When the golden sun rose above the towering cliffs of the Eastern Sky Mountain Range, its light bathed the vast grounds of the Thousand Peaks Cultivation Academy. The academy, seated within a nexus of spirit veins and ley lines, had stood for over three thousand years, producing immortal lords, sect leaders, and divine protectors of empires.
To many, this place was the cradle of greatness.
To Sun Mo, it was the endless reminder of failure.
Sun Mo was actually from Earth, having reincarnated at the age of thirteen.
He was diagnosed with covid and died in a car accident recent to the development of his chronic illness.
Luckily this time, he was born into a royal family.
He had nine siblings, five of them were girls.
Being born as the the tenth child of this family, he did not have any seniority over any of his brothers or sisters.
Raised in a family of nobles and taught by his parents who were Viscounts, Sun Mo had grasped the fundamentals of cultivation and understood that he resided in the Lower Realm.
The Lower Realm was still in the mortal world and still could be considered to have over ten times the population than on Earth.
In a world where cultivation reigns supreme, Sun Mo had to adjust to his surroundings and adapt to the supernatural laws that govern it.
At the age of thirteen the majority of the people in the Southern Province attended the Thousand Peak Cultivation Academy.
A student's very first lesson from cultivating to ascending as an immortal are all taught by the instructors here at the academy.
There were different levels of classes that you can take up till graduation.
Of course,
The academy upheld a strict hierarchy:
At the top stood the Grand Council of Seven Peak Lords, masters of the Seven primary divisions. These were the true powers of the realm—each one rumored to have touched the realm of Immortality.
Below them were the Elders, esteemed cultivators who guided inner disciples, controlled access to secret texts, and judged the worth of potential heirs.
Then came the Inner Disciples, groomed and favored—students who had proven their potential and were given personal tutors, rare resources, and even spirit beasts.
Outer Disciples made up the majority. They were competent, capable, and determined. Every outer disciple dreamed of catching an elder's eye, passing the Inner Gate Exam, and ascending.
At the bottom were the Trial Disciples—aspirants with potential too weak, talent too unstable, or circumstances too strange. Sun Mo was among them.
At the very edge of the inner disciple courtyard, Sun Mo sat beneath a leafless tree, surrounded by lush jade tiles and sculpted walkways. Students passed by in silken robes glowing faintly with embedded spirit runes. He was the only one in gray.
A robe signifying failure.
"Still stuck at Qi Refinement, first level?" one of the passing students whispered.
"He's been here for five years and hasn't advanced a single realm."
"Why doesn't he just give up? Even the outer disciples mock him now."
Their voices were low, but not low enough. Sun Mo heard it all. He always did.
And yet he never spoke back. Not because he couldn't. But because he was too kind.
The academy was structured into seven inner mountains, each representing a core path of cultivation: Weapons, Alchemy, Formation, Beast Taming, Elemental, Soul, and Dao Laws. Students would be assigned to a peak depending on their talent and affinity. Those with no peak were considered "loose roots"—drifting without anchor.
Sun Mo was the only student in the outer ranks who had not been assigned to any peak since enrollment at age 13.
He should've been expelled.
But for some reason… he wasn't.
Some higher-up must've intervened.
The cultivation paths taught at the academy revolved entirely around Dao cultivation. From absorbing spirit qi to refining meridians, students pursued longevity, power, and eventual ascension. Spirit qi flowed like rivers through the air, dense and thick around the academy's sacred grounds.
But for Sun Mo, it never worked. His spiritual sense was dull. The qi refused to enter. The sect elders labeled him "spiritless." Useless.
Until now.
The night before, during a silent meditation beneath the moonlight, Sun Mo had felt something stir. A resonance—soft, subtle, unlike anything the Dao had ever offered him. It wasn't spirit qi that entered him, but something more primal. Something that recognized him.
He didn't cultivate the Dao. He cultivated something else. Something older.
The Source.
And as he did, he felt the warmth of his own heartbeat, the quiet breathing of his lungs, the gentle stillness of his soul. For the first time, he wasn't chasing something beyond himself. He was returning inward.
The Source wasn't about conquering heaven. It was about understanding being.
And so the system activated.
[You have felt the Source Echo.]
[The path of Source Cultivation is now open.]
[New Objective: Cultivate The Source]
[Name: Sun Mo]
[Lifespan: 18/105]
[Race: Mortal]
[Dao Cultivation: 1st level of the Qi Refinement Realm]
[Source Cultivation: None]
[Technique: Advanced Qi Refinement Method]
[Equipment: None]
[Cultivation Potential: Extremely Bad]
[Cultivation Path: Dao, Source]
[Cards: None]
[Source Art: None]
A new window flashed in his mind, different from any cultivation system he had ever read about.
[Source Cultivation Path Initiated.]
Sun Mo's eyes opened wide.
Finally, after years of being mocked, scorned, and overlooked, the golden finger had finally emerged!
He clenched his fist and stood slowly, the wind catching the hem of his gray robe. Around him, the academy remained unchanged, the voices of students echoing like shallow ripples.
But something was now different.
After being mocked for what seemed like an eternity, Sun Mo finally had a chance to counterattack!