Chapter 1: The Beginning

East Lake City, Yangtze River Delta, Daxia Kingdom.

The sky was grey and hazy. A cold wind was roaring as a light rain fell.

At the West entrance of the city, a black metal gate separated it from the wilderness. A group of soldiers in green uniforms were checking the identity of the people entering and exiting the city.

“Beep! Beep! Beep!”

In the distance, a green off-road vehicle blared its horn as it sped through the city gates. The soldiers stationed there made no move to stop it, and just let it pass.

On the side of the car was an emblem of an eagle with its wings outspread.

This was the symbol of the Zheng family, one of the seven martial clans in East Lake City. In this era of alien invasion, the clans were equivalent to the nobles of the past. They governed over their own territory, welding great power in the area.

The pedestrians on the street hurriedly made way for the vehicle to pass. Some were unable to dodge in time, and were splashed with muddy water from head to toe. However, no one dared to say a word until the off-road vehicle disappeared from sight.

…

In a village to the East of the city, there was a courtyard that was much bigger than the surrounding houses. Above its main entrance hung a plaque that read “Mantis Snake Sword School”.

This was a branch opened by the Mantis Snake Sword School in the East of the city. Trainees who had just entered the school were assigned to the branch school for training. Only those who were accepted as core disciples by the branch head were able to go to the headquarters in the city center for their training.

The Mantis Snake Sword School was well-known in East Lake City. It was one of the 13 martial arts schools with a warrior presiding over it.

Wan Rong, the head of the school, had a strength that was exceptional even among the warriors. He once used a borrowed sword to consecutively defeat three of his fellow warriors.

At this moment, sounds of labored breathing echoed from the courtyard.

“Ha!”

“Ha!”

Led by a black-clothed youth, a group of young men in loose-fitting white training robes were practicing sword techniques by imitating the murals on the surrounding walls.

Following the Mantis Snake Sword Technique, they began with the standard opening stance, keeping calm and steady. They would then leap up and slash or stab at the wooden target a few meters away in a rhythmic fashion. The sudden changes between stillness and movement were fast and fierce.

On the steps of the courtyard, Chen Yiming sat quietly at the top, carrying a few sets of takeaway for the trainees.

The trainees did not pay him any heed. Instead, they continued to follow the youth’s lead, repeatedly practicing the opening stance of the Mantis Snake Sword Technique.

After three rounds, many of the students began to tire. Their breathing became unstable, and their movements lost form. Showing no expression, the black-clothed youth announced a break. He sheathed his sword and retired to a room.

The trainees started to sit down and loaf around. Those who had placed orders headed over and collected their food from Chen Yiming, who no longer had any reason to stay.

Chen Yiming left the courtyard and got on his bicycle. He cycled along the cemented main road for about 10 minutes, then turned into a street that had long since fallen into disrepair. He soon reached a small restaurant, the place he called his home in this world.

The house consisted of two floors. The second floor was residential, while the first floor was a restaurant. There was also a small courtyard.

The road in front of the door was around a meter wide, and the people passing by were all residents living nearby. There was not much traffic, and the local residents often cooked in their own homes. Thus, the Chen family’s restaurant mainly dealt in the takeaway business.

“Mum, I’m back!” he shouted, parking his bicycle at the corner of the entrance.

At the cashier’s counter in the restaurant’s main hall, Mother Chen — Liang Xiumei — was noting down an order. Without looking up, she said, “Every time you deliver to the Mantis Snake Sword School, you spend more than half an hour. The customers after them are going to complain again. Have you made up your mind yet?”

Chen Yiming passed the money he had collected to Mother Chen and explained, “I’ve decided on the Mantis Snake Sword School. I’m just observing them for a few more days. The tuition fee is very expensive, so I don’t want to have any regrets after making the choice.”

Mother Chen took the money, put it into the drawer, and locked it. Then she looked up and glared at him.

“So you do know how expensive it is. You have to train hard and take it seriously when the time comes. Don’t behave like you did in school, slacking off every other day.”

“Of course. I promise I won’t waste the money from my family this time,” Chen Yiming pledged loudly as he thumped on his chest.

It had been more than two months since he had been transmigrated into this world. The memories of his previous life were slowly pushed to the back of his mind as he adjusted from the initial discomfort and integrated into his new life.

He was now a high school student who had dropped out of school to help in the family restaurant because of his poor grades. He didn’t have the skills to help his father with cooking and could only take on the delivery work that Mother Chen was originally responsible for.

Fortunately, he was young and healthy, so he could cycle much faster than Mother Chen. The restaurant’s business thus increased.

Chen Yiming also had a younger sister called Chen Yingying who had just entered middle school. She had good grades and was very hardworking. She was also very obedient, unlike his body’s owner who was mischievous and did not study hard.

Mother Chen saw how serious he was and how he seemed to have truly made up his mind. She threw the new order slip at Chen Yiming and waved her hand dismissively.

“Don’t be so full of yourself, I still remember clearly the boasts you made in the past. Your father has already finished preparing the food. Hurry and pack it up in the kitchen, then deliver it to the customers.”

“Okay, I’ll go right away.”

He was in high spirits now, walking with a spring in his step.

It was not a spur of the moment decision to register as a trainee at the martial arts school. He had absolute confidence that he would succeed.

However, he could not reveal the fact to anyone that he had transmigrated from another world, gaining a special ability. Not even his family could know. He could only keep it to himself.

His special ability was a martial arts talent system. It would display in front of his eyes in a way that was visible only to him when he called it in his heart.

After he transmigrated, the system had automatically imprinted the detailed instructions for using it into his mind.

Its function was very simple. As long as one was not someone who had never played games before, they could understand it at a glance.

The entire system only had one function.

Skill points could be obtained by regularly practicing martial arts, then used on martial arts talent.

The speed at which skill points were obtained was related to the level of the technique used and the duration of training.

At this moment, he had zero martial arts talent, and he only had two skill points.

These two skill points were obtained after he transmigrated — after nearly two months of hard training, following the basic sword techniques taught in his body’s owner’s school.

The current speed at which he obtained skill points was about one skill point per month. He needed three skill points to obtain level one of the martial arts talent, so it would take about a month for him to meet the requirements for level one.

Although there were no restrictions on the martial arts schools in East Lake City, which were openly recruiting trainees, there were still some requirements to be met. The basic techniques for the type of martial arts taught in the school had to be completely mastered to enter the school.

This was to prevent children who did not even have a good foundation from squandering money to enter the school. Without even grasping the basic moves, it would be akin to a primary school student skipping middle school, and directly studying the high school curriculum. Most would be unable to complete this style of education.

This was also the reason why Chen Yiming didn’t register at the martial arts school immediately after he transmigrated.

His previous body’s talent in martial arts was mediocre. After practicing for several years, he still stumbled over the most basic sword moves. Since he had transmigrated and retained his original talent, he naturally wouldn’t be any better. In fact, due to his unfamiliarity with his current body, his performance was even worse than his body’s owner.

Therefore, he urgently needed the enhancement from a Level-1 swordsmanship talent, and to quickly master the basic sword moves.