Soon enough, Xu Tao opened his eyes.
He woke up, finding himself lying in the middle of nowhere.
"What happened?" he muttered, tapping his aching head as he tried to recall how he got here...
But nothing came.
"Nothing...?"
Right. Nothing!
It wasn't just his memories—even his clothes were gone. He was stark naked, standing in the middle of nowhere. But that wasn't the main point.
"My cultivation...! It's gone!" he gasped, shocked.
Judging by the clerk's explanation, only his consciousness should've been sent into the game. That meant his body should've remained untouched. Xu Tao had experience in Astral Projection, so he knew how that should feel.
But this wasn't an astral projection. He wasn't even a disembodied consciousness linked to his body back in his world. Right now, he was physically present in this weird, desert-like place, with the stinging sun hanging overhead—and without a trace of cultivation.
His cultivation, which he had spent ten thousand years painstakingly building, was gone. Just like that.
"This… isn't a dream, is it?" he muttered, questioning reality itself.
He pinched his cheeks.
The pain was real. As real as it could get.
This wasn't a dream, nor was it an illusion. He had truly been dropped in the middle of nowhere, stripped of his cultivation, and without even a strip of clothing. Not even his storage pouch was with him—he was literally just one body, one man.
Of course, Xu Tao didn't panic.
Sure, he lost his cultivation. But he didn't lose his knowledge. His cultivation techniques still remained in his mind. His battle techniques were still present, and although he couldn't use them in the truest sense without enough Qi, he could still emulate the movements at least.
"Right…" Xu Tao nodded to himself, taking a deep breath. "I already reached Divine Heaven Immortal Realm once. I can do it again!"
Without delay, he sat down cross-legged on the scorching sand. While the heat and stinging pain would be unbearable for normal people, he was a cultivator who had experienced far worse. This barely counted as a mild inconvenience to his iron will.
Xu Tao inhaled deeply through his nose, circulating the air in his lungs, then exhaled slowly through his mouth. He repeated this breathing exercise, beginning to gather the sparse Qi from the air and condensing his first drop.
Usually, cultivators took days to form their first drop of Qi. But Xu Tao? He was practically a veteran.
It didn't even take him five seconds.
One drop of Qi formed in his lower dantian, half a drop in his middle dantian, and a quarter-drop in the upper. He made sure to spread it out evenly, activating all three of his dantians as early as possible.
This level would fall under the Body Refining First Stage in traditional cultivation terms. When he reached the 10th stage, he could begin reforming his body to better harmonize with the cultivation technique he intended to pursue.
Just like that kid heckler said before, one's cultivation path was decided by the method they began with...
Actually, Xu Tao had to redo his cultivation three times because the method he originally chose didn't match his physique. He was a vagrant before he drifted into the Azure Dragon Sect, after all. He had no teacher, no guidance—only trial and error.
Because of that, lasting "scars" were left on his dantian, making it impossible for him to reach the absolute peak. That had been his only real regret in life...
"What?"
And now, he was stunned.
His lower dantian, which should've had a large crack that leaked Qi uncontrollably, was in pristine condition. It was whole. Undamaged. As if his body had returned to the state it was in when he first started cultivating, back in his twenties!
Xu Tao was shocked, but more than that—he felt blessed.
With this, he could reach even greater heights. He could go faster, grow stronger, climb higher than ever before.
"Phew…"
Still, that was just a possibility for now.
The air around him had so little Qi it was practically nonexistent. He had already absorbed all he could, pushing himself up to Body Refining Third Stage in just a few minutes.
He clenched his fist, feeling the Qi-enhanced strength coursing through his muscles. Compared to his Qi-less self, his normal punches should now be about eight times more powerful!
"Now then... what to do?"
Right now, he lacked the three basic necessities for survival: food, clothing, and shelter. Although he had managed to recover a few drops of Qi to strengthen his body, that wouldn't save him from starvation or dehydration.
If he couldn't find food, he'd starve in a week. Without water, he'd be dead in three days.
"It's been so long since I've had to worry about food and water," Xu Tao muttered with a nostalgic smile, despite the bleak situation. "It somehow feels refreshing…"
He took a step forward, setting his sights on a distant mountain peak on the horizon. He couldn't judge how far it was, but at least it was something—a landmark to travel to. And if there was a forest near it, perhaps he could forage for edible plants or find shelter.
"Huh?"
But just as he took his fourth step, he noticed something strange.
His foot sank deeper into the sand than before.
His battle-hardened instincts immediately kicked in, honed by countless brushes with death.
"Hup!"
He jumped back instinctively, leaping away from the spot that set off his internal alarms.
A second later, the sand where he had stood started to sink rapidly, forming a small pit. From the center of the shifting sands, a large pincer the size of a human arm emerged.
"Is that… a giant antlion?" Xu Tao muttered, frowning—but the answer came swiftly.
As soon as he locked eyes on the creature, a red-colored popup appeared above its head.
[Sand Beetle Larvae – Lv. 10]
A name. A level. Displayed clearly above the creature.
Xu Tao stared at it in confusion.
"What's that? An illusion?!"
He was a cultivator, not a gamer. He had no idea this kind of phenomenon was "normal" in some sense. To him, a floating name above a monster's head was suspicious. Possibly even some kind of trap.
He narrowed his eyes, dropping into a battle stance and circulating the Qi through his body as fast as possible.
Kill before you get killed!
That was his golden rule in battle.
With a grunt, he launched himself into the air in a wide arc, fist drawn back to the limit.
"HNG!"
And with a mighty shout, he slammed his fist down toward the creature's head—still partially buried in the sand.
In the next moment, sand exploded violently, raining down in a gritty shower along with the mangled pieces of monster flesh.
It died in a single blow!
Xu Tao let out a slow breath, ready to relax—but then, something else caught his eye.
Right where the Sand Beetle Larvae had fallen, in the center of the swirling sand pit…
A small chest appeared.