The Beginning of a Hundred Lifetimes

Reincarnator: Li Tui

Wealth: D-Mid (+)| Destitute Luck: C-Mid (+)| Occasional minor fortune Physique: D-Mid (+)| Defective spiritual root Spirit: C-High (+)| Spiritual platform remains clear Intelligence: B-Mid (+)| Superior wisdom root

Li Tui stared at the panel before him, feeling only absurdity. Eighty years old, his breath nearly spent, and this thing finally shows up?

What kind of joke is this?

Just then, voices from outside the window drifted in:

"The key... is fixed on him..."

"What's the rush? Wait until he breathes his last, then go in."

Indeed, what is the rush. Li Tui thought. They are in such a hurry for him to die so they can divide his "destitute" estate.

Li Tui wearily closed his eyes.

"Creeeak."

The door was pushed open.

The footsteps were light, deliberately restrained. Li Tui didn't need to open his eyes to know who it was: his "filial" nephew and niece-in-law.

"Uncle? Are you... still awake?"

The nephew's voice was layered with hypocritical sorrow, but Li Tui heard it clearly; those footsteps were moving toward the wooden chest by the bed.

That was the only decent "inheritance" he had in this life, though it contained nothing but a few old clothes.

But they didn't believe it.

"The key must be in the chest." The niece-in-law lowered her voice. "This old geezer has been hiding it his whole life..."

The sound of the chest being pried open. Rummaging. Then, a spit of disappointment.

"There's nothing here!"

"How is that possible..." The nephew's voice turned abruptly sinister. "It must be on him."

The footsteps drew closer.

Li Tui kept his eyes closed, his breathing so faint it was almost inaudible.

A rough hand reached into his robes to grope him, the movements brutal.

Finding no key as expected, the hand paused, then suddenly clamped around his throat.

"Old thing... where did you hide it?" The nephew's voice was right against his ear, hot and foul-smelling. "Tell me, and I'll give you a quick death."

Li Tui slowly opened his eyes.

The nephew's greedy, twisted face was right before him.

"I am dying." Li Tui spoke, his voice hoarse. "And you... are next."

The nephew froze, then sneered, "Still tough-talking when you're at death's door!"

Before the words had even faded.

Li Tui's right hand shot up, driving two fingers hard into the tendon hollow of his nephew's wrist.

"Urgh?!"

The nephew felt his entire arm go numb, his strength instantly collapsing.

Li Tui seized the chance to pull a bamboo splinter from his robes—one he had secretly sharpened three days ago when he realized his time was up.

With his final breath, he drove the bamboo splinter into his nephew's ribs.

Straight for the vitals.

The niece-in-law at the door saw the bloody scene, let out a shriek, and turned to flee.

The room returned to a deathly silence.

Li Tui slumped back into his rattan chair, gasping for air as his vision began to blur.

He suddenly remembered many years ago, on an afternoon just like this, after his first failed attempt to draw qi into his body, lying on a hillside and watching a lone goose fly overhead.

Back then, he still thought that one day, he would be able to fly.

How foolish.

Li Tui tugged at the corners of his mouth, wanting to smile, but only a wheezing sound escaped his throat.

Darkness began to spread from the edges of his vision, like ink dropped into clear water, slowly and irresistibly blooming outward.

The last speck of light shrank into a tiny dot.

And then, it went out.

Nothingness.

Absolute nothingness.

The consciousness of Li Tui floated in a void of darkness, devoid of a body or sensory perception, possessing only pure existence.

The next moment, several ironclad laws were carved directly into his soul:

"A hundred cycles of reincarnation, memories shall not fade."

"At the end of each life, fate points shall be tallied."

"Fate points can be used to add stats, alter talent, and defy destiny."

Suddenly, a panel appeared before Li Tui.

[Samsara Mirror settlement initiated]

"First awakening of past-life memories, fate points +1"

"First time dying of natural causes, fate points +1"

"First time leaving behind a bloodline, fate points +1"

[Fate point settlement complete]

[Commentary for this life: An ant on the path to immortality, merely clinging to life]

[Available fate points: 3]

[Remaining reincarnation cycles: 99]

Li Tui's consciousness swept over the information on the panel.

Clinging to life... that is quite fitting.

As for how to allocate the fate points, Li Tui had already decided from the very beginning.

Why had he struggled so bitterly for eighty years in that life, only to find the path to immortality severed? Was the root cause not found in those four words: "defective spiritual root"?

If he wanted to defy fate, this was the first threshold he had to cross.

Li Tui focused all his attention on the plus sign next to Physique.

Just add it here. Li Tui's thought flickered.

The panel began to change.

[Consumed 1 fate point, Physique: Ding-Medium → Ding-High, remaining fate points: 2]

[Consumed 2 fate points, Physique: Ding-High → Bing-Low, remaining fate points: 0]

A gentle yet irresistible force surged from the depths of the void, washing over his illusory soul.

The sense of incompleteness that had clung to him like a festering sore for his entire eighty-year past life was, in this moment, made whole.

Everything seemed to prove that destiny could be defied.

Ninety-nine cycles.

He still had ninety-nine cycles left.

It was not ninety-nine chances, but ninety-nine attempts. Each attempt could end in failure, could lead to an earlier death, or could result in nothing gained at all.

But this was enough.

He only needed to do one thing from here on out: survive, accumulate fate points, and then add stats.

Again, and again, and again. It was like pushing a boulder up a mountain; if the boulder rolled back down, he would simply push it again. He would push until the ninety-ninth time, or until the boulder shattered, or until... he leveled the mountain itself.

As the radiance of the panel faded, it transformed into an ancient bronze mirror that fell into his palm.

Immediately after, Li Tui's consciousness plunged back into chaos.

Before his consciousness was cast into the chaos of the next life, the final thought Li Tui "conceived" was one of extreme simplicity:

"In this life, I accept my fate."

"In the next life, I shall change my fate."

"If I cannot change it, I will change it for another life."

"There will eventually be a life where I change it... until fate accepts me."

Darkness completely swallowed his consciousness.