In the southern region of the Eastern Continent, within the eastern part of the Great Meng Kingdom, nestled amid towering cloud-shrouded peaks, the Azure Cloud Sect held its ancient domain.
Though recently in decline, it retained status as one of the kingdom's ten great sects, boasting thousands of disciples and hundreds of elders. Despite losing its most important member, a key factor in the downturn, it still had Divine Transformation stage elders as guardians.
Renowned for artifact crafting, it remained the largest and finest distributor in the Great Meng Kingdom, surpassed only by select powerful corporations.
Within the sect stood the Celestial Summit Pavilion, built on the central peak of the sect's mountain range and also serving as the sect leader's residence.
In a chamber within the Celestial Summit Pavilion, a youth stared at the mirror before him, his face pale with shock. The reflection revealed a handsome young man in his mid-twenties, sharp features framed by a luxurious purple robe embroidered with faint cloud motifs, a jade hairpin securing his long white hair, exuding the aura of a wealthy individual from noble lineage.
"How is this possible? Did a deadline actually become my deadline to living?"
Li Wei could still recall the agonizing pain that had wracked his body as he collapsed earlier. Desperate and down to his last funds for the brain surgery he needed, Li Wei had scrambled for any quick coding gigs that came his way, until a month ago when a major client offered a massive project—one that typically required a full team, but they were short on budget and could only afford to pay an individual at a premium rate far above what most solo coders accepted.
Starved for the cash to cover his medical bills, Li Wei had taken on the grueling one-month ordeal, only to crumple on the final submission day.
However, what he had not expected to be humanly possible was that when he thought he was going to die, well, he indeed did die, but the reality of waking up in another body in another world was something else.
This body's name was different from his and was called Wang Qin. However, Wang Qin was not an ordinary individual like he had been back on Earth.
Riches, fame, power, background... well, maybe aside from the riches, the other three were things he did not lack.
Wang Qin had also died, succumbing to qi deviation because he stubbornly cultivated even when his heart was not at ease. This stemmed from a week ago, which coincided with his own death day, when his father, the sect master of the Azure Cloud Sect, finally perished from injuries sustained in a secret realm that had opened on the kingdom's border, drawing powerhouses from rival sects as well.
In a desperate bid to save the sect master, the sect liquidated nearly all its valuable assets except immovable treasures, plunging the once-prosperous group to its last legs. Tragically, the efforts failed, and the master who had endured for years finally passed away a week ago.
The Azure Cloud Sect was not alone in its misfortunes, as other great sects suffered losses too, but none matched its devastation in losing their leader. Already weakened, without a swift recovery, the sect faced plummeting to the bottom of the ten great sects, or worse.
Now, Wang Qin was the sect leader, a title that would have been glorious in better times but now weighed heavy with crushing responsibility. This was evident from how the previous owner had died, though to some extent, it could have been prevented with calmer cultivation. In any case, though the future remained uncertain, Li Wei felt a surge of joy at living again, with a far better starting point regardless of its current shakiness.
What excited him most, despite its eerie nature, was this world itself.
Cultivators could live for generations, their lifespans stretching across centuries or even millennia as they ascended realms, defying the frail mortality that had claimed him on Earth. They wielded great power, commanding the elements and shattering mountains with a flick of a wrist.
For someone who had just died, this held the greatest allure for Li Wei: a second chance not just at life, but at godlike dominion.
After a moment of hesitation, his breath steadying amid the chamber's faint incense haze, he finally gazed at himself in the mirror with a determined expression, eyes hardening like forged steel.
"Li Wei is dead," he whispered to his reflection. "Now, I am Wang Qin."
Immediately, Wang Qin felt the slight discomfort he had subtly sensed since awakening fade away, replaced by a profound comfort in his new body. "I guess I'm truly Wang Qin now," he added with a wary smile.
Of course, adapting immediately was impossible based on one declaration, but it marked the beginning.
Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed from outside the chamber door.
"Sect Master, are you there?"
Elder Huo, the sect's most powerful forging master at the late stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, stood patiently in the corridor. This wasn't his first visit; over the past week since the young master's closed-door meditation, he'd come daily, knocking with fading hope.
Initially, he'd thought that just like the previous week there'd be no response, so when one actually came, a clear voice replying from within, he felt a bubble of happiness rise in his chest, warming his weathered face.
Wang Qin greeted warmly through the door. "Elder Huo, it's good to hear your voice. One moment."
He moved to open the door but paused, hand hovering over the latch. He still wasn't confident in posing as the original Wang Qin. Despite the flood of memories, subtle mannerisms and inflections might betray him.
Thinking quickly, he called out, "Actually, Elder, I'm currently not presentable. I wouldn't want to disgrace myself in front of you with this disheveled state."
The elder chuckled softly outside, his voice muffled but reassuring. "No mind at all, Sect Master. I'm just relieved you're well. The sect needs your stability more than formalities in these trying times."
Wang Qin nodded to himself, tension easing slightly. The elder lingered a moment longer before adding, "Take your time recovering, but if possible, come out soon to greet everyone. Your presence would lift spirits."
"I promise it won't take long," Wang Qin replied.
With a respectful bow unseen, Elder Huo departed shortly after.
Wang Qin sighed, the sound echoing softly in the empty chamber as the elder's footsteps faded into silence. He knew he couldn't hide for long, nor did he plan to. After all, it would be a shame to waste this second life cooped up here all day. He'd need to step out eventually if he wanted to achieve anything in this world, to stabilize the sect and climb the cultivation ladder.
However, before that, curiosity gnawed at him about something from the memories. Before his father died, he had privately given Wang Qin one of his gains from the secret realm, explaining that though it held the highest grade among his whole haul, it was disappointingly useless, or so it seemed at the time, and handed it over in hopes that one day his son might find a better use for it.
In any case, it truly wasn't useless in the conventional sense, but the value it offered personally or to the sect as a whole was nonexistent.
Without hesitation, Wang Qin reached out to the spatial ring on his finger, infusing a thread of qi to access its void storage, and brought the item out.
The item materialized in his palm: a palm-sized disk of translucent crystal, etched with faint runes that shimmered like stars. An immortal-grade treasure.
The pinnacle of treasures in the cultivation world, where items were ranked as Mortal, Spirit, Treasure, King, Emperor, Saint, and finally Immortal grade.
Seemingly useless, its function was merely projecting images directly into the mind, something any decent cultivator could achieve with illusion techniques or jade slips. The only distinction was its astonishingly wider range, spanning thousands of li without distortion, yet in a world of transmission talismans, who needed such a niche quirk?
His father had sighed back then, cradling the disk. "This treasure, for its grade, lacks spirit intelligence, which might explain its lackluster performance. Perhaps damaged in ancient times, it lost its artifact spirit long ago. But now that it's begun recovering, it might birth another one anew, awakening true potential."
To be honest, treasures with spirits, regardless of features, were invaluable to any sect, as they equated to another powerhouse ally. Some sects' strongest men weren't even cultivators but sentient treasures passed down from leader to leader. The Azure Cloud Sect had a few such legacies too, though only one reached half-step immortal grade, underscoring the preciousness of this disk if one looked merely at its grade.