Chapter 1: Ch 1- Beginning
Inside a cluttered bedroom, a young man lay on a wooden bed.
"My head hurts so much!"
"I... am still alive?"
"Where am I?"
Mo Yuan’s chaotic thoughts slowly cleared as the memories of what had happened before surfaced one by one.
At the same time, a brand new set of memories merged with his soul.
"So... I transmigrated!"
This body was not his own.
He came from a parallel universe, but now it was the year 3026, an era known as the Primordial Qi Era.
In other words, he had arrived in another parallel world.
The Primordial Qi Era was also called the Cultivation Era or the Talent Era.
Mo Yuan slowly digested the information he had inherited about this world.
At the beginning of the twenty first century, countless Spatial Rifts suddenly appeared across Earth. Endless Beasts poured out from them, and humanity was instantly knocked off the top of the food chain, struggling to survive against these terrifying creatures.
At first, humanity tried to fight back with modern weapons. However, a mysterious energy appeared between heaven and earth. People later named it Primordial Qi.
The arrival of Primordial Qi completely changed the world. It disrupted the structure of modern weapons, making firearms useless. Even nuclear bombs lost their power.
Humanity was forced back into the age of cold weapons, but ordinary humans stood no chance against the Beasts.
Fortunately, the first wave of Beasts that entered Earth was relatively weak, giving humanity a chance to survive.
After years of research, scientists discovered that humans could absorb and use Primordial Qi.
That was when a brand new profession was born.
Cultivators.
By refining the body, absorbing Primordial Qi, and constantly breaking through human limits, ordinary people could become powerful Cultivators.
At the same time, humanity’s hidden talents also began to awaken.
The most common was Cultivation Talent, which determined how far someone could go on the path of cultivation.
Besides that, there were many other talents, such as Fire, Ice, Water, Wind, Lightning, and many more.
With these talents, humanity slowly gained the strength to fight back against the Beasts.
Even so, most of Earth remained under Beast control. Humans could only survive inside scattered survival bases.
Another strange thing was that Earth itself had expanded hundreds of times after the arrival of Primordial Qi.
"Primordial Qi? Talents? Beasts?"
"Did I seriously transmigrate into a modern Xianxia world?"
Mo Yuan took a deep breath. He still found it hard to believe.
In his previous life, he was just an average college student in the United States studying computer science. In his free time, he loved reading web novels.
He had read this kind of story countless times.
Portals appear.
Monsters invade.
People awaken powers and start cultivating.
"This shi is ridiculous."
Soon, however, his expression became serious.
"When the Spatial Rifts first appeared and Primordial Qi descended, a small number of humans awakened their talents overnight."
"Cultivation Talent is something everyone is born with, so it doesn’t need to awaken. But elemental talents and other special abilities can awaken later."
"The problem was that the people back then had weak bodies. They couldn’t handle the power released during talent awakening."
"According to historical records, countless people had their bodies burst apart during the awakening process. They either died or were crippled."
"It looks like the previous owner of this body died while awakening some unknown talent."
Mo Yuan was certain that the previous owner had absorbed an enormous amount of Primordial Qi before his body exploded.
"What kind of talent did this guy awaken to make his body explode?"
"Back then, it wasn’t uncommon for people to die during talent awakening because their bodies couldn’t handle the power."
"But for his body to explode like this... the talent must have been insane."
After sorting through both sets of memories, Mo Yuan finally examined his current body.
This body was fifteen years old.
It was the perfect age to begin cultivating.
Before fifteen, the body had not fully matured, making cultivation difficult.
Unless someone came from a powerful family with precious treasures that could force the body to mature early, almost no one cultivated before fifteen.
It could be said that fifteen was the golden age to start cultivating.
Once someone passed twenty without cultivating, even a person with high talent would have limited achievements in the future.
"At least I didn’t transmigrate into the body of an old man."
"Otherwise I’d really be finished."
Then his expression suddenly changed.
He remembered something important.
This body’s cultivation talent...
...was terrible.
Inferior grade.
In this era, Cultivation Talent was the most important talent of all.
It was divided into five known grades.
Inferior grade.
Secondary grade.
Standard grade.
Superior grade.
Peak grade.
Rumour had it there were talents even beyond Peak grade, but that was knowledge far beyond someone like Mo Yuan.
Every person who turned fifteen could buy a Talent Stone to test their Cultivation Talent.
Other talents required different Attribute Talent Stones.
The previous owner had excitedly bought a Talent Stone on his fifteenth birthday.
Only to discover that he possessed Inferior grade talent.
Then, before he could even process the result, his mysterious talent awakened and his body exploded.
"Aw hell naw..."
"Inferior grade talent?"
"This is the worst cultivation talent possible."
"There isn’t even hope of becoming an Origin Vessel."
The first two realms of cultivation were Origin Seed and Origin Vessel.
Origin Seed was more like a preparation stage than a true realm.
Origin Vessel was considered the first real cultivation realm.
A cultivator who reached that realm possessed at least one thousand jin(1) of strength.
The minimum requirement to become an Origin Vessel was Secondary grade talent.
Even then, someone with Secondary grade talent would likely spend their entire life stuck at the Early Stage of Origin Vessel.
Still, at least they had hope.
Even an Early Stage Origin Vessel was considered an important figure, someone far stronger than ordinary people.
But Inferior grade talent...
No matter how hard someone cultivated, they would remain an Origin Seed forever.
That was the cruel limit imposed by talent.
"Looks like I’m cooked."
Before Mo Yuan could think about what to do next, someone knocked on the door.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
"Brother, are you inside?"
A young girl’s voice came from outside.
Mo Yuan immediately recognized it.
His little sister in this life.
Mo Ran.
She was thirteen years old.
"This is actually crazy."
"First I get trash talent."
"Then I have a younger sister."
"And our parents are already dead."
"Am I the protagonist or something?"
Mo Yuan walked over and opened the door.
Standing outside was a cute young girl with bright eyes.
"Brother, how was your talent?"
Mo Ran asked curiously.
Talent was considered a person’s greatest secret.
Unless they were close family, asking someone about their talent was considered extremely rude.
After all, no one wanted others to know their true potential.
Someone with exceptional talent could even become the target of assassination if their abilities became public.
Things like that had happened many times before.
Because of that, asking about another person’s talent was almost taboo.
Mo Yuan forced a smile.
"Don’t worry. Your brother’s talent is pretty good."
"In the future, I’ll definitely become strong enough to take care of you."
His smile looked calm, but inside he was screaming.
’Holy shit... I’m beyond cooked.’
He wanted to cry.
He wanted to ask whatever God or Rob had sent him here to send him back.
This shi wasn’t funny.
Then...
His pupils suddenly shrank.
A translucent screen appeared before his eyes.
Human: Mo Ran
Cultivation Talent: Secondary Grade
Ice Talent: Standard Grade (Not Awakened)
A jin (斤) is a traditional Chinese unit of mass commonly referred to as the "catty" or "Chinese pound". In mainland China, it is standardized to exactly 500 grams (half a kilogram or 1.102 pounds).