Yang Kai's name, in the school could be considered famous. Not only because he carried the identity of a Trial Disciple, but also because every time someone challenged him, he lost.
One hundred and forty seven times.
One hundred and forty seven defeats.
Every single disciple in High Heaven Pavilion knew his record. It was legendary for all the wrong reasons. Some even used him as a benchmark. If you could not beat Yang Kai, you truly had no future in cultivation.
Yang Kai could already guess what was happening before he even opened his eyes from analyzing the usual tropes in cultivation novels he already had the inkling of the situation.
The broom toss. The gathering crowd. The ritualistic challenge. He had read about this exact scenario countless times in web novels. Weak protagonist gets challenged. Weak protagonist gets beaten. Weak protagonist somehow perseveres.
Except those protagonists usually had golden fingers. Hidden treasures. Secret techniques. Mysterious old masters living in their consciousness.
Yang Kai had none of that.
Or did he?
His mind was much clearer than before.
The fog that had clouded his thoughts was gone. His perception felt sharper. His memories more vivid. This was not the dulled awareness of someone starving and exhausted. This was clarity.
Fragments of memory surfaced. Memories that were not his. The routines of High Heaven, the daily struggles, the countless defeats he had suffered. It was strange. He had these memories, but he felt detached from them, as if they belonged to someone else.
Because they did belong to someone else.
The original Yang Kai had lived these memories. Had suffered these defeats. Had endured this humiliation day after day, clinging to hope that never materialized.
That Yang Kai was gone now.
"So, this is what it feels like to be reborn?"
The thought came unbidden. The sensation was surreal. He was Yang Kai, yet he was not. He had Yang Kai's memories, Yang Kai's body, Yang Kai's life. But his soul, his consciousness, his will, those came from elsewhere.
From a different world entirely.
The first thing he noticed was his body.
Weak. Too thin. Malnourished. The lack of proper nutrition was obvious in his sluggish movements, the way his muscles felt empty.
His arms looked like sticks. His ribs were visible beneath his skin. His legs trembled just from standing upright. This body had been pushed far beyond its limits without adequate recovery.
No wonder the original Yang Kai kept losing.
"This body is in bad shape. Even if I know how to fight, I cannot expect it to keep up."
He had martial arts knowledge from his previous life. Basic self defense training from a community center. Nothing fancy, just practical techniques for real world situations. Enough to handle a drunk at a bar or a mugger in an alley.
But this was different.
This was cultivation world martial arts. Enhanced strength. Superhuman speed. Techniques that defied normal physics. His mundane knowledge would only carry him so far.
He sighed inwardly. At least the memories of martial arts were intact that he earned by practicing in previous world.
His muscle memory was still there. His body remembered how to throw a proper punch, how to maintain balance, how to read an opponent's movements. That knowledge had transferred with his soul.
It was not much, but it was something.
If there was one thing his predecessor did well, it was being stubborn. Never refusing a fight. Never backing down. It had earned him nothing but bruises, but at least he had learned to take a hit.
The original Yang Kai's greatest talent was his endurance. Not in cultivation, but in surviving. One hundred and forty seven beatings and he was still standing. Most people would have given up after ten.
That stubbornness would serve the new Yang Kai well.
And today? Today, he had to use everything he knew.
Every scrap of knowledge. Every technique. Every dirty trick he had learned from street fights in his previous life. The original Yang Kai had fought with honor and lost every time.
The new Yang Kai would fight to win.
In position, Yang Kai shouted out two words, "Please instruct!"
His voice rang clear across the courtyard. The formal challenge acceptance. In High Heaven Pavilion, even brutality followed protocol. Every fight began with this ritual acknowledgment.
The crowd chuckled. They already knew the outcome.
Whispers rippled through the gathered disciples. Someone made a joke. Someone else laughed. They were treating this like entertainment, a brief diversion before returning to their cultivation.
None of them expected anything different from Yang Kai's one hundred and forty eighth challenge.
His opponent today was Zhou Ding Jun. Fifth Stage of the Tempered Body. Two full realms above him. Well fed. Stronger. He did not even look worried, just mildly impatient.
Zhou Ding Jun rolled his shoulders, loosening his muscles. His movements were casual, confident. He had already won this fight in his mind. All that remained was going through the motions.
A two stage gap in Tempered Body realm was significant. Each stage represented a fundamental increase in physical capability. Denser muscles. Harder bones. Faster reactions.
Yang Kai at Third Stage could not match that. Not in raw power.
"The power gap is obvious. If I fight him head on, I lose. Simple as that."
But he had no intention of refusing.
Refusing would cost him Contribution Points. Points he desperately needed. Points he could not afford to lose. Better to fight and lose than refuse and lose anyway.
At least fighting gave him a chance to learn.