"Am I still alive?"
Pain woke Liu Wuxie. Several pieces of broken timber pinned him down, making it hard to breathe.
Then a jumble of memories flooded into his mind.
He had been one of the ten great Immortal Emperors of the Soaring Cloud Immortal Realm. By a stroke of chance, he had found a primordial divine artifact-the Heaven-Devouring Divine Cauldron-and come under attack from the entire immortal realm, losing his life at Soul-Severing Cliff.
At the last moment, he had used the Blood Demon Disintegration Technique to perish together with them, blasting the Heaven-Devouring Divine Cauldron to pieces. When he woke, he was already here.
"The True Martial Continent... the Xu Household... a live-in son-in-law... a wastrel..."
The memories appearing in his mind told him that he was no longer in the Soaring Cloud Immortal Realm, but had been reborn on a plane called the True Martial Continent.
The youth whose body this was had also been named Liu Wuxie. Born into a wealthy family, he had suffered a family upheaval at five, when his parents mysteriously disappeared. This had made him narrow-minded and withdrawn from childhood. Even after his father's close friend and future father-in-law, Xu Yilin, adopted him, he showed no improvement.
As he grew older, he became increasingly arrogant and domineering. He even believed that his father-in-law, who treated him as his own son, had adopted him to seize his family assets. He squandered money recklessly and ran wild, becoming a notorious wastrel in Canglan City.
Everyone in the Xu Household called him useless, a parasite, or trash, yet he continued doing whatever he pleased.
In the blink of an eye, he had reached marriageable age. His father-in-law, Xu Yilin, believed that marriage might rein in his temperament. Today was his wedding day.
By rights, trash like him could never have been worthy of the Xu Household's eldest young lady.
But Liu Wuxie's parents and Xu Yilin had been friends who had entrusted their lives to one another. The two families had arranged the marriage before their children were born, agreeing that they could marry once they turned eighteen.
On his wedding day, he had entered the bridal chamber only to be beaten out by the Xu Household's eldest young lady. Egged on by a few disreputable friends, he had set foot in a brothel for the first time. Suddenly flying into a frenzy, he had set the place ablaze, causing the entire brothel to collapse. The unfortunate fellow had been buried beneath the rubble.
He moved aside the broken timbers pinning him down, lay flat on the ground, and began examining his body.
"What a vicious attack. One palm strike hit his heart meridians. If I hadn't taken possession of him, he would certainly have died. Who wanted to kill him and laid a trap like this?"
Apart from some injuries from falling debris, the most lethal wound was a strange palm print on his chest. He clearly remembered drinking with his disreputable friends, but could remember nothing after losing control.
The severed heart meridians were only temporarily stabilized. He needed to find a meridian-protecting pill to reconnect them. With his abilities, refining such a pill would not be difficult.
"Fortunately, this is a continent of cultivators, where the martial path flourishes..."
Martial cultivators had many ranks, divided into Postnatal, Innate, Spirit Cleansing, Marrow Cleansing, True Core...
"This body is a disaster. Even calling him useless would be giving him too much credit."
His meridians were as fine as strands of hair, and their blockage from impurities could only be described as too dreadful to behold.
"This is troublesome. All my cultivation Method Formulas are divine-grade cultivation methods from the immortal realm. The True Martial Continent is merely a mortal plane. I'll have to switch to a mortal martial cultivator's cultivation method."
It was like an infant with divine weapons laid beside him. With an infant's strength, he could not possibly lift those divine artifacts.
To lift a divine weapon, he would have to grow to a certain level-at least the Marrow Cleansing Realm.
Awkward!
Liu Wuxie felt mortified. He tried several times, but every attempt came to nothing. The tearing sensation in his meridians left him in unbearable agony. If he kept cultivating, his body would surely split apart.
Just then!
A drop of pure liquid flowed out of his Dantian, surged into his meridians, and spread through his limbs and bones.
His frail meridians devoured the liquid like ravenous gluttons. The sludge within them dissolved bit by bit, leaving his entire body at ease.
"What's going on?"
His Divine Sense sank into his Dantian to investigate. What was this drop of liquid? Where had it come from?
The moment he entered his Dantian, his head nearly exploded. A pitch-black divine cauldron occupied its center, and the liquid was flowing from it.
"This is... this is the Heaven-Devouring Divine Cauldron. It actually came here with me."
The Heaven-Devouring Divine Cauldron had exploded along with him at the final moment. He had never expected it to appear inside his Dantian.
"Could it be... that my rebirth is inseparably linked to the Heaven-Devouring Divine Cauldron..."
Suddenly!
A vast mass of black Qi rushed out of the cauldron and struck Liu Wuxie's consciousness.
The black Qi churned and transformed continuously, finally becoming lines of pitch-black characters, ancient and weathered, filled with the marks of passing ages.
The tremendous impact blasted his consciousness out of his body and back into reality.
Before he could sort through the characters in his mind, a clamor came from outside.
The rubble above his head was moved aside little by little, letting in some light. Many people had gathered around, holding torches.
"Master, we've found the son-in-law!"
Several burly men moved the broken timbers aside. His time had evidently not yet come: a section of beam had happened to block a falling boulder, leaving his body without too many injuries. The true cause of his death had been that lethal palm strike.
In a flurry, they carried him out and laid him on the ground. Nourished by the mysterious liquid, his body was largely unharmed, and he sat upright.
"You wretched boy! Are you trying to anger me to death?"
Xu Yilin appeared before him, looking bitterly disappointed in his failure to make something of himself, his beard bristling and his eyes glaring with anger. Upon learning that his son-in-law had caused havoc at a brothel and been buried beneath it, he had rushed out with only a cloak thrown over himself, without even having time to put on his outer robes.
Strangely, as Xu Yilin scolded him, a trace of warmth flowed through Liu Wuxie's heart. He could feel that Xu Yilin was truly worried about him.
"That piece of trash actually survived?"
An abrupt cry of surprise interrupted their conversation. Hundreds of onlookers stood around them, pointing and commenting.
"This parasite really does have a stubborn life. Even that couldn't crush him to death. Heaven truly is blind!"
"What sins did the Xu Household commit to take in a live-in son-in-law like him? He's utterly disgraced them."
"Trash will always be trash. It was his wedding day, yet he came to a brothel that night, let his beastly nature run wild, and tore open a brothel girl's clothes, nearly causing a catastrophe. Heaven is unjust! Why won't it take the life of a piece of trash like him?"
"..."
Mockery surged in from every direction like a tide, battering Liu Wuxie alone from head to toe.
"Uh..."
Liu Wuxie's face darkened with exasperation, but he had no way to refute them.
Xu Yilin's weathered face flushed red. He hurriedly ordered the men to carry Liu Wuxie away. They would talk once they got home, rather than stay here making a spectacle of themselves.
"Stop!"
A cold shout rang out behind him, bringing them to a halt.
A madam strode over with ten guards, the entire group looking fierce and menacing.
"Patriarch Xu, your son-in-law caused our Delightful Red Courtyard to collapse. Dozens were injured, the girls are too frightened to leave their rooms, and many guests are still receiving treatment at medical clinics. All of this happened because of him. Do you intend to dust off your backside and simply walk away?"
The madam was in her forties, with thick rouge and powder coating her face. Her pungent perfume caught in the throat, and her face, like that of a hanged ghost, was nauseating to look at. She stood before Liu Wuxie, shouting and making a fuss.
"I'll arrange for someone to come and discuss compensation."
Xu Yilin shot Liu Wuxie a fierce glare. This was not the time to reprimand him. That could wait until they got home.
"There's no need. I'll pay for the losses myself."
Liu Wuxie stood up. Since this had happened because of him, he did not want to drag too many others into it.
"Young Master Liu, I'm not trying to belittle you, but what do you have to pay us with?"
The madam showed him no respect at all, mocking him right in front of Xu Yilin. Laughter rose from all around.
"Rest assured, you won't be short a single coin in compensation. I, Xu Yilin, guarantee that the payment will be in your hands within three days."
Xu Yilin gave his guarantee in firm, righteous words. Only then did she let them leave.
Liu Wuxie could not help reflecting, Was something wrong with the previous owner's head? One look at his father-in-law makes it clear that he truly cares about him...
Following behind Xu Yilin, Liu Wuxie said nothing.
He was still very grateful to the Xu Household. They had given him a hand when he was down and out, and Xu Yilin had even honored his promise by marrying his treasured daughter to him. That alone proved that he valued loyalty and affection.
The sky gradually brightened. The Xu Household's gates opened, and two servants were about to sweep the fallen leaves outside. Seeing Xu Yilin, both bowed. As for Liu Wuxie, they ignored him.
"Go back and change your clothes. Come see me in the main hall in a while."
He was covered in dust, his clothes torn, looking like a beggar. Xu Yilin told him to go back and tidy himself up first.
"Yes."
Liu Wuxie felt fear toward this father-in-law, along with a trace of respect. Without the Xu Household all these years, he would have died who knew how many times.
A new book, a new voyage. Sorry for the wait, everyone. I've spent two months polishing this, and I certainly won't disappoint you. Read a few dozen chapters first. If it's no good, come beat me up.