It's never too late

-Xiao Che's Room-

-6:00am-

As the gentle rays of the sun fell on his face, Xiao Che woke up and dragged his body to wash his face, last night's events still fresh in his mind.

He had already wasted some time, when every second counts he has to gain every bit of information he can, for his own advantage in this cruel world.

Splashing water on his face, he looked into the mirror, as his blurry vision subsided, he could finally see his new appearance.

"Aaa~"

A scream involuntarily left his mouth when he saw the person in the mirror, he looks like a doll with soft and beautiful skin, simply put a pretty boy, and this is supposed to be him!, where is the mustache? where is the beard!? WHERE IS THE SEGGS!!?

"Che'er what happened!"

Shouted an old man who entered the room with a panicked expression, apparently, he is Xiao Che's adoptive grandfather and floating cloud city's strongest man, Xiao Lie.

"Nothing grandpa! just the water was too cold" this third-rate excuse was the only thing that came to his mind.

"You.. forget it" he left with a sigh.

Fortunately, it was still early so not many people were awake, and with that, he went out for a tour of the city.

Every servant who passed him on the way out had a barely concealed look of disdain, and truly it did not feel nice when people look that way towards you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Outside the clan compounds-

-10:20am-

The beautiful, lush greenery; is pleasing to the eye, and the fresh air; refreshes the mind, this is really a beautiful world to live in if we ignore the dangers.

Currently, Xiao Che is sitting outside, under a huge tree, contemplating what he saw throughout his 'journey'.

All jelly mobs aside this floating cloud 'city' is not actually that big, just widespread as the houses are too far apart, the total population of this 'city' may not even be more than 200.

'Even though have been walking for slightly more than four hours I am just slightly tired not out of breath, I could blame it on my cultivation but I am a cripple so it doesn't make any sense unless it is the norm here

He stood up and scratched his head as if recalling something.

'My memories are somewhat hazy, both of this life and the last ones, and my dumb brain thinks that king Arthur is actually female, but how could that be? won't that make her something like queen Arthur or Artoria or Arturia? pfft* as if'

A small smile formed on his face which was quickly replaced with a more serious expression.

'As I recall the only way to get stronger in this world is cultivation, I know the basics but can't seem to recall the exact details like cultivation stages and other stuff, and I am not going to waste my time recalling it either, the best way would be to ask 'my' grandpa'

With that Xiao Che made his way to the Xiao Clans compound.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Xiao Lie's room-

-10:40am-

Inside a simple well lit room, two individuals were sitting, one older with the appearance of a common man in his 80s or 90s although he is younger, this is due to the stress that he has faced throughout his life for the loss of his wife and son, while the other is a young man or otherwise Xiao Che.

Even though the room is big for a single old man's use there is nothing grand inside, just a single table in the middle and a medium-sized bed in the corner, a typical grandpa's room.

"So you want to know about cultivation?" asked the old man confused, didn't his grandson already know that about it and that he can't cultivate.

The boy just nodded his head repeatedly, seemingly enthusiastic about it.

"Fine, so listen carefully to what I am going to tell you Che'er" seeing no harm in telling the basics to the young man Xiao Lie began to explain.

"We... I mean Cultivators absorb Qi which is present in the environment to increase their strength" as if realizing something he rephrased his statement.

"Every person in this world, is born with a set of 54 'profound veins' which hold 'profound strength', every profound vein has a profound entrance which determines one's cultivation talent, normally people have ten open profound entrances, a gifted individual may have around fifteen while a person with twenty naturally opened profound entrances can be considered an exceptional genius"

Xiao Lie paused for some time to let the boy digest the information, after which he continued.

"A person's cultivation level can be separated into 'Nine Realms'. Each realm goes from level 1 to 10, the 10th level of a realm is considered the peak of that realm and the hardest to overcome, also there is a huge difference in strength between the peak of a realm and the first stage of the next realm, as even multiple people in the peak of Element profound realm can't beat someone in the first of Nascent profound realm"

Xiao Lie was closely observing the boy, as he was listening attentively; which made him confused, didn't everyone already know these things, moreover, Xiao Lie was the one who explained this to Xiao Che for the first time, so why ask again?

"oh! and the nine realms I mentioned are Element profound, Nascent profound, True profound, Spirit profound, Earth profound, Sky profound, Emperor profound, Tyrant profound, and the peak of cultivation which one could achieve, Sovereign profound, it is said that the people in this realm can decimate entire mountains"

"There are some myths that there is a realm above that but I am not sure about that" the old man added.

The young man nodded his head, still focusing on what he heard, after listening to Xiao Lie's explanation he seemed to have remembered this in detail from his memories, what his grandfather told him was a rundown of the real thing after all.

"By the way grandpa, how strong are you?" he was THE strongest man in their city after all, so he must live up to that title, right?

"Why the sudden curiosity Che'er?" the old man was really confused now, first his grandson asks him the basics of cultivation then asks him to showcase his strength.

"umm.. grandpa as you know I have damaged profound veins and I can't cultivate, so I want to learn some martial arts to protect myself at least" the body replied with some thought.

It was music to Xiao Lie's ears, lost his son and then his daughter-in-law, the only reason for his desire to even live was just his daughter Xiao Lingxi and grandson Xiao Che, seeing his grandson not giving up even if he can't cultivate seemed to make the man younger by few years.

If his grandson didn't give up then why should he? as if a fire was lit in his heart, he was determined to at least teach all the martial arts he knew to his grandson, the strongest man in floating cloud city has made up his mind, and there is nothing that could change it.

"Follow me to the courtyard Che'er," he said as he left, the young man followed him thinking his grandpa is just going to show him his strength of Spirit profound, oblivious to the fact that he just sealed his fate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Xiao Clan's Training ground-

-11:00am-

Xiao Clan's training ground is half the size of a cricket stadium, the muddy solid ground covered with thin grass, it was visible from a glance that this garden was well maintained despite not being used frequently.

Xiao Lie stood near a practice wall, or whatever that is, and punched it with all his might.

The result? It got several deep cracks in it.

"....."

Well, it was disappointing, to say the least, the strongest man in the city who happens to be a peak Spirit profound realm cultivator can only do this much?

As if ignoring the young man's disappointed look, Xiao Lie began to speak.

"Listen carefully Che'er, just because you can't cultivate doesn't mean that you won't be becoming strong, if you train hard then you can easily hold your own against.. umm.. umm.. some people? yeah! some people!" that last part was said as if he did not believe it himself, the old man was perfectly aware that there is just so much one can achieve through martial arts.

[AN: *sigh* only if he knew]

"Absolutely! I won't be slacking off grandpa!" the young man replied excitedly, not quite yet aware of the fact that the 'hard work' in his mind and the old man's mind were vastly apart, like heaven and earth.

"Good Che'er now let's begin, quick give me 1000 pushups! followed by a 50km run" the old man ordered strictly.

"Yes! right away grandpa 1000 pushups and 50km ru- wait! what the heck are you saying!" by 'hard work' the young man didn't quite mean THIS much hard work, that even on the first day! did the old man not see his body, he literally looks like a doll, and a doll is not supposed to do this much work!

Even though Xiao Che wanted to argue but held back if the look in the old man's eyes was anything to go by.

Without wasting any time the young man went on his hands ready for some 'wide arms' pushups, from his looks one would assume that he could barely do even 10 pushups, but looks can be deceiving.

After crossing the 200 pushup cross mark the young reincarnate finally began to gain some confidence, 90 was the max he did in his last life after all, and now he could do 200 without much trouble, this WAS an improvement, so what he looks lanky? and quite feminine, he just has to work hard! hard work moves mountains, hard work splits seas, and he can achieve 'anything' with hard work, perfect.

But.. but as a great man once said, "Reality is often disappointing", and he realized this quickly, as sweat was rolling off his face, arms and legs shaking violently it appeared as if he would give up any moment, nearly 800 pushups were done while 200 were left.

He squeezed every last bit of his stamina, which was empty, every last bit of his willpower, which even he didn't know where he was pulling it from, the record for most pushups in one hour in his previous world was 3000+, so it should be surpassed easily in a fantasy world, sweaty and shakey somehow he pulled it off.

He fell face-first into the ground when the deed was done, luckily the floor was not cemented.

It took exactly ninety minutes for him to complete the goal.

"Good job! Che'er, it was impressive for your first time, you really outdid my expectations!" the old man did not hesitate to praise the lad for his hard work.

"Father! little Che!, you are here? I was looking for you everywhere!" interrupted a smooth immature voice, Xiao Lingxi, he only saw her last night.

"Che'er is training Xi'er, and I am assisting him"

"oh? really! but he looks very exhausted father, you should not go hard on him" Lingxi complained, she was also surprised though, the thought of little Che training never really crossed her mind, since he can't cultivate, she has been protecting him from bullies after all, not like it was a bad thing.

"Don't worry little aunt, this much is nothing for me" said the lad while shaking, his words not very convincing.

"If you say so, but you didn't even have breakfast in the morning it is one now!" it indeed was the truth, Xiao Che took off in the morning and was busy training afterward, there was not much time to think of breakfast.

"You are right little aunt, I am feeling really hungry right now, is there something to eat"

"Leave it to me little Che, your aunt will make something for you quickly" this girl was really like an angel to the lad, if he continued this way he would eventually find some way to actually become strong right? even if he was not born with cheats, he still has his 'knowledge', the weapon of the wise.

"Oh! Che'er don't forget you still have to train after eating alright?"

The road to strength may not be so far but the efforts are still in order, it would seem.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Xiao Lie-

As the duo left, the old man had a reminiscing smile on his face, seeing the two still getting along really warms up his old heart.

"mmh Che'er didn't forget that he has marriage in a few months right?"

Floating cloud city's number one beauty and genius, even though this marriage was decided before their birth, the old man still had some hope in his heart, that probably this girl is different... different from others, otherwise why would a peerless genius not annul her marriage with a cripple.

Xiao Lie don't have many desires, just a few, wishing for his grandson's happiness being one of them, even though his son lost his life for saving Xiao Che's, he was not that petty to hold a grudge against the child, believe me, many would.

It was his son's decision and he is not going to disgrace his deceased son by allowing any harm to the child.

Xiao Lie soon followed after the two, now what would be the fate of the young girl in question? will the new Xiao Che follow the same path as the old one? or make his own path. Only will next chapter will tell.

-END-