Morning.

In a hotel suite, a young man slowly woke up, his features still soft with sleep and his eyes clouded with confusion.

But the moment he recognized his surroundings, his pupils shrank.

He was instantly wide awake.

This… this was… rebirth?!

He was back. Back in his younger days on Earth.

Alexander Carter sat up, the flood of memories crashing into his mind left him stunned. He couldn’t quite believe it.

Once, he had stumbled into the path of cultivation, crossing galaxies and fighting countless beings of the universe.

For a thousand years, he climbed over mountains of bones and seas of blood to earn his place as an Immortal King.

Yet in the final trial—his attempt to become truly eternal—he failed. He didn’t pass the Immortal Calamity and perished.

What shocked him most wasn't the failure itself—but waking up again. Back on Earth, a thousand years ago, right when he was twenty.

“I failed to become eternal… and I got another shot at life?”

A faint smile played on his face, and there was a fierce glint in his eyes.

He knew why he failed.

Partly because of the will of heaven and some external interference. But the core reason… was himself.

He hadn’t slain all his inner demons.

Too many regrets. Too many mistakes that had gnawed at his soul.

Back then, he’d been too weak to stop any of it. And when he finally stood atop all creation, it was too late to change the past.

Those regrets, those scars buried in his heart—they were the cracks his inner demons came from. And they tore him down at the worst moment.

Now, he had a second chance.

“Yunzhou... I’m back.”

Alexander whispered.

His voice was low but heavy, carrying a chilling wind that seemed enough to crush a city.

Yunzhou.

That place… was where all his pain had started.

He’d thought it’d be a simple summer trip. Just a vacation.

But it shattered everything.

He was framed. Caught with drugs planted in his bag. Other captured drug traffickers pointed fingers at him.

With evidence and testimony stacked against him, the verdict was sealed—over ten years in prison.

From a college student to a prisoner.

His father sold everything to fight for justice. Ran all over, desperately trying to clear his name—only to end up scammed out of every last coin.

After over a decade behind bars, Alexander walked out to find that his father had died in depression. They never got to say goodbye.

And prison had broken him. With nothing to his name—not even a single skill—he'd scraped by scrounging garbage and begging on the streets.

That mindless struggle dragged on for years. Until fate threw him a bone.

He stumbled into an opportunity—one that opened the path to immortality. That’s how the legend of the Immortal King Carter began.

But even with that power, he couldn’t bring his father back. Couldn’t undo what had already happened.

When he faced the Final Trial, all those regrets surged up, hollowing him out from within.

Now, none of that mattered.

He was here. Alive. And everything could still be changed.

Everyone who wronged him back then—they’d pay.

Then his phone rang.

He glanced at the screen. The caller ID said: “Dad.”

“Hey son, you make it to Yunzhou yet?”The call connected, and as that familiar deep voice came through the receiver, Alexander Carter’s nose stung. His eyes dampened without warning.

Of all the regrets in his past life, his father’s death weighed the heaviest.

“Dad, I got to Yunzhou last night,” Alexander said, his tone muddled, trying to hide the tremble in his voice. “Booked a hotel online beforehand. Don’t worry, I’m already twenty.”

Thomas Carter chuckled heartily on the other end. “Good. I just talked to your Uncle Kayden. He’s gonna show you around Yunzhou. Knows the place like the back of his hand. Don't think it’s any trouble. He and I, we've been through life and death together.”

He paused a second, then added cheerily, “He’s got a daughter too, Lillian. Met her a couple times—pretty girl, well-mannered. I heard she got into Yanjing Film Academy last year. Might be a big star one day.”

“This time your old man’s setting things up for you. You gotta make the most of it. If things work out with Lillian, our families could really be close.”

“…Right,” Alexander said with a forced laugh. “Dad, I’m just going into junior year. Isn’t that a bit early?”

“Not early at all! Wait too long, and good girls get snatched up,” his father replied lightheartedly. “Alright, I’ve got some things to handle here. Take care of yourself.”

After a few more words of advice, the line clicked off.

Alexander’s smile vanished the moment the call ended. His eyes turned cold. The air in the room dropped by degrees.

That “Uncle Kayden”… he was neck-deep in everything that ruined Alexander’s past life.

Kayden Shaw, his father’s childhood friend, a comrade-in-arms, someone Thomas once trusted with his life. Years ago, Kayden had once been in deep trouble, surrounded and beaten by thugs—Thomas had jumped in to help, taking a vicious hit that shattered his leg and left him crippled for life.

And yet... that same man had betrayed them when things went south.

While Alexander was wrongfully imprisoned, it was Kayden who stripped his father of everything, draining their family dry. The trigger that got Alexander thrown in jail in the first place? Kayden’s daughter, Lillian Shaw.

Back then, Alexander had fallen hard for her. Her beauty and gentle demeanor pulled him in fast. He pursued her, heart wide open—only to be mocked, toyed with. Then she and her rich boyfriend Daniel Woods set him up… and he ended up behind bars.

“Kayden Shaw… Lillian Shaw… Daniel Woods…”

Alexander murmured each name, lips twisting into a cold smile.

“This time around, I’ve come back just for you three,” he said softly, voice laced with venom. “Everything you did to me last time—I’ll return it tenfold. A hundredfold.”

He didn’t have the crushing power of an Immortal King anymore. Not yet. But he did have something just as lethal—memories of a thousand years of cultivation.

A millennium of experience, of battles and breakthroughs. Countless divine techniques and secret arts. That knowledge alone made him dangerous.

Alexander clenched his fist, feeling the frailness of his current body, and let out a breath.

Still too weak.

On the path of cultivation, the body came first. Without a strong foundation, everything else was hollow.

He needed strength. Fast.