Rebirth

The sky was filled with gray mist, and the medieval-style town looked desolate and dilapidated, exuding a stifling atmosphere. Faint, eerie sighs seemed to drift through the town, barely audible.

In a corner of the town, Feng Buzhi opened his eyes.

A jumble of chaotic memories flooded his mind.

In those memories, he had died at Lorenz Psychiatric Hospital due to ruptured internal organs and excessive blood loss. He could even recall the sensation of his consciousness detaching from his body during the process of death.

In his quest for the path to immortality, he had made countless efforts since the age of five.

Later, he was admitted to Lorenz Psychiatric Hospital for "treatment."

At Lorenz Psychiatric Hospital, aside from the occasional conversation with the doctors, he had plenty of free time to conduct his research, and rarely did anyone disturb him.

Even when he occasionally left the hospital to venture into the wilderness to commune with nature, the doctors wouldn't say much as long as he didn't stay away for too long.

Thus, he settled into the psychiatric hospital with peace of mind, treating it as his home.

And so, after more than a decade of constant study, he took the first step and found a way to break the shackles of humanity.

Unfortunately, he had miscalculated his own physical limits, and the excessive physical and mental agitation caused by breaking those shackles led to his death before he could further advance on the path to immortality.

When it came down to it, the Earth Star of his past life was ultimately a world devoid of spiritual energy; he had been a bit too eager for quick success.

Feng Buzhi stood up. The town sky was overcast and chilly.

He was currently wearing the blue and white striped patient uniform of Lorenz Psychiatric Hospital, which felt somewhat thin.

His uniform was as pristine as new, completely devoid of the bloodstains left behind when he died.

Feng Buzhi scanned his surroundings; many people were lying on the ground nearby.

Like him, the clothes on these people were also brand new.

It seems highly likely that they arrived in this world with me. Whether it's their clothing or the items they carry, everything is pristine. I just happened to wake up a little earlier.

I just don't know if they arrived here after death like I did, or if there is some other reason.

As he muttered to himself, Feng Buzhi pulled a machete from beneath a bearded man; the blade was also brand new.

After examining the machete for a moment, Feng Buzhi put it back and continued to check the others nearby.

Like the bearded man, these people's heartbeats and pulses were steady; they appeared to be in a state of unconsciousness, or perhaps a deep sleep.

He didn't investigate further.

Looking at the psychiatric patient uniform on his own body, Feng Buzhi said to himself, "Although I don't care much about what I wear, continuing to wear this patient uniform is clearly inappropriate."

People always held biases against psychiatric patients, so it was best to change into the clothes of a normal person.

Soon, Feng Buzhi selected a sleeping target and stripped them of their clothes.

A few minutes later, Feng Buzhi had changed into a brand-new outfit.

Dressed in a blue tracksuit with white headphones around his neck and a music player in his pocket, paired with his handsome features and a bright smile, he looked like a fresh, carefree, sunny boy.

After tidying his clothes, Feng Buzhi flipped through the song list on the music player and finally chose "I Really Want to Live Another Five Hundred Years" to play on loop...

"Without immortality, one will eventually turn into a handful of dirt. Five hundred years is still a bit too short."

Listening to the music, Feng Buzhi sighed, then began to sense his own body.

Because he hadn't focused much on physical training, his fitness wasn't exceptional—only slightly stronger than a normal adult male (ps: this "slightly stronger" is the protagonist's own assessment; you can interpret it as "much stronger").

In terms of jumping, at 1.85 meters tall, he could barely grab the rim with both hands but couldn't complete a dunk; in terms of endurance, he could barely finish a thousand push-ups in a row or run a full marathon; in terms of speed, he could barely run a hundred meters in 11 seconds.

However, just before he died in his previous life, he had already found the method to break the shackles of human bloodlines. If it were the current him, he could even jump above the rim, and he could easily break the world record in the hundred-meter dash, though his endurance might be slightly inferior.

In moments of crisis, people can unleash power they normally couldn't reach.

For example, a mother can lift a car in an emergency when her child is trapped underneath; a not-so-strong drunkard can fight a brown bear and drive it back; some soldiers in the life-and-death moments of battle feel as if the flow of time has become extremely slow.

Feng Buzhi now possessed such power; he could stimulate the hidden strength within the human body.

If the strength of a normal adult male was 10, his strength was about 12. But once he broke his bloodline shackles, his strength could instantly erupt threefold, reaching about 36, or perhaps even higher.

And that was just for strength alone.

Strength, speed, the five senses, reflexes... once all the shackles were broken, he would gain a superhuman experience.

In his past life, it was precisely this wonderful, superhuman feeling that made him mistakenly believe he was omnipotent, leading him to ignore his fragile body and ultimately perish.

In fact, even if he hadn't made such a dangerous move at the time, his body would have suffered a backlash from breaking the shackles, likely requiring months of recovery.

Soon, under Feng Buzhi's control, his right arm began to tremble violently, his muscles and veins bulging. Along with it came an incomparably intense pain, as if thousands of stinger needles were piercing his right arm.

Facing pain that an ordinary person could not endure, Feng Buzhi revealed a sunny smile as if he were basking in a spring breeze.

Even if this pain were several times more intense, he could bear it calmly.

In a world devoid of spiritual energy, almost no cultivation could be performed. The only thing he could cultivate was his state of mind, and through his training, his resolve had become incredibly resilient.

In short, after a simple attempt, the shackles limiting his human body had been broken.

For Feng Buzhi, breaking the shackles was not difficult.

What was truly difficult was finding the method to break them.

It was just like how some people can move their ears, while others can never learn how, no matter what they do.

As long as one mastered the technique to unlock their shackles, they could rely on their willpower to break them anytime, anywhere.

Specifically, this meant exerting willpower upon the flesh, nerves, and blood to induce a certain resonance; it was somewhat akin to hypnosis, yet one had to maintain absolute clarity of mind, or else all efforts would be rendered futile.

To master the method of breaking these shackles, he had used life-and-death situations to stimulate himself countless times.

For instance, he would perform pull-ups on the edge of the rooftop wall at the hospital until his physical strength was completely exhausted; he would construct crude bow-and-arrow traps, using sharpened steel bars to fire at himself to force his reflexes to break their shackles; or he would ingest large quantities of other patients' medication, using the brush with death to stimulate his resistance to drugs.

Over the dozen or so years he spent at Lorenz Psychiatric Hospital, he had performed such acts thousands of times.

Feng Buzhi quickly ceased his attempts to break the shackles.

In the span of just a few breaths, his right arm had already sustained severe damage; the entire limb was swollen and red, the muscles at his wrist and elbow were trembling uncontrollably, and he felt a sense of weakness that left him unable to exert any force.

When it came down to it, his method of breaking the shackles was simply too crude.

Although he could choose the location to break the shackles—such as just now, when he only broke the shackles in his right arm—and he could open the shackles on any part of his body, he could not control the intensity of the release. Once activated, it was always at maximum power, which placed a tremendous burden on his body.

It seems I must find a way to awaken my past-life memories as soon as possible.

Feng Buzhi whispered softly to himself...