Crossing into a Small Mountain Village

Hiss~

It hurt—hurt so much.

Lin Fan groggily opened his eyes.

He felt as though his entire body had been beaten black and blue.

The slightest movement sent pain shooting through countless places.

"Where am I?"

Lin Fan's eyes widened. Before him was a dilapidated thatched roof.

When he reached out, his hand touched a rough, hard bedboard.

Lin Fan remembered that at ten o'clock that night, after finishing overtime work, he had ridden his little electric scooter home. Everything after that was a blur.

"Ah, my head hurts so badly. How did I get here? Don't tell me I've been kidnapped?"

A flash of insight struck Lin Fan's mind.

Having woken up only to find himself in such an unfamiliar place, Lin Fan was still deeply afraid.

After gradually getting used to his body, Lin Fan slowly sat up from the bed.

His gaze swept over the furnishings in the room. The place was exceedingly bare. Other than the wooden bed beneath him, there was only a wooden bucket and a small iron pot on the ground.

Even the door was woven from branches and thatch. Through the gaps in it, Lin Fan discovered that it was still daytime outside, and the sunlight seemed fairly bright.

He rubbed his head.

Suddenly, the furnishings in the room seemed to carry an inexplicable sense of familiarity. Lin Fan found it exceedingly strange and struggled to recall something.

This was—

A vast flood of memories suddenly surged into Lin Fan's mind.

The youth was also named Lin Fan. Seventeen years old, he had originally been a collateral descendant of a high-ranking official in the capital. Because his Lineage had been framed by powerful ministers, their property was confiscated and they were thrown into prison. His parents had hurriedly sent him and his younger sister away.

The youth had traveled far and wide with his sister, living in constant fear, evading pursuit, concealing their identities, and fleeing to this remote little mountain village.

A few days ago, while hunting in the mountains, the youth had accidentally stepped into thin air and fallen, seriously injuring himself. Added to that were the hardships of fleeing, the exhaustion of constant travel, and the fear that had haunted him at every turn. Well, then Lin Fan had transmigrated into his body.

The memories came to an abrupt halt there.

"It's actually Lin Fan too."

"Did I transmigrate? Or did I awaken memories of a previous life?"

"Forget it. No matter."

Lin Fan raised his hand and looked at the youth's tender, immature hands. It seemed that transmigrating was not so bad after all. He had become more than ten years younger in one stroke.

"The urgent thing is to check whether I have any broken bones."

"Luckily, they're only abrasions and soft-tissue injuries from the fall. Nothing too serious. I just seem to have caught a cold and developed a fever. My head is a little foggy too."

Lin Fan slowly shifted himself off the bed. At the bucket, he scooped out a bowl of water and took several drinks, feeling much more refreshed.

Creak~

The door was pushed open from outside. A little girl barely half a person tall instantly appeared in the doorway.

With the sunlight at her back, two small braids rested atop her head.

"Brother, you're awake! That's wonderful!"

She was the original owner's younger sister, ten-year-old Lin Ruoruo. She had fled to this mountain village with his previous self, and during the days after his fall, this little girl had been the one caring for him.

"Brother, hurry back and lie down. I'll feed you some water."

The little girl took three steps as two, rushing to Lin Fan's side. She supported him and tried to lead him back to the bed.

Lin Fan looked over the half-grown girl. Her little face was smeared with dirt, and she seemed to have grown much thinner these past days.

"Brother is much better now, Ruoruo. Don't worry."

Lin Fan reached out and rubbed the little girl's head, then slowly shuffled toward the bed.

"Really, Brother?"

Seeing that Lin Fan truly seemed much more spirited, the little girl also brightened. The corners of her eyes curved into round little crescents.

"Brother, I'll go make you something to eat. I also picked up some wild fruit in the mountains just now."

Then she ran out.

Lin Fan lay back down.

He tried hard to sort through the chaotic memories in his mind.

This world seemed to be one of martial arts. However, his previous self appeared to have little talent for martial arts, so he had chosen the path of studying for the imperial examinations. In his memories, there was only one most basic martial arts cultivation technique, and his previous self had not practiced it often.

Compared to the cultivation worlds in novels from his previous life—

The powerful martial arts experts here could split mountains, sever rivers, become impervious to blades and spears, fly through the sky, and enjoy long lives.

The realms of martial arts could be divided into the Three Body-Tempering Realms: the Skin Tempering Realm, the Muscle Refinement Realm, and the Bone Tempering Realm.

After that, one could produce inner qi within the body, with qi-force circulating through all four limbs and eight meridians, wielding even greater power. Beyond the Three Body-Tempering Realms came the Three Qi-Force Realms: Manifest Force, Transforming Force, and Astral Force.

It was said that after reaching Astral Force, astral qi could cloak one's entire body at every moment. Its hardness rivaled refined steel and divine iron, and neither blades, swords, nor firearms could inflict harm.

Beyond that were Innate Realm experts. Such experts had already transformed beyond ordinary mortals and possessed even more inconceivable powers. Every one of them was renowned throughout the realm; an ordinary person might find it difficult to see even one in an entire lifetime.

Lin Fan spread open his palm, then clenched it tightly. Feeling the strength in his body, he knew from the memories that his previous self had never entered the martial path, but he still wanted to see whether a miracle might occur.

"So, I actually transmigrated into a martial arts world."

"Based on my years of experience reading webnovels in my previous life, whenever others transmigrated, they either had a powerful system or some heaven-defying treasure with them. Now that it's my turn, surely I can't have transmigrated naked, right?"

"System, system, are you there?"

"Big Brother System, come out already."

Lin Fan stared at the thatched roof, his gaze resolute as he continuously called out in his heart, summoning the system to awaken.

After persisting for a long time—

Just as Lin Fan began to grow anxious and question his entire existence—

"Ding. Congratulations, Host. System awakened."

"System!" Lin Fan was overjoyed. A grin split across his face, and his eyes abruptly became full of life. "I knew it. I was bound to have a system too."

A pale blue screen slowly unfolded before Lin Fan's eyes.

"Ding. This system is the Recharge Pay-to-Win System. Given that the Host currently possesses no martial arts cultivation, recharging one tael of silver will increase the Host's cultivation results within one day to ten times their original effectiveness. Two taels of silver will increase them to twenty times."

Lin Fan spread out his hand and began counting on his fingers. One tael of silver for ten times the effect. Although the system did not sound overwhelmingly powerful, it still seemed decent enough.

"Then, System, if I recharge one hundred taels, can I make one day's cultivation results a thousand times the original?"

"Ding. Yes, Host."

Hehe, he had not expected this system to be quite intelligent. It could even hold a conversation.

Lin Fan carefully studied the pale blue screen before him and found it fairly simple. On the left was the remaining balance: zero. On the right was the current cultivation effect multiplier: one. In other words, there was no enhancement yet.

With a thought, Lin Fan closed it.

The pale blue screen instantly vanished.

"When this pale blue system screen is open, can other people see it? And when my cultivation improves in the future, will the same enhancement multiplier cost more silver?"

"Ding. It will not, so Host may rest assured. This screen does not exist in reality, but within the Host's consciousness. Therefore, others cannot see it. While the Host is in the Three Body-Tempering Realms, the same enhancement multiplier will not consume more money."