It Turned Out I Hadn't Reincarnated

A breeze carrying the scent of flowers blew in through the window and mingled with the smell of disinfectant, creating a peculiar odor in the hospital room.

"If I'd mortgaged my house in September and used the money to bottom fish in the stock market, I could've lain flat by now!"

Jiang Chuan's regretful voice rang out.

Still groggy, Jiang Chuan opened his eyes.

A white ceiling. An LED light coated in dust.

Jiang Chuan abruptly sat up and looked around.

Green flooring, an old beige bedside cabinet, and a heap of snacks sitting atop it.

"Wasn't Nandu First People's Hospital demolished six years ago?"

Jiang Chuan froze briefly, then raised his hand and looked at his left hand and arm, wrapped tightly in bandages. Delight surged through him.

"I've reincarnated! I reincarnated to the day Aunt Lu hit me with her car at the start of my first year of high school!"

On September 1, the first day of his first year of high school, Jiang Chuan had been knocked down on his way to school by a red sedan driven by Lu Ping.

Fortunately, Lu Ping had not been driving fast. Jiang Chuan had only suffered a mild concussion and abrasions on his left arm and leg.

Still, worried that he might have internal injuries, Lu Ping had arranged for him to be hospitalized.

"Reincarnating at fifteen... This time, I'll definitely bottom fish in Big A!"

"My knowledge of the stock market all came after I graduated from university. Before graduation, I had no idea which stocks would soar."

"Do I have to wait another seven years? No, I need to find another way to make money and lie flat as soon as possible."

"But how am I supposed to make money?"

Real estate, automobiles, chain stores, livestreaming, and countless other industries flashed through Jiang Chuan's mind one by one.

"Jiang Chuan, guess what I brought you?"

With a creak, the hospital room door opened. A close-cropped young man with thick eyebrows and large eyes strode in, wearing a blue-and-white striped school uniform and carrying a canvas backpack.

"Dongzi, thank you. Thank your ancestors for eight generations! Thank you for bringing my textbooks over!" Jiang Chuan said irritably.

Before reincarnating, while he was recovering from his injuries, Wei Dong—his childhood best friend who lived in the same neighborhood—had made sure he suffered through the pains of studying as well.

Not only had Wei Dong brought over the newly issued textbooks, he had even "thoughtfully" given Jiang Chuan his own notes and urged him to finish the homework assigned by the teachers.

Wei Dong tossed the canvas bag beside Jiang Chuan, picked up a bag of chips from the bedside cabinet, and tore it open.

"Volume One of Great Sun Slaughtering God Technique, Practical Coordination of Thermal Weapons and Cultivators, and Contemporary Cultivator Training Manual are all in the bag. Take them yourself."

Jiang Chuan: ???

Were those really first-year high school courses?

"Books for elective courses like Basic Array Formations, One Hundred Simple Talismans, and New Era Alchemy—you can apply to the teachers yourself once you're back at school."

After saying that, Wei Dong raised his head and poured chips into his mouth.

"Dongzi, I was hit by a car, not turned into an idiot by one."

Jiang Chuan raised his right hand and pointed at his head. "High school compulsory courses are Chinese, math, and English. Electives are history, geography, and that sort of thing."

Wei Dong's eyes widened. "You forgot what you study in high school and still dare say the car didn't turn you into an idiot?"

Wei Dong then took out his phone, opened a browser, and held it before Jiang Chuan.

A man appeared on the phone screen. He wore black armor, with sword-like brows and starry eyes, his gaze as dazzling as the stars.

Most eye-catching of all were the seven longswords of different colors floating beside him.

At his feet lay a Giant Beast the size of a small mountain, shaped like a cheetah but with seven enormous horns.

"You used to say Seven Swords King was the person you admired most. You said that one day, you'd become a top powerhouse of Great Xia like him and protect Great Xia from danger. Have you forgotten that too?"

Seeing the enormous headline at the top of the browser—"Seven Swords King Slays Seven Realm Demon King with a Single Sword Strike"—a thought surfaced in Jiang Chuan's mind.

Jiang Chuan hurriedly grabbed Wei Dong's phone and began reading.

"May 3: A Giant Beast resembling an enormous whale, approximately three thousand meters long, raised towering waves and destroyed Bancheng, a port city in Fusang Nation, causing more than a hundred thousand deaths and affecting over six hundred thousand people."

"June 18: France deployed ten thousand troops, expended one nuclear bomb with a yield of one million tons, one hundred and twenty cruise missiles, and lost twenty fighter jets. Together with two hundred cultivators, they successfully slew a Blood Sea Divine Cult Elder who had sacrificed one hundred thousand people."

"August 27: A thousand-meter-long Giant Beast, dubbed the 'Golden Reaper' by netizens and resembling the Golden Winged Great Peng of myth and legend, passed over Nandu. Fortunately, it was not highly aggressive. After being held off for five minutes by Nandu's strongest expert, Sun Yanfeng, along with three hundred cultivators and a fighter squadron, it spread its wings and departed."

"..."

The more Jiang Chuan read, the graver his expression became. After a long while, he put down the phone and rubbed his temples.

"I didn't reincarnate at all. I transmigrated! And into such a dangerous world!"

This world was very similar to the one Jiang Chuan had come from in terms of history, technology, and civilization. But several decades ago, immortal light had descended, ancient immortals had awakened from slumber, and earth-shaking changes had followed.

The immortal light had brought Transcendent Factors—what cultivators called Spiritual Energy.

Nourished by the Transcendent Factors, ordinary wild beasts had continuously mutated into demon beasts, as cultivators called them.

Powerful demon beasts could not only withstand missiles head-on, but even tear apart aircraft carriers and destroy a small nation!

At the same time, some of the ancient immortals who had awakened from slumber were demonic immortals who regarded human life as grass. They slaughtered civilians on a massive scale to cultivate.

Under this double blow, Earth Star's population had plummeted.

Great Xia Nation's population had been cut in half outright. Small nations such as Nanyue had nearly been wiped out altogether.

Fortunately, humanity had obtained ancient immortal cultivation methods by exploring ancient immortal ruins and receiving the aid of some ancient immortals friendly toward humans, embarking upon the path of cultivation.

Together with the massive investments various countries made into weapons and technological research, humanity had avoided being exterminated by demon beasts and demonic immortals.

"I'm just an ordinary person who wants to lie flat and live a carefree life of eating, drinking, and waiting for death. How did I transmigrate into a world like this?!"

"Can't you send me back?"

"Bald Brother! Old Daoist Brother! I'm begging you, show your divine power! Send me back!"

Jiang Chuan screamed madly in his heart, but no gods or Buddhas answered him.

"Ah!"

After a moment, Jiang Chuan let out a long sigh, opened Wei Dong's canvas backpack, and took out the three books.

After eating five bags of snacks, Wei Dong patted his stomach and picked up his backpack.

"Jiang Chuan, I'm going home to eat."

With that, Wei Dong got up and left the hospital room.

By the time he reached the entrance of Nandu First Hospital, Wei Dong remembered something.

"I forgot to give Jiang Chuan the notes. But if he looks up the Hidden Language in his cultivation technique online, he should understand it."

The cultivation manuals and Daoist scriptures of ancient immortals were all written in Hidden Language. For instance, Heaven Door meant the nose, while Earth Door meant the mouth.

Without understanding the Hidden Language, one could not even grasp the true meaning of cultivation manuals and Daoist scriptures, much less Cultivate to Completion.

"Take the Essence of the Great Sun, store it within oneself, and transform it for one's own use..."

Jiang Chuan casually took an apple from the cabinet. As he bit into it, he flipped through Volume One of Great Sun Slaughtering God Technique.

Great Sun Slaughtering God Technique was one of the finest cultivation methods Great Xia Nation had obtained from the ancient immortals. Because it was easy to begin cultivating and allowed one to freely switch to other cultivation methods before reaching major attainment, Great Xia Nation had ultimately promoted it nationwide.

As the sun set, its lingering rays streamed in through the window and shone upon Jiang Chuan's well-defined Facial Features.

Jiang Chuan tossed the banana peel in his hand into the trash can, swallowed the banana in his mouth, and his eyes filled with excitement.

"Seize the essence of the Great Sun, bring it into my body, and turn it into my own magic power. This Great Sun Slaughtering God Technique is truly incredible!"

"Once I Cultivate to Completion in Great Sun Slaughtering God Technique, I'll definitely be able to survive in this world brimming with danger!"

The thought that demon beasts could attack at any moment and demonic immortals could come for his life at any time made Jiang Chuan impatient to begin cultivating the Great Sun Slaughtering God Technique.

"Use the mind to sense the essence of the Great Sun, then Swallow the Great Sun's essence..."

Jiang Chuan shut his eyes, calmed his mind, and focused his senses on the Essence of the Great Sun in the air.

Light specks in countless colors—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple—appeared within Jiang Chuan's mind like a brilliant starry sky.

"The Great Sun possesses utmost firmness and yang. These golden specks should be the essence of the Great Sun—or rather, Transcendent Factors formed by the union of the Great Sun's energy and immortal light."

Thinking this, Jiang Chuan circulated the Great Sun Slaughtering God Technique and drew in the golden Transcendent Factors.

In an instant, Jiang Chuan felt as if he were soaking in a warm hot spring, his whole body pleasantly warm.

Threads of warm current slipped through his Pores and into his body, continuously coursing and swimming within him.

The scabs over his wounds began to fall away, revealing smooth skin beneath.

As time passed, once every scab on Jiang Chuan's body had fallen off, the warm currents within him gathered into a stream as thick as a baby's arm and settled into his dantian.

Opening his eyes, Jiang Chuan removed his bandages and looked at his smooth left hand. He sighed in wonder. "So this is cultivation? It's simply amazing!"

"Not only have my injuries healed, but I can feel that I've become much stronger too."

"As expected of a cultivation technique named for slaughtering gods. It's already this miraculous after only initial mastery. Once I cultivate it to great attainment, just how powerful will I become?"

Creak!

Just then, the hospital room door opened again. A nurse in a white coat and mask walked into the room.

"My urinary system isn't damaged. You don't need to take me for an examination."

Jiang Chuan felt that, just as before transmigrating, wasting several hours on a urinary system examination would be worse than continuing to cultivate.

"Since that collision didn't kill you, sacrifice, I'll personally send you on your way and offer you to the great Blood Sea Demonic Immortal!"

The nurse pulled a dagger from her pocket. Cold light flashed in her eyes as she pounced at Jiang Chuan like a cheetah.