Red Trait, Ageless and Undying!

Limitless Dynasty, Yuan Province.

Mingyue Mountain, Listening Waves Mountain Manor.

The manor had an elegant name, yet such a vast place had now grown so deserted that only two people remained.

One was Old Wang, a white-haired man with one foot in the grave. The other was Wang Lang, the burly youth he had raised with his own hands.

Wang Lang stood beside the bed, looking at the old man lying there, barely breathing and ashen-faced. For a moment, he had nothing to say.

Twenty years were like a stone cast into the stagnant waters of yesterday, sending layer upon layer of ripples outward and dragging him into his memories.

He had not originally belonged to this world.

Twenty years ago, his consciousness had awakened in a stretch of icy river water.

Then, to his horror, he discovered that he had become a swaddled infant, his newly restarted life about to be deleted in seconds.

Heaven had not abandoned him, and fate had worked its hand. Old Wang, who had been traveling by boat, casually fished him out of the water.

He took the Wang surname, and since he had been found in the water, he was given the single name Lang.

When Old Wang brought him back to Listening Waves Mountain Manor, Wang Lang remembered how bustling the place had been. Servants had gathered like clouds, and he had even had two dedicated wet nurses.

Unfortunately, when he was five, Old Wang's only son died unexpectedly for some unknown reason.

The immense blow changed Old Wang's temperament completely. Not only did he dismiss every servant,

but over the years, he also gave away all his family wealth to aid the impoverished people at the foot of the mountain.

Wang Lang had still been young then and was not driven away, so he muddleheadedly remained.

Later, Old Wang somehow acquired a secret cultivation manual and plunged headfirst onto the path of cultivation.

That was right. The world Wang Lang had transmigrated into was no ordinary ancient setting, but a terrifying world where demon beasts ran rampant and heretical cultivators ate people.

In this world, the paths of cultivation were mainly divided into two major schools: qi cultivation and Body Refinement.

The path Old Wang had embarked upon was qi cultivation. According to him, the qi cultivation realms were divided into four stages: Qi Induction, Spirit Condensation, Mystic Penetration, and Dao Union.

The four realms of Body Refinement were: Body Tempering, Rock, Myriad Manifestations, and Immortality.

Old Wang's talent had unexpectedly been quite good, and he quickly became a proper Qi Refiner.

Naturally, he dragged Wang Lang along to cultivate as well, but Wang Lang facing that damned sense of qi was like playing the lute to a cow.

No matter what he did, he could not sense it. He could only settle for cultivating basic body-strengthening and bone-tempering methods.

As for his realm, he had barely entered the first Body Refinement realm, the Body Tempering Realm.

Years of training, coupled with his little secret cheat that he could not tell outsiders about, had made his body exceptionally burly and robust.

By rights, after becoming a Qi Refiner, even if he was only in the Qi Induction Realm, Old Wang's lifespan should have been longer than that of ordinary people.

Yet this old man's heart had been higher than the heavens, while his abilities failed to keep pace with his ambition.

And he always loved doing things like slaying demons, vanquishing evil, and acting as a chivalrous hero.

Sure enough, three days ago, he had been carried back drenched in blood and had gone straight to bed, unable to rise again.

The several physicians they summoned had all shaken their heads and told them to prepare for the funeral early instead of tormenting the old man any further.

Thinking of this, Wang Lang's nose stung, and his eyes reddened beyond his control.

He bent down, his voice choked with suppressed sobs. "Old man, how many times have I told you? A person should eat only as much as his bowl can hold.

"You don't have much skill, so why is your heart so wild? You really don't know any better..."

On the bed, Old Wang's clouded eyes shifted slightly toward Wang Lang, and he struggled to pull his lips into a faint smile.

"To eradicate demons and defend the Dao, to protect the people of a region... this old man has no regrets..."

He took several ragged breaths before continuing, "It's only... after I'm gone, you brat must take good care of yourself. The one I worry about most is you..."

Over these twenty years, Old Wang had treated him like his own grandson. Though they shared no blood, their bond weighed as heavily as a mountain.

Wang Lang opened his mouth to say something, but the old man stopped him with a look and said in broken phrases,

"My time is short... There are some things I must tell you..."

Wang Lang hurriedly nodded.

"When I was on the brink of death the other day, I vaguely glimpsed a corner of the future... The world will descend into chaos, and demons and evil things will steadily multiply.

"If you have the ability in the future, I hope you can shelter the ordinary people of one region..."

Hearing this, Wang Lang nodded like a chick pecking at grain. "Don't worry. So long as it is within my abilities, I will certainly do my utmost. I will never dare forget!"

Seeing this, the white-haired old man smiled with relief, as though a matter weighing heavier than the sky had finally been settled.

"Good, good. Besides that, there are still two matters on my mind. First, Listening Waves Mountain Manor is the root of our Wang family... No matter what happens in the future, you must help Grandfather... protect it..."

Wang Lang nodded heavily again.

"Second, deliver a letter for me..."

As he said this, he looked at Wang Lang's burly frame, which still belonged within the bounds of ordinary mortals, and sighed.

"Forget it, forget it... With the little skill you have, preserving this manor will already be ten thousand times harder than it should be...

"The road to deliver the letter stretches for thousands upon thousands of miles, with demon beasts and heretical cultivators appearing one after another. If you go... I fear you'll become a demon beast's snack halfway there..."

After saying that, the old man slowly closed his eyes, his breath growing ever weaker.

"Old man!" Wang Lang could no longer hold it in. Grief surged from his heart, and he pounced upon the bedside, tightly hugging the old man's still-warm body as he burst into loud sobs.

"Cough... cough cough... You stinking brat... why are you hugging me so tightly? This old man isn't completely dead yet!!"

The old man in Wang Lang's arms suddenly opened his eyes again and began cursing.

But strands of white vapor had begun to leak uncontrollably from above his head, dispersing into the air.

Wang Lang's heart tightened. He knew that this time, the old man was truly at the end of his oil and wick. Even the Grand Righteous Qi he had painstakingly cultivated for years could no longer be contained and was beginning to collapse.

Old Wang looked at Wang Lang and gave him one final instruction. "Lang'er, after I die, don't skimp on firewood. Burn this old man into ashes with one blaze, then scatter them..."

Wang Lang immediately stopped crying, looking troubled as he replied with complete honesty,

"Old man, it's not that I can't bear to part with a little firewood. It's just that I'm not a Qi Refiner like you people—I can't breathe fire.

"Do you know how high the temperature has to be to burn a person into ashes? I reckon it needs at least a thousand degrees!

"An ordinary pile of firewood could burn for three days and three nights and at most roast you into charcoal. It would still be far from turning you to ashes.

"How much wood would that take? Even if we cut down half the forest on Mingyue Mountain, it might not be enough!"

Old Wang's eyes widened. He seemed to want to curse, but lacked the strength.

"You... you unfilial son... This old man's... final wish... and you won't even... think of a way?"

Wang Lang said helplessly, "Actually, I secretly went down the mountain yesterday and prepared a fine nanmu coffin for you. It cost a full fifty taels of silver!

"After you leave, just lie obediently in the coffin. It'll be dignified!"

Upon hearing this, Old Wang shook his head and no longer insisted. His clouded old eyes gave Wang Lang one final deep look,

as though he wished to carve him into his soul. Then, slowly and completely, he closed his eyes.

This time, Old Wang did not wake again.

Wang Lang wept bitterly once more, his cries shaking the roof tiles.

Yet half an incense stick later, Wang Lang's emotions had calmed at an astonishing speed.

It was not because he had been putting on an act, nor because his heart was cold and hard. Rather, having lived two lives, he viewed life and death more openly.

Everyone would die eventually. No one could escape it; it was merely a matter of sooner or later.

Just like in his previous life. He had been a perfectly ordinary office drone, walking home after work, only to be sent away by an out-of-control dump truck. Who could he even reason with?

He carefully fetched clean water, wiped Old Wang's body clean, and dressed him in the burial clothes he had prepared long ago.

Then, relying on his brute strength, he easily lifted the old man's body and steadily placed it into the nanmu coffin worth fifty taels of silver.

Next, he carried the coffin alone to the burial site he had chosen long ago on the manor's Back Mountain. He dug the grave, lowered the coffin, filled in the earth, and erected the grave marker, all in one smooth motion.

After finishing everything, Wang Lang wiped away the fine sweat on his forehead.

If you think this book is good, please remember to add it to your bookshelf so you won't be unable to find it next time.

Fortunately, he had his cheat: the blue trait [Strong Body].

Together with the strength forged through all these years of body tempering, otherwise he truly could not have handled the funeral arrangements alone.

He had no plans to hold any sort of banquet either. There was no helping it; the last of his savings had all gone toward buying the old man a luxurious private room.

As for Wang Lang's cheat, it was something that had awakened alongside his rebirth into this world.

There was no intelligent guide, but its effects were solid enough. Every time he safely lived through a year, he would receive one random trait.

The rarity of traits rose in order from white, green, blue, purple, orange, to red.

During the first year after transmigrating, when his infant body turned one, he gained the blue trait [Strong Body].

At seven, he received the white trait [Night Vision], and from then on, walking mountain paths in the dark was like treading on level ground.

At ten, he acquired the green trait [Light Body]. When testing it, he jumped from a cliff and actually drifted down as slowly as a feather, completely unscathed.

Now that he was twenty, he had accumulated a full twenty traits.

Yet looking back, the best one was still that blue [Strong Body] he had received at the start.

Wang Lang could not help sighing. His luck truly had no equal.

With a thought, a translucent status panel visible only to him appeared before his eyes.

[Name: Wang Lang]

[Constitution: Mortal Flesh]

[Body Refinement Realm: Body Tempering Realm (First Layer)]

[Technique: Basic Body Tempering Art]

[Equipped Traits: Strong Body · Blue, Light Body · Green, Night Vision · White]

[Trait Library: Click to view all traits...]

This system also had a restriction: before the age of nineteen, he could only equip one trait at a time.

Only upon turning twenty this year had he suddenly unlocked the ability to equip three traits simultaneously.

Looking at the cold and dilapidated manor before him, Wang Lang frowned slightly.

When the old man was still alive, the lingering prestige of a Qi Refiner had been enough to intimidate the wolves and jackals nearby who coveted the manor.

If news of the old man's death spread...

There were no particularly capable Body Cultivators in the surrounding area, but there were still several qi cultivators in the Qi Induction Realm.

Qi cultivators possessed all manner of strange and unpredictable methods: bewitching the heart, moving objects, talisman arts. It was impossible to guard against them all.

Though he possessed nothing but brute strength, he was still far from the realm where one force could shatter ten thousand techniques.

Wang Lang sat before Old Wang's grave like that, from afternoon until dusk, then until the stars filled the sky.

He stared at the vast heavens and the bright moon, larger and more luminous than the one from his previous life, its clear radiance spilling everywhere. For a while, he lost himself in thought.

So beautiful. Even after twenty years, I still can't get enough of it.

In the smog and light-polluted city of his previous life, when had he ever seen such a dazzling river of stars?

Even deep in the night, his vision remained exceptionally clear beneath the bright moonlight.

Just as his mind immersed itself in the beauty of the moonlit night, a line of faintly glowing words appeared before his eyes without warning.

[It has been detected that the host has successfully survived to the age of twenty. The five-in-one trait synthesis function has officially been unlocked. Please explore the details yourself.

The next new function will unlock after the host has survived for five hundred years.]

Wang Lang froze abruptly and blinked hard.

This... the system came alive?!

In twenty years, this was the first time he had ever seen the system respond interactively rather than merely issuing traits!

And it had even unlocked a new function? Another could be unlocked after surviving five hundred years?

He did not pay much attention to that last line. Five hundred years was too far away; he only wanted to deal with what was before him first.

Wang Lang immediately focused his mind and began studying this five-in-one function.

As its name suggested, it combined five existing traits into one new trait.

With both excitement and unease, he opened the familiar [Trait Library].

Looking at the dazzling array of stockpiled traits within, most of which were utterly useless, even he could not help laughing in exasperation.

Just look at the sort of junk these were:

Good Swimmer · White Swimming speed increased slightly.

Heat Resistance · White Slightly more resistant to heat.

Cold Resistance · White Slightly more resistant to cold.

Profuse Hair · White Hair and beards grow faster.

Voracious Appetite · Green Eat more and digest better, but... consume more food!

Slightly Stronger Sense of Direction · White Less likely to get lost, though not absolutely immune.

Iron Stomach · Green Reduced chance of diarrhea from eating spoiled food.

Plagued by Bad Luck · White Bad luck +1. Drinking cold water carries a certain chance of getting food stuck between your teeth.

Cockroach Physique · Green Recovery from minor injuries is slightly faster.

They were all white and green traits.

Looking at this pile of broken copper and scrap iron, especially that glaring Plagued by Bad Luck · White, Wang Lang's mouth twitched.

But he quickly shifted his gaze to the synthesis interface.

Synthesize now?

He suddenly remembered something and quickly walked over to the large water vat in one corner of the courtyard. He picked up a dipper, scooped up water, and carefully washed his face.

After thinking about it, he felt that might not be sincere enough, so he ran back inside and found a clean piece of coarse cloth.

After wetting it, he scrubbed his face hard, as if carrying out some sacred ritual.

Heavens, mighty System, do me a favor. Let this be a victorious start! Wang Lang silently prayed.

He took a deep breath and locked his thoughts onto five white traits.

"Synthesize!"

The next moment, an illusory little cauldron of ancient design, radiating a hazy glow, appeared before him.

The five selected white traits transformed into five streaks of white light and flew into the cauldron.

The small cauldron trembled gently, its surface flowing with brilliant colors as though brewing something.

Immediately afterward, Wang Lang's pupils suddenly contracted!

A dazzling, eye-searing crimson light abruptly burst forth from within the cauldron!

This... this had really produced red?!

The crimson light slowly drew in, condensing into a brand-new entry. Its information appeared before his eyes:

[Ageless and Undying · Red Effect One: Eternal Youth. From the moment you equip this entry, your appearance and physical condition will be frozen at this very instant,

The years will be unable to leave any trace upon you. In the truest sense, you will live forever without growing old.

Effect Two: Conceptual Immortality. You have transcended the boundaries of ordinary life and death. No form of harm—including but not limited to physical destruction, energy annihilation, soul erasure, attacks of causality, rule deletion, and so on—will be able to kill you completely.

The very concept of your existence has been anchored.

Effect Three: Free Resurrection. Even if your physical body and soul are utterly shattered at some moment and reduced to dust, under the guidance of your own will, you will perfectly resurrect at any time and place within a hundred li, restored to your peak condition.

Cooldown time? It does not exist. So long as you wish it, you can return at any time.]

Wang Lang stared blankly at the description of this entry. His mind was utterly empty, with only one thought wildly echoing through it:

"Old man... our manor... it seems like we really can defend it now. And delivering letters... it seems I won't have to worry about becoming monster fodder anymore..."