As soon as his eyes opened, the system's voice thundered in Harun's mind, rewarding him with goodies. To say nothing of the Scripture Drafting Altar, for a plaguebringer, 100 poisonous herbs and a gradeless Golden Silkworm Jar were prime resources, and should have been put to immediate use by Harun. However, he quickly realized that he'd over-performed, landing him in a troubling spot.
[Sect Name: Unnamed Sect]
[Sect Master: Nameless]
[Sect Size: Hamlet]
[Outer Disciples: 0]
[Inner Disciples: 0]
[Elders: 1]
[Sect Ground Level: Nonexistent]
[Sect Path: Undecided]
[Reputation: Unknown Throughout Heaven and Earth]
[Overall Strength: Too Weak To Mention]
---
[Master's Name: Awaiting Selection]
[True Age: 165]
[Cultivation Method: Art of the Decaying Flower (thirteen-star Grade)]
[Cultivation Level: natal-stage of the Human Realm]
[Physique: Innate Blight Master]
[Path: Six Incarnations Bridge]
[Incarnation: Mythical Idol]
[Scourge Points: 2,506]
[Tribulation Bonus: 25,060%]
And this was precisely what left Harun speechless. A typical human reincarnation would land him in a pregnant woman's womb, enabling him to relive the traumatizing experience known as birth. But thanks to his Heart of Reincarnation being crafted on such abundant resources, Harun received the highest starting point possible: the Mythical Idol.
With that physique, not only could Harun boast a terrifying battle power, he could gather the faith of all those that worshipped him as Spiritual Incense to enhance his offensive and defensive abilities, and accomplish miracles. Granted, Spiritual Incense was a consumable, it could help Harun survive his upcoming tribulations. However...for that same reason, Harun was building attachment too fast. Each person whose worship he acknowledged became bound to his Karma. The Evergreen village numbered 147 people that now all worshipped him. Unless he started to reject their worship and prayers, within a few days, they'd all be firmly ingrained in his Karma—hurling him into the attachment stage.
At the moment, what Harun dreaded the most was rapid cultivation advancement. If he built attachment too fast, he'd have to enter the suffering stage and face his first tribulation. A tribulation 251.6 times stronger than what a Human Realm cultivator should endure. The result would be a catastrophic failure, no way around it. Harun needed time to prepare his countermeasures, cultivate Sovereign Essence, prepare formations and all he could get his hands on to survive that calamity. But at that time, the system's reassuring voice echoed.
"You don't have to be so pessimistic. The attachment stage is special in that there's a lower limit, but no upper bound to how much attachment you can build. As long as you hit 100, you step into the attachment stage. But even if you attach yourself to ten million, you won't have to deal with the suffering stage until you choose to." This was a big load of bullshit.
Each person represented a Karmic Link. Through attachment, Harun could connect to the minds and heart of the humans that became a part of his karma, and experience all they did. In the early stages, the experience was limited. But the more time passed, the more exposed Harun became. A person's mind could only take that much. Though the Mythical Idol Incarnation represented a peerless foundation, could Harun bind himself to the ongoing experiences of ten million souls and not go insane? Even if he could, with those numbers, the suffering stage would become his grave.
He had to slowly increase the count, find his limit, and avoid reaching it until he knew he could take the tribulation on. With a sigh, Harun suppressed his worries. Those 147 were, ultimately, far from his limit. He could accept that much.
For better or worse, Harun reincarnated with his Sovereign Pupils and, using the mystery of Life, he concealed them—preventing the news of his return from spreading.
"How much time did I spend in the Reincarnation Cycle?"
"165 years. The first reincarnation takes as long as your previous incarnation's age. But since you spent those 165 years unconscious, I can't add that to your True Age," the system replied. And hearing this, Harun was relieved. No matter how shocking his deeds were, 165 years was more than enough to return to the background. The 10,000 Sect War would rage on. Factions would fall, and in that bloody competition, the Son of Heaven would become history. At last, he could enjoy a moment of peace.
"Anyway, it's time for you to pick your new name, and name your second objective," the system said, but Harun ignored it, stepping into his Internal Cultivation Room instead. Two altars awaited him, the left one with a lilac-colored orb floating above, and the right with a black, blank book: Harun's Space World and Scripture Drafting Altar.
Ignoring the latter, Harun stepped into the Space World. There, Jiyan lay in a comatose state, sheltered by swirling golden light. Time in cosmic pouches and other hoarding devices flowed at a drastically lower pace than the outside world. On average, 100 years in the outside world represented 1 year in a cosmic pouch. This allowed the items to endure the test of time—following their owner across eons. Of course, such items couldn't cheat Heaven's Will and didn't protect from tribulations or provide any cultivation advantage.
But for Jiyan, this was more than enough. Though she still looked pale, Harun could see that the Incarnation Seed did its job. Now he had to do his. With a gentle smile, he left the Space World—returning to his Inner Cultivation Room.
"My first name will never change. From now on, automatically set it to Harun." The Harun name was fairly common. Toss a coin in the street and you could hit three. But even if it weren't, Harun would still keep it. As for the last name…
"Birusk. Harun Birusk," Harun said, and instantly, the system complained.
"Isn't that your previous life father's name? Aren't you giving him too much importance? Be…" the system was far from done when Harun's calm but chilling voice interrupted him.
"That is not for a parasite to decide. Do your job, and don't pry into what you shouldn't." The system thus realized that Harun had his taboos, and some words were best left unspoken.
"Second Objective, Initialization.
Description: Without unique skills to pass on throughout generations, a sect isn't worth the name, and cannot give its disciples a sense of individuality. Worse, the Divine Path is flawed, whereas the Six Incarnations Bridge isn't suitable for most. The host must use the Scripture Drafting Altar to develop a profound art, and from it develop a brand-new path for his future disciples. It must be at least stronger than the Divine Path, while remaining accessible to many," Harun set up the second objective, and for a moment, the system grew silent—appraising the requirements.
In truth, Harun wanted this to be the third objective. Right now, preparing the sect's holy land should be his priority. However, the circumstances spoke for themselves. Five a four-year-old's appearance, Harun couldn't go out to seek resources. He needed a strenuous enough objective that he could spend the next decade focused on it, and get that much time from the system.
Creating a new scripture and path were the most suitable options. Even if this was but the second objective, unless the system existed to make him fail, he'd at least get a few decades.
"Timeframe: 26 years.
Reward: Hundred Insect Altar," the system set up the time and reward, making Harun nod in approval. Though a bit stingy on the reward side, with the peerless talent provided by his Mythical Idol Incarnation, he definitely wouldn't need that much time.
Immediately, Harun summoned his Scripture Drafting Altar, and using the Art of the Decaying Flower as his foundation, got to work. As expected, thanks to their relentless worship, the 147 villagers became part of Harun's karma��boosting his cultivation while helping him grow his Spiritual Incense.
Feeling that this was as good a place as any, Harun condensed that Karma into a tree invisible to all but himself. Rooted in the soil, and connected by the villagers' hearts, that tree became his respawn point—turning the entire village into Harun's Karmic zone. From now on, regardless of where he reincarnated, Harun could effortlessly return to this village. But by setting up this Karmic Zone, he locked himself out of the Severing Path—bound to never give up any karmic link he forged.