Chapter 3: Opportunity or Deception?
Achoo!
"Who the hell is thinking about me right now? Tch, I really hope it’s a beauty, otherwise this world wouldn’t make sense," Zhu Rong said as he stepped out of the infirmary.
He was discharged from the infirmary after his condition was confirmed.
He had suffered a minor head trauma from a hard blow.
Judging by the palm sized mark on the right side of his face, it wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened, even though his thoughts were still confused about the situation.
Old Song was already used to treating him and could tell at a glance when he was fine and when he wasn’t.
Although a bit surprised by how quickly he recovered, Old Song finally let him go,
joking that after taking so many blows, Zhu Rong’s body had naturally built up a resistance to them.
Needless to say, Zhu Rong had plenty to say about that, but he decided not to waste any more time in the infirmary and left.
He intended to take a look around the academy and get a sense of the situation.
After all, even though it seemed like he had traveled back in time, he had to make sure everything was like in his past life.
"Hmm, it really seems like I’ve gone back to those times, but how?" he wondered while lying on a tree branch.
At the moment, he was in the academy gardens, where disciples usually went to have lunch or relax after classes, and it was also a place he often liked to visit in his past life.
The place was almost completely empty now, perfect for having some free space to think.
One of the first things he checked was his cultivation.
In the past, due to a deformation in his meridians, he hadn’t been able to cultivate normally, ending up left behind by others his age.
Back then, he didn’t understand what the problem was; only later did he discover his deformation, but by then it was already too late to find a cure.
It was a rare deformity that happened to one person in a million.
According to what he found out, it was something that could be fixed if acted on in time, more precisely, it had to be done before reaching the mid-phase of the Body Tempering stage, the first of many stages of mortal realm.
At the time, he didn’t know he had this deformity, and no one in his family found out either, so he cultivated slowly and eventually reached the final phase of Body Tempering.
Only then did he discover that he couldn’t break through because every time he tried, he felt agonizing pain.
Just remembering the look on his face when he learned about his problem made him shake his head.
Having this deformity and realizing it was already too late for a cure was like a curse that haunted him ever since.
At the end of his second year, given his poor results and after learning about his condition, he was expelled both from the academy and then chased away by his family.
His fiancée, who already hated him, decided to break up with him now that she had a reason, and as if that weren’t enough, an old rival of his decided to make a move now that he was vulnerable.
To escape the assassins his rival sent after him, he left the province and hid in a very remote city in a minor province of the empire.
His relatives had already cut ties with him, and those who still had some disappeared little by little.
In the end, he was completely alone, but he didn’t give up.
He relied on medicines and artifacts to advance his cultivation, and on his decent forging skills to make a living.
He thought this way he might make a name for himself and maybe even find a cure one day, but it was all in vain.
His cultivation stopped completely when he reached the peak of the mortal realm, a peak he no longer knew how to overcome.
He knew that trying normally would just be a death sentence, and finding even more high level resources was also impossible at that point.
He was left with only forging, which, although slow, was making progress.
In the end, he focused all of himself on it, and the rest is history.
He wore a thoughtful expression when thinking about his past.
He couldn’t deny that he had his fair share of regrets, but he had to admit that he also lived his life as best as he could with what little he had.
In the end, when he was eliminated from divine tribulation, he had almost no regrets, except for one,
not being able to see his masterpiece in action.
Now that he was reborn, he wondered if this was truly a second chance granted by heaven, or if fate was just playing a cruel trick on him, deciding to mess with him a little longer.
"Well, whatever the reason is, I’m not going to waste this opportunity," he told himself as he stood up.
He wasn’t sure if this was the plan of some higher power, but he knew there was no point in thinking about it now.
He had the chance to steer his life in the right direction and maybe even reach stages he couldn’t in his previous life.
There was no way he was going to just sit around and wait for everything to repeat itself once again.
He looked up at the sky with a determined gaze and a strange bright glint in his eyes.
"Let’s see if you can stop me in this life too."
He made a small leap and jumped down from the tree branch.
It was almost evening now, and it was time for him to return to his dormitory.
Normally, evenings were when many cultivators would either relax or cultivate, since mornings were mostly for lessons.
But the lessons were on break this week because the end of semester test was coming up soon.
This was his second year, and he was still in the first semester.
The week before the semester’s end was given to disciples for rest and review, but he had more important things to do than prepare for a pointless test.
He arrived at his dorm, grabbed his things, and got ready to leave.
He only had a few hours to make a trip outside the academy grounds, beyond which he would be punished if caught.
He intended to make a quick trip to the city to pick up some materials before then, so he went to his dorm to get his money before leaving.
But...
Looking inside his savings pouch, Zhu Rong’s expression darkened.
Two silver coins...
"Damn, have I been robbed or something?
Is it possible that I’m really this broke?"