Agony.
It felt as if every bone in his body was being ground to dust, then crudely reassembled.
Ye Chen regained consciousness amidst a tearing pain. A cold dampness enveloped him, mixed with the fetid sweetness of mold and some decaying plant, which seeped into his nostrils.
He abruptly opened his eyes. What greeted him was not the white ceiling of a hospital, nor the familiar mess of his rented room, but a dim, cramped space.
Above, gnarled, unknown dark brown vines wove into a rough canopy, through which slivers of pale, dust-laden daylight filtered. Beneath him was damp earth covered in dry grass, pressing painfully against him.
He was lying in a rudimentary, utterly simple shack.
"Where... is this?"
As the question arose, a vast and chaotic torrent of memories surged into his mind, like a breached river, overwhelming his modern consciousness.
The Profound Sky Great World, Eastern Region, Qingyun City's Ye Family... a sixteen-year-old youth also named Ye Chen... tested as having a "Pseudo Spirit Root" during the family trials, with no hope for cultivation... parents died early, as a branch family disciple, he was left with no support... refused to enter into a political marriage with a declining family on behalf of the direct lineage young master, angering the family head, he was branded "disobedient," his meager cultivation was abolished, his surname stripped, and he was exiled to the family's most remote and dangerous "Black Marsh" mine...
Waiting to die.
The last two words, like ice picks, pierced Ye Chen's heart, chilling him to the bone.
He, a twenty-first-century office worker who died from overwork, had actually transmigrated after death! And he had transmigrated into an abandoned child, thrown into the abyss from the start, with almost no hope in sight!
This was more brutal than starting in hell.
"Pseudo Spirit Root... according to the memories, in this world, it's practically a death sentence on the path of cultivation. And the Black Marsh... it's said to be a forbidden zone for life, filled with miasma and lurking fierce beasts. Those exiled here have a ten percent chance of survival, meaning death."
Ye Chen struggled to sit up, but his injuries flared, especially around his Dantian, where a hollow, intense pain emanated, a lingering effect of his cultivation being forcibly abolished. He grunted, cold sweat instantly beading on his forehead.
Outside the shack, indistinct voices and footsteps could be heard, carrying a sense of numbness and indifference.
"...Another one sent to die, and one of the Ye family's own, tsk."
"Who cares? Let's see if he can survive three days. If we don't finish today's ore quota, the overseer won't be happy."
"Let's hurry, the miasma is coming up..."
The voices gradually faded away.
Ye Chen leaned against the cold earthen wall, gasping for breath. Despair, like a mire in a swamp, threatened to engulf him.
He was unwilling!
After finally getting a second life, was he going to die obscurely in this godforsaken place?
Just then, his fingertips accidentally brushed against something hard in the dry grass beneath him.
Cold, with a rough, rusted texture.
He instinctively grabbed it and brought it before his eyes.
It was a palm-sized token, dark brown all over, covered in rust and dirt, with chipped edges. It looked unremarkable, as if it had been abandoned for countless years. The front of the token was engraved with blurry, illegible patterns, seemingly once some kind of cloud patterns or talismans; on the back, there was a faint, ancient character that he didn't recognize at all.
"What... is this?" Ye Chen rummaged through the original owner's memories, but found no information about this token. When the original owner was thrown into this shack, he had almost nothing.
Perhaps it was left behind by a previous "occupant"?
He wiped the dirt off the token with his hand, trying to see it more clearly. However, no matter how much he wiped, the patterns and script remained blurry, and the token itself still looked worn and tattered.
Just as he was about to dismiss it as a piece of scrap metal—
Buzz!
A faint vibration, as if from the depths of his soul, emanated from the token.
Immediately, Ye Chen felt his palm grow warm. The token seemed to come alive, emitting an extremely faint, warm glow. At the same time, his mind boomed as if some shackles had been broken.
A clear, yet emotionless stream of information appeared directly in his consciousness:
【Detected Host soul binding... Conditions met... 】
【Heaven Rewards Diligence System, activated! 】
【Host: Ye Chen 】
【Realm: None （Dantian damaged ）】
【Cultivation Method: None 】
【Skill: None 】
【Status: Severely injured, weak, mild miasma poisoning 】
【Core Rule: Effort yields reward. Any effort by the Host in cultivation or skills will be quantified and recorded, granting corresponding Proficiency. No bottlenecks, no upper limit. 】
Ye Chen was completely stunned, his heart rate suddenly accelerating, the sound of blood rushing in his ears.
System? A cheat!
As a webnovel enthusiast in his previous life, he was all too familiar with this term! And the core rule of "Heaven Rewards Diligence" instantly gave him a glimpse of infinite hope!
No bottlenecks, no upper limit! This meant that even with his trash "Pseudo Spirit Root," as long as he was willing to work hard, he could keep improving!
After the surge of joy, he quickly calmed down, focusing his attention on the token, which had returned to its cold, ancient state.
"It's because of this... this token is the key to activating the system?"
He examined the token closely again. This time, he vaguely felt that there was an indescribable rhythm within the token, which, along with the system he had just awakened and his own soul, had established a faint connection.
"Ascension..." He subconsciously rubbed the ancient character on the back of the token. With an inexplicable intuition, he "recognized" the meaning of these two words.
Ascension Token!
Although he didn't know its origin or its earth-shattering background, Ye Chen understood that this seemingly unremarkable bronze token, along with the system in his mind, would be his only means to reverse his fate in this desperate situation!
The flame of hope was ignited, dispelling some of the chill of despair.
Ye Chen knew that the immediate priority was to survive and regain some mobility.
Enduring the intense pain, he tried to move his Qi and Blood according to the rudimentary movements of the 《Basic Body Tempering Art》 from the original owner's memories.
The first simple stretching movement made him grimace, his body covered in cold sweat. His damaged Dantian was like a leaky funnel, unable to store or guide Qi. Any slight movement brought a needle-like sting.
"No... at this rate, forget cultivation, a few movements might dislocate my joints." Ye Chen panted, stopping.
However, the moment he completed that incomplete movement, the system panel in his mind changed:
【Skill: 《Basic Body Tempering Art》（Incomplete） Proficiency +1 】
【Current Proficiency: 1/100 （Beginner）】
【Prompt: Skill Proficiency increase can slightly promote Qi and Blood circulation, relieve muscle fatigue, and accelerate wound healing. 】
"It works!" Ye Chen's spirits lifted!
Although his Dantian was still damaged and he couldn't cultivate "Spiritual Energy," the system acknowledged the "act" of "body tempering" itself! And increasing proficiency could directly feed back into his physique, accelerating wound recovery!
This was a godsend!
He hesitated no longer, temporarily abandoning complex movements that required Qi guidance, and instead began to repeat the simplest, most basic stretching and joint-moving exercises. Each movement was performed extremely slowly, with utmost seriousness, striving for perfection, feeling every tremor of his muscles.
【《Basic Body Tempering Art》（Incomplete） Proficiency +1 】
【《Basic Body Tempering Art》（Incomplete） Proficiency +1 】
...
After completing each set of movements, the system prompt arrived as expected. Simultaneously, a faint but tangible warm current began to flow through his sore muscles and bones with the increase in Proficiency, soothing the pain and bringing a sense of strength.
This visible progress gave Ye Chen immense motivation. He forgot about time, forgot about fatigue, like the most devout ascetic, repeating the extremely tedious basic movements over and over again in the dim shack.
Sweat soaked through his tattered clothes, mixing with blood and mud, but the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
After an unknown amount of time, the already dim light outside the shack completely disappeared. A thick, fetid mist began to spread from the depths of the swamp, enveloping the entire mine area.
Miasma!
As Ye Chen smelled this scent, he immediately felt a slight dizziness. On the system panel, the degree of 【Mild Miasma Poisoning】 seemed to have deepened slightly.
He stopped cultivating and leaned against the wall, carefully conserving his energy. Although the system's feedback was miraculous, it had only just begun, and he was far from out of danger.
Just then, the shack's rudimentary door, crudely tied with branches, was violently kicked open from the outside with a "bang."
A tall, thin middle-aged man with a sinister gaze, wearing dirty leather armor, entered. He carried a whip stained with dark red marks and a deflated cloth bag hung from his waist.
It was the mine overseer, named Zhao Hu. In the original owner's memories, this person was deeply imprinted—mean, greedy, and treated the exiled as livestock.
Zhao Hu's gaze swept across the shack, finally landing on Ye Chen, who was huddled in the corner. A mocking smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Well, Young Master Ye, still not dead? You've got a tough life." His voice was hoarse and unpleasant, like sandpaper rubbing. "Where's today's ore?"
Ye Chen remained silent, not answering. He had just arrived and didn't even have a pickaxe, so where would he get ore?
"Hmph, a waste is a waste! Still think you're a young master of the Ye family?" Seeing his silence, Zhao Hu grumbled and walked forward, unceremoniously poking Ye Chen's shoulder with the handle of his whip. The intense pain made Ye Chen grunt.
"Since you have no ore, then you should pay this month's 'protection fee,' shouldn't you?" Zhao Hu grinned sinisterly, his eyes scanning Ye Chen, as if searching for anything valuable. "Pay up, and Uncle Hu will guarantee you live a few more days in this godforsaken place. Otherwise... hehe, the swamp at night can be quite lively."
Ye Chen sneered inwardly. The so-called "protection fee" was merely an excuse for these overseers to extort and oppress. The original owner had already been stripped of everything, and he now had nothing.
He shook his head and said in a low voice, "I don't have it."
"You don't have it?" Zhao Hu's face darkened, and he raised his whip. "It seems you don't understand the rules here without a lesson!"
The whip whistled through the air towards Ye Chen! If this strike landed, Ye Chen, in his current state, would likely lose half his life.
In this critical moment, the data for the 《Basic Body Tempering Art》 on the system panel flashed rapidly in Ye Chen's mind. It was almost entirely due to the more refined control over his body developed through half a day of training that he suddenly recoiled backward!
"Slap!"
The tip of the whip grazed his cheek, striking the dry grass and scattering straw. A burning pain shot from his cheek, but he had at least avoided a fatal blow.
"Huh?" Zhao Hu was clearly surprised that this seemingly half-dead wretch could dodge. He froze for a moment, then became enraged, "You dare to dodge?!"
He raised his whip again.
Just as Ye Chen's heart sank to the bottom, preparing to endure the beating—
"Roar—!"
A low, ferocious roar suddenly came from the dense miasma outside the shack!
The sound seemed to possess a soul-piercing power, causing Zhao Hu's whip-raising motion to freeze instantly. A flicker of obvious fear crossed his face.
"Bad luck! It's a Nightmare Beast!" He glared fiercely at Ye Chen, as if blaming him for bringing misfortune. "You're lucky, kid!"
With that, he stopped bothering and hurriedly turned, rushing out of the shack and disappearing into the increasingly dense miasma, as if he would be swallowed by the darkness if he lingered a moment longer.
Silence returned to the shack.
Only Ye Chen's heavy gasps remained, along with the unsettling, increasingly close beast roars from outside.
He touched the burning wound on his face and tightly gripped the cold, rough Ascension Token in his embrace.
The overseer's oppression, the swamp's dangers, the ever-present threat of death...
All of this made him more clearly recognize the cruelty of this world.
But this time, there was no despair in his eyes.
Only a cold, resolute determination, like the cold iron from the depths of the Black Marsh.
"Heaven Rewards Diligence..."
He whispered these four words, as if making a vow.
"Then let's see if I'm consumed by this desperate situation first, or if I tear open this world with this path of 'diligence'!"
Nightfall and miasma completely enveloped the shack. The youth's figure was curled up in the darkness, yet it seemed as if something was about to break through the earth.