Chapter 1: The Unexpected Awakening

“Where am I?”

Li Tan slowly opened his heavy eyelids and saw a room that was seemingly unfamiliar yet vaguely familiar.

The four walls were decorated with patterns of the double happiness character, and red satin ribbons were hanging everywhere.

Inside the room was a bed, a table, and a woman’s dressing table.

Combined with the faint sounds of drums and gongs and the noisy voices from outside, he deduced this must be a newlywed’s chamber.

“What’s going on? Didn’t I die?”

Li Tan tried to stand up, but a sharp pain in his head sent him collapsing back onto the chair.

He held his head as the memories of recent events flashed before his eyes like a slideshow.

Under the shimmering city lights and amidst the thunderous beat of drums, he valiantly slew the Demon Saint King amidst the ancient ruins, reclaimed humanity’s most treasured relic lost for ten thousand years, ascended to the throne as a sovereign, and wed his beloved Tang Leyin, crafting a legend destined to be celebrated for millennia.

Yet who could have foreseen that joy would bring sorrow? Just as the wedding was taking place, his sworn brother, who had once fought alongside him in the wilderness and vowed to live and die together, betrayed him by conspiring with rebels.

“Tan Ge-ge,” amidst the chaos and bloodshed, his newlywed wife, with a sword at her throat held by the traitor, trembled.

The once omnipotent Li Tan was now filled with rage and helplessness.

“Surrender the Huang Pagoda, and considering our friendship over the years, I might spare her life.”

The traitor wore a cold expression, just like he always did when facing Li Tan’s enemies.

Tang Leyin was Li Tan’s only weakness! “Tan Ge-ge, goodbye.”

But just as Li Tan was about to hand over the Huang Pagoda, Tang Leyin gave a sorrowful smile, gently moved her body, and perished.

“Hahaha! You may have died, but you’ll never get the Huang Pagoda!”

In his grief and anger, Li Tan poured his last ounce of strength into a wave of his hand toward the nine-story Huang Pagoda shimmering with divine light. In an instant, terrifying brilliance turned the entire world white.

“Tsk, you finally died by my hands.”

You Kuang slightly lowered his head, pain flashing in his eyes, as he held Tang Leyin’s corpse and shattered space to escape.

Li Tan knelt on the ground, his long hair spread out, dancing in the wind. He chuckled bitterly, “Leyin, if there is a next life, would you still be willing to marry me, this heartless man?”

The intense pain gradually subsided, and Li Tan regained his senses. He silently surveyed the surroundings. Although this place was also a bridal chamber, it was definitely not the one he shared with Tang Leyin.

“Leyin!”

Li Tan hesitated for a moment and tried to call out, but received no response.

“What exactly happened?”

He wanted to use his spiritual awareness to investigate, but to his surprise, he found he couldn’t sense his spiritual awareness at all.

Attempting to summon his inner energy, he looked inwardly only to find that the sea of energy that once filled his dantian was now reduced to a dry pool, indicating that his cultivation power was nearly completely lost. However, strangely hovering above the pool was an ancient nine-story pagoda.

“Isn’t this the Huang Pagoda I found in the ruins!”

The Huang Pagoda, the most treasured artifact of the human race, was one of the reasons for his betrayal.

Li Tan re-examined his surroundings, and a familiar feeling grew stronger. He seemed to have realized something and went outside the room. What met his eyes was an exquisite courtyard, orange lanterns, blue bricks, and weeping willows.

A sense of déjà vu flooded his mind.

“This seems like the place where I was married off in my childhood.

This place should have been burned to the ground long ago.”

Distant memories awakened.

Lincheng had three major families—Lin, Liu, and Li—with the Liu family as the leader.

Li Tan was the only son of the renowned head of the Li family. This status should have brought him honor and prestige, but fate cruelly played a trick on him, as his dantian had an inexplicable problem that prevented him from cultivating. Despite the family’s efforts, half of their resources were spent in vain trying to find a cure.

To an ordinary person, the inability to cultivate might not seem like a big deal, as the chances of becoming a cultivator were only one in ten. However, Li Tan’s noble status had now become a deadly burden.

“The future head of the Li family is a useless cripple who can’t cultivate!”

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, such mocking words spread like wildfire, causing him to fall into despair and live a life of emptiness.

Coincidentally, the eldest daughter of the Lin family, Lin Cui, at the age of sixteen, had already reached the terrifying peak of the Late Foundation Building stage, making her the focus of admiration and a stark contrast to Li Tan.

Around the time Li Tan was about to come of age, the demon race suddenly invaded without warning, triggering an immediate battle. Several powerful guardians of the Li family perished in this invasion, and without them, the Li family gradually declined, being oppressed by the Liu family with its ulterior motives until they were almost stripped of their status as one of the three major families.

At this time, the Lin family, which had originally planned to watch from the sidelines, suddenly received a marriage proposal from the Liu family, with Lin Cui as the bride.

As the old saying goes, when rabbits die, hares worry. The head of the Lin family suddenly realized the danger and, after careful consideration, decided to form an alliance with the Li family through marriage. However, it was not an ordinary marriage alliance but rather required the Li family to move into the Lin household.

The desperate Li family naturally dared not refuse.

Li Tan, as a useless individual and the son of the family head, inevitably became the best candidate for this marriage alliance.

Reflecting on the past, it was heartbreaking. Those who seemed overwhelmingly powerful in his childhood now appeared no more formidable than ants.

“Is this someone’s illusion technique?” Li Tan muttered, a glimmer of hope in his heart, as he slowly moved toward other parts of the courtyard.

Just then, the sound of footsteps approached. Outside the courtyard, a slightly plump middle-aged man walked in, his expression gloomy.

Yet Li Tan was completely stunned.

“Fa… Father!”

Under the pale moonlight, the slightly plump middle-aged man looked exactly like Li Zhen, his father who had died a thousand years ago, right down to the mole at the corner of his eye.

Could this also be an illusion?

Although Li Tan thought so, his body was completely unresponsive as he stumbled forward and threw himself into Li Zhen’s arms.

Regrets, longing, and guilt accumulated over a thousand years surged like a flood, instantly breaking down his psychological defenses, and he no longer cared about anything else.

“My poor child,” Li Zhen forced a faint smile with great difficulty and lovingly stroked Li Tan’s back.

“I’m sorry, but this decision was made unanimously by those old men. I couldn’t help you.

Oh, by the way, did you take the Qingxian Powder?”

At these words, Li Tan felt dazed.

The Qingxian Powder, he remembered, was given to him by the great elder of the clan through his father at that time, under the pretense of compensating for the loss of being married into another family.

At that time, he was still grateful to the great elder, but after taking it, he discovered it was actually a deadly poison. Half of his body had already entered the gates of hell when the Lin family spent a great deal to save him, allowing him to barely survive, but he was left with a chronic illness that affected his future cultivation.

At that time, he had another question he didn’t understand: why did the Lin family, who looked down on him, save this useless person?

He understood much later.

If he had died, the marriage alliance between the two families would surely have collapsed, giving the Liu family another excuse to propose marriage to Lin Cui, thus leading the Lin family into crisis.

All the people involved in this matter had long since died, and Li Tan had never told anyone. If what was happening now was caused by an illusion technique, that would be too far-fetched.

Suddenly, a wild thought crossed Li Tan’s mind. He took a deep breath and said the reply he remembered from back then, “Of course, I took the medicine. The effect was very noticeable.”

“Tan’er, your father is useless. I can only get you this much.”

Li Zhen lovingly embraced Li Tan.

This reaction was exactly the same as back then. Although it seemed incredible, could it be that I have been reborn?

Was it the Huang Pagoda that brought me back?

Li Tan’s face showed delight, but out of caution, he circled around and asked about some matters that only he knew, and the Li Zhen in front of him answered every one without missing a word.

This was really his father! Overjoyed, Li Tan took a long time to calm down and, with a determined gaze, said, “Father, don’t blame yourself. the elders were also forced into this.”

As he spoke, Li Tan’s tone was slightly cold.

He remembered that before his rebirth, his father was beheaded by the clan’s great elder and presented to the Liu family as a “gift” in an attempt to buy peace when Liu family’s experts came to destroy their clan. Unfortunately, the Liu family still annihilated the Li family the next day.

Li Zhen was stunned. He felt a sudden sense of unfamiliarity with his son in front of him, as if he had become more confident.

“My son has grown up.”

He showed a delighted smile, but his expression darkened: “After all, this is the Lin family. I shouldn’t stay here for long.”

Li Tan smiled slightly: “Father, don’t worry. I have my own destiny. Being married into another family isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

“Ah…” With a bitter smile, Li Zhen left.

After accepting the fact of his rebirth, Li Tan clenched his fist and gazed at the vast night sky outside the window: “This time, I won’t leave any regrets behind.”

Li Tan took out a small porcelain bottle from his pocket, a faintly cold smile appearing on his face.

Just as he was lost in thoughts about his future plans, someone pushed open the door and entered.

“Master-in-law, where is he?”

The person who entered was a butler with sharp ears and a monkey-like face, wearing a perpetual scowl as if the entire world owed him money.

“The young miss asked me to inform you that she has something to attend to tonight.”

The butler added somewhat rudely, “To clarify, the young miss will be busy every night from now on. You should understand your position and stop having any wild thoughts.”

“Since the Lin family doesn’t support useless people, Master-in-law, since you can’t cultivate, you should come with me to split firewood in the woodshed. You might as well live there from now on.”

“Finally, don’t leave the mansion without permission. Understand?”

The butler spoke as if he were explaining the house rules to a new servant, with no trace of respect in his tone.

Li Tan vaguely recalled that this butler had often bullied and oppressed him after he married into the Lin family. The first thing he did after finally regaining his cultivation was to kill him.

But after a thousand years, facing this person again now, he felt no emotion at all, even finding himself wanting to laugh at his former weakness.

“What are you still standing there for?”

The butler raised his head.

Li Tan’s lips barely moved: “While I’m still in a good mood, get lost.”