In the endless darkness, Li Huanxian consciousness emerged like a small spark in the midst of emptiness. He couldn't feel his body, only pure consciousness floating aimlessly.
"What is this? Am I dead?" he thought, confused.
Suddenly, a blinding light pierced his senses, followed by a heavy sensation pressing down on his body. He opened his eyes and found himself in a simple wooden room, with rough carvings characteristic of ancient culture.
"Where am I?"
He checked his body—small hands, skin rough from hard labor, and simple clothing indicating a low status. A mirror in the corner of the room reflected the face of a young man around fifteen years old, with sharp eyes and long black hair. However, that gaze did not belong to the original Xiong Huanxian.
In an instant, memories that shouldn't have been his flooded his mind. Xiong Huanxian, an orphan from the Xiong Clan on Qingmao Mountain. His parents had died in a clash with another clan when he was still a child, leaving him to grow up as a child without support, relying only on the clan's mercy.
"Qingmao Mountain... Xiong Clan..." The words escaped his lips without thinking. Soon, pieces of memories from the novel Reverend Insanity merged into his mind.
"This... is that world?!"
He froze. A world full of danger, where the strong devour the weak, and only power is respected. A world where Gu Masters fight for survival, and the fate of Qingmao Mountain was clear to him: destruction in the conflict between the First Generation of Gu Yue and the Lord Sky Crane.
Panic began to creep over him, but he forced his thoughts to calm. "I must survive. There's no other way."
However, there was a big problem: he was still not a Gu Master. Without an aperture, he couldn't use Gu and was even weaker than ordinary people. But his memories offered a glimmer of hope—the aperture awakening ceremony.
"Tomorrow... tomorrow is the aperture awakening day," he muttered. That meant he still had a chance to become a Gu Master. But one painful fact emerged: the success of the aperture awakening heavily depended on talent. If his aperture was poor, he would be stuck at the bottom forever.
With trembling hands, he decided to observe the situation calmly. Changing too much could disrupt the world's storyline. He didn't know what would happen if everything deviated from the original novel.
However, one thing was clear: He had to survive. He had to leave Qingmao Mountain before its destruction. And for that, he needed strength.
---
That night, he pondered his strategy. If his talent was low, he would adapt. He knew the opportunities ahead, the secrets even the greatest figures in this world hadn't uncovered. With the advantage of his knowledge, he wouldn't waste any opportunity.
But one question continued to haunt him: Would his actions change the future he knew?