Volume 1 Chapter 1 Cruel Reality

  "If you want to practice this skill, you must first harm yourself!"

  Li Xiao is an internet celebrity, and can also be said to be a past tense one.

  He was a genius in the eyes of his teachers and classmates since he started school, also the "child from another family" that parents loved to use as an example to educate their own children.

  Li Xiao has a photographic memory, a magical ability that seems to only exist on TV. It has been with him since birth and has never failed him.

  With an inflated sense of self-confidence, Li Xiao once thought he could rival the ancient sages and in the future instruct all living things, leaving behind a legendary story.

  So under his insistence, he started making a living in society as soon as he graduated from high school.

  However, the cruelty of society made Li Xiao realize what reality is.

  For a whole year, Li Xiao searched through over a hundred companies, but unfortunately no company was willing to hire someone who hadn't even attended college.

  Finally, Li Xiao's talent was discovered by someone and spread wildly on the internet, causing a stir among countless netizens.

  Even so, Li Xiao appeared on TV and became the latest internet sensation, being hailed as a memory master. Li Xiao thought that his chance had come, this was the best opportunity to turn things around!

  Unfortunately, his fame was short-lived and he was forgotten again after being popular online for less than a month.

  To survive, Li Xiao looked for a job again, but except for those physically demanding jobs, no company was willing to hire him!

  Years of failure and setbacks had thoroughly defeated the young man. With a little support from his parents, Li Xiao barely managed to make ends meet, feeling like a useless person, a parasite on society.

  Yesterday's green plum and bamboo horse's first love, has graduated from university, to the age of talking about marriage. Li Xiao still achieved nothing, until that day...

  In the sky, it was gloomy and somber, dark clouds like black dye poured into this clear water of the sky, instantly making the sky overcast.

  The rumbling thunder reminded Li Xiao that he had to find a place to take shelter from the rain, otherwise what awaited him was a torrent of fierce raindrops.

  Just as Li Xiao was in a state of panic, he happened to see several members wearing special forces uniforms digging something.

  Then a mouthful of black bronze cauldron was dug out. To avoid the rain, members of these troops had to leave with their belongings as soon as possible.

  Taking advantage of the night, Li Xiao hid in a dark place, curiously observing.

  Rumble...

  A brilliant flash of lightning illuminated the surroundings, making it possible for Li Xiao to clearly see the forty-nine small characters on top of the bronze tripod.

  With his extraordinary talent, Li Xiao remembered the contents on the bronze tripod in just a few seconds before the thunder exploded. Then, for some reason, a thick and heavy thunderbolt suddenly fell from the sky, hitting the black bronze tripod right on target, releasing an intense shockwave!

  Li Xiao was startled and hastily retreated.

  When everything calmed down, Li Xiao looked again and found that the bronze cauldron was actually blown to pieces, and several members of the special forces were also injured on the ground.

  Soon, Li Xiao's figure was discovered by those people, and several special forces members handed him over to the police station for interrogation. Not long after that, Li Xiao was released again.

  Those forty-nine ancient characters were firmly imprinted in Li Xiao's memory.

  To translate this completely incomprehensible ancient script, Li Xiao spared no effort, consulting countless ancient texts, and finally got the whole thing.

  "To master this skill, one must first harm oneself!"

  This is the first sentence of forty-nine ancient characters, and Li Xiao also understood the name of this ancient scripture - "Zi Can Zhen Jing".

  In order to cultivate this scripture and reawaken the saintly dream he had always had, Li Xiao tried every means to polish himself, but found that there was no improvement at all.

  At this time, his childhood sweetheart and first love, who had already entered the marriage hall with someone else, would no longer have any connection with him.

  The great river of fate has always been turbulent, Li Xiao got drunk for three days, and then seemed to have abandoned all his burdens, appearing in the only place name in the ancient classics, that is, the legendary Xianshan Kunlun.

  The Kunlun Mountains actually stretch across Xinjiang and Tibet, Li Xiao searched for half a year and finally found a clue, which was the same era as the ancient scriptures - the year.

  The ancient scriptures did not have this word. Li Xiao also checked the hundred books for translation of ancient scriptures, and only then knew that this word was "year".

  The word was printed on a mountain peak, the entire font seemed to be born naturally, composed of several mountain body cracks. If Li Xiao didn't pay special attention to this font, it would be impossible to find.

  But just as Li Xiao reached the top of the peak, a huge seal suddenly lit up and wrapped around his body, disappearing without a trace.

  Li Xiao opened his eyes and recalled everything.

  "Second brother, let's eat."

  The speaker was a middle-aged man, about forty years old, with a slightly hunched back.

  Dark skin with marks left by the years, a wooden square table was placed, a hand pulled over a wooden stake-like thing, and sat down lightly.

  The wooden table was extremely worn out, as if it had been eroded by the years. The entire table only held a single piece of wood-like object, resembling a plate, with several sweet potato-like foods placed on top, still emitting steam.

  As the middle-aged man's thick voice fell, a young fellow who looked only sixteen or seventeen years old, with patches all over his hemp garment, came out of the house. It was Li Xiao.

  Without saying a word, Li Xiao picked up a piece of food and swallowed it quickly, as if he was extremely hungry, completely disregarding the temperature of the food.

  "Slow down, there's more."

  A middle-aged man reminded Li Xiao, but didn't start eating yet.

  Li Xiao gradually stopped and looked at the middle-aged man, as if asking him why he wasn't eating.

  "You eat first, I'm not hungry yet."

  A middle-aged man flashed a faint smile, then immediately retracted it, as if everything was difficult to make him happy.

  Soon, Li Xiao finished eating and nodded at the middle-aged man before returning to the house. The middle-aged man then devoured the remaining two fist-sized portions of food on the table in big mouthfuls.

  Li Xiao has an independent room.

  A simple wooden house, already somewhat dilapidated, and if it rains, there is no doubt that the whole house will leak.

  The place where he slept was just a clay platform with some soft dry grass on it, and that was Li Xiao's bed.

  When he first woke up, Li Xiao found himself appearing here, and even had some strange memories in his mind.

  My mind is like it's been asleep for countless years, and I feel a little strange about everything. Er Gou, that's my current name. Of course, it's not a great name, just a nickname given by Li Xiao, this family is really too poor, according to the father of this body, there's no need to have a great name at all.

  The middle-aged man just now is the father of Er Gou. The relationship between the two was originally very good, but when Er Gou was 16 years old, his father told him something that caused their relationship to break down completely.

  Since childhood, Er Gou has always lived with his father and never saw his own mother.

  But that day, Er Gou's father finally told him. They were not originally living in this village, but residents of a small town far from here. Just after Er Gou was born, a great disaster swept through the entire town, and all the inhabitants could no longer survive. For the sake of survival, they left there, including Er Gou's parents.

  Because nearby villages were also troubled by the locust plague, Er Gou and his family, along with countless refugees, had no choice but to travel far away in search of a way to survive.

  The mother of Er Gou died of starvation due to lack of food on the way. But if that was really the case, Er Gou would not have any complaints.

  In fact, in order for Er Gou and his father to survive, Er Gou's mother asked to die herself.

  They didn't bring much food, and if they followed the original route, it would be very difficult for Er Gou's family to survive. But heaven seemed to want to make things even harder for this struggling family, as Er Gou's mother suddenly fell ill, making it even more difficult to walk with the little food they had, not to mention carrying young Er Gou and his ailing mother, which basically sealed the death sentence for this poor family.

  As a result, Er Gou's father resolutely took the young Er Gou and left that place. After several months of trekking, they finally arrived at this small village and settled down here.

  The Second Dog understood that, given the circumstances at the time, abandoning his mother was the best option. However, emotionally, the Second Dog had lacked maternal love since childhood and had an unbreakable bond with the mother he had yet to meet. His father, who had heartlessly abandoned his mother's life, undoubtedly played the role of a murderer, making it impossible for the Second Dog to accept.

  In the end, Er Gou chose to end his own life, jumping into a nearby river. He thought he would disappear from the world, but unexpectedly gave birth to Li Xiao's consciousness.

  "Is this really all there is to Er Gou's life? Perhaps it can be said that poverty and hardship were originally meant to be my fate."

  Li Xiao leaned against the soft hay, as if he had seen his parents in another world, and suddenly found that he had too many entanglements.

  For Er Gou's father, Li Xiao had no deep resentment. It was just that the sudden appearance of his father was difficult for him to accept with a clear conscience. Whether it was the other person's affection or the strictness filled with care, Li Xiao couldn't face it, and all he could do was escape.

  The sky gradually darkened.

  At this time, winter has already arrived. The cold wind blew through the gaps in the wooden house and into the room, and the sound of the wind outside could be faintly heard.

  Li Xiao pulled the hemp quilt tightly around him and found it hard to fall asleep. The cold temperature made him shiver, but after half a year of living like this, he had gotten somewhat used to it.

  "Bang Bang——"

  The simple wooden door was knocked with a loud thud, and several thick voices entered the room.

  "Damn it! On a cold day like this, I still have to pay taxes. It's going to be the death of me! Old Yuan, you scoundrel, hurry up and open the door for your grandfather, or I'll freeze to death!"

  Outside the door came the sound of scolding, in Er Gou's memory, this was the most hated and feared speech, also at this time every year.

  "It's coming! It's coming!"

  Lao Yuan is the name of Li Xiao's father, and Yuan is not the surname of Er Gou's father, but he has been called that since childhood. Since young, Er Gou's father's family was also poor, so they didn't have a big name either. They were called Little Yuan, until now, when it changed to Old Yuan.

  The father who had not fallen asleep yet got out of bed, took a breath of cool air in his mouth, and hurriedly ran over to pull open the wooden door tied with wooden bars. At this time, several strong men broke in through the door, kicked Old Yuan to the ground with one foot, and spat saliva directly onto his face!

  "This old thing that refuses to die is finally opening its door for me now, how infuriating!"

  The leader, a burly man with a long scar under his eye, looked ferocious and swung down the thick whip in his hand, cracking it loudly. He lashed out several times at Old Yuan's body, leaving faint bloodstains visible. The big man was still not satisfied, kicking him several more times before spitting on the ground and finally stopping.

  "You damned old thing, hand over this year's harvest at once, or I'll wipe you out!"

  The great Han's face was ferocious, as if he wanted to pounce on someone and devour them.

  Lao Yuan finally had time to catch his breath, hastily nodded in agreement, and without minding the pain, hobbled into the inner room, carefully picking up a bag of grain.

  Li Xiao was also startled awake by the commotion and walked to the entrance of the house, looking at these few big men.

  "Sir, this is our harvest for this year, there's only so much. I hope you gentlemen can leave some for my father and me, we still need to rely on it to get through the winter."

  Old Yuan showed a pleading expression, and the Great Han snatched away the grain, weighed it, and suddenly whipped him, knocking Old Yuan to the ground, with a fiery red blood mark appearing on his neck.

  "With only this little food, you still want me to leave some for you? If next year's harvest isn't at least twice as much, you'd better be prepared to dig your own graves!"

  This scene was seen by Li Xiao, and suddenly shocked him!

  "Uncles, please, spare some for us father and son, just a little will do..."

  Lao Yuan disregarded his pain and begged earnestly.

  "Get lost, you old codger!"

  The Emperor's face was impatient, and another whip was about to be lashed down. Originally, Old Yuan's body was not good, and today he had received so many lashes, if the beating continued, it would be hard for him to escape death.

  "Stop!"

  Li Xiao finally reacted, his eyes wide with rage, and let out a loud roar!

  He really didn't expect that these big men would be so ferocious, ten times more cruel than those evil slaves he saw on TV in his previous life!

  The big Han turned his head and saw Li Xiao's small figure, instantly revealing a cold smile.

  "Puppy, looking for death, huh? I'll fulfill your wish!"

  "Second dog, hurry back home!"

  Lao Yuan's expression changed, Li Xiao turned his head to look, and with a sudden movement, he picked up the wooden stake that was being used as a stool and fiercely smashed it towards the leading big man!

  "Bang——"

  With a loud crack of his whip, the wooden stake was shattered into pieces!

  "Haha, it seems someone has really gotten on my nerves. Brothers, tear down this house for me and smash everything inside to pieces. Let's just consider it a workout to warm ourselves up!"

  "Yes!"

  A bunch of big men rushed out from behind, like lions and tigers, grabbing things in the room and smashing them. This was the only valuable thing this poor family had, and if they were all smashed to pieces, Li Xiao and Old Yuan would definitely freeze to death this winter!

  "Stop it at once! Is there no king's law anymore?!"

  Li Xiao's eyes turned red with rage, and he picked up the only copper-made chopper in his home. With a surge of bloodlust, he charged towards the leader of the group!

  "Spare him, I beg of you! Er Gou is young and ignorant. Er Gou, stop it, don't you value your life?!"

  Lao Yuan didn't mind the things at home, but instead pleaded for Li Xiao.

  Watching this scene, Li Xiao felt that something dormant in his heart for a long time was reignited again. Holding the axe, he charged straight at the leading big man, and if he could subdue the ringleader, he might be able to save the things at home.

  "Get out!"

  Da Han kicked Old Yuan out with one foot, and at the same time took a big step forward, suddenly appearing in front of Li Xiao. Li Xiao had no time to react, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, as a mouthful of fresh blood gushed up from his throat and was coughed out.

  The big foot of the leading Han man was pressed heavily on Li Xiao's chest, and the force was gradually increasing. Even Li Xiao felt that his breastbone could no longer withstand this pressure, as if it was about to shatter!

  "Spare him, please!"

  Lao Yuan's clothes had been torn apart by the whip, he was older and his injuries were more severe than Li Xiao's at this moment, but he still slowly crawled over, leaving a long trail of blood on the ground.

  "It's true what they say about you being old but not dead yet. This little guy is looking for his own death, and you still think you can save him?"

  The big Han's face turned cold, and Li Xiao's heart secretly cried out in alarm. Suddenly, the big Han's whip was fiercely lashed out, producing a loud cracking sound in the air, which even left a long scar on the ground. Old Yuan's body was sent flying by this force, rolling several times on the ground before slowly closing his eyes, but the hand that stretched out was still grasping towards Li Xiao, as if trying to pull him back.

  "Ah——"

  Li Xiao let out a low and menacing growl, his eyes were bloodshot, staring fixedly at the big man.

  Then, there was a fierce trampling and flogging sensation. Under the intense pain, Li Xiao gradually lost consciousness, and it seemed that on his cheek, there were still traces of spittle spat out by the big man.