In truth, when he first arrived in this world, he had dreamed of living a truly luxurious life—of taking three or four wives, enjoying a life of carefree bliss, as was fitting for a nobleman of ancient times.
But now, looking at himself, he began to have doubts...
Three or four wives?
Could he even handle one?!
This was just...
He didn't even know what to say.
The heavens were definitely playing a joke on him!
First, they send him to an ancient world, then they give him the body of a scrawny youth, and now this blow below the belt...
It all felt like the plot of some trashy novel—only he wasn't the reader, but the main character!
And the further he went, the more events came at him in waves, each bigger than the last.
Would he really have to live like this now?!
He sighed dismally.
All desire to bathe was gone.
Climbing out onto the bank, he didn't even wait for his clothes to dry—he just pulled on the damp garments, extinguished the fire, grabbed his sword, randomly picked a direction, and left.
It was better not to see it.
Out of sight, out of mind.
What if, with good nutrition, his body would still develop?
He had no other options anyway, so all he could do was comfort himself with that thought.
Moving along gloomily and without a clear destination, he soon realized he was hopelessly lost.
Well, at least there was plenty of wild game here.
After his failure with throwing stones, he carved himself another spear and switched to throwing it instead.
He missed once, then twice, then a third time... but with each attempt, his arm grew steadier and his aim improved.
Finally, before nightfall, he managed to spear a rabbit.
He quickly skinned the carcass, found an open spot, started a new fire, and began to roast his catch.
Internal Energy: His Only Hope
While the rabbit was roasting, he remembered he had internal energy.
And so, he impatiently sat in the lotus position and began to meditate.
He immediately felt a cold stream of energy moving through his meridians.
It flowed slowly within him, gradually submitting to his will.
His mood brightened significantly.
So, things weren't so bad after all?
Since he had been dropped into this world, he now had a chance to become a martial arts master!
To become a great hero!
In his former life, in that other world, Ye Qing had been a grown man—twenty-nine years old.
Since childhood, he had devoured wuxia novels and watched martial arts movies, dreaming of great warriors leaping across rooftops and flying over gorges.
But there, in his world, it was only fantasy.
Here, it was reality.
And perhaps, this was the only thing that brought him any joy in his new body.
Now that he thought about it, it was clear that the snake was no ordinary creature.
How else could he explain the cold stream that surged in his dantian after eating it, and then, after just one night of meditation, the deep wound healing without any medicine?
Wasn't this a classic "fated encounter" from the legends of martial arts masters?
And since such miracles happen, then something extraordinary might happen with his martial arts as well. Who knows? Maybe if he trains hard enough, he can reach the pinnacle?
And if so...
Then the dream of three or four wives no longer seemed impossible!
Just picturing such a future immediately lifted his spirits.
He even felt inspired!
So much so that he wanted to roast the rabbit and train at the same time, but alas, it turned out to be an inefficient way to multitask.
So he decided not to rush: first, he would eat his fill in peace, and only then would he focus completely on training.
He was sure that after all that running, he couldn't have gone too deep into the forest.
But when he finally decided to try and get out...
...he realized there was no way back.
He was lost.
However, he wasn't too worried.
Thanks to his weak but genuine internal energy, he wasn't afraid of starving to death—with a spear in his hands, he could find food.
And if he ever ran into something dangerous, he had a large broadsword, and as a last resort, he could always climb a tree and wait it out.
So there was no real threat.
By day, he looked for a way out.
By night, he would sit in meditation, training his internal strength.
Several days passed.
But he still couldn't find a way out.
Strange Changes in His Body
And it was during this time that he began to notice something strange.
First, his skin.
Before, it had been tanned and dark, but now...
It seemed to be fading.
The dark tan was gradually disappearing, and his skin was taking on a warm, wheat-like tone.
He didn't think much of it.
He just figured that he was rarely in the sun in the forest, so his skin was becoming lighter.
But then he noticed something else.
His chest.
One day, he felt a slight pain, as if something was swelling beneath his skin.
Touching it, he felt small, hard lumps—about the size of a bean or a peanut.
This genuinely worried him.
"Could it be... a tumor?"
The thought hit him like a lightning bolt.
What if Chen Dahu had a tumor?
If so, this was a total nightmare!
In the modern world, if a disease is caught early enough, there's a chance of a cure.
But here...
Without surgery, without doctors...
Had he survived death only to die a few years later?!
The thought haunted him.
The Realization
The further he went, the more his anxiety grew.
But after a while, he suddenly realized something strange.
The lumps... were growing.
And they were growing very evenly.
And soon, they stopped being hard.
Now, when he touched his chest, it was soft to the touch...
...
...
"What the hell?!"
The sudden realization completely stunned him.
How had he not figured it out sooner?!
These symptoms...
They were... like a girl's puberty!
But...
But HOW could this be happening to a man?!
"Wait. Although... didn't men... in the modern world..."
...didn't some men also grow breasts?
What was that condition called?
Gynecomastia?
Had he also become a victim of it?!
No... that's impossible!
Could it be that Chen Dahu's body had an excess of female hormones, and their balance was completely out of whack?
If so, it would explain why his "little brother" was so small.
He looked down again.
What the hell?!
It's already the size of a peanut!
What the hell?!
It's only been a few days!
If it's shrinking this fast, then soon... It'll just disappear?!
How can something that every man is supposed to have just disappear?!
Why?!
Of course, he had been disappointed from the start, as its size was nothing to be happy about. But that didn't mean he wanted it to vanish completely! At the very least, he still needed it to relieve himself!
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was seriously wrong. Even if Chen Dahu's body had hormonal imbalances, could it lead to such changes in just a few days? If hormones could affect development to this extent, it should have started long ago! It shouldn't happen so suddenly!
No, something was definitely not right here!
Growing more and more anxious, he decided not to keep wandering blindly. He sat down right where he was, trying to make sense of what was happening.
What had he done over the past week that could have led to such consequences?
Think, think, think...
First, he started training in martial arts... No, wait! It all started even earlier! With that icy snake! That's it! Could it all be because of it?!
What a wretched snake!
He had never heard of a person growing breasts and losing their manhood after eating a snake!
But if you think about it... Perhaps the internal energy of the snake he absorbed had somehow affected his body? If that were true... Then he only had himself to blame.
Fate Had Played a Cruel Joke on Him
The more he reflected, the more logical this explanation seemed. After all, there was a precedent—the Sunflower Manual! (The "Sunflower Manual" is a fictional secret martial arts manual from wuxia novels, the practice of which required... castration.)
And if so... It meant that his own training was only accelerating the process!
This whole time he had been diligently meditating, accumulating internal energy, and his body... It was simply absorbing the cold qi, changing him!
Every day he had only been making his situation worse!
What should he do now?!
When he realized this, a bitter taste filled his mouth.
Damn you, heaven, are you serious?! Are you trying to make a mockery of me?
But what now? Continuing to train was mortally dangerous. The more he meditated, the faster he would absorb the cold energy. And that meant... If he didn't stop, his body would change completely!
He would become neither man nor woman.
How could he live after that?!
And then he remembered his voice. He coughed lightly and tried to say a few words. He froze. His voice had changed. It had become gentle, soft... Too much like a woman's.
The changes in his body forced him to accept the harsh reality.
He was no longer concerned with finding a way out—he spent the entire day sitting in place, tormented and in agony, and when night fell, he didn't even go hunting. He simply climbed a tree, settled on a thick branch, and tossed and turned, trying to fall asleep, but sleep wouldn't come.
He didn't know when he finally slipped into unconsciousness. When he awoke, he heard the forest come alive again—the chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects filled the air with the morning's hustle.
He climbed down from the tree.
He had to do something.
If there was something that caused a person's breasts to grow and their manhood to vanish, then there must be something that could reverse it.
Yin and yang, the balance of nature, cause and effect... If there was a poison, there must be an antidote!
Although he hadn't eaten all night, he had no appetite anyway. As soon as he got down from the tree, he grabbed his sword and started looking for a way out.
And this was when it truly seemed as though the heavens had decided to laugh at him. He had spent days trying to get out of the forest with no success. But now, walking at random, with his mind a million miles away, he accidentally stumbled upon a road.
The dusty path, stretching in both directions, meant only one thing: he had finally left the forest.
He had spent seven days in those woods. He entered from the battlefield and now emerged from he knew not where. He could only imagine how many circles he had walked while lost in there!
But the most important thing was that he had made it out. Now he didn't have to fear being stuck in that cursed forest forever.
He stepped onto the road and looked around. Which way should he go?
Where could he find people?
He picked up a stick from the ground, chose one end at random, and tossed it into the air. He went in the direction the fallen stick pointed.
It was already nearing noon. He hadn't eaten for a full day. His stomach was cramping with hunger, but he wasn't going back into the woods. All he could do was walk forward and hope he would quickly find a village or an inn.
But he hadn't gone far when he suddenly felt dizzy. Everything before his eyes swam. The sunlight was scorching from above, but his body suddenly began to freeze.
An icy coldness ran over his skin, his teeth chattered, and his lips turned white. His hands shook so violently that he couldn't hold onto his sword and let it slip from his fingers. He instinctively wrapped his arms around himself, crouched down on the ground, trying to warm up.
But the longer it went on, the worse he felt.
If he had looked at his hands, he would have noticed the thin green lines that had appeared on his skin. A clear sign of poisoning!
He didn't know that he had actually been poisoned for a long time. When the snake bit him in the pit, the venom had indeed entered his bloodstream. But since he didn't know how to expel toxins with internal energy, he couldn't get rid of it. He had only suppressed the poison with the cold energy, which held the symptoms at bay but didn't eliminate them.
This whole time, as he trained his internal strength, the poison remained in his body but didn't manifest. But as soon as he stopped training, the poison reactivated in just one night.
Now, the poison and the cold energy clashed in his body like two irreconcilable enemies. They fought for dominance, raging through his meridians like maddened demons. Ye Qing felt an unbearable pain pierce his body...
He moaned in agony. Thin streams of blood began to seep from his ears, nose, eyes, and mouth. His consciousness gradually faded until, finally, he collapsed to the ground and lost awareness.
The sun was slowly sinking in the west.
And in the distance, in the opposite direction from where Ye Qing was heading, a cloud of dust suddenly rose. The sound of hooves was drawing closer, becoming more distinct.
After a while, three riders in armor galloped down the road, heading toward him. Since the area was open and the road was deserted, they quickly noticed the motionless body lying right in the middle of the path. The horses slowed their pace, and the riders began to approach.
Coming to a halt, all three dismounted. One of them picked up the sword lying nearby and twirled it in his hands. Then, without showing any emotion, he nodded to another soldier and handed him the weapon.
The third one walked up to Ye Qing, squatted down, and turned his body onto his back. And he froze immediately. Through the torn clothes, a flash of unexpectedly white skin was visible. The rider averted his gaze, as if blinded by the sight, and hurriedly turned away.
The one holding the sword asked with curiosity: "What is it, Soldier Number Thirteen?"
"Soldier Number Three... It's a girl."
"A girl?!" The rider named Soldier Number Three raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You're telling me a girl is wielding a Seilian soldier's weapon?"
Walking closer, he also knelt, parted the folds of the clothing, and looked closely. Although the armor was gone from the body, the underclothes were still military. What's more, it was the standard uniform of their own state's army! Soldier Number Three immediately realized this and muttered in confusion: "She's wearing an army uniform? That's strange..."
The third rider, who had been silent until now, finally joined the conversation: "Maybe she's a refugee? She picked up the clothes from a fallen soldier and then found an enemy weapon?"
Soldier Number Three pondered, then nodded: "That's possible..." But a moment later, he shook his head: "Though the chance of that is slim."
He thought for a bit, then made a decision: "Alright, Soldier Number Thirteen, take both the sword and the girl, and deliver them to the Commander-in-Chief. Soldier Number Nine and I will continue scouting."
"Understood!"
Taking the order, Soldier Number Thirteen quickly adjusted Ye Qing's clothes, covering his body, then lifted him into his arms and placed him on the back of his horse. He then mounted the saddle himself, turned his horse around, and headed toward the military camp. And Soldier Number Three and Soldier Number Nine also leaped onto their horses and continued their journey forward.