Chapter 1

In a forest of the greater Zhou Mountains, a young man of about 15 years old, with his torso naked and his fists wrapped in cloth, hit the trunk of a large rough tree.

Peng!

Peng!

Heavy sounds echoed through the forest.

The layer of bark on the large tree he struck had sunk noticeably, exposing its greyish wood texture.

On its surface, traces of blood could be seen.

The name of this tree was Iron Tree. Not only does it possess an extremely hard bark layer, but it also has strong regenerative properties.

Many beginners in the martial arts would choose this Iron Tree for training.

Suddenly, the young man whose fists showed great vigour stopped. His gaze became cloudy and unfocused.

It was quite a while before he came to his senses.

"What a fucking joke this is!"

Abruptly, the young man shouted, his voice startling the birds resting on the tree branches.

The flapping of his wings added to the voice.

Following that, he began to pinch himself all over with force. If anyone saw him, they would think he had gone crazy.

To him, however, it was a completely reasonable act.

"... It can't be."

He muttered reluctantly, his skin a faint reddish color and not due to the summer heat.

To focus his scattered ideas, he began to recapitulate recent events.

He had been reading a web novel, then he fell asleep and...

'I became the protagonist, Lin Ming!?'

This only happened in novels, ¿Right?

Breathing heavily, it took him a while until he calmed down. And not because he wanted to, but because he had to.

"... Seriously, which God did I offend?" He said with resentment.

Except for his atheism, he remembered nothing that could make him worthy of such severe punishment.

The now Lin Ming had his moments when he dreamed of becoming some protagonist, but certainly and from the deepest part of his being, he didn't want it to happen!

More so in a novel of this kind.

Fighting arrogant young masters? No thanks, get a life.

Have a harem with jade beauties? Just two words, how lazy!

It was hard enough to maintain a stable relationship, adding two or more people to the mix was putting the game in hellish difficulty.

Nothing he would want to suffer.

Worst of all, it lay in the fact that he only read ten chapters of the Web novel.

'At least, I didn't arrive in this world without the memories of the original bearer of this body.

Otherwise, he would be frustrated to the point of losing a few years of life.

"Ah, I want to go back to my home," he grumbled the more he thought about the imbroglio he found himself in.

Of course, it's not like the situation was insurmountable either.

After all, this was a Xuanhuan world, which implied the possibility of living forever and enjoying unparalleled strength.

On the other side of the coin, he would have to kill or die to get to that point: it all or nothing gamble.

Despite this, the more he thought about it. The more his desire to try it grew, as stupid as it seemed.

After all, he was a diehard fan of cultivation stories.

Yet, there was some uneasiness at the thought of ending a life.

'When in rome do as the romans do...'

The phrase relaxed him a bit. Besides, what could he lose?

In his previous life, his parents had already died, and he didn't have a particularly close relationship with anyone.

If he was here, it meant he had already died. To die again would only be to pay the debt he owed to the grim reaper.

"I can do it!" He affirmed forcefully.

To add and make his decision easier, he already had a golden finger!

Or, more accurately, he would have it.

Today he had to bone a Goldback Pangolin in the Great Clarity Pavilion, to obtain a more than the Mythic item.

On the other hand, it was time to accept his identity.

Although he didn't want to think about it, he knew that somehow he had killed the protagonist of the web novel, Martial World.

In part, he owed it to the original Lin Ming.

Although until a few minutes ago, it was only a being created in literature...

"Wait, doesn't that make me the same?"

A slightly unpleasant feeling filled him from the inside out.

Still, helplessly, he resigned himself to his fate.

"I am now Lin Ming!" He declared with firmness.

If he was going to do this, he was going to do it right!

At that moment, Lin Ming's ears heard the sounds of footsteps were slowly approaching him.

Turning his gaze in the direction where the sound originated, Lin Ming caught a glimpse of a fat young man; this young man was carrying a long sword with him.

Seeing Lin Ming, he smiled and spoke, "Brother Lin, today is the registration day for the Seven Profound Martial House entrance assessment. Could it be that you have forgotten? Why are you still practicing your fists here?"

'This should be Lin Ming's great friend, Lin Xiaodong.'

Lin Xiaodong is a direct descendant of the Lin family, however, he was one of the lowest in authority.

As for Lin Xiaodong's parents, they were engaged in business and had a close relationship with Lin Ming's parents.

"No, not at all. You must already know there will be a lot of people registering, so why not take advantage of that time while the queue is getting shorter?"

Lin Ming said with a shrug.

"Damn, you're not even going to release this small amount of time. Do you have to go this far?" Lin Xiaodong spoke exaggeratedly and walked up to the tree trunk.

Looking at the indentations caused by the fists and traces of blood, he turned to see Lin Ming's bandaged fists. He then let out a sigh of disappointment.

"You really are crazy to be able to damage Iron Wood to such an extent. However, Iron Thread Grass alone won't be enough with your current training methods. If you continue like this, your hands will be crippled!"

The iron thread herb was a herb whose green juice produced when squeezed could help heal wounds, but it caused a painful sensation similar to having iron threads rubbing on wounds.

Lin Ming, at that, didn't say anything, not that he could either.

Despite knowing what kind of world he was in, he found it somewhat embarrassing to blurt out chuunibyou phrases.

To clarify, Lin Ming was referring to phrases like, this is my martial arts path, I will be the king of pirates, among others.

He liked reading it but saying it was another matter.

Lin Xiaodong sighed and pulled out a packet from his chest.

He unfolded the packet layer by layer and said, "Brother Ming, take this."

It was a blood ginseng. A medicinal herb similar to those used in China.

As he remembered, it was a high-grade medicine for repairing and nourishing wounds.

A thin slice is enough for every use.

Knowing its value, Lin Ming thanked, "Thank you, Xiaodong. I will not forget this favor."

'Between brothers, we should support each other, shouldn't we?'

With a big smile, Lin Ming took the ginseng without regard. Such was the naturalness that it left Lin Xiaodong slightly bewildered.

"Oh... Yes, don't worry, brother Ming!" Lin Xiaodong didn't seem to mind.

Considering how little motivation this friend had regarding the martial arts path, Lin Ming was actually 'helping' him.

"Fine, it's time. Let's go check-in," Lin Ming said as he put the ginseng away in his backpack.

Lin Xiaodong nodded and started to walk.

Moving behind Lin Xiaodong, Lin Ming's eyes contracted at an unexpected sight.

"Brother Ming, huh?" as Lin Xiaodong walked down the mountain, he noticed Lin Ming was not with him. Whereupon he looked back.

Lin Ming was standing still like a statue staring into the air.

"Brother Ming, is something wrong?" Lin Xiaodong asked in confusion.

His call woke Lin Ming from his reverie, "Mm, not at all. I just remembered something delicious."

"Really, what thing?" Lin Xiaodong looked at him curiously.

With a hand on his chin, Lin Ming measured his words, "It's a cake (system) my family made (heaven)."

"Oh, I see," Lin Xiaodong swallowed a little saliva as he remembered the fine cuisine of Lin Ming's parents' restaurant.

"Anyway, let's continue," Lin Ming said in a calmer mood.

"En!"

Lin Xiaodong waited a few seconds for Lin Ming to catch up. Afterwards, they walked down the mountain together for the Seven Profound Martial House registration.

Lin Ming decided to apply to the Seven Profound Martial House not only because that is what the original Lin Ming would want, but because, how can you be in a world of cultivation without going to a sect, or in this case a Martial House?

It was like going fishing and not eating fish.