In the 820th year of the Great Chang calendar, the morning light of early summer pierced the thin mist and spilled over Changyun County in Hanshan Dao.
In the small courtyard on the eastern side of the Wang residence, Wang Yue abruptly opened his eyes.
He sat up. The plain cotton clothes on his body were soft and close-fitting. He had crossed over three months ago, becoming an ordinary member of the Wang Clan.
His gaze passed over the low courtyard wall. The rising sun at the horizon was slowly climbing upward, its golden glow lighting half the sky and dispelling the last trace of disorientation in his heart.
This was not a place he knew. There was no clamor of carriages and bustling streets, only the chirping of morning birds and the soft rustle of wind through leaves.
Three months ago, he had still been typing code at his computer. The next moment, he had plunged into boundless darkness. When he opened his eyes again, he had become an insignificant descendant of the Wang Clan in this fantasy world.
His parents were both ordinary Wang Clan relatives, surviving on the support of the clan, with neither influence nor power.
"Yue'er, if you're awake, hurry inside. The porridge is getting cold."
The door was gently pushed open. A woman in a faded blue cloth skirt emerged carrying a pottery bowl. Thin calluses left by washing clothes remained on her knuckles, yet her face bore a gentle smile.
She was the mother of this body, Madam Liu.
Wang Yue suppressed the complicated feelings in his heart.
He got up and answered, "All right, I'm coming."
On the small table inside, aside from steaming millet porridge, there was a plate of pickled vegetables and two white flour buns.
This was the ordinary ration distributed by the Wang Clan. For common households, it was already a rare meal.
But for the Wang Clan's main household, which held considerable standing in Changyun County, it was nothing worth mentioning.
Wang Yue picked up a bun and took a bite. Its soft texture and wheat fragrance spread through his mouth, and a trace of relief rose in his heart.
Fortunately, he had not crossed over into the body of a starving refugee, but become a collateral descendant of the Wang Clan.
Even if his parents were ordinary Wang Clan members, they could at least rely on the meager grain distributed by the Lineage to eat and dress warmly. They did not have to struggle bitterly for survival like those sallow-faced, emaciated people on the streets.
"Eat slowly."
Watching him wolf down his food, Madam Liu pushed the bun from her own bowl toward his hand.
"Yesterday, when I went to the front courtyard to deliver the clothes I'd sewn, I heard the steward's wife mention that the Clan Academy would be teaching martial arts. She said collateral descendants had to go too. Mother spent a little money to buy you a new set of clothes to wear."
Wang Yue paused halfway through drinking his porridge.
Martial arts instruction within the clan? This was the first time since crossing over that he had come into contact with a hint of "cultivation" in this world.
Though Wang Yue's parents belonged to the Wang Clan, they had never encountered the ways of martial arts in their entire lives.
He set down his bowl, looked at the fine lines at the corners of her eyes, and sighed softly. He did not want to live out his life as the ancients had. Martial arts?
Before dawn had fully broken the next day, when only a pale sliver of fish-belly white showed outside the window, Madam Liu quietly pushed open Wang Yue's door.
She held a neatly folded set of black everyday clothes, made from the most ordinary coarse cotton.
Yet the edges had been sewn with exceptional care. Clearly, they had been specially chosen.
"Yue'er, get up and try on your new clothes."
Madam Liu placed the clothes by the bed, keeping her voice low.
Wang Yue rubbed his eyes and sat up, then walked to the bronze mirror and changed into the new clothes.
The youth in the bronze mirror was still thin and frail, with narrow shoulders. Yet the black fabric lent some brightness to his complexion, and his somewhat pale face now carried a little more spirit.
"They look wonderful. My son looks more spirited in these than any of those boys from the collateral branches."
Madam Liu stood to one side, covering her mouth as she smiled, the lines at the corners of her eyes deepening. She then reached out to straighten his collar.
Just as Wang Yue was about to respond, steady footsteps suddenly sounded beyond the courtyard gate, followed by a knock at the door.
The smile on Madam Liu's face instantly faded somewhat. She stepped forward and opened the door, revealing a guard in gray armor standing outside. A long saber hung at his waist, and his expression was stern. One look was enough to tell he was a guard of the Wang Clan's main household.
If you can't find the book by searching its title, try searching for the author instead. It may have simply been renamed!
At the request of our many readers, we now offer VIP membership with ad-free access.
Click to view.
The guard's gaze passed over Madam Liu and fell on Wang Yue inside the room. His voice carried not the slightest warmth. "Are you Wang Yue?"
Wang Yue's heart tightened. He lowered his head and stepped forward. "I am."
"The clan is imparting martial arts today. By order of the clan head, all collateral descendants and male members of the main household who have reached sixteen must go to the front courtyard's martial arts field for testing. I have been ordered to take you there."
The guard was concise and to the point. When his gaze swept over Madam Liu, it carried a trace of barely perceptible contempt. After all, she was merely a family member of the most ordinary collateral branch.
At his words, Madam Liu's face turned slightly pale. She instinctively grabbed Wang Yue's sleeve, her eyes filled with worry.
Though she did not quite understand what "martial arts instruction" meant, she knew the main household had always acted harshly.
Wang Yue patted his mother's hand to reassure her, then turned to the guard. "Please wait a moment. I'll say a few words to my mother, then I'll leave."
He leaned close to Madam Liu and lowered his voice. "Mother, don't worry. I'm only going to have a look. Nothing will happen. When I return, I'll tell you what it was like over there."
Madam Liu bit her lip, but in the end she released him. She took a small cloth-wrapped purse from her robes and stuffed it into his hand. "There are a few copper coins inside. If you get thirsty, buy yourself a bowl of water."
Wang Yue gripped the purse tightly, nodded, and followed the guard out of the small courtyard.
Morning light had gradually spread through the streets and alleys. The guard's gray armor gleamed coldly beneath the sun, and his steps were steady and powerful.
Wang Yue followed behind him, both curious about the martial arts instruction and somewhat uneasy.
After passing through several roads paved with bluestone, the outline of the front courtyard's martial arts field gradually came into view.
When they reached the entrance, Wang Yue abruptly halted. The martial arts field before him was over a hundred meters across, its ground paved with level bluestone slabs. Several weathered stone weapon racks stood around its edges.
The field was already packed with people—some thirty or forty youths, all sixteen or seventeen years old.
Yet these youths were completely different from the collateral descendants Wang Yue usually encountered.
Each was as sturdy as a newly penned calf, with bulging muscles on their arms and bluish veins faintly visible beneath their skin.
Many of them even held wooden training weapons.
Wooden spears as thick as the mouth of a bowl, their tips polished smooth and gleaming.
Wooden swords as long as an arm, heavy at a glance. Several particularly burly youths even carried wooden hammers half a man tall, their hammerheads larger than Wang Yue's own head. As they walked, the hammers struck the ground with dull thuds.
Wang Yue instinctively lowered his head to look at his own thin arms. Compared with the little giants in the field, he felt as fragile as a willow branch in the wind.
The children he usually saw near the small courtyard were all collateral descendants like himself, living off the clan's meager subsidies.
Weakness was the norm, but he had never expected the Wang Clan's younger generation from the main household to be so strong and robust.
Just as he was secretly astonished, footsteps suddenly sounded from within the crowd.
A man even more burly than the others stepped out. He wore a black fitted outfit, with a broad belt fastened by a bronze buckle at his waist. His facial features were hard and sharp, his gaze keen as a blade. When he swept his eyes across the field, even those sturdy youths instinctively straightened their backs. This man was Wang Hu of the Second Branch, responsible for the younger generation's daily training within the clan and known for his severity.
"Are all the young men in the clan who have reached sixteen here?"
Wang Hu spoke, his voice resonant as a bell, making Wang Yue's eardrums tingle faintly.
Steward Hu, dressed in a blue long robe and sporting a goatee, hurried forward.
Bowing at the waist, he replied, "In reply to Lord Wang Hu, aside from three who suddenly came down with a cold yesterday, all descendants meeting the requirements are here waiting."
Steward Hu's voice was plainly respectful, and he did not even dare raise his head too high.
At this, Wang Hu nodded slightly and swept his gaze over the crowd once more.
When that gaze passed over Wang Yue, his whole body tightened, and he instinctively shrank farther into the crowd.
Watching the youths in the field swing wooden swords and listening to the bang, bang of wooden spears colliding, his heart pounded wildly beyond his control.
How was this "martial arts instruction"? With this display, it looked more like they were selecting soldiers for battle.
Before you continue