In Yan Liqiang heart, he felt revitalized. The joy of being reborn and the fact he could once again plant his feet firmly on the ground made him feel like he was walking like on wind — extremely swift.

People who had never died wouldn't know the value of life and how precious one's body was. Only after dying for real once did Yan Liqiang deeply realize that it was truly good to be alive; he understood the real difficulty in obtaining his body.

While he was making his way, Yan Liqiang carefully sensed and realized that his new body was completely the same as his old one in terms of strength, speed, and reflexes. This body had similarly pa.s.sed the Horse Stance stage and its bones and tendons had already been considerably stretched out. It was close to pa.s.sing the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage, and his cultivation realm actually remained exactly where it was before.

Even if he were reborn and possessed a brand new body, Yan Liqiang wasn't completely knowledgeable about what had happened or what the entire process was like. The only thing he was certain about was that everything had to be related to that mysterious huge rock.

Recalling the experience from earlier, everything was simply so surreal as though it were a dream. Yan Liqiang had traversed over countless mountains and rivers, searching for a way to be reincarnated. He had also devised every possible method to interact with that mysterious huge rock in his sea of consciousness. After countless failures, he only realized in the end that the method to communicate with the mysterious huge stone was incredibly simple. He only needed to shut his eyes when he was nothing but a soul and silently gaze at that huge mysterious rock. Given a day's worth of time, a reaction would naturally happen between him and that mysterious rock, bringing about an unexpected result.

This was completely in accordance with the saying, 'You can wear out iron shoes in fruitless searching, but by sheer luck, you may find the thing lost without even searching for it.'

While walking alone on the road, Yan Liqiang's mind gradually became clearer and he was able to get a clear picture of his own situation and the reality around him. From the looks of it, he probably couldn't return to Pingxi Prefecture and Gan Province for the time being. It would be unrealistic for him to return for revenge with the measly strength he possessed because he would just be courting death as he wasn't even a Martial Warrior yet. Ye Tiancheng, the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture was incomparable to the Hong Clan of Liuhe Town. It could be said the former was totally up in the heavens while the latter was on the ground. Putting aside Ye Tiancheng's absolute power and authority in Pingxi Prefecture which was capable of deceiving the ma.s.ses, just his cultivation alone was as he had witnessed— incredibly powerful. His strength was not at the height that Yan Liqiang could strive for in just a short period of time. Although he decently skilled in archery, it would barely pose a threat to Ye Tiancheng.

Therefore, his most important mission now was to think up of a way to survive and find a place to settle down. Only then he could he slowly plan everything out and continuously improve his cultivation and strength to realize the possibility of exacting his revenge.

Yan Liqiang walked with long strides on the road. By noon, he had already covered a distance of a few dozen li. A flouris.h.i.+ng town finally appeared before Yan Liqiang whose stomach was already rumbling with hunger.

During his journey, Yan Liqiang found something strange. Since dawn, he had already seen other travelers and horse carriages along the way. However, all those travelers would stare at him as if a flower had bloomed on his face, including the coachmen who couldn't help but do a double take when they pa.s.sed by Yan Liqiang on their horse carriages.

As he was nearing the town, the number of people on the road increased. Yan Liqiang realized that more people were taking notice of him. Men, women, elderly, youths — they were all staring at him. While he was walking on the street, the percentage of people turning their heads around was close to a hundred.

Was it because of what he was wearing?

Yan Liqiang lowered his head to apprehensively look at the clothes he was wearing. The clothes he had borrowed from the Temple of Purity was of a dusty gray color and showed signs of age. Yet it was still considerably clean. Although they were not aesthetically gorgeous clothes, they were good enough to be worn and provided ample coverage.

Yan Liqiang touched his face and head. His facial features felt normal and it wasn't like he had an extra eye or a missing nose. There didn't seem to be any horns or scales on his head either. So why were these people behaving so strangely around him?

An elderly woman in her forties or fifties carrying a basket was walking towards Yan Liqiang. When she saw Yan Liqiang, her eyes were instantly fixated on his face too and she turned her head to the side to continue staring. Her distraction caused her to accidentally b.u.mp into the person in front of her, and the basket she carried crashed onto the floor. The few eggs in it instantly broke and their yolks came leaking out of their sh.e.l.ls.

Yan Liqiang couldn't take it any longer after witnessing this scene. He looked around and spotted a store selling bronze mirrors nearby so he immediately went into the store.

The walls and counters in the store were decorated with many polished, bronze mirrors of various designs. The store owner was entertaining two female customers inside. Yan Liqiang wordlessly came before one of the bronze mirrors and took a good look at himself.

He was instantly petrified at the sight of the face reflected through the bronze mirror and his mind went totally blank.

The reflection in the bronze mirror still seemed to be a fourteen to fifteen-year-old youth. Yet it was no longer what Yan Liqiang looked like. It was an indescribably handsome face. The skin of that face was fair and had the l.u.s.ter of ivory. The pair of eyebrows on it were silky back and ended towards his temples, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with a heroic aura. Below them were eyes which were as deep as the night sky with a wonderful glow in them. Between his eyes was a sharp and straight nose which exuded the masculine aura of a manly man...

His eyes, nose, lips, brows, forehead, and ears — all the facial features and profile of his face were to the golden ratio. It looked like the most meticulously carved piece of art in the entire universe.

In terms of attractiveness, this face was simply heaven-defying. He was divinely handsome. He was radiant no matter where he was.

Even Yan Liqiang himself was dumbstruck at the sight of this face. Although he did realize that the skin and palms of his brand new body were different than his previous body, he didn't expect the disparity to be this large. If he were to say that his face was only slightly handsome, then his current body and face would be insanely handsome. No wonder why he was attracting so much attention during his journey.

How could things turn out like this?

Yan Liqiang then instantly recalled the thought in his mind before he lost his consciousness last time — he wished he could look a bit handsomer in his next life.

Could it be that the profoundly mysterious huge rock sensed his thoughts and granted him this body according to his wish upon reincarnation?

WTF, he really was too handsome. Compared to this face, the teen idols on television in his previous life were nothing worth mentioning!

"Young Master, are you interested in buying a bronze mirror?" Unbeknownst to him, the owner of the bronze mirror store had come out and he asked him a question with a smile on his face.

Although Yan Liqiang was plainly dressed, his appearance and temperament gave off an aura to others that he had to be taken seriously. Therefore, the bronze mirror shop's owner hurriedly came over to serve him.

A few young ladies who were selecting bronze mirrors were all secretly checking Yan Liqiang out. When they saw Yan Liqiang's gaze turn on them, both their faces were tinted with an indescribable red as they shyly lowered their heads.

"No, I'm just browsing around!" Yan Liqiang shook his head. "Oh right, can you please tell me where is this place?"

The owner of the bronze mirror store was amused. "Young Master, could it be possible that you don't know where you are?"

Yan Liqiang let out a sigh. "A few days ago, I accidentally lost my bag and then I also got lost. So I don't know where I am either right now!"

In an era without GPS where a complete map didn't even exist, it was an extremely common thing for travelers to get lost on a long journey. Yan Liqiang's made-up excuse was perfect.

However, the truth was towards the final few months when Yan Liqiang was wandering around like a lonely homeless ghost: he was zooming around everywhere as quick as lightning every day. In just a day, he was able to traverse counties and provinces. Since he travelled too far, he was basically lost in the end. The only thing he remembered was he had been traveling east after leaving Gan Province.

"Oh, I see!" The owner of the bronze mirror store gave Yan Liqiang a look of sympathy. From the look he gave him, it seemed like he was treating Yan Liqiang like a young, wealthy lord in trouble. "This is Longkou Town in Fangshan Prefecture of Hu Province. If you exit here and follow the main road southeast for sixty to eighty li, you will reach Hu Provincial City…"

"Oh, alright. Thank you, Boss…" Yan Liqiang smiled. His smile instantly brought light to the humble dwelling. The eyes of those ladies who were silently watching him were already br.i.m.m.i.n.g with infatuation.

"You're welcome, you're very welcome…" The bronze mirror store owner replied humbly as though he was overwhelmed and flattered.

Yan Liqiang then exited bronze mirror store. He walked while trying to search for any memories of Hu Province he had left in his mind. Thanks to the fact that he had gone through countless books in the martial arts academy of Pingxi City over those few months, he was able to immediately pinpoint the location of Hu Province on the Great Han Empire map in his mind. Hu Province was located at the heart of the south-central region of the Great Han Empire and was one of the upper provinces in the empire. From the distance, this place was probably more than 20,000 li away from Gan Province.

Before he realized it, he had already walked a long way.

Yan Liqiang was like a walking signboard. No matter where he went, he was attracting the attention of everyone on the street. After realizing what was going on, Yan Liqiang no longer felt bothered about the attention. Since this was his first experience at being at the center of attention for looking too handsome, it was inevitable that he'd feel quite strange in his heart.

Yan Liqiang didn't make it too far before his stomach growled. Yan Liqiang rubbed his stomach and his pocket which didn't have a single copper coin in it, instantly feeling the harshness of being away from home. He salivated at the sight of steamed buns which cost two copper coins each that were sold by the street vendors and all kinds of snacks in the shops, but all he could do was swallow his saliva into his stomach. He trekked on along the street, trying to not glance at either side of the road until a decent-looking restaurant called the Cloud Crane Restaurant came into view by the street. Yan Liqiang then held his head high and stuck his chest out as he walked into the place with an indifferent expression on his face.

A waiter was serving customers at the entrance of the restaurant. Initially, he was thinking of stopping Yan Liqiang when he saw the clothes he was wearing. However, upon seeing Yan Liqiang's handsome face and the cold temperament he exuded, the waiter hesitated for only less than 0.1 seconds before his face broke into a smile. He then immediately bowed and guided Yan Liqiang into the shop.

"Table for one, please sit here…"