Cold bit through fabric and bone. Jin Haoyang blinked awake with a taste of iron on his tongue and a universe that did not belong to him pressing flat against his lungs.
For a breath he expected the plastered ceiling of his dorm, the wobbly fan, the glow of a phone face on the bedside table—things he had known with tedious certainty.
Instead there was a sky the color of polished lapis and a courtyard of packed earth rimmed by collapsed tiles. His pajamas clung to him like a memory. He was barefoot.
The air smelled of old smoke and dried grass.
He pushed himself up, dizziness washing the edges of thought away. There was a sound—a tiny, theatrical pop—then a light the size of a plum snapped into being above his shoulder and folded itself into a shape that could only be described as insolent.
It cocked an impossibly bright head.
[STATUS] it announced in his mind like a stage manager slamming down a script.
Host: Jin Haoyang.
Location: Tianxu Realm — Great Zhongyuan Supercontinent.
Circumference: 1.34 million kilometers (＝ 2.68 million Li )?
Population (approx.): 3.2 Billions mortal
Political order: Sects > Clans > Mortal Orders.
Tone: Hostile to mortal life.
Haoyang swore aloud. The light made a face that would have been smug if light had cheeks.
"You died," the gremlin chirped, not unkindly. "Briefly. Two minutes flat. Terrible timing. Cosmic bureaucracies argued about you like merchants over a vase. You slipped through a seam. I nabbed you. Lucky you."
"Lucky?" Haoyang tried to stand and stumbled. "I'm—what is this place? Who are you?"
The gremlin did a small pirouette. It was an energy with attitude; it radiated mischief the way a bell radiates sound.
[BRIEFING — CORE LAWS]
This realm runs on cultivation. Strength organizes law, land, and life. The ladder, in simplified order:
Mortal → Qi Refining → Foundation Establishment → Core Formation → Nascent Soul → Spirit Severing → Void Step → Soul Ascension → Earth (Realm) → King Realm → Heaven Realm (commonly the practical ceiling) → Monarch Realm → Sovereign Realm → Absolute Sovereign / Return to Simplicity → Absolute Origin ( beyond common comprehension ).
The gremlin tapped a non-existent watch.
"Most people top out at Heaven Realm—rare exceptions, mostly myths, reach a touch beyond. Above that? The maps fade. Scholars whisper and then die of hubris."
Haoyang's chest tightened. "And me?"
The gremlin's light jittered, delighted and alarmed at once.
"You are an Absolute Originn trace. Congratulations, Host. That is cosmic-level brokenness. Your mere pulse could make Sovereigns uneasy. So I did something practical: I locked you down. Think of it like putting a giant cuff on a hurricane."
"So I'm… weakened?"
"Exactly. Scaled, damped, and cosmetically human for your comfort. If you even twitch your true power, the nearest sect will sniff it and—well—harvest you. Not a pleasant fate."
A cold knot tightened in Haoyang's gut. "Why here? Why this ruined place?"
The gremlin's light softened, for a blink—almost fond.
"You didn't fall here by accident. The continent keeps records in strange ways: the world registers cries. A tiny village on the South-Eastern Hinterlands called out—three children, voices like flint. Your soul had the wrong kind of weight, so fate tripped and spat you where the plea was loudest. I grabbed the ticket. Call it cosmic mechanics and bad timing."
It snapped its fingers and another panel thumped into being, sharper now—less spectacle, more file.
[TASK — VILLAGE SALVAGE: URGENT]
Objective: Save three surviving children; restore potable water; stabilize shelter and food; prevent local extinction.
Time limit: 72 hours.
Rewards: Starter Spirit Stones; System Mall (Beginner Tier) access; one (1) OP Retainer upon completion.
Haoyang read the words like a verdict. He felt absurd—a student thrust into mythology in cotton pajamas—but the panel did not care for the absurd.
"An OP retainer?" he asked, voice small.
The gremlin snorted, as much as a mote of light could.
"Yes. Provided you do not fail spectacularly. Also: do not die. I am very particular about my hosts."
"How much of my power do I have?"
The question came out steadier than he felt.
"Cuff on. You have human-reasonable output. Enough to do engineering and lots of improv. Not enough to rewrite continents. For now. If you use forbidden gestures, the cuff will squeal and the world will come calling."
He swallowed. The landscape around him was a ruin—ash in hearths, pots still cold, a cart overturned, and no adults in sight. A small, terrible light clicked at the edge of his perception: hunger, abandonment, the kind of quiet that had teeth.
"Children?" he asked.
The gremlin bobbed impatiently.
"Behind you. Stop gawking at me and be useful."
Haoyang forced himself to turn.
Three figures waited a few strides away.
The eldest, a boy, held a splintered staff with knuckles white.
Beside him, a girl with a rag ribbon watched with the measured composure of someone who had been protecting others for too long.
The smallest clutched a threadbare doll, eyes enormous and raw.
The boy's voice was thin with wear but carried a cautious hope. "Y-Young Lord… are you awake?"
"Young lord ?" He ask
"Yes we found you unconscious in the edge of the village, with that's strange shape outfit" the little one said
Jin Haoyang look at his pajamas...*well if Im really transmigrated into xianxia world, this outfit is strange indeed*
"who are you children?"
The eldest looking one then introduce them
"I'm Liang Shan" he said, and then he point at the boy next to her
"This is Liang Yue" and pointed to the little girl " she is our youngest, Ping'er"
Haoyang nodded, although he still confuse about his situations.
The gremlin hummed, thrilled and mildly drapened.
The gremlin hummed, thrilled and mildly dramatic.
"[STATUS]
Retainer countdown begins.
Host: do not get yourself murdered. Also, try to be charming. It helps."
Haoyang's pajamas felt suddenly ridiculous and real at the same time. He had no plan. He had a cosmic cuff blunting a power that could, if unleashed, drown continents.
He had three names looking at him as though survival itself hinged on a decision.
He took a breath the way one prepares to speak a promise.
"All right," he said, voice finding an edge it did not possess before.
"We fix the water. Then we get food. Then we make sure no one else dies."
Liang Yue gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.
The boy's posture eased a fraction. Even the smallest's breath stopped trembling.
The gremlin, delighted as any gremlin should be, snapped its fingers and left a bright, insubordinate footnote in his head.
[STATUS]
Begin.
Host: please try not to reinvent disaster. I have paperwork, you know.