3 A Blood Feud Already

'Black Heaven Scripture? Is that my cheat cultivation technique? Sounds powerful…', Zhang Baichi stared at the lines of text on the transparent screen in front of him, his gaze fixated on the last entry. 'But what's a Spiritual Jade?'

[Ding! A Spiritual Jade is a special treasured item that is used to record someone's Intent, thoughts, experiences and other information. In this case, it records the cultivation technique known as the ''Black Heaven Scripture'.]

With an understanding nod, Zhang Baichi acknowledged the explanation given by the system and sank back into his thoughts. 'Right, so it's that kind of thing. Cool. How do I use it, though? Do I need some divine sense, spiritual sense, or whatever ability?'

[Ding! Host is correct. To obtain the information stored inside a piece of Spiritual Jade, a cultivator must use their Spiritual Sense to immerse themselves into the information.]

'Great, so I can't use it. I don't have any kind of sixth sense.', Zhang Baichi rolled his eyes, then looked at the other items he obtained from the Gift Pack but was interrupted by the system before he could inspect them.

[Ding! The system can be used to extract the information from the Spiritual Jade and transfer it directly to the Host. The Spiritual Jade will be destroyed in the process, however.]

[Ding! Would you like to extract the information from the Item 'Spiritual Jade containing the Black Heaven Scripture'?]

'Huh…', he looked a bit sluggish after hearing this, but Zhang Baichi soon shook his head, still adamant about inspecting the other items first. 'No, not yet. Show me the Sturdy Iron Sword and the Blood Pills first.'

[Ding! The Host can summon the items contained within the Inventory by himself with a simple thought.]

'Do it by myself? What, are you sulking because I ignored your suggestion?', Zhang Baichi smirked, then held out one hand and tried to summon the Sturdy Iron Sword.

The next moment, a simple sword with a length of about 1.2 meters appeared in his hand. Its blade shone with a metallic glint, indicative of its sharpness, while the handle was wrapped in thick brown leather. As its name suggested, the sword didn't look special at all, yet its weight made it feel reliable.

"Oh sh*t, it actually worked.", startled, Zhang Baichi spoke out loud and began fiddling with the sword. It was light and could be wielded with one hand, surprising Zhang Baichi a bit. 'Don't swords like this weigh like 5 kilograms or something? Why does it feel so light?'

[Ding! The Sturdy Iron Sword in Hosts hand weighs a total of 3.4 kilograms and is heavier than swords from Hosts old world by circa 1.5 to 2.0 kilograms.]

'Swords are just 2 kilograms…? More importantly, it's 3.4 kilograms? It feels lighter then a can of soda.', he still fiddled with the sword in his hand, lightly swinging from one side to the other without any technique or rhythm.

[Ding! Hosts physical strength as a cultivator at the 4th Layer of the Body Forging Realm already surpasses that of athletes from your former world.]

'That strong?!', this surprised Zhang Baichi even more and he took at his own body. While he was only 13 years old, Zhang Baichi noticed that his body seemed much more developed. He had rough, tan skin and well-defined muscles much like boxers or karate masters from his old world; His physique really unbefitting of a young teen.

Peeking through the gaps in his tattered clothes, Zhang Baichi saw his own firm chest and abs, looking like they were carefully chiselled by a master, yet were stained by fresh and dried blood. 'Yo, I'm jacked… Wait, blood?!'

He looked around and finally noticed the puddle of blood that he was sitting in. His face changed for the worse and he jumped up and out of the puddle. "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew! Why is there so much blood?! Argh, my pants are all drenched! What the f*ck!"

.

.

.

A while passed before Zhang Baichi managed to calm down. He quickly skimmed through the small cottage and grabbed a few rags to mop up the blood, then found himself a change of clothes, though it was still the same pale cyan martial artists attire that he wore before.

There is no bathroom, nor a sink or even a water outlet for him to use, so Zhang Baichi had no choice but to walk out to the well behind the cottage. Without anyone in sight, he quickly washed up and changed into the fresh set of clothes, curiously looking at his surroundings the whole time.

Everywhere around him were only other small thatched cottages, with barely any other people lingering around in the distance – all of them wearing the same cyan clothes, all of them young and looking just as jacked as Zhang Baichi himself.

'Is this the Fleeting Storm Sword Sect? It looks more like some slum… No wonders there's no one powerful around. Who would want to stay here anyways?', he mused while tidying up his attire and binding his long hair in a ponytail. 'I really need a haircut, though.'

"Zhang Baichi?", without him noticing, a sturdy looking, suntanned young man approached him from the back. He was a head taller than Zhang Baichi and looked to be in his early twenties, though Zhang Baichi already knew that looks are deceiving in this world. 'More importantly, how strong is that guy…?'

[Ding! Lu Hao, cultivation of the 7th Layer of the Body Forging Realm, 14 years old.]

'…Thanks. He's strong, build like a bear, but only 14? He looks like that while I'm just 'slightly' below average? Is that guy some genius cultivator?', the system analysed the young man and gave Zhang Baichi crucial information as the later greeted the newcomer with a curt nod.

Lu Hao laughed and strongly clapped on Zhang Baichi's shoulder with an amicable expression. "It's good you're still alive, haha. I though Ji Jian's goons had sealed the deal this time.", his checked Zhang Baichi with his eyes, then spoke in a somewhat solemn tone. "How bad is it? They didn't go too far, right?"

Zhang Baichi shook his head with a wry smile and quickly came up with a reasonable excuse, though he didn't know if it would work. "I'm fine. I tricked them with fake blood."

"Fake blood?", Lu Hao frowned and looked Zhang Baichi in the eyes before chastising him. "If you've got time to learn such odd techniques, you have time to train. Your cultivation is already lacking behind most others while Ji Jian has recently reached the 10th Layer of the Body Forging Realm. If you continue like this, he'll really kill you in your duel."

This was news to Zhang Baichi and his mind quickly spun into overdrive. '10th Layer? D*mn, who is that Ji Jian? And what duel? Why would he kill me?! System, what do you know about all that?!'

[Ding! Ji Jian is the strongest cultivator in the surroundings and one of only three people at the 10 Layer of the Body Forging Realm.]

'Even the system doesn't have enough information – again!', after keeping quiet for a short while, Zhang Baichi sighed and spoke to Lu Hao. "…I'm thinking about giving up."

He deliberately didn't say a lot and kept his reply vague to not accidentally mess up. His words caused the frown on Lu Hao's brows to deepen, while his expression became somewhat fierce. "When did you become such a wuss, you idiot? Think clearly about who challenged who. You said you'd kill him for what happened to your family, no matter what. An Elder even noted down your fight! If you give up, they'll kick you out of the sect and cripple you, not to mention what Ji Jian will do!"

'Oh, what the f*ck! I just reincarnated, yet I already have a blood feud?! And what about my family? Don't tell me they're all dead! D*mn it, I can't even get out by admitting defeat? F*ck this world's Zhang Baichi, what did he get me into here!', internally screaming and losing his mind, Zhang Baichi gritted his teeth and lowered his head.

From an outside perspective, it seemed like he was enraged, but forced to swallow it his anger, which caused Lu Hao's expression to soften. He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small clay bottle and stuffed it into Zhang Baichi's hand. "So you do know that you can't give up. Take these Blood Pills and go back to cultivate. I'll make sure Ji Jian's goons keep their distance from you. Even their master, Ji Jian, doesn't dare offend me because of my clan, much less this bunch of dogs. You still have 2 months left, so go make a miracle happen."

Zhang Baichi raised his head and sighed, "Brother Lu, can't you use your clan to get me out of this? I hate Ji Jian, but I was too rash. I can't defeat him..."

"I already told you that I can't... Unless I become a Core Disciple, I won't have any authority to move the clan's experts, even if I'm the Clan Head's son.", Lu Hao shifted his eyes away and spoke in a wronged tone.

Both men remained quiet for a short while before Lu Hao broke the silence again. "I'm serious though. Go and make another miracle happened. No one believed that you could really start cultivating because you were always unable to feel Spiritual Qi, yet you proved them all wrong. If anyone can do something ridiculous like beating Ji Jian despite having a lower cultivation level, it's you."