Eyes crossed, staring into the plain air.
"Looks like I wasn't granted a system."
. . .
"So am I not the protagonist or.."
He'd been talking to himself for the past 8 minutes now, completely disregarding the figure beside him.
Eventually, he stared down to see a shadow beside him, jumping out in reaction.
"Ahh!"
"Uhh.. young man.."
The old beggar stroked his white beard.
"It is not good to be scared by a mere shadow.."
He quickly retorted to the old man.
"Don't show up out of nowhere!"
The man chuckled.
"Haha! I just wanted to give you a parting gift for saving me earlier."
"Oh right, I did do that."
The two disciples of Weeping Willow (垂柳) had long gone by now, but squinting his eyes, he could still see a dot on the road far away.
"Wait- parting gift..?"
He eyed the necklace that the two sect members were previously looking to take.
The old man immediately looked alarmed.
"Not this!"
He grasped it in his wrinkled hands.
"It contains an important family photo inside."
"Then just take the photo out and give me the necklace."
He said plainly, unaffected.
"Ah, you're right.. but still, I can't."
He shook his head.
"I want to know your name, before I do this for you."
Name.. that was a difficult question. Ever since coming to this world, he had not yet established a name. Using his previous would sit weird, and after all, this was supposed to be a new identity for himself.
"My name is Tian Wu."
"How enlightening, mister Tian."
The old man then brought out a white cloth from his inner shirt. It was pristine and clean, despite the ragged look of his body.
"You see, I used to be a doctor back in the day. I would like to keep all of my patients' names with me as I travel around. Would you show your back to me?"
It seemed weird, but he would give it a shot.
He turned around, sitting down.
Next, the man laid the white cloth on his back, both palms would touch flatly on the cloth.
The man's eyes opened in surprise as he injected energy from within.
"Are you really a cultivator..? The path of your meridians are all jumbled up sir."
"Not to mention, the Dantian (丹田) is a mess. Energy is flowing everywhere, instead of a central place."
This body.. is this trash?!
"Well, we can call it a stroke of luck with what I did back there. Doctor.. you can surely fix me up, right?"
The doctor nodded.
"I can, it won't be hard. Call me Old Qin (秦) from now on."
"Of course, Old Qin!"
15 minutes later, an unknown energy pulsed in his hand.