Qian Long?

Swayed a luxurious houseboat in the river, oars gently slicing through the water from the side. The sun of dawn cast a hazy reflection on the green waters. Some birds pecked rice scattered on top of the boat's roof.

Inside one of the numerous rooms scattered across the boat, a scar-faced man opened his eyes weakly.

He was seated near a window, and the sunlight reflected right off the river onto his face, making him flinch and close his eyes. Slowly, he regained his composure and began breathing heavily. His heart beat quickened.

He groaned slightly, feeling a stiffness in his body slowly vanish. There was a coldness stuck in his heart that seemed to get inundated with life with every breath. His surroundings became clear. A wooden compartment with a fishy smell.

"Yes, the Lavender brothel in Qingyun City really is some daring bunch to go against the law so blatantly… they used a young boy as some kind of Vigor Increasing Martial Arts vessel. It was a demonic technique," said a boorish voice, "apparently, the boy escaped without dying and even stole the Martial Arts with him in his escape. Lucky for him."

Faint murmurs of conversation seeped through the wooden wall to his left, accompanied by the rhythmic sound of oars slicing through the water. Mind blurry, he focused on those words.

"Yeah, those old women are all nasty; I lost 300 Tael on a slut last month," another voice said with a burp, "Hope that boy becomes a Martial Master and seeks revenge."

"But did you see that Lady Miao of that place? She is so beautiful!" A youthful voice said, and the conversation shifted to blissful night tales. Of how yang could defeat the yin.

Feeling his head ache slightly, the scar-faced man ignored the noise and asked in his mind, "Hey… Mirror, can you hear me?"

[Yes, Host, I can hear you clearly... And I have some news.]

"What is it?" he felt a bit weird and already had some ideas why.

[You are in another person's body, and now I also realize more things. Wait a second...]

An archaic mirror floated in front of him out of nowhere, and he saw his appearance reflected in it: Unruly, messy black hair, brown eyes, a plain face, and a scarred cheek. His skin was a darker shade of tan, and his body was overall fit and buff; he appeared like a thug.

He was now wearing dark clothes akin to those worn in ancient China. With that, the mirror vanished like a mirage, and Soha took a deep breath.

"So only my soul enters other worlds...?" he pondered, a solemness slowly building up in his mind.

This was the world where lay his hope of seeing his sister again. He couldn't mess up!

[Host, there are memories that I just extracted from this person's brain. You can absorb it if you want, but it is better you don't, or it might change you as a person. I have built a summary on it for you to understand your situation. Do you want to absorb it raw, or should I give the summary instead?] The mirror asked him, sorting through the information it had just absorbed into its database.

She wouldn't be affected by the memories since she could quickly sort through them like watching a movie while keeping the emotions detached from itself, but Soha couldn't do the same.

He was still disoriented by everything, but he nodded. "Summary is enough. We have to get started quick."

[You are currently in a world called "Qian Long Martial Star."]

[Your current body's Name is Hei Ren, a renowned thug around the area. At age nine, Hei Ren did patricide due to being bullied in his family and escaped, becoming a wanted criminal, but he scarred his face to avoid detection and grew up.

[He slowly became a thug due to being around such company all his life and soon got used to pillaging, rape, and other such activities. He is a complete hooligan.

[Until earlier this day, he was thinking about his past with regrets and suddenly had a heart attack. Even his fellows outside are yet to notice.]

[And you have possessed Hei Ren after he died.]

Soha frowned to himself. 

Did he have enemies right after coming to this world?

Troublesome.

"Mirror, tell me about how I can gain Power in this world," he asked. "If my body is not here, what is the use? And what happened to my body in the first place?"

[Your body is safe in the Dimensional Passage, and you can return any time, but that is why I told you I had news. I also just realized many things about the whole procedure of "World Traversal."]

Soha listened carefully, his mind entirely focused. Get strong, return, save Evelyn. Those words were like a chant, and they kept repeating in his mind, completely suppressing his doubts and hesitations to a corner.

[This is a bad piece of news, Host, but this time we are relatively lucky.

[Only if you manage to fulfill Hei Ren's greatest regret can you claim everything that belongs to him as your own.

[By becoming sufficiently powerful in this world 'and successfully resolving his regrets,' you can then bring back your newfound strength with you.

[But even if you become a God here, you will lose all that Power upon returning to the Dimensional Passage since it wouldn't be entirely yours. Only by stimulating the feeling of resolving the greatest regret can you inherit all that is in this body as 'yours' before you return.]

Biting his lip gently, Soha asked, "…What regret did this thug have?"

[Hei Ren's greatest regrets: I want to make a name for myself in the Martial Arts World. I want to be among the rising Martial Talents List and live without fearing the wanted posters.]

A long second passed, and Soha sighed in relief inside. It was like the Mirror said: they were lucky this time.

Becoming stronger came with making a name, after all, and luckily, it didn't say anything about a bad name or a good one. Infamy was fame, too.

It was a better regret than what could have been. What if it was something like being unable to save a dead family member?

They were lucky, indeed.

Soha chuckled and looked out the window at the great verdant river. Far in the distance, he could see a sprawling city, small and far, where lay a human bustle that looked akin to ants from his view.

"Who on Earth would have thought that they were far from the only species on Earth, right?" he asked with a sigh. 

Hope was in sight. Now, only one question remained. 

"How much time did it pass in Aetherian?" he asked, fear evident in his tone.

"[The time difference is like this in this world,]" The Mirror said, "[a year passed here in the Qian Long Martial Star would equal an hour in Aetherian Expanse.]"

"A year here, an hour there…" Soha muttered, "But the sooner I return, the better it is."

[With Evelyn's Esper Ability and Stamina, she would at most be able to survive for about 3 hours, and before you came here, half an hour had already passed since she fell into the Abyss, so the safe bet would be to return in around one and half a year.]

"My same thought..." He had more questions, but he decided to get out of his current situation first. He wanted to learn how to grow stronger, quickly deal with the regrets, and leave.

The wanted posters would probably be quite an issue. He had to think of how to deal with it after understanding everything.

He had almost zero confidence in himself at the moment, but he had no choice but to do it the hard way. He had to take a step-by-step route in all of this. Haste would only end up being a waste; he had to be careful.

He had no experience doing such extreme things even though he had traveled worlds now. All he had to rely on was his knowledge of the 'Protagonists' he had seen in the other worlds—like reading hundreds of novels or watching a movie, he had seen them deal with all sorts of troubles, and he could try to emulate them for now since there were no teachers better than the wise and great.

Even though he felt envious of them, he couldn't help but say some of them were great teachers that had made him who he was today.

More than anything, he knew he was ready to do anything, anything that even the Protagonists wouldn't do. He was prepared to become a devil if he needed to be.

Soha climbed the window and, without making much of a splash, jumped into the river.

Nobody noticed him.

It was better to stay away from Hei Ren's company and first understand his situation somewhere safe. They were mostly a bunch of good-for-nothing, according to the Mirror anyway, bereft of some, that is.