At the bottom of a valley, by the shore of a small lake, a young man lay unconscious, his body covered in injuries, bloodstains splattered, and clothes torn to shreds.
It was already midday, and the dazzling sunlight shone down, but only a faint, dim light reached the bottom of the valley. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he slowly regained consciousness. He sat up and dragged his battered, wounded body to a tree near the lake's edge and leaned against it. Instinctively, he took out several healing pills from his pocket and swallowed them, then applied some powdered medicine to his external wounds. He broke off a nearby branch to use as a splint, tore his shirt into strips, and used them to bind his broken left arm, immobilizing it. Although his left leg wasn't broken, his shin bone was probably fractured, causing him to wince in pain.
After a while of doing what was necessary, giving himself first aid, he collected himself and felt around his body. His entire body ached, but the pain in his body was nothing compared to the pain in his head. Inside his head was a chaotic jumble of information, combined with the pain signals from his body transmitting to his brain, making his head feel like it was about to explode:
"F*ck, this pain is excruciating," he mumbled.
"Alive again?" He was startled and felt his body once more. Then he mumbled again.
"This is clearly a flesh-and-blood body, these wounds and this pain are undeniably real. The sunlight, the air, the plants, the water... it's all reality. What the hell is going on?" he asked himself in bewilderment, his head throbbing with a splitting headache:
"He clearly remembered dying. He remembered standing on a bridge, and below was a river with water as red as blood..."
After a long period of rambling thoughts, he then began to organize the chaotic information in his head.
He remembered living in the suburbs of Hanoi, in an era of globalized information technology, with cars, airplanes, rockets, and computers. He was a young man, or more accurately, not quite young and not yet middle-aged. At thirty-one years old, he lived alone. He had no family because he grew up in an orphanage. His life was a series of failures, failures, and failures. His job wasn't entirely stable; he'd work at one company for a while, then move to another. He'd only last a few months at each company, at most a little over a year, earning meager wages. He wasn't handsome, his physique was average, he wasn't eloquent, his family was poor, and he was isolated with no support, so he couldn't even attract a girl. At over thirty years old, he had never known what it was like to be with a woman, and the thought made him bitter.
But finally, luck came his way when he won the lottery jackpot. He thought his life would change from then on, with money to buy a house, a car, build a career... He was walking on the sidewalk, dreaming of the beautiful life ahead, when. Boom, an accident happened to him. A car lost control and crashed straight into him. He saw the car hurtling towards him and could do nothing but take the full impact. The last thing he saw was himself flying high, with the car below, and everything gradually fading, fading away.
The memory stopped here, and he mumbled, grumbled again:
"This isn't right. Why is life so unfair!"
He continued to piece together the vague, hazy information, though he couldn't remember it clearly anymore. It seemed that at that time, he was in his soul form, standing before a pavilion, near a bridge, beneath which a surging river flowed. But it wasn't entirely water below; it was a river red as blood… He didn't know what it was anymore; he only vaguely remembered it like that. Just then, a kind-faced old woman offered him a bowl of soup, telling him to drink it, then cross the pavilion and head towards the bridge. He held the bowl of soup in his hand, but before he could drink it, a powerful blast of energy seemed to fly straight towards his feet and explode, knocking the bowl from his hand. He, himself, was sent flying by the shockwave straight into the surging river of blood.
He stopped his thoughts there, and muttered lamenting:
"Even in death, my bad luck hasn't ended. Damn it, why am I so unlucky? Is my fate that of a black turtle?"
"This part was not in his memory."
Seeing this, the old woman didn't have time to intervene. She angrily turned around and yelled at the two people fighting nearby.
"Ox-Head, Horse-Face, do you two have any idea what consequences you've just caused?!"
It turned out that Ox-Head and Horse-Face had been arguing and fighting nearby over some trivial matter. In a moment of lost control, a blow had accidentally flown straight to where he was standing, sending him flying straight into the river.
"Can we fish him out?" Ox-Head asked.
"You jump down there and fish him out!" the old woman angrily yelled at Ox-Head.
Ox-Head knew he had caused a great disaster and didn't dare to speak up. He knew that if he jumped into that river, he would only vanish into thin air. No one dared to jump into that river, not even King Yama.
"Is there any other way?" Horse-Face asked.
The old woman sighed and said:
"There's no way. From ancient times until now, souls that fall down there, if not devoured by the monstrous beasts, are torn apart by the whirlpools, their souls vanishing into thin air. It's rumored that the bottom of the river is a passage to another world, but no one has ever come through from another world, so no one really knows. It's just a rumor…" the old woman lamented.
"Going to another world can also be considered reincarnation. Just check the Book of Life and Death, and you'll know if he's reincarnated or not," Horse-Face said.
"Each world has different yin and yang. The underworld of this world is different from the underworld of another. The Book of Life and Death of this world cannot control the living beings of other worlds," the old woman replied.
Then, the old woman turned back to look at Ox-Head and Horse-Face, angrily yelling:
"What a pity! That young man could have been reincarnated into a better life. Why don't you two hurry to King Yama and confess your sins?!"
After Ox-Head and Horse-Face left, only the old woman remained, sighing regretfully.
Indeed, in his previous life, he had encountered nothing but bad luck. But throughout his life, he had never done anything bad, lived virtuously, and often helped others. So when he died, he was supposed to be reincarnated into a new life with a good, prosperous, and wealthy fate… What a pity that because of Ox-Head and Horse-Face, he now lay at the bottom of a valley, with broken arms, a splitting headache, and injuries all over his body, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.
"Returning to his train of thought."
As he pieced together the chaotic information in his mind, he exclaimed mournfully.
"Truly unlucky!"
Why was he always so unlucky? Even going to another world didn't end his bad luck. He still couldn't even figure out why he was lying at the bottom of a valley in this broken, battered body.
“So my soul fell into the river, passed into another world, and then possessed this person’s body?” he muttered, asking himself.
After a moment of thought, he dismissed the idea:
“No, that’s not it. If it were soul possession, my soul and this body couldn’t be integrated one hundred percent like this.” After carefully examining himself again, he muttered to himself.
“But clearly this body is real, this world is real. I can feel pain, I have all my senses. So why?” he asked himself.
In reality, he was incredibly lucky to fall into the blood-colored river without being devoured by any creature. He also happened upon a spatial vortex, which only appeared once every ten thousand years, transporting him to this world for a new life. Because he hadn’t drunk the oblivion soup, he retained almost all of his original memories. However, such a colossal amount of memory, if poured into a child’s brain, would likely have caused the child’s brain to burst, leading to death. Creation had been remarkably unique; somehow, his past life’s memories were sealed within his brain. This accident, where his head struck a branch hard, released all of his past life’s memories, making him recall them. He recalled a period filled with profound sorrow.
He pondered, searching for an answer, but couldn’t find a suitable explanation. Finally, he arrived at the best possible decision.
“Forget it. The important thing is that I’m alive again. I get a second chance at life. That’s what truly matters, that’s the truth. The reason why is no longer necessary. What’s crucial now is my injured state: Where am I? What is this place? And most importantly, what should I do now?” he thought.
He continued to ponder, connecting and organizing the chaotic information in his head into a coherent system, so he could understand who he was and what had happened to him to leave him in this current state.
This world was one of cultivators. People here could utilize cultivation techniques to absorb spiritual energy, transforming it into internal energy to temper and strengthen their bodies, accumulating it for use in combat or various other purposes.
His parents in this world were nothing special, merely rogue cultivators whose lives were far from prosperous. They made a living and cultivated by hunting in the forest or searching for spiritual herbs and materials. Naturally, the cultivation techniques they practiced were low-grade, and they possessed no advanced movement techniques or martial skills to cultivate.
When he was born, his parents hoped he would become a man who could stand tall between heaven and earth, so they named him Kinh Tian. Since his parents didn’t belong to any prominent clan, it wasn’t crucial to carry a specific surname. In fact, his parents didn’t even know if the surname his father bore was authentic or not.
Consequently, the cultivation technique Kinh Tian was currently practicing was inherited from his parents. It was a rather mediocre technique, which meant that even at fifteen years old, he was still only a low-level cultivator. Compared to his peers, he was at the very bottom of the pyramid.
“Kinh Tian, ‘Shocking Heaven,’ indeed. With a future this bleak, that’s ‘shocking heaven’ in its own way,” he muttered, mocking his own name.
His bad luck hadn’t run out yet. When he was twelve, both his parents perished during a hunt, leaving him utterly alone in this world, often going hungry. At just twelve, he had to fend for himself, and his life became a relentless string of extreme hardship and profound tragedy.
Normally, he only hunted or foraged for a few medicinal herbs on the forest's edge, but his haul was never substantial. On lucky days, if he found a few medicinal plants, he'd have a good meal. On unlucky days, he might have to go hungry.
Because he hadn't had a good meal in days, today he risked venturing deeper into the dense forest, hoping to find some precious medicinal herbs. Little did he know that precious medicinal plants were often guarded by fierce beasts or demonic creatures, ready to turn humans into their next delicious meal.
After wandering around the dense forest for a while, he found a *Bai Hua She She Cao* plant. He innocently collected the *Bai Hua She She Cao*. But before he could even rejoice at the thought of a good meal that night, a *Kho Moc Xa* – a dry wood snake over three meters long, hidden among the nearby dry branches – suddenly lunged out and attacked him. This type of snake had skin that blended in with the dry wood and leaves, making it very difficult to spot.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly and dodged the first attack. Before he could even regain his composure, he scrambled away, running for his life. Behind him, the *Kho Moc Xa* swiftly gave chase. A man and a snake chased each other through the forest.
This *Kho Moc Xa* was just an ordinary wild beast, but he, on the other hand, possessed martial arts akin to a cat's scratch. If he stopped to fight, he would surely become the *Kho Moc Xa*'s delicious lunch. Therefore, his only option was to run as fast as he could, hoping the *Kho Moc Xa* wouldn't catch him and he would escape. But to his misfortune, he was still holding the *Bai Hua She She Cao*, and its scent was very familiar to the *Kho Moc Xa*, so no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't shake it off. The *Kho Moc Xa*, relatively fast, constantly stayed close, occasionally lunging with a bite aimed directly at him. At this point, he was running headlong, heedless of direction, wishing he had four legs instead of two.
After being chased by the *Kho Moc Xa* for a while, he ran to the very edge of a cliff, but due to a slight mist, he didn't notice it. Just then, the *Kho Moc Xa* lunged with a bite. He hastily threw himself upwards to avoid the snake's attack, and as a result, he fell down the cliff.
As he fell, he was fortunate enough to hit several tree branches growing out from the cliff face, which slowed his descent. This also caused his left arm to break and his left leg to fracture. Finally, he plunged into a pool of water at the bottom of the ravine, saving his meager life.
In this world, everyone had the ability to cultivate. Although his cultivation technique was inferior, he had still spent some time cultivating, so even if his body wasn't exceptional, it had some resilience. That's why he was lucky to be alive.
The icy water made his mind clearer. He used his last bit of strength to splash and swim to the shore, where he then fainted from exhaustion. In his misfortune, there was a stroke of luck: there were no fierce beasts at the bottom of the ravine; otherwise, he would have become some creature's lunch.
It was this accident that awakened the sealed memories he carried from his previous life, from another world, to this one.
He lay unconscious by the water for a full day before finally waking up.
By now, everything chaotic in his mind had been systematically reorganized. He now understood the full story, the root of it all. He, with his battered body, leaned against a tree root, looked up at the sky, and muttered to himself:
“Well, at least I've been reborn a second time. Who knows, perhaps there's a blessing in this misfortune. But damn it, from my last life to this one, I haven't seen any luck at all, just endless bad fortune.”
After muttering, he sat there again, smiling to himself, still gazing up at the deep blue sky, as if looking from the bottom of a cup. Who knew what he was thinking at that moment?
May's Recommended Novels: Rebirth as the Strongest Sword God, I Have a Body Full of Passive Skills; I'm Really Not the Child of Luck. (Tags: Smart protagonist, no romance, no female lead.)