Ye Chen

In a dim room, a young man lay lazily on the bed, muttering, "Who would have thought the owner of this body was also called Ye Chen? He even looks thirty to forty percent like me. Was this specially prepared for me?"

In his previous life, Ye Chen had been a physics student at some university in the twenty-first century. He had a fairly clever mind and keen powers of observation. An accident occurred while he was conducting research in the laboratory, and every machine exploded in one massive blast, sending his soul into this world.

If an ordinary person had suddenly arrived in an unfamiliar environment, with their soul entering an unfamiliar body, they would surely have gone mad for a while. Yet Ye Chen felt nothing at all, apart from a little surprise.

Thinking of this, Ye Chen wondered whether he was a freak. Such a huge matter had left him unmoved—then what could possibly move him?

After a brief merging of memories, Ye Chen had already absorbed more than ten years' worth of this body's memories. In those memories, he was the descendant of a great family from somewhere. At twelve, he had entered the Flowing Cloud Sect, and at fourteen, he had officially become an Outer Sect Disciple. It could be considered suffering first, sweetness later.

The only thing people could criticize was that during those two years from age twelve to fourteen, aside from cultivating his Internal Energy to the Qi Cultivation Realm Fourth Layer, the original owner had made almost no progress in any other respect. He had only mastered the third move of the basic Flowing Cloud Sword Technique.

"Looks like if I want to survive in this world, the first thing I need to do is get rid of the fool's label. That's the hard truth." Ye Chen was deeply dissatisfied with the original owner being called a fool. After all, they were now one and the same. Someone who had never been stupid like him was unwilling to bear such a humiliating title.

Having made up his mind, Ye Chen's eyes shifted, and he could not help recalling events from before he turned twelve.

The Flowing Cloud Sect lay in the north of the Heavenly Wind Kingdom. Together with four other sects in the kingdom, it was known as One Valley, One Manor, Three Sects. Aside from these five strongest powers, the Eight Great Families held the lifeblood of the Heavenly Wind Kingdom's martial world. Even the royal court mainly sought to win them over and avoided provoking them whenever possible.

And the family Ye Chen belonged to was precisely one of the Eight Great Families: the Ye Family.

The Ye Family had risen more than two hundred years ago. With tea and silk as its principal businesses, it had amassed immense wealth. As the saying went, no matter how much wealth one had, one needed sufficient strength to protect it. Otherwise, it was merely an undefended chunk of fat that everyone wanted to sink their teeth into.

After enduring countless setbacks and extortions, the Ye Family Patriarch of that time reflected bitterly on his plight and decided to use the family's abundant wealth to develop it into a martial family, standing toe-to-toe with other powers. Only then did the Ye Family become one of today's Eight Great Families.

As descendants of the Ye Family, they all held their heads high wherever they went. Others could not flatter them fast enough. But Ye Chen was not among them, because his cultivation talent was truly terrible, disappointing everyone beyond measure.

Fortunately, his father was the current Patriarch of the Ye Family, while his mother was an Outer Sect Elder of the Southern Luo Sect, one of the Three Sects. Others did not dare mock or disrespect him openly.

Even so, Ye Chen still suffered no small amount of bullying.

What he remembered most clearly was how his eldest uncle's first and second sons, along with his third uncle's son, came to make trouble for him every few days. They even took him to deserted places to humiliate him. His maid Xiao Ju was also often looked down upon by the other maids. Every time, she would run to him in tears and pour out her grievances.

"Damn it, I'll definitely avenge this." Ye Chen's gaze turned savage as he clenched his fists tightly.

His fury was not without reason. The current him was a fusion of two Ye Chens. He possessed both the memories and emotions of his previous life, as well as the memories and emotions of this life. In other words, both Ye Chens were him. There was no distinction between them, no barrier separating them.

No matter which Ye Chen was humiliated, it would enrage him beyond measure.

Struggling to restrain his emotions, Ye Chen continued recalling—

The descendants of the Ye Family began cultivating Internal Energy at ten. Only those who reached the Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer before turning twelve would be selected by the five great sects of the Heavenly Wind Kingdom and become their registered disciples. However, to become an Outer Sect Disciple, one had to reach at least the Qi Cultivation Realm Fourth Layer.

Perhaps pressure created motivation, or perhaps he simply did not wish to disgrace his parents. Ye Chen had forcibly cultivated to the Qi Cultivation Realm Second Layer within two years, then reached the Qi Cultivation Realm Fourth Layer, barely crossing the threshold and becoming an Outer Sect Disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sect.

But compared to the other descendants of the Ye Family, he was far inferior. His eldest uncle's first son, Ye Feng, and his third uncle's son, Ye Ming, had reached the Qi Cultivation Realm Fourth Layer at twelve. The most formidable were his eldest uncle's second son, Ye Tang, and his fourth uncle's daughter, Ye Xuan. Both had entered the Qi Cultivation Realm Fifth Layer at twelve. They were absolute geniuses, rarely seen once in fifty years in the Ye Family.

According to one's talent, the sect one joined naturally differed as well.

Ye Chen had the poorest talent and joined the Ninth-Rank Sect, the Flowing Cloud Sect. Ye Feng and Ye Ming joined the Eighth-Rank Sect, the Purple Sun Sect. Ye Tang joined the Seventh-Rank Sect, North Snow Manor, while Ye Xuan, who was as famous as him, likewise joined the Seventh-Rank Sect, Jade Valley.

"There's only one year left until the Ye Family's once-every-three-years Clan Gathering. I can't afford to lose face." Rolling out of bed, Ye Chen washed up simply, then carried his sword into the courtyard.

The Flowing Cloud Sword Technique had nine moves in total. The first six had no names, while the last three were Seeking Gaps, Flowing Clouds and Running Water, and Night Light Movement.

Closing his eyes, the mental cultivation diagrams of the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique flowed through his mind. Ye Chen extended the Fine Steel Sword diagonally before him with his right hand and began practicing from the first move.

Unlike his usual awkwardness and stumbling, Ye Chen encountered not the slightest obstruction as he wielded his sword now. He felt an exhilarating sense of water flowing naturally into its channel.

Ssh!

A fluttering fallen leaf was cleaved apart. Ye Chen felt nothing and continued to wield his sword.

First move, second move, third move... seventh move.

Gradually, Ye Chen's sword moves broke free from their restraints. Not only did he wield the sword with astonishing speed and nimble movements, he did so freely and effortlessly, with complete ease. Then, in one breath, he charged into the seventh move, Seeking Gaps. In that instant, Sword Light moved like a nimble loach, effortlessly threading through several fallen leaves hanging in different positions.

Sheathing his sword and standing still, even Ye Chen was somewhat surprised.

For beginners, even the most basic martial technique was difficult to master. This was not merely due to differences in talent; more importantly, it depended on one's ability to adapt to new things. It was like learning to swim. At first, because of one's Fear of water, difficulties came one after another. Once one had fully adapted, however, one could perform difficult movements and even create one's own techniques.

In short, going from low to high was not difficult. What was difficult was going from nothing to something.

Taking a deep breath, Ye Chen emptied his mind and freely performed the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique.

First move... seventh move.

First move... seventh move.

After performing the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique more than a dozen times in succession, Ye Chen finally comprehended the eighth move, Flowing Clouds and Running Water.

Under the morning sunlight, the Fine Steel Sword reflected a hazy white Sword Light, like drifting clouds in the sky and flowing water in a stream, continuous and unending.

Correspondingly, the Internal Energy in his body also seemed to gradually accelerate like flowing water, completing one small circulation after another. Finally, it returned to his Dantian, then flowed out again, repeating endlessly.

Buzz!

A slight swelling in his Dantian jolted Ye Chen awake.

"Mid Fourth Layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm? That easily?" Ye Chen knew his own limits. He knew that advancing from the early Qi Cultivation Realm Fourth Layer to the mid Fourth Layer would take at least a week. Yet unexpectedly, he had done it in just one hour.

When something abnormal happened, there had to be a reason. Ye Chen knew that something must have caused this change.