Chapter 1. Rebirth, The Bodhi Tree

International Bulletin: The ancient Bodhi Tree, believed to be the site where the Buddha attained enlightenment, was reported stolen two weeks ago. Regarded as a national treasure, the Tianzhu government has treated the incident with utmost seriousness and has established a dedicated task force to investigate the theft.

Global Wonders: A new sighting of the Loch Ness Monster has surfaced after a backpacker shared a photo claiming to capture the legendary creature, estimated to exceed 100 meters in length. However, experts later identified clear signs of digital manipulation in the image. The individual responsible has since apologized.

Finance Weekly: A mysterious tycoon in Hu City has recently initiated large-scale asset liquidation, offloading stocks and real estate worth nearly 10 billion yuan. Financial analysts note that with the domestic economy expected to remain stable in the short term, the move could result in losses amounting to several billion yuan over the next six months.

***

July 18, 2025.

At a private seaport in Hu City.

Lu Yuan's expression remained calm and unreadable as he scrolled through the stream of headlines on his phone.

"It's about time."

He locked his phone screen before raising a pair of binoculars to his eyes and peering through them into the horizon.

Far out on the horizon, a ferry slowly came into view. There was only one cargo container on it, and if one were to look closer, they could see that it was sealed with layers of security tags. Whatever was inside seemed to be worth a fortune.

Thirty minutes later, the ferry docked, and the anchor was dropped.

Soon, dozens of men clad in black suits and sunglasses disembarked. The leader of the group was a towering, bald brute. He sported a muscular build and had a black centipede tattoo on his neck that extended all the way up the side of his face.

His eyes shimmered with a cold glint, and his presence alone exuded a strong sense of oppression.

The bald man approached Lu Yuan, removed his sunglasses, and said, "Mr. Lu, a few of my brothers almost lost their lives for this mission. When will you be settling the final payment?"

"Half an hour, at most," Lu Yuan replied calmly, with a faint smile. "The reputation of the Centipede Syndicate spans continents. Who would dare default on their payment?"

The bald man scrutinized the young lad before him. He looked barely in his twenties, but he appeared extremely calm despite the situation.

The bald man nodded. "I'm relieved to hear those words. In that case, please follow me onto the ship to check the goods. If there's no problem, we'll proceed with unloading."

"Alright," Lu Yuan replied with a nod.

The duo then boarded the ferry. The security tapes on the container were peeled away. Accompanied by the heavy groan of metal rubbing against metal, the container door was opened.

Within was an ancient-looking tree that had been uprooted. At one glance, it certainly measured more than ten metres in height. Its roots were gnarled but intact, and its branches were still heavy with jade-green leaves. Clearly, it hadn't been long since it was dug up.

Now, it rested in silence inside the cargo container.

The bald man couldn't help but comment, "I really can't understand you rich folks. All that money spent on a damn tree."

However, Lu Yuan merely shook his head in disagreement. "This is no ordinary tree. It's the Bodhi Tree where Siddhartha Gautama,

the

Buddha, attained enlightenment."

Yes. The theft of Tianzhu's national treasure—the ancient Bodhi Tree—was his doing! He had hired a syndicate to do it!

The bald brute standing next to Lu Yuan was the infamous leader of one of the top three criminal syndicates in the world. People knew him by his alias, Thousand-Fanged Centipede.[1] It was said that for the right price, there was nothing he couldn't get his hands on.

For this single operation, Lu Yuan had poured in close to a hundred million yuan altogether. But to him, as long as he got his hands on the Bodhi Tree, it was worth every cent.

Everyone else would only find out why in the future, but Lu Yuan already knew. The reason being that... he had come back from the future.

He knew that, about a month later, on the night of September 1st, 2025, the world would change forever.

Legends and myths would turn into reality. Beasts and spirits would come into existence.

A new era would dawn upon Earth!

By then, money would no longer be the currency. The only important thing would be strength. It would be a world where the strong would rise, and the weak would fall.

The strong were those who awakened. Some of them would attain the Thunder Constitution, with the ability to wield lightning itself. Others would undergo Primordial Bloodline Reversion and gain innate talent beyond human limits. Still others would grow wings on their backs and would be able to soar in the skies.

The weak were... the rest.

At that point in time, the ancient Bodhi Tree would also turn into an unrivaled divine artifact. Once refined, it could amplify one's talent by a billionfold.

Even the most useless piece of trash would become a prodigy. Its benefits were beyond imagination. Compared to such power, a hundred million yuan was as good as a pile of scrap paper.

In his previous life, Lu Yuan had found out about this too late. A single step behind meant a lifetime of being steps behind, and eventually, he had failed to keep pace with the new era. In the end, he had been slain and his blood had dyed the earth crimson red.

Yet death had brought him not into the next life, but back to the same one. More specifically, he had suddenly found himself still alive, three months before the global change happened.

For some reason, he had gotten a precious second chance. And this time, he would build a shelter before the storm arrived.

This time, he would seize the future before anyone else could.

This time, he would not fall behind but climb to the pinnacle!

"Tree or no tree, money's the most important thing," the bald man commented. He truly couldn't understand Lu Yuan's thoughts. With a wave of his hand, he broke the silence. "Mr. Lu, if it all checks out, can we unload the goods now?"

"Go ahead."

Naturally, Lu Yuan had no intention to explain himself. He merely smiled and alighted from the ferry.

It didn't take long before the massive cargo container with the Bodhi Tree was lowered to the docks and loaded onto a waiting truck.

Lu Yuan had prepared the truck well in advance, choosing not to hire a driver—he intended to drive it himself. It was a deliberate move to prevent any accidents or unwanted exposure. He had taken every possible precaution; for instance, he had purchased the entire private port weeks earlier and had all the security cameras removed.

After all, this wasn't just any random item. It was the national treasure of Tianzhu, something steeped in myth and legend. Even with all his wealth, Lu Yuan would be in serious trouble if someone found out what he had done.

As for the bald man and his group of underlings, they dabbled in illegal dealings in the first place. Naturally, they wouldn't expose their own misdeeds.

"The final payment is in," Lu Yuan remarked.

The bald man unlocked his phone and checked his balance. A grin spread across his face. "Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Lu. Call me if you ever need something else."

Even though the Bodhi Tree was a national treasure, the local government hadn't set up any security to protect it. After all, who would've thought someone would go after a

tree

?

To the Centipede Syndicate, the job seemed a little strange but it was easy money. And lots of it. The bald man secretly wished for Lu Yuan to have more brainwaves like this. As for his earlier words about losing a few brothers in the process, it was nothing but attention-seeking.

"Sure," Lu Yuan replied with a faint smile. He shook hands with the bald man, then climbed into the truck and drove out of the port.

The bald man and his underlings from the Centipede Syndicate didn't linger around for long, either.

Later that night.

In the northern outskirts of Hu City lay a vast forest that stretched across the land, rarely touched by human presence.

However, in the heart of the forest stood a three-storey villa. It was brightly lit from within and lavishly decorated. Thick, solid walls dozens of meters high encircled the estate. Not a single beam of light could escape, further shrouding the place in an aura of mystery.

At that moment, Lu Yuan sank wearily into a seat in the grand hall on the first floor. A long day of work had him pretty exhausted.

He casually poured himself a glass of red wine before turning his gaze to the courtyard beyond the window.

There, the Bodhi Tree that he brought back from the port had been replanted. He had also watered a huge amount of water to ensure that the soil remained damp.

Actually, Lu Yuan knew that the tree could survive for thousands of years. Even without any coddling, it would do just fine. But he wasn't taking any chances. He didn't want any problems.

Ring-ring-ring.

Just then, Lu Yuan's phone rang. He picked it up and looked at the lit-up screen.

It was an international number.

1. The original is actually “thousand-legged” and that’s quite fine in the original because the Chinese word for “centipede” doesn’t mean “hundred legs.” In English it’s like saying “six-legged tripod,” so we altered it a little to make sense. ☜