A second chance

Shen Fei opened his eyes.

Above him were the Sacred Family's carved roof beams. Outside, the Holy Orchid Institute's bell had just struck its first note, the lingering sound traveling through the morning mist from the institute all the way to the Sacred Family estate.

Sunlight seeped through the gaps in the window lattice and fell across his quilt, its warmth almost unreal.

He lay there for a long time, until a servant knocked to urge him out of bed. The knock was soft. Outside, the steward called, "Young master, it's time to go to the institute," and then his footsteps gradually faded. Shen Fei did not answer.

He stared at the beams overhead, at the patterns carved into the wood, as an overwhelming sense of displacement spread from his chest through every limb and bone. He remembered standing on the city wall just a moment ago.

A Gold Demon Beast's sharp horn had pierced his chest. A Legend Rank Demon Beast's claws had smashed the beacon tower, sending rubble and flames raining from the sky. Then darkness. Long, endless darkness.

Now he lay in this large carved bed beneath silk bedding, with the scent of sandalwood in the air and the bell still ringing outside.

His memories of his previous life remained completely intact. They were neither vague impressions nor scattered fragments, but memories so clear in every frame that he could almost touch their details.

The intelligence paid for with lives. The Demon Beasts' attack routes. The first wave always tore an opening through the north gate. The first trace of a Legend Rank presence appeared in the northwestern corner of the forest. The Gold Rank Demon Beasts only advanced after three waves of Silver Rank charges.

The locations of the Dark Guild's hideouts. The black market's underground warehouse, the abandoned smithy in the South District, the old woods on the hill behind the Holy Orchid Institute. The times and places where the Sacred Family made contact with the Dark Guild.

On the third and eighteenth of every month, a manager led men out through the water gate docks late at night, returning with the smell of blood on them. Every weakness in Glory City's defenses.

The foundations between the seventh and twelfth sections of the north wall had sunk two inches. The southwestern watch post changed shifts a quarter of an hour later than the others. The deputy officer surnamed Ma in the City Guard's logistics department belonged to the Dark Guild.

In his previous life, he had taken all this intelligence to his grave. None of it had served any purpose. It had been pierced by a Demon Beast's horn along with him and buried beneath the ruins of the city wall.

Not in this life.

Shen Fei finally sat up and threw the quilt aside. He looked down at his hands. His fingers were intact, his palms had no calluses, and there was no dirt or dried blood beneath his nails.

These were not the hands that had gripped a sword on the city wall for a year. He tried circulating the soul force within him. That familiar warm current rose from his dantian and flowed slowly through his meridians.

Silver 3-Star.

He stopped and circulated it again. Still Silver 3-Star. He had fallen more than an entire major rank from the Gold Rank 1-Star he had reached before his rebirth. He could not even touch the threshold of Gold Rank.

Shen Fei sat on the edge of the bed, his hands resting on his knees, sunlight falling across his face. The servant came to knock a second time, and the steward's voice was a little louder now.

"Young master, you really will be late if you don't get up. There's practical combat class today. The instructor will deduct points when he takes attendance."

"I know," Shen Fei answered. Even he found the voice emerging from his throat a little unfamiliar. It was slightly hoarser than in his previous life, probably because he had just woken up.

The steward's footsteps faded away. Shen Fei looked down at his hands and remained silent for a long time, then suddenly smiled. It was neither a bitter smile nor one of self-mockery, but the involuntary, silent smile that came when something occurred to him.

Just as well. When I transmigrated in my previous life, I was already Gold Rank 1-Star. I was considered outstanding at the Holy Orchid Institute, the strongest of the younger generation. And what came of it? I stormed into Father's study and pounded his desk, only to be dismissed with a few words. I couldn't even get a say in family affairs.

If Gold Rank 1-Star couldn't change things, perhaps starting over at Silver 3-Star would let me forge a different path. At least this time, he knew what he should do and what he should not.

Keep my mouth shut when I should. Endure when I must. When it's time to lay plans in the shadows, never leap out to play the hero.

He got out of bed and dressed. His clothes were the standard attire of the Sacred Family's eldest legitimate son: fine fabric, the family crest woven in subtle patterns at the cuffs, and a belt buckle fashioned from a polished Silver Rank Demon Beast's demon crystal.

He fastened his belt and glanced at himself in the bronze mirror. The face reflected there was young and unmarked, without the weathering and scars of the city wall. He rolled up his sleeve to inspect his left arm. It was completely intact, the skin at his elbow smooth, without any trace of a fractured bone.

Then he looked down at his right leg. There was no scar from being slashed open by armored scales.

None of it had happened yet.

He pushed open the door and stepped outside. A servant sweeping the courtyard lowered his head in greeting when he saw him.

"Good morning, young master."

Shen Fei nodded and followed the corridor toward the front hall. At the corner, he stumbled over the loose flagstone, just as he had every time he passed this spot in his previous life.

He looked down at the stone. One corner had lifted along its edge, with soft earth beneath it. In his previous life, he had tripped over it countless times. Each time, he had thought about having someone repair it, but it had never been fixed.

Shen Yue's door was still closed, with no sound coming from inside. Shen Yue was always the last to rise, needing the servants to call him several times each day before he would crawl out from under his quilt.

In his previous life, Shen Fei had thought his younger brother was spoiled. Looking back now, Shen Yue certainly was spoiled, but that had nothing to do with him. Shen Yue was the heir Shen Hong was grooming. He was merely a sidelined figure bearing the title of eldest legitimate son.

In his previous life, he had cared about that status and tried to use it to gain a voice, only to be shut down with, "It's not your place to speak." He would not make the same mistake in this life.

The steward was setting out breakfast in the front hall and paused in mild surprise when he saw him enter.

"You're up quite early today, young master."

"I got up when I woke." Shen Fei sat down and picked up his chopsticks. Plain rice porridge and several small dishes sat on the table, exactly like breakfast every day in his previous life. He quietly finished the food before him while the steward stood beside him and reported the day's schedule as usual.

"You have practical combat class this morning. This afternoon, the master will inspect the City Guard, and tonight there's the regular family meeting. Oh, and the master instructed yesterday that you should go to his study after class today to help organize this month's purchasing accounts."

Shen Fei's chopsticks paused at the words "family meeting," then continued picking up food. In his previous life, he had tried to attend the family meetings, but Shen Hong had refused him on the grounds that "you don't need to sit in."

In this life, he would not even ask. But helping organize the purchasing accounts in the study caught his attention. In his previous life, Shen Hong had never let him touch those accounts. Now he had offered the task himself, and Shen Fei did not know whether it was trust or a test.

"I understand," he said.

After breakfast, he picked up his book bag and went outside. Glory City's main street lay just beyond the Sacred Family's gates.

Morning sunlight spilled over the flagstone road. Vendors along the street were setting up their stalls, white steam rose from the bun shop's steamers, and the smithy's bellows were already pumping with rhythmic huffs.

Several Holy Orchid Institute students came around the street corner, discussing today's practical combat class as they walked. From the style of their uniforms, they were lower-year students, probably in their second or third year.

"I heard we're splitting into teams to fight today. The instructor will draw lots at random."

"As long as I don't get paired with Lu Piao. That guy never passes a practical combat assessment."

"Lu Piao's not that bad, is he? At least he doesn't drag his teammates down. Du Ze's the real disaster. Anyone paired with him pretty much ends up at the bottom."

Shen Fei heard those two names without breaking stride. Lu Piao and Du Ze. He had seen them on the city wall in his previous life. Both had been soldiers on the South Gate's defensive line, and both had died on the same day.

When the Demon Beasts breached the city, a Gold Rank Demon Beast had shattered Lu Piao's shoulder blade with a single swipe. Du Ze had dragged him back a full twenty paces before both were buried beneath the collapsing battlements.

In this life, they were still lower-year students, still worrying about their teams for practical combat class, still unaware that they would someday die on the city wall.

He did not speak to them. He was not their classmate. He was a fourth-year student, one year above them.

The Sacred Family's eldest legitimate son striking up a conversation with two lower-year students in a corridor would draw too much attention. He continued along the main street. The city wall towered in the distance, its gray-green stones gleaming coldly in the morning light.

Banners fluttered above the battlements, and sentries patrolled back and forth with spears on their shoulders. He had defended that city for an entire year in his previous life. He remembered the cracks in every section of the wall and knew every watch post's shift changes by heart.

Now it stood intact in the morning light. The sentries were still patrolling, and the banners were still flying.

He stopped near the city gate. A bun vendor was chatting with a customer, saying that the beacons on the city wall had burned all night again and that Demon Beast activity had grown much more frequent lately.

The customer accepted his buns with a sigh and said there was never a day when the Demon Beasts weren't active; he was used to it. Shen Fei stood nearby and listened without speaking. Used to it. He had grown used to it in his previous life too, so used to it that he had treated Demon Beast sieges as part of everyday life.

But this time, he knew there were some things one must never grow used to.

The Holy Orchid Institute's bell rang again, this time as the warning bell for class. Shen Fei quickened his pace, entered the institute gates, and crossed the training ground. Several lower-year students were practicing basic sword moves there. Their movements were awkward, the sounds of blades cutting through the air sparse and uneven.

An instructor stood beside them correcting their stances, shouting, "Relax your wrists! Don't hold them so stiff!" Shen Fei glanced over but saw no sign of Nie Li. In his previous life, he had searched the roster three times before finding that name. In this life, he would not need to search again.

He knew where Nie Li was, which class he belonged to, and that his seat was in the back row beside the window. But he would not seek him out. At least not now.

The fourth-year classroom was on the third floor of the teaching building. When Shen Fei pushed the door open, the instructor had not yet arrived, and several students were chatting in their seats. Someone spotted him coming in and greeted him.

"Shen Fei, I heard you took sick leave yesterday. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Shen Fei found a seat by the window and sat down. He remembered the person who had greeted him. In his previous life, he too had served in the City Guard and had died even earlier than Shen Fei. He opened his textbook and let his gaze pass over every face in the classroom.

He had known all these people in his previous life. Some had fought shoulder to shoulder with him on the city wall; others had gone ahead of him when the Demon Beasts breached the city. In this life, they were still students who knew nothing, still quibbling over their cultivation progress and rankings.

In the row ahead of him sat a young man from a collateral branch of the Huyan Family, drawing something on paper with a pen and muttering to himself. Shen Fei took a look. It was a crude diagram of a Demon Beast formation, drawn in crooked lines.

In his previous life, this man had drawn the same diagrams on the city wall, far better than he did now, because he had drawn them hundreds of times. He had posted those formation diagrams on the barracks walls so that every new soldier could memorize the Demon Beasts' charging patterns.

Later, a Gold Rank Demon Beast had crushed the barracks beneath one foot, burying those diagrams in the rubble along with him.

The instructor pushed open the door and entered. He was a middle-aged man in his forties, surnamed Zhou, at Gold Rank 2-Star. He had taught practical combat at the Holy Orchid Institute for more than a decade. Holding a roster, he walked to the lectern and cleared his throat.

"Today's practical combat class will be team matches. Two to a team, assigned by random draw. Come up when your name is called."

A stir ran through the students. Shen Fei leaned against the back of his chair, lightly tapping his fingers on the desk. In his previous life, he had always given his all in practical combat class, hoping to prove his strength to his father.

Looking back, that had been the stupidest approach possible. No matter how well an unfavored eldest legitimate son performed at the institute, it would never change Shen Hong's opinion of him. In this life, he would hold back. Neither last nor first, he would maintain the middling standard expected of someone at Silver 3-Star.

"Shen Fei."

He stood and walked to the lectern, reached into the drawing box, and casually picked out a slip of paper. The instructor took it and read his teammate's name. It was another Silver 3-Star student in the class, whose strength was roughly equal to his. Shen Fei nodded and returned to his seat.

Outside the window, the sunlight was just right, and the Holy Orchid Institute's bell had fallen silent. Shen Fei turned his textbook to the page they would cover that day. His eyes rested on the words, but his mind was on something else.

After class, he would go to the study to organize the purchasing accounts. That was an opportunity.

The Sacred Family's purchasing accounts concealed the supply channels feeding the Dark Guild. In his previous life, he had not been allowed access to them. In this life, Shen Hong had asked him to organize them himself. Whether it was a test or not, he would use this opportunity to get his hands on that intelligence.

He would no longer pound his father's desk, nor scour the entire roster for a protagonist who did not exist. He would keep his mouth shut and conceal his sharp edge, setting his pieces in place one by one while everyone believed he was quietly staying in line.