Li Ming was Su Chen's closest drinking buddy and troublemaking friend. The Li family held considerable influence within Soaring Clouds City, so investigating someone posed little difficulty for him.

  Less than a day later, the information on the youth who bore such an uncanny resemblance to his old enemy lay spread out before Su Chen.

  For all his usual unreliability, Li Ming came through when it mattered most.

  "As I thought!"

  A cold, vicious smile curled Su Chen's lips, his expression turning savage. His lone-wolf instincts from that day had not deceived him.

  The youth really was the son of his old foe. He was the son of Xu Changzhi, the most outstanding young genius of the Xu family twenty years ago, the very one who had stood behind Xu Ba that fateful night.

  His name was Xu Sheng. A disciple of Soaring Clouds Martial Academy, three years older than Su Chen, and still stuck at the ninth layer of Spirit Awakening at the age of twenty. He might have been on the verge of a breakthrough. But he would never get the chance now.

  "Xu Ba, if I can't kill you, that old turtle, I can at least start carving away your clansmen one by one."

  Su Chen seethed with hatred. Back when he died, he could have accepted it as a gamble lost—fair enough. The problem was that he had come back to life. The memory of his children's and old comrades' severed heads rolling to his feet, their wide, staring eyes fixed on him, haunted his dreams even now. Until not even an ant from the Xu family remained, the hatred in his heart would never be quenched.

  Moreover, the Xu family now possessed the inheritance of a Spirit Sea Realm expert—a tremendous fortune. In the Heavenly Wind Kingdom, a Spirit Sea Realm cultivator already counted as an absolute powerhouse. Even Li Qingyue, the woman who had once annulled their engagement, had only reached that realm after all these years.

  With such talent, she had indeed shone brightly in the kingdom. No wonder she had felt justified in declaring that they were no longer of the same world.

  Su Chen still bore the grudge. He had never forgotten. And in truth, they really were no longer of the same path.

  Li Qingyue had grown old. He was seventeen again, in the prime of youth. He would rather die than marry an aging woman. This was no longer a matter of embracing a golden brick.

  Su Chen pondered how to eliminate a Soaring Clouds Martial Academy disciple without raising suspicion. Killing a fellow disciple had always been a grave crime within the academy—light punishment meant confinement, severe punishment meant expulsion. He could not afford to act openly.

  But what if Xu Sheng, while on a mission, encountered ruthless bandits who happened to harbor a deep grudge against the Xu family? And what if those bandits killed him?

  A perfectly plausible scenario. The academy would never mobilize on behalf of one disciple. Now that the Xu family had obtained a Spirit Sea Realm inheritance, they would prefer to keep a low profile rather than draw attention by making a fuss over Xu Sheng's death.

  Three months later, Xu Sheng accepted a high-reward mission.

  "Who are you?"

  Dressed in academy robes, Xu Sheng eyed the three cloaked figures who had suddenly appeared before him, his posture tense and wary.

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  "People here to take your life!"

  The three attacked in unison, forcing Xu Sheng into a desperate retreat. At the final, life-or-death moment, he unleashed a ferocious punch. A faint white tiger seemed to roar within the strike as he counter-killed all three assailants.

  Xu Sheng panted heavily, bewildered as to why he had been ambushed by three killers at once. He reached down to pull back their hoods and reveal their faces.

  In the next instant, a sharp sword pierced straight through his chest.

  "What a bunch of trash—they couldn't even kill one person! Good thing I stayed cautious and followed quietly."

  The previous night, Su Chen had deliberately gotten everyone drunk, pouring liquor until they passed out. Then he slipped away unnoticed.

  He sprinkled a few drops of corpse-dissolving liquid over the bodies, erasing all traces, and left.

  A group of desperate killers—who would suspect him? Even if Xu Sheng's death was eventually discovered, it would mean nothing.

  In this life, he was Jiang Chen. What did any of this have to do with Su Chen?

  Su Chen returned to Soaring Clouds City in secret. By the time people noticed him again, he was lying in bed, fast asleep.

  One month later, Xu Sheng's death was finally uncovered. Just as Su Chen had predicted, the academy handled the matter perfunctorily, concluding that Xu Sheng had offended an old enemy and been killed in revenge.

  This was the martial world. When an ordinary disciple died, he simply died. Most people never even heard his name.

  The Xu family knew the truth, yet they dared not make a fuss. Only Xu Changzhi, the family head, seethed with hatred. But no clues surfaced.

  In the end, the matter faded into silence. Only Su Chen understood that this was merely the beginning. One life was far from enough to settle a clan-extermination grudge.

  With his enemies in the open and himself in the shadows, Su Chen felt no urgency. He continued his cultivation at Soaring Clouds Martial Academy without drawing attention.

  …

  One year later, shortly after turning eighteen, Su Chen was summoned home by Jiang Li. When he arrived, he noticed an elderly man seated beside his father. The face looked vaguely familiar. Not someone from the Xu family—the world was not that clichéd. This was the old patriarch of Northwind City's Wang family, a figure of great respect and influence. Su Chen had met him a few times in passing.

  Northwind City was considerably larger than Lofty Mountain City. Jiang Li was a Spirit Vein Realm expert, and naturally, the Wang family patriarch was also in the Spirit Vein Realm.

  The old man studied Su Chen—handsome, poised, and clearly talented—and gave a satisfied nod.

  "Nephew Jiang, I have a granddaughter beautiful as a celestial maiden. She has been cultivating at the Spirit Sword Sect for many years and has only just returned to Northwind City. This old man would be grateful if you could spend a few days showing her around the city and keeping her company."

  Su Chen understood immediately. This was a matchmaking meeting, plain and simple. He glanced at his father. Jiang Li gave a slight nod. The girl must be stunning and possess excellent aptitude—enough to win his father's full approval and prompt this summons.

  Arranged marriages were commonplace among great families. In his first life, the Su family had formed an alliance with the Li family through his engagement to Li Qingyue. Who could have predicted that a passing elder from the Heavenly Wave Sect would take a liking to her and bring her to the sect for cultivation?

  In the end, Su Chen agreed to meet her. To live each life to the fullest and earn Reverse Fate Points, he needed to leave his mark on the world.

  Meeting the granddaughter proved effortless. She stood dressed in plain white robes like fresh snow, a three-foot green sword at her back, leaning against a pavilion railing as fine rain pattered down. No rouge touched her face, yet her beauty was pure and otherworldly.

  This was Su Chen's first encounter with Wang Bailu. She lifted her head, resembling a plum blossom defying winter snow, and looked straight at him with clear, steady eyes.

  Su Chen studied her in return.

  "Beautiful, no question. But she can see her own toes without bending over."

  He mused silently to himself. His father's taste really was impeccable, though there was still a slight flaw.

  Wang Bailu had no idea what thoughts were running through his mind. Still, he was handsome, and for a beauty like her, first impressions rarely went wrong.

  This time, no broken engagement occurred. Both sides were pleased.

  Su Chen escorted Wang Bailu around Northwind City. For three straight days, the two were inseparable.

  On the fourth day, they parted, agreeing to meet again at the Heavenly Wind Kingdom's decennial youth grand competition.

  Su Chen returned to Soaring Clouds Martial Academy. His troublemaking friend Li Ming watched him with open curiosity, sensing that something about his best friend had changed.

  Su Chen, of course, said nothing.

  We're different now. I have a family background. You're still a single dog.