After the initial excitement, Zhang San reminisced about his past.
Of course, he was recalling his past as a disciple of the Tang Clan, but his memories as a former soldier king were still too chaotic, and he needed some time to fully accept them.
Actually, Zhang San and Tang San have a long-standing friendship.
When Zhang San first met Tang San, Tang San was still a little kid wearing diapers, and Zhang San was just an ordinary young boy.
At that time, Zhang San was still an outer disciple of the Tang Clan of Shu Mountain. He was originally the third oldest among the outer disciples of the Tang Clan and was called Tang San. Later, he had a junior brother of the same generation who was intelligent and also ranked third. He was favored by the elders and had a higher title than Zhang San. Therefore, the inner disciples called his junior brother Tang San, and he became Zhang San.
It's not that Zhang San's real surname is Zhang, but rather that they felt that insignificant names like "Zhang San, Li Si, Wang Wu," or even just random passersby, suited them better.
So Zhang San was originally just his nickname. He had a name that sounded quite impressive, but he was called that so often that he got used to this meaningless nickname, and it eventually became his real name.
Anyway, he's mediocre and unremarkable, clearly destined to be a background character for the main characters, so his name doesn't really matter anymore.
As for the protagonist, it is of course his junior brother Tang San.
His junior brother Tang San possessed extraordinary talent, which was evident from a young age, including the ability to remember everything he saw.
Therefore, Zhang San was aware of this. He knew that he was not as good as Tang San. Although he was also diligent and eager to learn, he had poor comprehension and was born into a commoner family. He was never favored by the elders of the Tang Clan and was destined to achieve nothing. He was never jealous of Tang San.
After all, Tang San was his junior brother.
The fact that the two were fellow disciples was not unrelated to Tang Lan, an elder of the outer sect of the Tang Clan.
Tang San was adopted by Tang Lan and brought to the Tang Sect, making him Tang Lan's adopted son. Tang Lan was also Tang San's master, so Tang San was his junior brother.
Zhang San knew that Tang San learned everything quickly, and he was willing to guide Tang San as a senior when Elder Tang Lan was in seclusion. Even though the young but intelligent Tang San soon left Zhang San with nothing to teach him, Zhang San was happy to accompany Tang San to practice martial arts, read books, and play chess. At that time, his relationship with Tang San was that of both his elder brother and his friend.
The exceptionally talented Tang San quickly mastered the outer sect's kung fu and knowledge of hidden weapons. Even many inner sect disciples looked at Tang San with new respect. The studious Tang San lamented every day why he couldn't go to the inner sect.
But Zhang San knew that Tang San, like himself, would never be able to enter the inner sect of the Tang Sect in this lifetime.
Inner disciples are either rich or noble, usually direct descendants of powerful families. How could these two, one the son of a farmer and the other an adopted orphan, be qualified?
After much persuasion from Zhang San, Tang San finally managed to let go of those inappropriate thoughts.
However, things changed after Tang San mastered the outer sect knowledge. After several years of arduous training, the exceptionally talented Tang San could create or imitate many inner sect hidden weapon techniques, but this was merely copying without grasping the essence.
Therefore, Tang San's interest in the true secret techniques of the Tang Clan grew stronger.
Moreover, Tang San especially admired the Tang Sect's supreme hidden weapons, such as the Buddha's Wrath Tang Lotus and the Peacock Feather, often saying that he would die without regrets if he could just touch these divine weapons.
However, that is the foundation of the Tang Sect, and only true disciples and a few inner sect elders or sect leaders can access it; even inner sect disciples are not allowed to touch it.
Tang San started itching to learn again, complaining to Zhang San about this and that. Zhang San found him annoying and said, "If you're so desperate to learn, go steal it from the Scripture Pavilion!"
Zhang San will regret saying those words on this day for the rest of his life.
Because Tang San actually took his angry words seriously and began to study the guard arrangements and related restrictions of the Scripture Pavilion in a very serious manner.
Stealing sect secrets is a capital offense. In addition, the Scripture Pavilion is heavily guarded and has many traps. Even if you can get the secrets, it will definitely alert the sect elders. If they find out, you will be torn to pieces and boiled in oil. Who would dare to do that?
However, Tang San has a history of having Mr. Tang scrape off two pounds and six ounces of leg meat to resolve a mystery.
Therefore, Zhang San believed that Tang San was truly capable of doing such a thing, after all, this guy was really willing to risk his life for knowledge.
To avoid upsetting their late mentor Tang Lan, and to honor their long-standing brotherhood.
Unable to bear seeing the other party suffer a thousand cuts, Zhang San, after repeatedly trying to dissuade him to no avail, decided to risk his life and join Tang San's plan.
Zhang San was confident in joining. Although his father was a farmer, his grandfather was a petty thief, and Zhang San still possessed some of the family's thieving skills.
Zhang San did all the troublesome work for Tang San, such as figuring out the guards' shift changes and routes, figuring out the layout of the mechanisms and the key points of defense, and carving wooden molds to replace the original secret manuals and blueprints. The two worked together for a whole year and finally stole all the secret manuals of the Tang Clan hidden on the top floor of the Sutra Pavilion in one night.
Any one of these blueprints and manuals could fetch the price of a mountain of gold outside the sect, but Zhang San wasn't greedy for the money. After all, he knew the principle that you have to be alive to enjoy money.
If the Tang Clan finds out that all their treasured artifacts have been stolen and traces it back to those two, no matter where they flee to, the Tang Clan's assassins will cut off their heads.
So, just as Tang San was excitedly about to begin learning these secret techniques of the Tang Clan, Zhang San stopped him, making him first copy the diagrams and manuals with him. After the two of them worked through the night to finish copying all the manuals, they used the same trick again to replace all the fake manuals and diagrams in the Sutra Pavilion with the real ones. Once Tang San had memorized everything, Zhang San burned all the copied diagrams and manuals.
As for Zhang San himself, he had no interest in these things. He thought of himself as just an ordinary person, and this was all he had accomplished in his life. He was not upset about his obscurity because he understood the principle of "contentment brings happiness".
Therefore, Zhang San believed that a peaceful life as an outer disciple, completing sect tasks, saving money to marry a virtuous woman, and living together for the rest of his life would be enough. Thus, although he had memorized the Tang Clan's secret techniques, he did not diligently practice them to avoid exposure and bringing disaster upon himself.
Tang San, on the other hand, was completely uninhibited. After learning the "Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record," mastering the Tang Sect's top-tier internal skill, the Mysterious Heaven Skill, as well as the pupil technique, the Purple Demon Eye, and skills such as the Mysterious Jade Hand and Ghost Shadow Misty Tracks, he began to research various ingenious Tang Sect-specific hidden weapons.
Tang San was particularly interested in the Buddha's Wrath Lotus, which no one in the Tang Clan had been able to replicate in two hundred years. He even spent all his savings to buy materials, which resulted in him having no money for food. So Tang San went to Zhang San to freeload a meal.
When Zhang San heard about this from Tang San, who was eating, he became furious. The large-scale purchase of these hidden weapon materials was likely to attract the attention of other members of the Tang Clan. Moreover, these were high-level hidden weapons that were clearly not within the reach of outer disciples. If they were discovered in his own residence, it would immediately confirm the capital offense of stealing secret techniques.
However, Tang San had a plan to replicate all the technologies on these blueprints, which was undoubtedly an extremely dangerous path, or even a path to suicide.
Out of concern for his own safety and Tang San's safety, Zhang San quickly started arguing with Tang San. During the argument, Tang San put down his rice bowl and said that Zhang San didn't understand anything, had no ambition, didn't know what ideals or pursuits were, and was destined to be mediocre for life.
This infuriated Zhang San. He may not have any great ambitions, but how could he say such things to his older brother who had taken care of him since childhood and was still feeding him?
Zhang San always knew that his talent was inferior to Tang San's, and his ideals were not as lofty as Tang San's, but he was willing to help Tang San realize his ideals and be his stepping stone. After all, Tang San was his fellow disciple and family member whom he had watched grow up. It was nothing for him to work hard and suffer some losses.
However, now that his little brother has become capable and independent, when he tries to kindly advise him, the guy actually starts mocking his older brother.
Enraged, Zhang San grabbed Tang San by the collar, intending to teach him a lesson. However, Tang San, who had already mastered the Tang Clan's secret techniques, easily defeated him with just a few moves, knocking him to the ground.
"You're really weak, senior brother."
After saying this, Tang San slammed the door and left.
From then on, Zhang San and Tang San never spoke to each other again.
One day, a loud bang from "Ghost's Sorrow" woke Zhang San from his sleep. That night, he had spent the whole night writing a letter to Tang San, hoping that the two of them could reconcile. In the letter, he expressed his wish that Tang San could attend his wedding with an ordinary girl from Mount Shu.
The explosion destroyed everything.
Tang San made a name for himself in the Tang Sect. An orphan became an inner disciple after his death, and a monument and statue were erected to commemorate his loyalty.
After all, he actually created the Buddha's Wrath Tang Lotus, and the earth-shattering explosion he detonated in front of the seventeen Tang Clan elders of Ghost's Sorrow proved to the entire Tang Clan that he was indeed a genius.
However, the Tang Clan also began to investigate why Tang San was able to learn these Tang Clan secret techniques, and soon traced it back to Zhang San.
"Tang San, you actually betrayed me!!"
They had clearly agreed to keep the fact that they had secretly learned the Tang Clan's secret techniques a secret for the rest of their lives.
As a result, Tang San broke their agreement for the sake of his so-called ideals and successfully dragged Zhang San into the sea of fire as well.
Knowing that things were going badly, Zhang San tore up his engagement with the woman on the day Tang San jumped off the cliff. After instructing her whole family to flee for safety, Zhang San also rode a fast horse and fled overnight.
However, he had only been on the run for less than three days when he was captured by the Tang Clan's ubiquitous assassins in Sichuan. Moreover, on his way back to face trial, Zhang San learned from these Tang Clan disciples that the woman and her entire family had been murdered.
Even though the family truly knew nothing, the Tang Clan slaughtered an entire village of over a hundred people for the slightest possibility of revealing their secret techniques.
After being interrogated by Tang Da and other high-ranking members of the Tang Clan, Zhang San truthfully confessed to the entire process of him and Tang San stealing the secret manual. When Tang Da asked, "Did you participate in the creation of the Buddha's Wrath Tang Lotus?" Zhang San, who had always answered every question, fell silent.
He knew that if he nodded in agreement now, he might be able to survive for a while longer. After all, he had indeed seen how Tang San studied the blueprints of the Buddha's Wrath Lotus, and he could answer some of the questions. The Tang Sect would also allow him to prolong his life for a little longer because of this.
However, Zhang San still answered no.
He was mediocre, while Tang San was a genius.
He had spent most of his life under the shadow of Tang San's genius, but at least before he died, he wanted a dignified way to leave Tang San's genius aura behind.
Zhang San was thus sentenced to death for stealing the Tang Clan's secret techniques. He was first cut into a thousand pieces, then given a pill to prolong his life before being thrown into a cauldron of oil to be fried to death.
Tang San made a name for himself, while Zhang San is a sinner for all time.
This past made Zhang San feel deeply saddened, but as a time traveler, Zhang San did not directly obtain complete memories of his past life. It was not until he was twenty years old that he fully remembered everything about his time in the Tang Sect. The Tang Sect martial arts and knowledge that he unlocked before the age of twenty were of limited help to him and did not allow Zhang San to truly stand out.
As for Tang San... Zhang San didn't even know what connection he had with Tang San before he turned twenty. By the time he remembered, Tang San had already grown up, and Zhang San never had any formal contact with Tang San in this life.
When Zhang San awakened his martial soul at the age of six, a very ugly monster appeared in the testing crystal. It was completely black and covered in bumps. The deacon of the Spirit Hall, who was in charge of awakening his martial soul, said that this was a beast martial soul that had never been seen before in the entire Douluo Continent.
After unlocking his memories, Zhang San looked at this martial soul again and was reminded of himself being fried in oil in his previous life. He named this martial soul "Ghost Dragon".
Having endured countless hardships, it transforms from a demon into a dragon, soaring into the sky, awaiting only the opportune moment.
Zhang San was an orphan in this life, with unknown parents. He was adopted by the Spirit Hall at a young age, where he received training and was discovered to have this unique spirit and the top-tier talent of being born with a full spirit.
Even so, Zhang San, without any powerful backing or good fortune, had a very difficult life. Especially after becoming a Soul King at the age of twenty, his cultivation inexplicably stopped progressing, and he only became an ordinary steward in the Spirit Hall.
But thinking about it, now that I have memories of three lifetimes and this mysterious system, I should be able to make something of myself.
(End of chapter)