Rain hammered against the streets of Shanghai like the heavens themselves were in mourning. The neon lights of the city bled into the puddles, distorting colors into rippling streams. Li Wei Chen stood at the edge of the rooftop, the wind tearing at his drenched clothes. His black eyes, once sharp with confidence, were dulled with exhaustion.
At twenty-eight, he had been a name that dominated the underground martial arts world undefeated, feared, respected. Until the betrayal.
He replayed it in his mind again: the final tournament, the roaring crowd, the moment his so-called brother, Zhang Jun, laced his tea with poison. The slow weakness that crept into his limbs as he fought and lost. The shame that followed. Sponsors vanished. Friends turned away. In a matter of weeks, the legend of Li Wei Chen was reduced to whispers of pity and contempt.
And then came the debt collectors.
His mother's medical bills. The gym he had poured his soul into collapsing under financial ruin. Every step forward in life felt like dragging his body through mud while the world jeered.
Tonight, he had been lured here by a call a promise of a way to reclaim his honor. But instead, Zhang Jun himself stepped out from the shadows of the rooftop, umbrella in hand, smirking.
"You should have stayed down, Wei Chen," Zhang said coldly.
The click of a gun echoed beneath the rain.
Li Wei Chen laughed bitterly. "If you're going to kill me, at least have the guts to face me without that toy."
The last sound he heard was the thunder above or perhaps it was the gunshot. His body fell backward into the void.
Darkness swallowed him. No pain. No fear. Just an endless silence.
Then, light blinding, golden, and suffused with warmth. It wasn't the city skyline or the sterile white of a hospital room. He was lying on a carved jade bed beneath a canopy of embroidered silk. The scent of sandalwood filled the air.
[Heaven-Devouring Emperor System initializing…]
A voice, neither male nor female, resonated directly in his mind.
[New Host detected: Chen Lu Tian]
[Binding successful.]
Memories that weren't his own slammed into him like a tidal wave, a young master of the Chen Clan, arrogant but incompetent, recently crippled in a duel against the heir of the Xu family. His dantian shattered, his engagement broken, his clan shamed.
Li Wei Chen, no Chen Lu Tian opened his eyes slowly, the corner of his lips curling.
A weak body? A humiliated name? In his past life, betrayal had crushed him. In this one, he had the power to crush the world.
[Welcome, Host.]
[Your path to supremacy begins now.]
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed outside the chamber. A delicate voice called out, trembling, "Young Master, the patriarch has summoned you, it's about the engagement."
Chen Lu Tian's smile widened. The heavens had given him a second life and he would wring every drop of pleasure, power, and vengeance from it.