Zhen Shi suddenly opened his eyes with that vast unending darkness still fresh on his mind. He was unable to move or talk but stared up at the full moon and the star-lit sky with relief.

'FUCK! That was close... I'm glad I was saved from that dark void!'

Gradually he began to feel his body as a sense of control slowly returned to his limbs. But he was still unable to completely move. So he calmly waited while observing the beauty of the night sky; a stark contrast from the dark empty void.

"Eh? Isn't the moon a bit too large?" he surprised himself by speaking out. Putting that aside for a moment, with the ability of speech returned, he grinned happily as he slowly pushed himself off of the grass and stood up.

Or at least he tried to, as his entire body was suddenly wracked with horrendous pain.

Under the mind-numbing pain, he lost control of his barely working motor functions and fell back on to the ground. Face forwards...

SPLASH!

While his body had fallen back on to the ground with the grass softening the blow, his right arm had somehow found its way into a small pond.

Zhen Shi growled as he bit his teeth trying to stop himself from screaming out in pain. He heaved deep breaths for several moments until the pain receded to a certain degree.

Now with the pain lessened, he struggled as he slowly sat himself down on the grass. He surveyed the surroundings trying to get his bearings and muttered, "This has to be some sort of afterlife? Well, at least its better than that empty darkness..."

He was in a wide clearing, rather small in comparison to the large seemingly endless forest surrounding him. The trees were majestically reaching towards the sky and their aged trunks were wreathed in ivy, ever frozen in its embrace.

The only source of light was the moon and the stars in the night sky, excluding the small dots of light barely visible amidst the thickness of the trees on one side of the forest. Zhen Shi could only conclude these lights were signs of some manner of civilization.

Now having calmed down, Zhen Shi could hear the sound of crickets chirping along with the usual sounds of nocturnal creatures. Granted there were some that he found unfamiliar and even down-right scary.

'But this goes against most known concepts of the afterlife... How could it be so similar to a night of ordinary life?'

Suddenly his eyes widened as a revelation hit him, 'Could it be, but it's impossible... that I reincarnated?'

Now with great interest, Zhen Shi stood up ignoring the lingering pain and observed the sky. He noted the overly large full moon along with the unfamiliar pattern of stars up in the sky. No matter how much he tried he was unable to find a single constellation that he was familiar with.

As such, with increasing confidence, Zhen Shi looked at his reflection in the pond which was responsible for soaking his hand. He stared wordlessly with widened eyes at his reflection in the water.

The reflection was of a refined-looking young man with scruffy coal-black hair and dark brown eyes. His body was well-defined with trained and powerful muscles. But what made Zhen Shi surprised and speechless were his clothes... this was because he was wearing nothing but a front only covering dirty loincloth.

Zhen Shi laughed pitifully while covering his face with one hand, 'The constellations and this new body confirm the possibility that I have truly reincarnated.'

Once again observing his reflection, 'This body is pretty suitable for me. In fact, I look pretty good looking, scholarly even... However, why do I not have any memories of this world? Was there no original owner for this body?

And most importantly... why the hell am I wearing this shameless piece of cloth? Are the heavens making fun of me for dying due to untied shoes and a rolling tractor? Is that why I've been dressed in this thing that some aboriginal farmers use?'

He stared at his reflection while wallowing in embarrassment and confusion.

Whoosh!

Suddenly a light shadow dashed past him slowly revealing itself as a girl.

Zhen Shi's face froze in surprise... as he stared at this sudden and unexpected arrival.

This girl had long luxurious silver hair tied up into a ponytail shimmering under the moonlight. Dressed up in dark golden robes that were tightly wrapped around her petite body, her face was scrunched up in worry as she stared back at the direction she had come from.

She wordlessly unsheathed a yellow-earthen sword from her back.

Whoosh!

Suddenly several more shadows formed in front of her, revealing a group of ten men dressed in dark black robes. The man who was in the very front of the group took a single step forward.

A lecherous grin present on his face, he shouted, "Zou Rou, running away is pointless. It's obvious that we'll catch up with you once you run out of energy. So, obediently hand us the pill and come back with us to the sect... that is if you know what's good for you..." while the other men laughed in agreement.

Zhen Shi was mind blown. 'People who can dash about like the wind? Pills? Sects? Could it be that this world is one of martial arts and cultivation?'

Zhen Shi didn't dare completely believe it, for fear of being face slapped back to reality. Still, he gripped on to a small hope that everything was true exactly as he had figured!

As such, possibly due to still being delirious under the after-effects of reincarnation, he couldn't help but start daydreaming about flying about in the sky, fighting evil and monsters, saving people and maidens in distress, face slapping those who dared to underestimate him...

But suddenly he paused in realization and fear. He could feel that these people in front of him could kill him easily as breathing and thought, 'Fuck! How can I handle myself against these mid-level bosses when I just started a new game?'

Thus Zhen Shi began to contemplate his next move.

He could either wait for some cheat power to be granted to him like in most fantasy stories and save this girl or make a 'tactical retreat' if things ended up differently.

Zhen Shi was aware that events would more likely be biased towards the latter and so was slowly planning his escape. After all, he wasn't planning on dying immediately after reincarnating.

Nevertheless, none of these 'martial artists' paid any attention to this scantily clad mortal who was frowning his brow in deep contemplation...