Martial Artist

"Jing'er... Jing'er... How could you be so careless... How could you provoke..."

The calls at his ears were intermittent, laced with urgency and choked sobs.

In the murky darkness, Chen Jing snapped his eyes open.

What met his gaze was a makeshift ceiling cobbled together from scrap wood, with the setting sun pouring through the gaps, scattering fragmented light and shadow across his face.

"I..."

As soon as he opened his mouth, a sharp, stabbing pain surged through his mind, as if a knife were churning inside.

At that moment, Chen Jing felt as though his soul were being forcibly torn apart by a pair of hands, causing his entire body to tremble in agony.

The next instant, countless chaotic and unfamiliar memories, like shards of broken glass, fell, pieced themselves together, and forced their way into his mind.

He was Chen Jing.

His identity was an ordinary rickshaw puller in Red Rock County.

He was currently in a decaying nation rife with natural disasters, man-made calamities, and foreign invasions, where the court officials were too busy saving themselves to care, and the common people wailed across the land.

Chaos, turmoil, despair.

And just then.

"Jing'er, how are you? Does your head still hurt?"

The familiar voice sounded again.

Chen Jing looked up to see an old man, appearing to be in his fifties or sixties, sitting by the bed. His temples were gray, and his face was etched with the deep lines of hardship and toil.

It was his father—Chen Sanwu.

Chen Sanwu's father was the third child, and he himself was the fifth, hence the simple name.

"My head..."

Chen Jing raised a hand to touch it.

The moment his fingertips brushed the wound, he felt a wave of warmth.

He lifted his palm to find fresh blood flowing across it.

"It's still bleeding!"

Seeing the bright red in the sunset, Chen Sanwu's expression turned frantic. He stood up in a hurry and said, "Jing'er, don't move! Dad will go find you some clean cloth!"

As he spoke, he anxiously rummaged through the dilapidated cabinet nearby.

Chen Jing, however, remained frozen in place.

The temperature of the blood, the scent of the air—everything was so real, and the memories in his mind had now completely merged...

He finally remembered why he had ended up in this state.

He was a rickshaw puller in Red Rock County, surviving in this difficult world by ferrying passengers.

The passenger he had pulled that day was a martial artist.

Because he hadn't been able to dodge in time at a narrow street corner, his rickshaw had brushed against the man's leather shoes.

It was just a smudge of dust.

Yet the martial artist had flown into a rage, and without a word, slammed a fist directly into his head.

The force of the punch was so heavy that it cracked Chen Jing's skull, causing blood to spray out and knocking him unconscious instantly.

After throwing the punch, the martial artist didn't even glance at Chen Jing; he simply let out a cold snort, straightened his shoes, and strode away.

If not for a fellow rickshaw puller who had rushed to notify Chen Sanwu, and if not for Chen Sanwu desperately carrying him home and watching over him day and night.

He likely would have died on the side of the street, becoming just another nameless corpse forgotten by this chaotic era.

Thinking of this, Chen Jing's chest heaved, and his fists clenched until his knuckles turned white.

If not for his unique constitution, which allowed this severe injury to break through the so-called "mystery of the womb" and recall the memories of his past life.

He would likely be dead already.

No!

In other words, he had already been killed once by that martial artist!

"Martial artists... can they just kill people at will? Without even a word of accountability?"

"Black Crow Sect, Yan Peng!"

Chen Jing gritted his teeth, his knuckles turning white unconsciously.

Anger, humiliation, and resentment churned in his chest like a trapped beast, roaring desperately within his blood.

But the next moment, thinking of how Yan Peng was a martial artist, the breath in Chen Jing's chest sank helplessly.

This world was far too harsh for ordinary people.

Martial artists tempered their blood and qi; one could defeat ten, and the strong could shatter mountains with a single punch or trample armies underfoot.

As long as one possessed martial blood and qi, they stood automatically on the clouds above the common folk.

Therefore, the status of a martial artist could almost be described as transcendent.

As for ordinary people, they were like livestock kept in pens, no better than pigs or dogs, to be slaughtered at will!

Kill a few people?

Heh, if a martial artist simply said, "This Seat is in a bad mood," the local authorities would immediately silence the matter for him.

Thinking of this, Chen Jing's throat tightened, and an unrealistic yet incredibly firm thought welled up from the bottom of his heart: "If I could also become a martial artist... perhaps I could take revenge."

But as soon as the thought emerged, Chen Jing's brows furrowed tightly, and the light in his eyes dimmed.

Apprentice to learn martial arts?

He had absolutely no qualifications.

Although there were many martial arts schools in Red Rock County, internal cultivation methods were always kept as closely guarded secrets; even teaching basic external fist techniques required a hefty tuition fee.

Yet he and his father were merely rickshaw pullers struggling to scrape by.

After working hard all day, one-third of the silver they earned had to go toward the rickshaw rental, and the remainder barely covered food and clothing.

By the end of the month, there were usually only a few copper coins left in their pockets.

As for his two older sisters.

His eldest sister was a bit player in a theater troupe, having practiced bitterly for years without ever landing a lead role.

His second sister was an apprentice at a pharmacy; it was already difficult for her to provide for her own food and studies, so how could she possibly send money home?

Relying on such a family background...

Chen Jing's eyes were filled with helplessness and suppression.

A broken bowl, a broken bed, a broken house—the family was so poor that even firewood for the winter was a problem.

Let alone the extravagant hope of apprenticing to learn martial arts, even surviving this winter depended on the whims of the heavens.

"Could it be... that I am destined to end up like Xiangzi, bullied and oppressed, eventually seeing my family destroyed and having nowhere left to turn?"

At the thought of Xiangzi's wretched end, it felt as if a knife had been plunged deep into Chen Jing's heart.

"No!"

He gripped the corner of his quilt tightly, his gaze suddenly turning fierce.

"Since I have lived two lifetimes, I must never again be cattle or sheep waiting to be slaughtered!"

"I, Chen Jing, must never die a second time!"

The moment the thought settled, a tearing, agonizing pain exploded in his mind, as if something were condensing and taking shape.

The next instant.

In the depths of his consciousness, Chen Jing saw a small, translucent bead floating silently.

Immediately after, a massive influx of information flooded his mind like a torrent.

This was an Exemption Bead.

Its function was to exempt the cost of any cultivation technique.

If a certain technique could increase cultivation speed tenfold but the cost was the loss of a hand, the Exemption Bead could directly exempt the loss of the hand, leaving only the effect of the tenfold cultivation speed!

At this moment, the Exemption Bead was completely transparent, clearly indicating that its energy had not yet been fully accumulated.

The energy required by the Exemption Bead was absorbed by extracting excess essence from daily food or medicinal supplements, accumulating it continuously.

Once the energy was full, the Exemption Bead would turn blood-red, thereby exempting the cost of one cultivation technique.

The moment his consciousness withdrew from his mind, Chen Jing snapped his eyes open.

Fanaticism, greed, and ambition exploded in his chest like a raging fire.

"A martial artist... I want to be a martial artist!"

"In this chaotic world, only fists are the truth!"

"If I don't want to be cattle or sheep, I must become a master among men!"

"Only by becoming a martial artist can I make Yan Peng pay the price he deserves!"