By this time in 2009, villas in the Fuhua residential complex were already costing over 20,000 yuan per square meter.
Wang Teng's villa was a full 800 square meters. The original purchase cost over 10 million yuan, and with renovations, the total cost exceeded 20 million yuan.
Entering the villa, the first thing you see is a spacious living room.
Two servants were cleaning.
Wang Teng's mother, Li Xiumei, was busy in the kitchen.
She came from a family of scholars and, in her youth, was a renowned university talent. But she wasn't a lifelong cook.
On the contrary, her cooking skills were exceptional, and her dishes always garnered praise from Wang Teng and his son.
So, Li Xiumei cooked for herself, preparing meals daily and waiting for her husband and son to return home to eat.
Watching the busy figures in the kitchen and smelling the familiar aroma of food,
Wang Teng stood at the kitchen door, his mouth open for a long moment before calling out.
"Mom, I'm back!"
"I'm back!"
Li Xiumei turned around and smiled, "Wait a little longer." Your dad should be home soon. Let's have dinner together when he gets home.
"Okay! "I'll go wash my face first." Wang Teng rushed upstairs and into the bathroom without looking back.
"What's wrong with this kid today?" Li Xiumei shook her head.
In the bathroom, Wang Teng turned on the faucet and let the cold water wash over his face.
I'm back!
I never thought that after ten years, I'd have the chance to return to this home again.
After the Wang family fell into ruin, Wang Shengguo was assassinated and died. Not long after, Li Xiumei also died of depression.
Wang Teng raised his head, wiped his face, and looked at himself in the mirror, his eyes reddened.
Ten years had changed so much.
Wang Teng had changed. He was no longer the same person he was before. In his previous life, his heart had long since become as cold and hard as iron.
But deep down, there were still some soft spots hidden in his heart, though he had previously been reluctant to touch them.
Wang Teng dried his face, walked out of the bathroom, and followed his memory to open his bedroom.
Familiar furnishings, familiar everything.
NBA player posters lined the walls, music CDs and novels lined the bookshelves, and a computer sat on the desk by the window, not far from the bed.
The computer was a new model, an Apple brand, its bright silver body light and stylish.
Another object that didn't fit the timeline.
Seeing the computer, he suddenly remembered something and fished out a phone from his bag. Sure enough, it wasn't an antique from 2009, but the latest iPhone 8.
Wang Teng had been prepared for this, calmly entering his password and unlocking his phone.
He suddenly felt thankful that he had a problem remembering passwords, having used the same one for years without changing them.
Meituan, Ele.me, WeChat, TikTok... Many of these apps only appeared later; they didn't even exist in 2009.
When he was first reborn, he still hoped to rely on his past life memories to fight his way to the top, making Jack Ma, Pony Ma, and other bigwigs sing "Conquer" together!
Well, no hope now!
He let out a sigh, put down his phone, and turned on his computer.
There's no better way than searching online.
Computers and mobile phones have advanced to this point; there's no reason the internet should be stuck in the 2009 state.
Technology and the internet have always been inseparable.
After turning on the computer, Wang Teng was somewhat surprised.
The computer's operating system wasn't Windows 10, but it was already 11.
It seemed the development wasn't exactly at the same level as in 2019; there were still differences.
It took him a while to get used to it.
He opened the Baidu browser and searched for "Warrior," bringing up a flood of results.
Over an hour later, Wang Teng closed his browser and leaned back in his chair, his face filled with disbelief.
"Thirty years ago, spatial rifts appeared across the globe, connecting to another world—the Xingwu Continent!"
"On the Xingwu Continent, the Force exists, and everyone cultivates it to become a warrior!"
"Warriors are incredibly powerful!"
"Low-level warriors can split rocks and sever water with swords, while high-level warriors can destroy mountains and overturn rivers and seas..."
"This is too fantastical!"
Wang Teng was at a loss for words.
Earth scientists studied the Force and discovered that it is likely dark matter. However, they had no idea why the people, animals, and plants of the Xingwu Continent could absorb dark matter and transform themselves, while Earth's creatures could not.
Soon, with the appearance of spatial rifts, Earth seemed to undergo some changes, and its creatures began to be affected by dark matter.
Plants grew taller and more luxuriant, and some long-extinct species reappeared.
Animals also grew larger, and their physical features, such as scales, claws, and teeth, were enhanced.
Even some gifted animals mutated, acquiring special abilities associated with various elements, such as metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
Humans, as the most intelligent creatures, naturally evolved as well.
Human bodies also grew stronger, running faster, jumping higher, gaining greater strength, and living longer... too!
Many of those who would have been in their seventies and eighties thirty years ago were still alive, now over a hundred years old, with the mental state of someone in their sixties or seventies.
Earthlings went wild!
Nations around the world put aside their past grudges and convened a global joint conference.
The decision was ultimately made to send personnel to explore the spatial rifts. Once safety was assured, military personnel and experts and scholars were gradually dispatched to the Xingwu Continent.
These people were called Pioneers!
The Xingwu Continent was vast and boundless. The Pioneers, claiming to be from overseas, gained the trust of the locals and engaged in communication and trade.
The Earthlings were not barbaric invaders. Instead, they adopted the principles of peaceful coexistence advocated by Chinese leaders and adopted a gentle approach to coexisting with the natives of the Xingwu Continent.
Not long after, the Pioneers brought back Xingwu Continent's cultivation methods.
After research and experimentation, it became clear that humans on Earth could cultivate. Ultimately, all nations unanimously decided to make their cultivation methods public, ushering in an era of universal martial arts.
This was a momentous transformation!
History thus took a sharp turn, developing in an unpredictable direction.
Please note this is crucial; it will be tested on the college entrance exam.
Humanity's greatest strength is its intellect. Through cultivation, humanity rapidly strengthened itself. In just a few years, numerous powerful warriors emerged across the globe.
Some of these warriors joined the military, some entered government, and others joined major corporations and families, forming alliances. Some independent warriors, unwilling to be constrained, established martial arts halls to provide avenues for cultivation for the common people.
It was precisely because of these warriors that powerful, mutated beasts were kept out of cities, preventing them from causing widespread damage and destruction to civilized society.
However, martial arts ultimately require talent, and not everyone can become one.
To become a full-fledged martial artist, one must cultivate their physical body and establish a solid foundation.
Practitioners at this stage are known as martial apprentices.
Only when one's foundation is sufficiently solid can one absorb the Force and store it within the body, becoming a full-fledged warrior.
If the Force is like water, the body is a container for holding it. The process of absorbing the Force is like filling it with water. Only by widening, enlarging, and strengthening the container can it hold more water.
The principle of martial arts training, in simple terms, is this:
Martial artists can be divided into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced, based on their overall physical qualities, such as strength and speed.
He Manrong, whom I met at the school gate earlier, is an advanced martial artist, just one step away from becoming a full-fledged warrior.
However, this step stumps many.
There's a qualitative difference between absorbing the Force and not absorbing it.
A full-fledged warrior who has cultivated the Force can defeat ten advanced martial artists without any difficulty.
The gap between advanced martial artists and full-fledged warriors may seem small, but in reality, it's a chasm.
Furthermore, while the poor are skilled in literature, the rich are in martial arts. Martial arts training requires vast resources, which are expensive, putting ordinary people at a disadvantage.
In short, despite this large base, warriors are still a minority; most are merely ordinary people with slightly stronger abilities.
But this doesn't prevent warriors from becoming mainstream. Their rarity and importance, in fact, contribute to their transcendent status.