I'm Not Human Anymore!

Dusk.

Outside Little Liuzi Town.

On a remote dirt road.

Chen Guan looked at his aged body in confusion.

I was just slacking off at work, how did I transmigrate? It can't be that serious, can it, Boss?

Chen Guan hadn't even processed the situation yet.

In an instant, exhaustion, aching legs, labored breathing, and all the sensations belonging to old age and illness surged forth, leaving Chen Guan with little strength to muster.

Before he could recover from this "transmigration."

Whoosh—

Four bandits burst out from the woods ahead.

They held blood-dripping machetes, as if they had just hacked something down.

Seeing their fierce and menacing appearance, Chen Guan trembled and instinctively took two steps back.

The lead bandit, seeing Chen Guan about to run, chuckled:

"Don't panic, old man up ahead, we brothers are just asking for directions!"

As he spoke, the lead bandit gave a wink to the three bandits beside him.

Immediately, a fat bandit and a thin bandit walked toward Chen Guan.

"My big brother is right, don't run, old man!"

"Exactly, we aren't going to do anything to you, hehehe..."

As the fat and thin bandits spoke, they slowly raised the machetes in their hands.

Seeing their posture, Chen Guan certainly didn't believe they were just asking for directions.

Unfortunately, he had no weapon in his hands.

He dared not run either, lest they try a "throwing knife at the old man" stunt.

I wouldn't have just arrived in this world only to be killed, would I?

As they drew closer, Chen Guan felt his whole body tighten, and goosebumps broke out all over him.

On this desolate dirt road, with no village in front and no shop behind, all he saw were the gleaming, blood-dripping machetes.

And the four bandits, standing in a pincer formation with flowery, smiling faces.

"Come with us!"

At the same time, the fat and thin bandits approached, grabbing Chen Guan by his left and right sides with their large hands, intending to drag him into the nearby woods.

Chen Guan's frail, elderly strength was no match for the two bandits, and he had no choice but to submit.

But as soon as they neared the woods, a stench of blood surged forth.

Chen Guan's gaze followed the source of the smell.

It was a farmer who had been disemboweled; the scene was incredibly disgusting and gruesome.

"Don't panic, old man, and don't fear him."

Seeing Chen Guan's fear, the lead bandit thoughtfully comforted him: "Because you will be just like him soon. But it's no matter, my blade is very fast."

It's over... Chen Guan knew it was the end when he heard those words.

The fat and thin bandits searched Chen Guan from head to toe.

"Only a few dozen copper coins?"

The fat bandit weighed Chen Guan's money pouch in his hand.

It was sewn from two pieces of tattered burlap, with a patch of a clashing color on it.

"Damn it, what rotten luck!" the thin bandit cursed angrily, then shoved Chen Guan toward the corpse with a slap. "A pair of paupers!"

"Having some money is better than nothing." The leader's smile remained unchanged. "I was locked in a dungeon for three years, then spent another three years digging a tunnel! I only managed to escape a few days ago. I thought the brothers in the mountains had all scattered, but I didn't expect my three good brothers to still be waiting for me. Such brotherhood is worth a thousand gold today!"

"Exactly!" The fat bandit tossed the pouch to the leader and looked at the farmer's corpse. "Although this pauper had no money, we started the day with a red opening; it's a celebration for Big Brother, a lucky omen! Now, this little brother will add an old man for Big Brother, performing a double celebration!"

As he spoke, he raised his cleaver, preparing to hack Chen Guan to death in a single stroke.

Facing the imminent crisis of life and death, a segment of memory belonging to the "original body" surfaced in Chen Guan's mind.

In an instant.

Chen Guan realized that this old man was from a village three hundred miles away.

He had traveled this far to find his grandson.

Five years ago, his eight-year-old grandson had been taken away by a Daoist priest who practiced sorcery.

This was a world similar to those of the immortals!

The old man's grandson.

Naturally, that meant his own grandson.

He was now a "Qi Practitioner of the Guanglin Sect!"

Having received these memories and realizing his grandson had such connections, Chen Guan felt a sudden flash of inspiration. He looked at the fat bandit raising the cleaver and hurriedly waved his hands, shouting:

"Wait, good sir! I have something to say!"

"Hmm?" The fat bandit paused and asked, "If you're going to offer money for your life, there's no need.

Because once you're dead, that money will be ours anyway."

As he spoke, the fat bandit began to raise his hand again.

"Second brother is right." The leader standing nearby nodded, adding to Chen Guan, "Don't bother saying you can lead us to your home for money, or have your family send a ransom.

We brothers only deal in short-term business.

Less trouble, quick money."

"I..." Chen Guan ignored whatever they were saying. Seeing the cleaver being raised again, he blurted out:

"Good sirs! My grandson is a cultivator! A cultivator of the Guanglin Sect!"

"Guanglin Sect?" The fat bandit looked puzzled. "Is that some martial arts school?"

"A cultivator!" The thin bandit was shocked. "This old man is actually connected to the legendary cultivators?"

"He... he..." The last bandit looked a bit terrified. "He said his grandson is one of the immortals?"

Upon hearing Chen Guan's words, they paused for a long time.

Legends of immortals and stories of reclusive masters had existed since ancient times.

Everyone in the world yearned for such things.

And so.

The leader, with an expression of extreme agitation, immediately hacked Chen Guan to death with a single blow.

"Damn it! I've already treated you like this; if your grandson really is an immortal, and I let you go now, would you let me go in the future?"

Time passed.

After the leader killed Chen Guan, the three brothers carefully delivered follow-up blows, searched his body, and prepared to find some branches to burn Chen Guan to ashes.

This was to ensure that if the old man's grandson truly was a cultivator, he wouldn't be able to track them down through any means.

About five minutes later.

Seeing that Chen Guan had no value left, they headed deeper into the woods to gather firewood.

Soon, they found the wood and set Chen Guan ablaze.

They then continued to lie in wait outside the forest.

Another ten minutes passed.

In another patch of woods two hundred meters away.

An adult black bear, standing over two meters tall, caught the scent of blood and charred flesh, and was now approaching the spot where Chen Guan's corpse lay.

But at that moment, a thunderclap exploded in the sky.

The black bear reacted to the shock, twitched a few times, and collapsed to the ground.

It was dead.

Yet, the next second, it opened its eyes again, though its gaze and expression revealed a hint of human-like confusion.

"What the hell, I'm a bear again?"

Chen Guan was bewildered, and he saw an ancient-looking picture book appear within his field of vision.

It was presented in the style of an ink wash painting.

The first page depicted the old man from before.

The scene rendered in the ink painting was him being hacked to death by the four bandits.

There were also a few lines of text.

[Afterword: Ten years later, your grandson Chen Changhong ventured out into the world and returned to his hometown to visit, only to learn that you and he were separated by the divide between life and death.]

[Your grandson's heart meridian is damaged, and his comprehension has weakened.]

[The four bandits remain at large.]

The first page recorded a painting, along with the events that would have occurred under normal circumstances.

The grandson and the bandits mentioned within were both connected to him.

The second page was blank.

But at this very moment.

Many strange characters surged out from the picture book, gradually forming words that Chen Guan could understand.

It was the reincarnation process during the period of his "own death."

[Your first life was killed by bandits.]

[Reincarnation interval: 20 minutes.]

[Searching for a nearby "body" for reincarnation, or "random newborn infant."]

[The strength of the new body is related to your various ratings.]

[Reincarnation body found: Bear.]

[Bear: Required soul strength (0.6), required realm (1), required physique (1.4).]

[Average: 1]

[Your previous life: Soul (1.2), realm (1), physique (0.8).]

[Judgment... Compatible.]

[Second life: Adult bear.]

[Next reincarnation interval: 20 hours.]

After reading the characters.

Beyond learning that he possessed a cheat, Chen Guan also felt an indescribable sensation within himself.

This was the power of a bear!

At the same time, a few choices appeared.

[Please choose a talent to inherit from your previous life.]

[1: Presbyopia]

[2: Arthritis]

[3: Low-grade Fire Spirit Root]

[Accumulated talent inheritance: None]

[Note: Talents from every life can be accumulated and stacked; future lives enjoy the full bonuses.]

There was no need to even mention things like presbyopia or arthritis.

He chose 3 directly.

[Low-grade Fire Spirit Root: Common, talent type, applicable to most living and non-living things.]

[Number of inherited talents (1): Low-grade Fire Spirit Root]

Below these lines of text, there was also personal information.

[Name: Chen Guan]

[Second life: Bear]

[Second life talent available as "Legacy": Low-grade Bear Strength]

[Note 1: Legacy talents will inevitably appear during reincarnation as one of the choices.]

[Note 2: Can be upgraded through cultivation to create a better legacy for future lives.]

[Low-grade Bear Strength: 120/1000]

"It can be upgraded?"

Chen Guan noticed the key point.

This was the kind of thing that laid the foundation for his "next life."

It was definitely the more, the better.

At the same time.

After seeing the cheat.

Chen Guan felt much more relaxed.

To be honest, when Chen Guan first arrived in this world, he thought he was a goner.

But now, he had the confidence.

"Grandsons, just you wait for Grandpa to find you..."

Chen Guan was not only thinking about killing the four bandits who had done him in, but also about his actual grandson.

Because he was cultivating immortality.

This was a world with cultivators.

Since there were immortal sects, it was naturally a good place to cultivate.

Surely, just because he had turned into a bear, his eldest grandson wouldn't go against the natural order and refuse to acknowledge him, right?

Of course, scenarios might arise like, "Monster, how do you know my grandfather's name?"

"Die, monster! Return my grandfather's life!"

Or even, "You dare claim to be my grandfather? This Daoist shall see how much weight a grandson-bear like you carries!"

It also didn't rule out divination by the Six Lines or soul-searching techniques.

That would require careful planning.

As he pondered, Chen Guan thought of his previous life's corpse; inside the clothes was a small toy of his grandson's, a grasshopper carved from a small wooden stick.

There was also a letter, fortunately left behind when his grandson's parents died in the chaos of war.

These two items were very important.

They could serve as partial proof of his identity.

Thinking this, Chen Guan strode toward the location of the corpse.

Thump.

But before Chen Guan had taken many steps, his gait suddenly faltered, and he stumbled headlong.

"The way a human walks and the way a bear walks are different..."

Chen Guan flexed his thick black legs, realizing he was subconsciously still maintaining the walking habits of a human.

Now, using them to walk in a bear's body was bound to be uncoordinated.

Fortunately, he had the muscle memory belonging to a black bear.

After getting familiar with it, Chen Guan dropped to the ground and switched to a four-legged sprint.

This speed was faster and more stable.

Rustle.

With the sensitive sense of smell belonging to a beast, he caught the scent of blood and charred flesh.

He sprinted nearly two hundred meters.

Before him lay the burning corpse of his previous life.

Less than thirty minutes had passed since his reincarnation.

The body was truly still warm.

Because, damn it, it was literally on fire.

What tokens?

They had long since been burned to nothing.

Chen Guan was furious; this was cutting off his path to immortality and ruining the touching moment of reuniting with his grandson in the future.

"Grrr..."

Chen Guan could not speak now; what came from his throat was the roar of a beast.

He couldn't effectively access the manufacturer's settings.

But that didn't stop Chen Guan from galloping on all fours; in just a few breaths, he reached the edge of the forest thirty meters away.

Under a large tree ahead, the four bandits were waiting for their next victim.

They were lurking behind the tree.

At that very moment.

"What's that noise?"

Hearing the sound of Chen Guan charging and the crunch of branches snapping under a beast's weight, they turned their heads one after another.

But in the next instant.

Having grown accustomed to the black bear's body, Chen Guan relied on the beast's muscle memory, using the momentum and force of his sprint to slam a paw into the back of the fattest bandit in the front!

Crack.

The black bear, over two meters tall and weighing more than seven hundred pounds, delivered a blow with such immense palm strength that a dull sound of bones breaking inside flesh echoed through the woods.

The fat bandit had yet to exert any force or retaliate when his back caved inward, a spray of blood foaming from his mouth as his two-hundred-plus-pound frame was swatted away like a willow catkin by Chen Guan, slamming headlong into a tree half a meter away.

BOOM—

The massive tree shuddered, shedding a flurry of leaves.

The fat bandit's face was a mangled mess of flesh, his features completely ruined by the impact against the rough, unyielding bark.

Chen Guan paused for a brief moment, stunned by the horrific scene he had just created.

"Do not panic!"

The bandit leader's heart trembled with terror at the sight of such a massive black bear standing before him.

Yet, a leader is a leader; what kind of situation had he not witnessed before?

Even in this life-or-death moment, he managed to steady the morale of his men, roaring, "Brothers! Surround him from three sides! There is only one beast, and there are still three of us! We swear to avenge the second brother!"

"Yes!"

"Avenge the second brother!"

Hearing their leader's shout, the remaining two bandits felt their hearts settle slightly.

After all, they had followed their leader for years, wholeheartedly devoted to him and filled with admiration.

"Boss! I'll take the north side!"

The thin bandit even volunteered, turning his head slightly to address the leader.

But as he turned, he saw that five meters away, the leader was already sprinting out of the woods.

All that remained for him was a resolute back.

"Boss..." The thin bandit was dumbfounded.

THUD—

The next second, he felt a jarring strike to the back of his head, and then, he knew nothing more.

"Roar, roar..."

Having killed the second man, Chen Guan's mindset had shifted; the initial hesitation toward killing was gone as he turned his gaze toward the third bandit, who was attempting to flee.

Meanwhile, the leader had bolted to the edge of the forest, running blindly without a destination in mind.

To him, the destination was irrelevant; the only thing that mattered was running faster than his good brothers.

Rustle—

Just as the leader prayed for his brothers to hold out a little longer—preferably long enough to sate the black bear—eight men dressed as constables appeared on the road ahead.

The moment the leader saw them, he felt as if he had found his salvation.

Even if they were the law and he was a thief, with a bear potentially chasing him from behind, they were all human.

At the very least, eating prison gruel was better than being eaten by a bear.

"Officers! Officers! Save me!"

The bandit leader shouted, and while still sprinting, he bent his knees early.

With a slick, practiced slide, he skidded nearly five meters and knelt directly before the head constable.

"Officers! I have searched so hard for you! Please, hurry and take me back to prison!"

"You dare to return?"

The moment the head constable saw the bandit leader, his eyes turned bloodshot; he recalled how the jailbreak a few days prior had sent the county magistrate into a rage, leading to him being worked like a donkey.

For the past few days, he had been running ragged, leading men in circles around the town.

"Officer... Officer!"

Though the bandit leader saw the murderous look in the constable's eyes, he found it strangely comforting.

Because the bear behind him was truly going to eat him.

The head constable is a peak Houtian expert... dealing with a mere beast will be a breeze, my life is saved... the bandit leader thought, relieved.

"Wait! What is that sound?"

At the same time, the head constable sensed something amiss and turned his gaze toward the forest ahead.

CRACK—

Inside the forest.

Chen Guan's bear paw, the size of a cattail fan, caught up with the last bandit's head and shattered it with a single blow.

Having finished off the last one.

Chen Guan was in high spirits. He shook the gore and pulp from his paw, then leaped with all four limbs, intending to jump to the roadside outside the forest to chase down the bandit leader.

But just as he leaped out, suspended in mid-air.

He cast his gaze forward.

On the roadside ahead, the bandit leader was kneeling.

Behind him stood several constables, their powerful bows drawn to the limit.

Seeing this, Chen Guan's fur bristled like a dandelion gone to seed. The moment his clumsy body touched the ground, he twisted his backside, kicked off with all four limbs, and jumped right back into the forest.

Swish, swish, swish—

Eight arrows whistled past Chen Guan; seven buried themselves into the forest, while one struck a nearby locust tree, sinking three inches deep into the wood.

"What?"

Seeing this black bear possessed such intelligence—as if it knew the lethality of the arrows and could dodge them so swiftly—the head constable realized that if such a beast were allowed to escape, it would surely plague the region, becoming a far greater menace than the bandits.

"This beast avoids disaster; it has already gained human-like awareness and opened a sliver of its spirit!"

The head constable drew the long blade at his waist and glanced at the bandit leader kneeling before him.

His eyes darted around, calculating.

"Leave two men to watch this thief."

The head constable cast a glance at him, then charged into the forest with his blade drawn.

"Do not let this ferocious beast escape.

The rest of you, follow me!"