It was only after ten minutes that Yi Chen regained consciousness and pushed himself off the ground.
He had gained a huge amount of memory, and it was still in the process of being assimilated.
'Yi Chen? So that's my name now, huh?' Yi Chen thought to himself while pressing his aching forehead.
Wanting to clear his head and wash off the sweat and dirt clinging to him, Yi Chen decided to freshen up. It was only when he was going to the bathroom that he realised something. There was no bathroom!
A couple of seconds later, he walked out of the house with a bucket in his hand in a frustrated manner.
He had forgotten that he was in the cultivation world and there were no faucets or tap water here. He needed to rely on the well for that.
In the community toilet, Yi Chen took a dump. It was just a pit that was dug in the ground.
'Damn! This is scary,' Yi Chen thought as he balanced himself carefully into a suitable position. Any slight slip would result in him falling into a pool of shit.
The smell was horrendous, and so were the mosquitoes that kept biting his exposed butt. Yi Chen could only endure this torturous experience until his bowels were fully empty.
Later, he pulled two buckets of water out of the well and thoroughly cleaned himself. If not for that, he would have felt disgusted with himself throughout the day.
"Oye, Yi Chen! You're up early today, sleepyhead," a man in his early twenties greeted Yi Chen. He still had drowsiness in his eyes.
Seeing him, Yi Chen was lost in thought for a slight second before immediately replying with a smile on his face, "Good morning, Brother Hu."
"Haha! Today must be your lucky day…Huh? You cut down your hair?" Brother Hu noticed what was off with Yi Chen's appearance and looked at him with a questioning look.
However, Yi Chen didn't respond to his question. His attention was distracted by something visible on top of Brother Hu's head.
14
A translucent white number floated above his head.
'What the hell…' Before Yi Chen could continue with his thought, he heard the snapping sounds of fingers in front of his face and was brought back to the present.
"Hey?! You there? What are you zoning out for after taking a bath?" Brother Hu asked in confusion.
"Ah, my bad, I didn't have a good sleep last night, and about the question you asked earlier," Yi Chen explained the misunderstanding and continued, "Yes, I've made up my mind to wake up early every day from now on. I cut down my hair as a promise to myself not to go against my words." Yi Chen made up things on the spot.
"Silly boy, you could have done that without cutting your hair as well, it will take years until your hairs recover its past glory," Brother Hu sighed.
"Don't you think I look more handsome without long hair, though? Girls are sure to flock around me," Yi Chen joked.
"Handsome, my ass! All women long for men with long hair and a handsome face. At least before you had one of them, now I doubt you will ever get married, haha!" Brother Hu replied.
"I don't believe that," Yi Chen replied defiantly.
Brother Hu just shrugged his shoulders and replied with a "Time will tell" attitude as he walked towards the community toilet.
His pace looked a bit hurried, making it obvious that he had been holding it in for a while.
Yi Chen's eyes kept focusing on the number that was on top of Brother Hu's head. By now, he had realised that this was the ability the orb was talking about.
'Does the number signify one's strength?' Yi Chen thought as he made his way back to his small house.
When he looked at himself in the mirror again, the numbers were visible over his head as well.
9
"Well, since Brother Hu's much fitter than my frail self, the number does make sense," Yi Chen muttered and continued, "…but what the hell is with this ability?! Where's my goddamn system? A god gifted cultivation body? Or even a ring with an old man inside it?"
Yi Chen voiced out his frustrations, but in the end, he could only accept the reality. His ability was dog shit, and to survive and fulfil his goal, he had to rely solely on himself.
"Fuck!" Yi Chen kicked the bucket in frustration before busying himself with dressing up.
In this world, he was a mere commoner who worked as one of the sweepers in this small town. The town's name was Murut.
With a decent population size of three thousand citizens, it was a convenient place to live.
"But why isn't there anything about cultivators in my memory? Do they live a reclusive lifestyle?" Yi Chen thought to himself as he changed into a loosely cut-out shirt made of plant fibres before complementing it with a pair of pants similarly made.
An hour later.
Yi Chen, along with the other sweepers, made his way towards the centre of the town and started their cleaning activity.
The intense rays of the sun made them all covered in sweat as they took breaks from time to time to cool down in the shade.
By noon, they were finished with their work and, with the money they had earned, were eating their lunch at a cheap restaurant.
By now, Yi Chen had grown used to seeing numbers on top of people's heads. Most of the people had numbers in the range of eleven to fifteen.
Some who looked fitter even reached 16 or 17. Only young teens had single digits above their heads. Realising this, Yi Chen was quite disheartened. Having a weak physique in a martial arts world was similar to a curse.
'This body is so weak!' He exclaimed in his mind while munching his lunch in frustration.
Cough! Cough!
"Eat slowly or you'll choke to death," Brother Hu, who was sitting beside him, patted Yi Chen's back a few times.
"Y-yeah sorry," Wiping his saliva off his mouth, Yi Chen thanked him in an embarrassed manner.
After they finished eating, everyone started chatting with each other.
Among all the workers, Yi Chen was the youngest. Therefore, his action of shortening his hair attracted a lot of criticism from others.
"You looked way better before, kid." A man in his forties said.
"Haha! He's going to regret it." Someone in his thirties tagged along.
"You've postponed your marriage by a decade," Another one sighed.
Yi Chen grinned at their criticism. All these years, the original body owner had been treated like a family by these people.
In this period, there were no child labour laws. He had come to this town when he was just 10 years old. Since then, he's been working as a sweeper in this town for seven years.
He remembered nothing about his parents in this life. It seemed as if he was abandoned.
'Maybe the trauma was too much, and the previous owner forced himself to forget about these things?' Yi Chen came up with a theory in his mind.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
At that moment, the sound of a bell ringing echoed all around the town and attracted everyone's attention.
A while later, several men gathered outside the Town office.
A man with a slip of yellow paper in his hand patiently waited for the people to gather up. When he found the number adequate, he began reading from the sheet of paper.
"Master Ru, the town head, will be conducting a groom hunt for his eldest daughter, Miss Yu. All males of marriageable age must assemble outside the Great Blue Residence an hour after sunrise tomorrow. If one fails to attend, then he would be dealt with 100 lashings and imprisonment for 6 months."
Hearing the man's words, everyone's mood dulled before whispers began among the group.
"That demon is finally of age? I'm glad I'm already married!"
"I know, right? With an appearance like hers, what gives her the impression that a normal man could ever love her?"
"I pity the young man who would get selected."
"But to become the son-in-law of the Town Head sure is an enticing offer. Greed can make any sane person go crazy."
Several discussions started among the group of people, and after hearing them, Yi Chen's memory was also refreshed.
A face half burnt on one side, with the sides of the teeth visible beneath her cheekbone, entered his mind.
He immediately shook his head to forget that soul-shuddering sight.
'Damn...I have only pity for the man who would get selected,' Yi Chen thought to himself as he turned around.