The rain mercilessly washed the streets of Shanghai, as if trying to cleanse the city of its sins. In a small fourth-floor apartment, Yi Yang (28 years old) sat before a weary computer screen, his eyes tearing from exhaustion and lack of sleep.
Buzz
His phone vibrated with a message from his half-brother, Yi Long: "The designs are unacceptable. You always disappoint us. Just like your mother."
Words like knives. Ever since his real mother died in a suspicious accident, and his father married a new woman who brought along her son, Yi Long, Yi Yang had become the shadow in his own home, the defeated one in the family business.
He stood up, walked to the window. The city glittered beneath the rain, but his heart was dark. He remembered his therapist's words: "Yi Yang, you need to set boundaries."
He tried. Once. He spoke to his father. The response was: "Give him time."
Ten years of "time" had turned into ten years of humiliation.
---
The Scene in the Rain:
His phone rang again. An unknown number.
"Yes?"
"Is this Yi Yang? I'm your neighbor, Mrs. Chen... I'm stuck in the rain with my heavy bag..."
"I'll come down now."
The rain struck his face harshly as he ran towards the main entrance. There stood Mrs. Chen (72 years old), an elderly woman shivering from the cold, trying to pull a laden shopping cart.
"Why did you go out in this weather?"
"Medicine for my grandson... and then the bus tire burst..."
Yi Yang grabbed the cart. They were in the middle of the side street when they heard the sound of a speeding engine.
From the nearby bend, a red sports car appeared, skidding on the wet road.
There was no time to think.
He pushed Mrs. Chen and the cart forcefully onto the opposite sidewalk.
Impact.
His body soared into the air.
Crash.
Distant sounds... screams... then silence.
---
Waking in a Strange World:
Heat. Cold simultaneously. The smell of strange grass and unfamiliar plants.
Yi Yang opened his eyes.
A simple wooden ceiling. Daylight seeped through small openings.
He sat up slowly, a sharp pain piercing his body. He looked at his hands - they weren't his hands! Smaller, thinner, paler.
The door opened, and a woman in her forties entered, wearing simple traditional clothing, her eyes holding the weariness of the world.
"Lian! Thank goodness you're awake!" Her voice was affectionate but exhausted. "You've been unconscious for three days."
"Lian? Who are you?"
She looked at him with deep sorrow. "My son... I am your mother. And you are Lian, my sixteen-year-old son."
Mother? But his mother was dead. And he was twenty-eight, not sixteen!
"Where am I?"
"In the secondary wives' wing, the palace of Clan Yi."
Palace? Clan? Yi?
He stood up unsteadily, walked toward an old wooden mirror in the corner.
The face in the mirror: a pale youth with wide eyes holding an ancient fear, a body so fragile it seemed it might shatter from a mere glance.
Not his face. Not his body.
But something felt familiar. In that boy's eyes, he saw the same sense of betrayal he had carried all his life.
---
First Confrontation:
The bedroom door burst open violently.
Standing in the doorway was a youth of about eighteen, handsome but with a cruelty in his eyes that didn't match his age. Kai Yi - the half-brother in this world as well.
"Oh, look who's awake!" Kai sneered. "The timid mouse is coming out of its hole."
"Kai, please..." his mother began.
"Shut up, you!" he cut her off. "This weakling cost the clan a fortune in medicine. He's not even worth the price of his meals!"
Kai walked toward Yi Yang, grabbing his thin shirt. "I heard you lost your memory. Let me remind you: you're the nobody, the son of the secondary wife. You're the disgrace of Clan Yi."
He pushed him hard.
Yi Yang fell to the floor, his back slamming against a strange stone amulet in the corner of the room. A sharp edge cut his forehead.
Warm blood flowed onto the amulet.
And in that moment...
---
The Explosion:
White-golden light filled the room.
Then black-silver darkness followed.
The stone amulet split in two, and inside it... a Yin-Yang symbol spun with frantic speed.
The two lights - golden and silver - shot towards Yi Yang's chest.
Heat burning every cell in his body.
Cold freezing his blood.
And in his mind, a roaring voice like wind through mountains:
"Tian Wu's Divine System activated. New Seal-Bearer, begin your journey from mortal to god. Nine stages await you. Balance is the path. Balance is the goal."
---
Second Awakening:
Yi Yang opened his eyes.
He was alone in the room. His mother had gone to fetch medicine. Kai had disappeared.
He stood up with astonishing ease. The pain was gone. Power flowed through his veins... two kinds of power.
In his right hand: warm, glowing gold.
In his left hand: cool, serene silver.
And he looked at his left palm.
There, in the center of his palm, was a complex circular seal: half black with a white dot, half white with a black dot. Yin-Yang.
But it wasn't static. It rotated slowly, pulsing with his heartbeat.
And with each pulse, he saw in his mind:
Stage Level 1 (consists of nine levels) : Living Iron - Hardening the Body and Nerves
Advancement Requirements:
· Yang Aspect: Withstand 100 strong blows without falling
· Yin Aspect: Control 10 precise energy streams simultaneously
· Balance Condition: Use both aspects together in actual combat
---
First Steps:
He heard footsteps outside. The sound of Kai and his companions approaching.
"Let's see if the mouse is still bleeding!"
Yi Yang looked at his hands. Warmth and coolness. Power and calm.
He remembered his previous life: the humiliated, timid, weak one.
He remembered his death: the push that had saved an old woman.
And he looked at the seal in his palm.
Outside, Kai pushed against the door.
Inside, Yi Yang closed his eyes, breathed.
Warmth in his right. Coolness in his left.
The door gave way.
Kai entered with two friends, their faces bearing anticipation for the coming torment.
"Oh, what's this?" Kai mocked. "Are you crying?"
Yi Yang opened his eyes.
And unlike all the past years, in this world or the previous one...
He smiled.
"Kai," he said in a quiet yet clear voice. "This time, I will be the one who chooses what happens."
Kai stopped, a fleeting surprise in his eyes, then a muffled laugh. "What did you say?"
"I said..." Yi Yang moved with a speed he was unaccustomed to.
Not supernatural speed. But calculated speed. His right hand moved with warmth, his left with coolness.
Kai tried to strike, but his hand passed through empty air.
Yi Yang had already sidestepped, his left hand gently touching Kai's wrist.
A slight chill.
Kai cried out not from pain, but from surprise. His arm went numb for a moment.
"What kind of dirty magic is this?!" he shouted.
"It's not magic," Yi Yang said, stepping back. "Just the beginning."
He looked at his seal. The lights dimmed slightly. He had used a small part of the new power.
And in his mind, new words appeared:
"First system usage. Opponent analysis: Kai Yi. Level: Advanced Beginner. Weaknesses: Arrogance, impatience, suppressed anger from past."
Past? Yi Yang focused more.
"Additional information: Carries remnants of strange energy. Resembles Yin energy but distorted. Source: Deceased mother?"
Mother? Kai also lost his mother?
In that moment, Yi Yang looked at Kai not as an enemy, but as a person... wounded, like himself.
"Kai..." he began.
But Kai attacked again, this time with genuine anger. "Don't look at me with that gaze!"
The strike was stronger, faster.
Yi Yang tried to dodge, but he wasn't fast enough.
A blow to his shoulder.
Sharp pain.
But with the pain... something else. The seal on his palm twitched. Golden energy flowed to his injured shoulder. The pain lessened.
And the silver energy created a light shield around the next strike.
Kai struck again.
And this time, Yi Yang didn't evade.
He caught Kai's fist with his own hand.
Astonishment.
Yi Yang's small, weak hand held Kai's strong fist.
"How?" Kai whispered.
"I don't know," Yi Yang said truthfully. "But I will find out."
Yi Yang pushed, and Kai staggered back.
The two friends stepped forward, but Kai stopped them. "Enough."
He looked at Yi Yang with a long gaze, filled with confusion, anger, and something else... perhaps hesitant respect.
"Today is different," Kai said. "But tomorrow... tomorrow won't be easy."
They left.
---
Search for Answers:
Yi Yang remained standing in the empty room.
He looked at his hands. The seal was still there. The energy still flowed.
His mother rushed in. "I heard noise! Did Kai hurt you again?"
"No," Yi Yang said, examining the seal. "This time... it was different."
He looked at his new mother. "Mother... what do you know about the Yin-Yang seal?"
She fell silent. Her eyes widened. "How do you know about... no, we must not speak of that. It's forbidden."
"Why?"
"Because it is the legacy of Tian Wu... the divided Combat God. Those who speak of it... die."
Outside the window, the rain began to fall once more in this strange world.
And Yi Yang felt that his journey would not be merely a journey of power.
But a journey in search of truth.
Of balance.
And of why he, of all people, was chosen to bear this destiny.
End of Chapter One