Chapter 3

Timothy continued to scan Leo's memories so he could get a firm grasp of the entire situation surrounding this youth that he was now in the body of. At first he pinched himself and realized that it was possible that once Leo drank the poison, at the exact moment of his death, Timothy's soul entered in and saved the body itself. Therefore, Timothy's new name for now at least had to be Leo and he would have to do everything that he could to regain what he had lost thanks to the Demon King.

As he was scanning the memories left behind by Leo, Timothy learned that both Leo's parents were considered rather strong and if they were able to reach the age of forty, they would both have the qualifications to work towards becoming elders of the sect since they had both reached the third rank in their cultivation levels. It was clear that due to them having such potential and training others to breakthrough their own bottlenecks which in turn made the Iron Will Sect's foundation much stronger over the years, that the Grand Elder and the small group of elders chose to reward their service by giving them a pension which would allow them to live comfortably.

As Timothy was learning of these things, Leo's past became even more clear since when he was six years old, he asked his mother why everyone told him that his father was in a better place and that his mother was considered to be sick and that he needed to take care of her properly and stay strong.

Hearing these words from a child, his mother had no choice but to explain to him what exactly occurred all of those years ago, roughly three months before Leo was born. The Grand Elder asked the two to deliver a letter to one of the nearby villages concerning a potential future relationship between the two since the other village was not only somewhat weaker and lacking in resources, but was closer to one of the bandit camps that would attack both of them.

His parents accepted the mission since the road towards the other village was always empty with no enemies around no matter how many times a day some patrols would check. The letter was delivered, but on the way back his parents were ambushed by some mysterious enemies who were covered in clothes and masks that did not match anyone else in the area.

The assumption was that they were just unlucky because the mysterious experts looked to have been surprised themselves and caught off guard. Since the two parties spotted each other nearly right outside of the village's walls, even the Grand Elder assumed that the mysterious experts were possibly doing a scouting mission or were going to ambush the Iron Will Sect's high ranking members individually and their plans had to immediately change since they were spotted by Leo's parents.

The two parties fought with their lives on the line but Leo's parents were clearly outnumbered. His father played a defensive role, taking most of the attacks in order to protect Leo's mother who was pregnant and was not in a position to take any heavy hits while Leo's mother tried using some of her mid and long range techniques to buy them time to figure out a plan on how to alert the nearby village guards.

After only two minutes, Leo's father was filled with bloody wounds and was still standing simply using willpower alone and thanks to this being seen by everyone, one of the mysterious experts was finally able to land a heavy blow on his mother's stomach causing her to spit out a mouthful of blood and fall down onto the ground. With no other choices left, Leo's father apparently used a forbidden technique to allow his body to explode in order to not only cause a big enough noise to alert those nearby to send reinforcements, but to also push the mysterious experts back or at the very least to take one down with him.

All went according to plan because two of the six experts ended up heavily injured while supported by two others while within ten seconds, a horn could be heard nearby signaling that reinforcements would arrive within moments and this caused the four mysterious experts to withdraw in order to protect their own as well as their comrades' lives.

The aftermath of this event was clear, his mother ended up surviving and Leo was able to be born but due to the heavy blow taken in the battle, the veins in Leo's body which would be able to build battle qi or to take in nature energy were damaged. His mother was still extremely grateful that Leo was still able to be born and able to live his life up until this point since the veins only affected cultivators and not mortals who did not cultivate.

It could be assumed that if his parents did not both serve as protectors of the sect, Leo and his mother would not have been given such good treatment even though Leo was still bullied by many on a daily basis. This was also why the two remained within the village of the Iron Will Sect because they were still considered the strongest village in the area which meant although taking harsh words from others, it was easier to sleep soundly at night knowing that they would have the highest chance to survive an attack.

Timothy, having learned about the predicament he was now in, immediately curses the Demon King for tricking. Sure, it was possible for someone to reach immortality in this world, but did the Demon King after taking everything away from him really need to go overboard by placing him in a cripple's body too?

After a few minutes go by and feeling his own heart quench since Leo's memories were now also his own, Timothy decides that the only thing he could do, is to live the life that Leo was meant to live not just because he had no other choice, but because he was now a former mortal hero that according to his own calculations, his peak could be roughly around the same level of strength as what Leo's father was at his peak so not all hope was lost!