Dongchuan—an important economic city in eastern Huaxia.
Wanli High School, the most famous private high school in Dongchuan. Many prominent figures had once been students here.
It was Thursday afternoon, and cicadas buzzed outside the classroom. Yet Senior Class 3 was tense and silent. Everyone had their heads down, writing furiously, because this was the beginning-of-year assessment—and also the citywide standardized exam for all seniors. The scores and rankings would not only be announced throughout the school but also reported to their families.
No matter how rebellious a student was, everyone took this exam extremely seriously.
There was only one exception.
He sat in front of his test paper without even sparing it a glance. Instead, he looked around in every direction, intense terror flashing in his eyes.
“What’s going on? Wasn’t I ambushed by thirty-two peak powerhouses from the alien races in the ice domain, then self-detonated my entire cultivation, taking them down with me?”
“But this place… is a school?”
“Is this rebirth? Or just an illusion?”
“Chen Yu, what are you doing!”
As he was still lost in confusion, a loud shout cut through his thoughts. He raised his head and saw a fat, fierce-looking man standing on the podium, glaring at him.
“Pighead Liu?”
Chen Yu rummaged through his memories for a long while before vaguely recognizing him.
In an instant, the entire class seemed to freeze. Every stunned gaze turned toward Chen Yu, and some students did not even realize their pens had fallen from their hands.
That was their homeroom teacher, Liu Fali—a greedy, lustful man with a vicious heart and a dark mind. Rumor had it that he had deep connections. He was tied into both the power-broker network and the underworld. Even the school bullies had to show him some respect when they saw him.
Although everyone secretly despised him and called him Pighead Liu, no one had ever dared say it to his face.
“This guy’s lost it! He actually called Homeroom Teacher Liu that!”
“He must’ve been messed up by getting rejected by Li Dong’er yesterday after confessing his love to her.”
The classroom immediately erupted in whispers.
“Little Yu, are you trying to get yourself killed? Apologize now!”
The fat boy beside him hurriedly winked at Chen Yu over and over.
“Tubby?”
Chen Yu’s voice trembled slightly as he called out the name. In his memories, this person was truly too far away. After leaving Earth, he had never seen him again. Yet now, he had appeared right in front of him.
“Don’t tell me yesterday’s rejection really messed you up?”
Tubby clenched his fists, worry written all over his face. His name was Shen Fei—Chen Yu’s only close friend and ally.
Yesterday, Chen Yu had confessed his love to Li Dong’er in public, only to be brutally rejected. Shen Fei knew there was more to the matter than that. Seeing Chen Yu like this now, he was certain something was wrong.
On the podium, Liu Fali stood there in shock.
No one had ever dared call him that. For a moment, he could not react. But when he heard the surrounding discussion, his face instantly flushed red like pig liver.
He was the homeroom teacher. Didn’t everyone who saw him tremble like wax before a flame? Yet Chen Yu had dared to shout that name in front of all those eyes. To him, this was the ultimate humiliation.
After only a few steps, Liu Fali charged down from the podium, pointed at Chen Yu’s nose, and roared:
“You bastard! How dare you call me that!”
Then an oily hand swung hard toward Chen Yu’s face.
Bang!
Chen Yu caught his wrist instantly, his expression gradually turning cold.
How many years had it been since anyone dared treat me like this? A wave of killing intent erupted from his heart.
Liu Fali jolted. The icy look in Chen Yu’s eyes seemed frighteningly real, throwing him into a panic. Although he tried to maintain a calm expression on the surface, he was genuinely terrified inside.
How could a mere high school student have such terrifying eyes? Liu Fali felt as though he were facing an ancient ferocious beast. Even breathing had become difficult. Still, he forced himself to put on a brave front and shouted furiously:
“Wh-what do you think you’re doing? Let go of me right now! Otherwise, I’ll have the school expel you!”
Chen Yu did not move. He simply turned to Shen Fei.
“What year is it? What’s today’s date?”
“Huh? Oh… 2015, September 15. Little Yu, what the hell is wrong with you? Don’t scare me!”
Shen Fei looked as though he was about to cry. Chen Yu had always been gentle and mild-tempered, so how had he suddenly become like this? Shen Fei felt as if he no longer recognized his best friend.
He was not the only one. The entire class looked as though they had seen a ghost. Chen Yu had always been quiet, yet now he dared to stand against Liu Fali—the man everyone feared—and was even this ferocious. Their entire worldview had collapsed.
Upon hearing Shen Fei’s answer, Chen Yu’s heart shook violently. He examined his own body. Once, his divine power had been enough to destroy heaven and earth. Now, not the slightest trace remained.
He finally understood: he had been reborn—back in his senior year of high school!
It took a long time before Chen Yu accepted the truth. He was so overcome that he could not speak.
“I never imagined that I, Cangyu Celestial Venerable, would be reborn in my senior year.”
Chen Yu had once been an ordinary person. Although he studied at a prestigious school like Wanli, he had not improved at all. Instead, someone had framed him, and he had endured the darkest ten years of his life.
Ten years later, he had been dirt-poor, and his parents had already passed away. If a wandering Venerable with a bushy beard had not taken him away on his twenty-seventh birthday, he would probably have long since become nothing more than a handful of yellow sand.
After leaving Earth, Chen Yu embarked on the path of cultivation and revealed unparalleled talent. In a mere eight hundred years, he became the King of an era, forcing the countless races across the universe to bow their heads.
Unexpectedly, while rescuing the bushy-bearded Venerable in the meteor forbidden zone, he had been ambushed by the alien races. Though he had exhausted himself to help the Venerable escape, Chen Yu himself had already been at the end of his strength. In the end, he ruthlessly detonated his cultivation, burying thirty-two alien kings alive.
Yet against all expectations, he had not died. Instead, he had been reborn back in his high school days!
“Good! Back then, I left Earth with countless regrets. When I returned, the seas had become mulberry fields. But in this life, I’ll make up for everything, one thing at a time!”
“Mom, Dad! In this life, I won’t let you suffer even the slightest injustice or hardship!”
“Huyen’er, this time, I won’t let you leave me again!”
“And the Chen family, one of Beidu’s Five Great Families—you once humiliated me. I’ll return every bit of it. I won’t leave anything out!”
“Every regret, every remorse from the past—in this life, I absolutely will not let any of it happen again!”
In my previous life, I left Earth carrying countless regrets.
In this life, I want heaven and earth themselves to bend to my will!
The slanting afternoon sunlight streamed through the window and fell upon Chen Yu. A domineering, peerless aura burst forth. Though his cultivation had been completely lost, the invincible presence within him had not faded in the slightest.
Everyone stared at Chen Yu in terror, a feeling of their own insignificance welling up inside them.
Even Liu Fali sensed an urge to kneel. But anger immediately overtook him.
I’m the homeroom teacher. How could I be afraid of some brat?
“You filthy bastard! I told you to let me go! Can’t you hear me?”
Bang!
With one hand, Chen Yu hurled Liu Fali to the ground, smashing him hard enough to draw blood.
“Outrageous! If you dare show me disrespect again, I’ll take your life!”
Chen Yu spat the words coldly. Then, without caring that the exam was still in progress, he strode out of the classroom.
Liu Fali lay there in a daze, sprawled out like a puddle of mush. The others stared wide-eyed after Chen Yu, and then the classroom suddenly exploded into deafening uproar.
Chen Yu had not only skipped the exam—he had beaten the homeroom teacher!
As for Chen Yu, he was already hurrying in a certain direction. The coldness had vanished from his face, replaced by indescribable, overwhelming excitement.