Li Rui

Li Rui

Yu Kingdom, Cloud Province, Anning Prefecture, Qinghe County.

Winter had arrived. One night, snow fell.

The Hour of the Ox.

With a creak, the door of a small room in the southeast corner of the Zhu Residence opened.

Li Rui tucked both hands into the sleeves of his padded jacket. His boots crunched through the snow as he shivered his way to the stables.

Every night, he came to the stables to check whether those two little brats had been slacking off. Of course, at an age when one might wet an entire shoe, he had long since lost the habit of sleeping in.

Only after seeing the hay piled high and overflowing from the troughs did Li Rui return to his room in satisfaction.

A horse does not grow fat without midnight fodder.

The Zhu Family's horses were more precious than people.

If Master Zhu of the Zhu Family noticed the horses had grown thin, even he, an old Groom who had worked for fifty years, would not escape a scolding.

Back in the warm room.

Li Rui no longer felt sleepy. He pulled out a pipe from beside his pillow, knocked the brass bowl against his shoe heel, packed it with tobacco, and took several puffs. Soon, smoke curled thickly through the room.

He leaned back comfortably and looked at his shriveled, aged, callused hands.

"How had I lived this long?"

When spring came next year, he would turn seventy. In this era, living to seventy was already exceedingly rare. Perhaps the County Magistrate would even come visit him then, and the Zhu Family might graciously permit him to leave the lowly register.

But it no longer meant much to him.

Looking back on his life.

He had loved nothing, gained nothing, and accomplished nothing.

Well, smoking dried tobacco counted as one thing.

"What a sin. I was a modern man."

That was right. Li Rui was a transmigrator.

Only, he was one of the most miserable transmigrators of all. He had no cheat and no Golden Finger, and he had spent fifty years in this world.

His original body's family had met with disaster, and he had been sold into the Zhu Family. Unable to endure the hardships, he had frozen to death one winter, allowing Li Rui to seize the magpie's nest.

Relying on his literacy and quick wits, he had painstakingly secured his position as Groom.

As a skilled trade, being a Groom came with far better treatment than other household servants. At the very least, he did not need to worry about food or clothing.

Use the knowledge of his previous life to defy fate?

He belonged to the lowly register. Doing anything too out of the ordinary would only make his masters regard him as a monster and beat him to death.

Later, as he grew older, his standing in the Zhu Family rose with the tide. When people met him, they would call him Old Li. He had also taken on two apprentices, so he no longer needed to feed the horses himself.

His days were passable enough.

He had never considered marrying and having children. He had signed a red contract; unless his masters showed him grace, he could not leave the lowly register even if he paid a ransom.

Under Yu Kingdom law, those of the lowly register remained lowly for generation after generation. In other words, any child of his would be born to serve as a slave or maid.

Why drag his descendants through the same ordeal?

In his younger years, he had had several lovers, but even the youngest had passed away a few years ago. He had been the one to bury her.

He had passed all his horse-raising skills on to his two apprentices, hoping that when he died in a few years, they would at least see him buried in a thin wooden coffin. That would count as a peaceful end to this life.

All things were fated; not half a bit was up to man.

Just then—

Lines of small text appeared before his eyes.

Host detected. Congratulations on unlocking a perfect life!

"Golden Finger?"

"Why did you come so late!"

The still waters of Li Rui's heart, calm as an ancient well, stirred with waves once more. But what the hell was a perfect life?

He was already nearly seventy and halfway into the grave. Could he still have a perfect life?

The next moment, more small text appeared, interrupting his thoughts.

An auspicious phenomenon descended from the heavens at your birth. You possess an innate martial bone, seen once in ten thousand years. From the moment you were born, you were destined to become First Under Heaven!

Li Rui's expression turned strange.

This life was indeed perfect, but... it seemed to have nothing to do with him at all.

Forget innate martial bones—he had practiced martial arts for a few days under the Martial Master in the Zhu Residence in his younger years.

First Under Heaven?

He could not even touch the threshold of martial arts. Martial training placed extremely high demands on one's natural constitution; for ordinary people, even getting started was harder than scaling the heavens.

And besides, he was already seventy!

What the hell was an innate martial bone?!

Yet a moment later, a luminous panel appeared before his eyes.

Talent acquired: Martial Bone!

Name: Li Rui

Age: 0

Talent: Martial Bone (unseen in ten thousand years, born invincible)

Achievement: 0/100

The instant the panel appeared, Li Rui felt as if something had truly been added to the great dragon of his spine. His formerly icy hands and feet became warm in an instant, and his qi and blood grew fuller than ever before.

It really was a martial bone?!

Li Rui's eyes widened in utter disbelief.

But this martial bone had come far too late.

By the average lifespan of ancient people, he had already outlived it by several decades. Living another ten years would already be an optimistic estimate. What use could a martial bone possibly be to him?

"Men have a fixed lifespan, but immortals have none. Since martial bones can exist, perhaps immortals truly exist in this world. Seventy might make me a feeble old man among mortals, but in the cultivation world, I'd be in my prime!"

Li Rui forcibly suppressed the excitement in his heart.

"There was a Martial Artist in Anning Prefecture who cultivated a health-preserving art and lived for a full two jiazi. The martial path is not all about being bold and fighting fiercely; there are also Cultivation Methods that prolong one's life."

"In the Great Dao Sects of the Yu Kingdom, white-haired old immortals are even more common. Their strength absolutely cannot be measured by their age."

Moreover, compared to a body with an innate martial bone, he possessed one greatest advantage.

That was caution.

If auspicious phenomena truly descended from the heavens at one's birth, marking one's extraordinary natural constitution, then a child carrying a great treasure would surely draw envy. If the parents were not strong enough, that martial bone would not be a blessing but a great calamity. Only what one could hold on to could truly count as one's good fortune.

A certain senior surnamed Huang was the best example.

Some things were not good to obtain too early.

Seventy was just right!

And judging by the looks of it, there were more rewards besides the martial bone.

He fixed his gaze on the Achievement section, and countless lines of small text appeared before his eyes.

Place first on the imperial examination, make your name known across the martial world, awe the battlefield.

As long as he completed the achievements listed in these entries, he could obtain Achievement Points. The Achievement Points he earned could unlock new rewards.

When he saw "Ascend to Immortality and Become an Ancestor," his conviction became even firmer.

Li Rui calmed himself.

Those achievements were all far too distant from him. What he needed to do now was practice martial arts.

"I remember Bodyguard Yang boasting while drunk a few days ago that he had a Cultivation Method called the Eight Section Brocade that could let one live to a hundred. Tomorrow, I'll ask him for it."

With a martial bone, why would he need to worry about failing to master a mere Eight Section Brocade?

Early the next morning.

Li Rui wrapped himself in a padded jacket and headed toward the Zhu Family's Martial Arts Arena. The Zhu Family was a prominent household in Clear River, with more than a dozen bodyguards alone. Ordinary bandits did not dare provoke them, and nothing had happened for decades.

Li Rui could navigate the Zhu Residence with his eyes closed. Familiar with every turn, he soon arrived at an open area at the very back of the estate.

This was where the Zhu Family's bodyguards usually practiced martial arts.

A burly middle-aged man, a full seven chi tall, saw Li Rui and grinned. "Old Li, what brings you to the Martial Arts Arena? Don't tell me you want to loosen up those old arms and legs too?"

The other bodyguards joined in with a burst of laughter.

Li Rui had long grown accustomed to such scenes and ignored them.

He found the oldest bodyguard standing in the corner. "Old Yang, does what you said before about the Eight Section Brocade still count?"

The elderly bodyguard named Yang Yong froze. "Old Li, you really want to learn martial arts?"

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