Chapter 1: The Little Daoist of Wudang Mountain

The first light of dawn had only just begun to brighten the sky when Wudang Mountain was already coming alive.

Daoist priests streamed out of their quarters in orderly lines. Some recited scriptures, some practiced swordsmanship, some meditated, while others busied themselves with countless daily chores.

Halfway up the mountain, inside the residence reserved for young Daoist novices—

“Wake up! Wake up! If you don’t get up now, Master will punish you again!”

A young novice patted Lin Yang, who was still lying in bed.

“So early… Why do I still have to go to school even after transmigrating…”

Lin Yang muttered under his breath as he struggled to climb out of bed.

He sat there blankly, his sleepy eyes unfocused, looking as though his soul hadn’t quite caught up with his body.

That’s right.

He was a transmigrator.

In his previous life, he had graduated from a third-rate university, only to find himself unemployed the moment he received his diploma.

With no other choice, he joined the ranks of food delivery drivers, riding through wind and rain every day just to make a living.

Then, during one delivery, whether it was good luck or bad luck, he had been hit by an oversized truck.

And that was how he arrived in this world.

The original owner of this body was named Lin San.

Six years old.

The “San” in “one, two, three.”

His father had three sons, and he happened to be the third.

The old man wasn’t particularly educated.

The eldest was named Lin Shan, the second Lin He, and by the time the third child came around, he’d completely run out of ideas.

So he simply called him Lin San.

Compared to his two healthy older brothers, however, the youngest had been born prematurely after his mother suffered complications during pregnancy.

Frail from birth, he had been sickly ever since.

A few days ago, he had developed a severe fever that nearly claimed his life.

Left with no other choice, Father Lin had pulled every favor he could to send him to Wudang Mountain, near Lin Family Village.

Lin Yang had transmigrated into the boy’s body shortly after that fever.

As for the original Lin San…

He had probably died in that illness.

Watching the other young novices leave the dormitory one after another, Lin Yang forced himself to stop overthinking.

He climbed to his feet, pulled on an oversized Daoist robe that didn’t quite fit him, and followed the others outside.

The first thing they did after leaving the dormitory wasn’t washing up.

Nor was it breakfast.

Instead, they began reciting scriptures.

The children gathered in a spacious room near the dormitory.

Several long desks filled the room, each stacked with dozens of Daoist classics.

The novices sat neatly in their assigned seats, opened their scriptures, and under their teacher’s guidance began reading aloud.

“The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The Nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth; the Named is the mother of all things…”

Still half asleep, Lin Yang swayed gently as he mouthed the words along with everyone else.

Only…

Not a single sound came out.

Suddenly, the light beside him dimmed.

A stern-faced Daoist priest had quietly appeared at his side, staring directly at him.

Lin Yang curled his lips helplessly before finally joining the others in reciting aloud.

“These two arise from the same source yet bear different names. Together they are called Mystery. Mystery upon mystery—the gateway to all wonders…”

Despite the priest’s intimidating expression, Lin Yang wasn’t afraid of him in the slightest.

After all…

He was Lin Yang’s connection.

It was thanks to this very Daoist that he had been accepted onto Wudang Mountain in the first place.

The priest’s original name was Li Hu.

Like Lin Yang, he came from Lin Family Village at the foot of the mountain.

According to seniority within the clan, Li Hu actually had to address Lin Yang as “Uncle.”

Faced with his own clansman-uncle, Lin Yang naturally had nothing to fear.

The Daoist merely sighed and shook his head.

He really had no way to deal with this little uncle of his.

If he punished the boy too harshly and the child complained after returning home, Li Hu himself would probably be the one getting scolded by the elders.

After everyone finished reciting the first chapter of the Dao De Jing twice, Daoist Lin tapped the blackboard at the front of the room.

“Very good. By now, all of you should be familiar with the pronunciation of the characters in the first chapter of the Dao De Jing.”

“Today we’ll learn four new characters.”

“‘故常无欲’—the first four characters of the fifth sentence in Chapter One.”

“Watch me write them, then copy them yourselves.”

As he spoke, Daoist Lin carefully wrote the four characters onto the blackboard behind him.

The way children were taught on Wudang Mountain was quite different from the modern education Lin Yang remembered.

First, the children spent several days memorizing the entire first chapter of the Dao De Jing and learning its pronunciation.

Only after that did they begin studying the text one character at a time.

Lin Yang glanced at the characters on the board but paid them little attention.

With the correct pronunciation and the surrounding context, his adult understanding had already allowed him to recognize most of the characters in the scripture.

The writing resembled modern Traditional Chinese.

Yet it was also distinctly different.

The Daoist sect had apparently altered many characters according to its own cultural traditions, making them even more intricate.

The first time Lin Yang saw them, he had almost mistaken them for legendary talisman scripts.

That was also why learning them hadn’t been nearly as easy as he’d expected.

Even so, after more than ten days in this world—and with a little secret tutoring from Daoist Lin—he had already mastered sixty characters.

With a thought, Lin Yang looked toward the translucent panel floating deep within his mind.

The information immediately appeared.

Host: Lin Yang

Current School: Wudang Mountain Kindergarten

Current Mission: Learn 100 Characters

Progress: 60/100

Reward: Qi and Blood Awakening

Looking at the interface, Lin Yang could only sigh helplessly.

This was the cheat he had awakened after transmigrating.

The Academic Genius System.

If he had awakened something like this back on Earth, he would have become a scientist without question.

Just like the protagonists in those academic genius novels—starting companies, making fortunes, flirting with beautiful women, and contributing to the nation’s technological progress.

Unfortunately…

The system had only awakened after he arrived in this world.

Then again…

Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

From everything he’d managed to learn, this world seemed to possess the legendary art of martial cultivation.

If he could become an academic genius in a world filled with martial arts manuals…

Then becoming a grandmaster of martial arts shouldn’t be impossible.

Take Huang Shang, for example, the creator of the Nine Yin Manual.

Or Huang Yaoshi, the Master of Peach Blossom Island.

Both legendary martial arts masters.

Both genuine scholarly geniuses.

Still, before he could become a true scholar in this ancient world…

He first had to overcome the most basic obstacle.

Learning to read.

That alone gave Lin Yang a headache.

There was another problem.

His Academic Genius System seemed a little… broken.

He was clearly a young Daoist novice on Wudang Mountain.

So why did the system insist that he was attending…

“Wudang Mountain Kindergarten”?

Did kindergartens even exist in this era?

Lin Yang seriously doubted it.

His best guess was that the system’s recognition program had been damaged during transmigration, causing this bizarre error.

Still…

Seeing the reward listed as Qi and Blood Awakening, he decided not to dwell on it.

As long as it handed out rewards, he couldn’t care less whether the system was broken or short-circuited.

In fact…

If the system became completely stupid, that might be even better.

At least it wouldn’t be one of those hyper-intelligent systems that constantly threatened to erase its host for every little mistake.

If that happened…

Now that would be a real headache.

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