The sixty-year cycle passed and the bell chime echoed from the highest mountain peak.
Carried by the wind, a sound foretelling of fortune and misfortune crossed rivers and mountains, alarming the common folk of the secular world.
In a few days, the Hermit Sect will start recruiting new disciples.
Throughout the Hermit Sect's outer, inner, and core areas—powerful auras rippled out as the Elders and Summit Leaders left seclusion.
They were going to start preparing to accept new disciples into their lines of inheritance.
The Hermit Sect was an all inclusive sect where each summit passed down an inheritance based on the Summit Leader's preference.
It could range from the auxiliary skills to the mainstream philosophies of the Dao—the Sect Master never restricted the disciples.
As the bell chimed for the ninth time, a certain white fox ran into the secluded courtyard on the Martial Summit.
After reaching the courtyard, the fox transformed into a young girl with long flowing white hair, fox ears, and a palace maid dress with wide sleeves.
She landed lightly at the courtyard's main gate and cleared her throat before announcing softly, "Elder Lu, the Summit Leader issued a summons!"
The voice was soft and ethereal as it crossed into the vacant courtyard.
Inside, a young man in bright azure blue robes was seated on a meditation cushion.
His expression as seven parts surprised and three parts suspicious, and just as he was inspecting his unfamiliar environment, the gentle voice reached his ears.
Elder? Summit Leader? Summons? Am I dreaming or something?!
Lu Mingyuan began to think.
As a superstitious person who believed in the fictitious facets of the world, he immediately attributed his current situation to two relevant factors— Reincarnation and the Afterlife.
His first thought was to imagine the expression of those atheists were they to go through a similar experience.
His second thought was regret! He had just about spent millions of dollars he won in the lottery to become the greatest whale in a pay-to-win RPG game.
Just as he was about to enjoy the fruits of his lavish spending by becoming the strongest cultivator, he stepped on the cables in his excitement and was fried to death.
It was such a pity!
His third thought was—where the heck am I?!
With timely divine intervention, the memories of his current body flooded his mind.
A few decades of life experiences neatly arranged themselves in his mind.
As it turned out, Lu Mingyuan was found near a lake by the current Summit Leader of the Martial Summit and brought back into the sect.
With his surprisingly great talent, he climbed through the ranks and became one of the youngest Elders.
While he was trying to sort out his current thoughts, the soft voice from outside disrupted his rhythm.
Lu Mingyuan contemplated for a bit and figured out how to embue his voice with a mystical spell.
"Alright," his voice drifted out, calm and composed.
Ding!
Synchronizing online data completed!
Lu Mingyuan was startled.
A blue screen and a user interface opened up in his field of vision! Two buttons were highlighted, blinking brightly.
Profile, Inventory and Shop.
Curious, Lu Mingyuan wanted to check the information because the interface was too familiar.
It was the interface for the RPG game he was playing before transmigration.
If his guess was correct, then the overpowered stats and items he spent millions of dollars to purchase were transmigrated over together with his soul.
Although he couldn't purchase cultivation base directly in the game, he purchased plenty of auxiliaries and tools that would make his cultivation journey a hundred, a thousand, or even tens of thousands of times easier than his peers.
Lu Mingyuan speculated that within a year, his account would climb from the bottom of the ranks to the peak of that game.
Now that he was in a cultivation world with those tools, he was looking forward to becoming an overpowered big shot.
However, Lu Mingyuan wanted some peace and quiet to sort through his gains, so he decided to push down on his temptations and answer to the summons first.
After making up his mind, Lu Mingyuan stood up and and smoothed out his azure blue robes.
He summoned a screen of water with a simple mystical spell to make sure his appearance was presentable, but he was stunned by his handsome looks.
For a moment, he stood there in a daze while touching his face all over.
"God damn," he murmured. "I'm such a lady killer!"
Going through his memories, Lu Mingyuan understood why.
Cultivators go through the seven stages of tempering the body and expelling the impurities during their early cultivation years.
If they managed to achieve success before they naturally grew old, they could maintain their peak healthy form.
As such, those with good genes are incredibly beautiful and aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
By his previous world's standards, Lu Mingyuan was unbelievably handsome, but he wasn't too special in the cultivation world.
After recognizing that he wasn't some special hot shot, Lu Mingyuan sighed and stepped out from the courtyard, relying on the sect's standard movement technique to glide through the mountain path.
…
Martial Summit's Main Hall.
Lu Mingyuan entered the hall. Already, over a dozen elders were seated on high back chairs around the hall, with but a few empty seats, including the main seat.
As a newly appointed elder, Lu Mingyuan didn't have the time to build connections yet, so no one as much as greeted him.
Well, some of them nodded lightly as a sign of acknowledgment.
Lu Mingyuan didn't care too much and moved to the chair with his name on it, taking his seat and closing his eyes to meditate as well.
He had plenty of memories to sift through, especially the previous mystical spells and martial arts his predecessor had mastered.
It would be awkward if his proficiency in those areas was to suddenly drop, as others might suspect something.
When everyone had finally gathered, the space in the main hall shook slightly and a stout middle-aged man in black robes appeared on the main seat.
Everyone stood up at once, and Lu Mingyuan was quick to follow the motion—clasping his hands in greetings.
"Summit Master!"