1 Reincarnation

'Is this it? Is this how my life ends?'

That was the first thought that came to Wu Huang 's mind. That day was supposed to be a day of celebration for him.

It was his 20th birthday and he was just offered a scholarship for a prestigious University in America. Once he finished University, he would be almost guaranteed a decent paying job that would sustain him for life.

Unfortunately, things don't always go the way we want them to be.

On the way home, a man ran towards him. Chasing after the man was a middle-aged woman screaming 'THIEF' at the top of her lungs.

Wu Huang was able to tell that the man running away was a thief. He wanted to step aside and let the guy pass through to save himself some trouble, but his conscience didn't allow him. When he saw the woman screaming at the top of her lungs begging for help whilst chasing after the thief, his heart grew soft.

Wu Huang decided to try to stop the thief by blocking his way. But things didn't go as he planned. As soon as he stood in the thief's path of escape, the thief swiftly took out a knife from his backpocket without Wu Huang noticing. As soon as he grabbed hold of the thief, the knife was fiercely thrust into Long Chen's chest. The pain made him tremble and made it difficult for him to breathe, but he didn't release the thief even when he was under such agonising pain.

More people came to help, and together, they brought down the thief. But as soon as the thief was restrained, Wu Huang collapsed on the ground, blood flowing out of him endlessly. He was experiencing an extreme amount of pain, and he knew he wouldn't survive long. He wondered, was it the right choice for him to intervene? Had he let the thief pass through, he would've been alive, unhurt. It wasn't even his problem to begin with anyway.

The woman he had helped was still scolding the robber while checking her purse, showing no sympathy to the bleeding Wu Huang, as if it was his responsibility to help her. When she was done, all she did was call for someone to send her home, without a shred of concern for Wu Huang's wellbeing.

'I hope the orphanage at least gives me a proper burial…'

'How foolish I was…. to play the hero… it's not like I'm some main character from a cultivation novel.'' He wanted to laugh at his current situation, but under extreme pain, it came out only as a grunt.

Before he even noticed it, his vision suddenly started to darken slowly until he could finally see nothing but pitch black. He could only hear the sound of an ambulance siren coming near. Then suddenly, everything ended. No sound, no light, no pain.

He wondered if he had already died, for he could feel nothing. He felt like he was in that state of formlessness for aeons before being able to feel something. He could feel again, albeit what he felt was pain, but this was a pain different compared to what he experienced before. Compared to the pain he felt when dying, it was nothing.

He could also feel his body, smell, and hear the sound of air flowing in the room. He was lying on something soft, probably a bed. He wondered if he was in the hospital and was somehow saved by a doctor.

He carefully tried opening his eyes, and thus slowly, they opened. He could see things around him. He then tried looking at his body but found no wound, nor a scar on his chest. He grew confused, and tried looking around, but what he saw made him even more confused. He was in a luxurious but ancient-looking room. There weren't many things in the room, except for a bed and a few more items, including some books.

Before his thoughts could start to stray, his head started hurting again, as if it was about to burst. That was before strange and foreign memories started appearing in his mind. After a few moments, everything ended; the pain that is. He was smart enough to understand what had happened. He died on Earth, and was transmigrated to a new world, and occupied the current body that he was in.

Clearing his thoughts, Wu Huang stood up and walked to the front of an ancient-looking mirror hung on the wall, and sure enough, what he saw was the unfamiliar appearance of another person.

From those memories, he understood a few basic things. He had transmigrated into the world of Yuan Zun and was reborn as Wu Huang, Crown Prince of the Great Wu Empire.

He had long dark hair, skin as fair as jade, while a pair of eyebrows akin to a sword's edge decorate his extremely handsome face. A faintly glowing blood-red symbol seems to have been embedded between his brows. A sight that is both mysterious and strange.

Even the simple act of sitting makes him exude an aura of nobility, standing high above everyone else like the pride of the heavens.

Satisfied with his new appearance, he went back to bed and started to think about everything he knew. Wu Huang was the crown prince of the Great Wu Empire. His father is the King of the Great Wu Empire, and had stolen Zhou Yuan's Saint Dragon Blessing at birth. He gave ⅓ of it to Wu Huang, ⅓ of it to Wu Yao, and the remaining ⅓ to the Great Wu Empire.

The Wu Clan initially followed at Great Zhou's side when they waged war all over. They were loyal and devoted vassals. When Great Zhou established a country, Wu Clan gained the hereditary title of King Wu, allowing them to enjoy an endless amount of privilege and power. And so in the next hundred years, the Wu Clan guarded the Great Zhou's borders, intimidating anyone who saw them.

However, the Wu Clan rebelled 15 years ago (before the real timeline of the story). The current King Wu, Wu Xuan, had a breakthrough to the Divine Dwelling Realm, and even the numerous conferred kings had been enticed to their side. In the short period of less than a year, the Zhou Empire was utterly defeated, and could only escape towards the south, to their ancestral land.

It had been said that since the Wu clan's foundations were weak, sufficient destiny was needed for them to establish a country, and allow their lineage to continue, and awe everyone with their power. With regard to all this, Zhou Yuan's saint dragon blessing was the solution.

On the day Zhou Yuan was born, King Wu entered the city and threatened the Zhou with the lives of hundreds and millions of Great Zhou citizens. Zhou Qing tried to fight back Wu Xuan on the Great Zhou Mountain but had one of his arms cut off. He was spared because King Wu was afraid that someone might destroy the Saint Dragon Blessing if Zhou Qing died.

In the end, King Wu then made a pledge with the ancestor that the Wu Empire would not step into Great Zhou's ancestral land for 100 years, but he later broke this promise after 17 years.

King Wu seized Zhou Yuan's destiny and granted it to his son and daughter, who were supposed to be born 3 years ago but was delayed by Wu Xuan in order for his children to have the same birthday as Zhou Yuan. Legend has it that those who have the same birthday could steal each other's destiny. Henceforth, Great Wu was protected by the dragon and phoenix, allowing their country to prosper.

Meanwhile, forcibly taking away the saint dragon blessing naturally gave rise to intense resentment. Wu Xuan purposely sealed this resentment in Zhou Yuan's body, thus creating the Dragon's Resentment Poison. It continuously strengthened itself by devouring the owner's blood essence until a certain day where it would finally mature then erupt and completely devour his life force. This was Wu Xuan's indirect method to get rid of the Zhou Clan's successor to prevent future troubles.

However, one confusing thing was that from the previous Wu Huang's memory, there was no Great Zhou Empire or Zhou Yuan, instead, it was the Great Yun Empire and Yun Che.

Thinking back to his previous life, he remembered another Chinese main character with that name. If he wasn't mistaken, Yun Che is the Main Character of Against the Gods and was a literal madman that would kill anyone that harmed his family. Meaning, the Great Wu Empire was his current number one enemy.

Thankfully, the Great Wu Empire was one of the top-level empires of this vast continent. It was a flourishing nation that contained countless Yuan Masters. In comparison, the Great Zhou Empire was akin to a dwarf before a giant. Which means that Wu Huang would be safe for now.

After absorbing the Saint Dragon Blessing, Wu Huang's talent only increased further, allowing him to awaken his 8th meridian by the age of 8. While Wu Yao still couldn't find the locations of her 8 great meridians.

In the end, Wu Xuan decided to transfer her dragon blessing to Wu Huang, which would ruin her genesis qi foundation and cause her to never be able to cultivate. Queen Wu found out and tried to stop the ritual, but was shaken away by King Wu and hit her head on the nearby pillar. Subsequently, she died because of the injury and poor health after giving late birth to the Wu twins.

However, instead of following cannon by triggering her hidden blessing, skipping the Eight Great Meridians Awakening Realm and reaching the Qi Nourishing Realm, nothing happened and she had her Saint Dragon Blessing transferred to Wu Huang.

After the death of her beloved mother and the blessing transfer incident, Wu Yao completely changed and became more determined to be stronger than anyone; moreover, she also secretly wanted to destroy the Great Wu Empire as revenge for her mother. She had secluded herself inside her room and even the previous Wu Huang hadn't seen her for over half a year. No one knew what she was doing inside.

Coming back to his senses, Wu Huang smiled wryly. He had already accepted the fact that he had transmigrated, and decided to live his life as Wu Huang to the fullest(create a harem of beauties) but he would need strength first.

Just as he was deciding on a plan, a faint 'ding' sound could be heard.