Chapter 2 Past and Present Lives

The last icon Wang Hao clicked on was labeled Penguin Farm.

This icon sat smack in the center of the screen. However, knowing it was likely just a game, he didn't hold any high expectations.

Upon opening it, he was greeted by a familiar farm interface: a grid of thirty plots, five by six. Only the first two plots were currently reclaimed and ready for planting.

"Is this just to keep me from getting bored? Giving me a casual game to pass the time? What I want is to cultivate immortality, not play Farmville! Even if you wanted me to relax, a match-three puzzle game would have been better than this!"

He opened the inventory and found two packets of seeds included as a starter gift.

"Hah, even if you turn these into spirit rice, so what? It's still just a game."

Despite his verbal complaints, Wang Hao’s hands moved quickly. He sowed the seeds, watered them, and checked the maturation timer.

[Status: Seed. Time to Seedling Stage:9 days 23 hours and 59 minutes.]

"A single plant takes this long? Shouldn't it be like, two hours?"

He clicked open the tool section of the inventory. Wang Hao remembered there should be some starter fertilizer gifted as well. He certainly couldn't wait two whole days, so he decisively chose to use the fertilizer to accelerate the growth.

[Common Fertilizer: Reduces growth time for the current stage by one day. Can only be used once per stage.]

Click. Apply fertilizer.

[Status: Seed. Time to Seedling Stage:23 hours and 59 minutes.]

"I have no choice but to wait," Wang Hao sighed softly.

He began to consider his next steps. Although he had inherited the original owner's memories, he was ultimately a modern person from Earth. He didn't truly understand immortal cultivation. He needed to familiarize himself with this world, figure out how it operated, and practice his cultivation techniques.

However, the most pressing task was to fully digest the original owner's memories.

With a thought, memories flooded Wang Hao’s mind like the rapid flipping of book pages.

"No wonder Wang Yanzhao was so furious. This kid really was a piece of work!"

The original Wang Hao was an illegitimate son of the Wang family possessing Five Spiritual Roots. He spent his days in Green Bull Market bullying men, harassing women, and making himself detested by everyone—even the dogs despised him. If not for Wang Yanzhao's protection, he probably would have been beaten to death in a back alley long ago.

Just a few days ago, this guy had taken a fancy to a female rogue cultivator and made lewd remarks to her. Although she feared the Wang family's influence, she wasn't afraid of Wang Hao himself. After giving him a harsh warning, she simply avoided him.

Who would have thought this Wang Hao wouldn't give up?

To be fair, although the original host's aptitude was terrible, he wasn't stupid.

He first investigated the female cultivator's background. Discovering that she had no backing, was quite down on her luck, and had just arrived at Green Bull Market looking for a place to settle, he hatched a scheme.

He tricked the female rogue cultivator into renting a room in his own house at a below-market price. He used an intermediary, so she didn't realize who the landlord was. Calculated against her lack of suspicion and desperate need for housing, she fell for it.

This guy even went so far as to decorate the room like a bridal chamber. As soon as the female cultivator entered, he locked the door behind her and pounced, laughing sinisterly.

The result...

Naturally, he was beaten to death. Otherwise, how would the current Wang Hao have transmigrated here?

"What a talent. He really was a damn talent."

"Theoretically, the move wasn't entirely unworkable. The key was that he was too impatient. As long as she moved in, given time, success might not have been impossible. You know, familiarity breeds affection under the same roof. Besides, you were still a bastard son of the Wang family and quite good-looking. You would have had some appeal to a struggling rogue cultivator."

"Bah! Is now the time to be analyzing this?" Wang Hao lightly slapped his own face." It's all your fault! You've corrupted me, a model youth of the modern era!"

As for his identity as the Wang family's illegitimate son, the backstory was straight out of a soap opera.

Twenty years ago, Wang Yanzhao came to the Wang family shop in Green Bull Market to gain experience. He was a key alchemist being cultivated by the family.

Wang Hao's mother, Qin Xiu'er, was a rogue cultivator who made a living in Green Bull Market by hunting demonic beasts. She often sold beast materials and spirit herbs to the shops and purchased pills and talismans for herself.

The two were in frequent contact—one handsome and dashing, the other beautiful and captivating—and they naturally developed feelings for each other.

However, Wang Yanzhao was a core disciple of the Wang family with Fire and Wood Dual Spiritual Roots. He was an alchemist and had long been designated as a seed candidate for Foundation Establishment. How could the family allow him to marry an unknown rogue cultivator? The critical issue was that his marriage had already been arranged—to a female cultivator from the Li family, the only other Foundation Establishment clan in Green Bull Market.

Thus, the Wang family played the role of the villain, separating the lovers. They transferred Wang Yanzhao back to the family stronghold at Wang Family Ridge, believing it was just a youthful impulse that would fade with time.

Unfortunately, things weren't that simple.

After Wang Yanzhao was placed under house arrest by his family, Qin Xiu'er discovered she was pregnant. However, angered by Wang Yanzhao's lack of courage to resist and his failure to inform her before leaving(or perhaps he was dragged away before he could), she did not notify him or the Wang family. She gave birth to Wang Hao alone.

When Wang Hao was five years old and tested as having Five Spiritual Roots—the lowest aptitude—it was a huge blow to Qin Xiu'er. But she couldn't bear to abandon her own child. To secure cultivation resources for Wang Hao, she worked even harder, venturing deep into the mountains to hunt demonic beasts and gather herbs.

Fate, however, is unpredictable. Qin Xiu'er's cultivation was only at the sixth layer of Qi Refining, which destined her for calamity in the dangerous Duanyuan Mountains.

The year Wang Hao turned ten, Qin Xiu'er's demon-hunting team encountered a Second-Rank High-Grade demonic beast. They were almost completely wiped out. Only two members returned, carrying a Qin Xiu'er who was severely injured and at death's door.

That same year, Wang Yanzhao had already married the Li family cultivator and had been released from his restrictions. By sheer coincidence, he encountered the dying Qin Xiu'er.

Their melodrama continued to the bitter end. Qin Xiu'er could not be saved. However, on her deathbed, she finally told Wang Yanzhao about Wang Hao's identity, hoping he would take the boy back to the Wang family to acknowledge his ancestry.

Upon learning he had a son—even without Qin Xiu'er's dying wish—Wang Yanzhao wanted to bring Wang Hao into the family lineage.

Unfortunately... Wang Hao wasn't willing.

He had grown up with his mother. Whenever he asked about his father, all he heard were words of resentment from Qin Xiu'er. How could he have any good impression of the man?

Wang Yanzhao's Dao companion, Li Dexi, knew about the affair between him and Qin Xiu'er early on. Since the family had handled it, and due to political necessity, she had never confronted him about it. But suddenly having an illegitimate son appear made her very unhappy.

The entire extended clan didn’t want to cause trouble with their newly-wed daughter-in-law over some useless trash with Five Spiritual Roots.

Left without options, Wang Yanzhao could only continue raising Wang Hao within the confines of the market town where they lived. Fortunately, since he needed to oversee pill refining at the shop anyway, he could keep an eye on the boy regularly.

As for Li Dexi, she felt that since the woman was already dead, forbidding her husband from taking care of the child's basic needs might risk their marriage. So, she grudgingly accepted Wang Hao's existence, albeit tacitly.

What followed was simple: Young Wang Hao blamed his mother’s death entirely on his father. He never gave Wang Yanzhao any face, never listened to advice, and always did the opposite of what he was told. Naturally, he turned out rotten through and through.

After understanding this background history, the present-day transmigrator felt somewhat speechless.

"If only I'd crossed over a few years earlier! I could have maybe leveraged his guilt complex to join the main clan properly. But now? I've already burned through whatever goodwill remained. Starting out as a mere rogue cultivator is going to be tough!"

Although he had never actually practiced cultivation himself, having read so many web novels, he was certainly aware of the hardships faced by independent practitioners.

They lacked both proper lineage teachings and resources. Everything had to be fought for, risking life and limb every step of the way. Those who achieved any real success were exceedingly rare. Take the Southern Sea cultivation world as an example: among several dozen Nascent Soul existences, not a single one originated from a rogue background.