The first thing Yuan Zhi felt was pain.Not the kind that lingered like a bruise — but something fundamental, like his very soul had been torn apart and reassembled wrong.
He gasped as the weight of a foreign sky pressed down on him.Purple clouds churned above like boiling ink. The air buzzed with strange energy — thick, heavy, unnatural. It smelled of ozone and ash. His lungs burned from the first breath. His skin prickled like static danced beneath it.
Then came the realization: he wasn't in his own body.His limbs were thinner. His skin darker. His nails cracked, blood under them dried and crusted. He lay half-buried in a shallow crater surrounded by scorched stone, steam rising from the broken ground.And yet… he was alive.
I died… didn't I?
He couldn't remember how. Car crash? Cardiac arrest? Had he fallen asleep and never woken up?
The memories slipped from his grasp like smoke. But what remained was the cold certainty that he wasn't on Earth anymore.
Far ahead, a winged beast screeched across the sky — part lion, part serpent — its body the size of a truck, tail coiling behind it like smoke. It vanished into a mountain range of black peaks and white fire.His heart thundered. Not with fear — but with a twisted kind of awe.
This… is a different world.
He stood slowly, joints cracking, naked and shivering. His body felt weak. Malnourished. Light-headed. But something deeper stirred in his chest. A heat that wasn't his own.
The remnants of the soul that once lived in this body — it hadn't fully faded. It clung to the bones like dust.And with it came whispers. Not words. But feelings. Instincts. Images. Enough to understand — if not remember.He looked around at the ancient trees, jade-colored moss, and glowing mushrooms the size of children. The wind carried fragments of voices, not English, but… understandable. Like his brain was translating without permission.
I know what they're saying… because the boy knew.
The original soul may be gone, but the knowledge hadn't died with it.
So that's how transmigration works…
No system. No floating menu. No cheats. Just pain and a ruined body in an alien land.
Alright.
No problem.
Let's see what this world has to offer.
He limped forward. Trees towered like spires, leaves shaped like blades. Every step sliced his feet, but he didn't stop. The more it hurt, the more real it felt.He passed a shattered pillar of stone marked with a strange symbol — a lotus wrapped around a black sun.
A sect's insignia?
He'd read enough stories to know where this was going.And for once, fiction had become his reality.
This was cultivation.
It took hours before he found the boy.Yuan Zhi had collapsed near a stream, washing dried blood from his skin, when rustling leaves drew his attention.
A boy in torn robes approached, staff in hand, eyes sharp. He wasn't strong — but he wasn't starving either. His robes bore the same black lotus symbol he'd seen earlier.
The boy snorted.
"You look like a cripple who fell off a cliff."
Yuan Zhi didn't reply.
He had no idea what his current cultivation level was — probably nonexistent. His body felt like it had been chewed on by pigs and stitched back with grass.
But weakness meant nothing. Weakness could be hidden. Or used.
The boy walked closer.
"Where's your token? You don't look like a disciple."
Yuan Zhi forced a smile. "It was stolen. I was attacked by bandits." A lie, obviously. But it bought him time.
The boy scowled. "No token, no proof. Sect law says I can kill you where you stand."
Yuan Zhi didn't hesitate.
He stepped forward.The staff swung low, fast, too predictable.Yuan Zhi sidestepped, grabbed the shaft, twisted hard. A crack — shoulder dislocated.
The boy screamed, stumbling back — and that's when Yuan Zhi moved. He rammed a knee into the boy's gut, then slammed his head against a tree. Blood spattered the bark.Another blow. And another. Until the boy fell limp in a pool of red.Yuan Zhi knelt beside him and stripped the robe from his broken frame.
"Thanks for the donation," he muttered.
No guilt. No hesitation. This wasn't Earth. This was a world where strength was law. And he was already a criminal in the eyes of heaven — a soul that didn't belong.He donned the robe, tied his hair, and adjusted his posture.From a distance, he looked like any low-tier disciple returning from an outer mission.
Good enough.
He burned the body. Not out of decency — but to erase evidence.And walked toward the sect.
The gates loomed large — two jade doors guarded by armored men with silver spears. They didn't look twice as he approached. His robe bore the right insignia. His face was calm. His body language screamed exhaustion, not fear.
One of the guards looked him over.
"Branch disciple?"Yuan Zhi nodded, keeping his gaze low.The man waved him in.Just like that, he passed through.Inside, the sect bloomed like a hidden empire.
Hundreds of courtyards, tall pagodas, training fields where roars of power echoed. Disciples floated mid-air on flying swords. Elders stood at the peak of stone towers, manipulating clouds.
And everywhere, the energy — that invisible pressure — thickened.Spiritual qi. He could feel it. Like a storm waiting to be swallowed.
Yuan Zhi's hands trembled.
This is power. This is what they live for. Kill for. Die for.
He watched two disciples sparring. Their fists sent shockwaves. One summoned vines from the ground. The other burned them away with fire that had no source.
It was madness. And it was beautiful.
And he wanted it.
All of it.
As he wandered deeper into the sect grounds, a voice called from behind.
"You there!"
He turned.
A girl in inner disciple robes approached. Her eyes sharp, her lips curved in a smirk.
"You're new."
Yuan Zhi nodded. "Yes."
"No token. No identification. No entry log." She stepped closer, lifting her hand to his chin. "You're lucky I like lost puppies."
Yuan Zhi didn't flinch.
She blinked. "No fear? Interesting."
Then, she tossed a jade slip at him.
"Trial begins tomorrow morning. Prove your worth or get thrown into the bone pit."
She leaned closer, her breath warm. "Welcome to Black Rain Sect… puppy."
She vanished into the crowd.
Yuan Zhi stared down at the jade slip.
Trial. Elimination. Fight or die.
Now it begins.