The sky cracked open.
Thunder boomed across the heavens as purple lightning streaked through the clouds, striking the peak of a nameless mountain in the Outer Realms. The rain poured like the wrath of the gods—but amidst the chaos, a single cry echoed into the night.
It was not the cry of a baby.
It was the cry of a man reborn.
---
Ling Tian gasped violently as his eyes snapped open. His chest heaved, lungs fighting for breath as rain soaked through his thin robes. Every nerve in his body screamed in pain. His vision blurred, but he could still see the faint outline of stars above.
"Where… where am I?"
He was no longer on Earth. That much was clear. The last thing he remembered was falling from a skyscraper—an accident, or perhaps fate—but instead of dying, he'd awakened in a world filled with raw, unfamiliar energy.
Cultivation. Spirit Qi. Sects. Sword beams. Pill refining. Flying immortal beasts.
He knew this world. Not because he'd lived here before—but because he'd read about it, fantasized about it in the novels he devoured late at night. Now it was real.
And he was alive.
But there was something wrong.
He tried to circulate the Qi in his new body—and immediately coughed up blood. The meridians were fractured, spiritual roots completely crippled. No one in this world could cultivate with such a body.
His hope began to flicker.
But then it appeared.
A warm glow erupted from his chest. Ling Tian looked down, startled, as a golden symbol flared on his skin—a lotus-shaped seal, pulsing with rhythmic light.
[The Eternal Cauldron Has Chosen Its Bearer]
[Karmic Threads: 0 Connected]
[Heart Dao Compatibility: 98.9%]
[Warning: Cultivation impossible without spiritual bonds]
"A system?" Ling Tian muttered. "No… a divine artifact?"
The glow intensified as an image burned into his mind—a vast cauldron floating among stars, surrounded by eight blooming lotuses. Each petal shimmered with a woman's silhouette. He couldn't make out their faces, but he felt something impossible…
Familiarity.
A connection deeper than time.
Forge the Dao of Love. Nurture bonds. Refine emotions. Transcend mortality.
Ling Tian fell back against the wet ground, eyes wide.
"So that's it," he whispered, a laugh escaping his lips. "I can't cultivate like a normal person. But if I bond with women… build relationships… love them—"
The Eternal Cauldron would turn emotion into power.
He'd read of dual cultivation before, but this wasn't crude or vulgar. This was something divine. Sacred. Romantic.
And terrifying.
Because the moment he acknowledged this path, thunder cracked the sky again. As if the heavens themselves refused to accept his defiance of fate.
But Ling Tian smiled.
"I died once already. I won't waste this life."
A faint rustling came from the forest nearby. Ling Tian turned his head—and there, stepping through the rain with an icy aura around her, was a girl in flowing blue robes. Her long black hair shimmered with droplets. She held a sword, and her eyes… were colder than the mountain snow.
She stopped when she saw him.
"You. You're not supposed to be here," she said flatly.
Ling Tian's lips curled.
"And yet, here I am."
[Karmic Thread Detected: Xiao Lan — Ice Petal Sword Maiden]
[Thread Status: Fragile. Potential Bond: High.]
He blinked.
The game had begun.