Chapter 1: The Fall

Looking around, I find myself at the bottom of a bowl-shaped valley, and I can stand up and walk. I look at my attire, which consists of a coarse cloth short jacket from the Han Dynasty, now tattered and in shreds, and I can only manage a wry smile.

In a state of panic, he drew his iron sword and swung it wildly, seemingly devoid of the composure and techniques of a martial artist. He was merely a twelve-year-old child. When the red-haired ape lunged at him once more, Shen Junhuai felt a heavy blow from the beast's claw strike his chest, tearing muscle and causing his sternum to collapse by more than an inch. Amidst the intense pain, flashes of memories from nearly thirty years of his previous life surged in his mind, and his panic was swiftly suppressed. He raised the iron sword behind his head with both hands and rapidly slid down the slope. The demon beast pursued him in mid-air, but fortunately, the bushes at the higher elevation obstructed its line of sight, and several attacks failed to hit vital areas.

"Indeed, you have noticed this as well?" replied Shen Junhuai. However, he found it strange that since the young man had come out, shouldn't a monk address him as 'Benefactor'? "Thank you, Master, but I would like to be alone for a while."

That is a cypress tree on the edge of a cliff, and to reach the tree, one must jump onto a broken stone step that is about one meter lower than the edge of the cliff

As his fingers trembled slightly, moments from his memory and a seemingly familiar figure began to flicker intermittently in his mind. Gradually, light returned to his eyes, "Where am I?" His vision finally cleared, and his brain began to awaken. "I must still be alive," he thought, though his body remained immobile, and he vaguely recalled what had transpired. Before him were the tall, dense treetops and glimpses of blue sky between the branches, with his eyes moving to the sides revealing rugged mountain formations. "I must still be alive," he thought again, as his body still could not move, and he continued to piece together the events that had occurred. His gaze was fixed on the towering, lush treetops and the patches of blue sky visible through the branches, while his eyes roamed to the sides, taking in the jagged mountain landscape.

"Well! This young man seems to have some troubles in his heart, may I ask him to share a bit?" The old monk's eyes flashed with a strange light for a moment, then returned to calmness.

Gently wipe away the rust on the lock, tear the red string and tie it to your left wrist, and bury the two padlocks back under the stone slab. The handkerchief is ignited with a lighter and thrown off the cliff

Looking around, how many memories of this place, once a venue for skipping class and dating, will remain for oneself? Is that tree still there? Back then, the two of us carved our names into the tree and enclosed them with a heart.

Amidst the intense turmoil of thought, his body gradually began to regain sensation, though the pain remained severe. Slowly sitting up, he felt uninjured; perhaps it was due to having just occupied another body. His mind was still in a state of dizziness, but fortunately, it was improving.

Suddenly, Shen Junhuai, who was breathing laboriously, felt an intense fear, as memories that did not belong to him emerged. It was as if his current self possessed a twelve-year-old body, situated in a place called Pingdu City in the Fengling Kingdom of the Starry Sky Continent.

The second bottle of Erguotou in the bag was about to run out. As Shen Junhuai gazed at a certain pink curtain on the ninth floor of a building down the mountain, he heard the sound of rustling footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw an old monk standing in front of him, staring intently into his eyes, murmuring to himself.

Shen Junhuai is not a good soldier. The year he failed to get into university, he relied on his connections through his uncle, a captain in the army, and his relatively tall and strong physique to become a special forces soldier two years later. Even so, he was only a second-rate soldier in the team, as he managed to get by thanks to his good drinking capacity and boldness. He told his girlfriend that he would aim for a second-class or third-class merit before applying to a military academy, and then come back to get married. Haha, how unpredictable life is! His girlfriend ran off with someone else, and Shen even devised no less than ten methods of revenge. Of course, this is all nonsense; sometimes he just thinks that it was a harmonious society that saved this pair of scoundrels.

Shen Junhuai has been in the military for five years, spending nearly three years in a special forces unit. Six months ago, he received a breakup notice from Lu Na, and just a few days ago, he learned of her upcoming marriage. He had thought that with the passage of time, the tearing pain in his heart would gradually subside, but upon receiving a call from a friend, his heart began to bleed anew

I can't believe it, he is indeed a mad monk, simply inexplicable. Shen Junhuai felt a heavy weight on his head, and the anxiety in his heart intensified. He sat down and carefully recalled the old monk's words, his mind in a state of chaos, always feeling that something was amiss. After a while, Shen Junhuai sighed deeply; in this vast world, he found himself unable to confide in anyone! His lover of six years had left him, and today, seeing Lu Na step down from the wedding car with that radiant happiness on her face, he knew that everything had come to an end. After a while, Shen Junhuai sighed deeply; in this vast world, he found himself unable to confide in anyone! His lover of six years had left him, and today, seeing Lu Na step down from the wedding car with that radiant happiness on her face, he knew that everything had come to an end.

After sliding nearly a hundred zhang, Shen Junhuai fell into a dirt pit by the stream with a "thud," his bottom landing in a patch of soft, cold substance. Suddenly, in the darkness, he looked up to see the red-haired ape-like creature making a noise and turning away. While he felt a surge of joy in his heart, something tightly coiled around his chest and neck, nearly halting his breath. In shock, he felt the icy touch of the creature, and upon opening his eyes, he realized he was ensnared by a snake as thick as a thigh. As he struggled to breathe, his limbs began to stiffen and weaken, and his thoughts started to fade. Within a few breaths, Shen Junhuai could no longer resist, his gaze becoming vacant. In a moment of extreme danger, the python's head turned, its mouth brushing against the side of Shen Junhuai's face, a wave of foul odor causing his eyes to widen. Instinctively, he opened his mouth and bit down hard on the python's neck, another wave of putrid liquid flooding into his mouth. Suddenly, the python became agitated, its body constricting even more frantically. Shen Junhuai's consciousness gradually slipped away, leaving only the instinctive reaction of biting, and he unknowingly fell into unconsciousness.

"Master, do you have any business?" Shen Junhuai thought to himself, could this be a mad monk?

Although it is already March, it is the time for people to leave work. On the streets, people are dressed in bulky cotton coats, and the sounds of honking cars and bustling voices converge into a torrent of hurried pedestrians. The tall, bright streetlights and the white breath exhaled by the hurried passersby are enveloped by the lingering chill of the harsh wind, adding to the desolate and cold atmosphere of this northern city, Wen Nan, much like the rows of withered trees lining the streets.

The bottle of wine was empty, and the cigarette box was also empty. Shen Junhuai stood up, shook his dizzy head vigorously, and realized that it was time for him to return.

Uncertain how much time had passed, he felt a wave of coolness, as if his heart had eased considerably. Bending down, Shen Junhuai moved aside a slab of bluestone, revealing a hole beneath containing a rope made of red ribbons, on which were two copper locks intertwined. These were the love locks that the two had buried together at that time. Looking at the two locks wrapped in a handkerchief, he felt a bittersweet sadness.

What is going on? Shen Junhuai struggled to open his eyes, his mind in a haze. Wasn't I supposed to have fallen off a cliff? Boom, it was as if thunder struck in his head, and he instantly understood that this was the legendary reincarnation. His emotions gradually shifted from fear to surprise. Being alive is good; living again is also a kind of opportunity. The past is already behind him; this life is for himself.

Let us go, perhaps it is yet another new beginning. Shen Junhuai murmured to himself, as his right foot groped to ascend the stone steps. Unexpectedly, when his left foot lifted off the ground, the stone step beneath his right foot suddenly broke away. Just as the word "bad" escaped his lips in fear, his face and chest came into close contact with the cliff as he fell down. Before losing consciousness, in the midst of his tumbling body, he seemed to see a handkerchief sparkling with sparks.

The second-tier red-haired monkey! It was only then that Shen Junhuai recalled Uncle Huan's admonition. The red-haired monkey is a companion beast of the grass bean that has lived for over a hundred years, with fur as hard as iron, sharp and poisonous claws, and possesses the strange agility common to spiritual beasts. Its strength is equivalent to that of a second-tier human martial artist.

This time it was because Uncle Huan, a healer from the Sui clan, fell off a cliff while gathering herbs for his mother, and he became possessed by his own spirit. Shen Junhuai felt extremely frustrated at this point, thinking that others who traverse into different worlds seem to have various additional benefits, while he had unfortunately fallen into the body of this useless young master. He decided to stop thinking about it and focus on finding a way to return home first

All sentient beings have pure hearts, and since they were never born, they cannot be extinguished. This body is an illusion, and within this illusion, there is neither sin nor merit. Young man, you may descend the mountain! The old monk's lips curled slightly in a smile as he pressed his palms together with one hand, nodded slightly to Shen Junhuai, and turned to leave, yet continued to chant softly: All sentient beings, in various illusions, are born from the perfect and wondrous mind of the Tathagata.

Bang, the sound of a heartbeat echoed in his ears. In a corner at the foot of a mountain, Shen Junhuai began to gain some vague awareness, yet his eyes and limbs felt as if they were pinned down by a thousand-pound boulder, rendering him utterly immobile. His entire body was in excruciating pain, with a chaotic array of colors and images flashing repeatedly in his mind, pulsating with a tearing sensation in rhythm with his heartbeat. At times, his body felt as if it were being scorched by fire, and at other times, it was frozen in an icy grip.

Thus, Shen Tianjun returned, not to seek revenge, but simply to see if she was happy in her wedding dress

The lights are just coming on

After a long time, on a hillside, Shen Junhuai discovered a grass cardamom tree that was as tall as a person. The fruit it bore was called grass cardamom kernel, and the tender green, round fruit hung down like the inverted bell that Uncle Huan had described. This was precisely the main ingredient for the grass cardamom soup. Just as his hand was about to reach out, a fierce cold wind, as if from a * picture * book, blew, causing the hairs on his body to stand on end. Instinctively, Shen Tianjun fell to one side, and two clawed hands had already torn through his shoulder.

At the same time, a visible reddish-brown beam of light flew out from an open cliffside window of Xingguo Zen Temple, seemingly with a spirit of its own, chasing after Shen Junhuai's body and piercing into his forehead

His legs had gradually become more agile as he navigated through the towering hibiscus forest, which reached several dozen zhang in height. Shen Junhuai flipped through a herbal compendium in his pocket, trying to find the herbs his mother needed along the way. Deep within the consciousness of this child, the most profound obsession was the belief that only his mother treated him the best in the world. He was determined to ensure that she had good food and clothing. The mother and son relied on each other for survival, disregarding the discrimination from their family. His mother's heartfelt dedication was entirely focused on him, and relieving her of her ailments was perhaps the most urgent dream of his twelve-year-old self.

Reassessing the current identity, this namesake is the seventh son of the Shen family in Pingdu City. The Shen family of Pingdu is a medium-sized family, similar to the martial family of the Xing Tian Continent. The family head, Shen Aotian, is a first-level martial artist and the deputy city lord of Pingdu City. I am the fourth son of Shen Ao, who died in an accident, and my mother, Liu, is also frail and sickly. Perhaps my physical condition is hereditary; at the age of twelve, I was only a first-level martial artist, while most of my peers in the clan had reached the fifth level, making me part of the bullied generation within the family.

The slightly inebriated Shen Junhuai once again climbed to the top of Mount Wanfoshan, to the Xingguo Zen Temple, as this was the place where he and Lu Na had made their commitment during their school days. From the highest point, on the slate stone mountain, one can see the building where Lu Na lives below; with a high-powered telescope, it is even possible to see the pink curtains in her room on the ninth floor.

The sky had turned pitch black, and he could no longer jump down. He crouched down and slowly felt his way down with his feet. As he touched the smooth memory on the tree trunk, tears streamed down his face for a long time.