Boom!
As streak after streak of blinding lightning tore through Atlanta's sky, the entire city of over ten million people was bathed in dark blue light, and heavy rain began to pour down. Fine curtains of rain instantly enveloped the entire city in moments. The thunderous rumbling also sounded one after another, piercing through clouds and splitting stone, deafening and enlightening.
In a narrow and gloomy alley in the south of Atlanta, a pale-faced youth stood beside a puddle, staring woodenly down at the unfamiliar face reflected in the water below.
André: citizen of the United States of America, currently sixteen years old, also known as André Lee Wiltonstein, mixed-race, student at Atlanta's Linden Academy, third-level magic energy swordsman. Father Li Chunchu (deceased), mother Elena Wiltonstein (deceased), ranked nineteenth in the Wiltonstein family succession line. Fifteen minutes ago, died suddenly from unknown causes.
Tao Ran: born in the Original Dome Realm, entered the Divine Sky Gate at age ten to cultivate the Dao, achieved qi guidance into the body within half a month; built foundation at thirteen; innate at sixteen; at twenty-two achieved dragon-tiger convergence, condensing the golden core; proved nascent soul at thirty-seven; achieved great ascension at sixty-four, and received investiture from the Langya Celestial Dynasty, titled 'Divine Sky Limitless Purple Void Immortal King', his entire Dao cultivation praised by contemporary immortals as unprecedented and unmatched by future generations.
In the forty-seventh year of the Honghua era of the Langya Celestial Dynasty, great demonic calamity arose in the Original Dome Realm, dragons and serpents emerged on land, divine lands were in turmoil, and as master of the Divine Sky Sect he led the immortal sects in battle for twenty-four years, slaying countless demons. In the final battle he broke through the celestial barrier and alone entered the boundless void, risking danger to pursue the Nine Heavens Desire Demon Dugu Tianyi.
Unfortunately the ending was not particularly pleasant - though he ultimately killed this demon with all his strength, he himself fell into an almost mutually destructive situation.
As the fragments of memory surging in his mind were gradually sorted out by "Tao Ran," he couldn't help but rub his temples with slight irritation, while raising his head to look at this unfamiliar world before him.
This was a narrow alley, with tall square buildings on both sides, bright light streaming from their windows. There were also back doors of several shops not far away, with colorful neon signs flashing. Even under the cover of stormy night, everything remained clearly visible.
According to the memories of the body's original owner, this was the back street of Atlanta's Storm Sports Arena. He came here today to participate in a competition - the comprehensive cold weapon combat tournament hosted by America's NHSAA (National High School Athletic Association).
"Strange world, such rich elemental essence?"
After a moment, the expression in Tao Ran's eyes became exceptionally complex. Besides shock, there was more frustration, regret, loss and unease, even bewilderment.
Especially when he extended his finger, trying to condense magical power at his fingertip, only to immediately be overwhelmed by the weakness surging from his soul and the tearing pain like shattered fragments.
After borrowing this body for rebirth, his soul was severely injured, his true essence gone - he probably couldn't return in the short term.
This thought appeared clearly in Tao Ran's mind, making his emotions extremely chaotic.
The Nine Heavens Desire Demon Dugu Tianyi was dead, but his five demon sons were still alive, still capable of bringing disaster to the world; within the sect there were still uneliminated traitors controlling the central areas of the main mountain; there was also the current emperor of the Langya Celestial Dynasty, who was extremely wary of their Divine Sky Gate and had long desired its destruction; additionally, the southern 'Heavenly Dao Gate' had suffered almost no losses during the demonic calamity, and after this calamity passed, they would inevitably covet the numerous spiritual veins of the Central Plains.
This great Central Plains sect with a six-thousand-three-hundred-year heritage, handed to him by his master, was now beset with internal and external troubles, riddled with problems, facing the danger of doctrinal extinction.
Heavy rain poured down like buckets, and though Tao Ran was already soaked through from inside to outside, and it was early winter with bitter cold wind, the wet cold sensation from his body surface could not extinguish the burning heat in his chest, not even cool it slightly.
This was a heart demon!
From the moment these chaotic thoughts began appearing in his consciousness, Tao Ran had already realized this. His severely injured soul, combined with André's residual spirit, had created a huge flaw in his nearly perfect and flawless mental cultivation.
If his mind were viewed as a city, then all the walls of this city were in a state of collapse and ruin, allowing all demonic thoughts to enter and exit freely.
But understanding was one thing, being able to control and suppress this heart demon was another matter entirely.
Tao Ran gritted his teeth tightly, his hands clenched deep into his flesh. Red lines had begun appearing at his brow, spreading like a spider web and soon covering his entire face.
Just at this moment, someone slapped his shoulder hard: "André, you damn fool, what are you doing running here? Even if you want to calm down, you don't need to come here and get rained on! Do you know I've been going crazy looking for you?"
Tao Ran's expression froze, the light in his eyes gradually returning to clarity, and the blood-red patterns on his face quickly receded.
When he turned around, he found a Black youth of about fifteen or sixteen years old, with light black skin and naturally curly hair, standing behind him out of breath.
Memories about this person instantly flooded Tao Ran's mind. This was William Jacques, a good friend who lived in the same neighborhood as the body's original owner, not only the same age but also attending the same school. Combined with similar backgrounds, after André transferred to Linden Academy, they quickly became inseparable friends.
But for some reason, Tao Ran felt a trace of displeasure rise in his heart, which directly showed in his expression.
"OK, OK! Mo Chen, Mo! I know, you don't like me calling you André."
William Jacques raised both hands in a surrendering gesture: "Can you come back with me now? Your match starts in five minutes at most. If you forfeit again due to absence, our Miss Louise will probably explode with anger."
"Louise? Louise Linden?"
Tao Ran felt this name was somewhat familiar and couldn't help murmuring. At the same time, a scene quickly flashed through his mind.
It was a young girl with cascading pale golden hair, nearly flawless features, as exquisitely beautiful as a Barbie doll.
Louise Linden, the sole direct heir of Atlanta's Linden family, currently sixteen years old, student at Linden Academy, serving as both school student council president and president of the cold weapon comprehensive combat club.
"What other Louise could it be?"
William rolled his eyes, then forcibly pulled his "good friend" inside: "Mo, you don't know - Elena and John Richardson, those two suddenly said they were transferring schools right before the match started and directly forfeited. Our club had nineteen individual matches today and lost a full fifteen of them. At this rate, we won't be able to gather enough points to participate in next year's first half team qualifying tournament. How can our young miss bear this? Linden Academy's national ranking will drop to rock bottom."
Tao Ran followed him forward in confusion, his mind now filled with massive amounts of information.
NHSAA, the abbreviation for National High School Athletic Association, was an association formed by tens of thousands of high schools across America. Its main activity was various sports league tournaments held annually.
Among them, the most watched were the Mixed Old Steel (MOS, comprehensive cold weapons) and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA, comprehensive unarmed combat) divisions.
In this world where magical energy flourished and various ability users were prevalent, these two combat sports were arguably the number one sport in all countries worldwide, with related events having the largest audience base.
The comprehensive cold weapon and comprehensive unarmed combat tournaments hosted by the National High School Athletic Association were large-scale combat events with attention second only to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) throughout America.
For America's many private schools that prided themselves on possessing and cultivating more magical energy professionals, rankings and achievements in these two events were matters of life and death - they related to reputation, student enrollment, and government funding allocations.
Louise Linden was not only the Linden family's young miss, but also the future owner of Linden Academy.
The reason she condescended to abandon the four major noble academies where wealthy children gathered and enrolled at Linden Academy was precisely to bear the mission of reversing the academy's recent decline in cold weapon comprehensive combat and achieving a reasonable ranking for the school.
"Your opponent this time is Ichabod from Cardiga Academy. I've looked into it - this guy is already a fourth-level magic energy swordsman with superb swordsmanship. Last year when he was a sophomore, he made it to the top sixty-four in all of Atlanta's individual tournament. Although there was a luck factor involved, it's been a year now and his strength has undoubtedly grown even more formidable. So I'm not very optimistic about this match for you."
William Jacques said while smiling bitterly: "But even if you lose, you absolutely cannot forfeit. Nobody in the club expects you to beat him, but if you dare forfeit, I bet the scholarship you want is definitely out of the question. Our Miss Louise is looking for somewhere to vent her anger. Hey hey, Mo, at least give some reaction - why are you like a wooden person? Too nervous? OH, shit!"
Just then, a female voice came over the corridor's loudspeaker: "Platform P12, match five, Ichabod Wood vs André Lee Wiltonstein, starting at 20:15—"
William stopped talking and ran forward frantically, dragging Tao Ran along. The latter remained absent-minded, overwhelmed by information continuously surfacing from the original owner's memories. But Tao Ran thought this was actually good - better than letting his mind wander and directly succumbing to demonic deviation.
By the time he came to his senses, he was already wearing a full set of armor-like protective gear, holding an unsealed single-handed sword, pushed onto the arena by William Jacques.
Across from him stood an exceptionally burly fellow, also wearing protective gear with his face hidden behind a helmet. His gaze was fierce yet mocking: "Hey! BOY, are you scared stupid by my name, Ichabod? If that's the case, you still have one last chance - I'll allow you to surrender and admit defeat, which can save you some suffering."