"There were two trees in my mind, one green and one gray."
Lin Yan sat on the steps beneath the eaves, looking at the old tree in the courtyard while sensing the strange tree deep in his mind.
His expression was somewhat dazed!
The strange tree in his mind was formed from two intertwined trees, one green and one gray.
One was tender green, brimming with life; the other was gray and withered, like deadwood.
The only thing they had in common was that neither the green branches nor the gray ones had any leaves.
They were completely bare, and no more than three inches tall.
Had he transmigrated into the body of Xun the Younger?
Lin Yan sighed softly. After confirming that his soul had crossed over, he had found that information about this tree had appeared in his mind.
The Martial Dao Tree—just as its name implied, it was related to martial arts.
The information was very brief.
Lin Yan took the appearance of the Martial Dao Tree in stride. These days, transmigrating without a cheat was as good as not transmigrating at all.
A small cheat was a golden finger; a big one was a full-on hack.
Smack!
Bird droppings landed on his face, pulling Lin Yan's wandering thoughts back.
His gaze swept over the surrounding earthen courtyard walls, his eyes filled with curiosity.
Where the hell has this truck brought me?
Memories flowed through his mind, both from his past life of more than thirty years and from the original owner of this body.
In his previous life, he had been born in a small town, gone to school, found a job, and worked like a beast of burden at a major company.
He could see the rest of his life laid out before him.
He had wanted to change things, but at thirty-five, whatever he wanted to do, people told him it was too late.
When he ignored the pleas of all his friends and relatives, quit his job, and toured his motherland's magnificent mountains and rivers on a Zhang Xue motorcycle, he was hit by an out-of-control truck.
At the moment the truck struck him, the first thought that came to Lin Yan's mind wasn't So this is the end for me. It was that this time, at least, no one would tell him it was too late.
When you were thirty-five, anything you did was too late; only when you died did people say you had left too soon.
The original owner's memories as a youth:
Dengzhou Prefecture, Guangping County.
Eighteen years old. Both parents dead. He lived with his aunt and younger cousin.
The memories hadn't passed before his eyes like a galloping parade. Instead, they seemed to have been poured straight into his mind, all at once.
Lin Yan could now be certain: that truck had brought him to a world of martial arts.
The original owner had it rough.
His grandparents had died before he had even seen their faces. When he was seven, his parents had died in a flash flood. After that, he lived with his uncle and aunt. When he was twelve, his uncle went off to perform corvée labor and was never heard from again.
There was no joke about both parents dying and his magic power being sacrificed to heaven.
Thinking back over the original owner's experiences, Lin Yan felt a faint sadness welling up inside him.
He didn't know whether it was because he had taken over the original owner's body or because he had been affected by the depths of the original owner's soul.
Lin Yan didn't want to dwell on it.
Since I'm here, I'll make the best of it.
From this moment on, he was Lin Yan of this world.
"Brother Lin, how are you feeling?"
The courtyard gate swung open, interrupting Lin Yan's thoughts. A lean man walked in with a broad grin.
"Pretty good."
Lin Yan shook off his dazed state and stood up from the steps, his excitement clear. "Big Brother Zhang, after taking that dose of medicine just now, I felt my whole body warm up. Does that mean I can produce a warm current?"
"It seems, Brother Lin, that you've got a real talent for martial arts. Most people need to take at least ten doses before they feel anything. One dose worked for you. At this rate, you'll be able to start practicing martial arts after taking it for three months straight."
Zhang Dahai grinned until his eyes narrowed. Hearing this, Lin Yan couldn't help smiling with pride. "Once I can practice martial arts, I'll pay you back double—no, ten times over, Big Brother Zhang."
"Brother Lin, there's no need to be so polite. I'm only helping because I took a liking to you. But you mustn't tell anyone about the medicine. This prescription is exclusive to the Li Family. If word gets out, the two of us will be in deep trouble."
"Don't worry, Big Brother Zhang. You've treated me so well. I'd never tell anyone."
Lin Yan patted his chest to reassure him, then added, "I'll head back now. I'll come again another day."
Zhang Dahai walked Lin Yan to the gate, and the two exchanged a few more words of mutual regard.
"Stay here, Big Brother Zhang."
"Take care, Brother Lin."
Smack!
The gate shut.
"Idiot!"
"Dumbass!"
One low voice of mockery and one unspoken thought rang out at the same time, from inside and outside the gate.
Zhang Dahai looked at the pot used to boil the medicine, with its dregs still in the courtyard, and smirked. I was afraid you wouldn't feel warm, so I added all that ginger powder. Good thing it didn't kill you, or my plans would've gone up in smoke.
I've been set up.
In the alley, Lin Yan's smile had vanished. With his experience, he had seen at a glance that the original owner had been marked by Zhang Dahai for slaughter like a pig.
This was a world where martial artists reigned supreme, and all privileges were reserved for them.
Most ordinary adults had already accepted their lot in life, but the young still had spirit—and a few lingering fantasies.
The original owner had worked as a shop assistant at a store in the county seat. Two days ago, he had passed a teahouse where someone was shouting at the entrance that a martial artist inside was preaching about martial arts. Anyone could go in and listen, and tea was free.
Curious, the original owner went inside. As luck would have it, he ended up sitting at the same table as Zhang Dahai. The young man knew nothing of the dangers of the world, and under Zhang Dahai's smooth talk, he laid out his family situation in detail.
After the talk, Zhang Dahai had unexpectedly taken the original owner to meet the martial artist alone. The martial artist felt the original owner's bones and declared that he had the aptitude to practice martial arts, but his body was too weak for now. Once he had recuperated, he could take the man as his disciple and personally teach him martial arts.
What followed was a familiar tale. Zhang Dahai told the original owner plenty of legendary stories about martial arts masters who had come from ordinary backgrounds, received help from benefactors, and eventually made their mark in the martial world.
Zhang Dahai was willing to be the original owner's benefactor.
He had an exclusive prescription from the wealthy Li Family in the city that could help build up the body.
Two hundred copper coins for one dose.
The original owner had no money, but that was no problem—he could simply sign a loan agreement.
For a boy who had never seen much of the world and had just received a personal promise from a martial artist, what would he care about the price of the medicine? His mind was full of dreams about the glory of becoming a martial artist.
What would a little money matter then?
"The house my parents left behind was rented out by my aunt, bringing in two taels of silver a year. If it were sold, it'd be worth twenty taels. Zhang Dahai's target is the house my parents left behind."
"If I expose him on the spot and turn against him outright, he might resort to even more vicious methods. Zhang Dahai and that 'martial artist' are clearly part of the same gang. A gang like that won't stop until they get what they want. Turning against them now wouldn't be wise."
Lin Yan didn't hurry home. Instead, he slowed his pace, thinking through how to deal with the situation as he looked around.
The road beneath his feet was packed earth, its surface uneven from countless feet, livestock hooves, and the occasional wagon wheel.
Earthen houses crowded both sides of the road. Most of the walls were mottled, with stalks of wheat straw exposed. Thick thatched roofs varied in color, some having darkened with age and damp.
After turning two corners, the road opened up a little. It could almost be called a small street.
There were more shops along both sides. Their wooden doors were old, but there were more people about, and the ground had changed from packed earth to flagstones.
In the whole run-down northern part of the city, this street ranked among the three cleanest. Lin Yan lived in an alley off it.
Back at his home, Lin Yan pushed open the courtyard gate and called, "Auntie, I'm back."
In the courtyard, the woman washing clothes by the well raised her head. "You're back, Yan'er. Your meal's warming in the pot. Go eat first."
"Okay."
Lin Yan replied. Ever since his uncle had gone to perform corvée labor two years ago and no news had come back, his aunt had closed the baozi shop. Now she supported the household by washing and mending clothes for people.
In the original owner's memories, his aunt rarely went out except to take work.
The original owner hadn't understood why she had shut down the baozi shop when business had been good.
But Lin Yan could understand. Though Guangping County had a government office, it wasn't entirely peaceful. Gangs were everywhere, and a widow's doorstep attracted gossip.
His aunt was raising him and his younger cousin. She didn't want to invite trouble. Washing and mending earned less, but it was steady and quiet.
He entered the main room. Though it was small, and the stove, cabinets, and table took up most of the space, there was no damp or moldy smell. The room was very tidy.
Lin Yan really was hungry.
He went to the stove, served himself a bowl of rice from the pot, and ate it with the cured meat and greens on the table. He didn't find it unpleasant; his body was used to it.
After the meal.
Lin Yan looked at his aunt, who was still washing clothes, and asked, "Auntie, where's my younger cousin?"
His cousin, Lin Mo, was six years younger than him.
"He's out running wild with the other children. Go find him in a bit and call him back for dinner."
Liu didn't raise her head. But when Lin Yan heard this, his eyes flickered with emotion.
In his memories, his aunt had been strict with him but barely disciplined his younger cousin. It was true that the boy was younger, but when the original owner had been that age, if he played outside too long, he would get scolded or even beaten when he came home.
The original owner thought his aunt treated them differently because he wasn't her own child, but Lin Yan saw it another way.
If she favored her own son, why did she get him new clothes every year, while her own boy wore his old ones?
If she favored her own son, why did she scrape together a few dozen copper coins every month to send him to a teacher to learn reading and writing for two years?
"Auntie, I don't want to work at the Zhou Family Shop anymore."
At Lin Yan's words, Liu's hands stilled over the laundry. She looked up at him, worry in her eyes. "Did someone at the shop bully you?"
"No one bullied me."
Lin Yan shook his head. With the Martial Dao Tree in his mind, there was no question that he would embark on the path of martial arts.
If he hadn't been set up, he might have lived the original owner's life peacefully for a while and waited until he knew more about this world before thinking about practicing martial arts.
But Zhang Dahai had tried to set him up, and when he saw his aunt, he thought of how decisively she had closed the baozi shop and sold the farmland. That changed his mind.
"I want to learn martial arts."