Awakening

At eight o'clock in the evening, as night descended, an alley between several buildings lay shrouded in shadow, beyond the reach of a dim street lamp. A figure could be faintly seen lying on the ground.

"Ugh… hiss…" The figure trembled suddenly, inhaling sharply in pain.

"What…?" Slowly, the figure on the ground propped itself up against the wall, trying to stand. The dim light left his face obscured, but his eyes gleamed sharply in the darkness.

"Is this… rebirth? Where am I?" The figure moved slowly, stepping into the faint yellow glow of the streetlight. It revealed a young man, seventeen or eighteen years old, dressed in black sportswear. Dust and blood stains covered his upper body, leaving him looking disheveled and battered.

Supporting himself with one hand against the wall, he staggered toward the street. His eyes caught sight of a sign that read, "Extreme Martial Arts Hall—Martial Arts Limit." The words made him stop in his tracks.

Suddenly, a searing pain surged through his head, forcing him to crouch down, clutching it with both hands. His body shook violently, veins bulging on his arms, showing the intensity of the pain.

"My name is still Xia Zhi… and this is still Earth?" After what felt like an eternity of agony, memories began flooding his mind—memories of a life he hadn't lived but belonged to the body he now inhabited.

It turned out that this was still Earth, but the original owner of this body, also named Xia Zhi, was a senior student at the local Extreme Martial Arts Hall. He was eighteen years old, with physical fitness nearing the threshold of a quasi-martial artist. He had been preparing for the upcoming martial assessment.

Everything had been going well until Li Wei, another senior, started targeting him. Li Wei had always resented Xia Zhi due to their contrasting backgrounds. While Xia Zhi had been raised by his grandfather, a poor man who collected scrap for a living, Li Wei came from a wealthy family. The fact that Xia Zhi was considered his equal in talent filled Li Wei with hostility.

Li Wei had passed the martial assessment at the beginning of the year, and Xia Zhi had been preparing to take it mid-year. However, unwilling to see someone from a lower station rival him, Li Wei and his gang ambushed Xia Zhi that night, brutally beating him to ensure he wouldn't be able to participate in the exam.

During the fight, Xia Zhi's mental and emotional limits were pushed too far. The overwhelming stress triggered his latent psychic powers, awakening him as a spiritualist. But the strain of the awakening, combined with his severe injuries, proved too much for his body to handle. His consciousness dissipated, and the body was left to be taken over by the soul of someone else—him.

As Xia Zhi processed the flood of memories, anger surged through him. He recalled the vicious taunts—"Trash," "How dare a lowly insect compare himself to me," "You and your deadbeat grandpa belong in the gutter."

The insults rang in his ears.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure he knows who the real trash is." Xia Zhi muttered, speaking to himself as well as to the lost soul of the body's original owner.

Exhausted from the physical pain and the mental toll of awakening to new powers, Xia Zhi slumped against the wall, closing his eyes to focus.

Boom!

His consciousness trembled violently, and he found himself in a mysterious space.

This place seemed endless, filled with thick mist. In the fog, two dark golden spheres floated, one large, slowly rotating like a star, and a smaller one orbiting it like a planet. Both spheres exuded mist, continuously filling the space.

"This is… the Sea of Consciousness? And there are two solid spheres here?"

"What is this? God, is this real?"

Deep within the Sea of Consciousness, Xia Zhi spotted a pagoda standing tall, shrouded in mist. It was a sight he recognized immediately—the very thing that had brought him here.

In his previous life, he had grown up on Earth, but from a young age, he had been plagued by mysterious headaches. Countless hospital visits yielded no answers, and he had discovered that strengthening his body lessened the pain.

As a result, he began training relentlessly, practicing both external and internal martial arts. One day, during a visit to Wudang Mountain, he stumbled upon an ancient scroll with the words "Tai Shang" on the cover. When he opened it, he saw a depiction of a nine-story pagoda and an ancient bronze bell.

The moment he laid eyes on it, an indescribable feeling overcame him. It was as though he had glimpsed the world's very essence, causing his thoughts to freeze and his consciousness to fade. When he woke again, he found himself here.

Now, staring at the pagoda within his Sea of Consciousness, its nine stories barely visible through the mist, Xia Zhi tried to bring his will closer, but an invisible force kept him at bay.

Just then, the pagoda trembled, and a golden light shot from its top, piercing through the fog and into him.

Boom!

A torrent of information surged into his mind.

"Tai Shang Body Refining Technique!"

Images of figures in different postures and streams of text flashed before his eyes. The sheer volume of information overwhelmed him, and it took a long while for him to recover.

Once the flow of information ceased, he instinctively sat cross-legged, five points of his body aligned with the sky. Immersing himself in the practice described in the Tai Shang Body Refining Technique, his mind gradually entered a state of deep meditation.

"Hiss… three broken ribs, and internal bleeding." As he examined his injuries, Xia Zhi realized just how badly damaged his body was.

Just then, a cool energy began flowing into him through the Baihui acupoint on his head and the soles of his feet. His cells, starved of vitality, greedily absorbed the energy, triggering profound changes throughout his body. The broken ribs began mending, and even his genetic structure seemed to shift subtly, enhancing his healing speed and vitality.

Time passed in silence.

As the minutes ticked by, Xia Zhi's body underwent a remarkable transformation. His bones, muscles, and even the cells deep within his body evolved, the very essence of life itself optimizing. This wasn't merely recovery—it was the next stage of human evolution.

When his body could absorb no more, Xia Zhi finally opened his eyes and exhaled slowly. Standing up, he moved his limbs and realized that his previously broken ribs were now fully healed. The bruises covering his body had faded, leaving only faint marks.

"It's good enough now. Even if Grandpa sees me, I can come up with an excuse to explain this," Xia Zhi muttered to himself, recalling the life of the original owner. Since childhood, the two had relied on each other, and Xia Zhi, who had inherited these memories, didn't want to worry the old man.

"I should head home before Grandpa gets too worried," he decided, and with a deep breath, he set off toward the residence etched in his mind.

Meanwhile, in a luxurious KTV, a group of young people was lounging around, drinking and laughing. A man with narrow, triangular eyes lifted his glass and sneered, "Wei Shao, you're too soft. That little brat should've been dealt with permanently."

Li Wei, a young man with yellow-dyed hair and a sullen face, glanced at him with irritation. Despite his handsome features, the perpetual scowl twisted his expression. "He's still a senior student at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall. Injuring him enough to keep him out of the exam is one thing—killing him would attract too much trouble."

Another youth chimed in, his voice smooth as he tried to ease the tension. "Besides, once you pass the martial artist exam this year, the gap between you and that kid will grow so wide, you can crush him whenever you like."

"Hmph," Li Wei grumbled, his face darkening. "I can't stand the thought of a worthless orphan even daring to dream of standing on the same level as me."

With that, the room filled with laughter, but Li Wei's expression remained icy.

Elsewhere, Xia Zhi marched forward, determination in every step, his mind already set on the next challenge.