My eyes snapped open to the sound of Fist upon Wood, the door violently being pounded on. I was already wide awake, my head snapping from side to side to check out the unfamiliar surroundings I found myself in.
The pounding on the door eventually stopped, thank god because any more of that and the door would have cracked.
Shortly after the banging had stopped, a shirtless man barged in, the prominent frown on his face instantly taking my attention. He looked to be of Chinese descent, around the age of thirty, and he likely followed a strict workout regime, cause his body was absolutely shredded. The man crossed his arms at his chest, looking my way with a frown still on his face.
If I was supposed to be impressed by the figure he cut, he would be sorely disappointed.
Okay, maybe I was a little impressed…
Still, this was a stranger I didn't know, and I was in a strange place as well, so I wearily stood up, closely watching the man for any sudden movements.
The man cleared his throat, and the frown on his face somewhat subsided, "Lin Mo, it's training time." He said gruffly, and not a moment later he turned around and began to walk out the door.
"Wait!" I hastily called out, taken by surprise at his words. Training? Was this some kind of slave camp?
"What seems to be unclear, surnamed Lin?" The man turned half his body, sending a piercing look towards me, his face nothing but stony seriousness.
"What seems to be unclear?!" I seethed, letting go of my emotions a tiny bit, but still keeping them under a tight grip, "Who the hell are you? And where is this place?"
As soon as I said that, the man's look turned outright murderous, and I prepared for an assault.
It happened in a second, I didn't even see the man move, then, the next thing that happened was my face meeting the hard wooden floor, all the while I struggled not to empty the contents of my stomach.
What happened? Did that son of a bitch punch me?
As I was trying to figure out what had happened, the man spoke in a gravelly voice, "You've been bestowed by the honour of being accepted as an outer court disciple to the Burning Heavens sect and you dare fool around? Did the beating yesterday cause you to turn retarded?"
The man berated me, and just as I was about to tell him to suck it, images started flashing inside my mind.
They were of a little boy, living a modest farmer's life with his parents. I saw, no, experienced as the child had his first crush, his first broken leg, his first feeling of losing a loved one, everything up until the point of his chance meeting with a cultivator.
This boy's name was…
"Lin Mo!"
I was brought out of my daze when the man - Bai Junfen - started shouting again.
Bai Junfen, a martial artist at the Third Stage of the Houtian Realm, an Elder responsible for combat training of the Outer Court Disciples. He was a nice fellow, but he tolerated no disrespect.
"On account of what happened yesterday, I'll let this go - but if it happens again I'll make you wish you didn't come out of your momma's cunt, you cunt!" And he had a vulgar mouth, casually spitting out profanities. To common people, Cultivators we're holy beings, regal and fierce, perfectly in-tune with themselves. Bai Junfen shattered the expectations most people had on Cultivators the moment he opened his mouth.
As to how I knew this?
Well, I think I've been Transmigrated, seeing as I have two sets of memories.
"Now stop licking the floor, I've come to personally teach you some combat moves so a repeat of last week doesn't happen again."
The events of last week he was referring to was the beating Lin Mo received from a band of bullies, which caused him to be bedridden for a whole week. He most likely succumbed to a heart demon or some other bullshit that was spewed in Xianxia novels.
Ding!
Memory absorption complete, System initialised!
Welcome User to The Awesome Cultivation System, have fun!
"Fuck's sake…" I muttered, staring darkly at the box floating in front of me.
"What was that?!" Bai Junfen shouted, his foot pressing down on my head. I grit my teeth, trying not to blanch at the words I was about to say.
"I can only blame my eyes that have failed to recognize Senior's giant raging Mt.Tai cock,"
...Just kidding.
"Disciple apologises to Honourable Elder, I have eyes but couldn't see Mt. Tai," I spewed some random bullshit people often said while pleading for mercy in Xianxia novels, hoping not to aggravate the OP maniac.
If my eyes weren't glued to the floor, I would have seen Bai Junfen's face become bewildered. But as it happened, I was too occupied.
"It shall be forgiven, now follow after me!"
That said, the following events we're pure hell…
---------
"Is this all you can do? No wonder you got beaten so badly! Wet toilet paper is more durable than you!"
Bai Junfen shouted while hitting me in the face with his palm. For the brief moment his hand made contact with my face, I felt the taste of skin on my lips, followed by a stinging sensation all across my face.
My heart beat wildly inside my chest, and thanks to the heat of battle I tuned out all sounds, focused solely on Bai Junfen.
Now, I've had my fair share of scuffles, enough to say I was a good fighter. Yet the difference in skill between me and the sadistic cunt we're night and day apart.
How long have I been here exactly? Probably less than an hour, and the first thing that happened was getting my ass handed to me on a silver platter.
Multiple times.
I took solace in the fact that this wasn't all for naught.
Vajra's Divine Body - Earth(III)
Proficiency: Body Refinement - Flesh Training - To next level: 120/2000
The window didn't say anything about the cultivation method, because it didn't have to. Somehow I had an innate knowledge on what it did. This was one of the most basic cultivation techniques within the sect, despite how grand it sounded.
All martial artists started their road with a body refinement technique. A martial artist's body was similar to a lake, and Qi was the water within. Every time a martial artist exhausted their Qi and pushed it past the limits, that was the same as digging in the lake and making it even deeper. This process made one's foundation more solid.
While in the The Body Refinement Realm, a martial artist laid the foundation for the next big realm, which was Houtian, whilst in the Houtian Realm you would lay the foundation for Xiantian, and etc.
That was basically cultivation explained for dummies.
That was the basic principle all martial artists went by when training. Yet I didn't have to do any of that, I simply had to get beaten around and my cultivation advanced.
"Wait… you've broken through?!" Bai Junfen suddenly exclaimed, his eyes bugging out of his head. He stared me up and down, and I felt as if his eyes pierced into my soul.
For a while, he stood like that.
Then, a smile broke out on his face, "Wondrous! Now you aren't a good-for-nothing useless scrub!"
"Thanks…" I muttered darkly, sore from all the beating. The sadistic cunt pulled his punches, bringing them down to a level where he matched my strength. Yet the difference in skill made up for it, and I had only landed a couple of punches and kicks on him. I doubt it was thanks to my own merit, he probably let me land them.
"We'll end this sparring session right now," Bai Junfen said, incredibly happy for some reason, "This will repeat once every week, until I find you good enough to meet the Sect's standards."
And before I could speak, he had vanished in a burst of speed.
"Huh…"
Now that Bai Junfen had left, I took a moment to look around myself. We were in one of many training fields, and as I observed my surroundings I truly noticed the difference between this body and my previous one.
I could probably see everything clearly up to a mile, my vision was so good that I could see an insect crawling on a leaf from metres away. And that wasn't the end of it - each breath I took was powerful, each exhale produced a strong gust of wind, and my muscles trembled with insane power - I was sure I could kill a mortal man with just a fist.
Putting that aside, I was finally alone. So I decided I should better familiarise myself with the System.
"Stasus," There was no tutorial, so I had to guess at what It's functions we're.
Name: Lin Mo
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Cultivation: Body Refinement - Flesh Training - To next level: 120/2000
Roots: Fire - Earth(I)
Attributes:
Strength 8
Endurance 7
Agility 5
Perception 4
Luck 34
... That's it?
A sigh filled with multiple emotions left my mouth
At least I have something, I consoled myself.
My whole body aching, I slowly limped back towards my hut.
In the sect, I was considered a servant.
There were the Core Disciples, which we're disciples that had an Elder of the sect personally teaching them, then there we're the Inner Disciples, which we're a group of talented individuals who got the best techniques and materials for cultivation - currently, there were around a thousand such disciples in the Burning Heavens Sect.
After that, there were the Regular and the Outer Disciples.
The difference was minor between the two, regular disciples got a better salary and better cultivation materials, and the outer sect disciples were lap dogs used to clean around and serve other disciples.
I wasn't satisfied with being someone's lap dog, then again I didn't want the heat that came with being a Core Disciple.
Core Disciples had expectations placed on them, and many Elders plotted against them, feeling that they're position was threatened.
I'd settle for being an Inner Disciple.
Quest Created!
Become an Inner Sect Disciple of the Burning Heavens Sect!
Rewards: Random Heaven Tier Martial Skill.
Failure: Expulsion from Sect.
Suddenly struck with a thought, I decided to check if I had any other quests.
Heaven-Defying I
Reach the Houtian Realm before you turn 16.
Rewards: Random Heaven Tier Spirit Cultivation Manual; Random Physique.
Currently, I only had two quests-
"What's an Outer Sect trash like you doing here?"
I turned around when I heard a sleazy voice beside me, instinctively raising an eyebrow,
"What's a dog like you doing walking around without a leash?"
The reply came on instinct, and I regretted it the moment I said it.
The guy in front of me was wearing an orange robe, which signified that he was an Inner Sect Disciple.
Which meant at least Third Stage Body Refinement or higher.
Outer Sect Disciples like me wore blue robes, the regular disciples wore Purple, and the Core Disciples wore Red.
Currently, I was qualified for the position of a Regular Disciple because of my cultivation, but I still hadn't been promoted, so I was two ranks lower than this pissant.
"Hoh? It seems you want to pick a fight?"
What would be the smart thing to do?
The rational part of my brain told me it was to not pick a fight…
"Hoh? It seems you have some brains after all!"
I didn't always listen to that part of my brain.