Chapter 1 - Yanhuang Star

Yanhuang Star, province of Yangzhou, the city of Skywater, Whitesand District.

In the twelfth grade of the ninety fifth high school of Skywater City, a boy wearing white sat at the furthest row back in class sixteen. His eyes were dazed as he stared at the history book of Yanhuang Star before him.

“Who exactly am I? The Xia Ping[1] of Earth? Or the Xia Ping of Yanhuang Star? Or could all of this be a dream after all?” Xia Ping whispered to himself, his eyes filled with confusion.

Originally, Xia Ping was only an ordinary student of Yanhuang Star, no different from anybody else. However, three days ago, he was abruptly struck by a bolt of lightning that lashed out from the sky, causing him to immediately faint on the spot.

After he woke up, he shockingly discovered that strange, yet familiar memories had suddenly appeared in his head. In those memories, he was a Chinese citizen of Earth. From his birth, to the start of school, his days in class, romance, work, marriage, and even his children. Thirty years of life, all of it culminating in a car crash that would take his life.

In these three days time, his memories of Yanhuang Star and Earth collided and crashed against each other as they fused together. The result of which, caused Xia Ping‘s head to feel as if it would split apart from pain, constantly lost in confusion, unable to differentiate his location. Even in class, he was still feeling absent-minded.

Fortunately, there was still some benefits to the memory merger. He also didn’t suffer in vain. His head became a lot smarter, with his memorization capabilities improving as well. Many things now only required a thought to understand, contrary to before when he had to put in a lot more effort.

“Is everybody listening? Five months. All of you only have five months time.”

A young woman wearing a form-fitting suit that perfectly hugged her immaculate curves stood at the front of the lecturing stand. Her face was absolutely gorgeous, its soft and delicate skin combined with the pair of black glasses that she wore giving off a type of intellectual charm. She was definitely an extremely beautiful sisterly-type figure, one that was capable of causing countless men to fall head over heels for her.

She was also Xia Ping’s homeroom teacher, Qiu Xue[2], usually referred to as “Big Sister Qiu”. Her martial arts cultivation was inscrutable.

“The university entrance exams take place after five months. It is the watershed that will decide your futures.”

Qiu Xue held her hands to the lecture stand, her beautiful eyes gazing at the students below. “Whether you’re studying and preparing to enter university or planning to graduate and find employment, all of you must think about these things. Right now, I’ll be handing out a survey for everybody to write down their plan for the future, so please consider your choices carefully. None of you are allowed to hand in a written mess, understood?”

“Teacher, I’m only at the third layer of Martial Disciple. Will it be very difficult for me to enter university with such a record?” A girl asked, raising to stand up.

“That record is extremely average,” Qiu Xue nodded. “If you were planning on entering a first-rate university with that, it would be impossible, but you can try for a third-rate university instead. Of course, if you want, you can also just graduate and look for a job to earn money for your family. Right now, a lot of jobs are open due to a severe lack of available workers. You can consider joining a company for work and earn a bit of money in the process. With that money, you can then go buy several types of monstrous beast meats and spirit medicines to slowly increase your martial arts cultivation. In the future, perhaps you could even become a true martial artist with a monthly income in the tens of thousands range and live a life free from any financial worries.”

If Xia Ping was just a normal person from Earth, then he would have definitely been outright confused by their conversation. However, he had the memories of his time on Yanhuang Star, therefore he naturally knew of the complete difference between Yanhuang Star and Earth. This was a world where martial arts and the sciences flourished.

Originally, Yanhuang Star was really no different from Earth except for it’s slightly bigger surface size. Approximately one hundred times bigger, with more than a hundred different countries. Similar to Earth, it too went from a primitive society to a feudal one before progressing to modern times with capitalism. Science made advances at breathtaking speeds then while martial arts were ignored altogether.

However, something happened a thousand years ago that would change everything. In the skies above the peaceful Yanhuang Star, a dark hole abruptly appeared. From it came a black gas that instantly covered the entirety of Yanhuang Star.

Xia Ping looked at the history book in front of him. “That strange black gas contained a virulent virus. Even today, nobody understands the principles of this virus and how it works, but without doubt, it was extremely powerful. The entire Yanhuang Star in one night experienced a great calamity that decimated almost half of the human population. All of of the humans with weak physiques were killed. In the process, the virus caused every plant and animal on Yanhuang Star to undergo a drastic mutation that would throughly increase their powers. They became invulnerable to all cold weapons, and highly resistant to all firearms, even missiles would find it difficult to kill them. Furthermore, these monstrous beasts had no intellect. Bloodthirsty and cruel, many humans suffered a tragic death under their might, with the human population being further reduced by another forty percent. This event is now known as the Great Cataclysm.”

Still, if that was all there was to it, then Xia Ping wouldn’t have even been born. Although the virus was terrifying, capable of causing those beasts to undergo such a mutation, it too granted many benefits to the humans of Yanhuang Star as well, allowing their bodies to evolve.

At the same time, Yanhuang Star started to frequently experience earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Countless ancient ruins resurfaced one after another, and as humans explored these ruins, they discovered the bygone cultivation methods for the martial path from an age of antiquity.

These cultivation methods for the martial path actually caused humanity to evolve even further, granting them immense strength. Some people could kill with a leaf, while others could travel through the skies. One winning against a hundred was no longer a dream as humans gained the power to sunder the mountains and seas, their every movement capable of altering heaven and earth. Even if humans no longer relied on their weapons, they could still face off against those terrifyingly powerful monstrous beasts themselves. They were now super humans.

Aside from that, these ancient ruins didn’t just have mighty cultivation methods for the martial path. They also had incredibly advanced technology as well. All of it was studied and integrated into the human race, massively increasing their strength as a whole.

“Obtaining the technology and martial arts of these ancient ruins caused the overall strength of humanity to greatly increase, and thus they began their counterattack against those mutated monstrous beasts. City after city was recovered into human hands and after several centuries, humanity once more ruled over Yanhuang Star as its overlord, dominating the entire star itself. At the same time, the remaining countries united as one and then established the Federation, going on to divide Yanhuang Star into nine great provinces.”

Xia Ping flipped the page. “Five hundred years ago, once humanity no longer had to worry about their survival on Yanhuang Star, the Federation began to dispatch the experts of the human race to investigate the dark hole, wanting to learn the origins of the Great Cataclysm. Unfortunately, they never did find the source of the Great Cataclysm. Instead, they discovered a vast and boundless world beyond the dark hole. Humanity would come to name this world ‘Skycloud’.”

”This world’s surface area far surpassed that of Yanhuang Star’s, its spirit energy even denser, its treasures of heaven and earth innumerable. What’s more, this world was extremely well suited for humanity to live on. It was simply a paradise for the human race that could only existed in dreams. With the Skycloud World’s countless resources, Yanhuang Star’s technology advanced by leaps and bounds. Now, five hundred years later, Yanhuang Star’s technology and martial arts thrive, with everybody becoming a powerful martial artist. This is a world where might reigns supreme.”

The school where Xia Ping studied at was also like that. Pretty much all the students on Yanhuang Star had the duty to cultivate. Cultivation was so integrated into the system that it had become a test subject. If you weren’t strong enough, you couldn’t enter university. Sometimes it was even to the point where just plain survival would became difficult.

Right now, he was a grade twelve student about to undergo the university entrance exams. To a student, going to a good university had huge implications. It meant better resources as well as better cultivation arts. If lucky enough, perhaps even a better life.

“Whew!”

As he finished reading his history book, Xia Ping’s eyes immediately flashed with resolve. “Forget it. Thinking so much is useless anyways. Whether I’m the Xia Ping of Earth or the Xia Ping of Yanhuang Star, I am myself. Unique throughout the world! No matter which world I live in, I’ll always live life to its fullest!”

As he finally thought things through, he felt the headache that he had been experiencing the last few days pretty much disappear without any trace. Those memories that had suddenly awakened as well as his current memories were no longer separate. They had completely fused together into one whole.

Just at this moment, a metallic voice without any emotions rang out in his head.

“Ding! Soul conflux complete. Initializing Grand Hatred System.”

Xia Ping blinked, “Grand Hatred System?” He still hadn’t fully recovered from the memory merger, yet now a bizarre system suddenly appears just like that?

“Master, I specialize in the assimilation of hatred. As long as Master is able to acquire Hatred Points, Master will able to exchange for medicinal pills, treasures of heaven and earth, the most supreme of cultivation methods, and more in the shop section.”

“What do you mean by Hatred Points?” Xia Ping asked.

“Hatred Points represents the negative emotions of all life forms. As long as Master is able to provoke the negative emotions of another life form, then Master will be able to obtain Hatred Points. The greater the life form’s rancour is towards Master, the greater their strength, the more Hatred Points Master will be able to get. In this, the Hatred Points will also be categorized into scorn, dislike, abhorrence, spite, utter hatred, et cetera.”

”Provokiing hatred?!”

Xia Ping was speechless. Why did he feel as if this system was a scam? If he went around everywhere provoking the hatred of others, then wouldn’t he turn into public enemy number one? Similar to a rat where anybody and everybody could beat as much as they want? At that point it was likely he would suffer an even more tragic fate than the corrupt official, Qin Gui.

What’s more, since he hadn’t seen any of the actual products yet, he didn’t even know if there was any truth to the exchange information about those Hatred Points. This caused him to be unable to unconditionally trust the voice that had suddenly appeared in his head.

“It’s okay if you want to go to university, just as it’s okay if you want to graduate and find employment. This is your life, and only you can make that choice. I can’t help much with that. However, there is something that I want to say. Once you’ve made made up your mind, then don’t have any regrets. Press forward with all you’ve got,” Qiu Xue encouraged with a loud voice, allowing the girl to sit down.

“Yes, teacher!” The students loudly replied back.

However, Qiu Xue furrowed her brows. The reason being that she saw a student who seemed to be absent-minded. As for who that student was? It was Xia Ping.

“Xia Ping, how about you stand and tell us what your plan is for the future?” Qiu Xue asked.

“Plan?”

Xia Ping immediately knew that his absent-mindedness had been caught.

This home room teacher was new, having only worked for half a year. She wasn’t like those slippery old fellows who had taught for decades, not caring about every student. Instead, she had a strong sense of responsibility, often encouraging those students who weren’t serious about class.

Originally, Xia Ping had been planning on randomly saying that he was going to a third-rate university and be done with it. However, after thinking about it for a moment, he changed his mind. He wanted to take advantage of this opportunity and test whether this Grand Hatred System was true or not.

Xia Ping stood up, “I want to go to Yanhuang University.”

What?!

The entire class of students, even the home room teacher Qiu Xue, were completely stunned.

Yanhuang University, it was the best university throughout the entire Yanhuang Star! Created by the countless martyrs of humanity, many experts of the martial path had once graduated from there. These graduates entered all walks of life, some ran a company as its president, others entered the military and served as its generals and marshals. Even the presidency of the Federation had more than a dozen office holders come from Yanhuang University.

It could be said that those who could enter Yanhuang University were all great talents, the very chosen, of humanity itself.

Throughout the entire ninety fifth high school, those who had the qualifications to test for Yanhuang University didn’t exceed five. As for those who could enter? Every year, It was likely that there wouldn’t even be one.

If somebody did manage to enter though, then the school would probably hang up streams and banners and celebrate for three whole days. They would give every parent the good news, and every student would even receive a gift.

Yet Xia Ping was only a normal student at the third layer of Martial Disciple. It would have been difficult enough even if he wanted to go to a third-rate university, much less Yanhuang University.

Now, this kid actually dared to say that he wanted to test for Yanhuang University?! Was he insane?!

“Xia Ping, you, are you serious?” Due to how scary his answer was, Qiu Xue didn’t plan on following up on his absent-mindedness in class. Instead, she had a rather dazed feeling.

Xia Ping nodded, “I am. After five months, I want to enter Yanhuang University and become an expert of the martial path. With an annual income in the hundreds of millions range, I’ll marry a good wife and climb the peak of human life.”

“Peak my ass! With your martial arts cultivation, even entering a third-rate university would be difficult, much less Yanhuang University!”

“As a person, you shouldn’t overate yourself. You have to know where your limits are.”

“Instead of studying properly, you spend all of your time thinking about how to make the headlines. Don’t you know you’re putting the cart before the horse?”

All of the students were contemptuous of Xia Ping.

“You’re all going a bit too far there. As a salted fish, we all need a dream. Who knows, perhaps one day we might really manage to flip over,” Xia Ping argued, not budging an inch. Turning, he looked at the first student who mocked him, “Yang Wei, if you don’t have it, then that’s your problem. It doesn’t mean that other people don’t have it. Still, there are a few men who naturally don’t have it, in which case no medicine can help with that.”

“XIA PING!” Yang Wei roared furiously, glaring angrily at Xia Ping. He didn’t even have to think to know that this guy was mocking his name, trying to imply that he was impotent[3].

Normally, his name was absolutely a taboo for him. Nobody dared to call him that. However, Xia Ping actually dared to say it out loud in front of the entire class! Too despicable!

“Hahaha! There’s actually somebody named Yang Wei? What was your dad thinking when he named you?” A fatty off to the corner asked, laughing derisively. He had a bit of a grudge with Yang Wei, therefore when he saw him make such a spectacle of himself, he immediately made a follow-up attack.

“Gao Wan[4], what are you laughing about? Aren’t you the same?” Xia Ping asked lazily.

Fuck me. Fatty Gao Wan’s face almost greened. With a “bam”, he instantly stood up, glaring angrily at Xia Ping. He was just itching to swallow this guy whole.

As for the other classmates, they all had bizarre expressions on their faces. Normally in class, Xia Ping was just a regular and ordinary student with neither good nor bad grades. He wasn’t outstanding at all, his existence just barely noticeable. Yet today, he seemed different. As if he would kill and crush all those who blocked his way. Almost as if he was on steroids.

Yang Wei was slightly dazed. This guy wasn’t just simply targeting him. It was like he had swallowed a barrel of gunpowder today, immediately firing at anybody he saw.

“Enough!” Qiu Xue couldn’t keep on watching anymore. Her beautiful eyes glowering at Xia Ping, she began to lecture him, “Xia Ping, what is going on with you today? How could you just go around calling other people names? You just can’t call somebody by what they’re like.”

Xia Ping nodded, “Teacher is right. I’ll be sure to do some self-reflecting.”

“Sniff… y-you’re bullying me. I-I’m not like that, I’m really not!”

The moment he heard the home room teacher’s words, Yang Wei’s face paled. Almost immediately, he broke down and started crying. Like a bullied little girl, he pouted his butt out, kicked out from his chair, and bawled as ran out of the classroom.

“Oh!”

Qiu Xue’s pretty face reddened as she realized that she said something wrong. She wanted to call Yang Wei back, but he ran off too quickly, leaving the classroom almost immediately. It wasn’t possible to stop him even if she wanted to.

She scowled at Xia Ping, “Xia Ping!” It was all this bastard’s that things turned out like this.

Xia Ping spread his hands out. He felt very innocent, “I didn’t think that he would be so fragile.”

“Leave. Immediately leave and start reflecting on your actions.” Qiu Xue ordered, pointing at Xia Ping in irritation.

Xia Ping didn’t mind at all. He was currently listening to the emotionless metallic voice in his head state, “Hatred Point+1, Hatred Point+1…”

Translator Notes:

Xia Ping: Xia Ping in Chinese is 夏平. Xia means “summer”, although sometimes it is associated with China. As for Ping, it has a few definitions. The most common ones being: “even”, “equal”, or “level”. Less common definitions are also “calm”, “fair”, “ordinary”, or “suppression”.

Qiu Xue: Qiu Xue in Chinese is 秋雪. A pretty simple, yet poetic name. Qiu means “autumn”, while Xue means “snow”.

Yang Wei: Yang Wei in Chinese is 杨伟. Yang in this case refers to the poplar tree. Wei means “tall” or “great”. Yang Wei as a name sounds pretty normal on its own, but because it sounds so similar to impotency in Chinese, also yang wei(阳痿), it makes for a pretty interesting scene when pointed out.

Gao Wan: Gao Wan in Chinese is 高丸. Gao meaning “tall” or “high”, while Wan stands for “pill”. The reason why Xia Ping said Gao Wan’s situation was similar to Yang Wei’s is because his name literally means “tall pill” or “high pill”. You know, the type to make it “rise”?