Unleashing My Power in a World of Chaos
Author: Won't Fly Pen
Synopsis:
[Alternate history, a struggle for supremacy in a world of chaos, a lord in the mold of Xiang Yu]
At the end of the Wu Dynasty, warlords carved up the land, and beacon fires of war flared on all sides.
In an age of chaos, the heroes of the realm competed for the throne-
There was the [Hegemon-King], who could lift a massive cauldron and considered no one his equal.
There was the [Dragon General], who charged seven times into an army of ten thousand and seven times back out.
There was the [Sword Saint], who could fight a hundred men alone and had no equal under heaven.
Grandmasters emerged one after another in the martial world, and fierce generals gathered like clouds on the battlefield.
Wu Shuangren came to such a parallel world, where there was no True Qi or magic, and only a tiny few possessed Traits. He bore the Trait [Match for One Person]-as long as he fought someone one-on-one, he was certain to win!
"What do you mean, even human strength has its limits, and no one in this world can match ten thousand men?"
"Matching ten thousand men is just a matter of winning ten thousand one-on-one fights in a row."
Standing amid a ground strewn with corpses, Wu Shuangren shook the blood from his hands and said those words.
[The completed work "This Martial Saint's Health Bar Is Too Thick" has reached ten thousand subscriptions. Quality guaranteed.]
Volume One: Just Like a Fierce Tiger Crouching on a Barren Hill
1. Champion
Inside the octagon, the air was saturated with sweat and the smell of blood.
A massive holographic projection hung from the dome, magnifying the tremor of every pore on the fighters' bodies for the tens of thousands of spectators in the arena.
The bone above Wu Shuangren's left eyebrow had split open, and blood wound down his face, mingling with sweat. Without blinking, he stared intently at his opponent-
The reigning champion from Brazil, a muscular black panther who was rolling his thick neck, his gaze fierce and wary.
The final minute of the deciding round.
Wu Shuangren suddenly threw a low kick, and his opponent's balance wavered.
An opening!
In the blink of an eye, Wu Shuangren stepped in and drove his right fist forward. An explosive jab slammed into his opponent's raised arms.
Off balance, his opponent's body tipped backward, and his guard came slightly apart.
Wu Shuangren quickly stepped forward, following up with a left uppercut. It whistled sharply through the air, pierced his opponent's guard with pinpoint accuracy, and drove hard into his jawbone.
"Bang!"
The dull impact sounded like a hammer striking thick leather.
His opponent's eyes glazed over instantly. His muscular body, as though stripped of every bone, fell straight backward and slammed heavily onto the canvas, where he lay motionless.
The referee immediately rushed in, separated the two fighters, and waved his hands.
The fight was over!
For an instant, the arena fell deathly silent. Then it erupted like a volcano.
Wu Shuangren's chest heaved, and his wound burned with pain, but something hotter burst open inside his chest.
He rushed to the side of the cage, climbed astride it, punched toward the sky, and threw back his head with a roar!
He had become the first UFC men's featherweight champion in Hua Country's history!
The whole arena answered him with a tsunami. The cheers were like solid waves, crashing against the walls of the venue again and again.
Below the platform, his coaching team clutched their heads and wept, while red flags waved wildly throughout the stands...
In the locker room, Wu Shuangren looked at the dozens of missed calls on his phone. Half were from a man and a woman.
One was his father, the other his mother.
He didn't call back.
His parents had divorced when he was two, leaving him for his grandfather to raise.
Both had since started new families and were unwilling to acknowledge him as their son.
He hadn't added his mother on WeChat until he was seventeen. The first message she sent him was: "I hope you won't disturb my life as it is now."
Wu Shuangren hadn't disturbed her.
Now that he was about to reach the pinnacle of his life, his parents suddenly wanted to be close to him.
You weren't with me through the mud on my way here, so there's no need for you to share in my future glory.
He opened WeChat and sent his first message of the night:
"Grandpa, I won the UFC championship!"
Above it were many messages he had sent in the past-
"Grandpa, I'm fighting the most important fight of my life tomorrow night. Please watch over me."
"Grandpa, Dad came asking me for money again today. I didn't give him any. Did I do the right thing?"
"Grandpa, it's my birthday today. Wish me a happy birthday."
"Grandpa, I miss you so much."
"..."
Sadly, the person on the other end of those messages would never reply to him.
The person he most wanted to share his joy with hadn't lived to see his moment of glory.
Wu Shuangren's eyes reddened.
Just then, his manager walked in. "What are you doing?"
Wu Shuangren stood up, an exaggerated smile appearing on his face. "Come on, let's celebrate. We don't go home sober tonight!"
Memory shattered amid champagne spray and countless smiling faces.
The burn of whiskey still lingered in his throat, but stronger still was a feeling of weightlessness after exhaustion.
Then all sound and light were suddenly snuffed out.
Consciousness returned amid a cold, rough sensation.
Wu Shuangren felt something hard and uneven pressing against the back of his head. Instead of perfume and alcohol, his nostrils were filled with a complex stench.
A burning, stabbing pain came from his chest, as though he'd been struck by a heavy punch.
In the distance, urgent gongs and people's shouts rose and fell.
"What the hell..."
Wu Shuangren opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was the sky.
There were no skyscrapers cutting across its outline, no glow polluted by neon lights, only a tranquil, deep night sky and brilliant stars.
A bright moon hung high overhead, spilling its clear light over the surroundings.
Wu Shuangren propped up his upper body, pressing his palm against cold, slippery stone. He looked around and froze.
He was lying in the middle of a narrow alley, its surface paved with uneven bluestone slabs, weeds growing in the cracks. Wooden houses stood on either side, their windows covered with paper, looking somewhat dilapidated.
"Fuck, who's messing with me?"
Wu Shuangren lowered his head and looked at himself.
He wore a blue shirt and trousers of coarse cloth, a dingy gray sash tied around his waist, and filthy black cloth shoes that reeked of sweat.
These were clothes he'd only seen in historical dramas, not the athletic shorts or designer suit he'd been wearing.
Wu Shuangren looked at his hands.
His knuckles protruded prominently, and his hands were smooth, without a single scar.
These couldn't possibly be the hands of a fighter who had trained for years.
He reached up to feel his ears-
His cauliflower ears were gone too!
Wu Shuangren began to panic. He stood up and felt all over his body.
His biceps, chest muscles, six-pack abs... all traces of the hard training that had taken thousands of days and nights and an untold amount of sweat were gone.
This couldn't possibly be his body!
Wu Shuangren clutched his head, suddenly feeling as though it would split open.
A flood of information poured into his mind.
A moment later, Wu Shuangren understood his situation-
He had transmigrated!
He hadn't gone back in time, but had arrived in a parallel world.
This world's history had much in common with his previous life: the Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou dynasties, the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, all the way up to Qin sweeping away the six states, unifying the realm, and producing the first emperor.
That part of history was almost identical to his previous life, except for some historical anecdotes and the names of famous people and places.
But starting with the Qin Dynasty, this world had taken a different path-
Qin hadn't fallen under its second emperor, but had lasted more than three hundred years.
Afterward, there had been no Chu-Han contention. Emperor Gaozu of Han had destroyed Qin and established the Great Han Dynasty.
The Han Dynasty had lasted more than two hundred years. After that, there had been no Three Kingdoms period; it had gone straight to the present Wu Dynasty.
The Wu Dynasty had also lasted more than two hundred years.
The former owner of this body was also named Wu Shuangren. He was seventeen years old and a constable in Bo County, Yi Province, under the Wu Dynasty.
The realm was now in chaos. Beyond its borders, Tubo and the Jurchens watched like tigers eyeing their prey; within, warlords carved up the land, the Yellow Turbans had risen in rebellion, and bandits ran rampant.
Tonight, a gang of bandits had suddenly barged into Bo County and caused an uproar.
As a county constable, his predecessor had volunteered to join the pursuit. Unfortunately, he had run straight into the bandits, and a palm strike to the chest had killed him.
"Fuck... I don't want to transmigrate!"
Wu Shuangren felt aggrieved and indignant.
He had just won an unprecedented championship and reached the pinnacle of his life. In his shoes, no one would have wanted to transmigrate to an unfamiliar ancient world and become a mere constable.
But since it was already reality, Wu Shuangren wasn't the sort to wallow in self-pity.
Fortunately, because of the nature of his profession, he had made a will long ago: if anything happened to him, all his property would be donated.
To make it from a small place to the world stage, one step at a time, and become a UFC champion, Wu Shuangren had relied on ambition, talent, hard work, and an exceptional ability to adapt.
In any case, there was no one left in that world he was particularly attached to...
Wu Shuangren quickly accepted reality.
He looked down at his chest and pulled his clothes open. By the bright moonlight, he saw a clear palm print.
"Hiss, a single palm strike can kill someone? The fighting prowess in this world is no joke."
In his predecessor's memories, there were no supernatural powers in this world. Although martial arts existed, they were all within the limits of normal human ability.
But now that he saw "himself" killed by a single slap, Wu Shuangren felt that individual fighting prowess in this world was at least considerably higher than in his previous life.
"Over there!"