Chapter 1 - A New Beginning

"So this is how far i can go, huh..." said an old man while watching the stars one last time.

"Human life is really short, isn't it?" he said with a low voice. He looked around him and only saw emptiness. This man was Long Yang. Who lived his whole life by martial path, trying to make a living through it by teaching. Martial path was useful when people used it when they're trying to stay alive but who can stay still in the flowing river of time. In his life, which was peaceful and without threats, it only stayed as a hobby. Which made continue living even harder for Long Yang.

He pursued Martial Path till its end, but only at the end of his life he realised human life is simply too short. He felt there are still lots of unresolved issues and unachieved things in his life. But how would regret be any help at the end of the road. He just looked the stars one last time and sighed. His eyes closed slowly and his breating stopped shortly after.

...

-System activated. Welcome to Immortal Domain System host Long Yang. Searching for most suitable Cultivation Method... Initiating Azure Dragon Cultivation Art... Congratulations host is now at the first layer of Qi Condensation. Host may check current stats by saying Status.-

'What the...Am I hearing things now?' thought Long Yang. He was waiting for coldness and journeying on the void. But he felt rain dropping on his skin. He started shivering from the cold and abruptly opened his eyes.

"Wait!! How do i even feel cold? And what is the pain in my arm!?" he said as soon as he opened his eyes. When he noticed he isn't dead and feeling as healtier than ever he thought he finally reached Heaven. Only the pain in his arm was pulling him to reality. He looked at his arm and saw a youths arm with bite wounds full of blood. He was sitting in the puddle of blood...His own blood.

'Did i reincarnate somehow? But shouldn't i start my life from rebirth and lose all my memories?' He didn't even believe thinking like this but he was only trying to find some meaning in the things happening. While trying to think it through, he suddenly felt dizzy. He started watching someone elses life like a movie, the past owner of his current body.

The past owner was also named Long Yang. He was a servant of the Sun family of Everlasting City. Sun family was one of the four clans in the city. When his parents died while hunting some demon beasts for living, third elder of Sun family, Sun Che found him in their hut in the forest. He was only five years old then. Sun Che was a good friend of his father Long Pengfei. When Sun Che noticed he couldn't cultivate like his father, he could only take him as a servant of Sun family. He was forever grateful for him but life wasn't easy for a servant. Worse if you are serving a cultivator. He was serving Eldest Young Master of Sun family, Sun Guo. He was at same age with him, currently 19 years old. But unlike him, he was a cultivation genius. He started cultivating at the age of 7, reached Qi Condensation Eight Layer last year at the age of 18. But he was a cruel man. He would occasionally try techniques on him with his friends. Whenever he learnt some martial art, he would first try on him. But at least he knew how to hold back, just enough not to kill him. Today he was on some arrand for Sun Guo, harvesting some herbs in Black Forest close to Sun Clan. But who knew he would encounter a Early Level Qi Condensation Beast in the forest. He tried to fight against Blood Wolf but unfortunately died by bloodlost.

'So he really died...By the looks of it, only by reaching the first layer of Qi Condensation through the system this body is still alive. It seems i really reincarnated huh. But...Cultivation huh...They say one can live forever when he reached the peak of it.' thought Long Yang. But his thoughts couldn't last longer when they heard some kind of a bark. He lifted his gaze and made an eye contact with a beast whose fur is colored crimson. It was looking him like it's waiting its prey to die so it can start feasting on it.

'First i should handle the matter at hand.'

He stood up slowly and shaked his body. When he opened his eyes his bleeding had already stopped and he was feeling as vigorous as ever. When the Blood Wolf saw its prey stand up like nothing happened, a cold glint has passed in its eyes and it lounged forward to him. But sadly for it, Long Yang wasn't Long Yang before. He simply rolled sideways and grabbed a stone. When the wolf lounged again he side stepped. Wolfs salivated mouth just bypassed him, but in his eyes nothing can be seen as fear. Only excitement, excitement from all the things learnt through his life but couldn't use. He punched the throat of the wolf and while it staggered, he started hitting its head with the stone in his left hand. The wolf couldn't understand what was happening even in its last breath...

After the wolf dealt with Long Yang sit on the ground and started gasping in excitement.

'Now this is living. Hmm what did that voice said? Status?'

As soon as he said the last word, a panel appeared before him.

Long Yang (Age 19)

Cultivation: First Layer of Qi Condensation (Early Level)

Cultivation Method: Azure Dragon Cultivation Art

Body Cultivation: Mortal

Martial Arts: None

'Hoo, it seems great and convenient. But i am at the lowest of the low, am i not?' his lips curved to a little smile. 'But what is this Azure Dragon Cultivation Art even mean? Wasn't i trying to cultivate with Violet Flame Art of the Sun Clan?'

He tried to remember what is this method about. And weirdly enough when he thought about it, mantra for the art appeared in his head.

'What a complicated art. Seems much better than Violet Flame Art.' When he tried sirculating his Qi by the mantra of the art, he felt Qi surrounding him rushing towards him. But he saw usually colorless Qi turning to a green color when he started sirculating in his Qi pathways. He felt very refreshed by every bit of Qi he absorbed.

When he cultivated an hour he noticed sun was setting and it was time for return, or it would be hard to enter the city even for a servant of the Sun family. He grabbed his pouch on the floor which is full of Yellow Rose Flower and started walking towards the city gate.

...

When he reached the gate he couldn't see the two guards he saw in the morning, apperently they changed shifts.

"Halt. Show your identity or pay entrance fee." said one of the guards. But when he saw the Sun Clan medallion in the hand of Long Yang, his gaze immedietly filled with respect. "So you were from Sun Clan, sorry for not recognising you, i hope i didn't mean any offend." said the guard hurriedly.

"No, you were only doing your job. Keep up the good work." said Long Yang and passed the gate. After passing the gate he released a soft sigh and thought 'Even being a servant in Sun Clan is good in the eyes of the others. But seeing the past owner of this bodies memories it makes it really hard to believe. I should probably find a chance to free myself from them. Altough i kind of feel respectful about the elder who picked old Long Yang, that's about it.'

Long Yang continued walking towards Sun Clan while feeling down about the situation he is in. When he reached the gates, he still couldn't think any way out for himself. 'Well, first i shall see how things go.' After clearing his thoughts he opened the gates and walked towards the Sun Guo's living quarters. While passing he checked his surroundings, he could see some servants passing by but most of the members from Sun Clan was in closed cultivation. One who nourished from Qi would need much less food and sleep. When they reached some level, they wouldn't need any at all, only for clearing their mind they would sleep or eat. So most of the elders and disciples would be cultivating in days without break.

When he reached the door of the Sun Guo, he heard "Come inside, it seems you returned finally."

Long Yang smiled slightly when he noticed how ones senses improve with higher cultivation realm. Even hearing the cold voice didn't effect him, only made his blood boil.

He respectfully opened the doors and said "I'm sorry Eldest Young Master, there was some difficulties while gathering but i returned as soon as i can.". Even if he only felt contempt for this youngster he thought he shouldn't break the bridge before passing it. So he passed his pouch while bowing his head.

"Humph."He only heard a cold scornful voice. After taking the pouch and checking things inside Sun Guo said "I will forgive your offend today. You will accompany me for training tomorrow, be ready in the field tomorrow morning.".

'There it is, i have seen it coming when he pretended to be offended.' thought Long Yang while sighing inside. But he didn't show his feelings on the outside. He simply bowed his head and left.

After he left he walked towards his livings quarters from his memories. When he went inside, he only saw a very cramped place. Very empty one at that too. Only things inside were one bed and one closet. But in the closet he saw apart from his clothes, there was two thin books. They were Violet Flame Art and some body cultivation method named Bronze Skin Method. He skimmed through them and tossed Violet Flame Art away. He didn't need it when he had Azure Dragon Cultivation Art. But on the other hand, Bronze Skin Method was another story. In his memories Long Yang from before studied it very closely but he couldn't do anything about it, since he couldn't feel even a little bit Qi. But now he was a Early Level Qi Condensation Cultivator. He knew there was a total of ten layers of Qi Condensation, at first three being Early, three after that Middle, three after that Late and at the last layer was Peak Level cultivation. Altough he was at the start of it, his only option was cultivate and study this body cultivation art or he might really die before finding a way out for himself.

He opened the book and started reading it. It wasn't much complicated, Bronze Skin Method only had 3 level and it included the mantra for nourishing his skin. He quickly read the whole method 2 times and after making sure he remembered all, he started sending his Qi towards his skin while following the mantra. After cultivating for three hours, he started feeling some itching on his whole skin. Right when he was rejoicing he heard systems voice without any emotion in his head.

-Congratulations host has comprehended Bronze Skin Method. Bronze Skin Level 1 has been added to hosts body cultivation.-

When he checked his status he saw the updated things in one glance.

Long Yang (Age 19)

Cultivation: First Layer of Qi Condensation (Early Level)

Cultivation Method: Azure Dragon Cultivation Art

Body Cultivation: Bronze Skin Level 1

Martial Arts: Bronze Skin Method

After he checked his status, he closed the panel and started looking through window in daze. The sky was much more clear than his old world. He gazed the starry sky and moon and sighed. 'I don't know how did i arrive here but seeing the stars one more time with my eyes really makes all the difficulties bearable.' He wouldn't really mind bowing his head to these youngsters since he was already an old man his life before. He was much more mature than some 19 year old young man to understand the situation he is in and knew clearly pretending would earn the time he need to leave this place. He only felt excitement for exploring this new world before him and live the life he thought he missed. Long Yang lied to bed and closed his eyes while thinking about what this new life of his may have for him.