Starting with the frog, he has ruled for eternity.

Chapter 1 Croak, the Dao is Ruthless

The hot wind was like fire, and the sun hung high in the sky.

croak.

When Fang Yuan opened his eyes, he found himself inside a huge box, like a carriage. He was perched on the head of a little girl, who was quite active, and her clear voice was deafening.

Beside the girl were a blurry group of figures.

It was hard to see clearly, but occasionally you could see a large, moving black shadow, like the little girl's father.

Glug~ quack~!

Not a dream.

Quack~

Fang Yuan let out a soft croak; he knew he couldn't go back.

I was transported to this world by a college graduate who had been looking for a job and working as a food delivery driver for just two years.

Sigh... Who would have thought that after just one all-nighter, I would wake up as a tadpole, and after going through many hardships, it has now been five months.

quack...

Fang Yuan sniffed the air; there was the aroma of wine, the fragrance of pancakes, and the smell of fried dough sticks.

Unfortunately, he couldn't eat it.

quack...

Frogs lack the enzymes to process carbohydrates and complex fats in their digestive system.

Frogs can hardly eat any human food.

quack...

"Father, where are we going?"

Inside the carriage, the little girl beneath Fang Yuan looked at her father in a childish voice.

That was Fang Yuan's main family.

A little girl, about six or seven years old, had taken him from the field and raised him. Fang Yuan's vision was insufficient to help him discern what the little girl looked like; he could only rely on his sense of smell and hearing to distinguish his surroundings.

This is a girl with a very pleasant, faint plum blossom scent.

"We...we're going home. The place we were staying at before was Grandma's house. Now, we're going back to our home."

The little girl's father explained to her, and a large, fan-like hand reached out, habitually trying to rub his daughter's hair bun.

The shadow was so thick it blotted out the sun!

"Quack~ Quack~!"

Fang Yuan quickly opened his mouth and screamed in alarm.

You can't rub it!

He was still on the girl's head.

"Oh dear, Little Frog! Little Frog is still on your head! Daddy, don't rub it off!"

The enormous, shadowy hand paused in mid-air.

The force of the palm strike caused Fang Yuan's green skin to wrinkle slightly.

"Haha, Father forgot, forgot."

The blurry black figure let out a hearty but slightly awkward laugh, withdrew its large hand, and then waved it in the air as if to drive away the dust it had just stirred up.

"Our little girl treasures this little thing the most; Daddy won't touch it, he won't touch it."

The little girl hummed and carefully lifted Fang Yuan down from above her head, placing him in her soft, white hands.

Fang Yuan felt a soft, warm sensation beneath him.

"Croak..." Fang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

While this treatment might seem strange to a human, it must be said that for a frog, it was far better than living in constant fear in the wild.

God knows how he survived the previous five months.

The carriage fell silent again, with only the rumble of wheels over gravel.

The tempting aroma of fried dough sticks hadn't yet dissipated when Fang Yuan's stomach involuntarily twitched. As a human, he was craving it; but as a frog…

Even if he ate it, he wouldn't be able to digest it.

Just then—

hum... hum...

A faint sound of flapping wings rang out, but to Fang Yuan it was as loud as thunder.

It circled twice in the air, seemingly attracted by the crumbs of the pancake, and was about to slowly land on the carriage wall.

"These annoying flies! They seem to multiply again in the summer," the father complained, waving his hand and sending a gust of wind through the air, but the flies were clearly not to be trifled with!

He actually dodged it by flying upside down in the air!

Horror!

croak.

Well then, since the girl's father has asked for my help, I'll do my part.

Fang Yuan snorted coldly and looked at the flying insects in the sky.

It was blurry, like someone with severe myopia; only mosquitoes flying at high speed in the air could see it clearly.

Damn it! I've turned into a frog, and even my eyesight is deteriorating...

but……

Fly Gu, take this!

Quack! Watch as I, with my big tongue, seize it and refine it in an instant!

A long, red tongue flashed across the sky, and an insect was instantly swallowed by its belly.

Fang Yuan immediately began refining the fly gu.

The carriage fell silent again.

After a long while, the man showed some surprise.

"Huh!? Where did that annoying fly go in the blink of an eye?"

"Daddy, you're confused! It's Little Frog! Little Frog is a pro in the fields!"

"Oh! I forgot about this little thing!" The man chuckled and praised, "It's quite a clever frog."

"Quack."

Fang Yuan's lips twitched; he didn't want to be praised like that.

……

The carriage stopped shortly afterward.

The man lifted the carriage curtain, stepped out, and onto the bluestone road. The street was bustling with traffic, and there were also many sounds of horses' hooves.

The little girl carefully placed Fang Yuan back on her head, and then got off the train.

Then the father and daughter walked together into even greater shadows.

—It was probably a house, but Fang Yuan couldn't see it clearly. He could only hear the laughter of some female servants, which immediately fell silent when they saw their master return.

"Master Lu, you've finally returned home." A capable steward quickly stepped forward and bowed in greeting.

"Hmm. Has there been any unusual activity in the prefectural city recently? On my way home, I noticed that there were far fewer pedestrians." Master Lu handed his belongings to the other servants beside him and asked with a frown.

"Master Lu, you may not know this, but several dried corpses have appeared on the road from the south of the city to Qingmao Mountain. We don't know what kind of evil spirit is behind it..."

"South of the city? What trouble could possibly happen in that place?" Master Lu frowned, his tone turning somber as he urged him on.

The area south of the city is not the territory of the Lu family; it belongs to the Hu family next door. They occupy the mountain and establish a village, making them the second largest power in Lujiacheng.

Master Lu has always disliked them, but if something happens to them, the Lu family's profits will be significantly reduced.

"Ah, this is a long story..." the butler sighed and began to explain.

……

Fang Yuan lay on the little girl's head, straining his ears to eavesdrop. Although he had no ears, that didn't stop him from being extremely interested in the information about this world.

It's worth noting that although he traveled for nearly five months, it took him three or four months to transform from a tadpole into a frog.

After becoming a frog, it stayed in the field for several weeks until it was caught by this little girl and became her pet. Only then did it end its days of worrying about catching insects and what to eat every day.

During this time, he never came into contact with any humans in this world, let alone heard any news about them.

Moreover, these are rumors about monsters, gods, and ghosts; how could they not interest him?

Fang Yuan doesn't want to be a frog forever.

If there weren't some gods and ghosts in this world, how could he have started cultivating from scratch and transformed into human form?

Could it be that Fang Yuan is destined to be trapped in this frog's body, eating flies and mosquitoes all day long, just to eke out a living like this for the rest of his life?!

Moreover, the name "Hu Family of Qingmao Mountain" sounds very sinister!

The butler frowned and thought for a moment:

"One version says that it was a beast that looked like a human, which suddenly broke into the Hu family in the middle of the night, turned several of the younger generation into yellow liquid, and then sucked the others dry into corpses... I heard that the beast had fair skin, seemed to be a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, with long hair... but his face was sinister."

"I heard it was made by people from the Miao region using some kind of Gu worm..."

"Another theory is that a large number of black giant bears attacked Hu Family Village, carrying away several of them as snacks. The so-called dried corpses were just something the Hu family deliberately created because they didn't want to admit that they couldn't defeat the giant bears."

He was afraid he couldn't describe it clearly, so he deliberately gestured a couple of times, imitating the giant bear, puffing out his chest, raising his head, and baring his teeth.

"It is said that the giant bear was three to five meters tall and carried away several young girls."

"When I sent someone to ask, the survivor of the Hu family told me that this is how the demonic bear walked."

Giant bear...?

Miao insect gu?

There are many insects and beasts in Qingmao Mountain, which I have heard of, but I have never heard of giant bears and insect gu.

"They're probably just some charlatans pretending to be mysterious," Master Lu shook his head, unconcerned. "These kinds of tricks are common among江湖人 (jianghu people, people of the martial arts world). They probably robbed travelers, got a few killed themselves, and that's why this rumor is spreading."

He was used to this kind of plundering under the guise of ghosts and gods.

Every year there's one or two incidents, either in his hometown or somewhere else.

Besides, this isn't the first time the Hu family has caused such a stir at Qingmaoshan!

His ancestors were bandits who made a fortune before retiring and settling down in Lujiacheng.

"Master... this time it seems truly different." The steward's voice trembled slightly. "When our men went to investigate, the witnesses produced this... saying that at the place where the demon committed the murders, there were quite a few pieces of blood jade!"

The sound of fabric rubbing together rang out, and a small, bright red stone, about the size of a little fingertip, was presented to Master Lu.

"Isn't this just a piece of jade soaked in dye?" Master Lu chuckled and reached out to take it.

"But this bloodstone... it's so cold... ever since I got this thing, I've had nightmares for several nights in a row," the steward argued. "Besides, it was left behind by a giant bear. If something strange happens and attracts the bear's attention, then it would be a huge loss..."

"Where would you find so many giant bears? Besides, when have you ever seen a bear eat a person and then leave behind some blood jade?" Master Lu shook his head, unconvinced. "Does that bear know how to pay for its food? Does it leave behind a few pieces of blood jade as payment for each person it eats?"

"That's utter nonsense."

Moreover, saying there were only one or two pieces of blood jade is one thing, but they actually said there were quite a lot...

Where did that bear get so much jade? Could it possibly be mining jade in a mine?

"Daddy! Daddy! Can Nannan take a look?!" The little girl, filled with curiosity, tugged at Master Lu's sleeve and begged for the strange stone.

Fang Yuan lay on top of the girl's head, staring intently at the blood jade.

At the moment he got close, his frog-like heart skipped a beat.

The blood-red, hard stone transformed into a wisp of green smoke in just a few seconds, flying into the air and slowly dissipating...

In the dim light, one can also vaguely see the face of a strange young girl?

Ok?

This, this is!?

quack...

"Little frog? Stop calling me that..." The little girl pouted and gently poked Fang Yuan's head.

"You've made the jade look faded," she complained, then casually tossed the pebble aside.

"See, I told you, it's just a dyed stone at best! There's nothing special about it." Master Lu sighed, patted the servant's shoulder, and said, "You're always making a fuss over nothing."

"There aren't that many supernatural legends. What you encountered when you were a child might have been one case, but it's been decades and you haven't encountered a second one. Maybe you just remembered it wrong when you were a child."

Master Lu was talking with his servants.

The little girl pouted, staring unhappily at the red stain on her palm, wanting to find a place to rub it off.

Fang Yuan came to his senses and looked at the pebbles sliding in the air. The blood on them had completely disappeared... just like the small stones that could be seen everywhere on the roadside.

But he clearly saw the blood jade melt just now! What happened?

Fang Yuan felt a little uneasy, yet also somewhat delighted.

He vaguely understood something.

Perhaps supernatural beings and ghosts truly exist? Does this mean he might still be able to transform back into human form?

Just as he was thinking this, Fang Yuan suddenly stiffened.

A semi-transparent indigo frame suddenly appeared before my eyes.

Is... is a cheat system about to be released?!

All I could see was that it said:

Fangyuan —

Exercises: [Chinese Language] [Mathematics] [Writing] [Storytelling] [Breathing] [Sleeping] [Jumping] [Frog Croaking] [Tongue Trilling]...

This is……?

Deep Blue Modifier, is that you?!