Taking Over Tang San's Body
On the sheer face of a bottomless cliff, rain and mist filled the air. Halfway up, a young rock climber hung at the end of a rope, his fingers dug tightly into a crack in the rock, his body pressed against the slippery cliff face.
The climber's name was Tang Shan. He was twenty-six, lean and strong, and loved rock climbing. He had already conquered quite a few treacherous peaks.
The weather had been decent, but in the blink of an eye, dark clouds churned in from every direction and gathered overhead, turning the sky as dark as dusk.
Then, bean-sized raindrops pelted down on him, becoming a torrential downpour in moments. Fierce winds drove the rain against Tang Shan, lashing him mercilessly.
Rainwater gathered into streams on the cliff face and poured down through the cracks, striking Tang Shan so hard he could barely open his eyes.
The wind blew Tang Shan back and forth, while his safety rope scraped violently against the edge of the cliff.
"Snap!"
With a sharp crack, the rope broke before Tang Shan could react!
"No!!!"
Tang Shan let out one last desperate roar as his body plunged downward, the wind shrieking past his ears. Below lay endless darkness, and the bottomless cliff seemed like a giant mouth waiting to swallow him whole.
Tang Shan's mind went blank, leaving only one thought: It's over. This time I'm really done for.
Just as Tang Shan thought he was about to be smashed to pieces, his flesh and blood scattered everywhere, the sensation of falling suddenly changed.
There was no expected impact, no agonizing pain. Tang Shan felt as though he had fallen into a boundless void, his body sinking endlessly.
Chaos surrounded him, black as ink, with neither sky nor ground in sight. Tang Shan felt as though he had been thrown into a mass of thick ink, unable to tell up from down or find any direction.
"I... where am I? Didn't I fall off a cliff?"
After an unknown amount of time, Tang Shan forced his eyes open.
A point of light appeared in his vision, and a figure gradually emerged within its glow.
More precisely, it was a youth dressed in ancient robes, with delicate features but a cold, fierce look in his eyes. The youth stood a short distance away with his hands behind his back, staring coldly at Tang Shan.
Tang Shan was momentarily dazed and spoke without thinking. "You are..."
Before he could finish, the youth abruptly raised a hand and waved it, sending an invisible gust of force rushing at his face.
"What manner of fiend are you, daring to compete with me for this body? You're courting death!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a palm came crashing down at Tang Shan's head.
Tang Shan had no time to react. His entire consciousness felt as though it had been struck by a massive hammer, shuddering violently and nearly dispersing on the spot.
"Who are you? How rude! Why did you hit me?!" Shocked and furious, Tang Shan clutched his head and shouted.
The youth ignored him, closing in like a ghost, his palms flashing and his kicks whipping through the air. Every move was vicious and merciless. Each attack landed squarely on Tang Shan's consciousness, battering him from side to side and nearly scattering him.
"Still hitting me? You little scumbag, if you don't stop, I'm calling the police!" Tang Shan shouted at the top of his lungs. "Ah... stop hitting me... ah...!"
But the youth's expression did not change. His attacks grew even fiercer as he said coldly, "No matter what sect or school you belong to, you dared to compete with me for this body. You already have a way to die!"
Tang Shan had no chance to explain himself. His opponent's attacks came like a raging storm, and Tang Shan could only dodge and flee on instinct.
But his opponent's movements were bizarre and his attacks vicious. He was clearly skilled in martial arts, and Tang Shan could not even touch the hem of his clothes.
In the span of only a few breaths, Tang Shan had been beaten to the brink of death. His consciousness had become almost transparent, like a guttering candle in the wind, liable to vanish completely at any moment.
Tang Shan's heart filled with despair. I didn't die from the fall, but now I'm being beaten to death in some godforsaken place I can't even name. Is heaven trying to whip my corpse over and over? I've been wronged!!
Just as Tang Shan's consciousness was about to collapse completely, a cold mechanical voice suddenly exploded in his mind:
[Host detected on the verge of annihilation. The system can provide assistance once, but the host must activate the Life-and-Death Contract. If activated, it will...]
With life and death hanging in the balance, how could he worry about all that?
Tang Shan had no desire to hear the rest. Summoning the last of his strength, he shouted frantically in his mind, Activate it, activate it, hurry up and activate it! Can't you see this little scumbag is about to beat me to death?
[Activating contract...]
[Contract established.]
[System beginning to assist host in taking over the body...]
The next second, a vast, boundless power erupted from the depths of Tang Shan's consciousness.
Tang Shan felt his body—or rather, his consciousness—suddenly fill with limitless power.
Tang Shan raised a hand instinctively, and it clamped around the youth's throat like an iron vise. It was unbelievably fast and frighteningly powerful. The youth had no time to react before he was held fast.
"What is this?!" The youth's expression changed drastically, and horror appeared in his eyes for the first time.
Before he had finished speaking, the youth's figure began to tremble violently as he struggled desperately. Both hands gripped Tang Shan's arm, his eyes full of resentment and anger. His lips moved as though he wanted to say something, but in the end he could not overcome the power suppressing him.
A moment later, just before the youth's figure was completely extinguished, it suddenly dispersed like smoke, as though some mysterious force had forcibly dragged him away into an unknowable void.
The surroundings fell abruptly silent.
Tang Shan slumped in his sea of consciousness as though all his strength had left him, gasping for breath. Though he had barely managed to preserve his consciousness, it was clearly weakened to the extreme.
[Congratulations to the host on successfully taking over the body!]
[Having expended too much power assisting the host in taking over the body, the system has depleted its energy and will disappear permanently!]
[The system has left three Life-and-Death Contract marks inside the host's body.]
[The host must complete the three tasks in the Life-and-Death Contract. Each time one is completed, one mark will automatically disappear.]
[If the host fails to complete them, the marks will explode from within the host's body and perish along with the host!]
[Good luck to the host!]
The mechanical voice vanished without a trace, as though it had never existed. Only three faint golden marks remained floating in Tang Shan's sea of consciousness.
Three years later.
On the Douluo Continent, in a blacksmith's shop in Holy Soul Village, Fasinuo Province, a frail child of about three sat in front of the stove, diligently adding firewood to the firebox.
Firelight shone on the child's young face, baking his little cheeks red.
The child had delicate features and a pair of clear black-and-white eyes, but his gaze always held a composure and helplessness utterly at odds with his age.
Before long, the porridge in the pot began to bubble and steam.
The child skillfully ladled out the porridge and carefully carried it to a worn wooden table, then called toward the inner room, "Dad, the porridge is ready!"
But only heavy snoring came from the inner room. No one answered.
The child did not mind; he seemed long accustomed to it. He walked to the front door and sat down on the threshold, his small, thin body leaning against the doorframe as he looked past the road at the entrance to the village and toward the distant, rolling mountains.
His eyes were full of helplessness and melancholy entirely out of place for his age.
This child was Tang Shan—or, more precisely, he should now be called Tang San.
That was right. It was not until today, three years later, that Tang Shan had finally understood that the youth in ancient robes who had tried to kill him in that sea of consciousness was none other than Tang San of the Tang Sect.
The two had fought to the death over this body. In the end, Tang Shan had relied on that mysterious system to successfully take over the body, driving away Tang San of the Tang Sect and becoming the "protagonist" of the Douluo Continent, Tang San.
Tang San of the Tang Sect had also been saved by a mysterious force just before his death. That force had likely chosen a new vessel for him to reincarnate into.