In the Lower Realm, The Realm of Xuanyuan
The day was deceptively ordinary, the kind of tranquil stillness that settled over the peaks of Xuanyuan before a storm. At the highest point of the mountain, a man stood silhouetted against the vast, pale sky. He was a paradox of mortal form and divine essence—Luo Fan. His beauty was not merely handsome; it was an absolute, a supremacy of form that felt like a challenge to the heavens themselves. Hair like spun midnight framed a face of flawless, healthy skin, and eyes the color of fresh blood gazed out not at the world, but through it. He saw the tapestry of reality, its every thread and seam, and perceived it all as a grand, shimmering illusion.
A few paces behind him, a young woman stood with her head bowed, her gaze fixed on his back with a reverence bordering on worship. Boss is just a mortal, she thought, the idea both a fact and an impossibility. And yet, in less than a year, he has become one of the most powerful figures in this world. Her mind reeled with his accomplishments: seizing control of the Xuan Human Empire's entire economy, establishing the largest cultivator organization from nothing, and leading it all without a single drop of spiritual energy in his veins. To her, he was not just a genius; he was the Chosen One, an existence that defied all logic.
Luo Fan's crimson eyes were placid, seemingly lost in the clouds. In truth, his focus was entirely inward, locked onto a translucent screen that only he could see.
[Supreme Invincible System Activated, Countdown: 00:05:00]
A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched his lips. He moved with a liquid grace, lowering himself to sit on the cool, green grass. The countdown was a silent, thunderous drumbeat in his mind, each second a tantalizing promise of the power that awaited him. For all his influence, for all the fear and respect his name commanded, he knew his truth: he was a mortal man in a world of gods. A fragile being who could be extinguished by the casual flick of a powerful cultivator's finger. This system was the key to changing that.
He had arrived in this world a year ago, his soul abruptly transplanted into this vessel. The Supreme Invincible System had announced itself then, a single line of text in his mind before it fell silent, its activation pending. But one hour ago, it had roared back to life.
[Supreme Invincible System is about to activate, Host synchronization with new body is calculated...]
[Supreme Invincible System Verifying Entity: 'Luo Fan']
[Supreme Invincible System Activation Sequence Initiated - 00:59:59]
Luo Fan had almost dismissed it as a dying hallucination. This body, while flawless to the point of being a work of art, was fundamentally useless for cultivation. It was a divine vase, exquisitely crafted but sealed shut, unable to hold a single drop of spiritual water. His meridians were hopelessly blocked, a cruel joke played on him by fate.
Now, the final seconds bled away, each digit a cosmic event.
[Supreme Invincible System Activated - 00:00:10]
...
[Supreme Invincible System Activated - 00:00:03]
[Supreme Invincible System Activated - 00:00:02]
[Supreme Invincible System Activated - 00:00:01]
[Congratulations on activating the Supreme Invincible System.]
The voice in his mind was no longer a simple text prompt. It was smooth, genderless, and impossibly ancient.
[Good morning, Host. I am the Supreme Invincible System. My apologies for the delay. The system required the perfect temporal and spiritual alignment to bypass the restrictions placed upon your soul's transference into this new vessel.]
Luo Fan's eyebrows arched slightly. Restrictions? So that explained the sluggishness he'd first experienced, the maddening delay between thought and action, as if his mind and body were two separate, warring entities. The synchronization had been incomplete.
[Host, please receive the initial power grant from the System.]
A flicker of amusement danced in his eyes. "Very well."
The word had barely left his lips when it happened. It was not a rush of power, but an instantaneous, absolute redefinition of his existence. The world didn't just become clearer; he could perceive the very beginning and end of time as concurrent moments. The fabric of reality felt like clay in his hands, ready to be molded. An infinite, boundless energy, an energy that dwarfed the concept of cultivation itself, flooded his soul and body, remaking him from the inside out.
[Host has received: 'Supreme Invincible'.]
He blinked, the sensation so total it was almost disorienting. "What is... 'Supreme Invincible'?" he murmured, the question a whisper in his mind.
[Supreme Invincible: The Host's state of being. You are invincible. You exist above the Dao, beyond all concepts and principles. Nothing is, was, or ever will be more powerful than the Host. You now hold every power imaginable and unimaginable, with the absolute authority to manipulate, control, destroy, or create anything at will.]
Luo Fan's mind, now capable of processing trillions of thoughts simultaneously, absorbed the information. "And what is your purpose?"
[The System's sole purpose is to fulfill any request of the Host and to proactively ensure the Host's path is one of ultimate comfort, enjoyment, and limitless happiness.]
A slow, genuine smile spread across his face. He plucked a single, slender blade of grass from the ground. His mind brushed against the concept of a Sword Cultivator, the image of a master swinging their blade. In that nanosecond, a torrent of understanding crashed into him. He didn't just learn about the Sword Dao; he became its pinnacle, its origin, and its ultimate end. The fundamental laws of the sword, from the most basic cut to the universe-cleaving strike, were now as intuitive to him as breathing. In his hands, even the Dao itself was as fragile as tofu.
[Host has received: 'Supreme Invincible Sword Power'.]
"So that's what you mean by 'proactively'," Luo Fan mused internally.
[Absolutely, Host. The System will grant any power or knowledge related to your desires to ensure your path is seamless. However, it will not interfere unless the Host wishes it.]
He held the blade of grass between his thumb and forefinger, infusing it with an infinitesimal sliver of his new sword intent. With a casual flick, he sent it soaring into the sky.
To any other observer, nothing would have happened. But to Luo Fan, and to the very fabric of existence, it was an apocalypse. The grass moved at a speed that transcended time itself, leaving reality in its wake. It struck the sky, and there was no sound, only a terrifying silence as a clean, black line was drawn across the heavens. The sky cracked. The void behind it shattered. Even the concept of nothingness was severed. Existence itself was being unmade by a single blade of grass.
The girl behind him fell to her knees, a choked gasp tearing from her throat. Her eyes were wide with a terror so pure it eclipsed all other thought. The world was ending. The blue sky was peeling away like old parchment, revealing a horrifying, consuming blackness.
She finally found her voice, a trembling, broken whisper. "Boss... was this... your... doing? A-Aren't you a mortal?"
Luo Fan ignored her, his gaze distant. This is a good start, but a lone wolf, no matter how powerful, attracts unwanted attention. I need a foundation. A deterrent. He looked to his system. "I require a background. Give me an unassailable family, a clan so powerful that its very name is a universal law. I shall be its Young Master."
[Affirmative. The Host is now the Young Master of the Primordial Monarch Luo Clan, bearer of the Invincible Luo Bloodline, from the Omni-Realm.]
A gentle smile played on his lips. "Primordial Monarch Clan? Invincible Luo Bloodline? Omni-Realm? Explain."
A flood of information, more vast than all the libraries in the Lower Realm, poured directly into his consciousness.
[The Primordial Monarch Clan is a supreme entity that exists above the Dao itself, its power transcending the very concept of cultivation. It has countless branch families and even more vassal slave clans across nearly every realm in existence.]
[The Invincible Luo Bloodline is the name of the Host's lineage, a bloodline that evolves infinitely, its potential forever standing above all things.]
[The Omni-Realm is a dedicated highest reality, crafted by the Founder of the Luo Clan upon transcending the Dao. It stands above all other realms.]
Luo Fan processed it all instantly. "Countless branches... countless slave families... How many realms are there?"
[Within and without the bounds of existence, there are a total of twenty known realms, from the Lower Mortal Realms to the final, Boundless Divine Realm. The Luo Clan's Omni-Realm exists outside and above this hierarchy.]
"Boss! What happened? Why won't you answer me?" the girl cried out, her voice laced with panic as she stared at the wound in the sky.
Luo Fan glanced at her, a flicker of annoyance in his crimson eyes. With a thought, he stopped time. Her panicked expression froze, a tear suspended on her cheek. The unraveling of the sky halted. He turned his attention back to the System. "Give me the fundamental knowledge I need to understand all of this."
[Granting Host 'Omniscient Foundational Knowledge'.]
In an instant, he knew. The cultivation stages, the politics between realms, the history of the cosmos—it was all his in fundamental.
"Interesting. Let's conquer this realm first, then," Luo Fan thought. "But I'll need some servants to handle the trivial matters." He snapped his fingers.
Time resumed. The horrific tear in the sky seamlessly stitched itself back together, leaving no trace it had ever existed.
The girl, about to stumble towards him, stopped dead. She blinked, staring at the pristine, unbroken sky, then back at the memory of cosmic annihilation burned into her mind. "Boss... wait... was I hallucinating? Was that some kind of grand illusion?"
"You're tired. Go and rest. I can take care of myself," Luo Fan said, his tone cold and dismissive.
She flinched at his tone but bowed her head. "Yes, Boss." With one last, terrified glance at the sky, she turned and hurried away down the mountain path.
The moment she was gone, the air behind Luo Fan shimmered. A figure coalesced from the shadows, a man with the appearance of a youth but an aura as ancient and deep as the void. He wore simple black attire, his skin was white as snow, and his calm, black eyes held a power that could humble gods. He knelt on one knee, his head bowed.
"Young Master Luo," his voice was a deep, respectful murmur. "Gu Tianlang awaits your command."
"Are there any of our servant clans in this Lower Realm?" Luo Fan asked, not bothering to turn around.
"Young Master, this Xuan World is fortunate enough to house four. Two sects: the DarkYin Sect and the BloodDemon Sect. And two families: the Wi Clan and the Ming Clan. They all exist to serve the Luo Clan."
Luo Fan's eyebrows rose. So the system wasn't exaggerating. Countless, indeed. A predatory smile touched his lips. He tore a hole in space and time with a gesture, the air twisting into a swirling vortex of black energy. "Lets go to the DarkYin Sect."
...
Deep within a labyrinthine mountain range, hidden by countless formations that could repel an army of immortals, lay the DarkYin Sect, the greatest power in the Xuan World.
At its center stood a towering, obsidian palace, the domain of the DarkYin Empress. Inside, she sat upon a throne of polished black jade, her immense aura pressing down on the twelve sect elders seated on a lower platform before her. The hierarchy was absolute.
Her gaze was cold and serious. "You all know why you were summoned. The matter concerns the troublesome disciple, Yan Qingying."
The air grew heavy.
"She is the inheritor of a forbidden power: the Taboo Devouring Divine Demon Technique," the Empress continued, her voice sharp. "A power like that will attract vultures not just from this land, but from the Upper Realms. Her existence is this sect's greatest secret. If word of it leaks, the one responsible will be executed without mercy."
An elder with a severe face spoke up. "Sect Master, what of the girl's brother? This sect is for women only. Having a male within our sacred grounds is a problem. and What if he leaks the secret for fame and power?"
"He's right!" another added. "That boy has no good intentions!"
Suddenly, the oppressive atmosphere in the hall intensified a hundredfold. Space itself warped, and an ancient woman appeared in the center of the room. The DarkYin Empress shot up from her throne and immediately fell to her knees, as did every elder present.
"Greetings, Ancestor!" their voices chorused, laced with fear and awe.
The DarkYin Ancestor surveyed them, a brilliant, unsettling smile on her ancient face. "A message has arrived. A cause for celebration and terror. Young Master Luo will be gracing our humble sect with a visit."
The Empress's head snapped up, her eyes wide with shock. She knew the Luo Clan was their master from a realm beyond her comprehension, but for one of them to descend to this lowly world... it was unthinkable.
"Prepare yourselves," the Ancestor's voice turned hard as diamond. "Gather our most beautiful disciples. Bring out the thousand-year-old spirit wine. We will provide entertainment fit for a god. We are slaves to the Luo Clan. We will not be a source of shame for our Lord."
An elder dared to ask, his voice trembling, "Ancestor... the Young Master of the Lord Clan... is coming here?"
"That is what the message decreed," she warned, her eyes glowing with a dangerous light. "Remember your place. You are nothing. Do not do anything to embarrass this sect, or I will personally erase you from existence."
Meanwhile, in a secluded courtyard, in a room shrouded by privacy formations, a young woman meditated. Her beauty was ethereal, as if she were a goddess exiled from the Ninth Heaven. Long, dark hair cascaded over shoulders covered in white silk. Her skin was like moonlit jade, and her lips, a perfect shade of pinkish-red, seemed too vibrant for the mortal world. This was Yan Qingying.
A frantic knocking came from her door. "Senior Sister Qingying! A message from Yan Xuan!" a junior disciple called out, her voice filled with admiration and urgency. A sealed letter slid under the door.
Yan Qingying's eyes snapped open. They were the color of rubies, breathtaking and sharp. Her gaze fell upon the letter on the floor. With a mere thought, it floated into her waiting hand.
She broke the seal and read the contents.
Her serene, otherworldly expression vanished, replaced by a mask of cold fury. Her breathtaking eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
"Yan Xuan... you dare..."