuries, until Song Mu’s great-grandfather Song Bingde, after fifty years of study, barely achieved the rank of provincial scholar. Thereafter, he repeatedly failed to advance and was forced to serve as a county scribe, only to be falsely accused and nearly lose his life. The family matriarch spent a fortune and exhausted her connections to save him, returning the family to Shiyang as wealthy landowners.
Yet, despite everything, the family strove to reclaim their former glory. Song Mu’s grandfather and father devoted themselves to scholarly pursuits, but the lineage weakened with each generation. Only Song Mu’s father, Song Liantong, managed to obtain the title of scholar in his forties.
Two years ago, as Song Liantong journeyed to the provincial capital to take the next exam, he and Song Mu’s mother were killed by demons. Their deaths broke the old patriarch’s heart, and he too soon passed away. Overnight, only Song Mu, the seventeenth-generation heir, and his second uncle’s family remained.
The Song family fell from prominence, retaining nothing but their ancestral home and a few shops.
A year ago, Song Mu finally earned the rank of child scholar at seventeen, to the family’s delight. His second uncle, eager to revive the family’s honor, entered a business partnership to the east, but their ship was wrecked by sea demons, leaving them destitute. Now, only the old residence and a few barren fields outside town keep the family afloat.
As for Song Mu’s current predicament, it was all in pursuit of money for the provincial scholar’s exam.
He had wagered with some wealthy youths: spend a night on the haunted ridge outside town, and earn ten taels of silver.
For ten taels, the frail Song Mu had nearly ended the Song family’s three-hundred-year legacy.
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