The night was quiet in a secluded courtyard of Jia Nan Academy. A young man in gray-blue robes sat cross-legged, his eyes lightly closed, hands forming a complex seal. Around him, Dou Qi swirled, a faint cyan Dou Qi gauze clothes fluttering with its current.
A single moment.
"Dou Grandmaster, break!"
With a soft shout, a powerful aura erupted from the young man. An energy ripple washed over the fluttering gauze of Dou Qi, causing it to slow. Then, a cyan brilliance suddenly flashed, rapidly coalescing, gathering, and finally merging together. Moments later, the cyan light solidified into a suit of sleek, form-fitting cyan armor adorned with flame runes that settled over his body.
The youth retracted his hand seal and opened his eyes. He glanced at the Dou Qi armor covering him, a satisfied smile touching his lips.
"1 Star Dou Grandmaster. Success!"
Suddenly, his eyes sharpened. He rose to his feet, turned, and offered a slight bow with a cupped fist salute into the distance.
"My breakthrough disturbed you, Dean. Lin Yuan is ashamed. Thank you for your guardianship. This student is deeply grateful!"
No sooner had his voice faded than a gray-robed figure materialized before him. It was Hu Qian, the Vice-Dean of the Outer Academy. Hu Qian looked at him with mild surprise. "Although I wasn't deliberately hiding, for you to have sensed me… it seems Old Man Huo wasn't exaggerating. Your soul talent truly is exceptional."
He looked Lin Yuan up and down, a pleased smile spreading across his face. "Good. Very good. A 1 Star Dou Grandmaster at fifteen, and your foundation is rock-solid. Worthy of being one of our Jia Nan Academy's geniuses."
Then, Hu Qian retrieved a token from his storage ring and tossed it to Lin Yuan. "Take this. Tomorrow, go to the Qi Method Pavilion and select one Profound Tier High Grade Qi Method and one Profound Tier High Grade Dou Technique. Also, you don't need to report to the Law Enforcement Squad for the next few days. Focus on acclimating to the power of a Dou Grandmaster. I'll in form Elder Wu."
Lin Yuan caught the token, replying with a touch of excitement. "Thank you, Dean! This student will heed your instruction!"
Hu Qian laughed. "No need for such formality. We're all one family. Train well. And while you're at it, go give my granddaughter, Hu Jia, a kick in the pants. You're the same age, yet you're already a 1 Star Dou Grandmaster, and that girl hasn't even broken through to Dou Practitioner yet. And she's so lackadaisical in her cultivation! No, I really must go give her a lecture."
With that, his figure dissolved into nothingness.
A short while after Hu Qian vanished, Lin Yuan straightened up, storing the token in his own low-grade storage ring.
'Breaking through to Dou Grandmaster grants a reward of a Profound Tier High Grade Qi Method and a Profound Tier High Grade Dou Technique. As expected of Jia Nan Academy. They are quite generous to their own,' he mused.
He let out a soft chuckle.
'Though it's less a reward and more an investment in a promising, loyal talent. Choosing to come to Jia Nan Academy back then was definitely the right move!'
He looked up at the clear, bright moon in the sky, feeling a surge of motivation. Returning inside, he fetched a jug of wine and sat at the stone table in the courtyard. His figure, bathed in moonlight, appeared particularly distinct and solitary. He held an exquisite wine cup, drinking leisurely under the radiant moon.
The moonlight was like water, spilling silently over him, draping him in a silvery-white veil. As his thoughts stretched long, his features seemed somewhat hazy in the lunar glow, but the light in his eyes only grew more resolute.
'Fifteen years since I came to this world. Finally, I've obtained the qualification to enter the game!'
That's right. Lin Yuan was a reincarnator. Fifteen years ago, he had been born into an ordinary family in this familiar yet strange world known as the Dou Qi Continent. His father was a mercenary, a 7 Star Dou Practitioner. His mother was a low-level pharmacist who had never broken through to Dou Practitioner. Their circumstances were modest, but it could be considered a happy life.
However, that family life didn't last long. When Lin Yuan was nine, his father died simply—killed by a Demonic Beast on a mission. His mother, lost in grief and disoriented by her husband's death, accidentally came into contact with a poisonous grass and perished. Once again, Lin Yuan became an orphan.
The deaths of his parents made Lin Yuan keenly aware of the brutality of the Dou Qi Continent. Without power, the shift between life and death could happen in the blink of an eye. From then on, he resolved to become strong, one step at a time.
Fortunately, while he had no special background and, so far, none of the standard golden fingers that seemed to accompany reincarnators, Lin Yuan himself appeared to possess exceptionally superior cultivation and soul talent.
This excellent talent gave him the opportunity to become powerful. Combined with the disciplined behavior driven by an adult's mind housed in a child's body, Lin Yuan had cultivated diligently since childhood. Finally, at age ten, with the strength of a 9th Stage Dou Disciple, he passed the entrance examination for the widely-recruiting Jia Nan Academy. Despite some twists and turns, he smoothly became a student.
In the five years since arriving at Jia Nan Academy, Lin Yuan had not been shy about displaying his formidable talent, hoping to secure greater investment from the institution.
Lin Yuan understood perfectly well. While the intelligence in his head couldn't be cashed in for resources yet, his own excellent talent was his greatest capital. Demonstrating his value and getting the right people to invest in him was the best choice to survive the early, weak stage. And Jia Nan Academy was an ideal candidate.
Things had indeed developed as he anticipated. His clean background as an orphan and his outstanding talent earned the academy's recognition. He became a trusted, core junior of Jia Nan Academy.
Lin Yuan had initially thought he would become a direct disciple of one of the academy's Elders. He later learned that Jia Nan Academy had an implicit rule, or rather, an understanding. Orphans with clean backgrounds and high talent, once accepted as core members, would be cultivated in the name of the academy as a whole. This was to prevent any single Elder's personal influence from ballooning in the future and damaging the academy's organizational structure.
Lin Yuan was a member of the "Elite Forging Plan," the academy leadership's program aimed at nurturing future core Elders from their own ranks. Moreover, he was the most talented member among them—what could be called Jia Nan Academy's "Elder Reserve." Consequently, Lin Yuan received considerable care within the academy. He was also familiar with Hu Qian's granddaughter, Hu Jia, and Wu Hao, the adopted son of Law Enforcement Squad Elder Wu Tian lang.
Over the past five years at the academy, Lin Yuan's life had been one of arduous cultivation. He spent his time training his Dou Qi, going on expeditions with the Law Enforcement Squad to temper his skills and accumulate real combat experience, and studying various alchemical knowledge in the Alchemy Department. His days were intensely full.
His formidable soul force gave Lin Yuan outstanding talent in alchemy. His mastery of medicinal knowledge and flame control were both exceptional, earning the appreciation of the Alchemy Department's Elder Huo. When Lin Yuan became a 3rd Tier Alchemist, Elder Huo even gifted him the fire seed of a fifth-tier Demonic Beast Flame—the "Azure Spirit Flame."
Under the moonlight, Lin Yuan reminisced about these five crucial years at Jia Nan Academy, the years that had laid a solid foundation for his path forward. He contemplated the future historical trajectory of this Dou Qi Continent, and he pondered those plans he had drafted for what was to come.
As the wine jug emptied, Lin Yuan's reverie ended. He raised his cup, offering a toast to heaven and earth, and drank this final draught.
"I do not know why I came to this Dou Qi Continent. But if there is any noble being watching over me, then please observe whether this lifetime's performance is spectacular."
"Dou Qi Continent, the great tides of the world… Lin Yuan has arrived."
Lin Yuan set down the cup. He sat cross-legged on the futon used for cultivation in the courtyard. Dou Qi flowed through him, dispelling the effects of the wine, and he began his daily, unending cultivation anew.
***
Read early chapters on pat reon slash wujiang.