Chapter 1 Langlang Village

Great Zhou, County of Skyfire.

Langlang Village.

During the autumn harvest season, the sunshine was brilliant and the blue sky stretched endlessly, another rare day of bountiful harvest.

In September, the southern wind hastened the ripening of wheat, and the rice fields for miles around were fragrant with blossoms.

Bees danced at the tips of wheat ears, seemingly expressing joy for the harvest, as farmers swung their sickles through the golden wheat, sweating profusely. Although it was a busy and good day, there was no joy visible on the farmers' faces.

"I'm dead tired, I can't possibly farm on this landlord's land for a lifetime, can I?"

In the fields, a tall and sturdy young man, eight feet high with distinct facial features and a robust build, stood bare-chested. His skin was a healthy wheat color.

Years of labor had built his muscles strong, his palms cracked and calloused, yet they could not hide his robust, manly demeanor.

He wiped the sweat beads off his forehead with a troubled face, looking up at the searing sun through the cracks between his calloused fingers, his vision filled with reflections.

It was as if the sun was glowing and heating up inside his mind.

"In my previous life, 996, working to death, working until the company went bankrupt, and now after time-traveling, I still have to farm for the landlord, am I destined to be a worker?"

Han Ye stopped his labor, sighed, and his tone was extremely helpless.

Yes, he had time-traveled.

After a car accident, he arrived in this world, becoming this Han Ye who shared his name.

He'd been here for a few months and after some inquiries, all he knew was that the place was governed by the Great Zhou dynasty.

Basically, it was a dynasty that had never appeared in history.

His plan to act as a foresighted advisor to the emperor, aspiring to be the national teacher, was dashed.

Initially, he thought he could turn his fate around, enjoying the thrill of being a time-traveler, but soon realized that the original body had been sold to a landlord's house, becoming a tenant farmer, bound for twenty years?

On the surface he was a tenant farmer, but in reality, wasn't he just a slave?

Twenty years meant he would have to stay in this godforsaken place until his forties or fifties, farming until old age, a life of exhaustion and wasted years.

He was only twenty years old now!

Thinking about it made it unacceptable to him.

This world was too boring, without cell phones, nice-speaking online friends, Coca-Cola, or air conditioning.

Time passed extremely slowly, from sunup to sundown, devoid of any entertainment, making his days felt like years.

For the first time in his life, he realized how long a single day could be?

On his downtime, other than listening to village ladies gossip about lewd jokes from the next village, there seemed to be nothing interesting.

So, he kept thinking about ways to escape.

"Da Niu, keep a lookout for me, let me know if the overseer comes, I'm going to take a leak."

Han Ye shouted toward the wheat fields ahead.

"Alright!"

A simple and honest man in the fields responded with a smile.

Han Ye moved to a crude dry toilet nearby, planning to slack off.

Because he felt like he was sweating profusely and getting dizzy.

Every day at the mansion, he ate thin gruel and coarse wheat black, the backbreaking work under the blazing sun barefoot.

He had only been here a few months, who could endure such days ahead?

"I must find a chance to run away, this is no life for a human."

Han Ye washed the sweat off his face with the turbid water from a sandy basin, feeling somewhat relieved.

Under the shade, he looked up once again at the scorching sun overhead.

Suddenly.

The scorching sun seemed to transform into a tangible beam of light, shooting directly into his mind.

Han Ye's pupils contracted, his mind went blank, and before he could react, he passed out.

When he woke up again, his ears were buzzing.

Groggily, he opened his eyes and immediately recalled the recent scene, sitting up abruptly.

"That couldn't have been an illusion, right?"

Had he really seen the manifestation of the Sun God?

Suddenly, Han Ye rubbed his eyes and noticed a line of text mysteriously appearing in front of him.

"Accumulation (Awakened): Ice not a day's cold; water not a day's drilling. With this destiny, one can collect others' attributes, continually accumulating and elevating, silent but deadly, astoundingly emerged."

"Destiny?"

Upon seeing this, Han Ye suddenly understood.

Having read so many novels in his previous life, he was clear about this concept.

It is often said that each person has their own destiny, predetermined by the heavens. Some are born with the destiny of kings and nobles who, despite adversity, will eventually become emperors and monarchs, while others are meant only to labor in fields all their lives, impoverished and downtrodden, even if wealthy, cannot maintain it over three generations.

It meant each person's destiny varied, and his was one of "Accumulation."

What concerned him the most was.

Collecting others' attributes.

How to collect them?

Could it be a random drop?

With this thought, he returned to the fields.

Only to discover that the wheat under his charge had all been harvested.

Was someone helping him work?

Who was so kind.

Filled with surprise, Han Ye looked up to see a burly man walking towards him, wiping his sweaty face with a white towel, grinning broadly.

"Han Brother, you're finally back. I saw you weren't returning and was afraid you'd get scolded by the overseer, so I took the initiative to harvest the wheat for you. Don't be mad at me for taking your job."

Hearing this, Han Ye felt somewhat sentimental.

Even touched.

In his previous life, he'd seen all the warmth and chill of human relationships, the harshness of the world, yet here in the village, a simple farmer proved to be more reliable than those so-called friends, relatives, and colleagues.

This man, named Wang Da Niu, was a well-known strongman in Langlang Village, simple and honest by nature, always full of indomitable strength, and particularly hardworking.

Han Ye smiled gently and shook his head, "How could I blame you? I should thank you. I don't need my wages today, you can have them, mainly because I was really tired just now and rested for a while on the side."

"No need, no need, earning some money isn't easy for anyone. I just did it as I went along."

Wang Da Niu waved his hand and chuckled.

"Da Niu, have you ever thought about leaving Langlang Village and going to a broader place?"

Han Ye asked, casually and deliberately.

Wang Da Niu touched the back of his head and gave an awkward laugh, "My family, generation after generation, has been farming, occasionally fishing and hunting. We're used to this life. Away from this place, I wouldn't know what to do."

Hearing these simple and unadorned words, Han Ye felt a moment of haze in his mind.

Yes, perhaps that's what their lives were like in ancient times.

It was just because he had experienced the colorful world of his previous life, that he couldn't suppress his loneliness and felt that such a life wasn't suitable for him.

Now that he had acquired the "Accumulation" Destiny, perhaps this was the beginning of a turnaround.

"Da Niu, a person still needs to have dreams."

Han Ye said with a smile, "Just think, marrying a pretty wife, having a chubby son, and basking in the sun at home every day wouldn't that be nice?"

When the topic of wives came up, Wang Da Niu's eyes instantly brightened, "Brother Han, you're right, a wife still needs to be married. After all, you've been educated and seen more of the world, different from me. I can't think too far on matters like ideals."

Seeing the effect of his words, Han Ye smiled with satisfaction.

He often told stories to the children in the village during his idle moments, so Wang Da Niu knew he could read and write.

"Da Niu! Come help move some grain, fill up a cart."

Not far away, seven or eight farmers were loading wheatears onto several horse carts, one of them called out to Wang Da Niu.

"Coming!"

Wang Da Niu cheerfully responded and quickly stepped forward.

With a lift of his leg, he shoveled up a sack full of wheatears, caught it with both hands, and effortlessly hoisted it onto his shoulder.

Then came the second sack, the third sack, the fourth sack...

"Hey ho!"

Until Wang Da Niu had eight sacks of wheatears on his shoulders.

While everyone else carried two sacks on their shoulders and the stronger ones perhaps three, he alone shouldered a total of eight sacks!

"Da Niu, how many more can you carry?"

A nearby farmer half-jokingly asked.

Wang Da Niu stabilized his breathing, completely undeterred and said,

"Bring it on!"

"Okay!"

After adding two sacks to each shoulder, totaling four more, Wang Da Niu's face turned red, but he continued to walk as usual.

When he reached the horse cart, he furrowed his brows, flung down the twelve sacks of wheatears and smoothly positioned them on top of the other sacks.

"Whoosh!"

At that moment, a faintly gleaming green orb dropped from Wang Da Niu's body.

Han Ye, watching from a distance, couldn't believe his eyes and rubbed them, fearing he had seen wrongly.

Making sure no one around him could see it, he slowly approached the orb.

In an instant—

The "Accumulation" Destiny in his mind emitted golden streams of light, and the green orb on the ground was suddenly sucked up by a storm into his mind.

Simultaneously, a line of text appeared.

"Pick up attribute: Strength of an Ox +1"

"Accept?"

Seeing this, Han Ye's eyes lit up.

Could this be the proper way to use "Accumulation"?

It appeared that the green orb was the attribute Wang Da Niu had dropped.

Strength of an Ox.

After absorbing it, could he become as strong as Wang Da Niu?

Han Ye thought for a moment and decisively chose to absorb.

As the green orb was absorbed by the golden light.

At the same time, a panel appeared.

"Name": Han Ye

"Cultivation": Mortal

"Destiny": Accumulation

"Owned Attributes": Strength of an Ox (green)

"Strength of an Ox (1/100): Extremely strong, possessing the strength of an ox, never tiring."

"Strength of an Ox?"

Han Ye was thrilled.

"Is young brother Han Ye also here to help?"

A farmer carrying a sack turned his head and saw Han Ye standing there, smiling and asking.

"Uh... Yes!"

Han Ye nodded and also lifted four or five sacks, loading them onto the horse cart.

He suddenly looked at his palms, noticing his strength had significantly increased.

One sack weighed a hundred pounds, five sacks five hundred pounds.

He could now lift them easily with one hand.

At that moment, he noticed several more green orbs falling near Wang Da Niu's feet.

"Pick up attribute: Strength of an Ox +1"

"Pick up attribute: Strength of an Ox +2"

...