Chapter 1. Death is just the Beginning

    Circling the tallest mountain in the Demon God Valley located in the great land of Da Xian was a wave of life energy. This form of energy was known by the name ‘qi’. The wind gathering and blowing was a sign of someone trying to forge a superior qi weapon.

    There was a man sitting on said mountain. Although he looked young, he had lived for tens of thousands of years. He was the only one in the great land who had succeeded in practicing god-level qi, the most supreme level of qi power. He had been ranked as the greatest martial artist for millennia. Everyone in the great land knew his name—Bai Hu, the man from the Bai family. He had obtained the power to live forever. He would never get old or sick. However, he could be killed or poisoned.

    Bai Hu was sitting in front of a large filigree iron forge. The qi characters which were delicately carved all over its surface were shimmering. It served as a weapon forge. He was trying to craft a god’s weapon, a weapon that no one had ever succeeded in making.

    ‘Just a little more. Soon, the smelting process will be done.’ He intertwined his hands, carefully controlling the qi that he put in. One mistake could destroy all the work, and his life could also be lost from the force of the explosion.

    Crack…

    That which he was most scared of finally happened. The massive power from the weapon started to strain the forge. It was too much for the forge to handle. A single crack broke out in one particular spot and spread all over quickly.

    ‘Damn it to hell!’ Bai Hu noticed the crack immediately. Aware that his life would soon be over, he swiftly drew qi characters in the air.

    ‘One, property. Two, memory. Three, knowledge. Four, holy creatures’ blood. Five, qi.’

    He sealed everything into his soul. In this way, he would still have all his knowledge and the memories of this life even if he died or had to be reincarnated. Even so, he had to practice and meditate until he reached the Heart qi before he was able to access the property, holy creature’s blood, and qi power in his soul.

    Boom!

    Bai Hu finished everything at the same time that the forge exploded. The blast was so disastrous that its white flames scorched everything within five hundred kilometers to ashes. Everything had vanished: people, animals, the demigods. The only thing left was a wasteland with nothing on its surface.

    Bai Hu turned into a spirit. He was preparing himself to enter the hereafter when an invisible force started to pull at his soul. It came from a black crack. The crack was drawing down rocks, sand, and dust from the explosion, as well as the man’s spirit.

    ‘This must be the dimension crack caused by the explosion of the forge.’ Unable to resist it, he let the force pull his spirit toward the crack. He then lost consciousness. However, something still remained stuck in the ground, something able to resist the force from the crack. It was...

    …………..

    “Sniff…sniff.” The sound of sobbing from a boy nearby woke Bai Hu up.

    “Hmm.” He slowly opened his eyes. Bai Hu found his soul in a place that looked like a massive chamber in a cave. There was a path stretching forward in the four cardinal directions. The source of the sobbing which had woken him up was sitting in front of him.

    The crying boy was pale and gaunt. He had sunken cheeks and deep-set eyes with dark circles under them. Still, the features of his face showed signs of handsomeness.

    “Who, pray tell, are you?” Bai Hu asked.

    “M...My name is Bai Zhe, sir,” answered the boy.

    “Could you enlighten me as to what this place is?” the older man asked.

    “The female spirit who was here before me explained that this place is called the Dimensional Crossroads, sir. In front of you is the road to hell. On the left is the road to heaven. To the right is to the netherworld, and the living world is to the back,” he explained.

    “And why have you not made your way to heaven, then?” Bai Hu asked.

    “I cannot do that. There are invisible walls preventing us from going there. If we try to break in, our spirits will be torn apart. Without such a wall, all the spirits would go to heaven,” said the boy.

    “How long must I wait until I can continue my journey? And how can I know which is the correct path if these walls are invisible?” Bai Hu questioned.

    “The same female spirit also told me about this. She said she had to wait for a long time. Her spirit was pulled toward the living world. I think she might have been reincarnated by now.”

    “I understand now. Do you mind if I ask the reason you are crying? Do you know that a spirit with negative thoughts can go down only one path, which is the one to hell?” said Bai Hu.

    “R…really?”

    “Yes. So, calm yourself and stop crying. If you have any weight on your chest that needs to be lifted, you can tell me. I might look young, but I had lived for ten millennia before death found me.”

    “So, that’s why the way you speak sounds so old-fashioned.”

    “I just died. Why would you say my words are old-fashioned?”

    “The words you speak sound like the ones my country quit using hundreds of years ago.”

    “Well, that also explains why your clothes look strange. I thought you came from a tribe in some mysterious place. Anyway, why don’t you tell me your story? At least it would make you feel better to let it all out.”

    “All right. I lived with my parents in a small apartment. I woke up at dawn to deliver the newspapers. That’s why I went to school late every day. I was hired to work after school and finished very late at night. Then, I went back home and straight to bed. I didn’t have much time to study, and I usually could not stay focused in the morning classes. So, I got bad grades. I also got bullied by a gang in my class. One day, I had the misfortune to make eye contact with the girl whom the gang leader was flirting with. The leader was the son of our local politician. Politicians are like your noblemen, I guess, but they use their authority in immoral ways. He then sent some of his father’s men to wait for me on my way back home, and they beat me up until I passed out. I dragged myself back home. I took some painkillers and went to sleep. Then, I found myself here.” As Bai Zhe told his story, tears welled up in his eyes again.

    “So, you are worried about your parents, aren’t you?”

    “Yes. But there is nothing I can do. I am already dead. I cannot go back to them,” said the boy. He seemed to be letting go of his sorrow.

    “At least you had your parents. I was an orphan. Luckily, my teacher raised me. He taught me martial arts and how to practice my qi until I reached god-level qi. So, I’ve never gotten old, sick, or died. I wouldn’t have died if I hadn’t made the mistake of forging a god’s weapon and having it explode, destroying my life and those of other living things around the mountain,” Bai Hu said. At the same time, he noticed Bai Zhe’s twinkling up eyes looking at him.

    “Mr. Bai, you practiced martial arts?” Bai Zhe asked.

    “Of course. Do not tell me you have never met a martial artist?” answered Bai Hu, before putting the question to the boy.

    “No. I have never met one. In my time, internal forces, qi, martial arts, and martial artists exist only in novels, TV series, or movies,” said Bai Zhe.

    “What is a ‘novel’?…And what is a…?…See…rise?” Bai Hu asked.

    “Oh, right. Let’s say a novel is a kind of literature, and a TV series is like a stage play, but they have certain types of equipment to record it. You can watch it over and over again without having the actors re-perform it,” Bai Zhe explained.

    “I see. It is similar to the art of retrocognition,” said Bai Hu

    “I don’t know about that. Anyway, where did you die?” asked the boy.

    “At the Demon God Valley in the great land of Da Xian.”

    “At the Demon God Valley in Da Xian? There is no place like that in my world. There is not even a record of it. Could you please draw me a map of this place?”

    “Certainly. Bai Hu nodded. He started drawing the great land of Da Xian by using a little bit of his power. Bai Zhe’s eyes widened with amazement when he found out an astonishing truth.

    “This is not my world, sir. I think you came from a place that we call a parallel universe. In simple terms, your world is completely different from my world.”

    “How does it differ?”

    “In my world, we have five continents. I lived in a country called the Golden Dragon on the Blue Dragon continent. There is no such place as the Demon God Valley or the great land of Da Xian. We also have science, a knowledge of the use of logic. Martial arts, internal forces, and martial artists are just fantastical stories.”

    ‘This is bad. If there is a world like this boy described and I am born in another universe, will my body have the Dantian and energy channel?’ Bai Hu started to feel anxious.

    “Oh!” cried Bai Zhe. His body was starting to dissolve into a golden dust and float toward heaven.

    “Do not worry. If I am able to meet your parents, I will take care of them for you,” Bai Hu promised.

    “Thank you. Thank you so much,” said the boy before his dust disappeared on the path toward heaven.

    “Huh.” Bai Hu noticed that his spirit was starting to dissolve the same way that Bai Zhe’s had.

    Not long after that, his spirit turned into sparkling dust and flew toward the living world, and he lost consciousness again.

    “…Zhe.” Bai Hu heard a voice.

    ‘Who is that? And for whom is that voice is calling?’ Bai Hu thought to himself. He tried to concentrate.

    “Ba..Zhe.” The voice kept calling out.

    “Bai Zhe.” The voice was loud and clear this time.

    ‘Ouch. My head’s hurt. Everything is hurt, and some parts hurt more than others. Did someone harm me after I was born?’ Bai Hu thought to himself, slowly opening his eyes.

    “Bai Zhe. You’re finally awake, my child. I thought something bad had happened to you.” A thirty-something-year-old woman cried when she saw the boy finally open his eyes. She carefully helped him sit up and hugged him, tears streaming down her face. Bai Hu started to connect all the puzzle pieces.

    ‘Wait, what the bloody hell happened here? Why didn’t I reincarnate but get transmigrated into that boy’s body instead?’ he thought, really wanting to scream his questions out loud.

    While he was still confused, his head started to ache again, making him lift both of his hands to hold it. Bai Lian Hua let go of him when she heard his groan, only to take note of her son’s pain-filled face.

    “Are you all right, son? Do you want to go to the hospital? I have some savings. I could take you there,” said Bai Lian Hua.

    “N…No. It’s fine. I just…I got a little headache when I came back,” Bai Hu answered immediately.

    “I will bring you some moist towels. If you are not okay, tell me, all right?” the woman said before getting up to go to the kitchen.

    Bai Hu was sorting through all of the memories, thoughts, and knowledge in his head, which belonged to Bai Zhe’s body. He discovered that Bai Zhe was very poor. His parents did not have steady jobs. The boy dreamed of being an actor because he saw on TV that they got paid very well. They were all rich and famous, and people respected them. It was all the boy's heart ever desired. He wanted his parents to live comfortably and wanted no one to look down on him and his family.

    ‘As repayment for your body, I promise to take care of your parents. They will live a long and happy life. And I will make your dream come true,’ he thought, wishing Bai Zhe could hear him.

    “Lay down now. Let me put this moist towel on your head so you’ll feel better. Look at you. Who did this to you? Do you want to go to the police?” Lian Hua said while making her spaced-out son lay down before pressing the moist towel to his forehead.

    “Thank you, Mo-…Mum. I am better now. You should get some rest. Besides, the one who did this is the son of the local politician. We better not get in trouble with him.”

    “If you say so. I will make you some congee,” said the mother.

    “Thank you, Mum,” Bai Hu said before closing his eyes.

    Bai Lian Hua was worried about her son. When she came back and found an empty house, she thought the boy was out at work. Not long after that, Mr. Wang, her neighbor, had carried her unconscious son to her. He had gotten bruises all over his body, but luckily, his face was not swollen. At that moment, she thought she would lose him.

    Though his eyes were closed, Bai Hu mentally explored Bai Zhe’s body. The first thing he wanted to know was whether humans in this world had the Dantian. From what Bai Zhe had told him, it seemed like they did not have it, so they could not practice qi-based arts.

    ‘Well, seems like they have the Dantian. Why did not they practice their qi? Is this some damn god’s stupid joke? If so, I will burn all of that god’s shrines down,’ he thought to himself.

    Bai Hu scanned the body. There were many components that needed treatment. According to Bai Zhe’s memories, it would take days to recover if they were treated using the medical procedures of this world. But for a material artist like Bai Hu, all this pain would be healed in no time.

    ‘First, I need to direct qi to the Dantian.’ He took a deep breath and directed it to his Dantian, but something stopped him.

    ‘The air in this world is so dirty. If I take it in directly, it will be harder for me to reach a higher level of qi in the future. I need to purify it first.’ He purified the air before taking it into his body. Later, he exhaled the dirty air and inhaled only the pure air into the Dantian.

    ‘Great. Now this body has reached the first level of qi production.’ But Bai Hu did not stop there. Bai Hu drew the qi character which meant “pure” on his nose so he could only inhale the purified air. He changed the air inside his body to match that around him so he could absorb the energy better.

    Bang!

    It was not long until Bai Hu reached the second level of qi production. Though he was living in this world, it did not trouble him. The qi that was required to succeed at these basic levels was not much.

    ‘Now, I have enough life force. I need to heal the outside first, so his mum stops worrying. I will take care of the inside tonight.’ Bai Hu used his force to heal all the bruises and cuts. He then hurriedly drew the qi character meant ‘heal’ in the middle of the boy’s skinny chest because it looked like Bai Zhe’s mum was done cooking the congee.

    “Bai Zhe, get up and eat this,” she said, holding the congee. It was only rice without meat. Luckily, it had an egg in it.

    Bai Hu slowly opened his eyes and got up. He took the bowl and started to dig in while Lian Hua sat there, looking at him with concern.

    “Blech...” Bai Hu quickly took an empty glass that was close by and placed it under his mouth.