It was mid-autumn, and a chilly breeze blew gently. A thin, pale-green mist hung over the quiet courtyard, like a swaying ribbon of green silk concealing some hidden secret.
It was time to light the lamps, and the estate fell into a deep silence. Aside from the croaking of a few frogs by the pond and the faint, distant barking of a dog near the manor's outer gate, not a single sound could be heard.
The thin, pale-green ribbon of mist shrouded the entire courtyard. Only a sliver of the setting sun peeked through the western gate, accompanied by the soft, weeping voice of a girl...
"Xiao He'er... *sob*... Mother shouldn't have brought you here to suffer such endless grievances and pain... Xiao He'er... it is all my fault... My Xiao He'er, please wake up quickly...!"
The room was sparsely furnished, containing only a long bench and a wooden platform serving as a table. Atop the platform, an oil lamp flickered weakly, its dim light barely reaching the nearby bed, leaving the rest of the room shrouded in gloom.
A chipped, celadon porcelain bowl sat on the bench, its dark interior still holding the residue of some medicinal ointment. Below, the stone floor was stained with blood and littered with blood-soaked cotton rags. A young woman in a pale green robe, her hair somewhat disheveled, stood weeping by the bedside. On the bed lay an unconscious youth, his body wrapped tightly in coarse bandages. At this moment, his hands were ice-cold as the girl continued to sob over him.
In truth, the heavily injured youth on the bed, whose name was Yun Tian, had already regained consciousness. He simply did not want to face a reality he could not comprehend—was this a dream, or was it real?
The sorrowful weeping of the girl beside him, combined with a searing, fiery pain radiating from his back, had dragged him out of his stupor.
Instinctively, he tried to circulate his inner energy to alleviate the pain, only to find his body completely devoid of true qi. The futile effort only intensified his agony. As he lay there dazed, a powerful rush of memories suddenly flooded his mind: *This is Lizhou City, in the northern region of the Great Tang Empire. I am Tu Tianhe, the son of the Tu family's second wife...*
"The Great Tang?"
The memories flooding his mind were chaotic. Yun Tian closed his eyes to sort through them, then snapped them open. Looking up, he saw a thick wooden rafter. The entire ceiling frame was made of dust-free timber, and the wooden walls were carved with patterns and lined with oiled paper that looked fragile enough to puncture with a light poke.
This kind of architecture only existed in ancient times.
Startled, Yun Tian tried to lift his head, only to be met by a curtain of disheveled hair. It belonged to the frail young woman weeping beside him, her voice thick with exhaustion. Shifting his gaze slightly, Yun Tian caught sight of her pale, haggard face. Her messy hair partially obscured a swollen, red cheek that bore the distinct imprint of a handprint.
Before Yun Tian could get a clearer look at the weeping woman, the door was suddenly kicked open with a loud crash. Through narrowed eyes, Yun Tian caught sight of a somewhat portly man in a blue brocade robe. He had squinty, shifty eyes and a cunning expression, and he was flanked by two burly, middle-aged men who looked like fierce thugs as they barged into the room.
"Time is up, if you please!"
The middle-aged man spoke in a voice that sounded as if hair were caught in his throat, making anyone who heard it itch to clear their own throat for relief. He looked at the woman before him with a lecherous yet somewhat restrained gaze.
"No... please don't! He'er will freeze to death! Why does the Master want to send him to his death? Why is he so cruel? No, I want to stay with He'er..."
Addressed by the middle-aged man, the young woman named Yun Yi cried out in terror. She collapsed onto the bed, tightly clutching her son's arm, her body trembling uncontrollably.
Hearing this, the middle-aged man's face darkened:
"This brat caused a disaster and should have been executed long ago! If Cousin Tang hadn't intervened on his behalf, how could my father have merely given him a beating and thrown him into the storehouse to fend for himself? And you still dare to come here and apply medicine to his wounds? You truly do not know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth!"
With that, the middle-aged man barked at the two servants beside him:
"What are you waiting for? Take her away, quickly!"
"Forgive us...!"
The two servants stepped forward and forcefully lifted her up, but her hands still desperately gripped her son's arm, refusing to let go. She wailed and shrieked frantically:
"No! I cannot live without He'er! No...!"
But her strength was limited. After a brief struggle, one of them pried her hand away, and she was dragged out the door. In the end, only her grief-stricken cries could be heard, growing fainter in the distance until they died out completely.
Left alone in the room, the middle-aged man narrowed his shifty, snake-like eyes at the youth lying prone on the bed. He let out a cold, inscrutable snort, then turned and left, closing the door behind him.
Only after Yun Tian heard the sound of the iron lock clicking shut on the door, followed by absolute silence, did he finally open his eyes. His lips trembled uncontrollably, and his entire body throbbed with pain. Furthermore, a chaotic flood of consciousness was rushing into his mind, causing a pain so intense he was on the verge of blacking out.
However, in his past life, he had been a man of extraordinary willpower. Gritting his teeth against the agony, he allowed the foreign memories to flood his mind. After a brief moment, he realized that he had indeed traveled through time and space to this world, entering the body of a youth who was on the verge of death. What on earth had happened?
Yet...
These thoughts rushed into his mind like a torrent, temporarily paralyzing his memory and leaving him unable to touch them. The mere attempt to access these thoughts made his head feel as though it were about to explode. This kind of pain was ten thousand times more agonizing than physical pain. Thus, he had no choice but to halt his thoughts and instead recall his past life.
Yun Tian came from an ancient martial arts family. He remembered that when he was a child, because his parents were busy with work, they had sent him to the countryside to live with his grandfather. Cared for by his grandfather and grandmother, he spent his entire youth in the countryside.
Because his grandfather was a martial arts grandmaster, he had trained under him since childhood. However, back then, he was playful and lazy, never studying well. His grandfather had often taken a broom to his backside, always scolding him:
"You damn brat!" or "You little rascal!" and sometimes,
"You little fool!" and the like. But his grandmother had always shielded him, constantly praising him as a clever child.
As for his grandfather, despite his advanced age, he had subjected him to grueling, agonizing training in martial arts.
When his grandfather taught him fist techniques and he failed to perform them well, his grandfather would scold him:
"You damn little rascal, how can you practice like that? It's utterly embarrassing! I bet you'd even struggle to tear your way out of your own pants. When you go out to pick up girls in the future, don't you dare tell them I'm your grandfather!"
"You little rogue, who on earth practices staff techniques like that? Don't give me that 'Three Styles of Heaven Shattering' crap; in my eyes, it's not even as good as the 'Three Styles of Pig Slaughtering'! Damn it all!"
"You little idiot, why on earth did your grandmother say you were smart? You're so incredibly dense! What 'Heaven Shattering Swordplay'? To me, it looks like a dancing toad! You're going to be the death of me..."
However, his grandfather failed to notice his grandmother standing right beside him with a smirk on her face. When he finally realized, he jumped in fright and tried to sneak away, only to end up being chased all over the village by his grandmother wielding a broomstick.
Yun Tian had been raised and educated by his grandfather since childhood. Later, once his parents secured stable jobs, he returned to live and study with them. Yet, to cherish the memory of the days spent with his grandparents, he never stopped practicing martial arts. Eventually, he was admitted to a military academy, where he won first place in a martial arts competition and was selected for the special forces.
During his time in the special forces, he continued his martial arts training, constantly integrating the essence of various schools. Aside from martial arts, his instructors trained him in a wide array of other skills, such as lockpicking, hunting, stealing, faking his own death, and even the supreme art of peeping on bathing women... and so much more. This comprehensive skill training was an essential requirement for any special forces operative.
In short, during his life in the special forces, he learned all sorts of underhanded tricks and shortcuts.
Even after discharging from the special forces, when he and a few other elites from his squad transitioned into working as secret agents, he still never neglected his martial arts practice.
During their missions, they crossed paths with many bizarre individuals.
For instance, those self-proclaimed "cultivators" never seemed to use toilet paper when they went to the restroom, yet they always washed their hands afterward. Yun Tian often wondered what on earth they used to wipe themselves, and why they didn't need paper. Could it be...?
Sometimes, when assigned as bodyguards for high-profile figures, his colleagues would joke that if they were acting as personal bodyguards for a wealthy lady, they could even "protect" her in bed to ensure there were absolutely no "vulnerabilities." Who knows, the lady might even praise them for their thoroughness.
Since Yun Tian was still a virgin, he couldn't wrap his head around whether it was the ladies who seduced his comrades or if his comrades took the initiative. However, feeling that he was quite a bit more handsome and dashing than the rest of his team, he figured that when he was assigned to protect a wealthy young heiress, all it would take was a few flirtatious glances to easily charm her into bed.
Unfortunately for him, reality proved painful. Clutching his crotch with a grimace of agony to protect his "family jewels," he could only watch as the wealthy heiress smirked at him triumphantly. He truly couldn't understand how, despite his superb martial arts skills, he had been so easily caught off guard and struck in his most sensitive spot by a seemingly delicate, weak young lady without even having time to react.
Everyone laughed and teased him for being too green, telling him he needed to lose his virginity before he could truly understand women. In truth, he really didn't understand women at all. Feeling thoroughly disgruntled, he resolved to find an opportunity to finally rid himself of his virginity.
Thus, Yun Tian finally received a mission to protect a genuine lady. She was a genteel woman, the mistress of a certain "Big Boss." She was truly a beautiful, charming enchantress capable of stealing any man's soul. One afternoon, he was passionately seduced by her.
However, just as they had stripped naked, got into bed, and were about to take the final step, their fun was ruined by two audacious thieves. In his rage, he cleanly dispatched the two thieves with just two shots, but the "gun" down below failed to handle the lady, and his attempt to lose his virginity ended in failure.
From then on, because he had killed out of rage over his failed attempt to lose his virginity, he was disciplined and discharged from the special forces, returning to ordinary civilian life.
Later, Yun Tian returned to the countryside to visit his grandfather, who was gravely injured and unlikely to survive, yet had held on just to wait for his return. But when he arrived, the very first question his grandfather asked was:
"You damn brat, you're still a virgin, aren't you?"
Yun Tian was embarrassed to death, but not wanting to lie to his grandfather, he replied:
"Yes."
This time, his grandfather did not scold him. Instead, he smiled happily. In a final burst of vitality before passing away, his grandfather told him to dig three feet down in the bedroom and retrieve a very ancient wooden box. Inside the box was a yellowed scroll that looked incredibly ancient. It was an old painting depicting a celestial diagram alongside the meridians and acupoints of the human body. Below it was a line of text that translated to "Wuliang Star Scripture."
His grandfather explained the contents of the Wuliang Star Scripture to him, making sure he memorized everything perfectly. He instructed him to preserve his virginity to cultivate until he opened the "relevant minor upper acupoints" and meridians; only then could he marry and have children normally. He also warned him that if he ever encountered a white-browed old man, he must destroy the scroll.
After that, his grandfather passed away with a satisfied smile. Having promised his grandfather to preserve his virginity for cultivation—which left him with a bit of regret—he began cultivating the Wuliang Star Scripture from the scroll.
Two years later, Yun Tian accidentally played the hero saving the beauty, rescuing an extremely beautiful young girl. Because his compassion was suddenly aroused, he helped her for three months. During this time, he fell head over heels in love, unable to control himself. In the end, he was deceived by her, and she snatched the scroll. Because his grandfather had instructed him to destroy the scroll only if a white-haired elder appeared, he never expected that the two of them were actually grandfather and granddaughter.
He was no match for the white-haired elder and was gravely injured. After seeing the elder smugly and arrogantly holding the scroll, Yun Tian smiled, turned to look at the young girl one last time, and pressed his hand down to detonate a block of C4 explosives. The alert white-haired elder quickly pulled the girl away to escape in time, but they heard his voice echoing out:
"That scroll is a fake! The real scroll was hidden inside the bomb...!"
The white-haired elder was completely dumbfounded. He pushed his granddaughter away just as the bomb engulfed both himself and Yun Tian. In the moment before his soul left his body, Yun Tian faintly saw a tear of regret rolling down the young girl's cheek!
…….
…….
For now, he could only recall his own memories. As he pondered the gaps in his memory while lying flat on the bed, he finally returned to reality, but by this time, his eyes were already filled with a hazy mist of tears.
Another headache, so intense his skull felt ready to burst, washed over him. Only then did he begin to comprehend this ancient nation of the Great Tang and this world. Everything became clearer as his consciousness from his past and present lives completely merged.