1

Awakening.

===

He was someone obsessed with the notion of 'upgrading'.

The koi fish that jumped outta the dragon gate and seized the fate of celestial beings.

The lump of pig iron which transformed to a divine weapon, even immortals would cower in fear about.

The kind of talent, the underdogs, who rose from trash onto the sky of gods and goddesses; who dictated everything under the heavens.

It was time for him to rise, from the piles of mediocrity. With his ability to upgrade, he will uncover the path of cultivation unique to him.

...

It all happened when lightning struck his entire apartment. A young man was preoccupied with his game, where he wanted to upgrade his current equipment.

"C'mon, let it pass, goddamn it! Let it at least be +10!"

The lightning struck the building, which caused the electricity to go outta control.

He died in the shock's aftermath and the next thing, he woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling—no, it was a clearing in the middle of the forest. Around him was a black crater, with his skin all charred.

It's like a huge lightning bolt just struck him.

'What happened? Why am I here?'

The memories from the previous owner started to return and from the overload of memories, it caused him to forget his past life's predicament.

Even if he did remember, there's no point on complaining 'bout spilled milk. He didn't lose much; he was an orphan who had became a NEET for quite some time.

The identity of his current self was Zhang Ye—same as his own. In this world, he's the third young master from the Zhang clan. He was a direct descendant of the patriarch Zhang Tian, his grandfather.

The old Zhang Ye was a foolish young man of 18 years old who was truly headstrong and wanted to reinforce his cultivation as fast as possible. He was riddled with an inferiority complex because his older brothers: Zhang Yi and Zhang Shuo had supreme grade talent while he was poor.

It's not as if he was ridiculed by his older brothers; on the contrary, they didn't even bat an eye to his existence and just did the minimal amount of courtesy when told off by the elders.

Although he was ignored, he just simply have to get better, no matter how long the way it was. It's from his continuous effort which made him able to keep his hope alight, that someday, his hard work shall be recognized.

One day, when the patriarch was away and nobody seems to care about the young Zhang, he snuck out the ancestral mansion and attempted the Heavenly Tribulation through the manual he found in the study by accident. As he was pressed for time, he didn't even try to fully comprehend the manual and just go with 'do-or-die' attitude.

It caused the original Zhang Ye to 'die' and his entire cultivation broke down.

As of current, Zhang Ye's condition was even weaker than a mortal, due to the grave injuries that struck his body. The pain from all over caused severe numbness and dizziness coursing through his whole flesh.

He limply walked towards the nearby tree and rested his back, the air was really fresh compared to the one in his previous life. No pollution at all. Yet it was strange, why did they leave the original Zhang Ye to die like this? Was the relationship between him and the family this bad?

From the memories, Zhang Ye didn't seem to be a bad person. While his brothers, Zhang Yi, and Zhang Shuo took it easy on cultivation, engaged in leisurely activities and fooled around with women from time to time, Zhang Ye spent most of his time training to offset his lack of talent.

Yet, others just left him alone and the number of cultivation resources given to him was just the bare minimum. It's also what the patriarch himself suggested.

The thing was, it's not like his relationship with the family was bad, but it couldn't be called good either.

Many of the servants and young masters from the branch families didn't even remember he was there since all he did was copping himself in the study room and cultivating on his personal training area. No one made fun of him either, even with his lack of talent because he's just too pitiful.

Even if they bullied the young master, he's still a direct descendant and they didn't want to anger the direct line elders and especially the patriarch.

He was the third son of the current family head but he's only the son of a concubine, a mysterious woman of unknown origin. He never met with his mother once but there was an old lady who attended to him daily.

Although the old lady only offered him a minimal amount of care. It's still enough for little Zhang to not feel completely lonely.

Zhang Ye was still perplexed on the reason why the old him attempted the Heavenly Tribulation so early. While he's lost in thought, there's a message popping out like a game.

[Heavenly Upgrade System installed!]

[Using the System's energy, Host can upgrade everything given he had enough understanding of the said object, but as for the present, it's not recommended to upgrade complex things as the current energy would be exhausted before a successful upgrade. Upgrading host's own body is just asking for death.

The energy for upgrading is separate from the Host's own Qi. The energy amount will increase according to the Host's development in cultivation.

As a bonus, Heavenly Upgrade System also includes 'Status' to check own's condition and 'Appraisal' for other people and objects, as long their level of cultivation weren't that far apart from Host.]

[Status]

Current Cultivation: Mortal 0-dan (no cultivation)
Energy: 1/1 point (recover 1 point every rest at night)
Health: mortally injured.

...

Just as Zhang Ye's expression went to immediate shock upon reading his condition, another message popped up.

[Detected substances that could administer emergency healing on Host's inventory.]

Zhang Ye took rummaged through his torn, tattered clothing and found a palm-sized satchel which was perfectly fine after receiving the aftershock of the Heavenly Tribulation.

It was the first time he tried doing an appraisal of the satchel.

[Host's Cultivation isn't enough to appraise this object.]

'If the System could detect its object properties then, it must be something within the satchel.'

He took out a small pill bottle and appraised it.

[Small pill bottle]

It's just a small pill bottle.

[Blood rejuvenation pill]

Grade: mortal (poor)

A pill personally concocted by Zhang Ye himself, after so many repeated failures. This pill was Zhang Ye's personal treasure as it was the first and also the only pill he had successfully concocted so far.

...

The prompt from the System really made him want to use his remainder of upgrade point on the pill, but he decided not to.

'This will be a waste of such potential, otherwise, System wouldn't give me such detailed backstory on such measly pill'

Zhang Ye had been a fan of underdog stories in his past life. How a piece of talentless trash could overcome everything and become a best. Not simply through blind effort, but by focusing their hard work on things that made them shine.

As if attracted through something within this pill, a kind of spirit which resonates with him, Zhang Ye put back the pill bottle inside his satchel and it back to the tattered clothes' pocket.

He scanned the surroundings for any familiar looking medicinal plants. As he inherited the old body's memories and probably their expertise too—maybe he'll get a good clue about it.

It helps that he could appraise anything from the distance, as long he could focus his mind on it.

Even if he was mortally wounded, his current body's overall condition was still a lot stronger than the one he had back on Earth.

Zhang Ye's perfect eyesight quickly spotted a stalk of green herb.

[Green Herb]

A herb with curative properties.

...

Just as Zhang Ye was about to stand up and walk towards it, a big and fierce rabbit appeared in front of him. As if it anticipated its prey moving while lying in wait.

As the rabbit had the cultivation of mortal 1-dan, the rabbit thought it'd be having easy prey for dinner. Yet, it didn't know, that the old Zhang Ye was someone who focused more on his body tempering.

...and right at the moment, his physical body cultivation was Mortal 3-dan! As soon as he realized it, the System notification popped up. Yet, Zhang Ye didn't pay any heed to it.

[New information obtained. Physical body cultivation is Mortal 3-dan.]

Even while mortally injured, Zhang Ye retained his previous body's muscle memories, tempered from rigorous training. Without him knowing why his hands quickly reached to the trusty knife on his belt. That same knife also held through the Heavenly Tribulation without a scratch.

In a flash, he remembered the stance of sword-drawing skill which immediately results in a kill, from his previous life of watching anime. The poor rabbit still hadn't realized the things that about to befall it.

Zhang Ye was really surprised at the speed and how decisively he swung his knife, cleaving the rabbit's head so clean; not even a drop of blood remains on his weapon.

He didn't realize, however, the strain on his body after making such abrupt movement.

"Ugh!"

His ribs seem like it's about to break apart. From the shock of pain, he immediately slumped down the grass. The clean-shaven headless corpse of the giant rabbit in front of him.

[Warning! Host's current condition is Critical, recommended to use the curative materials nearby.]

Trying to muster the best of his strength to crawl and reach out to the herb, he felt his entire body burning and his consciousness seem to be on its last moments.

Yet, the moment he felt his hand touch the tip of the medicinal plant, he immediately chanted [Upgrade] and felt a faint light enveloping the medicinal plant.

The green color became darker, and it's stalks sturdier. There were more leaves coming out of the plant.

[Healing Herb]

Grade: Mortal

Description: A unique green herb with stronger healing properties.

...

Not sparing any moment, he pulled the grass from the Earth and chomped on the herb. It tasted bitter with a strong smell of Earth and its leaves were a bit hard than expected. It's like he was eating the ground itself.

Yet, he persevered; as while eating the herb, he could feel the pain assaulting his entire body lessen.

After a while, the young man laid there on his back, beside him was the fresh corpse of a headless rabbit. He huffed and puffed his breath, lying there in exhaustion.

After inhaling and exhaling for quite a while before his pulse steadied, his lips formed the keyword.

"Check status."

The same message as before appeared in his mind.

[Status]

Current Cultivation:
Mortal 0-dan
Physical Body:
Mortal 3-dan

Upgrade Energy:
0/1

...

Even if his body was still in a bit of pain, it wasn't as hard as he had lost most of the feelings on his four limbs like before.

With a bit of difficulty, he walked to the nearest trees and with just a bit of strength, its branches were separated from the main tree.

He gathered the fallen leaves together and piled up near the rabbit corpse.

[Tree branch]

Just another tree branch.

[Dry Leaves]

Just a pile of dry leaves.

[Giant Rabbit Corpse]

grade: mortal

Delicious food for cultivators and mortals alike. Due to its swift death, most of the cultivation is still intact.

Can advance the user's cultivation, for mortal 0-dan to 1-dan only, when prepared and cooked properly.

...

Zhang Ye wasn't sure if he finally had the heavenly luck he had been yearning for when he was stressed out due to his lack of luck in the previous mobile game.

'Okay, let's just eat—I'm starving like hell.'

===

2

Resting

...

Based on his knowledge from Earth, to make fire you need a branch and a larger one. You use the kinetic motion of your hands to generate the heat, enough to burn the wood.

Due to his mortal 3-dan physical body cultivation and how his injury not as severe as before, the fire was kindled not long after.

As the rabbit was killed without any bleeding, there's no need to drain the blood. What Zhang Ye did was just carefully removing the innards with one swift slice as to not let it bleed and buried them below the ground, as he didn't like eating them.

With his proficient use of the knife, he made evenly-sliced meat chunks of the rabbit and stuck it between the sharpened branch and placed it on the spit-like structure made out of two carved boards atop the fire.

Zhang Ye still had enough strength to entirely fell a small tree with few strikes of his knife and he quickly made the makeshift fire spit.

Due to his body cultivation, he could just spin the skewer directly without the fire affecting him. He continued to spin it until the meat was all browned nicely under the fire. In which he raised the stick out and puffed at the flaming, leaving behind piles of charcoal and ash.

'It's a lot better than I thought...'

Even with no seasoning such as salt and vinegar, the meat had sweet and crunchy taste and texture. There's quite a good amount of blood from the meat but it's clean enough.

'The blood was also delicious, it reminds me of a highly diluted red wine due to the warmth. Hmm...what's this, it feels like my energy and life force recovered from drinking its blood!'

The next moment, Zhang Ye couldn't believe he just sucked on the rabbit's blood until there was no more left.

'Have I just turned into a vampire? No, my skin tone was just like usual. My body's just a lot more well-built. If I'm one of them I would be dead under the sun already. Or since this is a cultivation world, the vampires were different—maybe they love eating garlic and go to church every single day.'

Realizing there was nothing left, Zhang Ye still felt unsatisfied.

'Maybe I shouldn't go back this early. If the elders figure out that I'm back with a completely destroyed cultivation, it would be the end of me. Or maybe I could just tell them I'm back from searching for good fortune and it caused my cultivation to drop? Since I succeeded?'

In any case, Zhang Ye went and hunted more of the beasts. Ate lots of meat, this time also their innards. Plus tons of their blood. It didn't matter if his cultivation is only mortal, those beasts were kind of too stupid just because their cultivation was higher than his!

...and the knife she had were just so much of a hack. Even the toughest monster so far, a mortal 2-dan Brown Bear, had its head hacked in just a few quick slashes!

With his experience of fighting against enemies stronger than him, he made use of the terrain by kicking lots of dust before slashing at its weak points around the bear's neck. Before that, Zhang Ye lured the bear into an area with lots of obstacles and cunningly maneuvered around the terrain to exhaust the bear enough; closing in for the kill.

Before his transmigration from Earth, he wouldn't have thought he would enjoy drinking animal blood. With more and more meat he ate and blood he drank, his wounds and physical strength quickly recovered.

Eating and drinking also alleviated a good amount of exhaustion he felt, still he felt like resting was necessary.

'Something was not right.'

With loads of amount of experiences and stimulations from Earth, Zhang Ye felt like he had become a completely different person compared to his other self.

...with the return of old Zhang Ye's memories, he realized--he actually succeeds in overcoming the tribulation and had his cursed acupoints unsealed! Which meant his poor innate talent was no longer an issue.

He did not know what the Upgrade System was—it might be a divine ability from his past life! A chance for a fish like him to leap over the Dragon Gate.

'I will do my best to cultivate so one day, I can visit Earth.'

[Host has advanced to Mortal 1-dan cultivation!]

[Host has gained another Energy point from the advancement.]

"Status."

[Status]

Current Cultivation:
Mortal 1-dan
Physical Body:
Mortal 3-dan

Upgrade Energy:
1/2

Health: normal
Hunger: completely stuffed
Thirst: drank a bit too much
Sleep: eating and drinking a lot makes you a bit sleepy.

...

About sleeping, it was about evening as Zhang Ye finished slaughtering the beasts.

He thought about searching for an abandoned immortal cave, but he didn't seem to be at luck at all. As the day was getting dark and there's no sign of such areas during his search.

He wasn't in a hurry of going back since there's no sign of 3-dan monsters. Ever since he broke to Mortal 1-dan, the number of beasts targeting him were close to none—it started to bore him.

'Luckily, my body cultivation was about to break into Mortal 3-dan before I received the memories and experiences from my other self. I should make haste to return to the ancestral mansion. Seeing as I didn't have any camping tools, it means that place wasn't so far--I guess increasing my cultivation can wait later.'

...he did not expect that he would return much sooner than expected.

A middle-aged male cultivator floating atop a flying sword, brandishing an illumination artifact gave him a meaningful gaze, before he yelled at him, voice seemingly on verge of tears.

"Third young master...you...the Patriarch and elders are worried about you...please go back, or I'm afraid us servants would be severely punished for our negligence."

'Huh? No such mention about the lightning?'

Zhang Ye decided to just act low-key, as not to alert others of his sudden change in personality.

"Very well, I won't trouble you much longer. Let us depart."

The servant landed on the clearing where Zhang Ye stood up. He made a lot of space in the flying sword for this young master to stand comfortably.

Yet as this young master approached, all tattered with the scent of animals, the servant's expression fell.

"Smell of animal blood...ugh...young master, just what you've been up to? I know your hobby is hunting savage beasts but to think you will go this far..."

"What's wrong with you? Aren't animal blood supposed to be tasty like wine and fruit juice?"

The servant made a strange expression like he was about to puke blood, he felt a sense of a headache as the flying sword's motions swayed. As they were about to crash land, Zhang Ye shook the servant's body and slapped his face a few times until he regained consciousness.

"My apologies, young master!"

"Apology your head! You almost got both of us killed!"

"Based on our cultivation, the worst is a couple of broken bones that will take a week to heal."

'Screw your sister!'

He cursed in his heart but he still had the decency not to yell it aloud.

Zhang Ye was confused—why the servants this insolent? He was their Young Master, wasn't he?

When he remembered again, the servants were never that respectful, but at least they wouldn't put him into danger.

He did not realize yet; he was the sole member of Zhang clan that enjoy drinking beast blood.

Shortly after, an ancestral mansion made out of granite rock, with lanterns illuminating it came into view. The sight of overbearing twin dragons before the gate, with gate guards already reaching the warrior rank of cultivation, stood tall despite the state of night.

"This one greets the third Young Master!"

"The Patriarch expects the third Young Master at the Ancestral Hall tomorrow morning."

Zhang Ye gulped his saliva, he felt like he's going to get an earful from his grandfather again.