If danger always came with opportunity, as the big bowl of chicken soup served to practitioners of success theory, then Mu Yang had reason to believe he would eventually be stuffed to death by that chicken soup. After all, "danger" had manifested itself on him in the most vivid possible way.
Mu Yang was an electrician—the kind who worked on live high-voltage lines. He could not say he liked his profession. The pay was decent, enough to make him part of the "high-income group" in other people's eyes, but only he knew how hard the work truly was.
Over the past few days, heavy snow had fallen across the country, and many power grids in mountainous areas had become severely affected. Early that morning, Mu Yang's team received orders to immediately carry out emergency repairs on power lines damaged by accumulated snow in the mountains. There was no refusing this job. Once the order came down, they had to be there. So, early in the morning, Mu Yang rushed to the site and threw himself into the tense repair work.
He climbed the iron tower with his coworkers, standing on the insulator strings as they carried out the final clearing work. On the freezing high-voltage tower, fierce cold winds swept in with goose-feather snowflakes. They cut across his face like knives, and every movement consumed a great deal of strength.
Mu Yang shook out his sore arms and took off his frost-covered mask to catch his breath. Just then, a powerful gust struck. The ground vanished beneath his feet, and gravity pulled him downward.
Sharp angle iron severed both his safety rope and harness. Even double protection could not withstand death's call. The whole world spun around him, and in the instant before he lost consciousness, a flash of white light appeared in his mind, followed by countless scenes from his childhood to adulthood.
Dark, desolate—this was a monotonous and despairing place. Cold, bone-piercing pain ran through his nerves, making him unwilling to remain here for even another moment.
Suddenly, a web-like sheet of light tore open the sky, and Mu Yang woke with a start from his sleep.
"Where is this?!"
Mu Yang jolted awake and sat up with a hand pressed to his forehead. He found himself lying on a spacious wooden bed, covered by a thin quilt made of poor-quality fabric. It was as rough as burlap and terribly uncomfortable against his body.
This was a small, low house. The room, barely over ten square meters, contained simple daily necessities such as a table, chairs, a bed, and a cabinet. There was no other furniture. The white walls had not been decorated in any way, and the exposed wooden pillars and beams looked extremely primitive. Naturally, there was not a single electrical appliance in sight.
That was only secondary. Something resembling a desk calendar caught his attention, but the year and month written on it left him stunned.
A dating system he had never seen before!
Wait, had he not fallen from that iron tower? Forget not being in a hospital—how had he ended up here? Based on his years of reading novels, there was a very high chance that he had transmigrated. And judging from his surroundings, he had most likely transmigrated into a world where technology was not very advanced.
He lightly patted his chest. Huh? This hand was so small. Small arms, small legs... that was it. His body had shrunk as well, and he looked only twelve or thirteen years old. If he had harbored any doubts before, he could now be one hundred percent certain that he had truly transmigrated!
Thinking back on the countless transmigration novels he had read, scene after scene flashed through his mind like a movie. Yet rather than the eagerly anticipated feeling of a beloved protagonist cutting down enemies in every direction with majestic might, all he felt was bewilderment and confusion.
The place was utterly bare. This development seemed different from what he had imagined!
Just as Mu Yang was immersed in his memories, the wooden door creaked open. A black figure darted in from outside like a little squirrel, arriving before him in the blink of an eye. Mu Yang's vision blurred. Before he could react, his hand had been grasped by another small hand, cool and delicate.
"Senior Brother, Senior Brother, you're finally awake! Father and I were worried sick about you." Her pleasant voice was full of joy.
Soon, a delicate little face leaned close to Mu Yang.
She was an exceptionally adorable girl. Her dark green hair was slightly curly and just covered her earlobes, neat and cute, with a ribbon tied around the ends. Her fair little face was delicate and petite, her brows curved like willow leaves. Her large eyes blinked with spirit, and even her pupils were emerald green. She looked no older than eleven or twelve.
"Baby..."
Looking at the girl before him, who looked remarkably like Little Tornado, Mu Yang instinctively blurted out the familiar form of address. The moment he said it, he froze. Who was this girl? Why had he called her "Baby"?
Mu Yang frowned. His subconscious seemed to know the girl before him. Could this be the memory of this body itself?
Hearing Mu Yang call her that, Meixia pouted unhappily. "Senior Brother, I told you not to call me by my nickname. Why are you calling me that again?"
"Uh... sorry!"
Mu Yang apologized, but his heart was filled with questions. He needed some time to sort through his thoughts properly.
"Senior Brother, are you all right?"
Seeing that Mu Yang had remained silent for so long, Meixia called out worriedly again. She leaned against the bedside, her little face close as she looked at him with concern.
"I'm fine. Just a little dizzy..."
Mu Yang waved his hand, unsure what he should say. Fortunately, the little girl before him did not seem to think much of it and was easily placated by the excuse he made up.
After some indirect probing during their conversation, Mu Yang finally figured out his current identity.
It turned out his name was also Mu Yang. He was thirteen years old and the chief disciple of a martial arts school called Tianxin Style. The little girl before him was his junior sister, Meixia. She was two years younger than him and had just turned eleven.
As for Tianxin Style, it was considered a middling school in the martial arts world. It was said that it had once been glorious several generations ago, but as times changed and one generation replaced another, it had now declined. Including himself, it seemed there were only around a dozen true disciples.
It was clear that Meixia was very proud of Tianxin Style, and she could not help boasting about it as she spoke. In her description, Tianxin Style was a "major school" with more than ten disciples, and its current head was her father. But from the mere fact that it only had a dozen disciples, Mu Yang knew it was nothing more than a fallen school.
There was not much useful information to get from Meixia. She was still young and did not know much herself, so Mu Yang had no way of knowing the current state of the world—how many powerful people there were, the rough population, how many countries existed, and so on.
"Father told you long ago not to overdo it when training, but you just wouldn't listen."
Meixia put on a stern, grown-up expression, but as her eyes rolled, her thoughts changed again. "Oh, right. I need to tell Father the news. You've fallen behind on a lot of training these past few days. You're in for it later."
The little girl came quickly and left just as quickly. Mu Yang still wanted to ask her about other things, but she darted out through the doorway like an agile kitten in the blink of an eye. She had moved so fast that the wooden door was still creaking back and forth.
Mu Yang stared dumbfoundedly at Meixia's rapidly retreating figure and took a deep breath.
"So fast!"
That speed... even track-and-field athletes from his previous life could not compare, could they?
Had he been wrong? Was this Tianxin Style, with only a dozen disciples, actually a great hidden sect?
"...This world seems to be one where martial arts exist. Judging by how nimble Meixia was just now, the people of this world are probably not weak..." Mu Yang sorted through the limited information he had obtained from Meixia. A trace of worry flashed through his eyes, but it quickly settled again.
Mu Yang got out of bed and walked outside, only to find that there was a fairly large courtyard beyond the room.
The courtyard was around fifty square meters. On one side, a row of firewood was neatly stacked in the open space, beside which stood an open-air single-burner stove covered by a straw mat. In the center stood a series of stone weights of varying sizes, all fairly large and seemingly meant for physical training. The ground was packed hard, but more than a dozen large pits, each over thirty centimeters wide, were scattered across it. One look was enough to tell that they had been smashed out by those stone weights.
The previous owner of this body had been quite diligent in training...
Pondering this, Mu Yang walked over to the stone weights and chose one of medium size, preparing to test his strength. Since he had arrived in this world, he had to make sure he possessed the ability to protect himself before becoming familiar with it.
He gripped the raised handle on the stone weight and exerted a little force. A look of surprise appeared on his face.
It was not that it was heavy... rather, it felt unexpectedly light.
Mu Yang's eyes lit up, and he exerted more force.
He actually lifted the entire stone weight with one hand.
Judging by its size, it had to weigh at least forty or fifty jin. Yet he had lifted it with one hand. Could children in this world really possess such excellent physical qualities? Mu Yang secretly speculated, unable to stop the waves from rising in his heart.
Let's try again!
He pressed his palm against the stone weight, then increased his strength. Veins bulged on the back of his hand. With a hard upward fling, he easily hurled the forty- or fifty-jin stone into the air. It flew more than ten meters upward before gravity finally began pulling it back down.
With a bang, the large stone landed squarely in a pit not far away, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Mu Yang stared blankly at the scene, delight churning in his heart.
Judging from the impact caused by the stone weight's fall, its weight was completely real. It was not the sort that looked heavy but was actually light!
"This body of mine actually has so much strength!"
Mu Yang was deeply astonished. He knew he had not used his full strength just now and still had some power in reserve. Yet even so, he had easily tossed a forty- or fifty-jin stone weight into the air. It was something he had never even dared imagine before.
Sure enough, his body was far from ordinary. Could this be the effect of practicing martial arts in this world?
Or were the people in this world simply born with exceptionally high physical abilities?
Tianxin Style... perhaps it really was an extremely powerful martial arts school.
No, there was no point thinking about that now. He needed more information before he could make a correct judgment.
Before you continue