Chapter One: Caught in the Middle

"Young Master, Young Master..."

It was the sweltering heat of September. Xu Feng was lying beneath a grapevine, enjoying the cool shade.

Suddenly, a panicked voice drifted over from a distance, drawing closer. He opened his eyes and looked ahead.

A thin, petite figure was rapidly approaching, panting heavily.

"Dong'er, what's wrong?"

The young maidservant's face was flushed red, and beads of sweat glistened on her forehead.

Without even stopping to wipe them away, she hurriedly reported to Xu Feng, "Young Master, this is terrible! The Miss—the Miss was just picked up again by that martial artist, Zuo Jincheng!"

Xu Feng froze, seemingly stunned into silence by the news.

Dong'er looked even more anxious than he did, words pouring out of her like beans from a jar: "Young Master, you must go and stop them! So many people at the gates just saw the Miss get into that lecher's carriage. If you leave now, you can still catch them!"

Hearing this, Xu Feng lay back down on his lounger without expression. He stared up at the dense green leaves overhead, his emotions unreadable.

He spoke calmly, "Dong'er, let me ask you a question. What is your mistress's status?"

The young maid froze, not understanding why her master was asking such a well-known question at a time like this.

Afraid of upsetting Xu Feng, she answered cautiously, "Um... the legitimate daughter of the Linglong Feng family?"

"And?"

"The heir to the Feng family's next generation, and a playmate of Princess Changle?"

Xu Feng asked again, "And what about Zuo Jincheng's status?"

"The young master of Mount Jianfeng, a seventh-grade martial artist, and one of the prominent leaders among the younger generation in the martial world..."

"And what about me, your young master?"

Dong'er stood in stunned silence, finally understanding his point.

He could not afford to offend his own wife, nor could he offend the man she was trysting with. So, he could only hide here!

The young maid suddenly looked aggrieved, deeply afraid that her master would think she had come to humiliate him. She apologized, "I'm sorry, Young Master."

Xu Feng did not mind. He smiled and pinched her cheek.

"Both of us are living under someone else's roof, so there is no point in dwelling on such things. Besides, this isn't the first time Feng Yuzhi has gone out for a tryst with her lover, Zuo."

Feng Yuzhi was his current wife.

The eldest daughter of the Linglong Feng family.

Six months ago, due to an accident, Xu Feng had traveled back in time to this ancient dynasty—one he had never heard of in any history book—and became a live-in son-in-law of the Feng family.

From the memories of his predecessor, he knew that he and Feng Yuzhi had not known each other before their marriage.

Feng Yuzhi was the eldest daughter of the Feng family, and the Fengs were one of the three great imperial merchant families of the Dashun Dynasty. Their ancestors had even married a princess.

Even now, they maintained close ties with the imperial family, making them a truly elite clan.

As for Xu Feng, he was merely the offspring of a fallen gentry family.

No one in his family had held a government post for generations. By the time the family line reached his father, they had been reduced to making a living by teaching in the countryside.

Climbing onto the Feng family's branches was purely a stroke of luck.

Last year, his father had sent him to Gusu to participate in the autumn examinations to obtain the rank of a provincial graduate. Because their ancestors had once saved the life of the Feng family's patriarch, his father brought him along to pay a visit, hoping to secure some favors.

Who would have thought that the Feng family was searching for a son-in-law at the time? Not only was Xu Feng handsome and elegant, but he was also a scholar who had passed the provincial examinations.

Combined with the history between their ancestors, the Feng family's matriarch took a liking to him at first sight.

To form an alliance with the Feng family, Xu Feng's elderly father naturally had no objections, and the two parties were quickly wed.

It was only after the wedding that Xu Feng learned his wife had only married him out of necessity. In truth, her heart already belonged to someone else.

Since the direct line of this generation of the Feng family only consisted of two daughters, Feng Yuzhi and Feng Yumian, and the vast family estate needed to be inherited and managed by their own bloodline, the eldest daughter, Feng Yuzhi, was chosen as the heir and could not marry out. Meanwhile, her younger sister, Feng Yumian, would be sent off for a political marriage in the future.

Otherwise, such overwhelming wealth would never have fallen into Xu Feng's lap!

However, it was only after the marriage that Xu Feng realized his situation in the Feng household was a far cry from what he had imagined.

First, because Feng Yuzhi could not marry her beloved Brother Zuo Jincheng, whom she had longed for for over a decade, she vented all her resentment onto Xu Feng.

From refusing to consummate the marriage on their wedding night to her constant coldness and harsh words afterward, she practically made it clear to the servants that as the eldest daughter of the Feng family, she disliked this live-in husband.

To curry favor with their mistress, the servants of the Feng residence also treated the young master with cold indifference, often mocking him behind his back.

After all, Feng Yuzhi frequently and brazenly went out to meet Zuo Jincheng in secret. Who knew what had transpired between them?

Only Dong'er, this young maid, maintained her unwavering warmth toward him.

Aside from that, if Feng Yuzhi was the second most hateful person toward Xu Feng in the Feng household, then the one who despised him the most was his sister-in-law, Feng Yumian.

This spoiled, vicious girl—whether out of pity for her sister marrying such a poor scholar or fear that he was after the Feng family fortune—frequently directed harsh and abusive words at her brother-in-law.

The most severe incident occurred six months ago during a poetry lantern festival. The girl had ordered someone to kick Xu Feng off a boat, causing him to drown and die.

Only then did the current Xu Feng, who had traveled through time, take over his body.

For all these reasons, Xu Feng naturally had no affection for the Feng family.

Even if Feng Yuzhi made a grand spectacle of going out to meet her lover, he did not care. He only felt a bit of pity for the original owner of this body.

It was bad enough being a live-in husband, but his wife didn't even bother to hide her infidelity!

Xu Feng sighed, looking at the downcast young maid beside him.

He smiled and said, "Dong'er, there's no need to tell me about such things in the future. If your mistress finds out, she certainly won't spare you."

Dong'er, however, did not seem to care much about that.

Instead, she rolled her eyes, and a sudden spark of inspiration struck her.

"Young Master, why don't you run away from home? Once the Miss finds out, she will surely be extremely anxious, and she definitely won't go out to meet Zuo Jincheng again!"

Xu Feng burst out laughing.

Run away from home?

He feared those two wretched women, Feng Yuzhi and Feng Yumian, would love nothing more than for him to do so, giving them a perfect, open excuse to divorce him.

He had no intention of doing something so foolish.

Leaving aside the fact that he didn't have to worry about food, shelter, or clothing in the Feng family, just having the identity of the Feng family's useless son-in-law gave him plenty of reason not to leave.

After all, his other identity now was that of a major wanted criminal by the imperial court!

This story went back to before his transmigration...

When the transmigration occurred, he was traveling on Mount Tai. He had encountered an old Taoist priest trying to sell him a banner.

The fellow had talked big, claiming the banner in his hand was called the Human Emperor Banner, capable of capturing the souls of evildoers to be used for oneself.

Xu Feng naturally didn't believe him. Putting aside why a "Human Emperor Banner" would harvest human souls, he had never heard of such a treasure in history.

Yet the old Taoist was persistent, insisting that he touch it to verify the authenticity of the material, claiming it was absolutely an ancient relic.

With no other choice, Xu Feng could only pretend to examine it. He never expected that a single touch would send him traveling through time!

By the time he woke up, he was already the Feng family's son-in-law, and the Human Emperor Banner had turned into a full-back tattoo on his spine.

With a mere thought, he could summon it.

However, its effects were not as domineering as those described in fantasy novels.

First, it could only absorb the souls of wicked people, and they had to be beaten to death before their souls could be absorbed.

Second, the absorbed souls did not possess any mysterious or profound abilities; they could only act like ghost thralls.

Whatever abilities they had in life, they retained in death.

The only difference was their ghostly form of appearance and their terrifying look.

Aside from this, the only direct benefit the Human Emperor Banner brought to Xu Feng was that upon absorbing a soul, he would obtain all of the target's abilities and memories.

Thus, after inheriting all the memories of his predecessor, the first thing he did was poison to death the Feng family guard who had been ordered by Feng Yumian to push him off the boat.

After converting him into a ghost thrall, Xu Feng inherited all of his martial arts cultivation and memories.

And so, on that very night, he transformed from a weak, frail scholar into a decent martial artist.

Afterward, under the pretext of touring Gusu City, Xu Feng would frequently search for traces of wicked people, killing them in secret and absorbing them into the Human Emperor Banner.

As he executed more and more evildoers, his cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds. However, his trail of killings was eventually noticed by the local authorities and the Six Doors.

Before long, he became a wanted criminal famous throughout the city of Gusu.

Because his methods were ruthless, his skills superb, and his actions highly secretive—never showing his face in public—he was given the martial world nickname of "the Ghost-Faced Man"!

It was also from then on that Xu Feng decided to continue playing the useless live-in son-in-law of the Feng family, using it as a cover for his identity as the Ghost-Faced Man.

For no other reason than to keep a low profile and develop his strength until he became invincible under heaven.

After all, although this world had no truly supernatural powers, some top experts in the martial world and the imperial court could reach a level of profound martial mastery.

There was always a higher mountain!

However, only he knew this information. To the outside world, his identity remained the live-in son-in-law of the Linglong Feng family.

Thus, in the face of Dong'er's idea of running away, he could only offer a bitter smile.

"Dong'er, stop playing around. It would be fine if I managed to get away, but if I were caught and brought back halfway, wouldn't that make me an even bigger laughingstock?"

"Alright then..." The young maid felt a bit dejected that she couldn't help her master.

Fortunately, seeing that he had no intention of ending his own life, she skipped away.

Leaving Xu Feng alone beneath the grapevine in the side courtyard, where he slept until the evening lanterns began to light up.

Once he was sure no one else would visit his small courtyard, he returned to his inner chamber and changed into a suit of black night attire.

Aided by the cover of night and his lightness skill, he slipped silently out of the vast Feng estate.