Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing settled their task just as Great Zhou officially entered the age of maritime trade and was racing toward an industrial era.
A note about Xuan Qing: even though Qin Jingzhou had tended to his injuries all along, healing in a world without spiritual energy was simply too difficult, even with Dian Lanyu’s assistance as a System-bound divine doctor. So, after asking Xuan Qing’s opinion, Qin Jingzhou sent him to reincarnate in the Spiritual Realm, telling his son to wait patiently for him after his rebirth.
Dian Lanyu fulfilled her dream, becoming not only the mother of modern medicine in Great Zhou, but also for the whole world.
Jiang Ying had been interested in medicine since she was a child. After finishing the basic education mandated by her imperial father, she went to “apprentice” under Dian Lanyu. Her Crown Prince brother’s passing affected her deeply, and in the end, she became a world-renowned pharmaceutical expert.
Because Xuan Qing reincarnated early and Jiang Ying's ambitions lay elsewhere, Qin Jingzhou chose the original host’s second son—an imperial prince who understood the hardships of the world since he was five or six years old—as his successor.
This child was destined to be a wise ruler.
In short, Great Zhou’s progress, which usually took a century or two, was compressed into just over thirty years. With the world will delighted by their accomplishments, it fulfilled its promise to them.
After claiming their respective rewards, Qin Jingzhou looked Ling Jing over and said confidently, “You’re about to advance, aren’t you?”
Ling Jing replied, “Yes. My cultivation technique is unusual, and I’m quite compatible with it. The more tasks I complete, the faster I can advance.”
Qin Jingzhou smiled, “Congratulations.”
Ling Jing came closer and took his arm. “But I don’t want to return to headquarters to break through.”
“How about finding a task world that can accommodate the Divine Transformation Stage?”
“Sounds good.”
The system, knowing it had work to do, came forward to introduce itself: “Here is a task world suitable for advancing to the Divine Transformation Stage.”
Qin Jingzhou specifically picked a modern world with Spiritual Energy Revival. “Let’s do this one.”
Ling Jing scanned the mission summary and saw the words “Fake and True Young Master,” a wave of melodramatic drama washing over her. She had no objections at all.
The world will that issued the mission had never expected to bring in such “big shots”—a tribulation-stage cultivator blessed by many worlds and deliberately completing tasks to gather ascension resources, along with a girlfriend at the peak of Nascent Soul ready to advance in her world. The world will was overjoyed and declared, “I’ll pay more! I’m willing to put up extra money for such big bosses!”
However, the task’s original difficulty meant that the payout was already very high. With more on top… How could Qin Jingzhou refuse? He thanked her with a beaming smile. “Thank you for your trust.”
The world will laughed, “To be honest, if I only wanted to kill the Child of Fate I selected, I wouldn’t issue a bounty at all... What I wish for is for my world to develop like the Spiritual Realm, with both extraordinary cultivation and technological progress, so that even ordinary people who can’t cultivate have a future and hope.”
Qin Jingzhou replied, “I actually have a lot of experience with that.”
“You yourself are a top expert of the Spiritual Realm, so I can rest easy with you taking this task.”
Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing had a great conversation with the world will, then received the plot summary and entered the world for their new disguise.
The original host was named Zhang Jingzhou. He was born into a family of the rich and powerful, but had never actually served as CEO—in fact, he was even more of one than the actual CEO. As a shareholder of several major conglomerates, his reputation and wealth exceeded even his own father, Old Master Zhang. He was a classic example of the student surpassing the master.
Unlike the playboy Old Master Zhang—who’d had five wives and over a hundred lovers, leaving behind more than twenty illegitimate children—Zhang Jingzhou was rare among the family for always keeping himself clean. He only had a daughter and a son, both legitimate, and after his wife’s death, never remarried. He had only one girlfriend after that, and they’d parted amicably.
As a capitalist, his moral floor was far higher than his peers. Though he cut corners occasionally, he never went too far in exploiting others, let alone harming people outright.
In terms of appearance, ability, and integrity, Zhang Jingzhou was beyond reproach. Yet, it was precisely this rare good capitalist who was ruined and killed by his own father and sons.
It started when the original host’s wife was pregnant with their second child. The pregnancy was extremely dangerous, forcing her to stay in bed for the later months.
He tried to persuade his wife several times, saying, “Nothing is more important than your life,” but she stubbornly refused and was determined to keep the child.
The result was that, while the child was born, the mother did not survive.
Grieving his beloved wife, Zhang Jingzhou was hit with trouble in a major business while managing her funeral, so in desperation he sent his daughter and newborn son back to the family estate, entrusting them to Old Master Zhang.
Old Master Zhang actually liked this legitimate son of his, who brought honor to the family, and had no ill intentions toward either Zhang Jingzhou or his children.
But at the time, Old Master Zhang’s wife—his fourth—was a different story.
The fourth wife, He Qingya, was a little-known actress.
She couldn’t fake acting, couldn’t sing without an engineer, and had no professionalism. But He Qingya managed to stand out purely on her looks—she wasn’t your typical plastic beauty in showbiz. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have caught Old Master Zhang’s eye and driven him to divorce his third wife just to marry her.
Despite her lack of professional skill, He Qingya ended up becoming a sort of shadow queen—her marriage with Old Master Zhang lasted the longest, and if the incident hadn’t happened, she would never have been “divorced.”
Why was she divorced? He Qingya, while Zhang Jingzhou’s infant son was at the family estate, bribed the nanny and switched Zhang Jingzhou’s son with her own illegitimate grandson.
Because Zhang Jingzhou’s son and He Qingya’s grandson both resembled Old Master Zhang, and each boy looked like his own father, He Qingya never would have dared such a plan if they didn’t look so much alike.
The truth was that Zhang Jingzhou lavished years of care and love on his youngest son, who was in fact his nephew, while his own son spent twenty years under the emotional manipulation of an adoptive mother...
The whole incident came to light when that adoptive mother tried extorting He Qingya’s son. She threatened to reveal the truth unless she got her money, but He Qingya’s son was a hedonistic wastrel who didn’t care at all, so they ended up fighting in the street.
By pure chance, Zhang Jingzhou’s assistant happened to be passing by and overheard crucial keywords: “Zhang Jingzhou,” “He Qingya,” “child swap, embezzle the family fortune,” and so on. She could not simply walk away.
No matter how decent, Zhang Jingzhou couldn’t let his stepmother climb over his head. He immediately found the two boys, and had a DNA test done on the spot with rush processing. Sure enough, what the adoptive mother had said was true.
With the facts presented, not even Old Master Zhang could stand it. He kicked out He Qingya and her son, as well as the “fake crown prince” who had enjoyed a life of privilege for twenty years.
He Qingya’s life fell apart. After some hesitation, she went back to her old ways… which, to be clear, was not acting, but making the rounds as a wealthy man’s mistress.
Top-tier rich men typically care about reputation and are well-informed. A quick check would have revealed everything she’d done. If not for the fact that Old Master Zhang didn’t want a scandal, he’d have had He Qingya thrown in jail. Even the rivals of the Zhang family steered clear of her, no matter how much she tried baiting them with “I know a lot of Zhang family secrets.”
With no other options, He Qingya plunged into the “lower-end market,” seeking new fortunes among clueless nouveau riche.
She experienced firsthand how harsh it was to beg for money palm up, while her only son continued chasing delusions of a comeback, always looking for investors, and her grandson was constantly on the run.
By the time He Qingya was so exhausted she almost abandoned everything and fled, Spiritual Energy Revival descended…
It was a tidal wave. One day, the spiritual energy was barely detectable, and the next day it surged enough to nurture Golden Core cultivators.
With such an upheaval in the environment and frequent supernatural events, the social impact was inevitable—everyone’s worldview was shattered in short order, leaving ordinary people terrified.
Luckily, the authorities in several major countries in this world responded well, in succession stabilizing basic social order.
During this period, the local nouveau riche He Qingya had latched onto blundered into becoming a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator. Meanwhile, He Qingya, her son, and her grandson—three generations—were all born with some talent for cultivation. The nouveau riche, originally planning to dump her, broke up with his ordinary, long-standing wife instead and married He Qingya.
Yet in the Zhang family, aside from the expelled He Qingya and her kin, there wasn’t a single member with talent for cultivation.
The original host's own son, after years of emotional abuse by his adoptive mother, was already showing signs of mental illness by the time he returned to the family.
Zhang Jingzhou sought the best psychiatric care for his son and personally took him for treatment.
Unfortunately, the son hadn’t even graduated junior high. He was completely unable to understand his biological father’s kindness, and at the critical moment in the spiritual energy revival—when the sudden increase in spiritual energy caused illness and even comas in ordinary people—he slipped out of the house amid the chaos and ran back to his adoptive mother. He even sought out his adoptive father along with her...
On the surface, He Qingya accepted this child. In truth… was there even a need to say? She hated Old Master Zhang and Zhang Jingzhou to the core. She had just stepped into the Qi Condensation stage and didn’t have the confidence to take full revenge on the Zhang family—yet.
The original host, Zhang Jingzhou, suffered a fatal heart attack when his own son "recognized a thief for a mother" and rejected him.
At this point in the synopsis, Qin Jingzhou looked toward Zhang Jingzhou, who was floating in midair. “You really are down on your luck.”
Zhang Jingzhou, who had already learned about Qin Jingzhou’s origin and the storyline, wore a complicated expression. “So my adopted son was the Fate’s Son... No wonder. Sorry to hand you such a mess... Do what you want with everything else, but please take care of my daughter. As for my son, let fate take its course.”
Qin Jingzhou smiled, “Are you interested in cultivation?”
Zhang Jingzhou was momentarily stunned. “Who wouldn’t be? But I don’t have the talent.”
Qin Jingzhou gently tapped his forehead. “Let me give you a spiritual root.” Out of kindness, he explained, “It’s a bit like plastic surgery. I tweaked your sea of consciousness, so when you’re reincarnated, you’ll naturally have a spiritual root. The upper limit will be a bit lower, but with enough opportunities, you might be able to make up for that little flaw.”
Zhang Jingzhou thanked him profusely and went off to reincarnate, looking thrilled.
As soon as Qin Jingzhou donned his new identity and sat up, the housekeeper appeared at the door. “Boss, He Huisheng has brought people to our door!”
He Huisheng was the original host’s half-brother and the biological father of the original host’s adopted son. He used to be Zhang Huisheng, but had now changed to his mother’s surname.
No sooner had he spoken than a series of loud bangs and crude curses rang out. Qin Jingzhou got up and told the housekeeper to have the bodyguards hold out for five minutes.
He never made things hard for his workers. He Huisheng was, at best, a novice Qi Gathering stage cultivator, and when it came to real strength and combat skills, he was no match for the well-trained bodyguards.
With the housekeeper worriedly relaying the message, Qin Jingzhou dismantled the computer in front of him, then took several phones from the drawer, removed the batteries and key components, and after some tinkering assembled a messy-looking device—a bundle of wires, a battery, and circuit boards all jumbled together—before strolling downstairs.
Right now, He Huisheng was strutting about in the spacious living room, lecturing, “How much are you getting paid? Is it worth risking your life for my brother? He’s sure to run, and I should know...”
Qin Jingzhou stood on the stairs and tossed his makeshift gadget at his brother.
He Huisheng was completely defenseless. The hit to his forehead didn’t hurt at all. He looked up and sneered. “So you finally show your face, huh? I’m a cultivator now. Killing you’s as easy as squashing a fly...”
Before he could finish the sentence, he suddenly began to twitch and, out of control, broke into a wild dance right where he stood. In the next moment, he collapsed to the floor, a faint wisp of green smoke curling from his brow—so faint it was easy to miss.
He Huisheng was down. The thugs with him all took a step back.
Qin Jingzhou remarked meaningfully, “Cultivators are indeed powerful, but idiotic cultivators are not.”