Inside the bedroom of a modest apartment, a teenager could be seen sitting at a desk surfing the internet on his laptop.
Ding!
Hearing the ringing of his phone, the teenager, whose name was Li Jing, took out his smartphone from his pocket and smiled widely when he saw the message on the screen.
He just received a notification informing him that the last chapter of his favorite web novel was released!
The web novel "Rise of the Immortal Cultivator" told the story of Teng Fen, a cultivator who has lived for hundreds of thousands of years and stood at the apex of the Immortal World. Unfortunately, before reaching the Heavenly Saint realm, Teng Fen was betrayed by the person he trusted the most and died. However, he was given a second chance and reincarnated in the body of a trash young master of a clan who had the same name as him.
Although the plot was very cliche, this web novel was extremely popular thanks to the work of the author around it.
Indeed, the author had his own website and often published artworks and mini-stories of the different characters. He also published interactive world maps as well as a lot of other information that contributed to reinforce the world-building such as detailed pill formulas or array formations used in the story.
Thanks to this, the web novel gained a huge fan base and everyone talked about it in the social networks. Li Jing was really addicted to this web novel and followed it since it started a few years ago.
Finally, after five years and more than two thousand chapters, the final chapter of the story was released.
Without hesitation, Li Jing directly accessed the author's website and clicked on the link to the final chapter.
However, before he could start reading it, he heard someone calling him.
"Jing'er, I have no more oil to prepare dinner. Can you go to the convenience store to buy a bottle, please."
It was his mother who called him from the kitchen.
'What? Not now!' He thought, furious.
It was really bad timing. Li Jing absolutely wanted to read the last chapter right now. His mother could wait for a little, right? It will only take him a few minutes to read the chapter.
"Alright, give me five minutes." He shouted.
Well, more like ten minutes, but it didn't matter.
Li Jing lied on his bed, his laptop in his hands, and started reading.
For him, there was nothing more relaxing than reading his favorite web novel while lying on his bed.
His attention was entirely focused on his computer screen when his mother suddenly entered his bedroom and yelled at him.
"Not in five minutes, I need it right now! We are receiving guests tonight… You're still on your computer? You're already seventeen, you should really stop with your mangas and video games and start growing up! We already had this discussion many times before." She exclaimed.
Dissatisfied, Li Jing heavily sighed. He stood up and looked at his mother.
'Mom, you can't understand… Reading mangas, web novels, and watching animes are the only distractions in my boring life.' He thought.
Obviously, he will never tell her this. He just answered her his traditional "yeah, yeah, I understand".
Actually, he knew why his mother reacted like this. She often told him that she was a popular girl back when she was in high school, so she had a hard time accepting the fact that her son was a shut-in otaku. But still, he found her annoying because instead of accepting him the way he was, she always tried to change him. Even his father, who was a cop, was not as strict as her.
Li Jing's mother crossed her arms. Judging by her expression, she didn't seem convinced by her son's answer. Frustrated, Li Jing closed his laptop and put on his shoes. Only then, she left his room.
Once she left, Li Jing smirked. He immediately lied down on his bed again and started reading the chapter.
A few minutes later, a large grin could be seen on his face. The ending was perfect, exactly as he had imagined.
Although he was a bit sad that his favorite web novel was over, he was also very satisfied.
"Wow, now I can die in peace, hehe. If only I could reincarnate in a cultivation world like those protagonists..." He said, jokingly.
Li Jing stood up from his bed, he was now ready to buy the bottle of oil for his mother.
However, before he could leave his bedroom, he suddenly felt a heavy pain in his chest.
It was like his heart was about to explode! He gasped for air and pressed his hands against his chest but the pain was growing stronger and stronger.
He tried to scream, to call for help, but no sound came out of his mouth. He was completely powerless and felt his life abandoning him.
'What the hell is going on?' He thought, panicked.
Li Jing fell to the ground and after a few long and painful seconds, everything around him became darkness as he lost consciousness…
…
The sun slowly rose from the east, its rays shone down on the majestic White Jade city.
The White Jade city was the capital of the Sky Jade Kingdom, it spanned several hundreds of kilometers and its proximity to the Dark Forest made it a rich and prosperous city.
The kingdom was led by the royal family as well as four powerful clans of cultivators known as the four Great Clans: the Li clan, the Hong clan, the Zhao clan, and the Teng clan.
These four clans existed since the foundation of the kingdom, more than five thousand years ago, and were in constant competition to determine which clan was the most powerful through many tournaments organized between the younger generation.
Among the four Great Clans, the Li clan was definitely not the most powerful. However, it was doubtlessly the richest. The clan was the owner of the Heavenly Pill Pavilion, the most famous alchemist shops in the Sky Jade Kingdom. The Li clan had many genius physicians and alchemists, it was therefore very respected by the other clans and the royal family.
Inside a large bedroom of one of the courtyards of the Li clan, a young boy about fourteen years old could be seen lying on a bed. No one could tell if he was dead or alive.
This boy had mid-long black hair, thick eyebrows, and a long nose. His fair face exuded maturity and refinement despite his young age. If one had to describe him in one word, it would undoubtedly be the word handsome.
The young boy slowly opened his eyes, revealing a pair of deep black eyes, and seemed confused for a moment.
He looked to his right, then to his left. A shocked expression could be seen on his face. He didn't recognize the place he was in!
'W-Where am I?' He wondered, a little panicked.
He tried to remember the last thing he did in order to understand how he ended up in this place.
'The pain in my chest… Was that a heart attack? Did I die?'
He thought that even if he survived, he should be in a hospital room now, not in an ancient-looking bedroom.
This room had ancient wooden furniture and beautiful paintings on the walls. He only saw this kind of room on TV!
This young boy was indeed Li Jing.
As he sat on his bed, Li Jing suddenly noticed that his hands were smaller than usual, not only his hands but his whole body has changed!
However, before he could panic, strange and unfamiliar memories started to flood his mind, causing a strong pain in his head.
The pain was so strong that he had to grab his head with his hands and grit his teeth to avoid screaming.
Thankfully, the pain didn't last long. Once it finally stopped, Li Jing started to breathe heavily and a dumbfounded expression could be seen on his face.
"No way, I transmigrated in a cultivation world!" He exclaimed.
He was sure that it wasn't a dream, the pain he felt a minute ago was real.
Although he has always wished that something like that would happen to him, he had never imagined that he would really transmigrate one day. After all, this kind of situation was supposed to happen only in fiction.
'How is this possible? Who sent me to this world? And why me? I'm just a nobody, I'm nothing special.'
He didn't have the answers to these questions. He didn't even know if he should feel happy or frightened. This whole situation was completely surreal for him. However, he couldn't help but feel excited. He always wanted to have an exciting life. Now that he had this chance, it was not the time to act like a coward, he had to take this opportunity and work hard in order to become the strongest and reach the apex!
'But first, I must understand my current situation.'
Li Jing closed his eyes and focused. He then started to explore his new memories.
This world was a cultivation world known as Mortal Martial Continent. In this world, cultivators could absorb the spiritual energy from heaven and earth - also called Qi - to become stronger and increase their lifespan.
Here, the strong ruled over the weak. It was truly a dangerous world.
He transmigrated in the body of a fourteen years old boy who had the same name as him. This Li Jing was the only son of the current leader of the Li clan, Li Bai.
His father, Li Bai, was not only a powerful cultivator, but he was also a 3-stars alchemist. In the whole kingdom, there were only two 3-stars alchemists!
But although the original owner of his body was the young master of the prestigious and powerful Li clan, he never acted like an arrogant young master. On the contrary, he studied and trained hard since he was a little child to meet his father's expectations.
'Not bad! This kid's life is not bad at all!' Li Jing thought, smiling.
Li Jing tried to find in his memories how the previous owner of his body died, but he didn't find anything.
'Then, how did he die? Did I kill him by taking over his body? Or did he die during his sleep?'
He didn't know what killed him, but he was sure that he was not murdered so he decided to not think about it for now.
As Li Jing continued to browse his new memories, the smile on his face slowly disappeared, replaced by an astonished expression.
'What?? No… That's impossible! Am I in the world of the web novel "Rise of the Immortal Cultivator"?'
There were too many similarities to be just a simple coincidence. Be it the name of the different places, the name of the different clans and sects, the cultivation realms… Everything was the same. But more importantly, the young master of the Teng clan was called… Teng Fen! The main character of the novel.