chapter one, Sorrowful mornings.

If you could choose the way you die, the way your life fades from the world, what would you choose? Would you die peacefully in bed, surrounded by the friends and family you made in life, or would you die surrounded by the dead bodies of everyone you hated? As the sun sets, dragging every man you held hatred in your heart into hell.

Personally, Zhen would prefer not to die at all. Alas, a crazy, sword-wielding man reminded him that fate isn't fair. And he wouldn't enjoy dying with his bowels on the floor.

"Fucking bastard," Zhen muttered as he felt his blood and organs trying to slip from his wound. Zhen then looked up and saw the man who just gutted him.

The man is tall with black hair and a scar down his left eye. He walks towards Zhen and pats his head softly, almost in a mocking form of pity. "Sorry you had to go out like this. But unfortunately, the boss needs the shipment. So, I have to steal it. Relax a bit, and I can guarantee my next strike will be painless."

Zhen had to forcefully relax since his body's energy was draining by the second, and he couldn't keep up his Qi circulation. It's always a strange thing: when Zhen takes major damage, he can unintentionally focus Qi into his inner body, which allows him to heal faster. But given that Zhen had just been disemboweled, he may not have time to heal.

"Relax, man. At least you die to a handsome man," one of the others says as Zhen chuckles a bit. Since it's true, the guy who stabbed him has well-done hair, red eyes, and a pretty good build. He has a nice face and a well-built body. However, given that Zhen is bleeding out on the floor, he probably shouldn't be agreeing. So, he just says his last words.

"You're…with the Sorim sect Extremists, aren't you?" He says, causing my killer to stop and nod.

"Yeah. They said they had enough of the wine guild exporting vices to their territory and paid us to deal with you all. Sorry about that," he says.

Zhen chuckled and said, "Oh, relax. I…hated this group. And I really hope that when I reincarnate, I get to stab you back." Zhen coughs up blood afterward as his vision darkens.

As Zhen's eyes begin to close, he sees a weird blue tile appear in front of him and says

{Would you like a second chance?}

{"Y/N?}

Honestly, Zhen was shocked, confused, and worried…so he decided to just say "..Yeah, I'd like a second chance" softly under his breath before his lights faded as he then heard 

{Understood, calculating…Welcome to the system, Zhen Moyue}

Now, if you were in his shoes and saw you had a fucking last name this whole time, you'd be shocked. For Zhen's beginning years of life, no one told him if he had a last name and simply called him Zhen. When Zhen asked if he had a last name, everyone got nervous about it and didn't speak about it, so he dropped it. 

Before Zhen can question that he felt…life return to his body as he saw his wounds heal, and Zhen got up shocked that he was healed at all. So Zhen, on instinct, went to go grab the tag on the shipment he was taking to the nearby province, ripped it up, and immediately a loud sound is heard as the attackers turned and the one who gutted him yelled, 

"WHAT- How are you alive? I gutted you! Your organs were on the ground!?" He said pointing his sword at Zhen as he grabbed his shortstaff and entered a defensive stance and said back,

"I don't know how I'm alive, but I'm gonna make sure you don't destroy the shipment." Zhen entered a martial artist basic stance and held his shortstaff in front of him in a defensive stance. 

But he then saw another 2 tiles appear and saw the guys' name and Zhen's name. 

 {Long Wu}

{Attack power: 4000}

{Defensive power: 3000}

{Health: 6000}

{Qi: 2000}

{Zhen Moyue}

{Attack power : 500}

{Defensive power: 200- damaged armor}

{Health: 2000}

{Qi: 1000}

Now Zhen couldn't brag about his intelligence since he was about as smart as the average person…but even he knew the bigger the number, the worse it is, so Zhen knows this guy was stronger and had more qi…plus there's all his associates who have similar stats but only have names like Sorim-hired Bandit number 1.

But before Zhen could get sent back to the gates of the afterlife…thank heavens, the reinforcements arrived. 

Led by one of his good friends, Lian Wei, who Zhen saw the title of…Okay, wow, this guy's a lot stronger than me. His attack, defense, qi, and health were all just about equal to Long Wu, while Zhen barely met the surface of power.

Plus, Lian…Well, he was very attractive, like really attractive. He had everything Zhen desired his own body to have: muscles, a face that looked hot with minor stubble…shredded arms…uhh…where was Zhen ? Oh, right, yeah, Lian and his reinforcements were coming to rescue him! So yeah, Lian fought them off to the point Long and his bandits had to retreat. As he walked towards Zhen and said, 

"Zhen? You're good, shit…you're covered in blood…Should've given you a full qi education before we sent you back out on another run."

Qi edu- oh right, Zhen was gonna start learning about the principles of Qi! Dammit, he forgot about that…cause he got gutted. And that makes it hard to remember stuff, because your brain focuses on your body bleeding out. 

Anyway, With Lian thankfully coming to Zhen's rescue, he helps him up and asks him, "Zhen, what happened?" As Zhen noticed, Lian isn't noticing the system, which he thinks means Lian can't see it…don't know if that's good…but Zhen did have to speak, so he says, 

"The group and I were delivering the Qi pills to the city, and then the bandits attacked us." He said, standing up and popping his bones as Zhen stretched. Zhen said, "I don't know how I survived, but I am happy I did, because I like living." Lian chuckles a bit as he says, 

"You got a weird sense of humor, Zhen. Anyway, let's get this to the city. I'll give you your qi lesson as we go." 

Zhen nodded, appreciating Lian's kindness, as we headed off to the city of Gongmen. See, him and Lian work for the same company, the Shaoxing wine guild. The surface it sounds like is your regular wine distribution company, but we also distribute qi pills and elixirs to the different sects. Oh right Zhen has to explain that, while Zhen doesn't know much about Qi at the moment there's 2 different types of schools that teach Qi for those who go down a orthodox path it's best to join one of the sects, where they teach the true school that uses something called Pure Qi which basically….look zhen has no clue about this he'll give a better explanation when Lian explains it but he does know Cults, not religious cults…mostly. Martial cults teach demon qi martial arts in the demonic school which same with the true school and pure Qi 

Now, zhen doesn't know much about Qi right now, so he'll have to wait for Lian to explain it with his deep voice. 

Then before Zhen could even stand up quickly…the tile appears again and the world around him seems to slow to a crawl as a Tile appears in front of him as it says 

{Would you like a rundown on Qi?}

As zhen thinks about it for a moment and decide to wait before clicking 

{yes}

As the thing seems to take in his answer and think for a sec before beginning to show Words