System Initializing...
Host soul signature confirmed.
Welcome back, Boss. Let's try not to die immediately, shall we?
Li Fan blinked. The words hung in his vision, stubborn and glowing. A moment ago, he had been at his desk. There was a spreadsheet, a deadline, a sharp pain behind his eyes—then a light so bright it swallowed everything, a sensation of falling through endless layers of nothing, and now... this.
He wasn't in an office. He was on a mountain. A very, very poor excuse for a mountain.
The air was thin and carried a sour smell, like damp decay and forgotten things. In front of him stood the grand entrance to his new domain: a crumbling stone archway. The carved characters were so weathered they were almost ghosts of themselves—Heavenly Dao Sect. The character for "Heaven" had a deep crack running through its heart. Behind it, a handful of wooden structures sagged under the weight of years and neglect. A single, sickly-looking spirit weed grew between the cracked stones of the path.
"Well," Li Fan said to the cold, empty air. "This is not ideal."
Accurate assessment. Current Sect Status: Derelict. Spiritual Energy Density: Negligible. Sect Reputation: Non-existent. Statistical probability of Host surviving local beast tide: Do not think about it.
The text scrolled in a calm blue box at the edge of his sight. A System. Of course. He had read the stories. Transmigration check. Mysterious system check. Trash-tier starting point check. The unholy trifecta was complete.
"What are you?" he asked, his voice sounding too loud in the silence.
Designation: Sect Building System. Primary Function: To assist Host in establishing a supreme sect and recovering misplaced... assets. Secondary Function: Sarcasm.
"Misplaced assets?"
Your cultivation. Your memories. That general sense of being the most powerful being in existence. Minor things.
Li Fan rubbed his temples. He felt no power. He felt a headache coming on and a hollow feeling in his stomach. This body was lean and young, dressed in rough, simple robes. He sensed a faint trickle of energy inside him—the Foundation Establishment stage, the absolute beginner level in this world. And beneath that... a vast, deep emptiness. Like an ocean had been scooped out of his soul, leaving only a cold, damp hollow.
First Mission Issued: Basic Habitation.
Objective: Clean the Main Hall. A Sect Master cannot receive disciples in a nest of dust and spiders.
Reward: 'First Flame' Cultivation Manual (Sect Master Edition), Basic Spirit Gathering Array Schematic.
Penalty for Failure: Prolonged inhalation of historic mold. Spiritual degradation. Profound shame.
"Disciples? What disciples?" Li Fan muttered, but he was already moving. Action was better than standing still and panicking. The main hall was the largest building, which wasn't saying much. The door protested with a shriek of rusted hinges. Inside, the gray light from the hole in the roof revealed broken furniture shrouded in thick dust. A faded mural on the far wall showed only fragments of a grand scene—a robed figure, a glimpse of stars.
He found a broom leaning in a corner, its handle still solid. As his hand closed around it, a strange sense of clarity washed over him. Not a memory, but an instinct. He didn't see a ruined chair; he saw usable wood and a flawed join. The hole in the roof wasn't just damage; it was a misplaced node where sunlight could be channeled. The entire layout of the hall felt... inefficient. Wrong. It agitated something deep in his mind.
He saw not a mess, but a broken system waiting to be fixed.
Host demonstrates residual spatial awareness. Faint echo of prior expertise detected. Do not become overconfident.
"Prior expertise?" Li Fan asked, sweeping a cloud of dust.
Classified information. Please clean more efficiently.
He worked. It was tedious, muscle-aching labor, but it let his mind race. The System knew him. It implied a past. A significant one. One he could not remember. The emptiness within him seemed to pulse in quiet agreement.
After a long time, the worst of the grime was gone. The hall was still poor and broken, but it was no longer a tomb. Sunlight streamed more cleanly through the hole, catching motes of dust like tiny stars.
Mission: Basic Habitation - COMPLETED.
Dispensing Rewards.
A warm, gentle energy flowed into Li Fan's consciousness. The 'First Flame' Manual was simple in its principles: nurture a single, steady spark at the core of your being. Focus on stability, foundation, infinite potential over brute force. It felt... correct. Like remembering a song he had always known.
The Basic Spirit Gathering Array schematic was a complex interlocking diagram of energy channels and focal points. He understood it immediately, visualizing how it could pull the thin, scattered spiritual energy of the mountain and concentrate it here, filtering out the stagnant impurities.
New Mission: Resource Acquisition.
Objective: Collect 10 units of 'Pale Quartz' and 5 lengths of 'Ironroot Vine' from the eastern slope. Materials required for roof repair and initial array construction.
Time Limit: 4 hours.
Reward: Technique: 'Unbreaking Hold,' Low-Grade Spirit Stones (x10).
Penalty: Inclement weather-induced hydration. And my eternal disappointment.
Li Fan let out a long breath. He hefted the broom, testing its weight. "Fine. I'm going."
He stepped outside. The afternoon sun had a little warmth to it. From the broken archway, the view was breathtaking—endless rolling forests, mist-wrapped peaks in the distance, a world vast and unknown and undoubtedly dangerous.
But as he looked back at the crumbling buildings, the cracked flagstone, that strange feeling solidified. Not just resolve.
Ownership.
This terrible mountain was his. This broken sect was his. The Heavenly Dao Sect. He would build it. He would make it into something that would stand until the end of days. The thought didn't feel like a new ambition. It felt like an old oath, whispering up from that void inside him.
Adequate level of determination noted. Proceed with material gathering. Avoid falling. The plot is thin enough already.
Li Fan shook his head, a faint, tired smile touching his lips. He turned and began walking east, the System's interface a constant, cheeky presence in his world. The longest journey begins with a single step. His began with a chore list.
Far below, unseen, a large, sturdy boy with a simple face was being driven from a village border, dirt clods bouncing off his broad back. "Useless Zhang Tie! Too stupid to learn! Go away!" they shouted. The boy, Zhang Tie, just turned and trudged away, looking up the mountain trails with lost eyes. He needed somewhere to be. And his feet, as if guided by a thread he could not see, began carrying him steadily upward.