"He who seeks not heaven's favor must forge his path on earth."
---
Li Wei never considered himself special.
He wasn't the top student, nor the bottom. He wasn't rich, nor truly poor. He studied quietly, worked late, and kept to himself. Orphaned before he could remember faces, raised in group homes, he learned early that survival didn't need drama—it needed endurance.
He had no dreams of greatness, no schemes for fame. His life was a quiet stream, trickling forward one day at a time.
Until the night the stream ended.
It was raining. The kind of cold drizzle that clung to the skin and made everything feel heavier than it should. Li Wei's shift at the corner store had ended late. He held a bag of stale bread in one hand, an umbrella with a cracked rib in the other. Streetlights flickered overhead like stars fighting to stay alive.
His shoes splashed across a shallow puddle as he crossed the narrow street near his apartment.
That's when he heard the engine.
Too fast. Too close.
He turned just in time to see headlights bearing down—too sudden, too loud, too late.
Pain didn't come. Just a sickening jolt, a flash of steel, and then… nothing.
---
When Li Wei opened his eyes again, the world had changed.
Gone were the grey skies, the pavement, the neon lights. Instead, he saw a low wooden ceiling above him, a flickering oil lamp to his side, and walls of cracked stone. The air was warmer, tinged with a faint herbal scent. Somewhere nearby, a rooster crowed—not the harsh metallic screech of a city bird, but full-throated and alive.
It took him a moment to realize: he wasn't in a hospital. He wasn't even on Earth.
He sat up slowly, body stiff but healthy. A rush of unfamiliar memories hit him like waves: the language, the town, the people. His name here was also Li Wei, a 22-year-old man from a small place called Green Mulberry Town, living on the far edges of a cultivation world.
A world where strength decided life and death.
---
In this world, those born with spirit roots could walk the path of immortal cultivation—absorbing spiritual energy, refining their bodies, casting spells, and defying death. Those without were doomed to age and die as mortals.
The Li Wei of this world had been tested at six years old.
He possessed a Five-Element Spirit Root—one of each element, an incredibly rare constitution.
Rare… but not favored.
His affinity was spread too thin. Fire, Water, Metal, Earth, Wood—he could touch all paths, but none deeply. Cultivation would be slower than anyone with a single-element root. Those with fire or metal roots burned bright. Those with water flowed endlessly. But Li Wei's energy leaked from every direction, unstable and scattered.
The spirit hall elders had called it a wasted blessing.
No sect recruited him. No clan offered guidance.
He was left rootless in heaven's eyes.
---
Eventually, a gruff old butcher in town took him in—not for his spirit root, but because he needed help with the stall. Li Wei learned to sharpen cleavers, carry meat, sweep bones. Not glamorous work, but it fed him.
The old man died recently, leaving the stall to Li Wei. A quiet inheritance, unnoticed by the world.
And now, the Earth-born Li Wei had awoken in his place—with the same name, the same age, and a quiet, ordinary life... again.
Except this time, he had knowledge of cultivation.
And something else.
When he concentrated, a soft glow appeared in his mind. A simple interface, floating like a whisper of thought:
> [Experience Panel]
Name: Li Wei
Age: 22
Cultivation: None
Skill:
• Longevity Technique – Proficiency: (1/100) – Beginner
He stared at it for a long moment.
So simple. So quiet.
No flashy golden fingers. No cheat items or overpowered legacies. Just a line. A count.
But it was enough.
---
The Longevity Technique had been left to him by the old butcher before his death. A worn scroll hidden in a crack behind the bed. No name, no glory—just quiet internal circulation, aimed not at power, but preservation.
> A Mortal-grade technique.
It nourished the organs, steadied the blood, enhanced recovery, and slightly prolonged life.
Not useful in combat.
But for someone with no backers and a weak spirit root? It was a foundation.
And for Li Wei, foundations mattered.
He had no time for flashy moves or fame. All he wanted was to live—to stay whole. To walk one small step further than yesterday.
So he breathed.
Sat still in the pre-dawn light and followed the scroll's guidance.
Slow breath in.
Guide the qi through the chest.
Exhale slowly.
Repeat.
His body warmed. Just a little. The cold in his bones loosened. The faint ache in his back eased.
And in his mind, a number changed.
> • Longevity Technique – Proficiency: (2/100) – Beginner
Just like that, he had taken the first step.
---
Outside, the world moved on.
Cultivators soared through clouds. Martial artists sparred in courtyards. Spirit beasts howled in distant forests. Life in the mortal town continued—small, but harsh.
But inside a modest butcher's shop, one quiet soul sat alone.
Not chasing glory. Not crying about fate.
Breathing.
Training.
Living.