Yellow Soil Village.
The window was shut, and the glimmering sunlight slowly permeated the gaps, brightening the room. On the bed, a ten-year-old boy was sleeping until his eyelids twitched and slowly opened.
He blinked twice, still dazed, before finally moving his body. He sat up and stared at the door.
There was no movement, and the door was tightly shut.
The boy finally realized why he had woken up late. He shook his head and prepared to start his day.
After having the leftovers from the previous night, he stepped out of the house.
It was just another regular day for Niu Chang—working in the fields and then coming back home to rest.
But as he arrived in front of his house, he saw an old man, around sixty years old, standing in front of his door.
"How dare you still come back here?" The old man, Uncle Zhang, spoke condescendingly to Niu Chang.
Niu Chang didn't bother and maintained his casual expression, not showing too much emotion, but somewhat kind or compassionate. He stood where he was and stared at Uncle Zhang.
Uncle Zhang, who was not related by blood, was just an old man living next door who had always taken care of Niu Chang and his sister after their parents died.
Observing Niu Chang's unmoving and emotionless demeanor, Uncle Zhang became irritated, and anger turned his eyes red.
"Your sister has been gone for three days and three nights, but you still live casually as if nothing has happened. Do you have any heart at all? Did you feed your conscience to a dog?"
Uncle Zhang angrily pointed at Niu Chang, which was inappropriate for his age.
Three days ago, Niu Chang's sister went missing when she went to the forest near the village. But by nightfall, she hadn't returned.
On the second day, there was still no news about her. It was then that Uncle Zhang realized something might have happened to Niu Chang's sister. But when he saw that Niu Chang hadn't changed at all, he grew suspicious.
Yesterday night, when Uncle Zhang finished questioning other villagers, he became certain that something had happened to Niu Chang's sister. Uncle Zhang confronted Niu Chang in front of his house.
"Your sister has been missing for two days and two nights, and you didn't even flinch. Are you even human?!" Uncle Zhang berated Niu Chang that night.
As for the other neighbors, they only came out from their homes and listened without any intention to intervene. They knew that Uncle Zhang and the Niu siblings were rather close.
Like today, Niu Chang stood his ground and with placid eyes, he sighed and said, "Uncle Zhang, what do you want me to do? I'm just a kid, not even eleven years old. My sister went missing in the forest, and her whereabouts have been unknown for two days. What can I do? Even if I went to the forest, I would only be feeding those wild beasts."
"You... You!" Uncle Zhang was shocked by Niu Chang's response.
"How can there be such an ungrateful bastard like you? Your sister works day and night to feed and take care of you, but when she is in trouble, you don't even think twice to abandon her!"
Niu Chang then slowly lowered his shoulders as if a huge mountain of sadness pressed down on him. His face was filled with sadness and helplessness.
"My sister took care of me. That's exactly why I don't want to waste her efforts! Do you think she wants her only family member to face danger that she alone couldn't handle? Do you really want me to go to the forest and risk my life, Uncle Zhang?"
Niu Chang's voice was low and quivering. But due to the lack of light at night, Uncle Zhang could hardly see Niu Chang's eyes.
His eyes were strangely unmoved, calm, and tranquil, like water in an old well.
Due to anger, Uncle Zhang's voice was loud and attracted the attention of other neighbors. When he came to his senses, he realized many eyes were on him.
Although there were no whispers, Uncle Zhang felt a chill down his spine. This village was poor, and every member struggled to survive each day. Asking a child to go to the forest alone was no different than asking him to kill himself.
Even so, because of their precarious situation, the bond between the villagers was quite close, but only limited to the assistance they could provide.
If Niu Chang chose to ask for help from his neighbors, he would only receive some words of condolence and vague promises.
"Our lives are already difficult, and you want us to help you find your sister who went missing in the forest? No, thanks."
"My child, wife, and parents still need me to support them."
But no matter what, humans are strange creatures. Although they understand the reasoning and logic behind their answers, they tend to criticize those who act accordingly.
Although Niu Chang hadn't asked for help in the past three days, he had at least shown his gloomy mood through his actions. His shoulders were slumped all day, his eyes were dull, and he had become more silent than usual.
The villagers naturally sensed that something was amiss with him, but they already had their own problems, and since Niu Chang himself didn't bother to talk about it, others only pitied him in their hearts.
Tonight, the neighbors finally understood why Niu Chang had been acting differently these past few days.
Back to the present.
'This Uncle Zhang is really strange. Although he has helped our family a little, he doesn't seem to genuinely care about us. His eyes don't match his words and actions,' Niu Chang shook his head and ignored Uncle Zhang.
He didn't care about the reasons behind Uncle Zhang's actions, nor did he want to know. As long as his daily life wasn't affected, everything was like the wind to him.
Come and go, but nothing else.
Niu Chang walked towards his door. Uncle Zhang's face was red, but he didn't take any action.
He could only watch as Niu Chang entered his house. He stood there for a moment, his mouth opening and closing as if he were uttering words, but no sound came out.
Uncle Zhang shook his head and walked to his own house.
Inside the house, Niu Chang stood behind the door, carefully listening to Uncle Zhang's footsteps.
'Just wait for a few more days. If he doesn't cause more problems, just let it be. But...' Niu Chang thought to himself, his casual and placid face slowly forming a smile.
He didn't like to meddle in others' business, but he cared a great deal about his own. So if someone wanted to create problems for him, he would naturally take the 'necessary' action.
Niu Chang stretched his stiff body after working in the fields. His entire demeanor seemed different from what he showed on the outside.
He became calmer and more composed, like a nobleman playing in a poor district—a place that had nothing to do with him, where he was just a passerby.
After resting, he went to the backyard and started practicing martial arts.
He didn't have any manuals or books to refer to; all he relied on were his memories of martial arts from his previous life.
Niu Chang was a reincarnator. He had reincarnated three years ago in this world and became Niu Chang.
The first thing he did was to learn about the world. It was a world of martial arts, where practitioners could use qi to easily break steel and cut down big trees.
Because of this, Niu Chang no longer cared about mundane things and focused solely on martial arts and becoming a martial artist. With strength in his hands, there would be a day when he could live the way he wanted.
But for now, he needed to hide and train hard to become stronger.
One month passed.
Nothing had changed, and even Uncle Zhang had given up on the seventh day after Niu Chang's sister's disappearance.
At night, when Niu Chang finished his daily training, he sat down on the broken wooden floor and closed his eyes.
'Three years. Not a single day has I wasted on meditating to gather qi, but no matter what I do, I just can't sense this so-called qi'
'I have five books about cultivating internal energy or qi, but none of them have helped me. I have thoroughly read them, extracted their essence from their obscurity, and compared their teachings to find the simplest method of gathering qi into one's body.'
'Even after that, I continued simplifying the method and gathering more information about qi cultivation. I created more than twenty different cultivation methods, each using different approaches.'
'But still, none of them worked. Then I gave up on qi cultivation and focused on external cultivation, which involves training the flesh and body. But in the end, it's still in the realm of mortals! No matter how much I train my body, it will reach the limit of my mortal body. In the end, I still need this so-called 'qi'!'
'Gathering qi into one's body and increasing its quality and quantity is qi cultivation. Training the physical body and guiding the qi to transform its essence is body cultivation. Then there's the last one, which is mind cultivation, harnessing the qi and transforming mental energy into psychic energy that can affect the outside world.'
'I have tried all of them, but this body just can't...'
Niu Chang shook his head. In just three years, his efforts to cultivate and elevate his life from a mortal to a cultivator had been futile. But his knowledge in this area was richer than that of ordinary martial artists.
Still, he chose to persevere and continue working hard to explore the mysteries of cultivation. He believed that the reason for his lack of success was that his body was not suitable for the "normal" cultivation methods.
As long as he maintained his pursuit of knowledge, he believed that one day he would create a cultivation method that would allow him to step onto the path of cultivation and become a martial artist.
[Ding.]
A clear and crisp sound echoed in Niu Chang's mind.
[Host detected.]
[Initialization starting.]
[Loading: 1%... 70%... 100%]
[Connection established.]
One after another, a cold and machine-like voice could be heard by Niu Chang. But he couldn't help but feel anticipation.
'The system is here! It's finally my time to shine and become the main character!' Niu Chang cheered in his heart.
[Hooooosssstttt!]
Suddenly, a meek and childish voice appeared.