C1 Chu Zhongtian!

Late at night in the attic:

A gust of cold wind pierced through the window, making the candlelight sway back and forth. Under the flickering candlelight, one could vaguely see a pair of eyes filled with complicated emotions.

What were those complicated emotions?

A cocktail of various emotions swimming in his eyes, giving them a complicated look. It had a hint of helplessness, a trace of fear, a touch of unwillingness, a crumb of anxiousness, and a hunk of surprise. This was enough to show the degree of complexity in the emotions of this person, Chu Zhongtian.

Chu Zhongtian took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He stretched out his left hand and looked at his white and delicate hand. His thumb and index finger were full of calluses. Looking at them, he couldn't help but shake his head with a bitter expression.

"Sigh... The past me could've never expected that he would be transmigrated like those other novel protags. Am I lucky? Or am I fucked?"

Chu Zhongtian sighed, then forcefully pulled himself together and stood up. He opened the window of the attic and allowed the cold wind to blow past his face. He looked into the distance with a desolate expression, and his thoughts involuntarily returned to the transmigration aspect of his new reality.

In his previous life, he was a programmer; obviously, he made a living out of developing software. Being a programmer, he had squat for personal life—he was boring and an introvert. Suffice to say, he had no lofty dreams.

For him, his life dreams were very simple and realistic. Even his dreams consisted of working hard to buy a house in the capital before he was 32. Believe it or not, he would've been happy if the house was just 70 square meters. Then, he would marry a gentle and kind woman — no need to be too beautiful. Together, they would have a cute son or an adorable daughter. He also wanted to bring his aged parents here to perform filial piety. Finally, he would die peacefully, having lived a filling life.

No one would dare to say that his wishes and dreams were unrealistic. Well, apart from reality—it was a cold-hearted bitch.

After 30 years of reform and growth, the country's economy developed rapidly, and the prices of goods went through the roof. The same was more than true for the housing department. Some people deliberately increased the housing price in the capital to make greater profits, resulting in abnormally high housing prices.

Ordinary office workers who worked hard all their lives could not even afford a bathroom in a house, let alone the entire house. Fortunately, Chu Zhongtian was quite good at his trade and had willpower that could bend steel. So, even though he had to endure some hardships to fulfill his dreams, he was willing to put his life on the line.

After six years of hard work, his bank balance finally had seven digits. However, that was just enough for the down payment of an 80-square-meter house. However, he didn't want his house's down payments to affect his life and lower his parents' and his own quality of life, so he still worked hard.

Six days ago, he received an urgent overtime assignment: he had to program a data statistical software for a foreign trade company. They gave him a five-day deadline. Believe me, that time limit was even shorter than what the Cyberpunk 2077 developers got.

The software was not complicated, and the program was simple, but it took a long time. While he was contemplating whether to accept or not since he wasn't sure his body could take that much stress, the company promised him a reward of 50,000 yuan. Without any hesitation, he accepted the assignment.

Three days and three nights...

In those 72 hours, he slept occasionally for an hour or two whenever his eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets. When hunger revolted in his stomach, he would suppress it with a bowl of instant ramen.

Insufficient sleep, malnutrition, excessive physical strain, and overexertion of his brain were most likely the primary reasons behind his death. When he woke up, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar environment. At the same time, a foreign memory appeared in his mind.

He wasn't an immature kid, so he adapted to his current reality pretty quickly, accepting peacefully that he had transmigrated. Furthermore, the physical body he was currently possessing had the same name as him, so that helped a bit with coming to terms with reality.

The only thing that worried him was how his parents on Earth would accept the sudden bad news of their son dying despite him being so young.

The Endless Forest was one of the eight forbidden lands on the Eternal Continent. It was filled with danger and unknown secrets. It was also home to numerous powerful strange beasts. According to rumors, even a bird flying high up in the sky couldn't cross this forest safely. As for humans, they had already accepted that it was one of the treasure lands they could never conquer.

In summary, the forbidden land represented death; at the same time, it contained unimaginable wealth.

Since no one dared to intrude into the Endless Forest, it was still in its most primitive state. There were countless heavenly treasures inside. Rumor had it that inside there were treasures that could bring the dead back to life. Some treasure could even make ordinary mortals ascend the high heavens in a day.

There was a good saying pertaining to this: desires could drive people crazy.

To obtain the treasures of the Endless Forest, countless people had risked their lives to enter the forest. They all hoped to get rich overnight and completely change their fates.

Since the Endless Forest was nowhere near a human civilization, tasks like replenishing supplies, reorganizing, and moving between the forest and the nearest civilization to and fro regularly became near impossible. So, some people with a powerful background established villages that acted like strongholds around the Endless Forest.

After a century or so of development, the number of people in these villages increased by leaps and bounds. So, the villages expanded until they were no longer villages, but towns and cities.

Luolin town was one such town that was under Qi Country's jurisdiction. It was built by the joint effort of the imperial family and the top three families in the country. After years of development, the Luolin village became a super large town with over 100,000 permanent residents and hundreds of thousands of travelers.

In the middle of the central street of Luolin town, there was an exquisite two-story building.

On the building hung a very conspicuous plaque with the words "Chu's Pharmacy" written on it.

In the main hall of the first floor:

A thin, young man with a delicate face was standing behind the counter with a smile on his face. He introduced the type of herbs and their prices to the customers standing in front of the counter.

This delicate and handsome youth was none other than Chu Zhongtian, who had transmigrated recently.

His easy-going personality and tenacious personality allowed him to slowly settle down from his initial confusion and panic. Before long, he had accepted his new identity and started a new life.

The original owner of this body had the exact same name as him—Chu Zhongtian. Thanks to that, a lot of the awkwardness he thought he would feel dissipated.

Unfortunately, one thing bugged him—the Chu Zhongtian of this world was also a no-name nobody. He did belong to one of the three great families of the Qi Country—the Chu Family—but he was just a branch disciple with an incredibly low status.

"Tian, I have something to do; I need to go back. You take care of the things in the shop." While Chu Zhongtian was busy trying to recommend a medicinal herb to the customers, an old man came down from the upper floor.

"Shopkeeper, don't worry. I'll take good care of the store," Chu Zhongtian replied respectfully to the old man.

The old man was, no doubt, old and weak, but he owned a wealth of experience. He was the very reason Chu's Pharmacy could develop to this level in Luolin Town.

"What a pity!" Looking at the sensible and obedient Chu Zhongtian, a trace of regret flashed across the old man's face.

Given how observant Chu Zhongtian was, he obviously noticed the regretful expression that appeared on the old man's face for a fleeting second. By now, he was well aware of his own situation, so he knew the reason behind the expression.

The world that Chu Zhongtian had reincarnated in was called Eternal Continent. This world was a spitting image of the ancient eras.

Chu Zhongtian had no idea how vast this world was since the memories he received had nothing about that. However, he did know that this world was nothing like Earth.

In this world, there was no modern technology. There was only cultivation, which was commonly known as Immortal Cultivation. It was said that a strong enough expert could tear, mold, and shape the very fabric of reality.

It was a world devoid of laws—no, there was one law: the law of the jungle. If people wanted to have status and safety, they had to become stronger than everybody who wished to take that away from them.

Chu Zhongtian was 17 years old this year. A year ago, he received the family test. He had a peak Level-8 cultivation talent. Now, this kind of talent was nothing impressive in the Eternal Continent, but in Qi Country and in particular the Chu Family, this was the best talent they had ever seen.

In this world, cultivation talent was divided into three grades and ten levels. The levels went from one to ten, with Level-1 being the best and Level-10 being the worst. Lower, middle, and peak were the three grades.

In Qi Country, the one with the best talent was Lin Yindao. He was from the Lin Family, another one of the three great families, and his talent was at middle Level-8. In the Chu Family, the patriarch, Chu Tianyun, supposedly had the best talent. He was a mere low Level-8.

Now, with Chu Zhongtian's talent, he should've been a valued member of the family even if he was an orphan from a branch family.

Unfortunately, three days after participating in the cultivation talent test, he accidentally encountered a battle between two peerless experts while playing outside the Qi Country's capital.

The strength of those two peerless experts was unknown to everyone in the remote Qi Country, but the impact of their battle was still clearly visible.

Although the battle took place in the sky, the aftermath of the battle still severely injured him. All thanks to his luck, he survived without losing an arm or a leg. All thanks to his bad luck, the aftermath of the battle trashed his meridians, turning him into trash who couldn't cultivate.

After receiving the memory, Chu Zhongtian saw the entire thing take place in his head. Although he was unwilling to accept it, what could he do?

There were plenty of spiritual Qi in the Eternal Continent and an abundance of natural treasures. However, there were very few treasures that could repair meridians. Those that could do the impossible costed more than what he or the Chu Family could afford. Therefore, he could only suppress this unwillingness in his heart.

Chu Zhongtian let out the gloomy feeling in his heart with a sigh, adjusted his state of mind, and continued to work.