There was one thing Lin Ning had never been able to figure out; the thought just wouldn't sit right with him.
In his previous life, he had struggled and strived under great pressure, and during sleepless nights he had read some web novels, most of which were about transmigration.
But before those protagonists transmigrated, they either lived miserably or were betrayed, mostly living in frustration and failure.
Yet after transmigrating, they turned around and became sons of the plane.
From then on, martial arts, ultimate skills, aptitude, inheritance, and even a country and beauties—they had it all.
How satisfying!
But why was it so different for him?
Others went from bad to good, yet although Lin Ning's previous life had had some minor flaws, there had been no great regret.
After going through many storms, just as his life was about to take another step forward, he had inexplicably transmigrated.
Other people transmigrated to turn their fortunes around—what was his transmigration for?
He had been transmigrated into this body out of nowhere, only to be beaten half to death, unable to leave his bed for many days.
As for the mess the original body had left behind, that went without saying!
In such a large mountain stronghold, aside from Aunt Chun and Jiu Niang, he had lain there for so many days without a third person coming to so much as look at him...
Of course, Lin Ning knew this wasn't because people's hearts were too cold—it was truly because the things the original body had done before were hateful enough to earn everyone's resentment.
Besides this wretched persona, there was one more thing Lin Ning deeply regretted: he was clearly in a world with martial arts, yet was destined to never achieve anything in it.
Because learning martial arts required diligent practice from a young age, tempering and strengthening one's bones and muscles—no matter how great one's talent, this was true for everyone.
If the foundation wasn't laid solidly, everything else was for nothing.
This was an ironclad rule!
And the original Lin Xiaoning had been lazy and gluttonous since childhood, with mediocre talent for martial arts—not to mention he simply didn't like practicing it. Though he knew a few punches and kicks, they didn't even amount to flashy but useless moves.
Now he was already fifteen, his aptitude already set. Even if he was still growing, he had already missed the most crucial period for tempering his body. Even if Lin Ning worked hard now, he might train himself into a cripple before achieving anything of note...
What man doesn't harbor a martial arts dream in his life?
It wasn't that Lin Ning had any ambition to become the number one expert under heaven.
It was just that in his previous life, he had already tasted the flavor of power and wealth. Though he had remained unmarried, he had walked through fields of flowers and grown used to beauty.
Only the martial arts dream of his youth could remain nothing more than a beautiful dream.
But now, being so clearly close to it, only a single step away, yet it felt like an insurmountable chasm—truly a regret.
All of this left Lin Ning rather displeased.
However, what Lin Ning never expected was that on the tenth day after his transmigration, right after he finished drinking his tenth bowl of Dragon Blood Rice porridge, the heavens actually gave him such an enormous surprise!
At this moment, he lay in a bamboo chair, an ancient scroll in his hands, yet his gaze wasn't on the book at all—instead, he stared at the empty air with faint, suppressed excitement...
There, only Lin Ning could see a semi-transparent interface.
At the very top of the panel were two large words:
Heavenly Dao!
This interface was extremely familiar to Lin Ning—it was a mobile game developed internally by his company in his previous life.
Non-competitive, it was the only game the company allowed employees to play internally—Honor of Kings and PUBG were strictly forbidden...
The reason this game was granted such special leniency was because the company was confident that no one who played it would ever get addicted.
In the game, there was no war between people, no PvP—the only killing allowed was the simple elimination of small monsters and pests.
The greatest "fun" was accepting quests from NPCs—like helping farmer uncles pull weeds, helping ranches chase off wolf packs, delivering letters for the city guard, and along the way getting rid of small demons harassing the common people...
It was positive energy to an absurd degree, less exciting than even a single-player game of Fight the Landlord...
And completing quests earned merit points, which were the equivalent of experience points in other games—they allowed leveling up and let you learn skill books...
And it was precisely this game, mocked and ridiculed by everyone in the company as well as their partners and competitors alike, that now felt so dear, so precious to Lin Ning!
Especially the notification bar that had just appeared, which made his eyes light up:
Profound-level martial art discovered 《Qiankun Strength》. Learn it? Merit points required: 8. Current merit points: 25.
In that moment, Lin Ning truly found it hard to contain his wild joy!
The 《Qiankun Strength》 in his hands had been left behind by his father, Lin Long—it was the Lin Family's hereditary martial art. It was with this very 《Qiankun Strength》 that his grandfather had established the famous Qingyun Village, occupying Canglan Mountain and becoming a great power in the region.
It was just that previously, Lin Ning had held it in his hands and studied it for over ten days, gaining nothing.
Practicing martial arts placed the greatest importance on one's sect, because it required a renowned master's guidance and instruction.
It was just like studying in his previous life—even with a textbook clearly in hand, a teacher's detailed explanation was still necessary.
Without a teacher's instruction, aside from a rare few naturally gifted geniuses, even entering the door was difficult for ordinary people.
This was also the reason Lin Ning had felt unhappy these past few days—clearly, he wasn't some naturally gifted genius with excellent comprehension for martial arts. If he were like Zhang Wuji falling off a cliff, even obtaining the 《Nine Yang Divine Skill》 would probably just leave him waiting helplessly for death, because he wouldn't understand what he was even looking at...
Yet unexpectedly, heaven never seals off all paths!
In the end, the heavens had given him a huge surprise!
"Yes!"
As the thought stirred in his mind, the notification bar before Lin Ning vanished, replaced by a main panel.
Heavenly Dao.
Lin Ning: Lv 1（0/10）
Merit points: 17
Strength: 5 Agility: 3 Intelligence: 5 Charisma: 2
Skill Slots:
Qiankun Strength: Initial Glimpse（0/15）
The skills within 《Heavenly Dao》 were divided into five realms in total: Initial Glimpse, Minor Accomplishment, Mastery, Peak of Perfection, and Return to Simplicity.
Different skills required different amounts of merit points, which were essentially experience points, to advance.
However, what Lin Ning cared about wasn't this, but... why hadn't he felt any change at all?
He clenched his fist, but didn't feel like his strength had grown much at all...
Lin Ning's heart sank—could this be a fake system he'd been given?
If he'd known it would turn out like this, he should have made the engineers at the company design it properly!
He glanced again at the 0/15 behind Initial Glimpse, and understood this meant that just 15 merit points would let him advance to the next realm.
Since Initial Glimpse didn't seem to produce any noticeable change, why not try going a step further...
With that thought, Lin Ning gritted his teeth and spent 15 merit points, applying them to Qiankun Strength.
The instant this thought arose, Lin Ning's expression suddenly changed—because a searing pain erupted throughout his entire body!!
In an instant, Lin Ning's face flushed red, then turned deathly pale, cold sweat pouring out in beads the size of beans.
He felt as though his entire body was collapsing, every single muscle cell being torn apart, reforming, then torn apart again.
Every capillary in his body burst in an instant, then regenerated, only to burst again.
Even the skin on his body slowly split open, peeled away, was replaced with new skin, then split open and peeled away again...
"Ahh!!"
Lin Ning let out a scream and fell from the bamboo chair onto the ground.
He felt as though his entire body was about to be torn apart!
Just then, someone arrived outside Ink Bamboo Courtyard—tall and imposingly built, it was none other than Cui'er, the maidservant by Jiu Niang's side, holding a bowl of sugar cake in her hands, her face full of reluctance...
Jiu Niang had originally meant to come herself, but Cui'er wouldn't allow it and came in her place.
Yet she never expected that before she'd even entered the door, she'd hear screams coming from inside.
Although Cui'er wished nothing more than for something bad to happen to Lin Ning, reason still told her that Lin Ning couldn't actually be allowed to come to harm—his identity was too sensitive.
She hurriedly pushed open the bamboo door and went in, following the commotion across the bamboo bridge and up a few steps to Tingyu Pavilion, where she saw Lin Ning lying on the ground covered in blood, his face twisted and hideous, blood flowing from all seven orifices, his eyes open and "staring" at her, whether alive or dead unknown.
With a "crack," the bowl of sugar cake in Cui'er's hands fell to the ground.
Though she was tall and powerfully built, with tremendous strength, she was still only seventeen or eighteen this year, and had never seen much of the world, nor read many books—when had she ever witnessed such a terrifying scene?
If it were entering the mountains to hunt, or joining the team to rob travelers and fight, she wouldn't be afraid.
But...
But the scene before her eyes still frightened her out of her wits.
Though she wasn't clever, she still knew what the consequences would be if Lin Ning died suddenly...
Just as Cui'er crouched down, before she could even check Lin Ning's breath, she heard a terrified scream from not far behind her.
"Ahh!! Ning'er!!!"
Her heart lurched in panic, and she turned to look, seeing Aunt Chun running over, her face deathly pale, growing whiter by the moment...
"Ning'er!!"
Aunt Chun looked at Lin Ning lying on the ground, covered in blood in a state too horrible to bear looking at, and she nearly fell apart entirely. She dropped to her knees, not caring at all about the filth and blood covering Lin Ning, and burst into wailing tears.
The commotion at Ink Bamboo Courtyard alarmed the whole mountain stronghold, and before long many people from the stronghold came up. Seeing Lin Ning bleeding from all seven orifices, every single one of them was horrified, their expressions changing drastically. Some of the sharper ones rushed to the conference hall to inform the leaders.
"Cui'er, how could you be so cruel—you actually harmed Ning'er!"
Seeing Lin Ning showing no sign of life at all, Aunt Chun was nearly driven mad. Cui'er reached out again to try to check his breath, but Aunt Chun slapped her hand away and cursed at her sternly.
Cui'er was completely stunned, looking at Aunt Chun in fear. "Aunt Chun, I didn't do it."
Aunt Chun's heart was breaking with grief, and there was no way she would listen. Cui'er looked around at the people from the stronghold standing there silently, their faces heavy, and said with a sob in her voice, "It really wasn't me..."
Hearing this, the people of the stronghold shook their heads and sighed, one after another, not knowing what to say.
At a glance, it looked as though Lin Ning had been brutally tortured to death using internal energy—which matched perfectly with Cui'er's broad, powerful build and her situation of harboring resentment...
Not long after, Tian Wuniang and several of the leaders hurried over, and upon seeing Lin Ning held in Aunt Chun's arms, his entire body soaked in blood, every one of their expressions changed drastically.
Aunt Chun wept so hard she could barely speak, crying out in anguish, "I just begged you, didn't I! I begged you to give Ning'er a way to survive—he was wronged, he was just fooling around with Jiu Niang!... He is the only blood of the Great Chieftain and Madam!!"
The moment these words were spoken, the expressions of everyone around didn't even know how to change anymore, and many people's gazes fell upon Tian Wuniang.
Second Boss Fang Lin's face turned as dark as a black iron pot, his eyes fixed on the utterly terrified Cui'er. Third Leader Hu Dashan's bearded, dark face was full of bewilderment at first, then erupted into fury, his roar like a crash of thunder: "Who did this? I'll skin him alive!"
Though he resented Lin Ning for being useless and harboring petty schemes, no matter how angry he got, at most he would beat him up, scold him, treat him coldly, or if truly necessary, confine him—but he would never let anyone harm Lin Ning.
The reason was simple: Lin Ning was the son of Head Boss Lin Long and Madam Ning, blood relatives whom he regarded as an elder brother and sister-in-law.
Hu Dashan owed the Lin couple a debt of great kindness—how could he possibly let harm come to Lin Ning's life?
One must understand, before Lin Long's death, he had entrusted Lin Ning not only to Tian Hu, but to them as well...
And now, to see his elder brother's only son die such a horrific death—the fury was immense!
"It wasn't me, it really wasn't me..."
Stared at intently by several of the leaders, Cui'er's big face went pale as snow, and she knelt there, sobbing and denying it.
Fourth Boss Deng Xueniang forcibly restrained the furious Hu Dashan, who wanted to act, and called out loudly, "Don't be hasty—figure out what happened first... Where's Doctor An? Go fetch Doctor An, quickly!"
Under everyone's gaze, Tian Wuniang stepped forward, her face pale, and half-knelt on the ground, taking Lin Ning from Aunt Chun's arms. In her phoenix eyes there seemed to be a faint glimmer of tears...
She and Jiu Niang did not share the same mother—her birth mother had died young, and in those years, it was Lin Ning's mother, Madam Ning, who had raised her with her own hands, loving her as if she were her own daughter.
Madam Ning had been so good to her that it had even stirred jealousy in Lin Ning's heart.
Tian Wuniang still remembered how, before Madam Ning's death, when she could no longer speak, she had stroked her hand, looked into her eyes, and pointed toward Lin Ning.
Wu Niang understood—Madam Ning was asking her to look after Lin Ning, who was three years younger than her.
Yet, only a few years later, Lin Ning now lay dying tragically before her eyes.
She had failed Madam Ning, who had treated her better than her own child, and failed her esteemed teacher, who had taught her martial arts...
Two clear tears, no longer able to be held back, slowly slid down from her phoenix eyes...
However, the moment those two tears fell onto Lin Ning's face, Tian Wuniang felt his already-stiffened "corpse" suddenly tremble, then slowly begin to soften.
Tian Wuniang's phoenix eyes flew wide open in shock, and she looked down in disbelief—there, Lin Ning, whose eyes Aunt Chun had closed so he wouldn't "die with his eyes open," slowly opened his eyes, his gaze calm and gentle as it looked at her—unlike the sinister, elusive, resentful and disdainful look she remembered from him...
Tian Wuniang's expression, however, had already returned to its usual composure, her phoenix eyes cool and stern, staring straight into Lin Ning's own.
Their gazes met in silence, still as a thousand mountains under evening snow...
In the end, ripples stirred upon the frozen lake.
.....
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