Lin Xiao groaned as he sat up. His head hurt, his hair was sticking out like a porcupine's, and—oh yes—he was no longer anywhere remotely familiar. The sky above was a swirling kaleidoscope of colors, the ground below was floating islands connected by rivers of liquid light, and somewhere off in the distance, a gigantic creature with three heads was having an existential debate with a fire-breathing phoenix.
"Okay… not my fault," Lin Xiao muttered, rubbing his eyes. "Definitely not my fault. Maybe the orb… maybe the nap. Eh, probably the nap."
He tried standing, but the ground wobbled like jelly. He stumbled and accidentally kicked a floating rock, which exploded in sparks and sent a small tornado spinning across a nearby island.
"Oops."
A voice boomed. "Who dares enter the Realm of Reversal?!"
Lin Xiao looked up. A floating, translucent figure hovered above him. It was tall, majestic, and radiated an aura that screamed serious business.
"Oh great. Another angry ghost," Lin Xiao said, scratching his head. "Can you like… calm down? I just woke up."
"I am the Guardian of Reversal," the figure thundered. "And you, mortal, have unleashed a chaos beyond reckoning!"
Lin Xiao tilted his head. "I thought chaos was kinda my thing. Like, professionally."
The Guardian's eyes narrowed. "This world does not obey normal cultivation rules. Here, the strong are weak, the slow are fast, the ordinary can become extraordinary—or die instantly from a sneeze. You must survive… or perish."
Lin Xiao yawned. "Cool. Sounds like a Tuesday." He noticed the Guardian was hovering over a glowing sword stuck into a pedestal. "Ooh, shiny! Is it edible?"
"It is the Sword of Reverse Fate!" the Guardian shouted. "It can rewrite destiny itself!"
Lin Xiao casually plucked it out, swung it around like a toy, and muttered, "Nice… feels light. Good for slicing snacks or… demons, I guess."
Suddenly, the ground beneath him cracked. A giant mouth opened, wide enough to swallow a mountain. From it, a demonic shadow erupted, screaming in a language only demons—and Lin Xiao, apparently, could understand when convenient—could hear.
"Hey! Watch the teeth!" Lin Xiao shouted, leaping onto the floating sword and slicing through the shadow with one lazy swing. The shadow shrieked and split into hundreds of tiny versions of itself, which all started chasing him.
"Seriously? I just woke up!"
He zoomed across floating islands, accidentally activating a few magical runes that turned a nearby waterfall into rainbow-colored pudding. A group of flying turtles cheered him on—or maybe they were trying to eat him. Lin Xiao wasn't sure.
Eventually, he crashed onto a soft patch of glowing moss. Panting, he looked up at the sky where two suns were slowly orbiting each other. "Yep. Definitely not my world. And somehow… I kinda like it."
Just then, a shadow fell over him. Lin Xiao squinted up. A massive figure, black as night, with glowing red eyes, descended from a floating island above. Its wings stretched wider than the horizon, and its claws could crush continents like paper.
"Lin Xiao…" a deep, rumbling voice said. "You should not have come here."
Lin Xiao slowly sat up, grabbed a snack from his pocket, and muttered, "Great. This place even has dramatic entrances. Nice touch."
The creature roared, lightning crackling along its body, and the floating islands around them started collapsing. Lin Xiao looked at the collapsing landscape, yawned, and muttered, "Hmm… nap or fight? Nap or fight?"
Before he could decide… the creature lunged.
---
Lin Xiao is about to be crushed by a mysterious, overwhelmingly powerful being—can his absurd luck and even lazier approach save him this time?