Chapter One: Rebirth

  Yuan Futong felt that his life had been a bit strange lately, with one thing constantly entangling him and starting to affect his life. As a seasoned "leftover man", his life was originally very simple and happy. At just 30 years old this year, he was already a first-class chef in a five-star hotel in the provincial capital. His life wasn't extremely wealthy but it was pretty good. He was also very satisfied with his work. As an orphan, he didn't have the pressure of supporting elderly parents, and although being too fat to find a girlfriend meant fewer expenses, it allowed him to invest more money into his hobby - antiques.

  But now the problem is triggered by this hobby. A year ago, Yuan Futong spent 200 yuan on a bright red jade pendant at the Ghost Market. At that time, he didn't understand the market and thought the jade was unique in shape, with a flame-like design that was very distinctive. As a young man who loved Jin Yong's "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" and was fascinated by the totems of the Ming Cult, Yuan Futong was easily persuaded by the vendor and bought it.

  Back to let friends who understand the industry appraise, the damaged one is a mess, it's just a piece of edge material. Paid tuition fees. Yuan Futong also liked this unique shape, so he hung it on his body with a hard heart. Remind yourself to be careful next time. The jade has been hanging like this all the time. Occasionally mention it to friends as a negative typical criticism.

  But later things became mysterious. After wearing the jade for half a year, it actually slowly became crystal clear, and the fire pattern looked particularly vivid. Hanging it on his body gave him a warm feeling. At first, Yuan Futong thought it was his own illusion, but when he compared it with the photos taken when he just bought it, he found that it looked much better than before. Yuan Futong asked his friend who was good at appraisal to take a look, but the friend didn't believe it was the original jade, saying that Yuan Futong had bought a new item to deceive him, and this new item must have cost tens of thousands of yuan, and was not in the same league as the original rough stone. He took several photos of the jade and posted them online to show off to his fellow enthusiasts.

  Yuan Futong fainted, and the jade pendant he had been wearing for half a year suddenly appreciated in value? It was too surreal. He decided to continue wearing it, as it felt comfortable and might even bring him good luck. With a positive attitude, his physical health also improved, and Yuan Futong indeed felt much better than before. However, his joy was short-lived, as trouble soon arrived. An acquaintance from the antique industry came to see him, offering 500,000 yuan for the pendant. Yuan Futong wasn't interested in selling, but the subsequent visitors left him perplexed - a wealthy businessman, an expert, a member of the underworld, and even national security agents showed up. Overwhelmed, Yuan Futong realized that the pendant was no ordinary item. He wanted to accept the national security agency's offer to buy it, but doing so would offend the other parties involved. In the end, Director Du from the national security agency guaranteed that they would resolve any future troubles for Yuan Futong, allowing them to finalize the deal. The national security agency purchased the jade pendant for 1 million yuan, promising to help Yuan Futong resolve any issues that might arise and ensuring that his life wouldn't be affected.

  The transaction was arranged in a villa outside the city, which Director Du said was a secret base for national security. Just as the two were about to exchange money and cards, they suddenly heard a loud rumbling sound outside, followed by a burst of flames shooting into the sky. Director Du leapt out of the gate and shouted loudly: "This is a key location for National Security Department 3! Who dares to cause trouble?"

  Yuan Futong hastily followed him out, and saw a black-robed Taoist flying in the air with his sword, with white hair and a youthful face, having an elegant and refined demeanor. He opened his mouth and said: "Heavenly born spiritual objects, those who are capable can obtain them, do you think your Dragon Group can get it while I, a poor Taoist, cannot?"

  Du Chuchang saw the newcomer and his face changed greatly: "It's actually Daozhang Xuanshin, Daozhang isn't afraid that Qingxu Daozhang will come out of the mountain after..."

  Xuan Xin Dao Ren's face was expressionless, and he didn't respond. A flame condensed in his hand. Du Chulang hastily turned around and pounced on the jade in Yuan Futong's hand, wanting to grab the jade and escape, but the flames had already engulfed him. Yuan Futong tightly hugged the jade to his chest, and as Du Chulang pounced on him, he too was implicated, and both of them were burned to ashes. However, a fiery light burst out from the ashes and shot up into the sky, disappearing in an instant.

  "Lingbao has acknowledged a master? How is that possible." Xuanxin Daoren exclaimed in surprise.

  Yuan Futong's soul was stupidly wrapped in flames, with only one thought: I'm filming, isn't this a movie?! Then he fell into darkness.

  It's just the right time when winter is going and spring is coming, ice and snow are melting, everything is recovering. A natural and pleasant scenery.

  The six major states of the Great Song Kingdom, Chu State is located in the southwest, and the south is the Suolong Mountain Range. The climate is warm and humid, although it's still early spring, it's already lush with grass and flying orioles, full of spring charm.

  The Xiulon Mountains are named after the legend of a divine dragon descending upon them. Although it is only a legend, the mountain range covers an extremely vast area and has rich natural resources. The outer periphery alone can sustain countless mountain villagers. The interior, which spans thousands of miles, is shrouded in clouds and mist all year round. Many hunters and woodcutters who venture deep into the mountains are unable to return. According to local legend, the interior is home to various demons and monsters, so even the mountain villagers dare not venture further inside.

  On the north side of Xiūlóng Mountain, there is a peak called Niútóu Fēng. A stream flows out from the mountain, and at the foot of the mountain, there is a village called Lǐjiā Zhuāng. The villagers are mostly hunters who make a living by hunting and gathering herbs. At the east end of the village, there is an outsider's home with only two people: an elderly woman surnamed Li and an eleven-year-old boy named Yuán Fútōng. The old lady was originally from the village but married into a wealthy family in Nánhùa City many years ago. Three years ago, she brought her grandson and some belongings back to the village and settled down in a few thatched cottages at the east end of the village. The boy is weak and afraid of the cold, so he cannot learn martial arts or archery. He spends his days reading books at home and rarely plays with the other children in the village. A few days ago, when Li's grandmother asked him to go out and play with some children from the village, he fell from a tree and lost consciousness. The children sent him back home, and after being treated by the village doctor, he woke up the next day without any major issues. However, the Yuán Fútōng who woke up was no longer the naive and weak boy he once was; his soul had merged with that of a "leftover man" from the new century who had traveled through time.

  When Yuan Futong woke up, he already knew what had happened to him. The popular transmigration event of the new century had occurred to him. After merging with the soul of this body now, Yuan Futong also roughly understood this world and made it clear that the original boy and leftover man were no longer there, and the current Yuan Futong would replace two people to live on. After being stunned for a day in silence, Yuan Futong finally sorted out his memories with the little boy and adjusted his mentality. No matter how things change, life must go on.

  This world and the earth are vastly different. Through the boy's memories, he came to understand that this is a world where martial prowess reigns supreme and technology has not advanced. Many people possess superhuman martial arts skills, like Li Ri, the head of the village hunters, who can lift massive boulders, draw powerful bows, and shoot arrows with unerring accuracy. He had also learned the basic internal exercises of the Yuan family's entrance techniques when he was young, although his body was not suitable for cultivation. However, he knew that there were powerful martial artists in this world, just like those exaggerated characters in Jin Yong's novels.

  More importantly, there existed cultivators who might be ruling this world. He did not know how large the world was, but the places he currently knew of were much larger than the land area of the earth. Many areas were desolate and uninhabited, with few people surviving. The population was concentrated in a few neighboring countries.

  His current identity was that of a member of the Yuan family from Nanhuacheng, Chuzhou, who had established their own independent household. His birth family, the Yuan family, was a branch of a cultivator clan and had its main household in the capital city of Chu State, where an ancestor sat in power, controlling the regional medicinal herb trade.

  The clan had many skilled martial artists, and they were meticulous about educating the children within the clan. Children from the clan would start reading at four years old and begin cultivating at seven. Every ten years, the main household of the Yuan family would select talented individuals under twenty years old from each branch to enter the main household and learn higher-level martial arts. Some people even received cultivator techniques.

  During the last selection, eight-year-old Yuan Futong was unable to cultivate basic martial arts and thus had no chance of entering the main household. His talent evaluation was also extremely poor. Although he would have another opportunity for assessment in ten years' time, nobody within the clan looked favorably upon him. This branch of his family did not have a strong presence, his grandfather having passed away many years ago, and his parents dying prematurely when he was young.

  As a result, Yuan Futong's treatment had plummeted. Since childhood, he had relied on his grandmother for support and did not want to spend the rest of his life in the clan, swallowing his pride. He left with his grandmother, taking some silver coins and a family identity plaque, establishing their own independent household.

  This was how the clan usually dealt with children who were deemed to have no future prospects or influence - they would give them one hundred taels of silver for settling down and consider their obligations fulfilled.

  The grandmother kept the one hundred and two silver coins she had received in a money house, intending to leave them for Yuan Fugong when he grew up. She relied on her own private money to support Yuan Fugong and often bought him warm and nourishing medicines to supplement his body. The days were a bit difficult, so they opened up some land, raised chickens and ducks, and worked very hard every day. However, the grandmother's care for him was meticulous, holding him close when he shivered with cold to keep him warm, buying books for him to study, and often finding children to play with him because she was afraid he would be too lonely. Although these three years were tormented by illness, he was happy. Yuan Fugong will continue to enjoy "his" happiness and wants to help his grandmother do something, after all, he is different from before.

  After lying down for a night, Yuan Futong thought through many things and discovered many more. The most important point was that his "past life" self had probably been very lucky, and the fire jade must have been an extraordinary treasure. It protected Yuan Futong's soul as he transmigrated, but since he hadn't cultivated before, his soul was weak and fell into the "enigma of the womb". This life should have been ordinary, but it was this treasure that helped him awaken his past life memories, nurturing them in his soul all these years, also making him understand a bit about the function of this treasure. Now he believed he could definitely help his only remaining relative - his grandmother. His original self had carried a cold toxin since he was in the womb, which should have been an injury his mother suffered while pregnant with him, and it still tormented him to this day. But now that it had transformed into a flame of fire jade on his chest, it gave him hope. After his past life memories awakened, the flame began to emit threads of warmth from his chest, flowing throughout his body, slowly clearing out the cold toxin that was tangled inside. Wherever the warmth reached, the cold toxin melted away, and the chill gradually dissipated. His body also became more comfortable, and he estimated it wouldn't take long for him to regain his health.

  "Now that I have this treasure, looking at the situation, it won't be long before I can clear out the cold poison in my body. At that time, I'll be able to learn martial arts and strengthen my physique just like a normal person. I'll be able to help Grandma with some chores, no need for her to work so hard like now. In my heart, I still have the Yuan family's secret martial arts manual. Although it's not some profound martial art, in this mountain village, it's enough. Later on, I'll go learn some archery skills from the village head, and I myself can support Grandma. Let her enjoy a peaceful old age."

  After everything was clear, Yuan Futong began to sit cross-legged, close his eyes and cultivate his spirit, trying to control the warm energy in his body. This warmth spread from his chest to his whole body, and Yuan Futong wanted to guide this energy into his meridians. He had tried to cultivate before, but previously there was cold poison lurking in his meridians, and he couldn't bear the chill after a short while. Now with Huo Yu supporting him, he followed the opening requirements of the Yuan family's internal skill "Three Yang Decision", trying his best to focus his mind, calm his spirit, and stabilize his heart. As soon as he found his thoughts drifting away, he immediately brought his attention back. Although the time it took to reach a state of calm was short, overall there were no big fluctuations. Sometimes when he couldn't calm down or keep his mind still, he would start again, repeating the exercise. As Yuan Futong slowly calmed his heart and spirit, the energy flowing from Huo Yu also slowly flowed into his meridians as he imagined, nourishing his meridians that had been invaded by cold poison for many years. In this way, Yuan Futong gradually entered a state of calmness, with his heart and spirit at peace, and his breath following his mind. Time passed bit by bit, and when he guided the energy to circulate in his body according to his heart method, forming a small microcosm, the energy began to flow slowly on its own, much more effective than before. This made Yuan Futong overjoyed, and he continued to guide with even greater dedication.

  Yuan Futong still didn't know that Huo Yu had already helped him a great deal. The Three Yang Decision, as the entrance method of the Yuan family, was not very outstanding in itself and was created by modifying the fire-based cultivation method "Three Yang Qi Refining Technique" used by a senior cultivator from the Yuan family many years ago. Its power was not prominent among various martial arts. However, it had a solid foundation, and for those with spiritual roots, after cultivating it, they would make rapid progress, and its effect was better than most of the absolute skills in the martial world. Therefore, letting the Yuan family's children cultivate the Three Yang Decision had the purpose of selecting those with spiritual roots.

  Yuan Futong's body had been troubled by cold poison before, so he couldn't cultivate it, and he didn't have much future in the family. He didn't want to be looked down upon, so he simply moved out with his grandmother. Ordinary people cultivating the Three Yang Decision would need three months to feel the energy, slowly transforming their internal power. Those with spiritual roots would also need about a month to generate internal power.

  Yuan Futong's qualifications were not bad, but it was impossible for him to complete this process in half a day and cultivate internal power. He thought that the thing he felt was not something he cultivated himself, but rather the pure spiritual energy emitted by Huo Yu. At first, it was impossible to guide the spiritual energy into his body, but Huo Yu's emission of spiritual energy inside his body didn't need to be absorbed from outside, and his soul was much stronger than ordinary people due to memory awakening, barely able to guide the spiritual energy to circulate in his body.

  The Three Yang Decision was modified from a basic cultivation method, so the route of spiritual energy circulation wasn't wrong either. That's why he could achieve the feat of circulating energy throughout his body for the first time. What flowed through his body now was not internal power but rather the spiritual energy that only cultivators had, which is why it had such a good effect on the cold poison.

  However, Yuan Futong knew nothing about all this.

  Unconsciously, the whole morning has passed. Feeling sore in both knees, I know this is because my body has been sitting for too long and my muscles can't adapt. I must exercise to make my muscles stronger so that I can sit better and practice qigong. Opening my eyes and getting up, I see grandma standing in front of my bed with a bowl of chicken soup.

  Grandma Li saw her grandson sitting cross-legged in meditation from early morning. Having witnessed this scene before, she knew that he was trying to cultivate his inner energy again. She went out and slaughtered a chicken, simmering the broth to await her grandson's return. In the past, each of her grandson's attempts at cultivation had brought on severe cold attacks, making him feel icy and miserable, but he never gave up. Cultivation was the only way for someone from a humble background like theirs to rise above their station in life and gain recognition. Without good martial arts skills, it was hard to become a respected member of society. Although she pitied her grandson, she also understood his motivations. After all, no one wanted to be a nobody their whole life. Reading books alone wasn't enough to achieve greatness, as this society demanded both literary and martial prowess from its scholars. Those who only knew how to read could at best become private tutors, with little hope of achieving great success in life. For the grandmother and grandson living in this mountain village, reading was even less useful. Their previous plan had been for him to study under the village's doctor, Li Jin, for a few years before eventually being able to make a decent living after he turned 100. Grandma Li had never stopped her grandson from trying to cultivate his inner energy because Yuan Fotong was an ambitious child who wouldn't be happy if he wasn't allowed to try. She simply quietly took care of the household chores, hoping to reduce her grandson's suffering, both physical and mental.

  But today, Yuan Futong sat for a whole morning, and his body didn't shiver. His face didn't turn pale like before, but instead slowly turned red. His pale skin gradually regained its color, and his expression was very calm, not like the suffering look he had before. Slowly, a comfortable expression appeared on his face. Grandma Li was holding chicken soup and was wondering when Yuan Futong opened his eyes and said to her, "Grandma, I can cultivate now, and our days will get better from now on."

  Grandma was stunned, put down the bowl of soup, and hugged Yuan Futong, crying softly. The newly born Yuan Futong comforted Grandma gently, but his tender face was filled with determination.