The night was dark under the moonless sky.
Golden Silk Cemetery.
In the quiet cemetery, there were strange sounds of activity that could occasionally be heard, causing anybody nearby to be terrified. This was one of the reasons why nobody dared to set foot into the cemetery at night. Even the most daring of tomb robbers dared not travel near here.
Why? The answer was very simple. There were ghosts!
*Ding! Ding!*
A crisp jingling sound woke the people up, even though the sound was barely audible.
The terrifying sounds from the cemetery seemed to stop for a moment. But soon after, the sounds gradually returned.
"Sigh…"
A long drawn out sigh could be heard from a small tombstone under a Japanese Pagoda tree. Looking at it, one could see bright yellow light particles swaying repeatedly back and forth in the air. It was a pretty eerie sight to behold.
The particles eventually started to flicker before fading. At that moment, the jingling sound returned.
*Pa!*
Flames lit up. Oh! It was actually a man!
The man constantly struck the spark wheel of his lighter, making a sweet-sounding sound, while silently having a good smoke in the darkness.
His name was Mu Xiao, 47, unmarried.
This name might not be well known, but one would be hard-pressed to find someone who didn't know his other name, Mu Tianheng (TN: Tianheng also means balance)
Mu Tianheng was a pioneer of the world's ecosystem conservation, speaker of the common people, and the star of progress for the world's civilisation! His stunning achievements include: solving the problem of soil erosion in the Yellow River, making it abundantly lush and green again; perfecting cloning technology such that it could be applied in various fields, such as cloning animals of critically endangered species, so much so that it was no longer endangered…
All of his life was a legend!
"It's time to go." Mu Xiao lightly blew smoke from his mouth as he spoke. His right hand, which was holding on to the cigarette, trembled slightly. He had some matters that were weighing down his heart. Even though it was long decided, when it was time to leave, there were still some feelings of sadness and confusion lingering. Was this really what he wanted?
Mu Xiao contemplated for a while. Suddenly, he let loose a mocking smile, deepening the crow's feet next to his eyes. The confused glint in his eyes slowly started to fade away, and a decisive look soon emerged. Since it was his goal all along, why should he question it? This long godforsaken world, what was there to miss about it?
"I want to be amazing! I want to be immortal!" Mu Xiao bit his shivering lips, with his right hand against his chest, he squeezed words out from his lips, "This world has long since been out of balance, with the rise of humanity as the dominant species, wrecking the entire world's ecosystem like its nothing. This world that's only filled with humans, what's so good about it? So what if I had balance points to strengthen myself? Even the system has given up, why should I be worried as well?"
"Ding! Host's mindset is correct, the future of this world is bleak and filled with darkness, there's nothing that's worth saving unless we abandon everything and start anew!"
A robotic voice echoed in his mind. This was his system.
Mu Xiao heard the robotic voice, and could not help but recall the time he got the system.
That year, he was 13, and still working hard to get into his dream high school. One day, a strange object fell from the sky and bound with him. In order to cater to his thoughts, it called itself the Heaven's Will Balancing System, with the goal of safeguarding the world's ecosystem, and he was chosen as the host. There are only two ways to escape the binding of the system. The first way is by going against the very purpose of the system. The second way is to just simply die.
From that point on, Mu Xiao started to live an extraordinary life. However, because the system had already given up on this world, the mission rewards issued were now just one percent of what it used to be originally. This shattered Mu Xiao's goal of becoming an immortal, unless he transmigrated to other worlds…
To any normal person, transmigrating into a new world would be impossible. However, this was entirely within the means of the Heaven's Will Balancing System!
The core ability of the system was the Yin Yang furnace, which can satisfy the host's desires. Of course, you need to have balance points as a prerequisite. No matter how bizarre, or tremendous Mu Xiao's wishes were, most could easily be fulfilled, with the exception of reviving the dead. So long as he could think of it, the system would be able to fulfil it.
So what's beyond the system capabilities then, Mu Xiao once asked. Well, basically, it's unable to create a universe, play around with the Six Paths of Reincarnation, et cetera…
With the system giving missions and rewarding balance points for completing them, Mu Xiao had been saving up balance points to leave the world, for many years now.
"Sir, do you need matchsticks?" Just as Mu Xiao was thinking randomly to himself, an old man quietly stood beside him, bowing his head while smilingly said softly.
Mu Xiao turned his head distractedly and looked at the old man with his amiable expression. He refused politely. "No, thank you."
Finished speaking, Mu Xiao turned his head and went back to his random thoughts. It was strange, it was already so late at night, why was there an old man walking around in the cemetery, dressed in ancient Chinese clothes? Despite that, Mu Xiao seemed to be not aware of it.
"Sir, do you need matchsticks?" The old man ignored Mu Xiao's reply and asked again, bowing his head even lower, his hands bringing out a brick-like matchbox.
Mu Xiao paid no attention to the old man and ignored him.
"Sir, do you need matchsticks?"
…
"Sir, do you need matchsticks?"
"Sir, do you need matchsticks?"
"Sir, do you need matchsticks?"
…
The more the old man asked, the quicker and louder it got. His face becoming more and more sinister, the lower his head bowed, nearly touching Mu Xiao's ear tips. However, the expression on Mu Xiao's face did not change. He turned back his head, and with an annoyed voice said, "Who are you? Get out of my way!"
The fast-speaking old man finally stopped asking, and also restored his amiable expression. He softly said, "Who am I?"
"I am a little girl selling matchsticks! Hahahahaha!" The old man suddenly fell into an insane laugh, and with a sinister expression, tightly gripped the brick-like matchbox, and striking it towards Mu Xiang, "Why don't you buy some matchsticks! Sir!"
*Pu!*
Just like a fart, the old man turned into smoke and dissipated into thin air, after being struck by a single finger from Mu Xiao.
"Sigh! To think that even the Six Paths of Reincarnation of this world are now imbalanced as well." Mu Xiao silently looked at the old man… The smoke left behind by the dissipation of the spirit of the old man was helpless as to where to go. "Humans are too flourishing, even the Heavens are disturbed." (TN: The word humans can also be described as one of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, the Human path.)
"It's about time I leave." After Mu Xiao was disturbed by the ghost, the last shred of any hesitance to leave was gone. It is now time to leave!
"System, let's go."
"Ding! System is in the process of searching for viable ways to leave this world for another… Viable ways found: physical transmigration and soul reincarnation. Please choose!"
Mu Xiao looked at the options that appeared, and it was obvious that the former costs way more than the latter. "Which do I choose? Do you even have to ask?"
Mu Xiao lightly touched the crow's feet around his eyes and chuckled loudly. "Of course the second option! Only fools would choose the first option!"
Soul reincarnation, did that not mean to live an extra life?!
"Ding! Transmigration in progress. Does host wish to spend more balance points to pick a first-rate body?"
"Yes!"
"Ding! System is currently seeking a suitable first-rate body for host to reincarnate into… "
"I want my future identity to be that of an orphan." Mu Xiao added a condition. Why this condition you might ask? It is because he did not want to experience the pain of losing his loved ones again!
"Ding! balance points consumed, narrowing selection range."
"Hold on! I also want to be human after reincarnation. Humanoids are acceptable as well if humans are out of the question." Mu Xiao hastily thought of something and added.
"System is currently selecting another suitable body that fits host's conditions… "
"Selecting another body!?" Mu Xiao suddenly felt his whole body drenched in cold sweat. The feeling of nearly becoming something like a beast. Luckily he thought of it, otherwise… he wouldn't even accept it!
"Ding! Selection complete!"
"Ding! System discovered that host still has remaining balance points left. Friendly reminder, existing balance points can't be used in the new world and thus won't be brought into the new world!"
"Oh?" Mu Xiao was slightly surprised. He intended to leave a few points for him to use after transmigrating. Since he was not able to bring over the points to use…
Mu Xiao turned his head and looked back at the tombstone with a gentle smile on his face. 'Fine, let me leave you guys something as well.'
"Spend all the points that are left over on protecting all my loved ones, as well as all those who loved me! Bless them to live a long and healthy life! Bless them to have all their wishes come true! Bless them to be prosperous! Bless them to have a happy and prosperous life after reincarnation as well!"
Finished speaking, he turned into insignificant specks of dust and dissipated into the air…