The young man, or at least, what remained of him, floated something pulled at him.
He existed in a space between spaces. His consciousness drifted like a leaf on a stream, carried by currents he could not see. There was no sense of time here. Seconds could have been hours.
A force, powerful and unrelenting. He felt it dragging him down, forcing him into a new vessel.
It started as a gentle tug. But it rapidly intensified, becoming more insistent, until it felt like being sucked into a whirlpool. The force was irresistible, dragging him down and down.
His very being was compressed, reshaped, bound to something... someone else.
It was deeply uncomfortable, like forcing yourself into clothes several sizes too small. He could feel himself being squeezed, molded, fitted into a space not quite the right shape. There was resistance. But the force was too strong. Slowly, painfully, he was compressed until finally he fit.
Then, pain.
Real pain. Physical pain. The first sensation since floating in the void. It was shocking in its intensity. Every nerve in his new body screamed in protest.
A flood of memories not his own crashed into him.
They came all at once. A lifetime of experiences compressed into a single instant. The High Heaven Pavilion. Loving parents who painfully send their son to the sect. The excitement of being accepted. The crushing disappointment of mediocre talent. The slow descent from hopeful student to Trial disciple. The years of suffering. The countless beatings. The despair. The endless struggle.
It was like living another life in an instant.
Yang Kai's life, compressed and transmitted directly into his consciousness. He experienced it all, felt it all, understood it all. For one disorienting moment, he was not sure which memories were his. The two lives blurred together, overlapping until he could not distinguish where one ended and the other began.
The name surfaced in his mind like a ghost from the past.
Yang Kai.
That was his name now. Not the name from that other world, that other life. That person was gone, left behind in the void. He was Yang Kai now. The memories, the body, the identity, all of it was his. He was Yang Kai, Trial disciple of High Heaven Pavilion, Tempered Body third stage, seventeen years old.
And with that name, young man, now Yang Kai, opened his eyes.
A sharp breath tore through his lungs. Yang Kai's body shuddered as he jerked awake, gasping for air.
His chest heaved as he dragged oxygen into lungs that felt like they had not breathed in hours. The air burned going down, too cold, too sharp, too real. Everything was overwhelming. The texture of dirt beneath his palms. The distant voices. The ache in his muscles. The emptiness in his stomach.
His fingers clawed at the dirt beneath him, his chest rising and falling erratically.
He needed to ground himself, to confirm this was real. The dirt under his fingernails felt real. The rough texture felt real. The pain radiating through every inch felt brutally, undeniably real.
Pain. So much pain. His muscles screamed. His bones ached. Every inch of his body felt broken, bruised, and battered.
This body had been pushed far beyond its limits. Malnourished, overworked, beaten regularly. The accumulated damage was staggering. He could feel old injuries that had never properly healed. Bones that had been fractured and set incorrectly. Muscles torn and scarred from repeated trauma.
For a moment, he was disoriented. This was not his world.
Where was he? What had happened? The memories swirled, two lifetimes competing for dominance. The void. The old man. The golden wheel. The promise of immortality. And before that, the warehouse job. The studio apartment. The endless monotony.
Then the memories settled.
The High Heaven Pavilion. The brutal hierarchy. The constant beatings. The Trial disciple, his status.
It all clicked into place. He understood now. He had died. But he had been given a new body. A new chance. The old man had granted his wish. He had been reincarnated as a cultivation world protagonist.
He was Yang Kai now.
A roar of laughter shook the air.
Yang Kai's eyes lifted to see the crowd of disciples mocking him. The fight had not even started, yet he had already collapsed.
"Oi, Yang Kai you giving up already?" Zhou Ding Jun's voice rang out.
More laughter erupted. Some disciples were already turning away, disappointed that the entertainment had ended before it began. Yang Kai lying unconscious in the dirt was not as fun as watching him get beaten.
Yang Kai exhaled slowly. Something was different.
The original Yang Kai had lived in despair, in suffering. He had endured the beatings, accepted his fate, clung to impossible hope. But he had been passive. Reactive. Waiting for something to change instead of forcing change himself.
That Yang Kai was gone now.
Time continued to pass by, suddenly the melodious Tower bells sounded. It reached the ears of all the disciples surrounding Yang Kai and himself, startling the disciples. The bells tolled nine times, and from the east the sun rose. It was a new day! Everyone's breathing calmed down, helplessly looking at Yang Kai as he slowly got up. He glanced at the people encircling him.
The bells marked the official start of the day. Morning classes would begin soon. Elders would be moving through the sect grounds. The window for casual bullying had closed. Disciples needed to return to their duties or face punishment.
Yang Kai pushed himself to his feet. His legs shook, threatening to collapse again. His vision swam. But he forced himself upright through sheer willpower. He would not lie in the dirt any longer.
In the courtyard, the others had already dispersed, leaving only Yang Kai and the burly teenager looking at each other.
The crowd had melted away, disappointed at the lack of violence but unwilling to miss morning cultivation. Only Zhou Ding Jun remained, his expression torn between frustration and obligation. He had won the right to challenge Yang Kai. The broom had chosen him. But with the bells rung, he had to follow proper protocol.
"Experimental disciple Yang Kai Tempered Body third stage!" Yang Kai introduced to his opponent.
His voice was hoarse from lack of water. But he spoke clearly, following the formal challenge ritual. In High Heaven Pavilion, even brutality had rules. Challenges required proper introduction and acknowledgment.
"Ordinary disciple Zhou Ding Jun, Tempered Body fifth stage!" The burly teenager introduced.
Zhou Ding Jun straightened, his earlier casual arrogance replaced by formal bearing. This was official now. A sanctioned challenge that would be recorded in the sect's records. His victory would earn him Contribution Points. Yang Kai's defeat would cost him points he could not afford to lose.
High Heaven disciples were also ranked. From bottom to top are the ordinary disciples, lower base disciples, elite disciples, and core disciple; the five ranks. Zhou Ding Jun said that he was an ordinary disciple, that means he has yet to pay his respects and does not have a mentor. If the breakthrough of the Tempered Body disciple had a mentor, then their status would be higher than those ordinary lower base disciples. And those elite disciple were selected from the best lower base disciples.
The hierarchy was clear and rigid. Ordinary disciples like Zhou Ding Jun had broken through Tempered Body but lacked formal teachers. Lower base disciples had sworn allegiance to specific elders and received personal instruction. Elite disciples were chosen from the best of lower base disciples, granted access to superior resources and techniques.
As for the core disciples, they were treated as the hope of the next generation of the High Heaven Pavilion and thus cultivated accordingly.
Core disciples were the sect's future. They received the best of everything. Training from the most powerful elders. Access to secret techniques and rare cultivation resources. Protection from challenges by weaker disciples. They were untouchable, groomed to become the next generation of elders who would lead the sect.
The awe inspiring disciple hierarchy, though it seems unreasonable it can stimulate the younger generation into the fierce sense of competition, which is the foundation of the brutal Tower regime. This is the main reason why Yang Kai fought countless people, another rule of High Heaven, the Challenge Rule.
The system was designed to breed competition. To force disciples to fight, struggle, and claw their way upward. Weakness was not tolerated. Stagnation was punished. You either advanced or you were crushed beneath the feet of those who did.
Yang Kai had been crushed one hundred and forty seven times. One hundred and forty seven challenges. One hundred and forty seven defeats. One hundred and forty seven beatings that left him broken and bleeding in the dirt.
But that was the old Yang Kai.
The new Yang Kai, standing in the morning light with memories of two lifetimes and the gift of immortality, was done being a victim.