[Dao Imparting Platform now activated. One point of Soul Strength will be automatically deducted.]
A second message popped up in front of him.
[Dao Imparting Platform attributes: Host's Refined Qi Level is at 1, so with the Host as the center, the platform will randomly pull a total of three people within a 3,000-mile radius. Platform will start pulling now…]
After the message faded, a heavy feeling suddenly hit Lu Fan, and he drowsiness crept over him. This was obviously a side effect of having a point deducted from his Soul Strength.
A glow light appeared in front of Lu Fan's fatigued eyes.
The glow was bright and glaring, and it carried an attraction that was impossible to resist. It swallowed Lu Fan's consciousness.
***
In the capital city of Great Zhou...
Zijin Palace. A side hall in the imperial study.
Large and austere framed paintings and calligraphy hung on the walls, and bookshelves stood in neat, orderly rows. Large bamboo scrolls were stacked on some of the shelves, and there were ancient yellowing paperbacks as well.
Below every bookshelf sat a court official with his head down, quiet and still. They were very familiar with where everything was, and the moment they received instructions from the master of the study, they would immediately pick out the material requested and deliver it to the master with great respect.
In the middle of the study, an oil lamp flickered in the dim room.
A fairly young man wearing a long black robe sat cross-legged on the platform in front of a flat desk carved with dragons and phoenixes. A bamboo scroll was open on the table.
The words on the bamboo scroll were difficult to make out in the dim light.
The young man held a brush covered in a thick layer of ink, taking his time as he thought and wrote.
Suddenly, the brush in the young man's hand wavered, and he couldn't stop his hand from shaking. The ink started spreading all over the bamboo scroll.
His gaze defocused, and a loud chime next to his ear rattled his concentration.
The young man felt that something was wrong, and he opened his mouth to yell for his men to protect him.
But before he could say anything, everything went black.
...
Lu Fan opened his eyes.
He got up and looked around.
He was covered in a cold sweat, and for a moment, he thought he had transmigrated again.
The first thing he saw was the light-blue wisps of Spirit Qi flowing all around him, as if he had come to an immortal realm.
A system message appeared.
[First entry into Dao Imparting Platform. Please choose a Dao Imparting Title.]
This message made Lu Fan breathe a sigh of relief. So he was now within the Dao Imparting Platform.
But after the feeling of relief had passed, Lu Fan's eyes shifted slightly. He needed a title within the Dao Imparting Platform?
Was a title required to keep his identity a secret?
After thinking more about it, Lu Fan sighed. Since the system had already deducted a point from his Soul Strength, he had better follow its rules.
Dao Imparting Title… Lu Fan narrowed his eyes and thought about it for a while.
He had been a programmer in his previous life. He was extremely familiar with the internet and believed that as long as he had a computer keyboard, he could conquer the world. Choosing a title now reminded him of registering a username. It was as easy as having a meal or drinking water.
After a moment of serious consideration, Lu Fan touched his chin and said, "What about calling myself 'Moonlight Shines on Twenty-Four Bridges'? Sounds like an immortal type of name, right?"
[Title is not valid.] The system message popped up instantly, displaying these heartless words.
Lu Fan was speechless.
His expression froze.
Was this user name not... "fantasy" enough?
Lu Fan's face grew serious. "Then I'll call myself 'Where the Beauty Teaches Flute.'"
[Title is not valid. Host, please be serious.]
Lu Fan was taken aback.
This was a rare chance for him to do what he wanted, and it was also a chance to truly reveal his personality, but the system had rejected his input twice.
Lu Fan had no choice.
He had to choose a simple and easy-to-remember title.
The aim of having a title was to keep his identity a secret, and he was the man who was going to transform the world. Since his method of changing the world was essentially the same as an immortal's, Lu Fan decided to call himself a Great Immortal. How about Great Immortal Lu?
That sounded a bit too obvious. Since Lu could be spelled as Liu too, he thought perhaps he could call himself Great Immortal Liuliu or Great Immortal Liudao.
As expected, after he chose a much more proper-sounding title, the system didn't reject it.
Another system message popped up.
[Dao Imparting Title "Immortal Liudao" has been created. Please proceed to the Dao Imparting Platform.]
Lu Fan's lips twitched. What had happened to the "Great"…?
But before Lu Fan could open his mouth and protest, he felt everything become very clear in front of him.
Whoosh…
A thick cloud of Spirit Qi billowed, and a huge platform floated under the light blue fog of spiritual energy.
Lu Fan realized he was right in the middle of this platform.
Beyond the platform was unending darkness and emptiness.
The Spirit Qi was like water. It flowed down the side of the platform, much like a waterfall. The scene was very grand-looking indeed.
"So this is the Dao Imparting Platform?!"
Lu Fan's mind reeled in shock. There was so much Spirit Qi here. If he could absorb it, he would instantly become an immortal right then and there!
The amount of Spirit Qi in the Dao Imparting Platform was too much to be counted by wisps.
Unfortunately, after many tries, he realized he could only look at the Spirit Qi. He couldn't absorb it or use it.
So what was this Dao Imparting Platform able to do? Was it just a place with a lot of Spirit Qi?
He had spent one point of his Soul Strength to get in here. Surely he couldn't just be here just to window shop for Spirit Qi, right?
That would be such a pointless loss.
[The Dao Imparting Platform can help the Host create Secret Realms, merge cultivation methods, and create treasures.] The system answered his unspoken question.
Lu Fan couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
"Create Secret Realms? Merge cultivation methods? This sounds like a powerful programming tool."
Lu Fan started thinking again.
Maybe changing this Low-Level Martial World into a Fantasy World required more than just flooding the world with Spirit Qi.
He also needed the people in this Low-Level Martial World to feel the changes in the world and become powerful along with it.
There was a phrase that said that wherever there were people, there would be a martial arts world.
People had to exist first to form a martial arts world.
So a fantasy world was the same. Where there were people, only then would a fantasy world exist.
Since Lu Fan couldn't change the environment directly, he had to change the people first.
With this thought in mind, Lu Fan felt that he had found a solution to his worries.
Lu Fan took a tour of the Dao Imparting Platform. He hadn't noticed it earlier, but now he realized the platform was in the shape of the Eight Trigrams.
He was now standing right in the middle of it.
"Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen, Kun… These are the labels of the Eight Trigrams."
Lu Fan furrowed his brows as he looked at the labels engraved in the platform.
The Eight Trigrams, as seen in the I Ching, were supposedly the work of Fu Xi. They were important in Daoist Study.
The two opposites, Yin and Yang, as well as the four directions—after the traditional Eight Trigram labels had been moved and embellished by the Spirit Qi, they had become the Dao Imparting Platform he was standing on right now.
Lu Fan took a deep breath and suppressed the shock in his heart.
He hadn't studied the Daoist principles behind the Eight Trigrams much in his previous life, but it still excited him to see something familiar in this strange, new world.
Lu Fan was sitting right in the middle of the Yin and Yang symbol.
As his thoughts began to change, the labels started coming to life like little elves dancing.
But there was something more here than he had first realized. These labels weren't just for show.
Lu Fan looked hard at the dancing labels.
"There are twenty-seven labels in all," Lu Fan muttered softly to himself.
Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen, and Kun corresponded to Heaven, River, Fire, Thunder, Wind, Water, Mountain, and Earth.
Plus Yin and Yang, that made 18 labels.
There were also the numbers one through nine, the nine single-digit numbers.
A total of 27 labels.
He realized that these labels could be controlled and arranged according to what he had in mind.
He understood that, after rearranging the labels of the Dao Imparting Platform, he could create all sorts of sequences, and running these sequences would create a secret realm.
This felt unnervingly familiar!
Wasn't this freaking programming?!
Lu Fan was shaken.
This was his old job.
Unfortunately, the Dao Imparting Platform required him to give up points of his Soul Strength, and this was difficult for Lu Fan to accept.
Receiving points seemed to be a rare occurrence so far.
Lu Fan was deep in thought.
Suddenly, there was a change in the Dao Imparting Platform.
A few lines of text popped up in front of him.
[Yu Wenxiu (Identity: Emperor of Great Zhou) has entered the Dao Imparting Platform.]
[Xiang Shaoyun (Identity: Mayor of West County) has entered the Dao Imparting Platform.]
[Nie Changqing (Identity: Beiluo City Butcher Stall Owner) has entered the Dao Imparting Platform.]
What?
Lu Fan froze.
The Dao Imparting Platform would randomly pull three people in. He had known about this already, so he wasn't shocked about that.
What shocked him was the identity of the third person.
The first two were fine. One was the Emperor of Great Zhou, and the other was the Mayor of West County, so they sounded like pretty powerful people.
But the third one…
Why the hell had it pulled in a Beiluo City butcher?!