Chapter 1

"Ahem... Ahem......"

A violent coughing fit echoed, and Lu Fan felt an unbearable pain in his chest, even struggling to catch his breath. Due to severe oxygen deprivation, his mind was also somewhat dazed and listless.

This feeling of being ill was quite unbelievable to Lu Fan. Since he started practicing internal martial arts with his father, he hadn't been sick for a long time.

Taking a deep breath, as the dizziness in his mind gradually subsided, he sat up, and his vision, which had been blurry, gradually became clear.

What he saw before him was not his familiar bedroom, but a room that looked extremely simple and even somewhat ancient.

An old wardrobe, a bed that appeared somewhat old and stained with blood, a dark blue robe on the table and chair, and a finely crafted waist knife hanging beside it—there were almost no other large items.

Lu Fan didn't pay much attention to these things. At this moment, he was holding his chest, his eyes slightly lowered, and then he spread his palm, which was covered with dark red blood.

Pulling aside the blood-stained nightshirt, Lu Fan looked down and saw a long, bloody wound on his chest, which was both terrifying and ghastly.

Reaching back to touch his back, he found a similar-sized wound on the back of his chest.

"This wound... it was pierced through the chest by a short blade or similar weapon!"

Since he had practiced internal martial arts from a young age, he was also adept with weapons like swords, spears, and halberds. In an instant, he made an accurate judgment.

"One strike to kill, no signs of resistance, it must have been killed in sleep, and the blood hasn't dried yet, so the murderer probably left not long ago!"

While thinking, Lu Fan picked up a copper mirror from the bedside.

The light was still dim, just as the sky was about to brighten. With the faint light, he vaguely saw himself in the mirror.

Wearing a white nightshirt, with hair reaching his shoulders, and a handsome face, he looked almost exactly like himself.

The only difference was that the figure in the mirror, although tall and muscular, looked like a teenager of about sixteen or seventeen, about ten years younger than Lu Fan himself.

On his chest, a patch of dark red blood was particularly noticeable, looking very eerie in the dim room.

"Being pierced through the chest, I must be dead beyond any doubt!"

Lu Fan looked down at the wound on his chest, but at this moment, the wound had stopped bleeding and was healing at a visible rate.

Even when he placed his hand on his chest, he could clearly feel his heart beating vigorously and rapidly.

"So, my current situation is that I've traveled through time? The healing of the wound is a benefit of time travel?"

As a young person of the new era who has read web novels, anime, and movies, Lu Fan was naturally familiar with time travel.

However, the sudden occurrence of time travel was still hard for him to accept.

He had practiced internal martial arts since childhood and was still striving to reach the legendary level of internal martial arts, the "Transformation of Strength," but in the blink of an eye, he had traveled through time?

"Could it be that I failed to break through the 'Transformation of Strength' and died from a mental breakdown, so I traveled to this body?"

After a moment of deep thought, Lu Fan dispelled the various thoughts in his mind.

How he traveled through time was no longer important; what mattered was how to get through the current dangerous situation.

Clearly, the previous owner of this body was assassinated. If the assassin found out that he had suddenly come back to life, a new round of assassinations would likely begin!

The enemy was in the dark, and he was in the light. The number and strength of the enemy were unknown, and the reason for the assassination was also unknown. The current situation was extremely dire for Lu Fan.

After carefully searching the room, he found no signs of damage to the door or windows. It was clear that the murderer, after killing the target, calmly handled all the traces before leaving.

"Either the murderer was hiding in the room in advance and killed me in my sleep, or it was a familiar person who did it!"

As various speculations flashed through his mind, Lu Fan picked up the dark blue robe on the table. In the next moment, a token and a small notebook-sized booklet fell onto the table.

Picking up the token, the three powerful and ancient characters "Jinyiwei" (Imperial Guard) appeared before his eyes. On the back of the token, there were two smaller characters, "Zongqi" (Chief Flag).

"Jinyiwei Chief Flag? So, I'm a lower-ranking officer with some status!"

Lu Fan was naturally familiar with the Jinyiwei, a special profession that struck fear into the hearts of people during the Ming Dynasty.

"From this, it seems I have traveled to the Ming Dynasty. As for which emperor is on the throne..."

He picked up the small booklet on the table, and the three red characters "Wuchang Bu" (Book of Impermanence) appeared on it.

At the bottom of the booklet, there were two smaller characters, "Lu Fan."

"Lu Fan?"

He touched his chest, which no longer felt any pain, and took a deep breath, organizing his thoughts.

"Looking almost exactly like me at sixteen or seventeen, and even having the same name. Could this be the reason why I traveled to this body?"

Flipping through the booklet, rows of slightly messy text appeared on the pages.

"January 5, Tianqi Year 7, on duty for night patrol, nothing happened."

"February 11, Tianqi Year 7, captured two bandits, handed over to the relevant department for trial."

"March 15, Tianqi Year 7, on duty for night patrol, nothing happened."

"April 7, Tianqi Year 7, a murder case occurred in Mingshi Fang, investigated and found to be a civilian dispute, handed over to the Six Fans for further investigation."

...

Page by page, the content of the Book of Impermanence seemed to be normal work records, with no apparent issues.

But with the faint light, Lu Fan noticed something.

One of the pages had a tear mark!

"It seems this is the real reason why my body was killed!"

Lu Fan had a general idea. Clearly, the previous owner of this body had recorded something that shouldn't have been recorded and was secretly eliminated!

"Tianqi Year 7..."

Lu Fan rubbed his forehead. If his memory served him right, the Ming Emperor Tianqi seemed to have fallen into the water while boating this year and died shortly after.

The throne ultimately fell to his younger brother, Prince Xin, who is famously known as the "Old Twisted Tree" and "Hanged on the Southeast Branch" Zhu Youjian—Emperor Chongzhen!

Staring at the torn page in the Book of Impermanence, at this moment, Lu Fan had a vague sense of understanding. It seemed he had stumbled into a major issue!

"Knock, knock, knock!"

At this moment, a knock came from outside the door. The sound was not loud, but in the dim night, it was abnormally clear.