Chapter One: Ye Chen

  In a dimly lit room, the young man lay lazily on the bed, muttering to himself: "I didn't expect that the owner of this body is also named Ye Chen, and looks three or four parts similar to me. Is it specially prepared for me?"

  Ye Chen from his past life was a student in the physics department of a certain university in the 21st century, with a fairly intelligent mind and sharp observational skills. Due to an accident that occurred while doing research in the lab, all the machines suddenly exploded, sending his soul to this world.

  If an ordinary person were to suddenly find themselves in a strange environment, with their soul entering a strange body, they would surely go mad for a while. But Ye Chen didn't have any feeling, only a little surprise.

  Thinking of this, Ye Chen suspected whether he was abnormal or not. Such a big thing and he didn't feel anything, what else could he still feel?

  Fleeting memories merged, Ye Chen had already digested the decade-long memories of this body, in which he was a young master of a certain influential family, entered the Flowing Cloud Sect at twelve, and officially became an outer sect disciple at fourteen, marking the end of his hardships.

  The only regret is that from the age of twelve to fourteen, the original master has made little progress in other aspects except for cultivating his inner energy to the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Realm, and has only practiced the third move of the Basic Cloud Sword Technique.

  "It seems that in order to survive in this world, the first thing to do is to get rid of the title of 'fool'. Ye Chen was very dissatisfied with the original master being called a fool. After all, they are now one body, and he who has always been clever does not want to bear the shameful name."

  Having made up his mind, Ye Chen's eyes flickered and memories of things before he was twelve years old involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

  Liúyún Zōng is located in the northern part of Tiānfēng Country, and together with four other sects within the country, they are known as the "One Valley, One Manor, Three Sects". Apart from these five strongest powers, the eight great families control the pulse of Tiānfēng Country's martial world. Even the royal court tries to win them over, avoiding provocation whenever possible.

  Ye Chen's family was one of the eight major families, the Ye family.

  The Ye family prospered over two hundred years ago, with tea and silk as their main business, accumulating a vast fortune. As the saying goes, no matter how much wealth you have, you need to have enough strength to protect it, otherwise it's just a piece of unguarded fat meat that anyone wants to take a bite of.

  After countless setbacks and extortion, the then Ye family master was determined to use his wealth to develop the family into a martial arts family, competing with other powers, which led to the current eight major families, one of which is the Ye family.

  As a member of the Ye family, everyone looks up to him, and others fawn over him, but Ye Chen is not among them. The reason is that his cultivation talent is really too poor, making people extremely disappointed.

  Fortunately, his father was the current head of the Ye family, and his mother was also an elder of the Nan Luo sect, one of the three major sects, so others did not dare to mock or disrespect him openly.

  Despite this, Ye Chen still suffered from no small amount of bullying.

  What I remember most is that the eldest son of my uncle, the second son and the son of my third uncle would often find fault with him, even humiliate him in private, and his maid Xiaohui was also often looked down upon by other maids, every time she would run to me crying and telling me about her grievances.

  "Weeds, this vendetta must be avenged." Ye Chen's eyes were ferocious, his fists clenched tightly.

  He was so angry for no reason, now he is a fusion of two Ye Duan, with memories and emotions from his past life and present life. In other words, the two Ye Duans are him, inseparable and without any distinction.

  No matter which Ye Dun is insulted, he will be furious.

  With great effort to control his emotions, Ye Chen continued to recall...

  The Ye family children start cultivating internal energy from the age of ten, and before the age of twelve they must reach the second layer of the Qi Refining Realm to be selected by one of the five major sects of Tianfeng Nation as their registered disciple. However, to become an outer sect disciple, they must at least reach the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Realm.

  It may be the pressure that generates motivation, or it may be not wanting to lose face in front of his parents, but Ye Chen managed to cultivate to the second layer of Qi Refining Realm within two years, and then reached the fourth layer of Qi Refining Realm, barely crossing the threshold to become an outer disciple of Liuyun Sect.

  Compared to the other children in the Ye family, he was far inferior. Eldest Uncle's eldest son, Ye Feng, and Third Uncle's son, Ye Ming, reached the fourth layer of Qi Refining at the age of twelve. The most impressive were Eldest Uncle's second son, Ye Tang, and Fourth Uncle's daughter, Ye Xuan, who both entered the fifth layer of Qi Refining at the age of twelve, absolutely a prodigy rarely seen in the Ye family for fifty years.

  Depending on their innate talents, they naturally entered different sects.

  Ye Chen had the worst innate talent and entered the 9th-grade sect, Liu Yun Sect. Ye Feng and Ye Ming entered the 8th-grade sect, Zi Yang Sect. Ye Tang entered the 7th-grade sect, Bei Xue Mountain Villa, while his peer, Ye Xuan, also entered the 7th-grade sect, Fei Cui Valley.

  "There's only a year left until the Ye family's triennial reunion, I mustn't lose face." Turning over and getting out of bed, Ye Chen simply washed up and then carried his sword to the courtyard.

  The Xingyun Swordsmanship has a total of nine forms, the first six do not have names, and the last three are respectively called "Seeking Gaps", "Clouds and Water Flowing", and "Night Light Movement".

  Closing his eyes, the mental images of the Xingyun Sword Art flowed from his heart, and Ye Chen stretched out his right hand at an angle, holding the fine steel sword, starting to cultivate from the first move.

  Unlike the usual obscure and clumsy, now Ye Chen's sword dance has no obstruction at all, with a kind of unimpeded and smooth feeling.

  Hiss!

  A flying leaf was cut off, and the dust of the leaves felt nothing, continuing to dance.

  First form, second form, third form, …… seventh form.

  Gradually, Ye Chen's sword moves had broken free from their restraints. Not only was his sword dance speed incredibly fast and his movements light and agile, but he also moved freely and effortlessly, as if painting a picture with his sword. In one breath, he charged into the seventh form, "Seeking an Opening". In that instant, the sword light was like a nimble loach, easily piercing through several leaves in different positions.

  Sheathing his sword, Ye Chen himself was also somewhat surprised.

  Even the most basic martial arts techniques are difficult to master for beginners, which is not only due to differences in talent but also the ability to adapt to new things. Just like learning to swim, it's hard at first because of fear of water, but after fully adapting, you can do high-difficulty moves and even create your own style.

  To sum up, it's easy from low to high, but hard from nothing to something.

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

  The first formula... The seventh formula.

  The first formula...the seventh formula.

  ……

  After performing the Xingyun Jianfa for dozens of times in a row, Ye Chen finally grasped the eighth move 'Xingyun Liu Shui'.

  Only the fine steel sword under the morning sunlight, reflecting a white misty sword light, like clouds in the sky, flowing water in the stream, continuous and unbroken.

  Correspondingly, the inner energy in the body also flows slowly and accelerates like flowing water, completing small cycles one after another, finally returning to the Dan Tian and then flowing out from it, circulating endlessly.

  Buzz!

  A slight swelling in his lower abdomen suddenly made Ye Chen wake up with a start.

  "Fourth layer of Qi Refining Realm, mid-term? So easy." Ye Chen had a clear understanding of himself, he knew that to advance from the initial stage of the fourth layer of Qi Refining Realm to the middle stage, it would take at least a week, but unexpectedly, he achieved it in just one hour.

  When something goes wrong, there must be a ghost, Yedu Chen understands that there must be some reason for this change.