My Biological Father and the Reborn

"Instead of cultivating, where did you run off to this time?"

"I went for a walk."

"A walk? What stage is your Dou Qi at now?"

"The seventh."

"The seventh? You're fourteen, and you've only reached Seventh Stage Dou Qi? Your little brother is twelve and already at the sixth stage. Your big brother is seventeen and already a One-Star Dou Zhe. Look at them, then look at yourself! You're a disgrace. You're no good at cultivating, but that cursed mouth of yours never misses. I regret ever bringing you into this world!"

The middle-aged man's vicious gaze stabbed into the quiet boy like a poisoned needle.

"I broke through to Dou Wang before I turned fifty. How did I end up with such a useless son..."

As the man launched into his past glory again, the boy bowed his head slightly in token respect for his biological father, then turned toward his room.

Behind him, the man kept ranting.

Back in his secluded room, the boy let out a small breath and grumbled to himself:

What rotten luck, ending up with a biological father so absurdly sure of himself. If he'd listened to me and sold that shipment before the price peaked, he wouldn't have lost money. He'd even have made a little. But no. He broke through to Dou Wang and decided that made him so remarkable he could turn one plus one into three.

This is Tianbei City in the Central Plains, not the Northwest Continent. The strongest person in the city is a terrifying Dou Zong expert! A man who only broke through to Dou Wang at forty-five is hardly... Forget it. I'm only at the ninth stage of Dou Qi myself. I'm hardly qualified to criticize a Dou Wang expert.

Wu Bai set the yellowish-brown pebble in his hand on the windowsill and gave it a gentle push, sending it over beside the rows of little stone balls.

Before he was reborn, he had heard a saying: Grandfathers favored their eldest grandsons, and parents doted on their youngest children.

Unfortunately, in this life, he was the second son caught in the middle.

At first, he had tried to grow close to his family in this life with sincerity and affection.

But he was the second son, and no one favored him. Whatever he did, the elders found fault with him.

The eldest and the youngest earned praise no matter what they did.

In short, it was a double standard.

Two years ago, he had still held out a little hope for his family and tried to advise his biological father. But after advancing to Dou Wang, his father seemed to think he was heaven's chosen and could do no wrong. He had no intention of listening to an unwanted second son...

Then he had lost a fortune in gold coins.

By now, his biological father no longer even bothered to hide his dislike.

That was right. His biological father blamed the entire loss on Wu Bai's "cursed mouth."

Wu Bai's cheek still ached faintly. A cold glint crossed his youthful eyes.

His father's curses and beatings, his mother's helplessness, his brothers standing by and watching...

Life with this family was suffocating. Staying with them was the worst thing he could do to himself.

The first thing I need to do is get out of here. The best way is to break through to Dou Zhe as soon as possible. If I'm lucky enough to advance this year, I'll be a fourteen-year-old Dou Zhe.

Would anyone want a fourteen-year-old Dou Zhe?

Wu Bai frowned. He had been an ordinary person in his last life, and this one was hardly different.

Reaching the ninth stage of Dou Qi at fourteen did not make him much of a genius. If anything, it was rather mediocre.

This was the Central Plains, after all...

How did that saying go?

Dou Wang and Dou Emperors were a dime a dozen, Dou Zong were everywhere, and only Dou Zun could strut their stuff.

I'll turn fifteen in ten months. Can I form a Dou Qi Vortex and break through to Dou Zhe by then?

Wu Bai's gaze dimmed. With his standing in the family—barely above a dog's—he could forget about getting Qi Gathering Powder.

For the past two years, his biological father had cut off his cultivation resources entirely to "teach this unfilial son a lesson."

If he failed, he would fall back to the eighth stage of Dou Qi...

Wu Bai shook his head lightly, cast those thoughts aside, and stopped polishing the pebble in his hand.

As he gradually calmed himself, he saw that the underside of the pebble was no longer uneven.

He stopped worrying about what came next. He had no other cards to play. Cultivation was the only thing he could do.

Bright light streamed through the window and fell across the boy's face.

As time passed, the light shifted and slowly faded.

The boy opened his eyes and stepped out quietly.

On the way, he sighed and gave a self-mocking smile.

Only I could feel like a guest who's overstayed his welcome in my own parents' home.

With the moon high overhead and the night deep and still, Wu Bai ended his day's cultivation and lay down on his bed.

About fifteen minutes later, the boy's breathing grew long and steady.

Another hour passed. All remained quiet.

As the moon began its descent, a hazy figure drifted out of the not-quite-round pebble by the window.

Under the moonlight, the figure quickly grew solid.

A few minutes later, an old, bewildered voice sounded in the room.

"Wasn't I dead?"

The rhythm of the breathing from the bed changed sharply, then returned to normal a moment later.

After taking a moment to collect himself, the figure looked toward the boy on the bed with a faint, knowing smile.

"Stop pretending. I may have less than a hundredth of my former strength, but you can't fool me, boy."

A dozen or so seconds passed. In the small room, the boy's increasingly uneven breathing was impossible to miss.

The boy got out of bed with his eyes closed, smoothly dropped to his knees, and bowed his head to the floor three times before the old man.

"Your student Wu Bai greets you, Teacher."

"Heh... You're an interesting boy."

The old man could not help laughing. He truly had not expected the boy to be so direct.

Come to think of it, the strange connection between them was probably the key to his revival.

In that case, taking the boy as a student was not out of the question.

While the old man considered it, Wu Bai remained bowed to the floor, doing his utmost to breathe quietly as he waited for his fate to be decided.

Would he live or die?

Whatever state this powerful stranger was in, whatever strength he possessed, he could not possibly be weaker than Wu Bai, who had not even reached Dou Zhe.

Wu Bai's life rested on a single thought from the mysterious stranger.

Wu Bai did not like gambling, especially when his life was the stake.

But he was too weak to control his own fate. He could not choose whether to leave the table or what stakes to put on it.

At that thought, Wu Bai tried to look on the bright side.

If he died, at least he would escape this family.

That was better than the future he could already see stretching before him: living numb and puppet-like, in a state worse than death.

Perhaps in his next life, he could even end up in a different world and start over...

"Get up. I'll take you as my student."