Chapter 1

"It's already the eighteenth full moon night."

The young man's frail figure crouched by the window, his dark eyes particularly bright.

Outside the house, the lights were bright, and every household was beating gongs and drums. The streets were bustling with noise, and the revelry continued until late at night, as if celebrating some festival.

New Year's Eve, a traditional festival of the Greenwood Continent, was a time when the entire continent celebrated.

According to legend, ten thousand years ago, a divine beast called the Year Beast would come out to cause chaos at this time every year. The Year Beast was extremely powerful, and no one could defeat it. Later, dozens of top experts on the continent, for the sake of the billions of human lives, decided to fight the Year Beast to the death. In the end, after paying a heavy price, they severely injured the Year Beast and forced it into the demon beast forest in the southwest, and it never appeared again. To celebrate the future peace and prosperity of humanity, free from the threat of the Year Beast, the emperor of the Hanwu Empire, which unified the entire Greenwood Continent, designated the last day of the year as New Year's Eve. Since then, every New Year's Eve, the whole country celebrated together.

After ten thousand years, this traditional festival has been passed down from generation to generation.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

At this moment, the door was knocked on, and a voice came from outside: "Brother Feng, Brother Feng."

The young man straightened his collar, got up, and opened the door: "Deng Hai, what's the matter?"

A young man with dark skin and a sturdy, robust build stood at the door, with a blue silk scarf tied around his head, looking somewhat out of place.

Deng Hai chuckled: "Brother Feng, Father asked me to invite you to our house for New Year's Eve dinner. If it weren't for your help in planning and strategizing, our restaurant wouldn't have made so much money. So he wants to invite you to join in the festivities."

The young man forced a smile: "No need, it's just a small matter, not worth mentioning."

"It won't do. Father gave me a strict order. If I don't invite Brother Feng, I won't be able to go home for the New Year." Deng Hai looked distressed. "Brother Feng, please help me out. Father specially bought a piece of fire pork from the city yesterday, and it cost hundreds of spirit stones. I've never eaten fire pork in my life. Please help me." Thinking of the fire pork, he couldn't help but smack his lips. He had no other faults except for his greedy mouth, always wanting to try anything delicious.

Hearing this, the young man hesitated.

Deng Hai, seeing this, guessed the young man's thoughts: "Brother Feng, are you worried about Uncle Tao? Don't worry, it's just half an hour. What could go wrong with Uncle Tao?"

Lin Tao, the young man's father, was an excellent blacksmith.

A year ago, Lin Tao's outstanding disciple, Xiao Ran, who had been nurtured with great effort, left to achieve his great ambition of becoming a master weapon smith. Since then, Lin Tao had been in a state of decline, drinking heavily every day, living a life of drunkenness and despair, using alcohol to numb himself, trying to forget the painful memories.

His life became monotonous: forging, drinking, and sleeping.

Unable to refuse Deng Hai's enthusiasm, the young man reluctantly said, "Alright, I..."

Bang—

A loud noise came from the adjacent room.

This was followed by the sound of breaking dishes: "Clang, clang..."

The two rushed over.

In the hall, a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard and a red face was holding a bottle of alcohol in one hand and preparing to overturn the table with the other. He was drunk, burping, and swaying unsteadily, clearly in a drunken rage.

The young man quickly rushed over to steady the table.

"Brother Feng, let me help you." Deng Hai also rushed over.

The middle-aged man's eyes were hazy, and he muttered, "I started teaching you from when you were three years old, all the way to eighteen."

"I nurtured you into a world-class genius."

"Everything you have is because of me."

"Why do you treat me like this?"

In no time, the young man, who was familiar with the routine, helped him to the bed in the next room, washed his face and feet, and covered him with a blanket. "Deng Hai, watch over him for a bit." After saying this, he went to the hall to clean up, his movements very skilled.

After finishing everything, the young man found Deng Hai and apologized, "Sorry, I can't go to your house." If he wasn't there to watch over, who knew what trouble Lin Tao might cause. This wasn't the first time, and he couldn't help but worry.

Deng Hai sympathized, "Having such a drunk father, Brother Feng, you're really unfortunate."

If it weren't for the young man's tenacity in supporting the family, the blacksmith shop might have gone bankrupt long ago, and without a source of income, they would have starved to death.

Seeing the young man's low spirits, Deng Hai sighed and said, "I'll go back first. Brother Feng, take care."

"Okay." The young man nodded.

As soon as Deng Hai left, the middle-aged man suddenly sat up, staring at the young man with bloodshot eyes, and demanded, "Why, why do you treat me like this!"

It seemed that Xiao Ran's departure had really hit him hard.

A year had passed, and he still hadn't emerged from the shadow of his grief.

Mentioning Xiao Ran, anyone in Shuanglong Town who knew him couldn't help but exclaim in genuine admiration: "Genius!"

At a young age, he had achieved a series of remarkable accomplishments, whether in weapon forging or cultivation, both were breathtaking. At just nineteen, he had already entered the ranks of weapon smiths, a true weapon smith, and his cultivation had reached the level of a fourth-rank warrior. Such talent, even in the capital city, which was full of geniuses, would still be considered one of the best!

He surpassed his master, Lin Tao's only pride!

Compared to this outstanding disciple, Lin Feng and Lin Yun, his own sons, seemed quite ordinary, especially the elder, Lin Feng, who had no notable qualities except for his intelligence.

Lin Tao had invested so much effort and emotion in him, and the more he invested, the greater the blow he received.

"You've had too much to drink, go to sleep." Lin Feng helped him back to bed.

Even though he was lying on the pillow, Lin Tao's gaze didn't leave Lin Feng, repeating, "Why... why..."

Seeing that he wasn't causing any more trouble, Lin Feng sighed in relief, turned, and walked out of the room, gently closing the door.

Standing in the backyard, he remained silent for a while, then shook his head and let out a shallow sigh.

The cold wind blew, lifting a few strands of his hair, which fluttered in the wind.

"Brother Xiao, is the future really more important than feelings?" Lin Feng murmured softly, "Perhaps when you achieve your dreams, you'll suddenly realize that in the process, you've lost many precious things." He understood Xiao Ran's decision but didn't agree with it.

Reborn, he cherished the hard-won family ties more than anyone.

Unfortunately, he was born with a weak constitution and extremely low affinity with the earth, which in this world where strength was paramount, meant he was destined to achieve little.

He wanted to be his father's pride, but his talent limited him, and his frustration turned into helplessness over time.

"If only I could be as talented as Brother Xiao, Father could recover."

Although a mature soul was hidden in his young body, Lin Feng occasionally fantasized, even though sometimes he felt these unrealistic fantasies were childish.

"Whew..."

A cool breeze blew, wrapping his thin body in a chill, snapping him out of his reverie.

"It's time to work." Lin Feng walked to a small house in the side yard, which was the material storage room.

Preparing the materials for the daily life tools Lin Tao would forge the next day was Lin Feng's daily task.

As usual, Lin Feng took out the key, opened the material storage room, and carefully moved the ores.

Speaking of the material storage room, Lin Feng had heard his father say that it was very ancient, built by their ancestors with great effort. It had been passed down for at least a thousand years, though the exact number of generations was unclear. The other rooms had been repaired multiple times, but this material storage room remained solid and stood firm, showing no signs of damage, untouched by the passage of time.

Such a material storage room was suitable for storing the most valuable ores of the Lin family.

Opening the door, he saw that the materials were almost depleted, and a hint of helplessness crossed his eyes.

At this rate, he didn't know how much longer the family could last, especially with the high tuition fees for his younger brother. The Qingfeng Academy's fees were not low.

After moving five pieces of ore, Lin Feng was already panting, leaning against a corner of the room to rest.

"This body is no better than that of an ordinary old man." What frustrated him the most was this frail body, which left him breathless after a little physical labor, no wonder his father had never had any hope for him.

Born into a blacksmith family, yet with a frail body, it was a kind of sorrow.

After moving the ores, Lin Feng carefully counted the remaining materials in the storage room, a bitter expression crossing his face: "There's only about half a month's worth left." Since Xiao Ran left, Lin Tao's efficiency in forging daily life tools had plummeted, sometimes not even forging ten tools in a day, and the income from the blacksmith shop was worrying.

Standing at the door, Lin Feng stared at the few remaining ores.

"What's that?"

In the corner where the ores were usually piled, a small, unremarkable black iron piece caught Lin Feng's attention.

If the door hadn't been open, and the moonlight on New Year's Eve hadn't been so bright, Lin Feng might not have noticed it.

Taking small steps, Lin Feng picked up the small iron piece and examined it curiously. The surface was covered in rust, with a few small characters faintly etched on it, but they were too blurry for Lin Feng to make out, though they seemed somewhat familiar.

Curious, he went to the blacksmith shop and picked up a horsehair brush to wipe it clean.

After removing the rust, the small iron piece revealed its true appearance: a silver-gray surface with very sharp edges, thin like a card, and a few small characters clearly visible: "Game One."

"Game One?"

Looking at these characters, Lin Feng suddenly burst into tears, the tears flowing like a broken dam.

These four characters!

Chinese characters, the most authentic simplified Chinese characters. After eighteen years, he saw the characters of his homeland in this unfamiliar world for the first time, and the distant memories, almost shattered by the passage of time, gradually became clear.