New Chance

On an ordinary cloudless afternoon, William is contemplating his life choices in his bedroom before coming to a mundane decision.

"Let's practice my martial arts until I drop since I don't have work for a few days, this body of mine should recover soon enough".

After 2 hours of basic but habitual routines of stretches, stances, and shadow boxing William is tired panting on his exercise mat.

"My teacher refused to teach me further acting as if I've learned all I can from, humph, I feel he is making excuses to teach his unmotivated son, in comparison to him my one year of progress feels amazing and all the other students admire me, it's just…".

"I can never…what did he call it, ah yes, carry myself as a martial artist should with confidence and vigor ready to fight the world!" This makes William think back to one year ago when he started this training due to his admiration of fictional martial arts but he has always been missing something.

"I can still try to acquire these things; novels have taught that it is never too late to walk this path or Dao hehe". His previous life decisions and choices have made regrets and self-hatred pile up unto his shoulders erasing any chance of this but he still holds hope.

"BUT even though I've never truly hurt anyone beyond myself this feels like the path of repentance with myself as the judge skewed against me".

His memories weigh him down as he makes every movement; it is not their scale or their danger but it actually is how they have shaped him and how much he wishes to change them.

"You think so much of stuff that matters so little; Go be free of your chains; look past your regrets and exceed yourself" A voice is imprinted in William's mind a voice so filled with power that it could never be forgotten. William's very existence erased his room and everyone else in the house clueless as to his disappearance.

When William is gone the voice puts on a playful tone "Amuse me, cause anarchy, bring forth upheavals"

William himself is going through torturous pain as if he's being compressed to a body a lot smaller than his. With his vision almost completely filled with darkness bar a tunnel that surrounds him.

"What the? Where am I? Is this outer space? Is this transmigration? Can I learn the Dao of space or something through this? No, the main characters I know always learn space at like medium levels, so I doubt it's that easy".

Armed with an overactive imagination and knowledge of many wuxia William knows to not look a gift horse in the mouth. Through the immense pain glimpses into the darkness around him hoping to gain something.

Whilst William is in the gap between realms Wu lie is on his last legs after running through a portal to escape terrifying imagery that haunts him. "I've never hurt anyone, why is this happening? Why are those horrific things behind everyone? Why are there so many voices in my head?!" He cries in a feeble voice as his soul shatters into pieces.

As the last of his life fades William's soul enters through a space crack after going through kneading, compressing and flattening he lands in the Wu Lie's body the fragments hitching a ride on William's transmigration.

William spots a harmless looking Old man peacefully what he presumes is meditating or cultivating he is about to interact with.

A sting of pain starts in William's head "Ah yes the penetrating headache every transmigrator goes through" What assaults William is pain 10 times worse than when he went through the tunnel.

"Aah fuck, shit, crap, ergh" he continues shouting different extremities of swearing, the old man doesn't even notice since he is in his own world.

A bunch of information pops up in his head William glances over it figuring out the basics:

The fact he is or was living in the Asura realm and that he is or at least was in a cultivation world until today when he is training alone and something happened, something that sent his soul into shock and he ran away from the Asura realm.

His name is Wu Lie he is 12 years old born as an Asura race to a middle-class family located in the Asura realm his life consisted of living an ordinary life of peace compared to most Asuras. That is to say training lots and lots of training with very little actual combat experience but more of an escape from the world around him.

It is not all training; there are legends and myths of the Asura realm and famous medical herbs which his parents didn't want him to miss. His social interactions are at the same level of 12-year-old William which is to say terrible with only 1 friend and a few acquaintances.

'Ugh a training maniac who is bad at making friends, hopefully, I can make friends this time around it should be easier to interact with young kids. Wait, scratch that I will learn how to interact with people all over again a kid making these mistakes are more forgivable than an adult'.

William is about to draw his attention when he sees a horrific amalgamation of resentful humans and beasts behind him.

"Whu-wha-what is that behind you?!" William asks in horror making the evil-looking faces look in his direction and speak. The old man doesn't hear him and continues meditating unaware of William's presence in the room.

"He sees us!" William specifically looks at the one who spoke, a fat man who looks like he has heavily indulged in carnal pleasures.

"He hears us!" Says a man with a whip and a cruel look on his face.

"Growl!" Says a bloodthirsty looking wolf

"What are you?" William asks to try and prove the guess he has right before memories assault his mind and he remembers when Wu lie awakened the innate ability Resentment Eyes (which William deduces that they allow him to see the resentment of the people/animals that someone has killed).

After seeing the towering resentment present amongst his town his soul crumbled as it was overwhelmed with gory and overwhelming information, he fled to the mortal realm through a portal to keep his mind intact though it shattered with how fragile he was at the time.

"Us? We are the resentment of those killed by this harmless-looking old man" William considers for a moment before asking "Resentment…? HE killed you?"

"Hmph, he murdered us in COLD BLOOD!" They are about to go on a rant about their woes before the old man interrupts "Cold blood…? Stop slandering me the number of innocent lives you've each taken number in the thousands I was just dispensing heaven's justice".

"Pft that phrase hahaha" William is laughing his ass off clutching his stomach making the old man feel embarrassed.

"I know kids should be energetic but this isn't a laughing matter," William notices the old man's serious face.

"Heh, forgive me, senior, this junior has seen that phrase used many times in many contexts and can't help but relate it to either a sense of arrogance or scheming."

William hesitates in doing something that might offend the old man but decides to risk it as it may bring great benefits to himself and he wants to keep the ghosts of the old man out of his mind at least until he has his bearings.

"In many of those contexts, heaven's justice is used as a convenient excuse for performing good or evil acts when most of the time it aligns with their morality and choices".

"That also begs the question of whether heaven truly cares about the actions you are taking or if you are just unburdening yourself of the guilt or consequences of your actions. I am of the belief a person should take the full burden of their actions or at least share it with other people rather than hiding behind the heavens".

The old man is shell-shocked; he remembers in his youth feeling unshakable guilt and hiding behind the heavens.

"What if I am not strong enough?" The old man asks his voice laced with desperation.

"Break him, ruin his Dao heart, avenge us and we will give you untold wealth and power!" The spirits speak in voices only William can hear.

'As if! Hopefully, this is the right kind of world that this works' William thinks to himself.

"Then become stronger it is never too late to temper the mind, never too late to improve yourself to become a stronger person, giving up cause its hard or you've missed the best time are just excuses to abstain yourself from never unneeded tempering".

'I'd be a massive hypocrite if this was a year ago thankfully my change in mindset came just in time'.

'How much can I improve with this second chance?'.

He is about to continue his line of thought when a surge of energy from the old man interrupts him "the boundary I couldn't cross was always this close I feel like such a fool".

"Who are you?" The old man plays off his newfound embarrassment at the phrase by changing the subject