"Bang!" Zhao Fei's fist slammed heavily into the lion's head.
But although Zhao Fei's fist was empowered by rage qi, the lion's body was reinforced by even stronger B-rank rage qi.
His punch landed without causing the slightest pain or itch.
The lion lunged forward, pinning Zhao Fei to the ground with both front paws, pressing them firmly against his chest.
A nearly three-hundred-jin lion bearing down on his chest made it hard for Zhao Fei to breathe. If it weren't for the rage qi reinforcing his body, his chest would probably have been crushed.
The lion opened its massive jaws and lunged toward Zhao Fei's head.
At that life-and-death instant, Zhao Fei panicked. He hastily gathered rage qi into his legs and kicked out wildly at the lion.
The lion's expression instantly changed. With a sharp jerk, it sprang off Zhao Fei's body and began rolling around on the ground in agony.
"Huh? Uh…"
Zhao Fei was confused at first, but when he saw the lion clenching its hind legs tightly together, he understood immediately.
That random kick had, by sheer coincidence, landed squarely on the lion's manhood.
Zhao Fei felt a little awkward—but only for a moment. Right after that, he realized this was the perfect chance to take advantage of its weakness and finish it off.
He looked around and spotted a huge rock. Without hesitation, empowered by rage qi, he rushed over, lifted the rock, and smashed it toward the lion rolling on the ground.
The intense pain caused the lion to unconsciously retract its rage qi. Zhao Fei's blow landed squarely on the lion's head, smashing a hole into it.
Now the lion thrashed even more violently on the ground, flopping around like a fish out of water.
Seeing that the lion still wasn't dead, Zhao Fei immediately picked up the same rock and smashed it down again.
Worried it still wasn't enough, Zhao Fei mounted the lion directly, gripping the rock with both hands and repeatedly smashing it into the lion's head.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Each strike sent blood splattering everywhere.
After who knew how many blows, the lion's head had been smashed into a bloody mess. Only then did Zhao Fei finally stop, completely exhausted.
If not for the remaining ring of mane, no one would have been able to tell it had once been a lion.
Zhao Fei panted heavily, confirming that the lion had completely stopped breathing, then collapsed onto the ground.
After resting for a long while, Zhao Fei finally got up. Looking at the lion he had brutally killed, he took a deep breath, forcing his numb mind to clear a little.
"Come on. You're the first rage beast I've hunted since coming to this world. Hand over your rage crystal."
Rage crystals are an important material in this world. Rage qi cultivators can absorb the rage qi contained within them to make their own rage qi denser and stronger—a very effective way to grow in power.
As he spoke, Zhao Fei walked up to the lion and, following the method stored in his memory, began extracting its rage crystal.
As Zhao Fei slowly circulated his rage qi, streaks of blue light gathered from the lion's body into the palm of his hand.
Before long, a blue rage crystal appeared in Zhao Fei's grasp.
"What a beautiful crystal."
Zhao Fei admired the rage crystal, about the size of a large date, and couldn't help but sigh in amazement.
"Would you like to use this rage crystal to upgrade your rage qi level to C-rank? Success rate: ninety percent."
A system voice echoed in Zhao Fei's mind.
"Upgrade? …Upgrade what level?"
Zhao Fei asked, anticipation creeping into his voice.
"Upgrading now!"
The moment the system heard the word "upgrade," it immediately began the process.
The rage crystal dissolved into streaks of blue light, slowly merging into Zhao Fei's body.
"Upgrade complete!"
"That's it? It's already done?"
Zhao Fei carefully sensed the changes in his body, but felt as if nothing had changed at all. A hint of disappointment surfaced.
"Seems like nothing's chan—"
Mid-sentence, he felt his rage qi suddenly become far more abundant. Instinctively, he released it through his hand.
At first, it didn't seem like much—but the moment he released it, he realized something was different.
His rage qi had turned blue.
Only C-rank rage qi is blue.
"I can actually level up? Then doesn't that mean I'm the only person in this world who can upgrade?"
Zhao Fei stared at the blue glow in his hand and muttered to himself.
On this continent, a rage qi cultivator's rank is something one is born with—no one had ever been able to upgrade it. And yet Zhao Fei had gained that ability.
"Doesn't that make me a player with a cheat? Interesting!"
Zhao Fei was extremely satisfied with this ability. The gloom from earlier was completely swept away.
"Get ready! Your new overlord has arrived!"
Zhao Fei shouted excitedly toward the sky.
After resting a bit more and further understanding this world through Jason Lane's memories, Zhao Fei eagerly set off toward the nearby town—Zorn City.
The wound on his left arm had already stopped bleeding, though it left behind a long scar.
That scar would serve as proof of Zhao Fei's first steps toward carving out his own legend here.
This body belonged to Jason Lane, the son of the King of the Southern Lands—a genuine second-generation noble.
Zhao Fei was eager to meet his current "father," Dawn Lane, and experience what it felt like to have such a powerful father.
On the way back, he had already planned his first goal on the Caladis Continent.
That goal was to regain Dawn Lane's recognition and reclaim the territory that rightfully belonged to Jason Lane as a direct heir.
"If my cousin sees me come back alive, will his jaw drop?"
Zhao Fei chuckled to himself.
From Jason's memories, Zhao Fei learned that it was his cousin Kala Di Lane who had orchestrated this whole incident—tricking the foolish Jason Lane, who only knew how to indulge in wine and pleasure, into coming here, nearly turning him into lion food.
Dawn Lane had already decided to pass the position of King of the Southern Lands to Kala Di Lane. Yet he still wanted to eliminate Jason Lane—just how ruthless could a heart be?
Instead of fear, Zhao Fei felt endless excitement.
He wanted to compete with Kala Di for the throne.
"You should thank the heavens for letting me be reborn in your body—to help you change your fate," Zhao Fei muttered.
And wasn't he, too, being given a chance to change his own destiny?
Now he possessed a powerful noble background, and an absurdly broken ability on the Cadias Continent—the power to upgrade his innate rage qi rank.
It was simply overpowered.
This was a game.
A game where one either rises to glory, gaining power and wealth, or sacrifices everything and lives an ordinary, unremarkable life.
As for how it would all end—
That depended on how Jason chose to play the game.
Zhao Fei was filled with anticipation for this new beginning, this new life.
He could hardly wait to dive headfirst into the struggle for fame and power.