C1 A Thousand Years ago

In Jiang Province, Linhai City, a week of rainy weather persisted, casting a gloomy pall over the region. Thunder rumbled incessantly above Linhai University, its roars like those of a wild beast, setting hearts racing with each peal.

"Boom!" Thunderclaps echoed once more.

At the back of the classroom for Polymer Science Class One in the Materials Department, a figure who had been sleeping abruptly lifted his head.

"Hey, Ye Luo, you're awake before the bell? That's not like you," the surprised Fatty sitting next to him remarked.

With a swift motion, Ye Luo reached out to grab something, but his hand closed on empty air.

What was happening? Where was his sword?

Something was off.

Hold on, where did the assailants go?

Ye Luo's gaze swept the room, and he was struck dumb by the sight. A middle-aged woman with glasses was scribbling on the blackboard with chalk, while a group of boys and girls in school uniforms scribbled away, heads tilted in concentration...

Classroom. Teacher. Classmates.

All at once, it hit him like a bolt from the blue, sending shivers through his body. He spun around and seized the Fatty's shoulder.

Fatty felt the intensity of Ye Luo's stare, as if prey under the watch of a predator, and instinctively wanted to shrink away.

"What year is it? What's the date? Where are we?" Ye Luo's voice quivered with urgency.

"Ye, Ye Luo, are you okay? You didn't knock yourself silly in your sleep, did you?" Fatty winced under Ye Luo's iron grip.

"Tell me, now!"

"Alright, alright! It's May 10th, 2020. We're at Linhai University, in our classroom, man!" Fatty looked at Ye Luo as if he were insane.

"2020, Linhai City, in a classroom?" Ye Luo's eyes darted around once more. The bespectacled middle-aged woman on the podium had turned to face the class, her lecture punctuated with emphatic gestures.

A storm of realization crashed over Ye Luo.

This was a millennium ago!

He was back at the school he once attended!

He had been reborn, a thousand years in the past, to his days as a student.

With a forceful slap to his own face, Ye Luo confirmed the reality.

Pain. A sharp, piercing pain.

Ye Luo couldn't help but laugh with wild abandon.

Moments before, in the Heavenly Great World, Ye Luo was on the cusp of ascending to the Sovereign realm when he was ambushed by the nine Heavenly Emperors. His crime? Being the youngest, most gifted, and most merciless Martial Cultivator in the realm's history.

The others feared him. They feared the unstoppable force he would become once he attained the Sovereign realm.

Thus, the nine Heavenly Emperors, with legions of experts at their command, encircled Ye Luo. The ensuing battle raged for seven days and nights, leaving billions of Martial Cultivators dead by Ye Luo's hand.

But ultimately, Ye Luo was left drained, his Vital Energy depleted. To his horror, he discovered an insidious poison coursing through his veins, preventing any hope of recovery from his wounds.

Facing certain death, Ye Luo made the ultimate sacrifice. He detonated his Dantian, taking one of the Heavenly Emperors with him in a final act of defiance.

He expected oblivion, a return to nothingness.

Yet, against all odds, Ye Luo was reborn, a thousand years in the past, with a chance to start anew!

"Hahahaha!" Ye Luo's laughter echoed, his heart swelling with unbridled joy. "Bet you didn't see that coming! I, Ye Luo, am not dead after all. Demon Monarch, Sword Monarch, Soul Emperor... just wait. I'll rip you to shreds, one by one. Hahaha..."

His deskmate, the portly Hsu Danian, looked on in bewilderment, convinced Ye Luo had lost his mind.

"Dude, Ye Luo, are you okay? We're in the middle of a class here. Don't get too cocky. Professor Yang doesn't mess around, you know. You keep this up, aren't you scared she'll end you?" Hsu Danian cautioned.

Ye Luo's laughter subsided as he took in his friend's words.

He probed the void where his Dantian once thrived; it was indeed empty, his once boundless Vital Energy now a mere memory.

But no matter. The transcendent techniques and unparalleled opportunities he had known were etched in his mind. With these recollections, his path of cultivation in this life promised to be exponentially swifter and smoother.

Believing in himself, he knew it wouldn't be long before he reclaimed his peak form. Then, he would reclaim all that was his and exact vengeance on those who deserved it.

"Hold on, Fatty, did you say today is May 10th, 2020?" Ye Luo's heart, which had been racing with excitement, suddenly clenched with tension.

Because he remembered something significant: on this very day, this year, his most beloved girlfriend, Ann Xin, met a tragic end.

Ye Luo could never erase the memory of that day. He stood outside the most opulent private room in Linhai City, watching in horror as Ann Xin, the woman he cherished, collapsed. Her blood soaked her pale yellow dress, her expression eternally marked by regret.

It was the bleakest day of Ye Luo's life, the day that irrevocably altered his destiny. Even after a millennium, the clarity of that memory hadn't faded.

"What's the time now?" Ye Luo asked Hsu Danian, his voice urgent.

Hsu Danian, feeling a shiver run down his spine from Ye Luo's intense gaze, pointed shakily at the clock beside the blackboard. "It's four... four forty. Class is almost over."

With a swift motion, Ye Luo rose to his feet, disregarding the stunned looks from everyone in the classroom, and strode toward the exit.

The room was in shock. This was Professor Yang's class—the notorious 'devil'—and Ye Luo's earlier brazen laughter had already provoked the professor's ire. Before the professor could even react, Ye Luo was boldly making his way out, right under his nose. The man must have lost his mind.

He could kiss his graduation goodbye.

"What do you think you're doing? Get back here!" the middle-aged woman on the podium barked.

Yet against her furious shouts, Ye Luo remained impervious, not even glancing back as he dashed out of the classroom.

"Damn, what a legend! Fearless, daring, and relentless," Hsu Danian murmured, watching Ye Luo's retreating figure with a mix of awe and disbelief.

Ye Luo vividly recalled that in his past life, the forensic report stated that Ann Xin's incident at the club occurred around six in the evening. It was now four forty. With just over an hour to spare, if he hurried now, he might just make it in time to save her.

Nothing mattered more to Ye Luo than Ann Xin. The memory of her dying with unseeing eyes haunted him, twisting his heart as if it were being shredded by a knife.

"Since fate has granted me a second chance, Ann Xin, in this life, I vow you won't suffer a single scratch. And those who dare try to harm you? I'll ensure they rue the day they were born." With a determined clench of his fist, Ye Luo charged toward the entrance of Linhai University.

"Hey, isn't that Ye Luo, the Material Academy's very own reject? What's the rush? Trying to get a head start on your next life?"

Approaching the staircase, Ye Luo found his way barred by a pack of sneering faces.

He looked up to confront the smug visage of Zhu Jian, the school's notorious tyrant. With his father as a school board member, Zhu Jian terrorized students with impunity, his misdeeds going unpunished.

Most students, after suffering Zhu Jian's torment, would bite their tongues and keep quiet—who would dare cross the director's son and risk their place at the university? In his past life, Ye Luo, an orphan with middling grades but a girlfriend as stunning as Ann Xin, had been a frequent target of Zhu Jian's cruelty and jealousy. Zhu Jian had not only bullied Ye Luo but also repeatedly harassed Ann Xin.

These memories were etched in Ye Luo's mind, but now was not the time for settling old scores. He was desperate to save Ann Xin.

"Don't test me. Move aside!" Ye Luo shot Zhu Jian a frosty glare and commanded with icy resolve.