1 - In the Thousand Vein Wastes
Blood spattered across the jagged stones as Lin Feng staggered back, chest heaving, sword tip dragging a shallow furrow in the dirt. His arms trembled, slick with sweat and blood, muscles burning from exhaustion. The Scarlet-Spined Lizard before him - a creature barely at the peak of Qi Condensation - hissed, its sinuous body coiled tight, blood-slick spines glinting in the pale light. Its eyes gleamed with feral hunger, unbothered by the shallow gash running down its flank.
Lin Feng clenched his jaw, barely keeping his legs steady beneath him. His robes hung in tatters, torn by claws and thorns from battles earlier that day - fights against spirit wolves, venom-tongued vipers, and the swarm of bonewing locusts that had shredded his defensive talismans like paper. His spiritual energy, already running dangerously low, flickered like a dying flame. Every breath tasted of copper, and the sharp ache in his ribs hinted at fractures from when the lizard had thrown him against the stones. Poison burned in his veins, a dull, creeping numbness that slowed his reactions and made each movement feel like wading through mud.
The Scarlet-Spined Lizard lunged, a blur of scales and fangs. Lin Feng barely managed to twist aside, but the creature's spines raked across his side, tearing a fresh, burning line of pain. He staggered, vision swimming. His sword - so heavy now - rose sluggishly to parry the beast's snapping jaws. The impact jarred his arm to the bone, sending another wave of agony through him. He gritted his teeth, breath hissing between clenched teeth, and forced himself to move.
This wasn't a fight he could win head-on.
Stumbling back, Lin Feng's gaze flicked to the narrow ravine behind him. A plan sparked, desperate but his only hope. He feigned weakness, letting the lizard press in, herding him toward the rocky cleft. The beast hissed in triumph, lunging forward, spines bristling. Lin Feng's fingers fumbled at his belt, tugging free a flame talisman. Just as the lizard committed to the charge, he flung the talisman at the cliff's edge and channeled the last dregs of his qi into the burning script.
The world erupted in a roar of heat and shattering stone. The cliff face collapsed, sending boulders crashing down onto the lizard's coiled body. Its shriek cut off mid-screech, buried beneath a rain of rock and dust.
Silence fell, broken only by Lin Feng's ragged gasps. He stood there swaying, the sword slipping from his fingers to the ground with a dull clatter. The fight was over, but every muscle in his body screamed, every joint ached. His spiritual energy was drained to the dregs, and each breath was a struggle against the pain lancing through his battered frame.
He had survived - but just barely.
Lin Feng's gaze drifted to the crushed lizard beneath the rubble, the creature's scaled tail twitching weakly before falling still. A bitter laugh caught in his throat, swallowed by a ragged cough. At full strength, this thing would have been no challenge at all. A few clean strikes, a decisive burst of qi, and it would have been over in moments. Yet here he was, battered and bloodied, staggering like a half-dead man.
He clenched his fists, feeling the tremor in his fingers. This wasn't just exhaustion - it was a reminder of the cost of survival in the Thousand Vein Wastes. Every victory came with a price. Every step forward drained more of his strength, leaving him more vulnerable to the next threat lurking in the shadows.
Gritting his teeth, he forced his legs to move. His gaze swept the uneven terrain until it found a cleft in the rocks nearby - a shallow cave, little more than a hollow, but it would do.
Each step toward it was a battle in itself. His wounds throbbed, blood dripping steadily, darkening the dirt beneath him. By the time he reached the cave, his breath came in ragged, uneven gasps, each inhalation a struggle. He collapsed against the rough stone wall, letting the cold seep into his bruised skin as he slid down to sit.
He stared out at the Wastes beyond, lips pressed into a thin line.
"I can't afford to fight like this again," he muttered under his breath, voice hoarse. His hands tightened into fists, nails biting into his palms. "Next time, I need to be stronger... or I won't be the one walking away."
And as the wind howled low through the rocks, Lin Feng sat in the dim cave, battered but determined, gathering what little strength remained to him for the battles yet to come.
'This is just the beginning,' he thought grimly, biting down on a wave of nausea.
The Thousand Vein Wastes stretched endlessly beyond the cave's mouth - a realm of jagged cliffs, hidden gorges, and swirling mists that distorted distance and direction. Spirit energy here was thick, but wild and violent, surging unpredictably like a beast unchained. It could empower a cultivator… or tear them apart.
Lin Feng tore a strip of cloth from his tattered robes and hastily wrapped it around his bleeding arm. He had other injuries that would need looking into, but his arm was his biggest concern. His wounds stung, the poison still gnawing at him, but he clenched his teeth and forced himself to focus.
'Zhao Tianlei,' he thought, eyes narrowing.
The memory surged back: the elder hall bathed in soft light, the subtle words from Elder Zhao, the careful framing of Lin Feng as the perfect candidate for this mission. A chance to "prove his worth," they had called it. A rare opportunity.
But it wasn't hard to see the truth.
No generous resources had been granted for this "mission." The sect had given him a paltry handful of spirit stones - barely enough to sustain his cultivation, let alone establish a foothold in the Wastes. They had entrusted him with a Sect Keystone, yes - a symbol of legitimacy, a communication node for the future - but little else.
And Zhao Tianlei…
Lin Feng's grip on the keystone tightened, his knuckles white.
Tianlei, the son of an elder, a rising star in the Emerald Cloud Sect. Respected, admired, envied. And yet, beneath that polished veneer, a snake. Jealous of Lin Feng's sudden rise. Furious that Shen Qingxue, the sect's most radiant beauty and a talent in her own right, had grown close to Lin Feng, a mere "nobody" from the outer peaks.
No open challenge, no blatant threats. Just subtle pressure. A word in his father's ear. A suggestion that Lin Feng, with his ambition and rapid progress, might benefit from "tempering" in the Wastes. The elders had nodded, of course. It all sounded so reasonable.
'An opportunity.'
Lin Feng scoffed bitterly, then grimaced as the motion sent fresh pain lancing through his side.
"Damn it…" he muttered, wiping the blood from his lip.
He let out a slow, shaking breath, steadying himself.
'Fine, Zhao Tianlei. You want me gone? Buried in this hellish place, starved of resources, forgotten by the sect?'
'Let's see who outlasts whom.'
Drawing in a thin wisp of chaotic spiritual energy from the air, Lin Feng steadied his breathing and forced himself upright. The Sect Keystone pulsed faintly in his palm, waiting. He staggered to the center of the cave, feeling the subtle veins of power beneath his feet.
Truth be told, Lin Feng knew that the cave he was in was not the most ideal location for a sect. However, the keystone would form a protective field around the area claimed, warding off most demon beasts for maybe a week or so. Unfortunately, it would only do so once, and if Lin Feng decided to relocate the keystone, it would not protect him again without being recharged by the main sect's keystone. While it galled Lin Feng to use his keystone just to get some time to recover, he had no desire to risk going forward in his current state.
With the last of his strength, he knelt and pressed the keystone into the earth.
A ripple of golden light spread outward, runes igniting across the stone's surface as it anchored to the land. The pulse resonated with the hidden spirit veins below, claiming the site in the name of the Emerald Cloud Sect - however faint and tenuous that claim might be for now.
And then -
Ding!
A sharp, crystalline chime echoed in his mind, so sudden and alien that Lin Feng almost recoiled.
Golden light surged before his eyes, forming a translucent screen of shifting characters and radiant symbols.
[Celestial Master System Initializing…]
Host recognized: Lin Feng.
Condition met: Founding of Sect in Unclaimed Territory.
Activating Celestial Inheritance Protocol…
Loading…
Lin Feng's breath hitched. His body went still.
'A… system?'
Shock surged through him - raw, disbelieving. For a moment, the pain in his side, the poison in his blood, the exhaustion in his limbs - all of it faded beneath the sheer absurdity of what he was seeing.
'I waited… years.'
When he had first arrived in this world, he had half-expected something like this: a system, a cheat, a golden finger to guide his rise. But none had come.
No system, no hidden treasure, no fabled inheritance. Only sweat, blood, and the slow, grinding ascent through the realms. He had thought his cultivation talent was his gift - an innate brilliance that defied his humble beginnings.
And now, after everything…
Lin Feng let out a ragged, half-crazed laugh.
"You show up now? After I'm stranded in a wasteland, half-dead, with barely enough spirit stones to keep my dantian from collapsing?"
The screen pulsed, unbothered by his outburst.
Celestial Master System Activation Complete.
Assigning Celestial Inheritance Paths…
Searching for Suitable Souls…
Lin Feng's heart thudded in his chest.
Something was changing - something vast and incomprehensible.
And despite the pain, the exhaustion, the fury burning in his chest…
For the first time in days, a glimmer of hope flickered in Lin Feng's eyes.
Celestial Forge Candidate Found.
Celestial Dojo Candidate Found.
Celestial Grimoire Candidate Found.
Binding Protocol Initiated…
Binding Completed.
Three Celestial Disciples Await Summoning.
Summon Now?
The words pulsed in his mind, crisp and cold, as if carved into stone.
Lin Feng's heart pounded. Almost without thinking, he whispered: "Ye-"
But the word caught in his throat as a sharp jolt of pain lanced through his ribs, dragging him back to reality. He gasped, clutching his side, where blood seeped from half-closed wounds. His breath came shallow, each inhale a struggle.
His gaze swept the cramped cave - a rough, jagged chamber barely large enough to stretch out in. Stalactites dripped faintly in the distance. The air was thick with damp earth and the lingering scent of blood. The cave's entrance was half-blocked by rubble from the earlier fight, the aftermath of his desperate scuffle with that spirit beast - an unremarkable creature, not even a true predator of the Wastes, yet it had nearly killed him.
Lin Feng grimaced. No. Not here.
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to think.
"System… what can you do?" he rasped, voice hoarse. "What… happens if I summon them now? What are they?"
Silence.
For a breathless moment, there was nothing. No response. No explanation.
Just the same, cold text.
Three Celestial Disciples Await Summoning.
Summon Now?
Lin Feng gritted his teeth, a flicker of frustration sparking behind his exhaustion.
"Can I refuse? Can I delay?" he asked, voice taut with the weight of his desperation. "What happens if I wait?"
The system's response did not change.
Three Celestial Disciples Await Summoning.
Summon Now?
No matter what he asked, it only repeated the same line, the same relentless prompt. As if the system couldn't - or wouldn't - explain anything more.
Lin Feng's breath came ragged. The silence inside the cave pressed in, heavy and suffocating.
He clenched his fists, eyes narrowing.
"…No," he muttered, voice barely audible over the steady drip of water. "Not yet."
Not here. Not in this cramped, dangerous place.
The system pulsed once more, its presence cold and unyielding.
Summon Now?
Lin Feng closed his eyes, ignoring it. For now.
He would not make a reckless decision - not while so close to the brink.
Not while the Thousand Vein Wastes still waited, teeth bared.
Besides, he needed to recover. His body still ached, bruises deep and muscles strained. He let out a slow breath, gathering his scattered thoughts.
'First things first'
Lin Feng turned to his what remained of his sparse belongings. A great deal of what he had managed to scrounge up for this mission was lost when he was ambushed earlier in the week. Now he had nothing but a few cracked jade bottles of low-grade healing pills, some basic talismans, enough spirit stones to keep maintain his cultivation for a while, his alchemy furnace, and - he blinked - a storage pouch that he didn't remember packing.
Frowning, he picked it up. The pouch felt warm in his hands, its embroidered surface faintly pulsing with a gentle spiritual glow. As Lin Feng focused his spiritual sense into it, his breath caught in his throat.
Inside, packed with care as though someone had arranged them with quiet intention, he found the essentials of survival and hope: a folded magical tent emanating a subtle formation pattern - clearly no ordinary item but a portable shelter of fine craftsmanship. Stacks of building supplies followed, including wood, stone, and formation plates, all inscribed and ready for use, enough to raise the foundation of a modest sect hall. There was also a small, ornate box holding an assortment of spiritual herb seeds - ginseng, goldenleaf grass, and even a few rare Silvermist petals, the kind that could fetch a high price or bolster a healing concoction.
At the very bottom, hidden beneath the rest, he found a folded slip of paper, its delicate fibers faintly scented with something floral and familiar.
With trembling fingers, Lin Feng opened it.
Lin Feng, I know you won't give up, no matter where you are. Please use these well. Be safe… I'll wait for you.
- Shen Qingxue
Lin Feng's breath hitched. A warmth spread in his chest, mingled with a sharp ache. Shen Qingxue… She had seen through the situation. Even if she couldn't defy the elders or Zhao Tianlei directly, she had done what she could - quietly, carefully.
"Qingxue…" Lin Feng whispered, voice rough.
For a moment, the fatigue in his body seemed to lift. His resolve hardened.
'This isn't the end. It's just the beginning.'
After taking some energy pills and checking his bandages, Lin Feng stepped out of the cave, scanning the clearing where he had fought the spirit beast. The ground was rough, scattered with debris, and remnants of the earlier battle littered the area.
With a deep breath, Lin Feng cleared the space, dragging away stones, leveling the earth, and marking out a perimeter with talismans. It was slow work, and his body protested every step, but Lin Feng worked in silence, each movement a quiet defiance against the fate Zhao Tianlei had tried to impose on him.
When the area was finally prepared, Lin Feng unfurled the magical tent. With a simple activation, it expanded, the formation glowing as it stabilized itself, forming a sturdy shelter large enough for six people, complete with a basic array for temperature control and warding.
Lin Feng wiped the sweat from his brow, breathing heavily.
"Alright," he muttered, glancing up at the fading sky. Stars were beginning to emerge over the jagged peaks of the Thousand Vein Wastes. Now would be a good time to rest for the day. Stumbling through the tent's entrance, Lin Feng cracked a small smile at Shen Qingxue's gift.
The air within the tent shimmered with a faint warmth, the biting chill of the Wastes kept at bay by the formation's energy. The interior was simple - bare mats on the floor, a small table in the center - but it was more than enough for Lin Feng's needs.
Popping a couple of healing pills into his mouth, Lin Feng sank onto one of the mats with a soft groan, his body aching in ways that reminded him how close he'd come to the brink. He took a deep breath, letting the warmth of the tent seep into his bones, the residual pain from his injuries slowly dulling. The healing pills worked steadily, knitting together torn flesh and strained meridians.
As the exhaustion of the day crept over him, Lin Feng allowed himself a rare moment of vulnerability, lying back on the mat and staring at the ceiling of the tent. His thoughts drifted to the battles ahead, to the Wastes beyond, and to the faces of those who had wronged him. But amidst the turmoil, there was also a quiet, persistent determination - an ember that refused to die out.
He closed his eyes, breathing evenly. The scent of medicinal herbs from the pills lingered faintly in the air, mingling with the cool, clean qi inside the tent. Slowly, sleep took him, a deep, dreamless rest that wrapped around him like a protective cocoon.
When Lin Feng awoke, the first light of dawn was filtering through the semi-transparent fabric of the tent, casting gentle rays over the mats and the table. He blinked, momentarily disoriented, before a sense of clarity washed over him. The ache in his body had dulled to a manageable throb, and the oppressive fatigue had lifted, leaving behind a lightness he hadn't felt in days.
Lin Feng sat up slowly, flexing his hands and feeling the flow of qi through his meridians - steady, stronger than before. The healing pills had done their work, and his night of rest had replenished the energy he'd spent in the desperate battle.
With a deep breath, he pushed himself to his feet, the faintest smile ghosting across his lips.
"Time to get to work," he murmured, eyes sharp as they turned toward the entrance of the tent. Beyond it, the Wastes awaited - an unforgiving, treacherous land.
But Lin Feng felt stronger. Ready.
And this time, he would carve his own fate, no matter what the Thousand Vein Wastes threw at him.
"System," he called out quietly.
The golden interface flickered into being.
Summon Celestial Disciples Now?
Lin Feng's gaze hardened.
"Yes."
The system pulsed with energy, and a faint tremor rippled through the air. The ground seemed to hum with resonance, as if something ancient and powerful had begun to stir beneath the surface of the Wastes.
Lin Feng steadied himself, heart pounding.
'Let's see what kind of people you are…'
Spoiler: Perks gainedSpoiler: Adrien ChenName: Analysis
Cost: 100CP
Source: Red Alert 3
Domain: Knowledge Abilities and Skills
Description: You can immediately identify any defects in hardware upon casual observation. This is effective on devices, Vehicles, and buildings.Spoiler: Mizuki HiroyukiName: Slaughter Demon
CP Cost: 100
Jumpchain: Jujutsu Kaisen
Chapter: Treasure
Description: A wide-bladed dagger, shaped almost like a cross between a butcher's cleaver and a combat knife, with a wooden handle and a guard of black fur. A basic cursed tool, Slaughter Demon does little more than act as a weapon capable of harming cursed spirits, even in the hands of a non-sorcerer. It won't be of too much use against a powerful curse, but against an average or weaker one? It'll slice or stab through them with ease.Spoiler: Ning XuName: Cake~!
CP Cost: 100
Jumpdoc: Madoka Magica: Wraith Timeline
Chapter: Making
Description: You may use magical energies to summon any sort of pastry or cake you like into existence. You may summon this food to be up to the size of a small house, letting you potentially crush someone with sugary goodness.