Blood-red moonlight spilled through the Azure Cloud Sect like spilled wine, painting everything the color of bad omens. Three figures sat around a jade table in the Moonlit Pavilion, and if Lin Feng had been paying attention to anything other than his own excitement, he might have noticed how wrong everything felt.
The osmanthus wine smelled too sweet. Wei Chen's smile looked carved from stone. And Mei Ling… Mei Ling wouldn't quite meet his eyes.
"To our friendship," Wei Chen raised his cup, and his voice carried just a little too much weight. "And to your Core Formation breakthrough tomorrow."
Lin Feng's chest swelled with pride. Twenty years of grinding through cultivation levels, and finally, finally, his Thunder-Wood Dual Spirit Root had stabilized. One in ten thousand cultivators possessed anything half as rare. Tomorrow's ceremony would make him an inner disciple, and with Mei Ling at his side…
"Brother Wei, you don't need to make such a fuss." Lin Feng clinked his cup against his childhood friend's. "Once I'm promoted, I'll pull you up with me. That's what brothers do, right?"
Mei Ling's fingers trembled slightly around her cup. "Feng-ge… you've worked so hard for this."
Something flickered across her face. Guilt? Regret? But it was gone so fast Lin Feng convinced himself he'd imagined it.
The wine went down smooth.
Lin Feng was halfway through savoring the taste when fire erupted in his gut. Not spiritual energy, poison. His meridians seized up like someone had tied knots in them, and the cup tumbled from nerveless fingers to shatter against stone.
"Wei… Chen…" The words came out thick and slurred. "What did you—"
"What I should have done years ago." Wei Chen's mask fell away, leaving behind something cold and calculating. "Did you really think you deserved a spirit root like that? You, with your pathetic work ethic and your naiveness?"
The pavilion tilted sideways. Or maybe Lin Feng was falling. Hard to tell when your entire nervous system was shutting down.
"Feng-ge…" Mei Ling's voice sounded like she was crying. "I'm sorry. I really am. But Wei Chen has connections. A future. You have… you had potential, but potential doesn't guarantee anything."
Lin Feng tried to speak, to move, to do anything except lie there like a gutted fish. But the poison, Bone-Melting Crimson, he realized with the part of his mind that was still working, had already done its job.
"Don't look so betrayed," Wei Chen crouched beside him, conversational as discussing the weather. "This poison is actually quite nice. It'll dissolve your meridians while leaving your spirit root intact for transplantation. I've paid good money for this opportunity."
Twenty years of friendship. Five years engaged to Mei Ling. All of it had been building toward this moment.
"Why?" Lin Feng managed to whisper.
"Because you're weak." Wei Chen's voice carried the kind of certainty that comes from years of planning. "You think hard work and kindness matter in cultivation? They don't. Only power matters. And now yours becomes mine."
Mei Ling had turned away completely. "I did love you," she said to the night air. " I… I loved you, Lin Feng. I did. But… I don't know. Love wasn't enough."
Darkness crept in from the edges of Lin Feng's vision. But underneath the poison and the betrayal, something else was building. Not the hot rage of youth, something colder. Something permanent.
With the last breath in his failing lungs, Lin Feng raised one trembling hand toward that bloody moon and spoke words that seemed to come from somewhere deeper than his own soul:
"Heaven… if there's any justice left in this universe… let me return… let me show them what real power looks like…"
The wind caught his curse and carried it across the sect grounds as everything went black.
One Thousand Years Later
Consciousness returned like a badly tuned instrument, discordant, painful, wrong in all the subtle ways that mattered.
Lin Feng's first thought was that his body felt different. Smaller. Weaker. His second was that he wasn't supposed to be having thoughts at all.
The memories hit him in fragments. Not his memories, someone else's. A sixteen-year-old orphan, also named Lin Feng, who'd spent his life getting beaten down by anyone stronger than him. Crippled meridians. Shattered spirit root. The kind of failure that made people use words like "trash" and mean them.
The original owner of this body had died yesterday. Beaten to death by the local young masters for the crime of existing in their general vicinity.
Reincarnation, Lin Feng thought wonderingly. Actual reincarnation.
[DING! Heaven-Piercing Evolution System initializing…]
[Host compatibility check… 99.9% match confirmed]
[Welcome to your second chance, Host!]
A translucent blue interface materialized in front of his eyes, all cheerful fonts and optimistic colors that clashed violently with his current situation.
"What the hell," Lin Feng croaked. His new voice sounded young and unused.
[Host! I'm your friendly neighborhood Heaven-Piercing Evolution System. Think of me as your personal trainer for transcending mortality. I'm here to help you evolve from zero to hero, trash to supreme overlord, cosmic joke to universal threat!]
The system's voice had a distinctly sarcastic edge that made Lin Feng's eye twitch.
[I've reviewed your past life's tragic backstory—yikes, that Wei Chen really knew how to hold a grudge, didn't he? But don't worry! With my help, you'll be face-slapping young masters and collecting jade beauties in no time!]
"Face-slapping? Collecting beauties?" Lin Feng sat up straighter. "What system are you exactly?"
[The best kind! Now let's get you started with your welcome package, shall we?]
DING! Beginner's Gift Package activated!
You have received:
Nine-Star Battle Physique (Awakening stage)
Dragon-Slaying Heavenly Sutra (Forbidden-class cultivation method)
1,000 System Points
Newbie Protection: 7 days
Power flooded through Lin Feng's broken body like molten gold. His shattered meridians rebuilt themselves, stronger and more refined than they'd ever been in his first life. Weak muscles filled out. Dull eyes began to burn with inner fire.
For the first time in either lifetime, Lin Feng felt genuinely alive.
[Feeling better? Excellent! Now, let's discuss your first mission. Hope you're ready for some classic protagonist action!]
[MISSION: "Humble the Arrogant Fool"]
Objective: Defeat Chen Long, the local bully, in front of witnesses
Reward: 500 System Points, Basic Alchemy Kit]
[Failure: Public humiliation and temporary system lockout
Time limit: 2 hours]
"Two hours?" Lin Feng stared at the interface. "I literally just got this body!"
Chen Long is probably in the town square right now, bragging about yesterday's beating. Perfect setup for a comeback arc, don't you think?
Through his shack's tiny window, Lin Feng could hear distant laughter and boasting voices. His hands clenched into fists as two lifetimes of memories merged, betrayal and humiliation, death and rebirth.
[Oh, and Host? Try not to accidentally obliterate the entire town. You have a tendency toward overkill when you're emotional.]
"How could you possibly know that?"
[Lucky guess! Now stop stalling and go show them what happens when trash evolves!]
Lin Feng stood, testing his new body's strength. The Dragon-Slaying Heavenly Sutra pulsed through his meridians like liquid lightning, and something cold and satisfied settled in his chest.
'Wei Chen, wherever you are in this new timeline, Lin Feng thought as he headed for the door, you taught me that power is everything. Time to put that lesson into practice.'
[DING! Villain smile detected! Awesome factor +100!]
"System?"
[Yes, Host?]
"This is going to be fun."
[That's the spirit! Now go make some young masters regret their life choices!]