The Heavenly Realm was endless.
Vast skies arched over continents that floated like jeweled islands in a sea of starlight. Rivers of glowing Dao flowed across the firmament, weaving through mountain ranges whose peaks pierced suns.
Immortal palaces glittered like constellations, suspended in the void, their golden spires catching the radiance of eternal stars.
Here, every breath was saturated with spiritual qi. A single drop of dew upon the petals of a celestial lotus could birth a mortal genius.
A single grain of soil from the holy mountains could nurture a sect for a thousand years. This was the Heavenly Realm—the dwelling of immortals, emperors, and beings whose slightest gesture could overturn worlds.
And like every coin has two sides, the heavenly realm was similar in that way, too.
Above the shining lands, a storm of heavenly decrees churned, blotting out the stars. Lightning the size of mountains lashed against a crumbling golden palace.
At the center of the storm stood a man drenched in blood. His once-imperial robes were shredded, his power deprived, and his anger surging with fierce intensity.
Xuanyuan Wudi, the Immortal Emperor.
He had once ruled the Middle Heavens with his strength, bending countless immortals to his will. His name had shaken the heavens and cowed the mortal worlds. But now, the heavens themselves had turned against him.
"You dare defy the Heavenly Dao?" a voice thundered from the firmament. It was not a single voice, but countless layered together, resounding through eternity.
"Your greed to seek the Heavenly Dao for yourself, when it is meant for everyone? For such blasphemy, you, sickening, vile creature, will suffer in the eternal void."
Listening to the thunderous sound, Xuanyuan Wudi laughed.
Then, a colossal spear of light pierced the world barrier of the middle heavens and struck down the entire divine palace.
Yet, his laughter shook the realm.
"Erase me? Foolish heavens!" His roar shook realms, his voice echoing across the layers of creation.
"You cannot erase the will of a true sovereign!"
Even as his body collapsed, his soul blazed with immortal fire. With trembling hands, he formed a seal older than the cosmos.
Runes surfaced across his flesh, twisting against the order of reincarnation; the world order screamed in anger.
His body shattered into fragments of light. Yet a wisp of golden-black essence streaked free, piercing the storm, diving through the layers of the Heavenly Realm.
From the Upper Heavens, past the Middle, past the Lower, through the veil of tribulation—into the Mortal World.
***
Far below the grandeur of the heavens, in a humble backwater village of the Mortal World, a boy swung a wooden sword against an old oak tree.
His movements were clumsy, his breath ragged, his palms enamored with blisters. Sweat drenched his thin frame, his ribs showing through his patched clothes. Yet his eyes—dark, steady, unyielding—never faltered.
This was Ma Jin.
An orphan in the Qincheng Village located in the countryside of Zhongyuan, he survived there all alone. People came and left his village, and he was very much interested in the stories they brought.
He had heard the stories of cultivators who flew across the skies, who shattered mountains with a flick of their fingers, who ascended to the Heavenly Realm to pursue immortality.
And he wanted it all.
"If I can temper my body," he muttered, slamming his sword again, "then one day... I'll step onto the path of cultivation. One day, I'll reach the heavens."
His voice was quiet, but his heart burned with fire.
Unseen by mortal eyes, the wisp of Xuanyuan Wudi's soul streaked across the night sky like a falling star. It pierced through the clouds, dove into the clearing, and sank directly into Ma Jin's body.
The boy froze.
And then...
An inhuman scream escaped from his throat.
His vision darkened, the world dissolving into a void.
...
Ma Jin stood trembling in an endless darkness.
Where am I?
No words escaped from his mouth, as there was no air to speak through. The darkness around him was unfamiliar and strange, causing him to shiver even when he didn't have a body.
Suddenly, before him, a colossal figure took shape—taller than mountains, robed in black embroidered with golden flames, eyes burning like suns of annihilation.
The void quaked with his presence.
"Mortal boy," the figure declared, voice echoing like thunder across eternity.
"Your fortune ends here. I am Xuanyuan Wudi, the Immortal Emperor. Consider it an honor—your feeble body shall serve as the vessel of my return."
At those words, Ma Jin's heart pounded.
This...this is unacceptable.
He tried to run away from the figure, and surprisingly, he could feel that a distance, a rift was forming between the two of them.
But...
It seemed his fate was unavoidable.
The emperor raised his hand. "Struggle is futile. Surrender, and perhaps a fragment of your soul may remain. Resist... and be devoured."
Golden-black soul energy surged forward, rushing to engulf Ma Jin.
He tried to evade the energy, but his invisible body couldn't move.
No...I don't want to die....
But then—something stirred.
Deep within Ma Jin's fragile soul, a light flickered. It was faint, almost imperceptible, but profound beyond measure, something strong and...odious.
The emperor froze.
His vast essence trembled in shock.
"What... is this?"
The light swelled, forming a whirlpool. Its pull was absolute, dragging at Xuanyuan Wudi's essence.
"No!" the emperor roared, summoning immortal runes, tearing at the void.
"This is impossible! A mortal soul cannot—"
The whirlpool surged, devouring him piece by piece. His screams split the void.
"I am Xuanyuan Wudi! I will not—be—consumed—!!"
But his words dissolved into nothing; the emperor's soul was swallowed whole, and then the void shattered.
Ma Jin collapsed onto the dirt, clutching his head. His mind burned as memories not his own flooded in—wars across immortal worlds, palaces in the Middle Heavens, the roar of rebellion against the heavens themselves.
It was too vast, too terrible, too overwhelming.
And then, amidst the chaos, a voice whispered.
It was not Xuanyuan Wudi's voice, nor his own, but something inhuman, profound, ethereal.
[System Awakening...]
Ma Jin's eyes widened.
Runes formed in the air before him, glowing like stars.
[Karmic Cultivation System Initialized.]
[Host: Ma Jin.]
[Status: Mortal Body(Unawakened Cultivation)]
[Soul Resonance Achieved – Devouring of Immortal Essence(Incomplete).]
[Reward: Spiritual Root Awakening.]
Warmth surged through his body. His veins thrummed, pores opened, and for the first time in his life, Ma Jin felt the faint flow of spiritual qi.
"This... this is..." His breath caught, tears stinging his eyes. "...cultivation."
The voice continued, neither cold nor warm:
[Since the host has experienced this phenomenon for the first time, the necessary information will be transferred to the brain.]
At that moment, a pang of pain struck his head, causing Jin to press his head with pressure.
It was very painful.
In the passing moments, information, along with the sweetness of the mind-breaking pain, passed through his mind.
"Karmic points...." As he muttered the words, Jin's body collapsed on the ground once again.
Under his unconscious self, a screen popped up:
[The transfer of the information has been completed, may the host get what they desire!]
***
Ma Jin's body lay motionless beneath the moonlight. The quiet fields of Qincheng Village whispered with the night breeze, as though nothing had happened.
A lot had happened to him today.
But the main event, which would eventually change his life as a soon-to-be cultivator, was the runes floating in front of him.
[Spiritual Root Awakening Completed.]
[Congratulations, Host! You have awakened the lightning spiritual root.]
The feeling of his achievement was euphoric. However, he didn't show it on his face; in comparison to what he had seen today, it was measly.
Ma Jin sighed.
"Uh...sys..syste...ahem! System, can you show me how many Karmic points I have right now?"
The runes shifted and said:
[Affirmative! The host currently has 20 Good Karmic points and 13 Bad Karmic points.]
If the karmic points are deeds I have done, then why are these so low? Shouldn't it be more, after all, I had killed an Immortal Emperor...
As the system was bound to Ma Jin's soul, it could tell what he was thinking, and thus it replied:
[Indeed, the host is thinking right. After killing the Immortal Emperor, Xuanyuan Wudi, you received 20,000 Good Karmic points.]
Ma Jin's eyes widened in surprise.
"Then, what happened to them?"
The runes on the translucent screen shifted.
[They were used to strengthen the system, so that it could store the knowledge and protect the host.]
"Protect me? From whom?"
The runes, however, didn't answer his question.
But...
The translucent showed something else.
[Now that the host has familiarised themselves with the system, the time has come for the guide to help them.]
"The guide?"
[Yes, a small guide has been prepared by the system to help the host grow stronger without many problems.]
Ma Jin's face brightened up.
Indeed, he was lacking a teacher, and now he had this omniscient system with him; what can he even ask for more?
The time had come.
This day, the 29th day of spring, will mark the beginning of his journey of cultivation.