CHAPTER 1: THE ASHES OF DEFEAT AND THE ETERNAL AWAKENING
The winter in the Blue Cloud Sect was not merely a season; it was a relentless, soul-crushing weight. Inside a dilapidated wooden shack tucked away in the farthest corner of the outer disciples' quarters, Li Xiao sat cross-legged on a bed made of jagged, rotting planks. The air was so cold it felt like needles pricking his skin, and his breath emerged in thin, ragged plumes of mist that vanished into the darkness of the room. For ten long, agonizing years, he had been a ghost in this world. A transmigrator who had arrived with the fiery ambition of a conqueror, only to be humiliated by the cold, hard reality of his Ninth-Rank Spiritual Roots.
In this realm, where the powerful could cleave the heavens with a single thought, Li Xiao was less than the mud beneath their boots. Earlier that day, the humiliation had reached a breaking point. Chen Huo, a mid-tier talent with a heart full of malice, had cornered him in front of the congregating crowd. With a sneer that twisted his arrogant features, Chen Huo had kicked Li Xiao into the freezing mud, mocking him for a single low-grade spirit stone. "Look at this piece of trash," Chen Huo had laughed, the sound echoing like a rusted blade against stone. "Ten years, and you are still crawling at the first level of Body Refining. You aren't a cultivator, Li Xiao; you are a parasite breathing the Sect's precious air. Why don't you just crawl into a hole and die?"
The memory of those words burned in Li Xiao's mind, a bitter poison that constricted his throat. His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles had turned white, and his fingernails had dug deep into his palms, drawing thin trickles of blood. He stared at the flickering candle, the only source of light in his miserable existence. "Is this how my story ends?" he whispered into the silence. "Is this the fate of one who crossed worlds—to be a footstool for arrogant fools?"
Just as despair threatened to swallow his mind, a strange resonance vibrated deep within his soul. It was not a physical sound, but a ripple in the fabric of his reality.
[ Soul Resonance detected. Matching soul frequency with the Fate-Severing wavelength. ]
[ Initializing Destiny Maker Simulation System. ]
[ Scanning Host's history. Immense Regret Aura found. ]
[ Activation Successful. Host: Li Xiao. ]
Suddenly, the world went deathly silent. The howling wind outside ceased, and the droplets of icy rain leaking from the roof were suspended in mid-air, frozen like diamonds in time. A grand, ethereal screen manifested before Li Xiao, glowing with a deep, regal violet light that seemed to swallow the darkness of the shack. It was majestic, ancient, and terrifying all at once.
The screen displayed his current status with brutal honesty:
Host: Li Xiao.
Status: Mortal Trash.
Cultivation: Level 1 Body Refining.
But below these lines lay functions that defied the laws of heaven. The Sovereign Function: Life Simulation. It explained that he could transmit his soul into parallel timelines of the past or future. The time ratio was staggering—one second in the real world was equal to a hundred years in the simulation. Most importantly, the Sovereign Multiplier was ten thousand. Every bit of comprehension, every ounce of power, and every shred of sword intent gained during the simulation would be returned to his physical body ten thousand times over.
Li Xiao's heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird. Ten thousand times? He realized the sheer insanity of it. If he spent centuries in a simulation, his return would shatter the common laws of this world. There was also a secondary function: The System Workshop. As the Architect of Fate, he could design sub-systems to plant into others, turning their growth and suffering into his own divine nourishment.
"System," Li Xiao spoke, his voice cracking with a mixture of fear and newfound power. "Start the first simulation immediately. Give me a scenario that will turn this world's common sense into dust."
[ Selecting Scenario: The Nameless Guardian of the Sword Empress. ]
[ Warning: This simulation carries a High Emotional Synchronization load. You will experience the weight of centuries as if it were your own reality. Pain, loss, and exhaustion will be felt at one hundred percent intensity. Do you proceed? ]
"Start it. Now!" Li Xiao roared internally. In an instant, his consciousness was ripped from his mortal frame, and he was plunged into a vortex of infinite stars, leaving
the cold, broken shack behind.