Chapter 1: The Road of Asceticism, Past Life and Present Life

  The autumn wind is bleak and mournful.

  The vast and desolate Giant Python Mountain Range, spanning thousands of miles, is home to ferocious beasts and venomous insects that appear and disappear without a trace.

  According to legend, the Giant Python Mountains have ferocious beasts that devour humans, so even the strongest young men dare not venture deep into the mountains. Only cultivators of the Mystic Realm dare to come to this mountain range where danger and opportunity coexist.

  A line of twelve people, in the middle section of the Giant Python Mountain Range, slowly moving forward.

  These people are basically all wearing short jackets, with at most a windproof and rainproof conical hat on their heads. The slightly chilly autumn breeze blows against them, yet it seems to be unable to make them feel even the slightest bit cool.

  "It's getting late!" One of the two men in front of the team, a tall and sturdy man, took off his bamboo hat and looked up to say.

  This person's face has an irrepressible youthful appearance, although his skin is slightly darkened, but his muscles are tight and he looks like a young man.

  "Ah, it's time to take a rest. According to the map, there is a small valley ahead, let's go inside and spend the night." The first person also took off his hat, revealing a middle-aged man's face that had been weathered by the wind and waves.

  The ten people behind him silently followed the middle-aged man to the front valley, everyone took off their bamboo hats, put down the leather bags on their backs, and sat down on the ground with a thud.

  It was unusual that after they took off their bamboo hats, they could see clearly: except for the first man who was middle-aged, the other eleven people all had youthful faces, about 14 or 15 years old, exactly like the dark and robust youth at the beginning.

  "Garbage, come over and massage my legs!" The dark-skinned youth ordered in a low voice as soon as he sat down.

  "Hey, Lu Song is good at enjoying himself. The first one to catch this little guy's difference, I was slower than you by a step." Another young man hehe laughed, "I said waste, after you finished kicking Lu Song's leg, come over, my legs are also sore."

  The last young man, compared to the other boys, was slightly pale and showed signs of malnutrition. With a heavy leather bag on his back, it was not easy for him to make it this far.

  "Alright, alright," the middle-aged man said with a wave of his hand. "You'll have to find someone else to do the chores like starting fires and fetching water. He's still a young master after all - the reputation of the Lin Yuan Permit family isn't something to be taken lightly."

  "Hum, Young Master? Can Young Master walk the bitter road with us scattered households?" Lu Song sneered, "This Xu Yang, even if he is a son of the Xu family, is still a declining household that has been ostracized, an offshoot that can't be connected to the main branch."

  That pale-faced young man was Xu Yang. He kept his head down, and no one could see his expression.

  "What's wrong with you, why don't you go find some water?" Lu Song shouted impatiently.

  Xu Yang fell silent and turned away.

  "I don't know why, but that Xu Yang, since he mysteriously fainted yesterday, has become even more stupid and detestable." Lu Song took out a rice ball from his pouch and devoured it hastily.

  "It's not like you were knocked out, a ten-jin heavy punch, with his build, it's a miracle he's still alive." Another youth, slightly pale in complexion, with a clear and handsome face, chuckled.

  "Liu Zishan, don't pretend to be innocent, you won't spare him even if you hit him." Lu Song hummed.

  The pale youth who had been walking outside the valley gradually straightened up his body.

  "Kuxiulu... Linwan Xushi, Donglai Guo?" A young man named Xu Yang rubbed his brow and muttered to himself, "So that's how it is..."

  The young man's name was Xu Yang, but he wasn't the Xu Yang from Lin Chen City's Xu family. The previous Xu Yang had been beaten to death yesterday and his soul had scattered.

  The one who is now possessing Xu Yang's body is a soul from ten thousand years later, and his name is also... Xu Yang!

  After successfully possessing the body yesterday, Xu Yang has been digesting the memories of the original Xu Yang's soul. For the past day, he has been dazed and confused, with slow reactions.

  Until just now, he had merged all his memories together and restored his original mind.

  "How did I get here?!" Xuyang muttered to himself, but he had no clue. However, his attention was soon diverted from this question.

  "Compared to the previous question... Xuan Qi, this is the key! Intoxicating, dense to the point of being overwhelming Xuan Qi! Is this what the Tian Xuan Continent was like ten thousand years ago? Indeed, according to ancient records, ten thousand years ago, the heavens and earth were overflowing with Xuan energy, certain sacred lands even had legendary cultivation treasures like Yu Qing Xuan Qi and Tai Qing Xuan Qi!"

  "Now, let me sort out the current situation of this identity."

  "This country, called Donglai, should be a small one. However, according to ancient records, even if it's a small country, its ruler is also a master of the Xuanwang boundary! It's truly worthy of being the Golden Age, the peak of Xuanwu civilization."

  After ten thousand years, the heaven and earth's Xuan energy was exhausted, and it was no longer possible to produce a high-ranking master of the Xuan Wang boundary. In that era, various divine art secret manuals were already unasked for, because cultivating these divine arts required vast amounts of Xuan energy, but after ten thousand years, the heaven and earth had almost no existence of Xuan energy.

  The fundamental method of absorbing the essence, after being modified by generation after generation of brilliant Taoist masters, has become more and more efficient in absorbing the heavenly and earthly essences. It's not easy to extract even a tiny bit of the remaining essence from the exhausted heavens and earth.

  "The Linwan Xushi family, one of the three major families in Linwan City! The head of the household, Old Master Xu, has already reached the Xuanzong realm and is a first-rate master. This 'Xu Yang' that I occupy is actually the grandson of Old Master Xu, but it seems like he's not well-received within the family?"

  After all, it's a rebirth, and incomplete memories are normal. Why this grandson didn't receive the same preferential treatment as other children, Xu Yang couldn't understand, but it should have something to do with his parents.

  "The most important thing is the state of this body... it's really too bad."

  Xu Yang furrowed his brow, this body was only at the initial stage of Xuantu's cultivation, having just opened up the Star Sea not long ago, without any refining steps for the physique, and yet it already possessed two or three jins of strength.

  To know that the cultivation of Xuan Qi in later generations is not easy, the Xuan Shi people have higher and higher requirements for physical strength. Various methods for refining the body emerge one after another, only limited by the lack of Xuan Neng, Tian Cai Di Bao are also scarce, most methods are difficult to implement.

  At the beginning of Xuanxu, physical strength must have seven jin of power! The peak of Xuanxu requires reaching a full thirty jin of power to be considered excellent.

  Jūn is a unit of measurement on the Tian Xuan continent that represents 30 kilograms of physical strength.

  In other words, Xǔ Yáng's current body, with a strength of no more than 100 jin, is slightly inferior to some physically strong ordinary people.

  "But now, after all, it's been thousands of years, no refining the body... Those few arrogant and domineering loose cultivators are mostly in the later stages of Xuan Tu's cultivation, and their physical strength is only about 10 jin."

  Xu Yang pondered to himself, a million years later, he was alone and unencumbered, with nothing to worry about. Every day, he swept the courtyard of the dilapidated sect's library, a peaceful life. What he yearned for most in his heart was this golden age a million years ago! But he was confined by the lack of heavenly and earthly Xuan Neng, and could only sigh while holding countless divine techniques.

  During a routine sweeping, Xu Yang climbed up the high ladder to dust off the ancestral portrait. Accidentally, he fell and damaged the sacred image of the ancestor, but found a mysterious small tower that was neither gold nor jade inside. Just as he was terrified, the small tower emitted endless golden light, and afterwards, everything went black before his eyes, and he lost consciousness.

  After waking up again, Xu Yang found himself transported back in time to a thousand years ago, possessing the body of a young man who also happened to be named "Xu Yang".

  "Since heaven and man are willing, then I, Xu Yang, will make a vow not to disappoint this vast sky!" Xu Yang's spirit was stirred, "In this lifetime, I want to climb to the pinnacle of a Xuan Shi, become a legendary figure, hold the sun and moon in my arms, pluck the stars from the sky, and make a thunderous impact!"

  Xu Yang slowly closed his eyes and looked inward, discovering that this body still had many bruises and internal injuries, which were likely inflicted by those few loose cultivators.

  So-called scattered households are actually qualified Xian Shi, but the family's power is not strong and there are not enough resources to cultivate. These scattered households mostly come from small well-off families, with no worries about food and clothing, but supporting Xian Shi is a bit beyond their means.

  Supporting a Xian is like raising a giant beast that swallows gold! Buying cultivation techniques costs money, buying spiritual herbs and medicine costs money, buying handy weapons costs money, Xuan stones cost money, joining a Taoist sect costs money...

  That is, the children of ordinary families come to take the path of bitter practice, striving to lay the foundation for advancing to Xuan Shi. The children of wealthy families sit at home and have Dan medicine, food supplements, Xuan stone, and weapons. Advancing to Xuan Shi is countless times easier than the children of ordinary families taking the path of bitter practice!

  Thus, Xu Yang, this so-called big family son, was ostracized in this ascetic cultivation team and, coupled with his weak strength, he was bullied everywhere, beaten up as a matter of course.

  "Nowadays, Xu Yang is no longer the Xu Yang of the past. The hardships and sufferings he endured before, he wants to take revenge bit by bit!" Recently, Xu Yang's memories have been mostly fragmented painful scenes of being brutally beaten, making him grit his teeth in hatred.

  "What's this?" Xu Yang looked inwardly towards the Star Sea and suddenly saw an unusual situation, which shocked him greatly.

  Xīng Hǎi, located three inches below the navel of a Xuan Shi, also known as Inner Sea or Qi Hai, is the foundation of a Xuan practitioner. The Xinghai of an ordinary Xuan disciple is empty and void, with only a faint mist surrounding it. However, when one practices inner vision, they can clearly see a small tower that is neither gold nor jade, floating up and down in the Xinghai!

  "This is... the sacred image of our ancestors, that small tower stained with my fresh blood?" Xǔ Yáng's eyes flashed with inspiration, "Perhaps... I can come to this ten thousand years ago, it was all thanks to this small tower?"

  Xu Yang's attention was fully focused on the small tower, and at the very bottom of it, where the signboard should be, there seemed to be some blurry characters. Xu Yang couldn't see clearly, and when he wanted to take a closer look, he suddenly felt dizzy and was sucked into the small tower by an incredibly strong force!

  In the valley.

  "That useless young master, why hasn't he come back yet? Is he itching for a beating?" asked Lu Song, a sturdy and dark-skinned youth with furrowed brows.

  "Perhaps it was swallowed by a fierce beast, this area is already in the middle section of the Giant Python Mountain Range, and it's not surprising to encounter fierce beasts." Liu Zishan said with a chuckle as he continued to chat with him.

  "Du Ming! Go take a look, that kid hasn't come back yet, was he eaten by a beast or something?" Lu Song seemed to be ordering someone around.

  A young man named Du Ming reluctantly stood up, responded with a grunt, and walked out of the valley, muttering to himself as he went: "This lazy good-for-nothing, when I find him, I'll surely give him a good thrashing."

  "Be careful, don't kill him." Lu Song said with a smack of his lips.