Time Traveler

If it wasn't already apparent, Luo Shuchang was not an ordinary person.

He had actually gone back in time from the future, back to when he had first lost his cultivation.

In his previous life, he was just about to ascend to immortality, but a heart devil caused him to fail his tribulation, and he died before breaking through.

Or so he thought. When he next woke up, he was 18 again, at the point in time right after his rival's master had broken his dantian and crippled his cultivation.

That was around a year ago from today. Since then, Luo Shuchang has been taking steps to once again walk the path of cultivation, while this time ensuring he won't develop a heart devil that will stop him in his tracks.

Using his knowledge of the future, he went around snatching opportunities, including the Body Reformation Pill that he had previously only found two years later that would restore his cultivation.

Everything was done while also causing minimal changes to the timeline, which meant moving in secret and having everyone think he was still crippled.

And in the end, it was all to prepare for the coming events that would eventually cause his downfall, starting with the Long family canceling the engagement between him and Long Meiling.

But why was there suddenly a change now, at this crucial point?

"There've been no major changes this entire time. Why is this guy suddenly appearing now?" he muttered, getting up from his finished bowl of noodles.

It was only a few days ago that the engagement had been cancelled.

And now that he was settling the events behind the scenes that sowed the seeds of his future heart devil, something completely unexpected came up, throwing off his calculations.

Only time would tell whether this change would be for better or worse. He would have to keep an eye on this man...

--

"Sir Ryker! Are you awake?"

On the morning of the next day, a woman in plain clothes typical of commoners was knocking on Ryker's door.

"Hey, morning," Ryker greeted, stifling a yawn as he opened the door, "You're, uh...?"

"Wang Yuhan, vice-captain of miss Long Meiling's personal guard," the woman replied.

"Oh, yeah. You're the one who took that nasty bite for the captain, right? Also, you can just call me Ryker."

"Ah, yes," she answered, rubbing her head sheepishly, "I'm embarrassed you had to witness my incompetence..."

"Haha, no worries; I didn't see anything," Ryker said with a conspiratory grin.

"But you must really like the guy to take that kind of hit for him."

"Yes, Captain Cheng is definitely a man worthy of respect and admiration!" she said, eyes full of reverence. Ryker just nodded and rubbed his chin with a knowing smile.

"Reeaally now..." he mused.

"Ah! But I'm not here to go on about the captain," she said, catching herself before she started rambling.

"The young miss has ordered me to show you around the city, and answer any questions you may have."

"Perfect. Let's go!"

Ryker followed Wang Yuhan out of the inn, pulling his jacket close to keep out the morning chill.

People walking down the streets gave him strange stares, much as they had yesterday. It was likely due to his abnormal height and strange attire.

'[Let's gather information on our current situation.]'

He remembered the words Mini C had said to him yesterday evening. After learning the techniques gifted to him by the system, he and Mini C had a planning session of sorts for what their next steps would be.

'[It's faint, but I can feel the mana signature of my creator somewhere in the distance,]' he had said.

'[He's within 5,000 kilometers, at most.]'

Mini C's creator. The one his appearance and personality was based off of, as well as one of Ryker's best friends.

If he was here, wherever *here* was, could Ryker's sister be here, as well? They should have been together when he was going to meet up with them, after all.

'[We should first situate ourselves, then focus on regrouping with him, if we can.]'

The strategy they had decided on going forward was threefold:

Secure a means of day to day survival.

Determine where they were and what the local situation was like.

Figure out the best way to reunite with Mini C's creator, as well as anyone else that may have been transported here, with them.

The first point was at least partially taken care of, already. He would probably have to meet with Long Meiling to see if they could work out some sort of long term arrangement.

"Well then, Sir Ryker, as you may have already heard, this is Yuliang City," Wang Yuhan explained to him as they walked.

"It's the capital of the Great Zhou Empire, as well as the home of the Five Grand Dukes. Miss Long Meiling's father is actually one of those dukes, coming from the line of the prestigious Long family."

"I see..."

Ryker nodded his head as he listened.

"So basically, Long Meiling's a bigshot, around here."

Wang Yuhan smiled proudly, nodding her head.

"Yes, the young miss is an important figure in the city. There are certainly many 'bigshots', here, but the young miss won't lose to any of them!"

She continued to espouse Long Meiling's many accomplishments and virtues, including how she reached the peak of Qi Gathering before turning 18, as well as the many successful business ventures she started up in the city.

Ryker listened attentively, making sure to keep note of anything that might help him get closer to the noble daughter.

'{Hey!! You're not forgetting about the system tasks, are you?!}', Bestie had started to nag him once he and Mini C were done strategizing the night before.

'{If you don't complete the task in time, you'll have to suffer the consequences!}'

'[And what 'consequences' would those be?]'

'{Ah, I'm sorry! I used the line they gave me in training out of habit,}' she said, immediately falling to a kowtow in apology.

'{What I meant to say was, please find time to complete the system tasks out of the goodness in your heart!}'

Befriend Long Meiling.

Truthfully, he was curious about what he would get from completing this 'task' given by the system, especially after seeing what those booklets did for him.

Apparently, he was now a third level Qi Gathering expert, which was extremely fast for one day of cultivation. Or so he'd heard.

What was more interesting to him were the weapon techniques, the 'Fierce Yaksha's Cudgel Technique' as well as the 'Yujian Sword Art'.

The sword art in particular was especially cool to him.

Although it was considered a basic sword art, he now felt he could now instinctively handle a sword with grace, when he'd never touched a sword before, in his life.

Of course, he didn't have a sword, so he unfortunately couldn't try it out.

The cudgel technique was immediately useful, though, and he was able to run through the weapon movements as if he had trained in them for years, as well as intuitively knowing when best to use them.

He wondered if there were any books that could let him use something close to magic... But he wasn't in any hurry. You couldn't rush friendship, after all.

"Oh, yes! Why don't we buy you some new clothes, Sir Ryker?" Wang Yuhan asked him after she finally finished praising Long Meiling.

"Your current clothes are... well... they, um, stand out, somewhat."

He looked down at his clothes, and then around at all the people staring at him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said with a nod, "And c'mon, I said to just call me Ryker!"

"Ah, but that would be inappropriate..." Wang Yuhan said, flustered. The young miss really saddled her with a troublesome task...

--

Meanwhile, that same young miss was out for a stroll. More exactly, she was sneaking out for a stroll.

'I can't believe Father let Elder Sister off the hook, again. What has she done for the family that I haven't?'

Long Meiling was currently venting her grievances in her mind, having given her guards the slip so she could be alone.

She was replaying the events of last night in her head, with her older sister, Long Jingfei, coming back home drunk in the middle of the night after partying all day with her boy toys.

After slinging a few insults Long Meiling's way, she had proceeded to tear up the kitchen, beating and chasing away any servants that had tried to stop her, before promptly crashing into her room and falling asleep.

The next morning, her father acted like nothing happened, as if she wasn't a disgrace to the family that did nothing but waste away their money.

'Your sister works hard to maintain her cultivation speed. I don't want to hear your complaining.'

Her older sister just smiled smugly at her from behind their father's back, both of them knowing what was said was blatantly false. It was simply infuriating.

Just because she was in the Foundation Establishment realm... Just because she was the daughter of the legal wife...

Her severe expression caused the people walking past her to point and converse in low whispers, most likely also to do with the spectacle she'd made a few days prior.

This spectacle was, of course, her annulling her engagement to Luo Shuchang, ripping up their marriage contract and denouncing him right in front of the Luo family gates.

Even she had to admit it was a bold move from her, seeing as she never got permission from her family to do so.

But between having to deal with a waste of a sister and a waste of a fiancee, she just couldn't take it anymore; she had to take matters into her own hands.

She was almost disappointed when her father didn't even yell at her. He simply drew up a new marriage contract with someone else.

"Well, well, if it isn't the flower of my eye. Fancy running into you, here."

Long Meiling looked up at that familiarly grating voice, heart growing heavy with weariness from it all. Her eyes narrowed dangerously at the last person she wanted to see, right now.

"Li Daoming."