"Lu Chen, you lazy bastard! Don't think you can play dead after just a couple of hits! Get your ass up now!"

The angry shout shattered Lu Chen's dazed silence. As he looked up, a flood of memories crashed into his mind like an epiphany, instantly revealing the identity of his tormentor.

"Damn it! I was stuck working for others in my past life, and now I'm still some lowly laborer in this one—the lowest of the low!" Lu Chen cursed under his breath as he tried to push himself up from the grass. But the moment he moved, excruciating pain wracked his entire body, twisting his face into a grimace. It felt like every bone had been shattered.

The man who had berated him seemed to realize he'd gone too far. Even though servant disciples held no status in the Cloudsea Demon Sect, the boy before him was still a young master of the Lu family from the Tianling Empire. No matter how disgraced he was, killing him outright would be unwise.

"Consider yourself lucky today, brat. Lie there and rest up. Tomorrow, you'll double your workload." The towering, muscular man—standing nearly eight feet tall—raised his whip and lashed Lu Chen one more time before storming off, his eyes bulging with contempt.

The fresh lash only intensified the agony coursing through Lu Chen's battered body. Once the brute was out of earshot, he hissed through clenched teeth, "Screw you! Just wait—I'll make you pay for this one day! Damn, that hurts!"

Too pained to move, Lu Chen stayed sprawled on the grass, grappling with the surreal turn of events. Just moments ago, he had been living a leisurely life as a bodyguard—until a bullet meant for his client sent him into darkness. The next thing he knew, he was in this strange land called the Spirit Continent.

"I've only read about transmigration in novels—never thought it was real. But come on! Other transmigrators get to be badasses right off the bat. Why the hell am I stuck like this? How's the gap this huge?" His face twisted in frustration, though whether from the pain or sheer irritation, he couldn't tell.

From the sudden rush of memories, Lu Chen pieced together the unfortunate identity of his new body. The original owner had thrown away his cushy life as a young master of the Lu family, all because of wounded pride. After being overlooked for his lack of talent and abandoned by his fiancée, he had fled to the Cloudsea Demon Sect to prove himself.

As the largest sect near the Tianling Empire, the Cloudsea Demon Sect was the obvious choice.

This world, known as the Spirit Continent, revered martial prowess above all else. Here, everyone cultivated a mysterious energy called spiritual qi. The stronger one's cultivation, the more formidable their power—capable of unleashing devastating attacks.

Martial cultivation was divided into stages: Body Tempering, Spirit Movement, Spirit Transformation, Divine Core, and Heavenly River—each further split into nine tiers.

Currently, Lu Chen was only at the third tier of Body Tempering. Even among servant disciples, his strength was pitifully weak. No wonder that brute picked on him so often—everyone knew to bully the weakest.

"Gah—!" A slight shift in position sent another wave of searing pain through him. Lu Chen sucked in a sharp breath. Just how hard had that bastard hit him? For someone at Body Tempering Tier Three to be this badly injured... it was downright brutal.

If not for Lu Chen's soul taking over, the original unlucky fellow's corpse would have already been buried by that burly man.

Even with the fusion of two lifetimes' worth of souls, the excruciating pain was nearly unbearable. Lu Chen felt as though his internal organs had been shattered, blood-flecked foam gushing from his mouth as his entire body convulsed violently, like an epileptic seizure.

**"Warning! Warning! Host's vital signs below 10%. Emergency medical system activating!"**

Just as Lu Chen was about to black out from the agony, a mechanical voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

Hearing it, he miraculously clung to consciousness. His dark pupils contracted sharply, a flash of astonishment crossing his bloodstained face. Though his words were slurred, he managed to mutter, "S-System?"

**"Boom!"**

The next moment, a warm current surged through his body. The unbearable pain vanished as if by magic, and by the time the warmth had spread through every inch of him, not a single injury remained.

If not for the pool of bloody foam on the ground, he might have thought it was all a dream.

"Wait… did I just get implanted with a legendary system?" Lu Chen exclaimed in disbelief, leaping up from the grass, his eyes wide with shock and exhilaration.

A system! In his past life, he had spent countless hours reading web novels to kill time, so he knew exactly what this meant. Every time he'd read about protagonists blessed with systems, he'd secretly fantasized—what if it happened to him?

Of course, he'd never actually expected it to come true.

Fortunately, his years as a bodyguard had honed his composure. After only a brief daze, he snapped back to reality, fully convinced that he now possessed the rumored ultimate cheat tool—a system.

"But how the hell do I activate it? Others just summon theirs with a thought. Is mine seriously this high-maintenance?" Frowning, Lu Chen paced a few steps before leaning against a tree, deep in thought.

"Open sesame… No. 'Pagoda subdues the river demon'? Not the password either. Damn it, just show yourself already!" He tried every summoning phrase he could think of, growing increasingly frustrated until he finally cursed aloud.

**"Host rage levels peaked. System fully activating. Host: Lu Chen."**

The electronic voice sounded in his mind again. Lu Chen's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. With a mix of amusement and exasperation, he muttered, "You’ve gotta be kidding me. That actually worked?"

In the next instant, a translucent screen resembling a character status panel from a video game materialized before Lu Chen's eyes.

Host: Lu Chen

Health: 100%

Cultivation Realm: Body Tempering Stage

Third Layer

Level: 3

Experience: 0/100

Spiritual Energy: 0

Physique: Low-Grade

Comprehension: Low-Grade

Luck: 8

Martial Techniques: None

Attribute Exchange Points: 10

Primordial Lottery Wheel: First Tier Unlocked

As the panel appeared, an overwhelming flood of information surged into Lu Chen's mind like an epiphany, leaving no room for resistance.

"Tsk—!"

He sucked in a sharp breath, his body stiffening as the deluge of knowledge seared through his consciousness. The sheer volume of data made his temples throb, yet clarity settled over him with unnatural swiftness—as if the system had forcibly carved its understanding into his very being.

His fingers twitched involuntarily, nails scraping against his palms. The phantom weight of the interface seemed to press against his retinas, its glowing text branding itself behind his eyelids. A cold sweat prickled down his spine. This wasn't just information—it was a visceral rewriting of his reality.

The "Primordial Lottery Wheel" entry pulsed faintly, its golden characters shimmering with promise. Yet the glaring "Low-Grade" labels on his stats mocked him like scars. His jaw clenched. Luck: 8? At least that explained surviving whatever cosmic joke dumped him here.

Around him, the air hummed with unseen energy, the scent of damp earth and iron-rich blood lingering—whether memory or actual sensation, he couldn't tell. His heartbeat drummed against his ribs, syncing with the phantom ticking of an invisible countdown.

The system had spoken. Now it waited.

Having such an overwhelming amount of information flood into his not-so-spacious mind, Lu Chen felt as though his head was about to explode. He sucked in several sharp breaths, his face contorting with pain. Fortunately, the disciplined composure he had cultivated as a martial artist in his past life kept him from crying out—though his youthful features twisted into a grimace.

"Huff… huff…"

The throbbing agony lasted nearly six or seven minutes. Just as his vision blurred, his eyes rolled back, and he teetered on the edge of unconsciousness, the pain vanished abruptly. In its place surged an indescribable, euphoric relief.

The sensation was like parched earth finally drenched in rain. Unable to contain himself, Lu Chen let out a long, satisfied groan.

"Damn, that felt good!" His eyes gleamed with newfound vigor as he threw his head back and roared with exhilaration.

"Who would’ve thought this Supreme Cultivation System would be so extraordinary? Good deeds really do pay off—no lies there! With this system in my hands, I can do whatever the hell I want in this otherworldly realm!"

The flood of information that had just surged into his mind was an introduction to the system. And now, having fully processed it, Lu Chen could only sum up his emotions with those words.

The Supreme Cultivation System claimed to be the only auxiliary system in existence capable of helping its host ascend to supreme dominance. Though Lu Chen had no idea what level of existence a "supreme" being entailed, the name alone sounded overwhelmingly powerful.

"The Prize Wheel—now that’s a neat feature. Too bad the system forces me to keep ten exchange points as a safety net. Otherwise, I’d definitely give it a spin."

According to the system’s rules, once the Prize Wheel was activated, a draw was mandatory. With his meager stash of exchange points, Lu Chen had no choice but to save them for emergencies.

Exchange points were the backbone of the entire system. Completing tasks assigned by the system would randomly reward him with a certain amount, which could then be used to enhance his physique, boost his luck, or draw items from the Mystic Wheel.

In essence, exchange points were as vital to him as spiritual energy was to martial artists.

Without absorbing the world’s spiritual energy, a martial artist couldn’t break through their current realm. And without exchange points, Lu Chen would lose the ability to operate the system altogether.

"Now, all that’s left is to wait for a mission to drop. Damn that Zhao Zhuangshi—beating me up isn’t something I’ll let slide! And that bitch and her cousin, tricking me into a duel just to tarnish my father’s reputation. I’ll make every single one of you pay. Just you wait…"

With the Supreme Cultivation System as his trump card, a dangerous glint flashed in Lu Chen’s eyes as a surge of ruthless energy radiated from him. His voice dripped with venom.

"Lu Chen! There you are, kid! Come on, let’s go—I’ll take you to enjoy some flowers!"