In a daze, Zhou Chun was woken by a cacophony of noises.
His eyelids flickered as he struggled to open his eyes, turning his head towards the source of the sounds.
A few yards away on a pile of rubble, two grey wolves were busily gnawing on a human corpse.
The noisy sounds he heard were the wolves crunching and eating.
The sight of this bloody scene made his scalp tingle, and he quickly shut his eyes.
But as soon as he closed his eyes, a flood of memories that didn't belong to him suddenly emerged in his mind, causing his heart to shake violently, and he couldn't help but open his eyes wide again.
He had actually transmigrated and reborn into an Immortal World!
Zhou Chun couldn't doubt the authenticity of these memories because whether it was the wolves eating the human corpse or the ancient-style clothes on the corpse and his own body, all indicated that this was real.
At this time, to consider why he would transmigrate after merely sleeping seemed utterly meaningless.
The immediate priority was how to ensure his survival in this world.
From the memories, it appeared to be a world of Cultivation, possessing divine skills and magical abilities, and the original owner of this body was indeed a Cultivator.
With this in mind, Zhou Chun immediately began to search through the vast memory for useful information.
Soon, with a slight glint in his eye, he found a way to drive away the two wolves.
He reached with effort towards his chest, and from within the clothes' pocket, he fumbled and pulled out a waterproof oil paper package.
Zhou Chun let out a low roar, startling the two wolves into puffing up their fur, immediately stopping their feast to turn and look in his direction.
Yet, when they saw that the supposed dead person on the ground was glaring angrily at them, a hint of horror flashed through the wolves' eyes.
However, they quickly realized that the person on the ground seemed to be all bark and no bite, not even able to stand up.
This realization made their eyes flash fiercely, and they immediately flanked Zhou Chun, ready to pounce.
But just as the wolves were about to leap onto Zhou Chun and go for his throat, he forcefully lifted his arm and scattered the contents of the opened oil paper package.
Instantly, a cloud of pungent, fishy-smelling, yellowish-brown powder scattered out, coating half of Zhou Chun's body.
The wolves that were charging stumbled as if struck by thunder at the smell, their limbs going weak as they whimpered and hastily turned tail to flee, soon disappearing from the ravine in a cloud of dust.
Thus, with the help of a pack of Beast Repelling Powder left by his predecessor, Zhou Chun successfully drove off the two wolves and averted danger.
This only reinforced his belief in the abilities of Cultivators, which he obtained from the memories.
Half a day later, having regained some strength, Zhou Chun had crawled to the creek to quench his thirst, and he also sorted out a portion of the memories, understanding why he was here.
It turned out that his predecessor was also named Zhou Chun, a disciple of the Sanjue Sect, a Cultivation sect.
The Sanjue Sect was strange; although it was a sect that recruited Mortals with Spiritual Root Aptitude as disciples,
the real power of the Sanjue Sect was always in the hands of the Li, Zhou, and You families, who were Cultivators.
This so-called Sanjue Sect was jointly established by the ancestors of these three families.
After more than seventeen hundred years of inheritance, the current Sanjue Sect faced a great crisis and had to relocate the sect to avoid disaster.
Zhou Chun and the half-eaten corpse, Li Han, were disciples from the Zhou and Li families within the Sanjue Sect, respectively, and each knew the other.
During the sect's relocation and escape from calamity, the two met and quickly agreed to travel together.
But the two friends, who were initially supporting each other, turned against one another over a treasure they found on the way, coming to blows and ultimately perishing together in an unknown ravine.
If Zhou Chun's soul hadn't suddenly transmigrated and taken possession of the body, both Cultivators' corpses likely would have fed the wolves.
Having understood the course of events, Zhou Chun couldn't help but reflect on the perilous nature of the Cultivation World and warned himself to always be wary and not repeat the same mistakes as these two had.
After getting the basic situation straight, using the memories and the muscle memory of his body, Zhou Chun quickly entered a meditative state to begin recovering his Mana.
His body had exhausted all its Mana in the life and death battle earlier; otherwise, he wouldn't have had to use the Beast Repelling Powder to drive away the wolves.
After about six hours of meditation and Cultivation, Zhou Chun finally recovered about sixty percent of his Mana.
His cultivation level had originally been at the sixth level of the Qi Refinement Realm, and with sixty percent of his mana, he was already capable of casting some spells, at least he no longer had to worry about being injured by wild beasts.
However, when Zhou Chun finished his meditation and opened his eyes, he could feel a faint prickling pain in the acupuncture points within his body and an inexplicable agitation rising from somewhere.
"Is it because I directly absorbed and refined nature's spiritual energy, causing my mana to be contaminated with Evil Qi?"
Gently rubbing his temples, he forcefully suppressed that frenzied urge, and Zhou Chun's eyes slightly darkened as he was quite clear about the cause of this condition.
Ever since the ancient times tens of thousands of years ago, when the Immortal World experienced the Immortal Demon War, the nature's spiritual energy of this world had been polluted by Evil Qi.
If a cultivator absorbed and refined nature's spiritual energy containing Evil Qi, their mana would be contaminated and it would become difficult to remove.
And if one absorbed too much Evil Qi, not only would they easily enter demonic frenzy during cultivation, but the cultivator's mind would also become maddened and twisted by the erosion of Evil Qi, turning into a mad Evil Cultivator.
Therefore, until now, unless absolutely necessary, no cultivator would refine nature's spiritual energy without the protection of a Spirit Cleansing Formation.
But the setup of a Spirit Cleansing Formation is not easy, and to maintain its operation is extremely resource-intensive, beyond the reach of any but those powerful cultivation sects and families.
So up to now, being able to cultivate in a place protected by a Spirit Cleansing Formation has also become a difficult matter for cultivators.
Even a sect cultivator like Zhou Chun would have to bear a certain cost for this privilege.
However, Zhou Chun still insisted on meditating to restore mana first, naturally, he had his plans.
Firstly, he was in an unfamiliar area at this time, completely void of mana, which was very unsafe.
Secondly, purging and purifying the Evil Qi in one's body might be difficult for others, but for him, who now exclusively possessed that treasure, it was very easy.
Zhou Chun reached out and slapped his storage pouch, taking out a cyan-black jar and opened its wooden lid.
This cyan-black jar was only about one foot tall with dark green patterns both inside and outside, and it had two curved handles on either side for easy two-handed lifting and holding.
Inside the jar now was a full jar of Spirit Water, shining with a blue glow.
Zhou Chun, looking at the Spirit Water in the jar, hesitated not a moment before he greedily guzzled a large mouthful.
The slightly icy Spirit Water went down his throat into his belly, quickly dispersing the pent-up agitation.
As the effects of the Spirit Water spread, the prickling sensation in his acupuncture points also quickly faded away.
The so-called Evil Qi was completely purged and purified by the Spirit Water with its powerful cleansing ability.
Indeed, this jar that could produce Purification Spirit Water on its own was the very "root of all evils" that caused Zhou Chun and his good friend Li Han to turn against each other with swords drawn.
Both had discovered the object together, but Zhou Chun had gotten his hands on it first.
And when the two of them found out about the use of the object, the seed of calamity was sown.
According to their experiments, as long as the jar was left uncapped and placed outside, it would produce a jar of Spirit Water every seven days on its own.
This Spirit Water possessed powerful purifying properties, able to easily purify Spiritual Medicines and Spirit Ores contaminated with Evil Qi, cleanse Demon Beasts polluted by Evil Qi, and even purge Cultivators' own Evil Qi contamination!
For cultivators in the present age, the significance of such a treasure was crystal clear in their minds.
Thus, although they both spoke of offering the object to the Sanjue Sect for rewards after reaching the new headquarters of the sect, in reality, both harbored the thought of silencing the other to possess the treasure for themselves.
Neither had anticipated that in the end, it would lead to mutually assured destruction.
Now, the treasure had unexpectedly fallen into the hands of Zhou Chun who had been reborn through transmigration.
Having used the Purification Spirit Water to cleanse the Evil Qi within his body, Zhou Chun proceeded to carefully store the cyan-black jar, then began cleaning up the battlefield.
He collected several magic artifacts scattered on the ground into his storage pouch, buried Li Han's remaining half-corpse, and took his storage pouch along with some useful items.
He then located the corpse of a green-furred leopard in the nearby woods, based on his memory.
This Demon Beast, known as the Windshadow Leopard, was a Spirit Beast reared by Zhou Chun, its strength comparable to that of a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator of the fifth level.
But due to Li Han's surprise attack, this loyal Spirit Beast hadn't even been able to exert its full strength before it permanently fell right here.
Zhou Chun, looking at the corpse of the Spirit Beast that had died defending its master loyally, felt gratitude in his heart and bowed deeply as a sign of respect.
Then, he cast a spell to cremate it on the spot, to prevent its remains from being gnawed on by other beasts.
Having completed all this, Zhou Chun finally strode out of the mountain forest.