Liang Kingdom, Ganzhou.
The New Year had just passed, and a major event happened in the Martial World of Ganzhou.
Inside Nanyang City, Ganzhou, Grandmaster Zhao suddenly announced his retirement, handing over the entire family to his eldest grandson, Zhao Mingcheng.
As this news spread like wildfire, a rumor also began to circulate in secret. It was said that although Grandmaster Zhao was an Innate Grandmaster, he was born a tenant farmer and, in his eager pursuit of progress, had been overly hasty, damaging his foundations to the point where his lifespan was no more than eighty years, and now his time had come.
Therefore, Grandmaster Zhao's so-called retirement was actually because he had already passed away.
The Zhao family naturally denied and debunked this rumor with all their might, but no matter how much the outsiders discussed, Grandmaster Zhao never showed his face.
From this, it was evident that the rumor was not necessarily false, and the Zhao family's repeated denials were clearly quite laughable.
...
Name: Zhao Sheng
Life Span: 79/79
Constitution: Strong Bones (Mediocre)
Talent: Dynamic Vision (Mortal Level)
Skill: Floating Light Sword Skill (Refined), Wind Chasing Arrow Technique (Divine Transformation), Emerald Tide Technique (Great Success), Cloud Dragon Three Changes (Refined)
"Second life has ended, calculating results...
"Calculation complete, final rating: C+."
"Rating Reward: Choose one to inherit from Constitution, Skill, or Talent. Please make your selection?"
Hmm, choose to inherit the Talent "Dynamic Vision."
Talent has been inherited.
"Congratulations on achieving two life accomplishments: one, Innate Grandmaster; two, Blessed with Many Sons (10/10)"
"Achievement Reward: You have earned two random rewards. You may draw from Constitution, Skill, or Talent, or opt to upgrade Talent level. Please choose?"
Choose Constitution, and draw twice in succession.
"Drawing... Congratulations on winning the Mortal Level Constitution 'Longevity Body'. Congratulations on winning the Mortal Level Constitution 'Light as a Feather'."
...
Inside Zhao Mansion's inner residence,
In a bedroom, Zhao Sheng suddenly sat up from his bed, various pieces of information flashing through his mind, leaving his expression melancholic as he slowly exhaled.
Compared to his first life, the final evaluation of his second life had improved. Not only was it two levels higher than the "C Lower" of his first life, but he had also achieved two lifetime accomplishments.
Unfortunately, he still hadn't drawn a Spirit Root Physique.
"Considering everything, this is already my third life in this world..." Zhao Sheng mused, surveying his surroundings and noticing the tasteful decoration and exquisite furniture.
It seemed the family's circumstances were not bad, at least not a decline like in the second life.
Over two hundred years ago, Zhao Sheng first came to this world, reincarnating into an ordinary household. As an adult, he quickly established a fortune using the knowledge and experiences from his previous life, becoming the wealthiest man in a city within just over a decade.
In the latter half of his life, he enjoyed the riches of the world, with not just a multitude of wives and concubines but also a house full of children and grandchildren.
At the age of eighty, he fell ill with an incurable disease. On his deathbed, he learned from a divine doctor of the existence of Cultivators and was filled with immense regret.
Unfortunately, it was too late by then. Barely hanging on for one more day, Zhao Sheng passed away.
To his surprise, after death, he joyfully discovered that he possessed the treasured "Hundred Lifetimes Book," which allowed him to continually be reborn within his own bloodline descendants. As long as the bloodline didn't cease, his soul would not perish.
Overjoyed, Zhao Sheng rushed into his second life after drawing the Talent "Dynamic Vision."
Upon awakening in his second life, he found himself to be the son of a tenant farmer.
After careful inquiry, he learned that nearly a hundred years had passed since his death in the first life.
Five years after his death, the Zhao family was suddenly annihilated by a group of bandits. Luckily, one of his sons was studying abroad at the time and thus survived the calamity.
Since the family's downfall, the Zhao family had been declining with each generation, and by the time it reached his father's, they had fallen into tenancy.
However, Zhao Sheng didn't worry at all, for in this life he intended not only to revitalize the family fortune but also to practice martial arts and pursue the path of cultivation for longevity.
Ten years later, he had once again established a vast family business, and his martial skills had greatly advanced with the aid of the talent "Dynamic Vision," allowing him to grow smoothly into a second-rate expert.
Yet, in those ten years, he had not found out any information about the whereabouts of any cultivators.
After deep contemplation, he resolutely left behind his wife, children, and family fortune to start wandering the martial world.
That wandering lasted for twenty years.
At fifty-five, Zhao Sheng, with the help of elixir pills and external forces, barely advanced to the Innate Realm, becoming Ganzhou's supreme grandmaster.
Once his level improved, he naturally began to intersect with cultivators.
Half a year later, Zhao Sheng learned from a cultivator that only those with a Spirit Root can cultivate.
But Zhao Sheng did not possess a Spirit Root, and unfortunately, in the secular world, less than one in ten thousand had one.
Luckily, he obtained a critical piece of information that the offspring of cultivators had a higher probability of possessing a Spirit Root.
Six months later, Zhao Sheng returned to Nanyang City and began seeking marriage alliances for his descendants, naturally aiming for the children of Cultivation Families.
However, this goal was extremely difficult.
The Cultivation World was closed and conservative, and exceptionally xenophobic. To increase the chances of having offspring with Spirit Roots, cultivators would often only marry other cultivators, and Cultivation Families would only intermarry with other Cultivation Families.
For a mortal family to marry into a Cultivation Family was sheer folly.
Zhao Sheng exhausted his mind and fortune, not only offering up most of his family wealth, but also willingly signed a twenty-year servitude contract. Only then did the Cultivation Family, the Chen Family, relent and agree to send a distant, collateral female relative to marry his eldest grandson, Zhao Mingcheng.
"It is hard to cultivate for immortality, harder than ascending to the heavens… In my past life, with much effort and difficulty, I barely saw a glimmer of the dawn of cultivation. In this life... can I fulfill my wish?"
Recalling the hardships of his past life, Zhao Sheng sighed lightly, thankful that he still had the treasured "Book of Hundred Lifetimes"—if one lifetime wasn't enough, then he would simply start another!
With this thought, Zhao Sheng's consciousness sank into the depths of his mind where a jade-colored book was shining brightly.
On the book's cover, the words "Hundred Lifetimes" were written. The book slowly opened, the remaining ninety-seven pages were still blank; only the first three pages were filled with text.
He was very familiar with the records on the first two pages, and his gaze fell on the third page.
Name: Zhao Zhiqin (Zhao Sheng)
Life Span: 15/120
Constitution: Longevity Body (Mortal Level), Light as a Feather (Mortal Level)
Talent: Dynamic Vision (Mortal Level)
Skill: Floating Light Sword Skill (skilled), Cloud Dragon Three Changes (beginner), Emerald Tide Technique (beginner)
...
"The 'Zhi' generation?" Zhao Sheng murmured to himself, his thoughts gradually spreading out.
In his previous life, he had established generations for the Zhao family: Feng Xian Ming Ren, Quanzhen Du Taihe, The Classic of Sincerity and Jade Declaration, Zhongzheng Chang Jinke, Essence of the Mystic Path, Gao Hongding Daluo, Moral Performance, and Immortal Cultivation is Valuable for Longevity.
The "Zhi" generation was already the eleventh generation.
Flipping through the memories of this body, Zhao Sheng discovered that another one hundred and sixty years had passed.
This time, not only had the Zhao family not fallen from grace, but it had also grown into a large family with more than a thousand members. The family's businesses spread across Ganzhou, and they were famously known in Ganzhou as a martial arts family that had a foot in both the lawful and unlawful, black and white worlds.
In this lifetime, Zhao Sheng's status was not low. Although both his parents were deceased, he was still considered a direct-line descendant of the third branch of the Zhao family.