Late spring, in the early evening, a heavy downpour was lashing down.
Behind the First Middle School of Jiang Qing City, a new teaching building was under construction. Ye Hao was sitting on the corridor stairs, holding an urn in his arms, looking blankly at the pouring rain.
Just then, his cell phone rang.
He casually answered, and a girl's voice came through. It was crisp and pleasant to the ears, but her tone wasn't particularly nice: "Hey, where'd you run off to? Why aren't you back yet? Grandpa's waiting for you to come home for dinner."
"Home?" Ye Hao's eyes finally showed a touch of change, dull and dejected, he looked down at the urn in his arms and murmured: "Do I still have a home?"
"You... come back or not, who'd want to care about you." The girl was taken aback momentarily, then huffily said such a sentence before hanging up.
Beep, beep, beep.
Ye Hao put down his phone, contemplated a moment, hugged the urn tighter and was about to stand up to go home.
Thud, thud, thud.
A clamor of footsteps and voices came from the stairs behind him.
"Master Zhou, how about we head to the Imperial Nightclub tonight? The chicks there are really hot. Every time I go, I feel like I'm totally drained."
"Yeah, I can't even hold out for three minutes there before I have to surrender."
"Hahaha, enough said, let's go."
No sooner had the words fallen, than three boys descended from the staircase, their clothes shiny and branded -- clearly they were rich young masters.
At the same time, they all spotted Ye Hao who had just stood up, and their expressions immediately changed.
"Night Rat, what are you sneaking around here for?" One of them chided.
Hearing this, Ye Hao turned around, and with a swift glance, recognized the speaker. It was Zhou Dakui, one of the notorious Gang of Four in the school, who abused his family's wealth and power, and reigned high-handedly over his classmates.
Reserved and cautious, Ye Hao patiently bore the derogative nickname "Night Rat," which was given by Zhou Dakui himself.
To his left stood Wang Lei, and to his right was Huang Xiang- both were Zhou Dakui’s henchmen, who obeyed his every command.
Ye Hao glanced at all three of them, remaining silent. He clutched the urn tightly in his arms, prepared to dash into the pouring rain.
"Wait! Do you think my permission to leave isn't required?" Zhou Dakui saw this, and grabbed Ye Hao. Noticing the urn in Ye Hao’s arms, he couldn't help but snicker, "Oh, look! You’re acting like a madman, carrying your dead mother's ashes every day. If you miss her so much, why not join her in death! "
As he spoke, he snatched the urn from Ye Hao.
Ye Hao reacted a fraction too late, and the urn was taken away.
"Give it back!" Ye Hao was desperate, his eyes burning into Zhou Dakui as he attempted to retrieve the urn.
In sync, Wang Lei and Huang Xiang stepped forward, blocking Ye Hao from both sides, denying his attempt to seize the urn.
"Oh, you want this?" Zhou Dakui held the urn single-handedly, his face twisted into an abusive grin as he watched Ye Hao's eyes gradually redden, "You want it? Fine, take it."
He then flung the urn with a swift jerk of his right hand, tossing it through the air in an arc and into the pouring rain, crashing onto the ground a few meters away.
Crack.
The urn hit the ground and shattered.
The ashes were scattered instantly on the ground, but they were washed clean by the downpour in an instant, flowing into a water channel nearby.
Nothing left.
Ye Hao's gaze was blank as he suddenly broke free from the restraint of the two, rushing into the downpour, and kneeled in front of the broken urn.
With his head hung low, no one could see his eyes at this moment: a mixture of anger, guilt, regret, and an unstoppable murderous intent.
"Ah!"
Ye Hao howled at the sky, deafening, reaching up to the nine heavens and down to the underworld, his unwillingness, defiance, neither servility nor overbearing, neither arrogant nor unruly anger echoed between heaven and earth.
Boom!
At this moment, a thunderbolt fell from the sky, abruptly cutting through the entire heavens, illuminating the world.
Eventually, it struck Ye Hao straight on the head.
At this moment, something miraculous happened.
Zhou Dakui, Wang Lei, Huang Xiang, with their mouths agape in amazement, witnessed the most unbelievable scene they had ever seen in their lives.
The thunder morphed into a colossal dragon, coiling from head to toe around Ye Hao's body, hovering over his head, baring its teeth and claws, intimidating the world.
It was as if Ye Hao were a god descending to earth.
Everything went silent.
The pouring rain suddenly stood still, each droplet frozen mid-air, floating around Ye Hao.
The whole world seemed to come to a halt, as if frozen in time.
"Am I not dead? I've truly reincarnated?!"
Ye Hao abruptly opens his eyes, his aura going through a drastic transformation. Exuding an overwhelming dominance and superior air that filled up the heavens and earth.
Because, he was no longer the Ye Hao of before.
"I, the mighty Era Immortal Lord, traversing through cosmos, overwhelming all heavens, revered by all worlds, yet at the last juncture of ascending to Immortal King, I was ambushed and severely injured by the three Immortal Lords of Destiny, Origin, and Eternity. At the brink of death, I sought refuge in the Gate of Reincarnation, enabling me to reincarnate."
"Now, I've become a common mortal, my body devoid of any strength, everything must start from scratch."
"However, my memories remain, my experiences remain, my passion remains, my battle spirit remains!"
"One day, I'll reclaim my pinnacle and descend to all the heavens!"
"Destiny, Origin, Eternity, you just wait. The day I reclaim the pinnacle will be the day you all perish!"
One Second.
Two Seconds.
Three Seconds.
Rain began to pour down once again.
With a cold expression, his eyes blazing with determination, Ye Hao walked step by step towards the three astonished individuals.
The reincarnated Era Immortal Lord, inhabiting Ye Hao's body, gained understanding of everything about him.
Ye Hao was an illegitimate child. Shortly after his birth, he and his mother were cast out by the Ye family. The mother and son returned to their hometown in Jiangqing City to rely on each other for survival.
For the past eighteen years, his mother had endured hardship and raised Ye Hao. Their life was hard but happy.
However, this happiness was shattered a month ago. His mother passed away in an accident, and Ye Hao became an orphan, eventually taken in by the elderly principal of his school.
"Since the deity reincarnates in your body, from now on, I am Ye Hao!"
A murderous intent surged in Ye Hao's eyes, the pouring rain couldn't extinguish the hatred in his heart. The roaring thunder dragon symbolized his anger at this moment.
"You... you're not human, you're a demon, a devil!" Zhou Daqiu was trembling, nearly fleeing in fear, staring at Ye Hao who was approaching him, "Don't... don't come any closer, my father is..."
"Die!"
Ye Hao pointed his hand, the hovering thunder dragon roared and shot towards him, biting onto Zhou Daqiu.
"Ah!"
Zhou Daqiu let out a heart-wrenching scream.
It was plainly seen that Zhou Daqiu was gripped in the thunder dragon's mouth, his body was entangled and struck by countless thunderbolts, reducing him to nothing within ten seconds.
Wang Lei and Huang Xiang, who had witnessed Zhou Daqiu's immediate annihilation, were terrified, promptly falling to their knees, begging for mercy.
"Ah, don't kill me, please don't kill me!"
"I dare not, I beg you to spare my life."
"Spare you?" Ye Hao stood there, his tone was chilling, "When you guys bullied me, did you ever think of showing mercy?"
"I... I was forced, it was all Zhou Da-kui who coerced us." Wang Lei banged his head hard in guilt, blood leaking out. He endured the throbbing pain to explain, "His father is my father's superior, I dare not disobey."
"Yes, yes." Huang Xiang also hit his head to the ground, risking everything for survival, "It was all Zhou Da-kui who instructed us to do it."
But Ye Hao paid them no attention. With a thought, the thunder dragon roared and charged forth.
Wang Lei's and Huang Xiang's faces turned pale with fright, and they hurriedly ran away.
However, they couldn't possibly evade the thunder dragon.
Ah! Ah!
Wang Lei and Huang Xiang were swept up by the thunder dragon in an instant. Thunderbolts struck them again and again. Both men fell to the ground, convulsing as they foamed at the mouth, their eyes rolled back in their heads.
Half a minute later, the thunderbolt exhausted its energy, and the thunder dragon dispersed, leaving two charred bodies lying on the ground, unconscious and on the brink of death.
Ye Hao didn't even look at the two men. He raised his head to the black, quiet sky.
"I, the immortal sovereign of the age, have been reborn!"
Whispering softly, Ye Hao stepped into the rain, disappearing quickly at the end of the path.
Just as he came from the rain, he returned to it.
Click.
The door opened.
Soaked from head to toe, Ye Hao slowly walked in.
"Is that you, Xiao Hao? My child, why did you come back so late..." An aged but caring voice rang out. An elderly, physically declining man appeared; it was Xu Wanghua, the old principal of Jiangqing No.1 High School.
"Ah, why are you completely soaked? Didn't you bring an umbrella?" The old Principal touched Ye Hao's arm and found it was icy cold; he quickly urged, "Hurry and take a hot shower, it won't be good if you catch a cold."
Looking at the old principal, whose concern was clear, Ye Hao suddenly felt a strong sense of gratitude. After his mother had left, the old principal had become the person who cared about him the most in this world.
As the Epoch Immortal Lord, he had crossed countless worlds and received very little experience of this kind of mortal-quality affection. At this moment, he felt a warmth and a strange unspeakable feeling inside.
Irresistibly, Ye Hao stepped forward and gently hugged the old principal, "Thank you, I promise to repay your kindness."
"Silly child, don't talk about being thankful with me." The old principal was somewhat caught off guard by Ye Hao's sudden hug, but soon a satisfied smile appeared on his face, as he patted Ye Hao's head, "Hurry, go take a shower, we'll eat when you're done."
Ye Hao nodded, released the old principal, and strode towards the bathroom.
However, the next moment, he came out even quicker than he went in.
Simultaneously, a girl's shriek resounded throughout the entire apartment, "Ye Hao, I'm going to gouge your eyes out!"
