Third Life

Liang Kingdom, Ganzhou.

Just after the New Year, a major event shook Ganzhou's Jianghu.

Within Nanyang City of Ganzhou, Old Master Zhao of the Zhao Family suddenly announced that he was washing his hands in a golden basin, handing the entire family over to his eldest grandson, Zhao Mingcheng.

As news of this exploded across the region, a rumor spread in secret as well. Though Old Master Zhao was an Innate Grandmaster, he had been born to tenant farmers. In his youth, in his pursuit of greater strength, he had been too eager for quick success and damaged his foundation. His lifespan would not exceed eighty years, and his final day had now arrived.

Thus, Old Master Zhao's so-called washing his hands in a golden basin was merely a cover. In truth, he was already dead.

Naturally, the Zhao Family vehemently denied the rumor and refuted it. Yet no matter how outsiders talked, the old master of the Zhao Family never showed himself.

This made it clear that the rumor might not be false, while the Zhao Family's repeated denials were plainly laughable.

Name: Zhao Sheng

Lifespan: 79/79

Physique: Strong Muscles and Bones (Unranked)

Talent: Dynamic Vision (Mortal Grade)

Skills: Floating Light Swordplay (Peak Mastery), Wind Chasing Archery (Transcendent), Azure Sea Tide Rising Art (Great Accomplishment), Cloud Dragon Three Transformations (Peak Mastery)

"Second Life ended. Calculating...

"Calculation complete. Final evaluation: Upper C."

"Evaluation reward: You may choose one item to inherit from physique, skill, or talent. Please choose."

Mm, choose to inherit the talent 'Dynamic Vision.'

Talent inherited.

"Congratulations on achieving two life achievements: First, Innate Grandmaster; second, Blessed with Many Children (10/10)."

"Achievement reward: Two random rewards. You may draw from physique, skill, or talent, or exchange them to upgrade a talent's grade. Please choose."

Choose physique. Draw twice in succession.

"Drawing... Congratulations, you have drawn the Mortal Grade physique 'Hundred Longevity Body.' Congratulations, you have drawn the Mortal Grade physique 'Light as a Swallow.'"

Inside the inner residence of the Zhao Estate,

In a bedroom, Zhao Sheng suddenly sat upright from the bed. Streams of information flashed through his mind, leaving a disappointed expression on his face as he slowly let out a breath.

Compared to his First Life, the final evaluation of his Second Life had improved. Not only was it two ranks higher than the "Lower C" of his First Life, but he had also achieved two life achievements.

Unfortunately, he still had not drawn a spirit-root physique.

"So this is already my Third Life since I came to this world..." Zhao Sheng sighed, surveying his surroundings. The room was elegantly furnished, its furniture exquisite.

It seemed his family circumstances were not bad. At least his household had not fallen into ruin as it had in his Second Life.

More than two hundred years ago, Zhao Sheng had first arrived in this world, reincarnating into an ordinary family. After coming of age, he used the knowledge and experiences of his previous life to swiftly amass wealth. In barely over ten years, he became the richest man in an entire city.

For the rest of his life, he enjoyed all the wealth and splendor of the mortal world. Not only did he have wives and concubines in droves, but his children and grandchildren filled the house.

At eighty, he contracted a terminal illness. Only before his death did he learn from a divine physician that cultivators existed, filling him with boundless regret.

Sadly, it was already too late. After barely holding on for one more day, Zhao Sheng quietly passed away.

Who would have thought that after dying, he would discover with delight that he possessed a supreme treasure, the Hundred Lifetimes Book, which allowed him to continuously be reborn through his bloodline descendants. So long as his bloodline endured, his soul would not perish.

Overjoyed, Zhao Sheng hurriedly began his Second Life after drawing the talent Dynamic Vision.

When he awoke in his Second Life, he discovered that he had become the son of a tenant farmer.

Only after carefully asking around did he learn that nearly a hundred years had passed since his death in the First Life.

Five years after his death, the Zhao Family had suddenly been wiped out by a band of bandits roaming the rivers and lakes. Fortunately, one of his sons had been studying away from home at the time and narrowly escaped disaster.

After the family's decline, each generation of the Zhao Family had been worse off than the last. By the time it reached his father's generation, they had already fallen to becoming tenant farmers.

Yet Zhao Sheng was not worried in the slightest. In this life, he would not only restore the family fortune, but also practice martial arts, cultivate immortality, and seek longevity.

Ten years later, he had once again established a vast family fortune. With the support of the talent Dynamic Vision, his martial arts steadily improved, and he successfully became a second-rate expert.

Yet throughout those ten years, he had never managed to learn anything about the whereabouts of cultivators.

After deep consideration, he decisively abandoned his wife, children, and family fortune, beginning a life of wandering the Jianghu.

That wandering lasted twenty years.

At fifty-five, Zhao Sheng relied on medicinal pills and external aid to barely advance into the Innate realm, becoming one of Ganzhou's supreme grandmasters.

Having risen in standing, he naturally came into contact with cultivators.

Half a year later, Zhao Sheng learned from a cultivator that only those with spirit roots could cultivate immortality.

But Zhao Sheng had no spirit roots. Worse still, among mortals, fewer than one in ten thousand possessed them.

Fortunately, he also obtained a crucial piece of information: descendants of cultivators had a higher chance of producing spirit roots.

Half a year later, Zhao Sheng returned to Nanyang City and began seeking marriage alliance candidates for his descendants. Naturally, his targets were the children of Cultivation Families.

But this goal was truly too difficult.

The Cultivation World was closed, conservative, and extremely exclusionary. To increase the chances of spirit roots appearing, cultivators generally only joined with cultivators, while Cultivation Families only formed marriage alliances with other Cultivation Families.

For a mortal family to marry a child of a Cultivation Family was simply a fool's dream.

Zhao Sheng racked his brains. He not only offered up more than half his family fortune, but also voluntarily signed a twenty-year contract of servitude. Only then did the Chen Family relent and agree to send out an illegitimate daughter from a collateral branch to marry Zhao Mingcheng, his eldest grandson.

"Cultivation is difficult—more difficult than ascending to the blue heavens... In my previous life, after exhausting every possible means, I only barely glimpsed a sliver of dawn on the path of cultivation. In this life... will I be able to fulfill my wish?"

Remembering the hardships of his previous life, Zhao Sheng could not help but sigh. Fortunately, he still had the supreme treasure, the Hundred Lifetimes Book. If one life was not enough, then he would simply live another!

With that thought, Zhao Sheng's consciousness sank deep into his sea of consciousness, where a jade-colored book shone brilliantly.

The cover bore the two words "Hundred Lifetimes." The book slowly opened. The remaining ninety-seven pages were still blank, with writing appearing only on the first three pages.

Zhao Sheng was already incomparably familiar with the records on the first two pages. His gaze fell upon the third page.

Name: Zhao Zhiqin (Zhao Sheng)

Lifespan: 15/120

Physique: Hundred-Year Physique (Mortal Grade), Light as a Swallow (Mortal Grade)

Talent: Dynamic Vision (Mortal Grade)

Skills: Floating Light Swordplay (Proficient), Cloud Dragon Three Transformations (Entry Level), Azure Sea Tide Rising Art (Entry Level)

"Zhi generation?" Zhao Sheng muttered, his thoughts slowly drifting.

In his previous life, he had established the Zhao Family's generational poem: "Honor the worthy, illuminate benevolence, revere the ancestors; preserve truth, uphold sincerity, and cherish great harmony. Zhi and Cheng proclaim the jade canon; Zhong and Zheng uphold the golden code. Chong and Xuan comprehend Han's hidden depths; Gao and Hong uphold the great Luo. Virtue unfolds Qinghua; cultivators treasure everlasting life."

The Zhi generation was already the eleventh generation.

Reviewing this body's memories, Zhao Sheng discovered that another hundred and sixty years had passed.

This time, not only had the Zhao Family not declined, it had grown into a great clan with more than a thousand members. Its businesses spread throughout Ganzhou, and it was a renowned martial arts family in Ganzhou, able to thrive in both the black and white paths.

Zhao Sheng's status in this life was not low. Though both his parents had died, he was still a direct descendant of the Zhao Family's Third Branch.

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