A hoarse roar rang out through the woods.
In an instant, something unexpected happened. A bolt of lightning streaked down like a silver serpent from the distant heavens.
It struck the woods with savage force, scorching a swath of trees at once.
The people working in the distant fields looked up. Thunder out of a clear sky! Then they shook their heads and paid it little mind.
Tang Wen sat slumped on the blackened ground, his face full of terror. He looked up at the scorched woods. In the distance, several brightly colored pheasants flapped their wings and fled in fright.
I... I've transmigrated...
Only after a long while did he manage to straighten out his tangled thoughts.
Damn it! I really have transmigrated!
The man whose body he had possessed was also named Tang Wen, a down-and-out noble of the Chu Kingdom.
Over a century ago, the Tang family's ancestor, Tang Ze, had won great military honors. The ruler of the Chu Kingdom had made him Count of Liangzhou in Linghai Province, granting him a fief of ten thousand mu.
But each generation of the Tang family had fallen further than the last. By the time of Tang Wen's father, Tang Shixian, their title had been downgraded to second-class baron.
Last year, Tang Shixian had fallen into a trap while doing business and lost the family's entire fortune. He had taken to his sickbed afterward and never recovered, finally breathing his last not long ago.
His mother, Liu Qingmei, had sold the Tang family's last ancestral residence to clear all their debts. Only while packing for the move had she discovered that a Tang ancestor had also bought a deserted island in Yanling Commandery.
The island was called Su Mei Island, measuring fifty or sixty li from east to west and just as far from north to south.
It was the Tang family's only remaining property, so his mother had decided to move the entire household there.
Tang Wen also had an older brother, Tang Guodong, who studied under Master Qiu Bai at the Black Deer Academy in the capital. He had not returned home for several years.
When their father, Tang Shixian, died, the spring examinations were approaching. Tang Guodong could not make it back, so he had written a letter yielding the title to his younger brother, Tang Wen.
His older sister, Tang Yiyi, had married into a family in the provincial capital, Jiangzhou. His younger brother, Tang Hao, was studying literature and martial arts at the Ridge-Sea Academy there, preparing to take the military jinshi examinations.
His younger sister, Tang Mei, was only nine. She had accompanied their mother and Tang Wen to Su Mei Island.
After inheriting the title of third-class baron under the witness of the Liangzhou Prefecture authorities, Tang Wen and his family had braved wind and slept beneath the open sky, traveling over a thousand li from Liangzhou to Su Mei Island with more than twenty servants and maids.
They had encountered bandits along the way. Of their five guards, only two survived, and all their valuables were plundered. They had nearly lost their lives as well.
After traveling all that way to Su Mei Island, they discovered that the residence their ancestor had built there had been burned and looted. Nothing remained but wild grass and a jumble of ruins.
Even the island's farmland had been seized by disaster refugees, rioters, and unruly locals.
That morning, Tang Wen had taken his men to collect rent, only to be surrounded by more than a hundred people. He had escaped only because the two guards and several servants had fought desperately to protect him.
Reduced to such a state despite being their rightful lord, Tang Wen had been overwhelmed with grief and indignation. With all hope turned to ashes, he had swallowed a mid-grade Qi Condensation Pill in a fit of anger to attempt a breakthrough to the ninth martial rank.
Something had gone wrong. His internal qi had run wild, throwing his meridians into chaos and tormenting him to death. That had given Tang Wen from Earth the chance to possess his body and be reborn.
The Chu Kingdom's institutions were much like those of the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the notable difference that a deeply entrenched slave trade still remained.
Nearly all farmland belonged to nobles or landlords, while the common people were mostly tenant farmers or slaves.
The writing in common use resembled ancient Chinese seal script, but the clothing looked like a blend of styles from the Tang, Ming, and Qing dynasties.
However, Tang Wen discovered that after transmigrating, his martial cultivation had actually shot up to the early stage of the ninth-rank Body Refining Realm.
Of course, martial arts in this world were not as mystical as novels made them out to be. Flying through the heavens, burrowing through the earth, moving mountains, and filling seas were impossible.
Martial cultivation was divided into ten ranks, with the tenth being the weakest and the first the strongest.
Each rank was further divided into four stages: early, middle, late, and perfection.
A tenth-rank Body Foundation Realm martial artist possessed strength of only two hundred to three hundred jin, slightly more than an ordinary person.
Someone like Tang Wen, in the ninth-rank Body Refining Realm, had strength of around four hundred to five hundred jin-roughly Jet Li's level.
Even an eighth-rank Inner Astral Realm martial artist had only six hundred to seven hundred jin of strength, about the same as Tyson.
Once strength exceeded eight hundred jin, a martial artist entered the seventh-rank Aperture Breakthrough Realm. At that level, they could channel internal qi into weapons to attack.
But they still could not project their internal astral energy outward-in other words, strike someone from a distance.
That was only possible in the sixth-rank Outer Astral Realm, and even then the range was short, only about three zhang.
With dusk approaching, Tang Wen feared his mother would worry and jogged back to the few thatched huts they had hastily erected.
"Wen'er, where have you been? You're filthy all over. Xing'er, hurry and help your master wash up." At the sight of him, his mother, Liu Qingmei, took out a handkerchief to wipe his face as she spoke with aching concern.
"Mother, it's nothing. I'll wash myself." Warmth stirred in Tang Wen's heart, and his eyes reddened slightly.
In his previous life, he had been an orphan and had never known a mother's love.
Later, through diligent study and research, he had become a leading medical authority renowned both at home and abroad. He enjoyed traveling and mountain climbing, and he had also been captain of his neighborhood's volunteer fire brigade and a military enthusiast.
Xing'er came over to help Tang Wen bathe, but he firmly refused. As a modern man, he truly was not accustomed to the luxuries enjoyed by young masters of wealthy ancient households.
After dinner, his mother gathered everyone together. Counting the guards, household servants, nursemaid, maids, and odd-job workers, only fifteen or sixteen people remained.
"Where are Li Shun and Liu Er? Why aren't they here yet?" Liu Qingmei looked around and asked with a frown.
"I searched everywhere and couldn't find them. They may have... run away." Li Quan glanced at Liu Qingmei, his face full of anger.
"Those dogs! The master treated them well, and this is how they repay him!" Zhang Kui, the head guard, cursed.
"I thought something was wrong with them already. Yesterday, when we went to collect rent with the young master, over a hundred people surrounded us. Those two went green with fear and hid off to one side," the other guard, Wei Tong, spat.
"I'll take some men and drag them back right now." Zhang Kui turned to leave.
"Ah... let it go. If they wanted to leave, they only had to tell me. I would even have given them a few taels of silver for traveling expenses." Liu Qingmei looked forlorn.
"Why give those dogs any silver? They're lucky not to be beaten to death!" the elderly servant Jiang Er cursed indignantly.
"Listen, everyone. My son Tang Wen is sixteen this year. We should have held his coming-of-age ceremony tonight.
"But with the Tang family in this state, we will have to forgo it.
"Yesterday, I received a letter from Guodong. He said he had passed the jinshi examinations and been appointed a county magistrate outside the capital.
"He said that all these years, he had been studying in the capital and had contributed nothing to the family.
"Meanwhile, his third brother, Tang Wen, had been studying in the provincial capital. Though more gifted than him, he had always been occupied with family affairs.
"After passing the provincial examinations, he should have gone to the capital to sit the next examinations, but he gave that up.
"Guodong said he felt guilty for holding back his third brother's future.
"So he decided that the family's Su Mei Island should go to his third brother, in the hope that he could lead the Tang family to prosperity.
"I hereby formally announce that from this moment on, Su Mei Island belongs to Tang Wen.
"From now on, you are to address him as master or proprietor. I am entrusting all household affairs to him.
"Henceforth, you may simply call me Old Madam," Liu Qingmei said solemnly.
"Master!" Li Quan took the lead, bowing as he called out. At once, everyone else followed.
"Everyone, you all know the Tang family's current situation.
"I won't hide anything from you. All we have left is a few hundred taels of silver, a deserted island, and three thatched huts.
"I don't want another incident like Li Shun and Liu Er's. If you want to leave, you may. Speak up now.
"I, Tang Wen, will not stop you. I'll also return your indentures without charging a single coin.
"I'll even give you a few taels of silver for the journey." Tang Wen cleared his throat and swept a solemn gaze over the dozen or so servants.
"Master, in life I, Li Quan, belong to the Tang family. In death, I will be its ghost," Li Quan said through clenched teeth.
"The late master showed me kindness as weighty as a mountain. I, Zhang Kui, will belong to the Tang family for the rest of my life," Zhang Kui added.
"I'm not leaving. I want to serve Old Madam," Xing'er said.
"I... I..." Just then, the servant Wu Yuan glanced at Liu Mu and faltered.
"You two want to leave? Do you have any humanity?" Zhang Kui glared at them. Frightened, Wu Yuan stammered, "N-no... we're not leaving."
"If you want to leave, leave now. You won't be able to afterward.
"And if you stay, you must face hardship alongside the Tang family.
"You may even lose your lives here," Tang Wen said, his face stern.
"My brother-in-law is in the provincial capital. I'd like to go to him," Liu Mu said, shrinking back but forcing himself to speak.
"I have relatives in the provincial capital too," Wu Yuan said.
"Very well. Li Quan, return their indentures and give them three taels of silver each for traveling expenses," Tang Wen said.
"Thank you, Master Tang. We really have no choice." Wu Yuan and Liu Mu accepted the silver, knelt and kowtowed, then turned and left.
"Dogs!" Zhang Kui spat on the ground.
"Never mind. They'll regret it." Tang Wen waved a hand coldly and returned to his room.
Ding-dong! You now possess 14 points of human presence and have become the new host of the great landlord space. A small portion of the system's energy has been restored. Your first spacetime crossing is now available.
Tang Wen noticed the wooden bracelet on his wrist flash, and he saw a strange space.
Its floor and walls were inlaid with many runes he could not understand, along with totems of ferocious beasts. A huge screen stood on the northern side.
The large screen displayed the following data:
Human presence index: 14. Land area: 2,338 qing. Martial realm: Early ninth rank. Wealth index: 500 taels of silver. Space load capacity: 100 metric tons. Crossing duration: Ten days.
Tang Wen could not make sense of what any of these figures meant.
While he was puzzling over them, the runes flashed. He seemed to hear a dog bark as well.
The space shuddered, and a wolfhound-like totem on the wall lit up.
Crack! After a sharp snap, a doorway suddenly appeared in the wall. Blue-green light swept out and dragged Tang Wen inside without giving him a choice.
After a spell of agonizing suffocation, Tang Wen felt himself land.
He looked up. Am I back on Earth?
The characters were Chinese, but all the advertisements along the street used traditional characters.
The streets were also full of cars, and the people wore fashionable modern clothes.
Here and there, he saw Tang-style outfits, Han clothing, and even long-haired young men wearing Qing officials' hats. With such a jumble, this certainly could not be ancient times.
Have I ended up in Taipei or Hong Kong? Those places used plenty of traditional characters.
As he stood there bewildered, a giant LED screen on a five-story building displayed a message:
Order of the Yunhai City Government, Great Eastern Republic, Southern Province...
What the hell? The Great Eastern Republic? What kind of place is that?
Earth has East Timor, but I don't think there's a country called the Great Eastern Republic.
Moreover, the region containing the Great Eastern Republic seemed to be called "Southern Province."
Earth had Asia, Africa, and Antarctica, but certainly no region called Southern Province.
Then this definitely was not Earth. It might be a parallel world similar to it.
Just then, police officers approached to check identity cards. Tang Wen quickly turned into a side street and slipped into a corner.
This is trouble. I've only just crossed over. Where am I supposed to get an identity card?
"Hey, man, that's a really unusual Tang-style outfit. Where did you buy it?" A couple walked over and asked Tang Wen.
"I'm an extra. This is a costume from the set. You can't buy it anywhere," Tang Wen said, hastily shaking his head.
"You're an extra? What sort of parts do you play?" the handsome young man asked curiously.
"A corpse lying by the road when the Japanese troops invade a village, a street vendor-whatever comes along," Tang Wen replied.
"I thought he was a star. What's interesting about playing little parts like that?" The pretty young woman beside him immediately lost interest and pulled her boyfriend away.
Just then, a jumble of footsteps sounded, mixed with piercing shouts. "Catch him!"
Tang Wen looked up. Holy shit! Three police officers with stun batons were desperately chasing a man running at full speed.
The man held a menacing dagger. Seeing more officers closing in from ahead, he reacted.
He immediately leaped sideways toward a little boy eating candied hawthorn by the street, apparently intending to take him hostage.
"Luo Lin, run!" A middle-aged man and a young woman nearby, presumably the boy's family, cried out in terror and rushed toward him.
"Don't hurt the child!" the officers shouted anxiously as well.
Before the boy could react, Tang Wen suddenly stepped out from behind a utility pole.
He unleashed a flying kick, sending the man hurtling face-first like a starving dog diving for dung, straight into a car in the middle of the street.
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