"Elder Xuan, the acceptance ceremony for the new disciples is about to begin."
The voice was respectful yet insistent, floating through the stillness of the elegant pavilion.
Within, Xuan Yi slowly opened his eyes, as if awakening from a deep meditation. His gaze, calm and profound, swept across the space before him. For a moment, the silence lingered, heavy with an emotion he did not name.
"Got it. I'll be right there," he answered quietly, his tone composed.
Rising to his feet, he brushed off invisible dust from his sleeves and moved toward the pavilion's threshold. His steps were steady, but inwardly, a sigh escaped his heart.
Earth... Shen Xuan Landmass...
The two names felt worlds apart—because they were.
Xuan Yi was not a native of this world. He hailed from Earth, from the bustling chaos of the twenty-first century. Once, he had lived an ordinary life, filled with predictable routines and mundane dreams. Transmigration—the fantastical notion of being hurled into another world—had been something he only encountered in novels and idle fantasies.
He never imagined it would happen to him.
And yet, here he was.
The transition hadn't been kind, nor cruel—it simply was. Along with his new life came a companion that many transmigrators dreamed of: a golden finger—a system.
The system embedded within his sea of consciousness was both a mystery and a gift. Sometimes, Xuan Yi wondered if it was the cause of his transmigration in the first place, but no definitive answers had come to him yet.
"Elder Xuan, tsk tsk tsk..." a faint, teasing voice echoed from a corner of his mind—the system's playful reminder.
Xuan Yi shook his head, a wry smile touching his lips.
His sect, the Profound Sword Sect, was nestled within the southern reaches of the Heavenly Wind Kingdom. Though it wasn't counted among the continent's top-tier powers, its influence in the region was undeniable.
In this sect, Xuan Yi held the title of Elder.
Yet, he was only twenty-five years old—a fact that had stirred endless whispers and admiration throughout the sect. He wasn't just the youngest elder in the sect's history—he was also its only Nascent Soul Realm expert aside from the sect master and two vice sect masters.
The Nascent Soul Realm—an awe-inspiring height of cultivation.
To the disciples and ordinary folk, his status was that of a living legend.
And yet, standing here, Xuan Yi felt strangely detached from it all.
Other transmigrators usually start from scratch, he mused, cultivating painstakingly step by step. But me... I start at the Nascent Soul Realm, already an elder, already a top expert.
This wasn't just a head start. It was a launch from a mountaintop.
Still, reality was sobering.
The Heavenly Wind Kingdom was a tiny speck on the grand tapestry of the Shen Xuan Landmass. In this vast world, kingdoms like the Heavenly Wind Kingdom were countless, too numerous to even tally.
The landmass was divided into five colossal continents, each boasting hundreds of regions, each region containing hundreds of kingdoms.
The sheer scale was dizzying.
Here, cultivation realms advanced from Qi Condensation, to Qi Foundation, to Soul Condensation, and then to Nascent Soul.
Beyond Nascent Soul stood realms Xuan Yi had only heard whispers of: the King Realm, and the even more mythical Emperor Realm—each with nine distinct levels.
As for anything beyond the Emperor Realm... that was so distant it might as well be a myth.
For now, Xuan Yi thought, my footing is firm only within the Heavenly Wind Kingdom.
The sect master, the two vice sect masters, and a few rare individuals had reached the Nascent Soul Realm. The Kingdom's strongest—the revered ancestor of the imperial family—stood at the seventh level of Nascent Soul.
Xuan Yi was at the first level.
Impressive within this kingdom, but trivial on the Shen Xuan Landmass as a whole.
He recalled stories he had overheard in the sect's halls—legends of King Realm cultivators, beings so powerful that a single one could crush entire kingdoms beneath their feet.
One tale in particular haunted the ambitions of every Nascent Soul cultivator.
It spoke of a newly advanced King Realm expert who, alone, stood against sixteen kingdoms. Over a hundred Nascent Soul seventh-level experts and dozens of peak ninth-level experts had been gathered to oppose him.
And yet, they had been utterly annihilated.
Sixteen kingdoms... destroyed by one man.
The King Realm was a force that defied imagination.
In all the Heavenly Wind Kingdom's history—thousands of years of glory, struggle, and tradition—not a single King Realm expert had ever emerged.
Neither had any arisen in the neighboring kingdoms.
It was an existence so rare, so exalted, that even gathering ten thousand peak Nascent Soul experts might not produce a single King Realm cultivator.
But while such a breakthrough was near-impossible for others, Xuan Yi's eyes held a quiet certainty.
With the system by my side... the King Realm will only be the beginning.
He drew in a deep breath, calming the stirrings of ambition within him, and then turned his attention inward.
In the depths of his consciousness, a semi-transparent panel gleamed softly.
Host: Xuan YiRealm: Nascent Soul Realm, First LevelTalent: ??????Sect: Profound Sword SectDisciples:
Lin Zhiyin [Realm: Second Level of the Qi Foundation Realm, Aptitude: 51]
Wang Hu [Realm: Seventh Level of Qi Condensation, Aptitude: 36]
Main Quest:
Goal: A disciple must reach the Soul Condensation Realm.
Rewards: [Glory King Li Bai's Skill: Green Lotus Sword Song], [Three attacks from Peak King Realm Expert Bing Yu].
Side Quest:
Goal: Have a disciple with aptitude over 100.
Rewards: [Upgrade by two levels], [Comprehend Sword Intent].
The rewards laid out were nothing short of staggering.
The Green Lotus Sword Song—just hearing the name sent a thrill through Xuan Yi's heart. A supreme martial skill once wielded by the legendary Li Bai. If it was half as powerful as rumored, it could allow him to defeat enemies two or even three realms above his own.
And Sword Intent...
Xuan Yi's fingers itched at the thought.
Sword Intent wasn't just a technique. It was a transcendence of understanding, a profound resonance between sword and soul. Those who comprehended it were regarded as true geniuses in the Sword Dao.
A Sword Cultivator who had grasped Sword Intent could easily battle foes multiple levels above them.
If I comprehend Sword Intent, Xuan Yi thought, even at the first level of the Nascent Soul Realm, I might rival third or fourth-level Nascent Soul experts.
His path would be paved with blood and glory.
And then, there was the trump card—the true ace up his sleeve.
Peak King Realm expert, Bing Yu!
Though he didn't know whether Bing Yu was male or female, or even human, it mattered little.
A Peak King Realm cultivator was an existence beyond imagination—an entity capable of obliterating armies and rewriting the fate of nations.
Three attacks from Bing Yu... three opportunities to overturn destiny.
Even the entire Heavenly Wind Kingdom would tremble if he unleashed such power.
No matter where I go, he thought, feeling a surge of confidence, with Bing Yu's strength in my hand, there's nowhere I cannot tread.
A soft breeze stirred the curtains of the pavilion, carrying the distant sounds of bustling disciples preparing for the acceptance ceremony. Reality called him back from his thoughts.
Straightening his robes, Xuan Yi stepped forward into the light.
Today would mark the beginning of new bonds, new disciples, and new battles.
And unbeknownst to the Profound Sword Sect, to the Heavenly Wind Kingdom, and even to the vast Shen Xuan Landmass itself—
A storm was quietly gathering.
One that would shake the heavens and earth.