173: Chapter 170: Qualification 173: Chapter 170: Qualification Please support the genuine version by refreshing later.
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“It seems I really have traveled through time,”
In the lavishly decorated carriage, Zong Shou expressionlessly gazed at the circular mirror before him.
The reflection showed a boy not yet of age, about thirteen years old, with a pale complexion but exquisitely striking features that were rare and flawless.
His narrow phoenix eyes sparkled, yet they were filled with a sense of bitterness and helplessness at the moment.
I remembered, not long ago, my face was utterly ordinary—one that, if thrown into a crowd, you couldn’t possibly pick out.
Yet unexpectedly, upon waking from this dream, my body had transformed into that of such a handsome man.
Though slightly sickly and frail, he was undoubtedly first-rate in appearance.
Even those top male stars known for their good looks on TV in my previous life couldn’t come close.
If anything was lacking, it was merely a matter of aura.
But at this moment, Zong Shou felt no joy whatsoever, instead, he felt utterly lost.
It was as if a little fish, once free and swimming in the vast ocean, had suddenly come upon land.
In this world, beyond the deadly unfamiliarity and suffocation, there was also a sense of fear and loneliness.
Unwilling to give up, Zong Shou pinched his face hard, only to feel a painful sensation.
Naturally, he found no signs of plastic surgery on his face.
Perhaps I’m not dreaming?
And this strange place, where is it?”
‘Zong Shou’—that was the name belonging to the memories of this current body.
He had another name in his previous life, but in this situation, it was meaningless to him.
Muttering to himself, Zong Shou sighed deeply and looked away.
His heart was filled with despair, having given up completely on the idea of returning or ‘waking up’ from this dream.
In fact, he had been in this world for several days.
He repeated the same actions almost every time he woke up from sleep, and today was the seventh day.
Looking at the decor inside the carriage, it seemed to be from ancient China, yet it wasn’t entirely accurate.
Upon pulling aside the curtain, he saw endless fields outside, lush and vast, which made the heart feel open and fresh.
The air was clean and refreshing, utterly free from the pollution of the modern world.
However, looking further, one would notice that despite having wheels, the carriage was suspended mid-air, three feet off the ground.
The sixteen single-horned horses in front were treading the air, capable of moving up and down effortlessly.
Therefore, though the carriage was enormous, with just the cabin alone being forty square meters, it could navigate any complex terrain as if it were flat ground.
At the moment in front, no one was steering, and it rushed straight ahead, speeding into the distance.
The cuts and sword scars on the sides of the carriage were also particularly concerning.
Zong Shou felt dizzy and collapsed onto the velvet-covered couch.
Then, with just a slight thought, a series of fragmented memories emerged in his mind.
They were all broken and incomplete.
There were many words, several faces, and also a towering mountain piercing the clouds, an unimaginably large academy occupying most of an island in a lake.
It felt both unfamiliar and familiar, with an underlying sense of fear.
This emotion was extremely complicated and strange.
Last was the deepest memory in his mind, the only one still intact.
There were countless mysterious characters gathered together, forming a complete book.
These characters, unlike any he had known from his previous world, felt extremely familiar, as if he had mastered them in his previous life.
“Indeterminate Spirit Emperor Technique?
And this Demon Language.
Could this truly be the Divine Emperor World?”
Zong Shou’s lips twitched involuntarily, yet his face was completely bewildered.
“Divine Emperor” was a global craze, a network game that began in 2012.
It was unclear which gaming company developed it, as all the associated gaming equipment also appeared on the market suddenly.
It seemed overnight, Earth had moved from 2D and 3D online games into the era of virtual holographic illusions.
In his previous life, he had seen those academies, those mountains, and the demon clan script in his mind, all within Divine Emperor.
Right, he remembered that in his previous life, his last conscious moment was inside the game of “Divine Emperor.”
Combat among the Seven Emperors of the Cloud Realm.
Alone with a single sword, he fought against many, but at the last moment, his body suddenly experienced a surge of electricity, losing all consciousness.
When he woke up again, he had switched into a different body.
Everything around him was no longer the familiar Earth.
So, was he now inside the game, or in a real world?
Or perhaps, was there a connection between this world and “Divine Emperor”?
A wave of dizziness struck his mind again, and Zong Shou simply let go of everything and stopped thinking.
In the carriage, having nothing else to do, Zong Shou took out a three-foot-long Green Steel Sword and began practicing swordsmanship in the relatively spacious carriage.
His footsteps moved forward and backward, shifting with his body, making the sword light flash in the not too big nor too small carriage.
Just like in his previous life, every sword form, every step, was precise to the extreme, almost perfect.
However, this basic swordsmanship had only been practiced for half a moment when Zong Shou was already gasping for breath, his whole body drenched in cold sweat.
The silhouette of the sword light inevitably started to distort.
It was only by clinging to his innate, never-say-die spirit that he kept himself from collapsing.
Only when the last of his strength was completely drained did Zong Shou stop the sword light and sit gasping on the couch.
When that intensely focused attention finally dispersed, he could feel every part of his body, his limbs and organs, all aching as if scorched by flames.
This action was not merely out of boredom, but purely out of unease.
This world, and his own circumstances within it, both made him feel a pressing sense of danger.
He was eager to gain some strength, or at least some ability to protect himself.
In “Divine Emperor,” everything was close to reality.
Whether it was martial arts, languages, the five senses, combat, or even daily necessities, there was a complete system.
Most players relied on the system’s default settings to play and fight, without seeking deep understanding.
Yet there were others who would learn all they could about various knowledge and languages within Divine Emperor, study the principles of martial arts deeply, and understand everything in this world.
They could even break free from the constraints of the game and innovate on their own basis.
Zong Shou was not only one of them; he was a standout among them.
Basic Swordsmanship, Basic Boxing, Basic Lightness, Basic Evasion, Basic Step Technique, Basic Guarding, Basic Internal Skill — he had thoroughly mastered the foundation of every martial artist to the highest level of returning to simplicity, master level.
Among the hundreds of millions of players, only about a thousand ever achieved this.
In fact, Zong Shou had mastered all the principles, changes, and derivations of basic swordsmanship.
All he needed to do now was to make this body remember it firmly, making it his instinct.
But his body was just too weak.
Even a normal level of practice could only be sustained for the duration of a cup of tea, and his physical strength was even less than half of an average person’s.
And even more frustratingly, that Basic Internal Skill was fundamentally untrainable.