Death was supposed to be the end.
At least, that was what I believed when the truck's blinding headlights swallowed my vision whole.
One moment, I had been crossing the rain-slick road after another exhausting shift, cursing my miserable office life and wondering if instant noodles counted as dinner for the fourth night in a row.
The next—
Pain.
A scream.
Then darkness.
Absolute, endless darkness.
For what felt like an eternity, I floated in the void, unable to move, unable to think.
Then—
A freezing wind slapped across my face.
I gasped sharply, my eyes snapping open.
"W-What the hell?!"
Snow.
All I could see was snow.
White flakes drifted down from a grey sky, covering the ground, the broken stairs beneath me, and the jagged rooftops of crumbling stone buildings around me.
I was lying face-first in the snow.
Cold seeped into my bones like needles.
I pushed myself up with trembling hands and stared blankly at my surroundings.
Ancient stone pillars leaned crookedly as if they had survived a hundred storms.
Half-collapsed halls stood in silence, their wooden beams cracked and rotting.
A rusted iron bell hung from a broken frame near the entrance gate, swaying slightly in the wind.
This place looked less like a sect and more like the abandoned remains of a haunted ruin.
"Where… am I?"
As soon as the words left my mouth, a sharp pain exploded in my head.
"AAAH!"
I clutched my skull as memories that did not belong to me flooded in.
A young man.
Thin robes.
Pale face.
A sect leader.
A joke of a sect.
A name erased by time.
The memories crashed into me like a tidal wave.
This body belonged to Ye Chen, the last surviving sect leader of a forgotten mountain sect.
He had died of cold and starvation.
I stared at my hands.
These weren't my hands.
They were rougher, older, and slightly calloused.
"This is… reincarnation?"
Before I could process it further, a mechanical voice suddenly rang out in my mind.
[Ding!]
I froze.
[Soul synchronisation complete.]
[Sovereign Sect System activated.]
A translucent golden screen appeared before my eyes.
I blinked.
Then blinked again.
Nope.
Still there.
SECT STATUS PANEL
Sect Name: Nameless Sect World Ranking: 9999 / 9999 Members: 1. Disciples: 0 Buildings: Severely Spirit Vein: Dead Resources: None Survival Probability: 0.01%
I stared at the panel.
Then I looked around at the ruined mountain.
Then back at the panel.
Then back again.
"…9999 out of 9999?"
For a moment, I just stood there in silence.
Then I laughed.
A hollow, disbelieving laugh.
"So I died in one trash life just to wake up in another?"
The mechanical voice responded instantly.
[Correction: The current situation is worse than trash.]
I nearly choked.
"Oi! Is the system insulting me?"
[Host talent evaluation: Below average.]
[Sect. condition evaluation: Trash Tier.]
[Recommendation: Pray.]
I stared at the floating screen in utter disbelief.
"You're supposed to help me, not roast me!"
The system remained silent for a moment.
Then—
[Primary Mission Issued.]
MAIN MISSION: REBUILD THE SECT
Objective: Rename the sect. Reward: Starter Pack x1. Penalty for failure: Soul Obliteration
I froze.
"…Soul what?"
The words glowed ominously.
Soul Obliteration
No pressure at all.
"Great. Fantastic. Amazing."
I looked up at the grey sky and sighed.
"So basically, either I rebuild this garbage dump into a proper sect… or I die again."
[Correct.]
"Wonderful."
I rubbed my temples and looked around once more.
The mountain was eerily silent.
The sect gate was broken in half.
A faded plaque lay buried under snow.
I brushed the snow off with my sleeve.
The original sect name was so worn that only a few ancient characters remained visible.
Unreadable.
Forgotten.
Something about it made my chest tighten.
A strange feeling.
As if this place carried an ancient grief.
But before I could dwell on it, the system screen flashed again.
[Please input new sect name.]
A cursor blinked in the air.
I smirked.
If I were going to rebuild this sect from the ground up…
Then I might as well go big.
Very big.
A ridiculous name formed in my mind.
One so shameless that even I almost laughed.
I raised my hand dramatically toward the heavens.
"From this moment onward …"
Snow swirled violently around the mountain peak.
"This sect shall be known as—"
I paused for effect.
"ALL-HAIL SOVEREIGN SECT!"
For one second—
Nothing happened.
Then the heavens exploded.
BOOOOOM!
A thunderclap split the sky.
Golden lightning tore through the clouds.
The entire mountain trembled violently.
Snow cascaded down the slopes like an avalanche.
The broken bell at the sect gate rang on its own.
DONG!
DONG!
DONG!
My eyes widened.
"…I was joking."
The clouds above spiralled into a massive vortex.
Ancient golden runes flickered across the heavens.
Far beyond the mountain, invisible to me, countless cultivators across the continent suddenly raised their heads in shock.
A terrifying pressure descended.
The air itself seemed to kneel.
Then the system voice rang again.
But this time—
Its tone had changed.
It was colder.
Ancient.
Almost reverent.
[Sect name recognised.]
[Ancient authority resonance detected.]
[Heavenly records… trembling.]
A chill ran down my spine.
"What does that even mean?"
No answer came.
Instead—
[Mission Complete.]
REWARD OBTAINED
Starter Pack x1, Recruitment Token x1, 100 Spirit Stones, Basic Sect Protection Formation
I exhaled slowly.
At least something good came out of this.
But before I could relax, the mountain trembled once more.
A deep crack split open near the main hall.
From beneath the snow, an ancient stone staircase slowly emerged.
Leading downward.
Into darkness.
A cold wind blew from below.
And with it came a whisper.
A voice so faint I almost thought I imagined it.
"…you… have returned …"
I froze.
Returned?
Returned from where?
Who was speaking?
The system screen flickered violently.
For the first time, warning messages appeared in red.
[Unknown anomaly detected.]
[Ancient sect seal awakening.]
[Warning: Heaven has noticed your existence.]
My heartbeat thundered in my ears.
I looked up at the storm-filled sky.
Then down at the staircase, disappearing into the darkness.
Then back at the broken sect around me.
A slow grin spread across my face.
"Fine."
"If the heavens want trouble …"
I dusted snow off my robes and stood at the peak of the ruined mountain.
"Then let's give them trouble."
The storm above roared.
And somewhere in the Nine Heavens—
Something ancient had awakened.