Youth Under Great Liang Mountain

The sun had just risen. Sword heroes from Heavenly Mountain ascended into the air, dancing with their swords atop the peaks. Officials in the imperial court bowed solemnly. Carrier pigeons from the border whistled above the dark grey city walls, their wings beating as they flew, scattering a few hard feathers that stirred the desolate, ancient sound of horns and the tiger-like roars of soldiers. Meanwhile, in the village below Great Liang Mountain, a group of idle brats clapped their hands, singing vulgar folk rhymes, and ran joyfully along the dusty paths.

"Wang Anfeng, Wang Anfeng, born of a mother, raised without a father, a wild child, digging for dog food..."

"Wang Anfeng, Wang Anfeng, born of a mother, raised without a father, a wild child, digging for dog food..."

A burly man rushed out of a courtyard, wearing a blue short jacket. His bulging muscles, slick with sweat, gleamed in the morning sun. He strode out a few steps and kicked the backside of the boy singing the loudest, not too hard but not too soft. His thick eyebrows furrowed, and he cursed fiercely:

"You little brat, say one more fart and I'll hear it?!"

"Waaah, run! Run!"

"The big bad guy is here to beat us, run!"

The children scattered with joyful laughter. The strong man snorted, turned, spat, and slowly walked back into the house. He sat on a stone stool, picked up the clay teapot from the stone table, and gulped down cold tea. A young man, his brows furrowed just like the burly man's, smiled wryly:

"Dad, why are you getting angry with them again? It's unpleasant, but Wang Anfeng really doesn't have parents. The words are rough..."

"Rough as a shoe sole, you say that again and I'll beat you to death!"

The burly man glared at the young man, snorted twice, and then said, "Killed a pig? Go to the loin, cut off a fatty piece, and send it to that kid Wang Anfeng."

The young man grunted, then casually picked up a piece of streaky pork nearby. "I'll cut it. Does this piece look okay?"

The burly man slammed his teapot heavily onto the stone table, annoyed. "Are you feeding a cat? So stingy!"

"Is this not enough? This is over two pounds!"

"Not enough!"

The burly man extended two fingers, thick as radishes, pointing at the young man who was butchering the pig. "Use that. Our knife sheath is that wide, cut a slice."

The young man reluctantly exclaimed, "This wide? That'll be over ten pounds!"

The man said angrily, "Am I the father or are you the father? That kid has no pig, he's thirteen, it's a reincarnation year! Just cut it like that..."

"Yes, yes, yes, my lord, I'll listen to you, truly..." The young man wiped his hand, and the boning knife flashed in his hand with a bright glint. With a swift slash, a large piece of connected pork was cut off as easily as tofu. Weighing the piece, he felt a pang of heartache and injustice. "He's not related to us, why are you doing this?"

"Why? For righteousness."

The man's eyes widened, and he said, "This kid grew up in this village, his family has no parents. Are you really going to feel bad about these two pounds of pork?"

"A true man, without righteousness in his heart, no matter his background, is just a scumbag!"

"Besides... that kid's character and talent are truly good, a good kid..."

"I'm telling you, if our family could afford a third person to cultivate martial arts, even if the old man crawled out of the grave and buried me in the ground, I'd still teach him our family's boxing techniques!"

"Truly a good kid..."

Great Liang Village, with the majestic Great Liang Mountain standing behind it. There were no fierce animals on the mountain, but rabbits and foxes were endless. There was also plenty of firewood to collect, which could earn a few copper coins by selling it to various families, but it only earned very little money, the kind only an orphan would bother with.

A dark, thin boy stood in the mountains, a thick bundle of dry branches already on his back, neatly broken for use. However, he hadn't come down the mountain to sell them. Instead, he stood by the mountain path, his small eyes fixed on a strange object in front of him—

A silver bracer, incredibly exquisitely crafted. A blue square gem was embedded directly above, emitting a glow even in the bright daylight, clearly extraordinary.

"Perhaps it's a treasure dropped by someone. The owner must be anxious. I'll wait here for now..."

He untied the bundle of dry branches from his back and placed it aside. The boy then remembered that Uncle Xu had told him more than once that human greed was like a fierce tiger; people turned against each other for wealth, drawing swords and killing others was common, and falsely claiming such a treasure was probably not even worth mentioning.

He frowned slightly, then crouched down again, picked up his water skin from his waist, and washed his hands first. After cleaning off the dirt and dust, he cautiously reached out to touch the extremely luxurious-looking bracer. However, the moment his finger lightly touched it, the blue gem suddenly lit up, and a clear, pleasant female voice abruptly sounded:

"Welcome to the Huaxia Dragon Steed server. You are the... " The voice paused briefly, then became hoarse and distorted, before continuing, "Server has suffered an abnormal impact. VR neural vision cannot be deployed. Image cannot be projected onto the retina. Self-check complete. Not recommended for use. Please send to a repair station..." The voice paused again. While the boy stood there in a daze, the bracer flew up and landed precisely on his right wrist, locking in place. He then felt a slight sting on his wrist, and the pleasant female voice sounded in his ear.

"Welcome to Huaxia Dragon Steed. You are the first user. Genetic data has been bound. Please find a stable environment and lie down comfortably. In thirty seconds, a brand new great world will unfold before you. Thirty, twenty-nine..."

Hearing the voice begin to count down, the boy's eyes widened. He looked around but only saw dense jungle. He couldn't help but panic when encountering such a situation. He calmed himself, pursed his lips, and said, "Are you the owner of this bracer? Please come out... This bracer put itself on. You must have a way to take it off, right?"

"You're talking now, but I can't see you, and I can't return it to you..."

"Fifteen, fourteen..."

"Please, this... this young lady, please come out..."

The boy's voice fell, echoing in the forest, only stirring the chirping of insects and birds, making the woods even deeper. The pleasant voice sounded in his ear, unhurriedly. A chill ran through the boy's heart. His eyes remained calm as he looked ahead, his right hand warily resting on the handle of the firewood knife at his waist.

"Three, two, one!"

The countdown stopped. The boy's fingers tightened on the knife handle and he pulled it out. The virtual transmission device on his wrist emitted a puff of blue smoke. The next moment, a blue light suddenly appeared and, before the boy could draw his knife, it flared brightly, engulfing him. The light quickly disappeared, leaving only a clear female voice lingering in the air.

"Welcome to the brand new VR virtual game, Great Jianghu!"