Chapter 1: Yun Che, Xiao Che

Yun Zhe’s consciousness gradually awoke.

What’s happening… could it be that I haven’t died yet? I clearly fell from the Absolute Cloud Cliff—how could I still be alive? And yet there’s no pain… not even any discomfort? What is this?

Yun Zhe blinked open his eyes, quickly sat up, and noticed he was lying on a soft large bed. Above the bed hung a big red Manchester United jersey, casting a festive glow.

“Ah! Xiao Zhe! You… you’re awake!”

A joyful girl’s voice came from his ear, and suddenly a girl’s shy smile appeared in his line of sight.

She looked to be around fifteen or sixteen, dressed in a green flowing gown, her complexion delicate and fair, her lips plump and rosy, her small, elegant nose, and her eyes deep and surprised, clear as a spring’s reflection. Her entire face was gentle and beautiful, radiant with charm. Such beauty at such a young age—what a sight it would be when she grew older!

Looking at this girl so close to him, Yun Zhe briefly staggered, and the three characters that slipped out were: “Young mistress?”

The girl lifted her pale, delicate arm, her cool hand pressed to Yun Zhe’s forehead, her expression easing. “The body temperature has returned to normal, thank goodness. I was about to die of fright. Xiao Zhe, do you feel any discomfort anywhere?”

Meeting her deep, concerned gaze, Yun Zhe nodded listlessly… his mind was completely adrift.

“You rest first. I’ll go tell your grandfather right away. Today is your lucky day—you fainted, and he nearly went mad. He just went to fetch Master Si Tu himself.”

The girl, in her haste, didn’t notice the oddity in Yun Zhe’s expression. She pressed his shoulder and laid him back on the bed, then hurried away.

The door closed, and Yun Zhe sat up again, wrapping his hands around his head.

This place was the eastern town of Cloud Cloud City in the Azure Cloud Empire, one of the seven nations of the Tian Xuan Continent. And he was Xiao Zhe, the only grandson of the fifth-generation elder of the Xiao family, Xiao Zhe! He had just turned sixteen.

That was his identity now.

His memories of the past twenty years on the Cang Cloud Continent suddenly overlapped with his current ones, making him stagger.

I am Xiao Zhe… what about those memories from the Cang Cloud Continent?

Did I die there and reincarnate into this body?

No! He had to be Xiao Zhe! Everything in this room was familiar—from childhood onward, all memories were clear, all experiences his own. They couldn’t have been stolen from someone else!

Could it be that everything on the Cang Cloud Continent was just a dream? Had he woken up from the dream after falling from the Absolute Cloud Cliff?

But the memories of the Cang Cloud Continent were just as vivid… those twenty-four years of grudges and vendettas—how could they be a dream?

What in the world was going on?

Yun Zhe… he was now Xiao Zhe. After a moment of confusion, his eyes gradually steadied, and his thoughts slowly clarified.

It was early morning, the sky not yet bright. Today was the day of his wedding to Summer Qingyue. Half an hour before, he’d been awakened by the girl, changed into a bright red wedding robe, eaten a bowl of porridge she’d made, then felt weak… and then nothing.

Until now, he’d been unconscious.

At that moment, a strange taste reached his lips. Xiao Zhe slightly parted his lips, and his face paled.

It was… the poison “Shi Xin Dan”!

For the years on the Cang Cloud Continent, Yun Zhe, bearing the Heavenly Poison Pearl, knew all poisons in the world by touch. No poison could harm him. The Shi Xin Dan was made from the soul-harvesting herb and purple-leaf hibiscus, dissolving in water without color or scent, entering the body to drain life force within seconds, killing instantly, leaving no trace of poisoning on the corpse. Xiao Zhe’s eyes darkened, and he suddenly understood.

He hadn’t been in a coma—he’d been poisoned with Shi Xin Dan in the porridge, then died! After death, he’d been reincarnated, died again on the Cang Cloud Continent, and somehow reincarnated back into this body!

It sounded like a fantasy, but it was the only explanation Xiao Zhe could think of.

Wait… if that were true, his current body had no poison resistance. Yet he’d touched his lips moments ago, and now he was unharmed.

A faint strange sensation came from his left palm. Xiao Zhe lifted his hand and saw a green circular mark on his palm.

The shape, color, size—all identical to the Heavenly Poison Pearl!

Before falling from the Absolute Cloud Cliff, in his desperate state, he’d swallowed the Heavenly Poison Pearl whole, unaware of the consequences. Now, this mark on his hand seemed to have crossed over with him!

“The Heavenly Poison Pearl…” he muttered, staring at the mark.

As he whispered the name, the green mark on his palm glowed with a jade-green light. His vision blurred, a light dizziness overwhelmed him, and he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the world around him had turned a strange green.

This green expanse stretched endlessly, no horizon in sight, filled with the faint aura unique to the Heavenly Poison Pearl. Xiao Zhe stood still for a long moment before realizing his spirit had entered the inner world of the Heavenly Poison Pearl!

Inside the pearl was such a vast realm! More incredible still, his reckless swallowing of the pearl had allowed it to cross over with him, becoming part of his body!

Since he could enter, he could exit.

Xiao Zhe closed his eyes, willed it, and the green world dissolved rapidly. When he opened his eyes, he was back in the familiar room.

Looking at the faint green mark on his palm, Xiao Zhe smiled slowly… though he didn’t know why such a miracle had occurred, he’d been given a second chance at life, retaining memories from two lifetimes. Perhaps the heavens, displeased with his tragic fate in both lives, granted him this rebirth!

Yun Zhe had faced countless top cultivators from the Cang Cloud Continent, though he ultimately perished, yet he’d caused chaos across the realm—what a legend! But his current body was ordinary… downright pathetic.

On the Tian Xuan Continent, cultivation power was supreme. Xiao Zhe, born into the Xiao family and grandson of the strongest of the five great elders, Xiao Lie, was already sixteen. Yet his cultivation remained at the initial stage of the Nascent Soul realm. He’d begun cultivating at seven and a half, entered the initial stage at eight, and for eight years, his power hadn’t advanced a single step. Within the Xiao family, he’d been the subject of ridicule. Later, Xiao Lie brought in the first physician of Cloud Cloud City, Si Tu Yan, to examine him. The diagnosis struck like lightning: Xiao Zhe was born with a severe bloodline defect, nearly impossible to heal. In such a state, no matter how hard he tried, he’d remain at the initial stage forever.

Even if he died trying, he’d never progress beyond the initial stage. Such a life on the Tian Xuan Continent would be the lowest of the low, a laughingstock within the Xiao family. If not for his grandfather, Xiao Lie, the strongest in the Xiao family and Cloud Cloud City, no one would’ve given him a second glance.

The Xiao family, one of the three great cultivation clans of Cloud Cloud City, had countless talents among its youth. Xiao Zhe was, in all likelihood, a nonentity. If he died tomorrow, no one would care. Yet today, someone had poisoned him with Shi Xin Dan, a silent, priceless poison. The reason was clear to Xiao Zhe now.

Because today was his wedding day to Summer Qingyue.

Summer Qingyue was his age, also sixteen. Yet her cultivation had reached the tenth stage of the initial Nascent Soul realm, on the verge of breaking through to the core formation stage. The first person in a hundred years to reach such a level at sixteen, she was unmatched among Cloud City’s youth. Some whispered that if she continued advancing at this pace, decades from now she might become the first person in Summer family history to enter the Earth Nascent stage… even possibly reaching the Celestial Nascent stage, a feat no one in Cloud City’s history had dared dream of!

More crucially, she wasn’t just gifted—she was also the most beautiful woman in Cloud City, universally recognized as the most stunning. Countless young talents with wealth and status had fallen for her. If the Summer family held a wedding, the guests would stretch from the northern gate to the southern gate of Cloud City.

Such a celestial jewel, a once-in-a-lifetime beauty, was to marry Xiao Zhe, the most useless heir of the Xiao family, with no future prospects. Cloud City’s people kicked their legs in frustration, their hearts seething… a proud lotus flower planted in the mud of a laughingstock!

Those who adored Summer Qingyue naturally resented Xiao Zhe, their hearts filled with envy. It made sense that someone would try to kill him.

“Red beauty brings disaster,” Xiao Zhe muttered to himself as he rose from the bed. Yet thinking of Summer Qingyue’s breathtaking beauty, he smiled. “Still, marrying such a wife is a good start.”

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Here is the cultivation level system of this novel, from lowest to highest: [Initial Nascent Soul → Core Formation → Foundation Establishment → Golden Core → Nascent Soul → Celestial Core → Divine Core → Martial Spirit → Martial Peak → Martial Immortal → ?]. Each level has ten stages.

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