Chapter 1: Prologue

A slightly dim streak of light shot across the sky, landing inside a crude single-story house; the furnishings within were extremely cluttered, and the room contained an old wooden plank bed.

The young man slowly opened his eyes; his consciousness was somewhat blurred, yet his thoughts finally found some direction, though a throbbing pain as heavy as lead immediately assaulted his head.

Ignoring all of this, Bai Ziqi carefully surveyed his surroundings, urgently wanting to understand his own situation.

Bai Ziqi had originally been a Golden Immortal of the Upper Realm, but alas, he had made enemies and incurred deep grudges. Although a Golden Immortal is already a pivotal figure within the Immortal Realm, time was not on his side; in the end, he perished together with his foe, both falling, yet his true spirit awakened at this very moment.

He examined his hands and feet; the skin was still fairly smooth, indicating he was not very old, yet his limbs were weak and powerless, moreover thin and withered, likely caused by malnutrition.

Immediately, he silently circulated his mysterious arts, but after a while, he could only give up in helplessness, for he could not summon even a trace of immortal essence.

Settling for the next best option, he began to observe his true spirit; the weakness of his true spirit made him even more helpless, proving that his true body's demise had also affected his true spirit, which was an unavoidable consequence.

However, although his true spirit was weak, it was still sufficient for him to undergo a hundred reincarnations; if, after those hundred lives, he still could not return to the station of a Golden Immortal, then Bai Ziqi would cease to exist in this world from that point on, truly perished.

Immediately, he once again fell into deep sleep.

He did not know how much time had passed when he felt warm, liquid food entering his mouth; his body seemed to be awakened at that moment, transmitting a fierce sensation of hunger.

However, the quantity of this food must have been very small, as it vanished in but a short while; Bai Ziqi remained very hungry, but soon after, warm water flowed down his throat and into his stomach.

Unexpectedly, his stomach at that moment began rumbling incessantly, "Gurgle, gurgle!" "Could it be protesting that it hasn't been fed enough?"

Accompanied by waves of hunger, he opened his closed eyes.

What met his gaze was a middle-aged, haggard woman; seeing him awake, she seemed startled, put down her bowl, then tears streamed from her eyes as she tightly embraced him in her arms.

"Qi'er, you are finally awake! For so many days, Mother has been worried sick about you!"

Bai Ziqi naturally knew that the latter part of his mother's words, which she had not spoken aloud, was likely that she feared he would never wake up.

He nodded with difficulty, saying nothing more; having eaten so little, his stomach still felt empty, and his headache had not diminished much.

Fortunately, he knew that in this life, his original self had a mother; he was not alone in this world, which gave him some sense of attachment.

Although this awakening was brief, his frail body clearly could not endure it; he closed his eyes again, while his mother's rough hands placed a cloth soaked in water upon his forehead.

The reason his body quickly failed was that an additional segment of memory had been added to his mind, likely the memories of the original self before the true spirit awakened.

The renewed weakness of his body was probably caused by the process of digesting these memories.

The awakening of the true spirit is a highly uncertain matter, depending on the strength of one's body in both the previous life and the current one; in other words, if more energy is provided and the nutrition is better, awakening will occur earlier, whereas otherwise, it will be much worse.

If one had the opportunity to cultivate the Immortal Dao in the previous life, then awakening in the womb during the next life is entirely possible, though this requires a very high level of cultivation.

Conversely, if one falls into a state of weakness or injury, there is also a probability that one might pass through an entire lifetime without ever awakening.

However, anyone who reincarnates is inevitably affected by the Mystery of the Womb, meaning all memories of the previous life are forgotten; only upon the awakening of the true spirit will all memories be fully restored.

His true spirit, constrained by the station of a Golden Immortal, was still hundreds of millions of times stronger than that of an ordinary person; at the very least, he could undergo a hundred cycles of reincarnation while keeping his true spirit undying.

Had he attained the station of a Great Luo Immortal, he could have independently chosen his birth circumstances, such as being born into a family with opportunities for Immortal Dao cultivation, which would be far superior to being born into a destitute household.

His current situation was far from optimistic; judging by this body's age, although young, he was likely no longer a mere child.

If one's cultivation reached the Saint level, that would be beyond his knowledge.

Because Saints must not be casually thought of; once one does so, they will immediately become aware, marking an identity and station of extreme nobility. Nevertheless, there are methods to deceive Saints, but he was now merely a mortal.

Lacking any cultivation, divine abilities, or divine sense, wanting to attract a Saint's attention was simply impossible; furthermore, the mortal realm and the Immortal Realm were separated by countless layers of distance and space, making such perception extremely difficult.

Bai Ziqi thought to himself, "Rather than worrying about these things now, it would be better to nurture my body to become stronger; relying on Mother's support for life is preferable."

Once his body recovered somewhat, he could devise some methods to improve the current situation.

Fortunately, he had awakened in this first life; had he not awakened, it would mean his true spirit had been extinguished by his enemies, resulting in complete annihilation.

Time passed quickly; in the blink of an eye, more than a month had gone by. Bai Ziqi's body gradually showed signs of recovery, though the family was impoverished and lacked surplus grain.

They survived entirely on his mother washing and mending clothes for wealthy households; initially, his body was too weak, and he could only eat while lying down, later he could slowly get up and walk a few steps, and now he could even go outside daily to bask in the sun.

According to accounts, the circumstances under which his original self was injured were bizarre; he had been inexplicably knocked unconscious on the ground, and it was only after neighbors informed his mother that he was brought back home.

Heaven blessed him, allowing him to return from the brink of death, and furthermore, he had awakened his true spirit, which could be called an unexpected joy.

However, judging from the original self's memories he had received, there was not the slightest information regarding any injury; from this, one could easily infer that either the predecessor was a good-for-nothing person with no defensive mindset.

Or alternatively, the enemy had acted with cunning and ruthlessness, leaving no trace for anyone to find. However, the current Bai Ziqi would not be so easily harmed in such a manner.

That he did not harm others was already a great blessing for them; at the very least, he would not trust people so lightly and could distinguish between those who were good or bad toward him, for the genuine cannot become false, nor can the false become genuine.

Hypocrisy and feigned affection flew everywhere, making good and evil hard to distinguish; fortunately, the environment he inhabited was not so complex, consisting mostly of kind and honest folk from the countryside.

Considering his mother's occupation, the people she interacted with were mostly similar, such as woodcutters who chopped firewood, hunters who gathered mountain goods, village women who washed clothes, fishermen who cast nets, and so on.

These people were busy striving for survival all day long; where would they find the mental energy to scheme against others? Even if they did, it would only concern trivial matters like needles, thread, oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar; "What harm could there be? It is merely petty squabbles over trifles."

Most of these villagers wore their likes and dislikes on their faces; they were straightforward, speaking their minds without too many twists and turns.

However, this referred only to the good neighbors and did not include the bad ones, such as ruffians and local bullies; these people bullied the soft and feared the hard, making a habit of tormenting the weak.