Chapter 1: The Past and Present Lives of Song Qingshu

Pain!

Unbearable pain!

Song Qingshu slowly woke from the coma, only to feel as if every bone in his body had been smashed to pieces. He couldn't even move a finger. Thinking back to the truck that had come straight at him before he blacked out, Song Qingshu went cold. Had he clawed back a life only to spend the rest of it paralyzed in bed?

Was this a hospital? Song Qingshu opened his eyes and began to slowly take in his surroundings.

He saw pale green gauze drifting without any wind, and a white candle flickering on and off on the table in the middle of the room. A graceful woman sat with her back to him, resting her cheek on one hand, staring blankly ahead.

He couldn't see her face, but the dim candlelight falling across her plain green robe made her look eerily pale, almost frightening. Song Qingshu wondered what the hell kind of hospital this was. Not only was there no power, they had turned the room into something like a funeral parlor. That nurse sitting there looked like a female ghost. If someone timid came in, they'd probably scream on the spot.

The woman in green seemed lost in thought and hadn't noticed the man on the bed had already woken up. At that moment, a Buddhist nun knocked and came in to report, "Sect Leader, the Ming Cult leader Zhang Wuji requests an audience."

The woman in green visibly trembled, but quickly composed herself. "Men and women should keep their distance. It's not proper to meet at night. Tell him to go back."

Even her cold tone couldn't hide the otherworldly ring in her clear voice. It was very pleasant to hear.

Then a steady, bright male voice carried in from outside: "I have some skill in medicine and am willing to treat Young Hero Song Qingshu's injuries. I have no other intentions."

...

Song Qingshu had always been extremely familiar with the plot of Jin Yong's novels, and a chill ran from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. If this wasn't some costume drama, then with the appearance of the Ming Cult leader Zhang Wuji, and in light of the scene before him, could it be that he was the unlucky Song Qingshu from The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber?

Shocked by the realization, the muddled thoughts that had lingered after he woke from his serious injuries finally cleared. Slowly, Song Qingshu began to remember what had happened before, and a surge of hatred welled up inside him.

Song Qingshu had been an orphan since childhood. He had clawed and fought his way through society, and through sheer effort had finally built a huge fortune while still young. He had thought he had one foot in high society, until he met that woman.

She was beautiful and elegant, and there were many outstanding young men pursuing her. But Song Qingshu had never regarded them as rivals, not until another man appeared.

His family had powerful political connections, and he himself was exceptionally handsome and refined. Most importantly, the two of them had grown up in the same compound. More than a decade later, when they met again, they were pleasantly surprised to find that the other had become such an outstanding figure.

The woman hesitated between them. In order to win the beauty's heart, Song Qingshu carefully arranged all kinds of small tricks and coincidences, constantly winning her sympathy, and the balance of victory gradually tilted toward him.

Throughout it all, that man merely watched everything with calm detachment, until at the right moment he casually exposed everything Song Qingshu had done.

Once the woman realized all that earlier tenderness had been a lie, she turned and left without the slightest hesitation. Song Qingshu would never forget the look of disgust on her face as she left, or the words she had said on her way out: "No matter how much you do, it still can't compare to someone who does nothing at all." Those words echoed in his ears again and again.

The man remained courteous before the woman, maintaining his manners on the surface when dealing with Song Qingshu, but in secret he had bared his fangs.

Song Qingshu's company had always kept its debt ratio high in pursuit of rapid growth. Since he started dating that woman, the company's performance had only grown more prosperous. Many major companies took the initiative to come knocking, signing countless orders. Bold by nature and confident in his own skill, Song Qingshu knew there were risks, but still borrowed heavily from several state-owned banks he had always maintained good relations with and poured the money into expanding the company.

He never imagined that all of it had been the other man's scheme from the beginning. Those companies had all been secretly instructed by him to come forward. Once he had successfully stretched Song Qingshu's company's capital chain to the breaking point, he began to move.

First, the subsidiary factories under Song Qingshu's company began suffering one accident after another. Then the media exaggerated everything, throwing everyone into panic.

Next, the companies that had signed the orders all came knocking in a short span of time, using that as an excuse to cancel the cooperation. At the same time, the banks took a hard line and demanded the loans be repaid. Under pressure from both inside and out, Song Qingshu's capital chain finally snapped, and the court directly declared the company bankrupt.

In almost a single night, Song Qingshu went from a billionaire with tens of billions in assets to a penniless man tens of billions in debt.

He had thought the man was just some idle, spoiled rich brat, never expecting him to be a devil who devoured people without spitting out the bones. Impressive. Truly impressive!

Song Qingshu gave a self-mocking laugh. All his assets had been frozen by the court, and now he had no home to return to. Carrying a bottle of liquor, he walked forlornly along the dim road. Thinking of what the woman had said back then, a fresh stab of pain went through him. "People like you are born nobles, so of course you don't have to do anything. If I hadn't barely counted as a success in life, I probably wouldn't even have had the qualifications to speak to you. Heh. I came up from the bottom, struggling step by step until I was worth tens of billions. Which part of that wasn't bought with schemes and blood and tears? I got used to plotting and maneuvering, only to end up being judged a bad person for it."

At that moment, for some reason Song Qingshu thought of Duan Yu and Murong Fu. He had never liked Duan Yu. He never had to do a damn thing all day, just wander the mountains and poke around with girls; he didn't even need to train inner power, just directly absorb the inner strength other people had spent their whole lives painstakingly cultivating; if he didn't want to learn martial arts, all sorts of peerless manuals would be delivered to him on their own; and damn it, he didn't even need to fight for the throne, because it was destined to be his!

By contrast, Murong Fu had it rough. Burdened with the hatred of his ruined country and family, he had trained diligently in martial arts since childhood and traveled everywhere for the great cause of restoring his nation, with no leisure to spare for romantic entanglements. In the end, he met such a miserable fate.

Song Qingshu felt he was a lot like Murong Fu, while that man was like Duan Yu. They could do nothing at all; they only had to wait for their opponents to make a mistake, because they were born already possessing everything.

But unlike Murong Fu, he himself had no way to do nothing, because everything had to be won through his own effort...

Suddenly sensing that something was wrong, Song Qingshu turned his head, and a huge truck came barreling straight at him. He was sent flying. Before he hit the ground, it seemed as though he heard the driver make a phone call: "He's taken care of!"

Then Song Qingshu's consciousness plunged into endless darkness.

Afterward, the traffic police concluded that Song Qingshu had been crushed under massive debts, lost all reason in a moment of despair, got drunk, and threw himself in front of the truck. The driver's only fault was driving too fast, and after fifteen days in detention he was released.

Of course, Song Qingshu would never know any of this.

...

Song Qingshu quickly steadied the turbulent fear in his heart and began to think through the situation before him.

You have to know, he had not cared when he was burdened with tens of billions in debt overnight before. Since he could make tens of billions once, he could make it again later.

The greatest difference between people and animals was that when a person was knocked down, he could still decide for himself whether he was already defeated.

Recalling the details of the car crash, Song Qingshu's expression turned grim as he remembered that he was already dead. He just didn't know why he was lying here. From the way they were talking, this seemed to be the world of The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber.