Zhang Tie

Smack! Smack!

Smack! Smack!

"Don't—cough, cough—don't hit me anymore! I-I'm awake—blegh!" a weak voice said. He coughed as he spoke, spitting out a large mouthful of water.

"He's awake. We really saved him," Zhang Tie heard a childish voice say through his haze. Opening his eyes, he saw a pair of thick, sturdy legs and a little boy before him, while trees and the sky appeared upside down in the distance.

He seemed to be hanging upside down from somewhere, drenched from head to toe, with a sour, burning sensation filling his mouth and nose.

Zhang Tie strained to raise his head and saw a brawny man standing before him. Those thick, long legs belonged to him.

Zhang Tie was utterly confused. Hadn't he been practicing the Elephant Armor Skill in a medicinal vat? To help him absorb the medicine more effectively, his master had even used the secret art of golden needles to stimulate his acupoints. But after a golden needle had been inserted into his Baihui acupoint, he had lost consciousness. Why was he hanging here after waking up?

Where was this? Before Zhang Tie could make sense of it, a flood of chaotic memories suddenly surged into his mind. The tearing pain made him pass out again.

When he woke once more, Zhang Tie found himself lying on an old wooden bed. The ceiling was so blackened that he could not make out the wood's original color, and a faint musty smell hung throughout the room.

Just then, Zhang Tie suddenly realized that many memories he had never possessed before were emerging in his mind.

In those memories was a boy also named Zhang Tie. He was the son of a blacksmith. Though his family was not wealthy, they owned an inherited blacksmith shop, so they got by well enough.

From the age of six, his family had scrimped and saved to send him to school. Yet Zhang Tie had never studied properly. He often secretly skipped class with several rich boys to listen to storytellers.

Before long, he became captivated by the storytellers' tales of the martial world. He always dreamed that one day he could be like the heroes in those books—one man, one sword, roaming the world with blade in hand, upholding justice, eradicating evil, and becoming a great hero known throughout the land.

Later, his parents discovered that he had been skipping class and locked him in the woodshed to reflect on his actions. But that could not stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a hero. He escaped through the window, intending to search the mountains for reclusive masters and become their disciple to learn martial arts.

In the end, he was chased by a wild boar in the mountains. While hurriedly crossing a river, he accidentally fell in. As he cried for help, he swallowed a large mouthful of water and lost consciousness.

Zhang Tie lay in bed for a long time, gradually figuring out his current situation.

He had originally lived in another world, cultivating within a martial arts sect.

Because he had encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation, his master had used the secret art of golden needles to stimulate his acupoints during a cultivation session, hoping to help him break through it.

But after that golden needle entered his Baihui acupoint, he lost consciousness. When he woke up, he had somehow taken over the body of this boy named Zhang Tie, who had run away from home, fallen into the river, and drowned.

If he had guessed correctly, his master had stabbed him to death. After dying, his soul had taken over the body of this boy, who was also named Zhang Tie.

Though he did not know why this had happened, it had happened nonetheless. But why had his master wanted to kill him?! And why had his soul taken over this boy's body?!

The sudden sound of the door opening interrupted Zhang Tie's thoughts. Someone walked into the room. Turning his head, he saw a middle-aged man dressed like a hunter, with a little boy of seven or eight standing beside him.

The man looked at him and said, "You're awake. Get up and have something to eat."

Zhang Tie got out of bed and saw that it was already evening. He then followed the man to eat something in the small courtyard outside.

As they ate, Zhang Tie learned through their conversation that the man was named Li Tie Zhu, a hunter who lived in a village at the foot of the mountain.

Yesterday, Li Tie Zhu had encountered him while hunting in the mountains and pulled him from the river.

After dinner, Li Tie Zhu asked about Zhang Tie's circumstances. Upon learning that he was the son of the head blacksmith at a blacksmith shop in the county town, Li Tie Zhu told him not to worry. He could rest well tonight, and Li Tie Zhu would take him home first thing in the morning.

Nothing more was said that night. At dawn the next day, Li Tie Zhu got up, escorted Zhang Tie down the mountain, and told him that following the official road would lead him to the county town.

Zhang Tie slowly walked along the road, sitting by the roadside whenever he grew tired. After about half an hour, he spotted the county town's gates in the distance. Once inside, he soon reached his family's blacksmith shop, but its front doors were shut. He circled around to the alley behind it, found the back door, and pushed it open to enter the courtyard.

The moment he entered, he saw his mother working. When she looked up and saw Zhang Tie, she was so overwhelmed that she could not speak, unsure whether she was happy or angry.

"Where have you been these past two days? Your father and brothers went looking for you. They even reported it to the authorities. You nearly worried us to death." As she spoke, her eyes reddened and tears began to fall. Zhang Tie looked helplessly at the woman before him.

It was not until evening that Zhang Tie's father, Zhang Fugui, and his two older brothers, Zhang Jin and Zhang Yin, returned one after another.

Seeing Zhang Tie back, they were naturally overjoyed, and the weight in their hearts finally lifted.

Over dinner that night, Zhang Tie told everyone what had happened to him. They all sighed in amazement, saying that he had truly been blessed with a tough life. They would have to prepare some gifts to thank the hunter named Li Tie Zhu.

His parents told Zhang Tie to rest well. If he did not want to attend school, then so be it. In a few days, he could follow his father and learn blacksmithing like his two older brothers. At the very least, it was a trade, and he would be able to make a living when he grew up.

Late at night, Zhang Tie tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep.

He kept thinking over everything that had happened to him. Though he did not know why he had been given another life, he did not want to spend it muddleheadedly forging iron. Deep in his heart, that restless dream of the martial world grew stronger beneath the cover of night.

In his previous life, he had died suddenly before he had even had the chance to master any real skills.

In this life, he wanted even less to spend every day beside a furnace and hammer until the end of his days.

Zhang Tie wanted to join a renowned sect, learn profound martial arts manuals, and eventually become a master of the martial world—roaming the jianghu, upholding justice, and saving the common people.

But Zhang Tie understood that passion alone was far from enough to make that dream come true.

His current body was only seven years old and not yet capable of traveling alone. This time, he had run away from home and accidentally fallen into the river, dying as a result. It was a harsh lesson, so this matter needed careful planning. Amid his endless wild thoughts, Zhang Tie gradually fell asleep.