Chapter 2: First Entry into a Foreign Land

  Wu Yeru felt dizzy and disoriented, as if he had transformed into a ray of light traveling through a winding and endless tunnel. He didn't know how long it took, but suddenly the white light in front of him flashed and everything became bright and clear.

  Struggling to open eyes, but eyelids seem extremely heavy, only faintly hearing intermittent sounds in ears.

  "This dead fatty..."

  "Hmph! Such a frail body..."

  "Just one stick..."

  Afterwards, Wu Yeyu finally fainted...

  I don't know how long it took, but I suddenly felt a clarity in my mind and opened my eyes. Just as I was about to sit up, a wave of cramping pain shot through my body, even with Wu Ye Yu's sturdy physique, it was a series of sharp gasps. My eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and all I could do was temporarily prop myself up. In front of me, everything was pitch black, indicating that it must be nighttime. Above, the branches and leaves of the trees were dense, and through the gaps between them, I could vaguely see the stars twinkling in the night sky, like diamonds scattered across the fabric of the universe, breathtakingly beautiful. It's been years since I've seen such a sight.

  Feeling his bloated body, he couldn't help but feel a wave of dizziness. What the hell happened to him? Did that little scoundrel from the village put something in his food and then beat him up? No way, there were worthless dogs around, and weren't they afraid of him settling accounts after autumn?

  "Whoa..." Suddenly, his head was spinning dizzily, as if a lot of things had been forcibly stuffed into it. He only felt that everything in front of him went black again, and he fainted...

  Wu Ye Yu had a very long and realistic dream, in which he witnessed the miserable childhood of a timid little fatty named Wu Ye Yu, who was born out of wedlock to a servant girl and the family's patriarch after a night of drinking. The family, although small, still held strong views on family lineage, and the little fatty's identity was not recognized, nor did his father seem to have any intention of acknowledging him. This predetermined the little fatty's awkwardness and tragedy, as he was often beaten and scolded by his relatives, and even some of the family slaves would occasionally look at him with cold eyes and speak ill of him. It seemed that anyone could bully him, and the little fatty's weak personality and poor communication skills made his life even more miserable.

  However, Wu Yeyu felt that he was much luckier than himself. At least he knew who his parents were, and even before the age of 5, he was doted on by his mother. This was also something for Xiaopang to be grateful for. Unfortunately, later on, because his mother fell seriously ill, his cheap father and other family members seemed uninterested in finding a doctor to treat her illness, and she passed away after struggling for three months. After that, Xiaopang was left without support or reliance, barely scraping by within the family for another three years, with insufficient clothing and food every day. Strangely enough, Xiaopang's weight didn't decrease at all, but instead showed an upward trend, and it had to be said that he was a rare freak.

  One day, several younger brothers from the family came to look for Xiao Pang again, and Xiao Pang accidentally stained a young boy's clothes. As a result, he was beaten unconscious again. Wu Ye Yu shook his head as he watched from the side, thinking that this little fatty had reached such a state, it was already a miracle that he could survive.

  At dawn, Wu Ye Yu woke up from his coma. The dew here was very heavy, and the clothes on his body were already soaked through, sticking to his skin uncomfortably tight. He felt his body slightly and moved a bit, still hurting all over, but he could barely move now. Forcing himself to endure the pain, he sat up, using Wu Ye's breathing technique to try to recover some of his strength.

  Three short and one long, five long and one short, concentrate your mind and calm your spirit...

  Half a time period had passed, and unexpectedly, Wu Ye's qigong practice was extremely effective. He had actually produced a hint of internal energy, although it was very little, but it did exist. This was almost an unthinkable thing, as he thought to himself that he had been practicing for over ten years, and every time he practiced qigong, his gains were not small, but they were all just nourishing his body, making his qi and blood flourish. He never thought that this time he would actually be able to condense his energy. Could it be that he had suddenly become enlightened overnight? Previously, Old Wu's head seemed to have practiced for half a lifetime without achieving anything.

  After recuperating, the pain on his body was no longer so painful. Wu Yeru suddenly stood up and felt that his whole body was sticky like a layer of lard. He frowned and walked towards a small stream not far away from him, without taking off his clothes, he jumped in.

  With a few swift strokes, he quickly washed off the sweat and dirt on his body. As he took off his clothes to rinse them, he suddenly realized that something was off about the garments in his hands - they were a set of long robes, black but faded to a whitish color from washing, and the undergarments didn't belong to him either. Wu Ye Yu felt like something wasn't quite right, and as he looked down at the water's surface, he saw his own reflection staring back at him - but it was the chubby face of his childhood self that he hadn't seen in years. He reached up to touch his cheeks, feeling the soft, rounded flesh, and Wu Ye Yu felt a wave of dizziness wash over him as he slowly sat down into the water.

  It wasn't until after a while that he came back to his senses, muttering to himself: "Damn it, did I really transmigrate? And it's even soul transmigration..." His mind went blank for a moment.

  After a while, Wu Yeru stripped naked and got ashore, hanging the clothes in his hand on a tree branch, then sat under the tree, recalling the dream of last night. Hmm, maybe it shouldn't be called a dream, but rather the memory of this body.

  The place where I am is a place called the Mountain and Sea Continent, with an unknown area of thousands of square kilometers. The continent has many ethnic groups living together, while humans are only located in the southeast corner of the continent, occupying a not-so-small piece of land by the sea. It's small because it only occupies a tiny corner of the Mountain and Sea Continent, maybe just one percent. But if you say it's big, then it's really big, because this less-than-one-hundredth-of-the-continent piece of land is already ten or more times larger than the total area of the Earth's landmass. And yet, in such a vast place, there are only fewer than 10 billion humans living here, which seems quite wasteful compared to where I lived in my previous life...

  But having such a large territory is of course fought for, although the human race is born with a physique that can't compare to other races, and is even known as a weak race on the Mountain and Sea Continent. However, this is only an innate factor. After countless ancestors of the human race shed blood and sweat, and practiced without regard for life or death, they finally created many cultivation methods. With these cultivation methods, the quality of the human race continuously improved, their strength continuously advanced, and the outstanding strongmen who cultivated later were already able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the strongest dragon and phoenix races on the continent. And this powerful strength also gained recognition. Under the leadership of the human strongmen, they forcibly drove out other races from within a hundred million miles of the human territory, and in the Million Clan Alliance Treaty, they drew their own territory, providing a place for the human race to cultivate and live.

  As he recalled this, Wu Ye Yu let out a series of sighs, shaking his head back and forth. It turned out that he had actually crossed over into the legendary world of high martial arts. Hmm, it should be considered a low-level plane in the world of high martial arts, or perhaps a higher-level plane in the world of middle martial arts. According to Chen Da's worldview, if one couldn't step into the starry sky to explore the universe, or shatter stars with their fists, then this shouldn't be considered too high of a level...

  Although it is so, the strong power of the human race on the mainland can also move mountains and fill seas, cut off mountains and separate ridges. Although I don't know if I can step on the stars, flying in the air is still possible.

  The human profession is also diverse, with a sense of "a hundred flowers blooming". There are swordsmen, spiritualists, assassins, followers, yuan masters, alchemists, blacksmiths, demon tamers, engineers and many more. Each profession has its own strengths and weaknesses, and because of the differences in human professions and abilities, different occupations have formed their own gatherings and dispersals. As a result, humans themselves have also divided into different spheres of influence and territories, with some developing into nations and others existing as alliances, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, interdependent on one another, somewhat reminiscent of the Spring and Autumn period's "Hundred Schools of Thought" era.

  On the basis of these countries and spheres of influence, it is said that there is also an alliance composed of many strong men in the human race, specifically what to call it is unknown, only knowing that these people are all the strong men who led the human race to fight for their territory at the beginning, above each country, specializing in unified war and defense against foreign enemies, a bit like the Council of Elders.

  Within the human race, various forces and nations also do not prohibit strife and war, because a group of elders believe that only through grinding and struggling can new strong people emerge, and these strong people are the foundation for the human race to stand on the mainland.

  Among different professions, although they excel in different areas, there are also specialized levels of strength, such as swordsmen who respect the sword, regardless of whether it is a broadsword, great sword, shortsword, longsword, etc., all practicing swords are collectively referred to as swordsmen. The boundaries are divided into: Sword Disciple, Sword Practitioner, Sword Soldier, Sword General, Sword Master, Sword Marshal, Sword King, Sword Emperor, Sword Saint, and Sword God, with ten levels of realm, and beyond that is unknown.

  Similarly, the realm of the spiritual practitioner is divided into ten realms: Spiritual Disciple, Spiritual Practitioner, Spiritual Warrior, Spiritual General, Spiritual Master, Spiritual Commander, Spiritual King, Spiritual Emperor, Spiritual Saint, and Spiritual Deity. The main source of power comes from mastering spells and natural spiritual energy. Some people specialize in earth, some in flames; depending on the attribute of the controlled spiritual energy, there are many different systems within. Of course, there are also those who do not distinguish between purity and impurity, practicing dual or triple cultivation, which is also a common sight.

  However, as power continues to increase, it will eventually become incredibly strong. Different paths lead to the same destination. The saying "those who ask about the Tao have a before and after" means that those who attain it become teachers, and this is the principle.

  Thinking of this, Wu Ye Yu couldn't help but feel delighted, heh heh, unexpectedly bringing me to a world of strong warriors like this. Hmm, it's both an opportunity and a challenge, at least I don't have to be as lonely as snow in the village anymore~

  You want to ask Wu Ye Yu's predecessor as a cowardly and timid little fatty who never left the house, how did he know these things.

  Hehe, actually these things were all learned from Xiao Pangzi's mother. His mother wasn't an ordinary person to begin with. If one really got down to it, the most prestigious identity in this small rural family was actually Xiao Pangzi's mom, named Dantai Mingyu. Originally, she was a direct descendant of the famous Dantai clan in her own country, and nationwide, there was only this one surname, no other branches.

  This country is called the Daxia Empire, located at the easternmost edge of human power, standing by the sea. It is one of the five major powers in the human world, with the other four empires being the Nature Empire, the Kansai Empire, the Shanhe Empire, and the War God Alliance, which are mutually dependent on each other. The surrounding small countries also depend on the five major powers.

  The reason why Dantai Mingyu ended up in the situation of being a servant to others is, after all, due to political struggles. The Dantai family unfortunately took the wrong side during the change of emperors. A prince they originally supported was secretly murdered by another prince who had eaten leopard gall, which enraged the emperor and severely suppressed both princes' powers. As a result, the Dantai family also became the "killed chicken to scare the monkey" due to their inadequate protection, with all members being exiled or banished, men being sent to heavy labor, women being reduced to servitude, and scattered throughout the empire. Dantai Mingyu happened to be exiled to this rural area and was chosen by the steward of a small family to become a servant in their household.

  Of course, these things were unknown to the people in the small family, and it was only quietly told to Xiao Pangzi by Dan Tai Mingyu. At the same time, she left him with the family's traditional martial arts manual, "Xuanxu True Classic". However, before her death, she told Xiao Pangzi that she hoped he could live a peaceful and ordinary life, not getting entangled in too many disputes. In short, she did not want Xiao Pangzi to practice martial arts, hoping that he could live without contention with the world, even if it meant being bullied a little. And Xiao Pangzi, due to his cowardice and self-abasement since childhood, strictly followed his mother's last words...

  "Idiot..." Wu Yeyu rolled her eyes.