Sanfeng kept walking downstream along the river. Luckily, he did not come across any wild animals except for a few harmless herbivores. 5 hours later, he stumbled upon an artificial canal that was drawing water from the river. Sanfeng thought that this canal must be used for transporting water to human settlements. Somehow pushing his already dead tired body, Sanfeng moved along the canal. After walking for 2 kilometres, Sanfeng's tired and diseased body finally gave in."Not good! I have to keep walking and find help!", Sanfeng knew if he lost consciousness now, he would be most likely dead. But his body refused to move and darkness took over.
Sanfeng's POV
I woke up after who knows how long. I was feeling extremely groggy. As my eyes regained their focus, I found that I was not in the forest anymore. Instead, I was lying on a bed. The feeling of the cheap mattress exceeds any comfort I ever felt after coming to this world. I try to make sense of my surroundings when I spy an old man sitting beside my bed, dozing. I also find out, to my pleasant surprise, that my body has completely healed. I no longer had liquids sloshing in my chest and even my bruises and half-healed scars that I got from the guard's beatings were nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly my stomach grumbled loudly as the roar of a beast. The old man stirred and woke at the sound. Finding me awake, he gave me a toothy."Finally woke up, eh? I don't know if you are extremely hardy or lucky to have survived the forest in the condition you were in. Master is pleased by your strong will to live, that's why he spent so much to save your life. Now quickly take a bath and come greet master. You have been unconscious for three days straight!"
I felt shocked. Three days? No wonder I feel so hungry. I quickly bathe at a nearby well and put on the new clothes provided. Then I was ushered into a large dining hall where a large number of delicacies were placed on a long table. An old man, about 70-year old was sitting at the head position. I knew at a glance that this person was my benefactor. I gave him a deep bow. "Thank you, benefactor, for saving my life. I will never forget this debt and pay you back in any way possible." The old man gave me a glance and waved his hand, "Your gratitude is enough. Eat first. You are allowed to do anything else until you finish recovering. We will speak after the week is over." Well, I agree. As I am now, I won't be able to even work at the farms. Bowing again in gratitude I sat at my designated seat at pounced at the food.
The rest of the week went by in a flash. When I was not stuffing myself with food, I was sleeping like a log. Twice a day, an attendant came in to give me strange medicines and help me perform rehabilitating exercises. While a week is not a long time, I found out that the food and medicine I am consuming was not that normal either. All my wounds, even the internal ones were healed, as I checked my body with the limited techniques I had at my disposal as a former surgeon. After the week was over, I was summoned before the old man. I found that the name of the old man was Shi Jiu. After arriving, I bowed to him."You called me, benefactor?" Old man Shi looked at me. After some time he said, "Good! You seem to have recovered". "By your grace", I replied.
Old man Shi seemed to be happy with my demeanour as he nodded appreciatively."Listen carefully, little Sanfeng. I saved your life not because I expect anything in return, but because it was the right thing to do and I was impressed by your strong will to continue in spite of the horrors you have faced in your young life. I will not ask about the situation you were in before you came here. I just want you to know that you are a free man now. Now with that out of the way, I have a proposal to make. You see, even though I had 2 wives in this life, both of them left me without an heir. I have been adopting orphans and grooming them for years now, the eldest one already nineteen years of age. Inside you, I see a strong will which is required to survive in this world. If you want to leave, then I will make arrangements for your departure. But if you decide to become my adopted son, then you will have to leave your previous surname behind and live a very strict life. You will be well fed but there will be an equally strict expectation from you. Now decide".
"I accept your proposition".
"Eh? So fast? Have you thought about it carefully? How can you trust my words so easily".
I chuckled a little."What did you expect? That I will suspect you? I have no definite clue to base my suspicions on. Neither is it guaranteed that I will live a better life outside. Paranoia can help to save one's life sometimes, but baseless paranoia can only lead to regrets. When both paths are equally uncertain, I choose to follow my guts. And now my guts are telling me to believe in the sincerity you have shown me till now. So what will it be Master Shi? Still interested in taking me as your son or has the naivety of this child deterred your interests?"
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Old man Shi was shocked into silence and it stayed that way for a full minute. Just as I thought that I had overstepped my boundaries and was going to apologise for my impudence when I heard a small laugh. The laughing gradually grew in volume until it grew into maniacal howling.
"HAHA...This exceeds even my own expectations. Good...even though I have cultivated some geniuses this is the first time I feel I can have the satisfaction of being a father...good, good...Shi Sanfeng, from today you are my son. Anybody who tries to bully you will be my enemy." Shi Jiu seemed to be over the moon.
This is how I began my new life in this world......
10 years later...
A deer herd is quietly grazing in an opening inside the forest. 100 feet away a man is hiding inside a bushy undergrowth. He is camouflaged very well and his presence is very carefully hidden. He points an arrow toward the deer herd. Even though he can have his pick from the herd, he specifically picks an old buck which seemed to be past its prime. The arrow whizzes through the air and hits it straight in its heart. The rest of the herd scatters. The young man walks out from his hiding spot and quickly approaches the buck. He offers a prayer of gratitude to the forest spirits. He then ties the buck to a tall tree and cuts its major arteries to let out its blood. The buck's blood flows into the tree's roots becoming fertilizer for the tree and the grass and buck once feasted on. The young man, Shi Sanfeng, had never been too religious in his previous life but after witnessing the miracle of transmigrating into the body of another human, he quickly discarding his cynicism, he decided to form his own idea of the divine and began worshipping nature and the laws of the universe. This reflected in his hunting habits as he always spared young or female animals. He also buried any surplus material that he did not need like intestines or bones underground so that they could return back to nature and complete the cycle of life.
Shi Sanfeng has grown up very well. There are no signs of the abuse left that he suffered for the initial 2 months that he suffered in the mines. He learnt a lot in the last 10 years. Old man Shi pampered him like a real son but was strict with his education. He must have read almost 10,000 books in the last 10 years. He also received apprentice level training in various vocations like hunting, blacksmithing, woodwork and medicine. Due to his past experiences of a surgeon, Sanfeng's growth in medicine was phenomenal in the eyes of the local populace and he had saved many lives. Old man Shi always hid his talents for some reason but Sanfeng did not complain as he was content by practising his medicine skills.
Old man Shi treated Sanfeng as a friend and divulged his life's story to him. From his stories, Sanfeng came to know that the place he was living in was called the primordial dragon continent and that here people could cultivate chi and perform superhuman feats like those in Wuxia and Xianxia novels. Initially, Sanfeng was very excited to hear that but his enthusiasm died after he heard Shi Hiu's tragic tale. He was born in Shi Clan which was a prosperous clan. He was the son of an outer court elder. He was one of the upcoming geniuses of the clan. He was married to a woman names Cai'er and he felt that fate was looking up to him. Then one day his clan was visited by the heir of a Heavenly Dynasty called Prince Leitian. He challenged the clan to a duel for submission. Shi JIu was selected for the duel. He was defeated and badly injured by Prince Leitian's vicious attacks. Not satisfied by merely crippling him, Prince Leitian sent a deadly attack after him. His wife Cai'er blocked the attacked with her own body and was immediately killed. All he could see in his wife's last moments was her mouthing the words "Live on...". Stricken with grief but determined to fulfil his wife's dying wish, he managed to escape from his clan and fled for miles and miles. He witnessed the tyranny and cut-throat nature of cultivators, the cold-heartedness of the people who have reached the pinnacle of cultivation and called themselves immortals. Disillusioned by the world, Shi Jiu posed as a merchant and utilising his genius intellect, made himself as one the most influential person in the far-off Qing Kingdom. Here he met the second love of his life, Bao'er. She was posing travelling swordswoman but Shi Jiu knew she was hiding her true identity because he found out that she was a cultivator but her cultivation was locked due to a special kind of poison. For some reason, Shi Jiu took her in and vowed to cure her. Bao'er felt grateful for this and they soon fell in love with each other and married. Shi Jiu led a blissful life for seven years. But the day after Bao'er made a complete recovery, she disappeared. She left a note behind which said that she has left to repay some earlier debts and complete some unfulfilled duties and that Shi JIu should wait for her return. But even after waiting for two decades Shi jiu did not have any news about her.
Due to his bad experiences, old man Shi never allowed Sangfeng to cultivate. But he told him about his intention of getting revenge against Prince Leitian and his desire to return to the cultivation world to find Bao'er. Due to this, he needed the Potian Pill. This was an extremely rare pill in the mortal world but it was not very rare for an immortal master. So Shi Jiu took in promising orphans and trained them so that they could be taken in as disciple for immortal masters and ask for a Potian pill on his behalf. So far he has been unsuccessful but he had high hopes for the upcoming Dragon Hall tournament where he planned to take 10 of his most talented wards. He also asked Sanfeng to accompany them on this trip.
Sanfeng excitedly looked forward to this trip which may change his life...