Chapter 1 Transmigration
On a desolate mountain peak, Yun Xiao suddenly opened his eyes and looked around while he was deep in thought.
He was seated in a stone room no bigger than a simple bedroom from a normal apartment; there was basically nothing in it, only a blue carpet on which he was currently seated.
Even though it sounded unbelievable, he knew he had for some inexplicable reason become this person now.
But before he could ponder any more, all kinds of memories came pouring in all at once. He was a sect elder of the Azure Cloud Sect but had chosen to remain in solitude on his peak for hundreds of years due to the trauma the previous owner of this body had experienced in his childhood.
"Misty Sword Peak... not a bad name," he muttered.
But he understood that he had somehow become the person named Yun Xiao; he had clearly taken over this man's body.
And while the original owner's memories settled neatly into place one by one, he could feel everything he had experienced.
But there was one small difference: that was the past of a completely different person; he didn't take anything to heart.
All the paranoia, withdrawal from human society, and a life spent hiding from an unknown enemy—Yun Xiao didn't want anything to do with that.
He had suddenly gotten a second chance at life, and he was not about to waste it due to the previous owner's trauma.
Yun Xiao calmed his breathing and closed his eyes, giving the previous owner a singular bow of respect.
"I pray that you may lead a more fulfilling next life," he calmly said.
He did not mourn. Nor was he planning to question his past further; the past belonged to someone else. But the present belonged to him.
"Azure Cloud Sect..." he muttered, looking at the simple stone walls of his supposed cultivation chamber.
Even though the previous Yun Xiao was paranoid and couldn't trust anyone, he still cultivated with all his might to get stronger and protect himself; the current Yun Xiao carefully sensed the core in his dantian and all the qi flowing through his meridians.
With a faint smile on his face, he couldn't help but be delighted; this wasn't just any random world that he had just entered, it was a world full of miracles and cultivators.
And he didn't even need to climb the ladder, like most protagonists in the novels he had consumed in his previous life. He was already a respected elder from a powerful sect.
He, of course, didn't have any connections, nor did he have any disciples, but that was irrelevant; he could strive for immortality and travel the world once he was strong enough.
He couldn't help but smirk a little just thinking about all the possibilities that had opened up before him.
And while he was deep in thought, something even more unbelievable happened: a weird see-through screen of text suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Heaven's Gift System Activated]
"...."
Silence followed as Yun Xiao was speechless while he stared at the simple line of text that was floating in front of him.
"I even get a golden finger?"
But there was one problem: how could he utilize it? The simple line of text didn't give him any instructions, nor did it show him automatically.
"System open?" he suddenly said while staring in front of him, hoping anything would happen.
And luckily for him, something did happen.
[Heaven's Gift System]
─── Information ───
[Name] Yun Xiao
[Cultivation Realm] Spirit Transformation Realm (Late)
─── Abilities ───
[Bloodline] Heaven Evading Bloodline
[Physique] /
[Techniques] /
─── Active Functions ───
Sign-In [Claim]
Missions [Check]
Inventory [Open] (!)
Choices [Check]
─── Locked Functions ───
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
[System Points]: 0
After saying that simple sentence, a moment later all kinds of information had appeared right in front of him.
"That bloodline must be why his whole family was massacred."
Even though it wasn't his own family, he still felt a shiver run down his spine just thinking about it, but there was no point in dwelling on it any longer as he shook his head a couple times to empty his mind.
Now was the time to properly inspect this system panel and make sure he made the best use of this golden finger.
To start with, he decided to check his inventory to see why there was an exclamation mark behind the [Open] button.
He extended his right arm and tried to press the [Open] button, but he went straight through it, like it was only a hologram that his eyes were projecting in front of him.
"Hmm?"
He raised his eyebrow while staring at the system panel in front of him. Looks like I might need to do it with my mind?
There was nothing to lose anyway, so without further ado he thought about opening the inventory.
[Inventory]
[Heavenly Welcome Gift Pack] [Open]
"Oh."
There was even a welcome package; this golden finger of his was so considerate.
Yun Xiao bowed once, thanking the system, even though it probably couldn't hear nor understand him; that was just how he was.
And without hesitation, he decided to immediately open the gift pack; right now he had nothing better to do anyway, and after opening it, he could slowly figure out what his plans in this new world would be.
[Novice Heavenly Gift Pack Opened]
He could hardly wait for what was about to happen; his fingers were trembling, and his breathing visibly quickened.
Cloudmist Tea Tree Seed (Saint Grade)
Spirit Spring (Saint Grade)
Heavenly Mist Cave Abode (Saint Grade)
Heaven Veiling Azure Scripture (Saint Grade)
Sword Dao Embryo Physique (Saint Grade)
1,000 High-Grade Spirit Stones
Mistveil Spirit Crane egg (Saint Grade)
Seeing the seven items he had received in front of him, he could hardly contain himself; those weren't just any run-of-the-mill items. While inheriting his predecessors' memories, he had also learned all the common sense of this world.
And saint grade items like the ones he had just received were exceedingly valuable, after all they were basically at the peak of what you could find in this world, some supreme superpowers in the central region could possibly have some immortal grade artifacts but for the most part saint grade was the peak.
"Wow."
His mouth was agape while he was staring at the simple list floating in front of him, but before he could even claim it, something unexpected suddenly happened.
[Applying 100x multiplier to Novice Heavenly Gift Pack]
"..."
Yun Xiao was speechless as his eyes shot wide open.
Dao Mist Ancient Tea Tree Seed (Great Dao Grade)
Immortal Spring (Great Dao Grade)
Myriad Veils Pocket Heaven (Great Dao Grade)
Nameless Dao Concealing Heavenly Tome (Great Dao Grade)
Uncarved Body of the Sword Ancestor Physique (Great Dao Grade)
Primordial Azure Spirit Dragon Vein (Great Dao Grade)
Primordial Mistveil Dao-Blood Crane Egg (Great Dao Grade)
"Wh... What the..."
He couldn't even finish his sentence; he just kept staring at the new list of insane rewards that was now displayed in front of him. His eyes rapidly read all the new information, but he couldn't wrap his head around what had just transpired.
He was already insanely fortunate that he received a golden finger and a welcome pack, but not only did all the rewards get a qualitative 100x multiplier, he even had a fairly high starting point.
"This is insane; I don't think I was a saint in my past life. Why would I have such insane luck suddenly?"
It just didn't make any logical sense, but there was no point in trying to understand his current situation.
Being transmigrated alone was already completely inexplicable; now with all these other things added on top, it was just too much.
"I guess I'll just accept it gratefully."
And after a moment he saw the list of the seven great Dao grade items appear in his inventory; the seven new entries were so dazzling that he could hardly look at it without smirking like an idiot.
"Hehehehe, I really struck it rich this time."
He let out a smug laugh while he had the broadest smile ever on his face.
But he first had to calm down and think of how he should make the best use of this insane opportunity he had just gotten.
"Calm down," he said to himself while he also slapped his cheeks.
Getting cocky at this moment could prove to be a fatal mistake; he had to keep a low profile and slowly build up his strength.
After dying young he definitely didn't want to die young even in this second chance; preferably he would strive for immortality, but even if that wasn't possible, reaching a high realm and living for many hundreds of thousands of years would also be great.
"Let's first check out the details of all the things I've just received, and after I'll think of a way to use them to the best of my ability."
Chapter 2 Opening Rewards 1
"Let's see, the pocket heaven sounds the most useful at the moment."
Without hesitation, Yun Xiao thought about opening it.
[Myriad Veils Pocket Heaven A hidden, self-contained pocket world veiled beyond ordinary laws. ]
[Activate?]
A simple introduction was added to it, but that didn't mean that Yun Xiao suddenly knew what it exactly was.
Even though he had a rough idea of what to expect, he still didn't fully understand it.
Activate.
Then another notification appeared in front of him.
[Designate an entrance.]
"Hmmm."
Now Yun Xiao was deep in thought; choosing the entrance for his pocket heaven was a very important matter. Preferably he would have it with him at all times, but choosing his current clothes didn't seem like a wise choice.
What if they got stolen or destroyed? Who knows what would happen to the entrance then?
"Could I maybe put it on the Misty Sword Peak?"
But he quickly ruled that option out as well, even though he was an elder with his own peak right now. Who knows what the future had in store for him.
Can I maybe put the entrance on my body?
It was just a random idea he had; he didn't take it too seriously. How could an entrance to something like that be placed on his body? It was absolutely impossible.
I want to put the entrance on my forehead.
Yun Xiao thought about this idea while smiling. He was just having some fun before he would decide where he would put the actual entrance.
[Designation successful.]
"..."
When he saw those two words appear in front of him, his whole body froze, but before he could retort or try to change the entrance to an actual place, he felt something being carved on his forehead.
But not only did it not hurt or feel uncomfortable, he actually quite liked the feeling, like something missing had just been put into place.
Yun Xiao was speechless, as he just sat there staring at the door in front of him for a while.
It shouldn't be a bad thing, right?
He was trying to justify his mistake, if you could even call it that. This might just have been the best possible place to put the entrance.
I'll always have it with me, and people won't expect me to just disappear out of thin air.
One problem was he had no idea how he was supposed to enter his pocket heaven.
Enter? he mused, and a moment later his figure vanished into thin air; the stone room he had just been seated in was now completely empty, like he had never been in there in the first place.
That's it? Well, it's good that it was so easy, I guess...
Yun Xiao was looking around, inspecting the whole pocket dimension to see everything it contained.
The moment he entered, a stream of information appeared in front of his eyes, as if the system were giving him extra information.
[Myriad Veils Pocket Heaven (Great Dao Grade)]
[Contains the following:
Cultivation Cave
Tea Pavilion
Sword Practice Courtyard
Vast Private Study
Defensive Restrictions
Spirit Herb Garden
Meditation Cliff
Beast Habitat
Empty Pavilion]
And that wasn't all; the system only let him know the most basic information on most things that were included in the pocket heaven. All the other information had been directly transmitted into Yun Xiao's head.
"This is unbelievable!"
He couldn't contain himself as he looked all around him; this looked like a complete world to the naked eye. The only problem was that there wasn't anyone else but him in here.
Self-repairing functions, and it's even undetectable to outsiders. This is awesome!
While he was marveling about this insane pocket heaven, he had just activated; his enthusiasm suddenly surged. He had received all kinds of other insanely valuable things from the welcome package as well.
And now he could safely receive them in this pocket heaven without alerting anyone in the outside world.
And if I ever want to take in a disciple, I can even grant them entry into this cultivation paradise with badges I can create at will.
Without hesitation he quickly walked toward the tea pavilion to sit down and take his time in receiving all the other gifts he had just received with a wide smirk on his face.
His azure robes fluttered in the wind while he walked with a brisk pace toward the pavilion.
A couple minutes later, Yun Xiao suddenly stopped while he was staring in front of him with his mouth agape; in front of him stood a magnificent building. Not only was it massive, but it was built with the most exquisite craftsmanship he had ever seen.
The building was a beautiful white color with carvings of all kinds of animals and creatures he had never even seen before, and on both sides stood a large outdoor seating area with beautiful chairs and tables.
They were a warm brown color, made purely out of wood. But Yun Xiao knew that it definitely wasn't any ordinary wood, even though he had no clue what type of wood had been used for its production.
He quickly took a seat on one of the chairs, and the moment his behind touched the chair, he felt his whole body relax, like some kind of spell had been cast on him.
These chairs must be insanely valuable; just by sitting on it, I feel like I'm getting massaged, and the spiritual qi in my body is automatically moving around.
But he could research everything about the pocket heaven once he had opened all the other gifts; that was now his top priority, after all.
Because he had no idea when someone would come look for him during the day, and even though he was a reclusive elder, that didn't mean that the sect didn't require him to do things.
"Calm down; let's just get through these rewards real quick."
He knew it wouldn't be so easy; just look at this insane pocket of heaven.
He quickly opened the system interface once more and skillfully navigated toward his inventory, where the six other rewards were still waiting for him.
[Inventory]
Dao Mist Ancient Tea Tree Seed (Great Dao Grade)
Immortal Spring (Great Dao Grade)
Nameless Dao Concealing Heavenly Tome (Great Dao Grade)
Uncarved Body of the Sword Ancestor Physique (Great Dao Grade)
Primordial Azure Spirit Dragon Vein (Great Dao Grade)
Primordial Mistveil Dao-Blood Crane Egg (Great Dao Grade)
After thinking it over, he decided to do the rest in the order they were in his inventory, mostly because he had a rough idea what they would be just by going off their names.
Then he focused on the tree seed, and it suddenly materialized above his right hand.
"Wow."
He carefully inspected it but couldn't make anything of it; it just looked like a regular seed to him. The only difference would be the slight mist surrounding it and that it was floating above his palm instead of lying in it.
Where should I put this one? It is a tea tree, and right now I'm at the tea pavilion.
He chuckled a little; of course he would put this tree right next to the tea pavilion; it wouldn't make much sense any other way.
Then Yun Xiao stood up and went to the front of the beautiful pavilion and a couple meters from the door; with a wave of his hand, he dug out a small pit, placing the seed inside it.
After that he buried it and turned around, but just as he was about to return to the outdoor seating area, he suddenly felt the ground rumble.
He immediately turned his head around and saw a small plant sprouting from the ground where he had just planted that tea tree seed.
"What?"
Was the only thing that came out of his mouth, while he just kept staring at the rapidly growing tree in front of him.
And only after it was about the same height as Yun Xiao himself did it stop.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to something like that."
And not a moment after he had muttered that, the tree suddenly started releasing dense mist.
But not only did the mist not hinder his vision; instead, it made him feel super comfortable, like he could break through at any moment.
I could get used to this actually.
While laughing at himself, he steadily made his way back to the chair he had just been sitting on, and without hesitation he opened the next reward, the immortal spring.
[Designate place.]
But once again a message was floating in front of his eyes.
"..."
Yun Xiao suddenly slapped himself. "Am I stupid? What if that message didn't come? Would I have needed to install the thing right here?
Looking around himself, he couldn't help but lecture himself; even though he had been out of it due to all the insane things happening all at once, that was no reason to make such a dumb mistake.
"Thank god the system is so generous and helpful."
And right after he said that, he stood up once more and made his way to the cultivation cave; that would be the perfect place to put this immortal spring.
Chapter 3 Opening Rewards 2
After entering the cultivation cave, he took a quick peek around. To familiarize himself with it.
This would be his main cultivation abode from today onwards.
"It's rather empty right now; let me change that real quick."
Then he notified the system that he wanted to install the immortal spring right in the center of the cave abode.
A moment later a spring with around a ten-meter diameter appeared in front of him, and Yun Xiao felt the spiritual qi become richer immediately.
"I was expecting the spiritual qi from the immortal spring to be overbearing, but this..."
While looking around, he took his time to take deep breaths and feel the difference in quality and quantity.
It was day and night; a couple seconds ago the spiritual qi was what he was used to, if not a little more abundant, but now it felt like he was drowning in it.
"Well, I'll get used to it later; now there are more important things to do."
After mumbling, he left the cave abode and looked at the next item that he was going to get.
"A new cultivation technique... how will that work with the one I'm currently cultivating?"
Yun Xiao had no idea, and because his predecessor was a social outcast, even his memories were completely useless.
But he wasn't about to leave that cultivation technique alone just because he wasn't sure what would happen after inheriting it.
"I can only take a gamble."
He turned around and went straight into the cultivation cave, taking a seat inside the immortal spring.
Then he activated the Nameless Dao Concealing Heavenly Tome, and while he might look calm, he was anything but calm at the moment.
His hands were shaking, and his eyes were carefully inspecting anything within the cave to keep his mind occupied while awaiting what would happen after inheriting that new cultivation technique.
[Do you want to overwrite your current cultivation technique with the Nameless Dao Concealing Heavenly Tome (Great Dao Grade)]
[Yes / No]
Two simple lines of text appeared in front of him while his hands and head were going crazy.
"Yes."
He said, the moment he saw the message.
"..."
But he must have been a little too excited because he completely forgot that he needed to use his mind to choose what option he wanted, so by only blurting out "yes," nothing happened.
And Yun Xiao sat there, his whole body filled with tension, but as seconds passed and nothing changed, he slowly opened his eyes.
"Oh..."
That's when he realized his mistake, but he didn't let it get to him. It was completely normal to make a couple silly mistakes if you think about the circumstances he was currently in.
Only after he chuckled a little at himself did he use his mind to let the system know that he wanted to overwrite his current cultivation technique with the Nameless Tome.
[Are you sure you want to overwrite it?]
[By Overwriting your cultivation technique, your current cultivation base will also be completely destroyed.]
[Yes / No]
Yun Xiao raised his eyebrows after reading the new messages that had appeared in front of him.
"Is that how it works here? Normally you should be able to keep your current cultivation base, or it would regress a little after changing techniques..."
This new development put him in quite the predicament; losing his Spirit Transformation Realm cultivation would definitely be painful.
But maybe with this new and much better cultivation technique, he could recultivate to the Spirit Transformation Realm in a relatively short time.
And he would most likely have better combat power at the same realm.
"Let's see, after everything I've already received it probably won't be that big of an issue even if I lost it. But it still stinks."
Then he closed his eyes and focused solely on everything inside his body, namely the quality of his core, to see how solid his current foundation was.
Only heaven's grade? What a disgrace!
What he felt left him thoroughly disappointed; the previous owner of this body might have been a paranoid recluse, but his talent was still top-notch. That's also the reason he was getting such special treatment at such a prestigious sect.
But instead of making use of it, he had only done the bare minimum and rushed his cultivation like a madman.
"Well, at least that makes the choice much easier..."
With a resolute look in his eyes, Yun Xiao accepted the inheritance of the Nameless Tome, and a moment later he was immersed as all kinds of knowledge flooded his brain.
Inside his knowledge sea he saw a simple tome appear; it was so inconspicuous that he might have glossed it over at any other time, but right now he knew he was inheriting a supreme cultivation technique.
The moment he touched the tome, he saw that it was completely empty, and just as he was about to wonder if this wasn't the Nameless Tome.
He felt his brain vibrate, and he entered a special trance as all kinds of words that seemed to have no correlation whatsoever entered his mind one after the other.
But for some inexplicable reason, the more words appeared, the more sense the words began making.
He was so immersed that he didn't even feel his cultivation realm rapidly dropping, from the Spirit Transformation Realm to the Nascent Soul Realm.
And a couple moments later he had dropped all the way out of the Qi Gathering Realm; he was now once again a mortal.
After being immersed in the knowledge of the nameless tome for an unknown amount of time, Yun Xiao opened his eyes and looked around himself.
"I'm still here."
He heaved a sigh of relief; the information contained in the nameless tome had been so vast and complex that he almost felt like he had lost his sense of self.
"Oh, my cultivation is gone."
He felt it instantly; this feeling of being able to do anything compared to his previous one was now completely gone, but one strange thing was that he could still access his Nascent Soul, where the nameless tome resided.
He paused.
That... shouldn't be possible.
"I guess you could call that a perk; I'm curious what will happen once I break through to the Nascent Soul Realm once more."
But now wasn't the time to be pondering about that; he had to open all the other rewards and focus on recultivating back to his original realm as soon as possible.
"Next should be that physique if I remember correctly."
And he had indeed remembered it correctly; after navigating toward his inventory once more, he immediately accepted the physique.
And once again he felt all kinds of information enter his brain, but this time it wasn't as much and as dense as with the tome; instead, he felt another sensation.
It felt like his body had become much stronger, and no matter which sword he would pick up, he would be able to utilize it to its fullest potential.
"Impressive."
Yun Xiao muttered as he imitated a sword with his index and middle fingers; he swung his arm around, and instead of it looking like something a complete beginner would do, he felt like something mysterious was guiding his swings.
"I can figure it out slowly later; I'm almost done now."
While he was still sitting on the immortal spring, he activated his next reward, the Primordial Azure Spirit Dragon Vein. What appeared in front of him was a massive riverlike construct made entirely of spiritual energy.
But it wasn't in its real form in front of him; the system had given him a miniature hologram image, and at the same time another string of text appeared in front of him.
[Designate place.]
"Again..."
"At least this time I was in the right place."
Then he designated the pocket heaven to see if that was possible.
And a moment later the dragon-vein hologram disappeared, and he felt the whole pocket of heaven shake violently, like it was being ripped apart by something.
Luckily the shaking only lasted for a couple seconds, and after the shaking subsided Yun Xiao felt spiritual energy thicken within mere moments.
"It was a good decision to put it here; if I had put it under the sect, that would have caused endless troubles..."
Just thinking about it gave him shivers; he didn't feel like dealing with enemies constantly. Just cultivating in peace and at his own pace was more than enough.
And now he was finally onto the last item from the welcome package, the egg.
Claim the crane's egg.
And a large, almost incorporeal egg appeared in front of him; it looked extremely strange, like it wasn't real, but at the same time it was. Half of it was veiled in mist, and the other half looked like a normal white egg.
"Uh, when will the beast break out of the egg, and where should I put it?"
That's when Yun Xiao remembered that he had no idea how long it took or how to incubate spirit beast eggs, and this wasn't just any spirit beast; it was a great dao-level beast.
"Should I put it in the beast habitat? But does it need anything during its incubation time?"
While he was mumbling and thinking of a solution, the egg that was floating in front of him was silently absorbing insane amounts of liquefied spiritual qi from the immortal pond.
"Looks like my question was answered."
Even though Yun Xiao was a mortal, that didn't mean he couldn't sense someone absorbing spiritual qi.
"I'll just leave it here and see what happens."
Chapter 4 First Sign-In
After leaving the cultivation cave, Yun Xiao made his way toward the tea pavilion once more.
Taking a seat, he opened his status screen to see if he had missed anything else.
[Heaven's Gift System]
─── Information ───
[Name] Yun Xiao
[Cultivation Realm] /
─── Abilities ───
[Bloodline] Heaven Evading Bloodline
[Physique] Uncarved Body of the Sword Ancestor
[Techniques] Nameless Dao Concealing Heavenly Tome
─── Active Functions ───
Sign-In [Claim]
Missions [Check]
Inventory [Open]
Choices [Check] (!)
─── Locked Functions ───
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
[System Points]: 0
"Did the system not recognize the technique he was cultivating before I took over this body?"
Yun Xiao couldn't understand why the technique showed none while he clearly had a cultivation base by cultivating that technique, but now it did show the Nameless Tome.
"No use in worrying about it needlessly, I guess."
Then his eyes were drawn to a singular button on his status screen, namely the claim button behind the sign-in.
"If I sign in here, would the rewards get amplified because I'm in a Great Dao great pocket heaven?" he muttered while smirking.
claim.
And right after he decided to sign in, he saw a new list of rewards appear in front of him.
[Signed in Myriad Veils Pocket Heaven]
Myriad Veils Dao Trial Ascension Tower (Dao Grade)
Dao Scripture Derivation Pavilion (Dao Grade)
Mist Realm Training Mirror Array (Dao Grade)
Myriad Spirit Dao Herb Domain (Dao Grade)
Dao Mist Enlightenment Tea Pavilion (Dao Grade)
"Looks like I was right; if you sign in in such a special place, you get very generous rewards."
But just as he was about to claim all of them, something unexpected happened.
[Applying 100x multiplier to Sign-In rewards]
"It's not a one-time thing..."
Yun Xiao's mouth was wide open as he just kept on staring at the simple line of text in front of him.
Nameless Ascension of Ten Thousand Laws (???)
Scriptureless Dao Origin Sea (???)
Infinite Self-Reflection Array (???)
Self-Evolving Genesis Ecology (???)
Mindless Dao Resonance Pavilion (???)
Now instead of five Dao Grade items, he had items of unknown grade in front of him.
Yun Xiao was speechless, and his whole body was frozen stiff.
Not only had he received multiple Great Dao Grade items from the novice pack, but now he had even received higher grade rewards.
Just those names alone sounded insanely overpowered.
"Haha..."
After sitting there for a couple moments without moving an inch, he finally recomposed himself and went to his inventory to check his newly obtained insanely lucrative rewards.
But he had no idea how or where he would activate them so this time he made proper preparations and because he was in the tea pavilion he would start with the fifth reward because that was also a pavilion.
Claiming the Mindless Dao Resonance Pavilion, he ordered the system.
[Activating Mindless Dao Resonance Pavilion, the tea pavilion's top room will be upgraded into a mindless Dao Resonance room.]
After he read that message, Yun Xiao looked at the floor of the current tea pavilion and was waiting for some kind of massive commotion to happen.
But contrary to his expectations, nothing grand or world-shaking happened; instead, he saw a blue luster appear for a mere moment and disappear a second later.
"Quite underwhelming, I must say, compared to the previous rewards I have gotten."
But he didn't dare underestimate it; it was the highest grade item he had received to date, after all.
"Do the current places in the pocket heaven get upgraded with these new facilities?"
When that thought popped up in his mind, Yun Xiao visibly relaxed; that was a good thing because if he had to run around the whole pocket dimension to install all these new things, it would have taken a considerable amount of time.
So he simply took another seat on that super comfy chair and activated the next reward. This time he just went in chronological order.
[Activating Nameless Ascension of Ten Thousand Laws.]
The moment he activated his second reward, he felt his whole body shake violently, and Yun Xiao was instantly alarmed.
"What's going on?"
In the distance he suddenly saw a massive pitch-black tower appear out of nowhere; it was right next to his cultivation cave, and he couldn't even see the top of the tower.
But it looked more like it didn't have a ceiling and was a never-ending tower.
"Wow..."
He couldn't help but admire the tower for a moment; it was crafted beautifully and gave off an unfathomable feeling, like no matter what you threw at it, it would stay standing forever and ever.
"Now that's what I'm talking about; this is how it should be when receiving rewards," he said, slapping his chest.
And only after minutes did the rumbling subside, but the beautifully crafted murals on the tower didn't become any less impressive. Just by looking at it Yun Xiao almost felt enlightened.
"!?"
He quickly stopped staring at it and turned his head around to look at the still exquisite tea pavilion, but he couldn't look at it for too long because it felt almost like that would taint his eyes.
That tower is definitely extraordinary.
Then Yun Xiao looked at the top floor of the tea pavilion, and he gulped; after seeing such a tower, that simple-looking room must also be of equal value.
Thinking about it left all his hairs on his body standing on end.
He first took a couple deep breaths to calm himself down, and only after doing that did he continue with opening the rest of the rewards.
"Okay next..."
[Activating Scriptureless Dao Origin Sea. The private study will be modified to accommodate this new function.]
And once again, like the top room of the tea pavilion, no grand spectacles appeared; he didn't even see anything that could indicate that the change had been made, but Yun Xiao knew better than to doubt the system.
And in quick succession he also activated the other two rewards, and unlike the tower, once more, no grand phenomena appeared.
But he knew the changes had been made; he could feel it as the master of the pocket heaven.
"Well, that was intense..."
His whole body was shaking, in just a couple of short hours his whole life had taken a complete 180.
"Not like I mind it; on the contrary, this is quite a welcome change."
Yun Xiao just sat there on his chair staring into the distance; everything that had just happened was sinking in little by little.
"Haah... life can be quite amazing," he muttered, completely lost in thought.
Everything that was happening all at once felt like one insane fever dream, but it was real. He had suddenly become Yun Xiao and gotten an overwhelming golden finger at the same time.
"Guess I'll start cultivating now then."
After saying that he slowly stood up and made his way toward the cultivation cave, but he wasn't in a hurry. He took a leisurely stroll through the pocket of heaven to eventually reach it.
The place had the most dense spiritual qi; it was so dense you could even see it. The air had a weird color; it looked like a mix of every color on the rainbow all mushed together.
With a slight smile on his face Yun Xiao entered the cave after taking a couple more deep breaths to calm his heart rate and nerves.
"Now it's time to properly rebuild my foundation!" he reminded himself sternly. He couldn't make the same mistakes as his predecessor by rushing his cultivation, especially with the means he had on hand.
"Gotta aim high."
While he was basically giving himself a speech and hyping himself up, he had arrived at the immortal spring, where the egg was now not floating above it anymore but had sunk inside the spring.
And it was now completely submerged and greedily absorbing massive amounts of liquid spiritual qi.
Yun Xiao found it rather impressive; it hadn't even left its egg and already needed such a massive amount of spiritual qi. What about when it was fully grown?
Luckily, he had the means to raise such an amazing creature; if anyone else had gotten that egg, it might have died due to insufficient spiritual qi.
"Heh."
After pondering a little, Yun Xiao then shook his head a couple times from the left to the right, and his expression became solemn.
There was no more smile on his face; he just looked straight at the immortal spring and walked right to the middle of it.
That was where the spiritual qi was the densest and purest, so that was where he would cultivate. Now that he had such extraordinary means, he would use them to the fullest extent of his capabilities.
He crossed his legs and took a seat; his eyes were now closed, and he was fully focusing on his meridians, even though he hadn't focused on cultivating, maybe because the qi here was so dense his body was automatically absorbing a relatively small amount on its own.
Let's do this!
He laid his hands on his legs and fully focused on himself and on feeling the abundant qi in the air and in the spring below him.
And only after he was certain that he was sufficiently prepared did he start absorbing the qi into his meridians and start guiding it toward his dantian to try and enter the first major realm of cultivation.
The Qi Gathering Realm.
He closely followed the nameless tome's pathway, and possibly due to the abnormal amount of qi surrounding him and the purity of it, he didn't meet any obstacles.
All the necessary meridians and pathways were smoothly opened, and only after he guided qi to make a couple full rotations through every single meridian he needed according to the manual did he gently guide it toward his dantian.
His dantian was in the lower abdominal area, and without much resistance, the qi entered it, shattering the old shell that was left there after changing his cultivation technique.
The moment the qi shattered the old dantian and formed a new one, Yun Xiao felt like his whole body had been completely reborn.
His whole body was filled with energy, and he felt like he could explode; that's how filled with energy he was. But he didn't let that disturb his focus as he kept guiding qi into his newly established dantian to keep reinforcing it.
He had to have the most stable and broad foundation possible.
Like that, time slowly passed; the man and egg both absorbed spiritual qi at their own pace, quietly enjoying the sensation of growing stronger.
Chapter 5 Sect Master
Yun Xiao was completely engrossed in the feeling of absorbing qi and guiding it through his meridians; he didn't even notice the passage of time.
Minutes turned into hours, and hours turned into multiple hours; the egg that was submerged in the spring was the same.
It had no intention of stopping with absorbing the abundant spiritual qi present here.
Yun Xiao had already entered the early stage of the Qi Gathering Realm and could break through to the next minor realm at any point.
But he was abstaining from doing so because he wanted to fill his dantian fully and every single meridian needed for the cultivation of the nameless tome as well.
After feeling how half-assed the previous Yun Xiao had cultivated, he knew that he couldn't make such mistakes, especially not with the means he had on hand.
Focus.
There had appeared a couple of system messages in his vision, but he completely ignored them while he was totally engrossed in absorbing spiritual qi.
He could check them out later after this cultivation session was over.
A couple more hours passed just like that, and when he finally opened his eyes, he felt his whole body filled to the brim with spiritual qi.
But he wasn't going to utilize it to break through just yet; he would first let all the qi saturate his meridians and dantian, and only after that was done would he break through.
"This feels wonderful," he exclaimed, casually stretching his body.
And only now did he open his eyes to check the messages that the system had sent him.
[Broke through to the Qi Gathering Realm (Early)]
[Reward: 10 System Points]
"So that's a way to gain system points."
Yun Xiao nodded his head with a smile on his face.
He had been wondering how he could gain those, but it looks like the answer was pretty simple and had been right in front of him.
But before he could check out what he could use the points for, he felt someone enter the stone room he had been in before entering the pocket heaven.
Who could it be?
With a single thought he vanished from his spot and reappeared on the blue carpet he had been sitting on.
"Ding Lei, what are you doing here?"
When Yun Xiao saw the man standing at the edge of the stone room, he raised his eyebrow and tensed up.
"Hello, Elder Yun, I've come here to remind you of our 200-year appointment. It's almost time for you to start contributing to the sect," Ding Lei sternly said.
He was a rather handsome man with short black hair and blue eyes; he wore a similar azure-colored robe like Yun Xiao.
A 200-year appointment?
Yun Xiao looked dumbfounded at the man in front of him; he was too stunned to even speak.
He had perfectly inherited all his predecessors' memories, but that didn't mean he knew every minor detail about everything.
Now it looked like he had to take his time to search carefully through his memories to see if he had missed anything else of importance.
"Could you remind me again what that appointment was?" he asked, scratching his cheek.
Ding Lei couldn't help but shake his head; he knew this elder was reclusive and liked to keep to himself, but this was a bit too much.
"When you came here about 180 years ago, we made a deal that you could cultivate in peace on this peak for 200 years, and only after that would you need to actively contribute to the sect by taking in disciples and participating in other things."
"Oh, okay. So I have about 20 years until the deadline, right?"
"That's right, but if you want to shorten the duration, that is always welcome; just come to my peak and let me know whenever. Otherwise I expect you during the next disciple recruitment in 20 years."
"Thank you very much. But I still have some things I need to do, so I won't be able to come earlier."
"I expected as much, and one more thing: since when did you have a black star-looking thing on your forehead?"
"What do you mean?"
Yun Xiao looked at Ding Lei with a puzzled expression, tilting his head to the right a little.
Ding Lei took out his sword that hung at his waist and showed Yun Xiao what he meant.
In the middle of his forehead was now a black kind of star-shaped thing.
Could that be the entrance?
"Don't worry about it, and I'll make sure to be there during the next disciple recruitment." Yun Xiao said with a slight bow.
"That's good; the supreme elder and the others are rather dissatisfied with the special treatment you're currently getting."
Yun Xiao didn't say anything else; he just shrugged. That was bound to happen. He had been in the sect for almost 200 years at this point and had barely contributed at all.
Comparing that to the other elders and the supreme elder, they had even pushed back their own cultivation to take care of their disciples and protect the sect.
But that will change from now on!
Yun Xiao thought while clenching his fists.
"Thank you, Sect Master, for your grace. I won't disappoint you!"
Ding Lei didn't say anything; he just smiled a little at the rather peculiar man in front of him. He knew how insanely talented this young man was.
But for some reason he was very shy as well, or maybe shy wasn't even the right word. That's how extreme it was.
"I'll see you in 20 years then."
After saying that Ding Lei left the stone room and flew back to his own peak.
Now that he was alone inside the room once again, Yun Xiao couldn't help but shake his head.
"Looks like I'll need to take in some disciples."
While it was definitely nerve-wracking, he was also very excited, especially with the means he currently had on hand.
"Wait, I can't just let anyone enter..."
A sudden realization dawned upon him; he'd have to properly test his disciples to make sure none leaked his secrets, or he could just never let any of them enter.
"..."
Yun Xiao stood there, staring at the wall for a good minute; he had no idea how or in what way he would decide to let disciples in or not.
"I can think about that later; now I need to hurry up and use every second to cultivate."
But before he went back to cultivate, he decided to sign in at Misty Sword Peak as well; that way he could hopefully upgrade it a little so the disciples would at least like it here.
[Signed in in Misty Sword Peak]
Ninefold Mist Spirit Grove (Heaven Grade)
Misty Veil Formation Core (Heaven Grade)
Azure Mist Spirit Sword (Heaven Grade)
Misty Flow Sword Manual (Heaven Grade)
"Looks like I'll be able to upgrade the misty sword peak."
Yun Xiao nodded his head, a smile on his face; if he left the mountain as it currently was, no disciples would want to stay here.
"..."
Because there was literally nothing on it except a small stone room at the summit of it.
"He clearly loved to be stingy..."
Of course he was just joking; it wasn't that the previous Yun Xiao was minimalistic, but that he didn't dare put too much here in fear of attracting unwarranted attention.
[Applying 100x multiplier to Sign-In rewards]
"Huh? Will the multiplier be applied to everything then?"
Yun Xiao was staring at the message in front of him with wide eyes; it had happened three times in a row now, that juicy hundred-time multiplier.
At this point it was fair to assume it would happen to everything right.
Ten Thousand Veils Dao Grove (Dao Grade)
Veil of Unseen Heaven Formation Heart (Dao Grade)
Nameless Mist-Born Dao Sword (Dao Grade)
Scripture of Flowing Inevitability (Dao Grade)
"So Heaven Grade always becomes Dao Grade after the multiplier? And I'm pretty sure Saint Grade became Great Dao Grade."
Yun Xiao just made a quick mental note of that; it would be handy in the future. At least he knew what he could expect based on the initial grade of the rewards.
Now it was time to quickly claim everything; the sword and scripture he could leave until he was back in pocket heaven, but the other two would be placed on Misty Sword Peak to enhance it.
He first took out the dao grove, a simple green-colored seed no larger than the tip of his pinky appeared in his hand.
"Do I just plant it?"
He had no idea what to do with it, so he decided to just plant it right outside his pathetic stone room.
After leaving the room, he dug a small hole and placed the plant inside it, and after covering the hole with dirt, he took out the formation heart.
But it looked extremely bizarre. No wonder it's called a formation heart...
It looked like a real human heart; the only difference was that it was made out of some unknown material that looked and felt like gold.
The moment it appeared in his hand, he immediately knew how to utilize it.
So he went right back into his stone room, and with a couple taps on the heart, he activated the Dao Grade formation, making it protect the whole of Misty Sword Peak.
But he didn't feel like waiting for the whole thing to cover the peak; it would take a considerable amount of time, just like the grove he had just planted.
"I'll just check it out sometime in the future; now it's more important to improve my cultivation."