6.2 - Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart

Chapter 111: Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart

When Lu Heng opened his eyes, he was holding a pen in his hand, and on the table in front of him was a form indicating his accommodation preference. The tip of his pen paused briefly before he unhesitatingly chose to stay in the dormitory.

This entry time point was something the original owner of the body had requested. In his opinion, when he first entered university as a freshman, choosing to live off-campus to stay close to the hypocritical Zhou family was the worst decision he had made.

Zhou Yiheng's major was directing. When he was selecting his major, the Zhou family said that since he couldn't follow the path of an Ancient Martial Artist anyway, he might as well wholeheartedly assist his younger brother in becoming a Heaven-tier Martial Artist.

Living with the Zhou family came with many restrictions. First of all, secretly practicing thought techniques was next to impossible, let alone doing any live streaming.

Just as Lu Heng checked the box for dormitory accommodation, someone pulled the form out of his hand.

"Gege, why did you choose dormitory accommodation? Didn't we agree to live off-campus together?"

Lu Heng turned around and saw the person standing behind him.

Aura is a fascinating thing. Standing behind him was Zhou Yishu, whose facial features were obviously identical to Zhou Yiheng's. Yet, when Zhou Yishu stood there, he was like a dazzling little sun, attracting everyone's attention. Young, handsome, and full of energy, no matter who met him, they couldn't help but feel a genuine fondness for this young man.

When Zhou Yishu had made some progress in thought skills, he became an internet celebrity with his very first live stream due to his agile skills and excellent image. He attracted a large number of loyal viewers, and their admiration greatly boosted his mental power. From then on, Zhou Yishu's rise was meteoric.

As for his twin brother, Zhou Yiheng, he wore black-framed glasses with bangs so long they almost covered his eyes. Perhaps because he had been overshadowed by his younger brother's brilliance since childhood, he subconsciously always avoided the gaze of others. If no one mentioned it, no one would ever guess that he was the older brother of the radiant Zhou Yishu.

"Xiao Shu, it's too wasteful to spend time going back and forth every day. I want to focus on learning more about directing," Lu Heng's tone was soft, but he firmly pulled the form out of Zhou Yishu's hand. "That way, I can help you better in the future, right?"

"What's there to worry about? The family has specially arranged a car to pick us up and drop us off every day. It won't waste that much time."

Unlike Lu Heng, Zhou Yishu had chosen the Art Appreciation major, a course essentially designed for the special class to kill time. It was laid-back and easy. Zhou Yishu's goal was to become a Heaven-tier Martial Artist, so naturally he wouldn't spend too much time on his studies. Going to university was just something he wanted to experience.

Many martial artists live like this—leading an ordinary life during the day and becoming revered exorcist Martial Artists by night. Due to their unique physical constitution, Martial Artists need much less sleep than regular people, usually just one or two hours a day.

"But our class schedules are completely different. Are you going to wait for me to finish class every day before going home together?" Lu Heng asked.

Zhou Yishu opened his mouth as if to argue, but in the end, he closed it reluctantly. After all, idling at school every day foolishly waiting for Lu Heng to finish classes would be a huge waste of time. For Zhou Yishu, attending university was just a way to relax; if it started taking up too much time, it would no longer be worth it.

Seeing that Zhou Yishu no longer objected, Lu Heng handed the form to the senior in charge of collecting them, then joined him to head to the school gate to catch a ride home. If it weren't for the need to maintain his persona, Lu Heng wouldn't have bothered spending so much effort convincing him.

Along the way, girls kept casting admiring glances their way—there was no doubt they were all looking at Zhou Yishu. Lu Heng noticed the faint smile tugging at the corner of Zhou Yishu's lips as they walked side by side. While others might not see it, as a twin brother who knew Zhou Yishu inside and out, Lu Heng could tell that Zhou Yishu was in a very good mood at the moment.

Lu Heng was a bit puzzled. Zhou Yishu had been popular with girls since childhood, so it didn't seem likely that just a few glances from them would brighten his mood this much.

"Xiao Shu," Lu Heng said with a smile, "are you thinking about dating? I remember you used to have little patience for the girls who clung to you before. Now that you've started uni, have thoughts of love sprung up?"

Zhou Yishu, with his pride and arrogance, couldn't tolerate Lu Heng speaking about him like that. In his view, ordinary people and Martial Artists lived in entirely different worlds, and his future partner could only be a fellow Martial Artist. He immediately retorted, "No way. Right now, my mind is completely focused on the Martial Path. I'm not thinking about those things."

After returning to the Zhou family and finishing dinner, Lu Heng went back to his room.

Lu Heng's and Zhou Yishu's rooms were located on the east and west sides of the third floor respectively, identical in size, layout, and structure. In the Ancient Martial Arts world, the Zhou family was widely praised for their virtue. Even though the elder of the twins was trash, they never treated him unfairly. When they were younger, the twins had even attended the same Martial Arts foundation class together. What a pity this eldest child showed zero talent. After three years of study, he still couldn't grasp the basics, eventually being sent back by the instructor.

And by that time, his younger brother Zhou Yishu had already advanced to the intermediate class.

After making such a fool of himself, the Zhou family still didn't give up on this "trash" eldest son. They sought out renowned teachers, hoping one could guide him onto the path of a Martial Artist, but each attempt ended in failure due to his mediocre aptitude.

In the end, it was Zhou Yiheng who couldn't bear watching his elders go out of their way to beg others for his sake. He voluntarily proposed to give up the Martial Path and focus entirely on assisting his younger brother from that point onward.

The Zhou family's strategy was truly brilliant, conning the original owner into being obedient. If Zhou Yishu hadn't framed and drove the original owner out of the Zhou family out of guilt, the original owner might have continued working tirelessly for the Zhou family, even feeling grateful to them the whole time.

However, the original owner was indeed the child of destiny, possessing exceptional insight. His "product recall" from the foundation class wasn't due to complete lack of talent, but because of a specific limitation—he couldn't construct a thought power cycle in his mind. The thought power cycle is the key to entering the Martial Arts Path.

After being kicked out of the Zhou family, the original owner didn't give up. Relying on the basic knowledge he had gained in those years of study, he continued to train relentlessly. He even risked his life every night to hunt and fight the weakest mutated creatures, and eventually, in a life-or-death moment, he successfully constructed the thought power cycle and broke through the threshold of Martial Cultivation.

It turned out that his heart, which originally belonged to Zhou Yishu, couldn't cultivate the Martial Path for a reason. How could it be that twin brothers like Zhou Yiheng and Zhou Yishu would have such vastly different aptitudes?

The real reason lay in their birth. On the day the twins were born, Mother Zhou fainted after giving birth to Zhou Yiheng due to exhaustion. Zhou Yishu had to remain in the womb for a while longer, and during this time, his originally perfect Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart was mostly blocked by impure qi. This was what caused his seemingly mediocre aptitude.

Had the Zhou family not acted so hastily, believing in a prophecy and carelessly deciding Zhou Yiheng's fate, they could have discovered the truth. All they needed to do was seek out a Heaven-tier Martial Artist to use thought power to investigate, and they would have identified the critical issue. Unfortunately, with the Zhou family's declining status, they no longer had the clout to invite a Martial Artist of such rank.

Later, at that critical life-or-death moment, thanks to the original owner's survival instinct surging like a tsunami, he broke through a blocked heart aperture and took his first step into Martial Cultivation. Unfortunately, by that time, his reputation had been ruined, and without further external sources of thought power to break through the remaining heart blockages, his progress stagnated.

So now, the first thing Lu Heng needed to do was figure out how to clear one of those blocked heart apertures and firmly walk on the Martial Path.

But where could he find the necessary thought power? Was he supposed to follow in the original owner's footsteps and seek death? Lu Heng thought about it and decided that this method was too unreliable. It required a perfect alignment of circumstances, and even the slightest mistake could result in a disaster. Since this was his first mission after joining the Special Commissions Team, he'd better handle things with caution.

Suddenly, Lu Heng recalled Zhou Yishu's behavior at school earlier, particularly his reaction to the admiring and adoring glances. The original owner had carefully kept the textbooks from his time in the Martial Arts foundation class on his bookshelf, and after rummaging through them, Lu Heng confirmed his guess.

Emotions like pure appreciation, admiration and so on can generate thought power for Martial Artists, though the effect is minimal compared to the powerful emotions evoked during a live stream of hunting mutated creatures, where the viewers' intense emotions provide much stronger energy. For Martial Artists with advanced cultivation, the energy from such mild admiration might just bring a fleeting sense of pleasure.

But this was it! Though paltry, ants are still meat!

While ordinary people's hearts cannot store thought power, the heart inside Lu Heng was different. It was an innate Martial Artist's heart. The only reason it couldn't establish a thought power cycle was due to the blocked heart apertures, but storing thought power was no problem. Many little drops make an ocean, and there will inevitably be a day when he gathers enough thought power to break through the blockage.

However, the original Zhou Yiheng had a low-key personality that avoided drawing attention. To not be OOC or attract the Zhou family's attention, Lu Heng naturally couldn't shine brightly in the school to attract everyone's attention and collect thought power.

This wasn't a problem for Lu Heng—the perfect path was already laid out before him.

What was the hottest fad in this world? Live streaming. The entertainment industry in this world is completely built on live-streaming platforms. The live streams of Martial Artists' hunting are like Hollywood blockbusters in Lu Heng's world. In addition to this, there are also all kinds of ordinary people's live streams, which constitute the daily entertainment of the masses in this world.

After officially moving out of the Zhou family and into his dorm, Lu Heng quietly rented an apartment on the side, ready to start his own streaming career.

However, to rise to fame quickly, he needed a unique and eye-catching strategy. Time was not on his side, and Lu Heng couldn't afford to waste any of it on trial and error for his first step.

I have to stake it all for the sake of the mission, Lu Heng convinced himself.

The OhMyMy live streaming platform was the largest site for ordinary people's live streams. One particular live stream room suddenly skyrocketed in popularity overnight.

#CheeringTheCrossdressingKing#

#I actually lost to a boy in beauty contest, I'm so ashamed of my own gender#

#Streamer, I'm bent for you. I'm willing to pay any price as long as you dress in women's clothing for our dates#

Similar trending topics dominated the headlines of the OhMyMy live streaming platform.

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Translator:

Hiya! Just a quick note: I'll be translating 古武者 as "Ancient Martial Artist" instead of "Ancient Warrior" from now on. With the Seven-Aperture heart, thought power cycling, and breakthroughs, this setting feels a lot like cultivation but with some tweaks, so a more literal translation seems best.

I'm really happy to see your comments! Keep them coming!

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6.1 - The sixth client

Arc 6: The internet-famous exorcist

Chapter 110: The sixth client

Chief daren was staring blankly at a quarterly report. In fact, he seldom looked at the reports because the business growth curve that almost broke through the sky only upset him.

As for why he suddenly paid attention to the business report, it all started with a leave application.

When he first saw the absurd and ridiculous request, the chief couldn't believe his eyes. To his surprise, it was a leave application submitted by a senior employee at the 3S level.

Without the slightest hesitation, the chief wrote "rejected" with enough force to almost tear through the paper, clearly expressing his anger. He even added a comment: "The workload is piled up like a mountain in the Soul Purification Department, yet you want to take a leave. Naive and laughable. Who gave you the courage?"

The rejected employee had been working in the Soul Purification Department for eons, with a seniority no less than the chief's. As a senior business pillar, he naturally had some privileges. Not long after the rejected leave report was sent out, the door to the chief's office was pushed open with a bang.

"Bald Li, why didn't you approve my leave?" The business pillar had joined the department at the same time as the chief and knew all about the chief's black history of being bald before his death.

The chief diffidently touched his head and found his beautiful hair was still thick. Only then did he adopt the air of a leader and say, "You're not a newcomer. Don't you know the situation in our department? Everyone's so busy their feet could practically hit the backs of their heads! It's too irresponsible and unprofessional for you to take a leave at a time like this."

"What nonsense!" The business pillar slammed the desk.

Aren't we all ghosts here? If we don't speak ghost talk, should we be speaking human talk?^[1] The chief silently retorted in his mind.

"I've been sitting in my office for three days without a single client dropping in. One day in a parallel world means at least ten years off. I've wasted a whole ten years of vacation time!" The business pillar felt heartache just thinking about it.

"What? Could it be a system error? You were not assigned any commission?!" The chief stood up, visibly shaken. This was a serious oversight. A full three days! With the expertise of the 3S-level employee, so many commissions could've been completed.

"Have you even looked at the latest business report?"

"Too many things going on recently, I don't have time for something that insignificant." The chief waved his hand dismissively. "The business reports are the same every year. What's the point in looking at them?"

"You'd better take a look. Once you do, you'll understand why I submitted a leave request."

After the business pillar left, the chief opened the quarterly report that had been sitting in the system assistant's inbox. One look, and he nearly yanked out a handful of the beautiful hair he'd nurtured for thousands of years.

Business volume had actually started to decline? Impossible!

Lu Heng and the system assistant sat in his office, calmly waiting for a client to arrive. The final report for the last mission had already been submitted, though neither person nor system had any expectations regarding the evaluation.

Because needless to say, the romantic plotline in the previous world had crashed and burned a thousand times over… no, make that ten thousand. Seven beautiful companions^[2], yet one of them didn't even get to meet the fated protagonist before being butterfly-effected off to who knows where.

Lu Heng had only learned the identity of that beautiful companion during his summary in the small space. She was the youngest and most beloved daughter of the Barbarian Khan. In the original timeline, she had caused endless trouble for her father in the name of love, ultimately making an indelible contribution to the stallion Eldest Senior Brother's conquest of the barbarians.

However, after sitting together for almost an entire day, not a single client had shown up.

"Little Assistant, do you think it's because I keep ruining the romantic plotlines that the higher-ups have finally decided to fire me and kick me to reincarnation?" Lu Heng was a bit worried and anxious. If he drank Meng Po's soup and went through reincarnation, who knows if he'd ever meet Shi Kong again.

"Considering the business volume in our department, it's indeed unusual that no clients have dropped in for this long." Little Assistant in a salted fish state said listlessly. Anyway, it had long given up on upgrading its memory and had resigned itself to its fate.

Just as Little Assistant finished speaking, there was a knock on the door.

The client who came in this time was very ordinary, so ordinary it felt a little abnormal. He wore jeans, a T-shirt, black-framed glasses, and had a youthful, refined appearance, resembling any ordinary student Lu Heng might have seen on campus when he was still alive.

"Hello, my name is Zhou Yiheng."

This Zhou Yiheng was indeed an ordinary university student from an equally ordinary modern plane. His world was much like Lu Heng's original world, with similar levels of technological development.

The only difference was when night fell.

In this plane, day and night are two completely different worlds. During the day, it's just an ordinary modern society with nothing particularly special. But once the clock nears midnight, the time of day farthest from the sun, it becomes the "Hour of Demons." During daytime, the docile little animals, inconspicuous insects, and everyday flowers and plants on the streets are extremely unlikely to transform into violent monsters.

But these mutated creatures run rampant at night, sometimes even breaking into ordinary homes to feed on people. Regular modern weapons are generally ineffective against them, while overly powerful weapons risk destroying city infrastructure and harming ordinary citizens.

Strangely, these mutations only occur in densely populated urban areas; remote mountain villages have never experienced such mutations.

Later, scientists uncovered the secret behind these mutations: the energy for the creatures' transformation comes from the evil thoughts of humans.

Since evil thoughts can lead to biological mutations, it follows that good thoughts have their own effects as well. Among humans, there are special individuals who undergo mutations due to their good thoughts. In the West, these individuals are known as "Exorcists," while in the East, they are called "Ancient Warriors." Everyone has thoughts, but ordinary people cannot control their thoughts. However, these Ancient Warriors^[3] or Exorcists can absorb thoughts and convert that thought energy into powerful combat power.

The Ancient Warriors who absorb benevolent thoughts are precisely the bane of the mutated creatures born from evil thoughts.

These Ancient Warriors use the mind as a source of power. However, for ordinary people's thought energy to be absorbed, there is a condition: it must be benevolence directed specifically at the individual Warrior.

However, a Warrior's strength is not solely dependent on the amount of thought energy; it also hinges on their innate talent and insight. Those with poor talent and insight, no matter how much thought energy they gather, will struggle to convert it into actual power. The stronger the Warrior, the more fans they attract, leading to more collected thought energy, creating a symbiotic and self-reinforcing cycle.

On the live streaming platform, Warriors' broadcast rooms are classified into four tiers: Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow, based on their strength and number of fans. Each tier is further divided into upper, middle, and lower ranks. Warriors at the Heaven tier often have their own luxurious streaming teams, while those at the lower ranks of the Yellow tier have to make do with their own smartphones for basic streaming. However, in the early stages of the Yellow tier, a Warrior's innate talent and insight are more crucial; those with exceptional talent can advance quickly.

The standard for upgrading one's broadcast room is simple: submit the corpses of the mutated creatures they've killed. This not only boosts their points but also provides monetary rewards, as the bodies of mutated creatures are excellent sources of energy and materials.

Zhou Yiheng was a lower-ranked Yellow-tier warrior. Due to his lackluster talent, he had never managed to advance. Driven by high aspirations and unwilling to spend his life struggling at the bottom, he made a desperate choice to challenge a mutated creature far stronger than himself. However, his lack of strength led to his downfall, and he was ultimately killed by his prey.

As he struggled for survival, the live streaming platform's comments were filled with mockery and scorn for his overreach. The cold indifference of the netizens was largely due to his twin brother, Zhou Yishu.

In stark contrast to Zhou Yiheng, Zhou Yishu was an exceptionally talented Warrior. At just twenty years old, Zhou Yiheng died, while Zhou Yishu had successfully advanced to the Earth tier, becoming one of the most brilliant young Warriors. When Zhou Yishu advanced to the Earth tier, the all-pervasive media dug up the discord between him and his brother Zhou Yiheng.

Accusations of being a thankless wretch and being expelled from the family out of jealousy for his exceptionally talented twin brother were leveled against Zhou Yiheng. With such a reputation hanging over him, he struggled to attract the viewers' good thoughts, and dying under the fangs of a mutated creature was almost inevitable.

After hearing the client's story, Lu Heng hesitated and said, "Did you come to the wrong place? Your case should normally be assigned to the Counterattack Division of the Destiny Department."

Before Zhou Yiheng could answer Lu Heng's question, Little Assistant jumped up and announced that the chief was calling, transforming into a large screen.

This was only the second time Lu Heng had seen the department head, apart from during the interview.

On the screen was a dignified middle-aged man with an enigmatic expression.

"Number 666, I believe this special client has already arrived at your end. First, congratulations! After discussion and review from the higher-ups, your evaluations for the previous missions have all been rated S."

The chief clapped with a distinctly head-honcho style and added, "To commend your outstanding performance, the department has decided to make an exception and promote you to an S-tier employee. Details about the benefits of being an S-tier employee will be provided to you shortly through the system assistant."

"Second, to make the most of your exceptional talents, given your flawless performance in the previous special commission, the department has decided to transfer you to the Special Commissions Team. Jiayou!"

With that, the chief promptly ended the communication.

Lu Heng stared at the dark screen, shivering. Special Commission? He recalled the horror of being dominated by women's clothing in the previous world.

At that moment, the relevant details of this special commission were transmitted via the System Assistant. As Lu Heng reviewed the information, he finally understood why this client, despite not meeting the usual criteria, was appearing here.

Zhou Yiheng was supposed to be the Child of Destiny^[4] in this world, with extraordinary talent that should have rightfully belonged to him. All of this was disrupted by a special thought energy practitioner who could pry into the direction of part of the world's future.

The Zhou family, a once-prominent clan of Ancient Warriors, had long since fallen from the ranks of first-class families due to the absence of a Heaven-tier warrior. When the twins were born, Zhou Yiheng was identified as having Heaven-tier potential, and the entire Zhou family rejoiced, deciding to invest all their resources into cultivating him.

However, the appearance of the special thought energy practitioner changed everything. He prophesied that Zhou Yiheng would fall just as he was about to reach the Heaven-tier threshold. The predictions of this special thought energy practitioner had never been wrong. The Zhou family, who saw Zhou Yiheng as their hope for changing their fate, could not accept such a future.

They turned their hopes to Zhou Yishu. A Warrior's talent originated from the miraculous change in the heart due to thought energy at birth. Since Zhou Yiheng and Zhou Yishu were twins, their hearts could be interchanged.

Thereupon, through a cruel heart-transplant procedure, Zhou Yiheng's talent was snatched and transferred to Zhou Yishu. The Zhou family did not think this act was too cruel; instead, they considered it a way to save Zhou Yiheng's life. Since he would never reach the Heaven-tier, he would live out his natural life without further expectation. Meanwhile, the Zhou family would gain a Heaven-tier Warrior who could lead them to revival—killing two birds with one stone.

However, things didn't go as the Zhou family had imagined. Zhou Yishu accidentally learned that his talent originated from his mediocre brother. It goes without saying what this meant for a prodigy who had always enjoyed smooth sailing. To prevent the possibility of Zhou Yiheng discovering the truth and causing uncontrollable consequences, Zhou Yishu thought of a way to expel Zhou Yiheng from the Zhou family.

"My assignment is to become the highest-level Heaven-tier Warrior on the live streaming platform and reveal the truth to the world."

At this moment, Little Assistant displayed the details. For special commissions, the death time point has a flexible threshold depending on the degree of task completion.

Lu Heng inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "I accept your commission. Number 666 from the Soul Purification Department is at your service."

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Footnotes:

[1] It's a wordplay on "鬼话," which typically means "nonsense" or "ridiculous talk." However, when broken down, "鬼" means "ghost" and "话" means "language" or "speech."

[2] 如花美眷 means wife as pretty as a flower, and is used to describe a beautiful marriage.

[3] "古武者" literally means "ancient martial artist."

[4] 气运之子 translates as Son of Luck/Destiny.

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Translator:

Hey everyone! I'm starting with the 6th arc to gauge if there's still interest in the story. If I continue translating, I'll be posting the missing chapters from the 5th arc at the end. Why? Well, it's tricky to match someone else's style, and I'll need to spend time reviewing how certain terms were translated. I'd rather not put in that effort if I'm not going to finish.

I read the first two arcs ages ago and have no idea where the plot is right now (I'm one of those people who waits for the translation to finish before binge-reading it all, haha). So if you notice any inconsistencies with names or terms, feel free to leave a comment, and I'll fix them up.

I really want to see HDHMT completed and would love to translate more of it. I'll post 4-5 chapters, and we'll see how things go!

Oh, and in the spirit of this new arc, think of me as a translator warrior whose power comes from your support energy, lol.

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