He had only taken a nap, so how did he end up in someone else’s body???

Just a moment ago, he was still a noble of Ravenwood. He had just set down the jade wine cup at the winding stream banquet and donned his cloak to return home.

Ravenwood had seen two days of continuous snow with no sign of stopping, making the roads difficult to traverse. He was tall, and the servant struggled to hold the umbrella, tilting it this way and that.

Unable to bear it, he took the umbrella and held it himself, tossing the jade hand warmer from his sleeve over to the servant. The servant was both startled and flattered all the way home.

The people at the residence had already prepared a bed warmer in his room, making it so cozy that he felt drowsy as soon as he entered.

He remembered casually pulling out a volume of folk tales and leaning by the couch to read.

Outside the window, a winter sparrow landed on the flower bell, making it jingle.

He listened and watched, and somehow, with his head propped up, he drifted off to sleep...

When he was startled awake by noisy voices and opened his eyes again, he found himself in this hellish place—

All around was a vast expanse of water, shrouded in thick fog.

In the center of the water stood a single withered tree, standing alone. Beneath the water, indistinct shapes could be seen—pale blue-white short branches.

At first, he thought they were the white corals that had once been all the rage in Ravenwood. Looking closer, he realized they were all human arms.

All human arms...

And he was standing barefoot on a branch of the withered tree that looked like it could snap at any moment, with nowhere to steady himself.

...

And the wind was blowing at him.

And he was swaying.

And his hands were covered in blood.

God knows how much he wanted to curse at that moment.

In stories and books, when people close their eyes, it’s always “suddenly dreaming of youthful days,” but for him, it turned into “possessed by a ghost.”

Oh, wrong.

He was the one possessing the ghost.

Thanks to the chattering people on the shore, before he could say anything wrong, he managed to figure out the most important points—

This hellish place was called the Northern Region of Canglang, a place specifically for imprisoning demons.

He was the demon that had been locked up.

The people on the shore seemed to be his former subordinates. When one of them barged in, he was even dragging half a bloody corpse, which he kicked into the water without a change of expression.

Clearly, none of them were good people.

Surrounded by such people, could he say, “I’m not the original owner”?

If he did, those supposedly loyal subordinates would probably turn on him instantly, tear him in half, and toss him into this pool of dead water.

So he could only wash the blood from his hands while carefully probing them for information.

After probing for most of the day, all he got was “City Lord, I was wrong,” “City Lord, I’ll shut up,” and “ptui.”

What a pain.

***

He was still plotting in his mind when suddenly a commotion was heard.

It was hard to make out through the thick, iron-like mountain wall, but at first listen, it sounded like countless people had surrounded the place, drawing their swords.

Amidst the noise, he could vaguely hear people saying things like “What are we waiting for?” and “that demon.”

Before the words had faded, there was a loud clang. Fragments of black iron and dark stone tumbled down, and the gloomy, endless cold pool shook violently as if the earth itself was moving—

The jolt made Logan Barrett grab the nearest branch for support.

“……”

The subordinates on the shore were listening intently to the sounds beyond the mountain wall, brows furrowed, faces grim.

“This doesn’t sound good.”

“It looks like all the sects have come.”

“They were bound to come. Don’t they always treat this Northern Region of Canglang as their lifeblood?”

“How does the saying go? The last place in the world that can suppress evil demons and filth—of course they treat it as their lifeblood.”

“Ha, so what? It’s still come to this.”

Boom!

Another crash. The mountain wall still seemed as solid as iron, but the tremors were growing stronger.

“This won’t do. At this rate, they’ll break in soon! City Lord, we—” The subordinates turned back, but their words trailed off.

They saw Logan Barrett with his eyes lowered, fingers holding a freshly snapped withered branch.

Subordinate: “?”

“Us what? Go on.” Logan Barrett seemed to be just toying with the branch, glanced at it twice, then lost interest and tossed it into the water.

The subordinates stared at the branch floating quietly on the water, all looking a bit apprehensive.

After all, everyone knew that anything touched by this great demon—even a single drop of water—was something to be feared.

“Us…” One subordinate licked his dry lips, his gaze still involuntarily flicking toward the branch. “We need to get out of here, fast.”

“That’s right, City Lord. Strange phenomena have appeared in the Northern Region of Canglang these past two days, and rumors say the end is near. The sects are afraid this place will collapse, so of course they can’t sit still—they’ve all rushed here.”

Half of them want to save what they can.

The other half are afraid the demon locked inside isn’t quite dead yet.

In this situation, if the two sides meet, it’ll be a real battle. Just thinking about it gave the subordinates a headache.

They were about to urge him again when Logan Barrett spoke: “So you’re all so flustered and panicked because you can’t win?”

Subordinate: “……”

They definitely couldn’t nod to that.

“City Lord, those disciples outside aren’t even worth mentioning,” said the oldest one.

The person beside him was silent for two seconds, then turned to stare at him: “?”