Zhang Wei had always thought life was a grind. At 28, he'd burned through years hunched over a desk, chasing deadlines that never seemed to end. The monotony was a slow death—until a real one came crashing down. It wasn't poetic or grand. Just a little girl, wide-eyed and frozen, standing in the path of a truck barreling through a red light. Zhang Wei didn't think. He just moved.
The impact was a blur of pain and screeching tires. Asphalt bit into his skin as he rolled, the girl's scream fading into the roar of his own blood pounding in his ears. "Damn it," he rasped, tasting iron. "At least… she's safe." His vision dimmed, and a bitter laugh escaped him. "What a way to go. No wife, no kids, just a cubicle and a truck." Then darkness swallowed him whole.
He didn't expect to wake up.
A jolt ripped through him—like lightning frying his nerves. His eyes snapped open, and he gasped, choking on air that tasted of ash and ozone. The world spun: cracked earth beneath him, a sky streaked with angry red clouds, and a crowd of gawkers staring like he was a sideshow freak. His body ached, every muscle screaming as if it'd been torn apart and stitched back wrong. He blinked, trying to make sense of it, and caught his reflection in a puddle nearby.
"What the hell?" The face staring back wasn't his. Sharp cheekbones, pale skin, long black hair matted with dirt—not the scruffy office drone he'd been. This guy looked young, maybe 18, with a fragile, almost pretty look that screamed "punch me." And he was half-naked, tattered robes barely clinging to his frame. Zhang Wei's hands—this kid's hands—fumbled to his chest, feeling a frail ribcage. "Who am I? Where am I?"
Memories hit like a sledgehammer. Not his own, but someone else's—fractured, hazy, and screaming with shame. Zhang Wei, third son of the Zhang Clan. Talentless. Weak. A disgrace. The name was the same, but the life wasn't. This Zhang Wei was a laughingstock in a world of cultivators, a runt who couldn't even awaken his qi at 18 when kids half his age were forging their cores. His clan ruled the Eastern Ridge of the Jade Empire, a powerhouse of martial might—yet here he was, the black sheep everyone wished would just disappear.
"Reincarnation?" Zhang Wei muttered, voice cracking. "You've got to be kidding me." He'd read enough webnovels to know the trope—die, get a second chance in a fantasy world, become a badass. But this? This wasn't a hero's body. This was a punching bag's.
A sharp ping echoed in his skull, and words flashed across his vision, glowing gold like a game interface:
[Supreme Ascendant System Activated]
Host: Zhang Wei
Cultivation: None (Unawakened)
Strength: 3 (Mortal Baseline: 10)
Agility: 4 (Mortal Baseline: 10)
Vitality: 2 (Mortal Baseline: 10)
System Directive: Rise or Perish
Zhang Wei froze. "A system? Like… a cultivation cheat code?" His heart thudded. He'd grinded enough RPGs to know what this meant—stats, progression, power. But Vitality: 2? This body was one cough away from keeling over. Before he could process it, a roar cut through the air.
"You useless whelp! What are you doing sprawled in the dirt like a beggar?" The voice was thunder, laced with venom. Zhang Wei's head snapped up, and he saw a towering figure striding through the crowd—middle-aged, broad-shouldered, with a face carved from stone and eyes that promised pain. The man's robes shimmered with silver thread, a jade crest gleaming on his chest. More memories clicked into place: Zhang Tian, Patriarch of the Zhang Clan. My… father?
"Father?" The word slipped out, shaky and uncertain. The crowd gasped, then stifled laughter. Zhang Tian's face twisted, veins bulging at his temples.
"Father?!" he bellowed. "You dare call me that after shaming our bloodline again? Struck by lightning in the middle of the damned road—still alive, yet still a waste!" His aura flared, a suffocating pressure that made Zhang Wei's knees buckle. The air crackled with killing intent, and the onlookers scrambled back, whispering.
"That's the patriarch… he's furious!"
"The trash survived a heavenly bolt? Impossible!"
"He's done for now—Zhang Tian won't spare him this time."
Zhang Wei's mind raced. Lightning? That explained the barren crater around him, the charred edges of his robes. Had this body been smited right before he'd taken it over? And now this guy—his father—looked ready to finish the job. He tried to stand, but his legs wobbled, and a cough ripped through him, splattering blood on the cracked earth.
"Pathetic," Zhang Tian sneered, stepping closer. "Eighteen years, and you can't even awaken your qi. Your brothers forge their paths to the Core Formation Realm, while you wallow in filth. I should've drowned you at birth." He raised a hand, qi coiling around his fingers like a storm.
Panic clawed at Zhang Wei's chest. He wasn't ready for this—not this body, not this world. "Wait—" he croaked, but the system pinged again:
[Warning: Host in Mortal Danger]
[Emergency Task: Survive]
Reward: Basic Qi Awakening
Failure: Death
"Survive?" he thought bitterly. "With this body? Against that?" Zhang Tian's hand descended, and instinct kicked in. Zhang Wei rolled, dirt grinding into his wounds as a blast of qi scorched the ground where he'd been. The crowd yelped, scattering further.
"Running now?" Zhang Tian roared. "You can't escape your fate, you spineless cur!" Another strike came, faster, and Zhang Wei dove behind a jagged rock. The blast shattered it, shards slicing his arms. Pain flared, but so did something else—anger. He'd died once today. He wasn't doing it again.
"System," he hissed through gritted teeth. "Give me something—anything!"
[Analyzing Host's Potential…]
[Unlocking Hidden Trait: Unyielding Will]
[Temporary Boost: Vitality +3, Agility +2]
A surge pulsed through him—not strength, but stubbornness, like his old self refusing to clock out after a 12-hour shift. He lunged, dodging another blast, and scrambled toward the edge of the crater. Zhang Tian's laughter chased him. "Flee all you like—it ends the same!"
Then a new voice cut through, deep and weathered, like the rumble of distant thunder. "Enough, Tian. You'll not kill my grandson today."
Zhang Wei stumbled, looking up. An old man hovered in the sky, white hair flowing like silk, his robes rippling with an aura that dwarfed Zhang Tian's. His eyes—sharp, ancient—locked onto Zhang Wei, then flicked to the patriarch. Zhang Huo, Grand Elder of the Zhang Clan. My grandfather.
Zhang Tian froze, fist still raised. "Father, this whelp—"
"Silence," Zhang Huo snapped, descending with a grace that belied his age. The pressure vanished, and Zhang Wei sucked in a ragged breath. The old man's gaze softened as it settled on him, though a sigh escaped his lips. "Struck by the heavens and still breathing. Perhaps there's more to you than meets the eye."
"More?" Zhang Tian spat. "He's a stain on our name!"
"Enough," Zhang Huo repeated, colder now. "Return to the clan, Tian. I'll deal with the boy." The patriarch glared, then bowed stiffly and vanished in a gust of wind, leaving the crowd murmuring in his wake.
Zhang Huo approached, crouching beside Zhang Wei. Up close, his face was a map of wrinkles, but his eyes burned with something unreadable—hope, maybe, or pity. "Can you stand, child?"
Zhang Wei nodded, forcing himself up despite the tremble in his legs. The system pinged softly:
[Task Complete: Survive]
[Reward: Basic Qi Awakening Initiated]
A faint warmth coiled in his gut, weak but growing. He clenched his fists, meeting his grandfather's gaze. "I… I'll prove them wrong," he said, voice raw. "All of them."
Zhang Huo raised a brow, then chuckled—a dry, raspy sound. "Bold words for a half-dead runt. We'll see." He scooped Zhang Wei into his arms like he weighed nothing, and the world blurred as they shot into the sky.
Below, the crowd dwindled to specks, their whispers lost to the wind. Zhang Wei's mind churned. A system. A second chance. A world that wanted him dead. He'd been a nobody once—overworked, overlooked. Not again. "Supreme Ascendant," he thought, tasting the words. "Yeah… I'll make that name mean something."
The heavens had tried to erase him. They'd failed. Now, they'd pay.