C1 The One Who Was Born after the Calamity

The sun dipped low, painting the sky with a crimson hue reminiscent of blood.

On a desolate hillside just beyond Yunzhou City, a raucous band of black-feathered, red-eyed crows were poised to feast on the body of a recently deceased young man.

An old crow, its plumage in disarray, zeroed in on the corpse's eyes. But as it moved to peck, the corpse's eyelids quivered ever so slightly.

"Caw!" Startled, the old crow flapped its wings and leapt back. The other crows, taking heed, halted and fixed their gaze on the corpse's sudden stir.

A faint gurgle rose from the man's throat before he abruptly sat bolt upright, sending the crows into a panic. They scattered in a flurry of wings, settling in the branches of nearby trees.

"Hiss! What in the world is this place?" The man gasped for fresh air and scrambled to his feet, surveying the bleak mountainous landscape.

Noticing his attire, a long robe, he arched an eyebrow and reached to feel his face and hair bun. "Ancient garb? Have I been reborn into a different era, in another world?!"

"Is this my hundredth life?" he muttered, a hint of ire in his voice. Then, with a burst of defiance, he clenched his fists, thrust them skyward, and bellowed, "Curse you, heavens! Aren't you tired of this game? I refuse to surrender!"

The man had come back to life, yet he was no longer the same soul. He was Xue Chen, a Cultivator who had endured a millennium of arduous practice in another realm. His tale was one of relentless struggle and sorrow.

The Cultivation Realm was segmented into seven major stages: Qi Refining, Foundation, Golden Core, Nascent Infant, Void, Tribulation, and True Immortal.

Xue Chen, with his exceptional talent, had once sailed through his cultivation journey. His rapid progress was nothing short of miraculous.

In a mere two to three centuries, Xue Chen had soared from the Qi Refining Stage to the brink of the Tribulation Stage, a feat hailed as a marvel in the Cultivation Realm.

He had thought transcending to immortality would be within easy reach. Yet, that's when misfortune struck.

Over the next century, Xue Chen diligently honed his spirit, facing tribulation after tribulation. Ninety-nine attempts at transcendence, and ninety-nine failures.

Each failure shattered his body, and the tribulation lightning flung his soul across dimensions, rebirthing him into another with the same name and face, in a different world.

The randomness of his reborn cultivation level vexed Xue Chen. Sometimes he found himself at the Foundation Stage, other times at the Nascent Infant Stage, but never back at the Tribulation Stage where he started.

Yet, Xue Chen's resolve never wavered. In each life, he refused to concede, striving to reclaim his place at the Tribulation Stage. Alas, even after ninety-eight lifetimes, he could not evade the heavens' mockery.

In his ninety-ninth life, Xue Chen found himself in the body of a sixteen-year-old boy, his cultivation wiped clean, reduced to a mere mortal.

Overcome with despair, Xue Chen abandoned the path of cultivation. He resigned himself to a mundane existence, whiling away his days in internet cafes, gaming with friends, resigned to a life of obscurity.

In this life, Xue Chen possessed an extraordinary talent for gaming, and it wasn't long before he entertained the idea of going pro in the esports world. His parents, however, were convinced that Xue Chen was severely addicted to the internet and forcibly admitted him to a rehabilitation center for internet addiction.

Tragically, within a week of his arrival, Xue Chen was killed by a director named Yang using a lethal method of electrotherapy at the center.

As Xue Chen sat on the frigid electric chair, convulsing from the intense shocks until he lost control of his bladder, he had an epiphany. It seemed that, in every life, he was destined to die by electrocution, be it from tribulation lightning or therapeutic shocks.

The world was indifferent, treating all beings as mere straw dogs, and fate clenched its fist around the vulnerable Xue Chen, compelling him to pursue cultivation or face an even more pathetic demise.

After furiously cursing the heavens until he was parched, the reborn Xue Chen collapsed to the ground. Resigned, he let his soul merge with the new body and began to assimilate the life story of this incarnation.

"Great, I'm a 'matrilocal' son-in-law!" Xue Chen muttered after sitting in contemplation for as long as it took to steep a cup of tea. He had finally pieced together the life and destiny of his body's original owner.

This "Xue Chen" was a son-in-law of the affluent and influential Yin Mansion in Yunzhou City, a matrilocal husband, which was hardly a matter of pride in ancient times. It looked like Xue Chen was doomed to start from scratch as a downtrodden loser once again.

He found himself in a nation known as "Qi Country," which governed the vast Hua Guang Continent.

The Hua Guang Continent was divided into over ten provinces, with Yunzhou being just one of the smaller, less significant ones.

In this world, the pursuit of cultivation was revered. Each province boasted a minor sect dedicated to cultivation, all of which were under the jurisdiction of the Profound Mountain Foot Sect, located in the southern outskirts of the Imperial Capital.

As for whether there were other nations beyond Qi Country and the Hua Guang Continent, the knowledge of Xue Chen's current body was limited, leaving him in the dark.

Upon introspecting his own level of cultivation, Xue Chen felt a modicum of relief. At least in this life, he had attained the Golden Core Stage, saving him from being a complete invalid.

Given that he was now in the Cultivation Realm, Xue Chen resolved to keep a low profile. His Golden Core Stage cultivation was not particularly formidable, and encountering a higher-level adversary could result in a humiliating defeat. The old adage rang true: "Grow quietly, don't make waves."

Having sorted out the essentials, Xue Chen got to his feet to stretch, feeling a searing pain in his neck and throat. Only then did he recall the cause of his "death" in the desolate wilderness.

Xue Chen had been strangled by a young master named Soong Ziyang.

The Soong family was a prominent household in Yunzhou, with a lineage of practicing martial arts. Several ancestors had been inducted into Yunzhou's Cloud Deriving Sect, which had elevated the Soong family's status, allowing them to lord over Yunzhou City.

Soong Ziyang, the Soong family's young master, was known for his debauchery and arrogance. He had long coveted Yin Qionger, the daughter of the Yin family. He had sought to form a marital alliance with the Yin family, but Yin Yusheng, the head of the Yin family, refused to let his only daughter enter a proverbial lion's den. Additionally, he wanted her to continue the family legacy, so he concocted a story of a prearranged marriage to politely decline the Soong family's matrimonial proposal.

Soong Ziyang was naturally skeptical and, leveraging his prestigious family background, pressured Yin Yusheng into a corner. With no other option, Yusheng secretly found a destitute scholar whose horoscope matched his daughter's and arranged for him to marry into the Yin Mansion through a reverse dowry.

This impoverished scholar was none other than Xue Chen.

Despite this arrangement, Soong Ziyang's malicious intentions persisted. He couldn't shake off his obsession with Yin Qionger and despised Xue Chen for living off a woman.

As luck would have it, Xue Chen left to visit friends during the day, presenting Soong Ziyang with the perfect opportunity. He deceitfully lured the unsuspecting Xue Chen out of the city and into the desolate countryside, where he strangled him mercilessly.

In Soong Ziyang's mind, with Xue Chen gone, Yin Qionger would be a young widow, leaving her with no grounds to refuse his advances.

"That Soong scoundrel, he better watch out!" Xue Chen touched his neck and spat defiantly on the ground: "We'll reckon with this debt in due time!"