Chapter 4 Rebirth

Why did cultivators seek to reach the apex of cultivation so much?

Every cultivator had their own reasons for doing so. Some did it to protect their loved ones. Some did it to prove themselves worthy to another. Some did it to surpass a competitor. But ultimately, the reasons for cultivation weren't always this innocent. There were some—many, in fact—who cultivated solely for the reason of getting stronger. They didn't want to protect anyone. They didn't want to prove themselves to anyone. They didn't want to surpass any particular person.

They simply wanted to stand and reign above all else, at the true pinnacle of strength.

Xuan fell into this category. If there was any specific emotion that contributed to this desire, it would be called ambition, and perhaps a little bit of curiosity. With that in mind, right after his short conversation with Lan, he headed for the central doors—the front entrance of the sect, where he would soon depart from.

As he and the remaining other individuals in the courtyard passed beneath the hovering elders and sect master of the Sky Cloud Sect, Kernel, leading them, offered one final word of advice.

"… If you're setting out, I recommend waiting until tomorrow morning to do so. The sun has already fallen, so it will be difficult to get anywhere at this hour. The closest village is miles away. If you go through the doors to the right, you'll find a temporary lodging you can stay at for the night. Many others who made the same decision you did are also gathered there, waiting for morning to come. Of course, if you choose, you can also leave now, but… I would not suggest it."

From beside Xuan, an elegant girl with a contrastingly wild and fiery look in her eyes glared coldly at the man in the air.

"You're not going to try and convince us from leaving?"

Lionel Kernel closed his eyes and sighed. "Since you all are still standing here, it's clear you've made up your minds. Trying to convince you to stay any longer will only be an insult to your judgment, and while my opinion clearly differs from yours, I am in no place to judge your choices. You have the freedom of acting however you choose. However…"

He reopened his eyes, gaze penetrating and domineering.

"… The consequences are naturally also yours alone to bear."

The girl snorted in response at Kernel's words. "Hmph. Keep acting all righteous and generous as you want," she muttered, looking away and brushing past the man and the elders of the sect, her long and straight white hair trailing behind her. "In the end, all you government vermin are the same."

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She disappeared soon after, leaving Xuan to wonder what her problem was. It seemed she had some sort of a grudge with the government, but he couldn't tell if that was the United Nations specifically or some other government body. He could, however, tell just from how she walked that her footsteps carried the nimbleness of a cheetah, but also the strength of a lion.

This girl was a hunter—an especially skilled one, too. One who had experience in the wilderness, and could handle herself when push came to shove.

Perhaps that was why she was confident enough to venture out into the wilds like so despite it being nighttime, but if she thought the magic beasts here were going to be the same as the animals she hunted back on Earth, she was oh so very wrong. If it was daytime, perhaps she'd be able to find some normal animals out there, just like the ones found in humanity's old world, but during the night… venturing out there without proper knowledge and equipment was like asking for death.

Even Xuan himself didn't want to take such a risk, which was why he turned and headed for the right-side doors of the courtyard…

… Well, that was a lie.

It's not that he didn't want to take the risk of leaving now. In fact, he was fairly certain he'd be able to make it to the closest village, Cloudpeak Village, with no problem at all, but that wasn't his destination to begin with—there was nothing there of value to him. There was, however, something in the Sky Cloud Sect that may be worth picking up—and the path leading to it was straight through those right-side doors he had been instructed to go through.

Naturally, Xuan wasn't going to waste this opportunity. The item wasn't a necessary pick-up by any means, but since he was practically handed the option of retrieving it, only a fool would refuse.

Along with all the other individuals out of this batch who chose to forge their own path and become a lone cultivator, Xuan headed through the right-side doors of the courtyard and disappeared from the sight of the sect master, elders, and Kernel.

*****

- Meanwhile, In Another Reality: Chairwoman's Palace -

"The game has begun, chairwoman," a female servant said, bowing deeply.

"Perfect," the girl said, clapping her hands together from behind the scarlet curtains that veiled her large circular bed. "Any promising candidates?"

"About 70 percent of them chose to remain in Sky Cloud Sect, as it offers a life of riches without having to do anything in return," the servant replied. "They likely will not be suitable candidates."

"Tsk… no ambition. And the other 30 percent?"

"There are a few good seeds," the servant said. "The majority of them are past players of the game, so they already have some extent of experience and knowledge of the game's world and characters. In fact, nearly all who have played the game before chose the alternative path and left the sect."

"Eh? That wouldn't make it a very fair competition then, will it?"

"Indeed. However, I have already taken the freedom to make several… changes to the game. After all, it is no longer as simple as a virtual reality. NPCs will begin acting like real people with real personalities and memories, and conflict will surely arise as a result. Prior knowledge of the game will still help them, but not a lot. The possibilities opened up by the release on NPCs' sentiences are endless."

"I see. Good work. But you did leave the 'gift' I instructed, yes? For previous players, I mean."

"Yes. I have already taken care of that as well, though… no one will be aware of what the gift is until someone reaches the Core Formation stage," the servant said. "Not only that, anyone who left artifacts or secret arts around the world, excluding the ones they had equipped on their characters at the time of the reset, will not have their items erased from the world."

"In other words… so long as they remember where they stored their special treasures, they can obtain them again—that is, if someone else does not get to it first due to the aura they give off? Interesting… using this to create more conflict between players, and now the original 'NPCs' as well. Not bad, not bad at all. This princess is pleased. I look forward to how this game will play out. Continue to give me important updates. For now, I'll rest."

The servant bowed deeply, retreating away.

"Understood, Chairwoman. This servant will take her leave."

*****

- Xianxia Online, the Sky Cloud Sect -

Xuan, along with the others who made the same decision, walked down the path through the right of the courtyard. They were guided by a few female sect disciples, who appeared to be NPCs given their familiarity with this place, and judging from the talismans that hung from their waists, Xuan deduced the two were inner disciples—one rank higher than the plethora of lowest-rank outer disciples.

Though… calling them NPCs at this point would be incorrect. They were just like normal players and had access to all the functions players had. There were practically no discrepancies between a real player and a past-NPC now, apart from the fact that the NPC did not exist in the outside world. This meant that one could interact and talk with these NPCs just like if they were real people, but at the same time… that also meant said NPCs now possessed feelings, along with the right to remain silent when spoken to.

For instance, up ahead, a guy near the front of the group was busy trying to flirt with the two female disciples of the sect. The girls, however, looked like they were doing everything they could to hold back the urge to sock the man in the face. This right here was a perfect example of the aforementioned phenomenon—the NPCs' freewill. Of course, merely refusing to talk was not the limit of this, as demonstrated by what happened next.

"Yo! What are your names, young beauties?" The guy asked, flashing a self-believed handsome smile. "Can I get your numbers? Ooh, but you don't have phones in this world, right?" He snapped his fingers. "Damn! Well, that's okay—you two can just always be by my side, so there won't be a need to call you!" He winked playfully and pointed at them. "I'll treat you well, babes."

Despite his utterly dashing performance, the two girls did not seem impressed at all. What fools they must be to not accept this man's offer! He just said that he'll treat them well, and even called them babes! BABES! Clearly, this was a noble man of loyalty and honesty. Any woman who had the opportunity to be with him should truly consider themselves lucky, and yet these two girls appeared… disgusted?

"… Sister Chen, I know Elder Yun said to treat these people like honored guests, but… I am reaching my limit here."

"… I'll allow it. We can tell the Elder this: 'Elder Yun, Sister Han and I tried our very best to ignore this pervert's shameless flirting, but were ultimately unable to. Please forgive us for our trespassing, but in order to defend and maintain our purity as maidens, we were forced to resort to violence.' The elder is not an unreasonable man—he will surely understand our suffering, and overlook the incident."

"Very well. Since Sister Chen has given permission, then…"

The two girls suddenly stopped walking, and turned around to face the impressively shameless man. He smirked in triumph, as if pleased with his handiwork, and shut one eye charmingly.

"Well, babes? What's the matter? Fallen for me already? Come now, my face has two cheeks—you can each get one to kiss."

"Tch…"

The two disciples clenched their fists tightly, hate and disgust in their eyes, as they prepared their attack.

"The only thing your face is going to get…"

"… Is this!"

The two girls threw their punches simultaneously, almost impressively so. Their knuckles came into contact directly with the man's nose, breaking it instantly, and sent the man flying across the pavement, a mixture of blood and snot flying everywhere. Xuan and the other popcorn-enjoyers instinctively stepped away, making way for the airborne man-plane, right as he crashed face-first onto the hard concrete floor.

"… Sister Chen, you go on ahead and take the other honored guests to the temporary lodgings," the female disciple surnamed Hua said, cracking her knuckles with a cold, murderous look in her eyes. "I will finish this."

"… Alright. Remember, don't go too far."

"Don't worry, I won't. All I'll do…"

She suddenly slammed her foot down directly on the poor guy's second lifeline, causing the man to cry out in bone-chilling pain and sending a chill down the backs of all other males present.

"… Is make sure he never has another womanizing thought again."

At this, every male in the vicinity gulped and instinctively covered their crotches in protection, Xuan included. He couldn't estimate the two disciples' strength since he was lacking any cultivation himself, but generally speaking, inner disciples of the Sky Cloud Sect were at least at the Flowing Qi stage, the third level of the Mortal Transformation phase. If someone at that level were to hit a nobody with zero cultivation whatsoever… that would be like a black belt in karate beating up a 4-year-old kid. The girl surnamed Hua just now didn't seem to be holding back either, so…

'I can only offer you my condolences in advance for your future children's horrible deaths, dear fellow member of the male gender.'

Xuan, closing his eyes, muttered a prayer in his heart, before reopening them and turning to the other female disciple of the sect, Sister Chen.

"… Now then, the rest of you, please follow me."

She turned around and continued down the path without as much as a glance backwards, pretending as if what just happened was completely normal. In the distance, the sounds of a man's howls of agony resounded across everyone's ears as his symbols of manhood were crushed one by one, followed by apologies lined with tears.

Sadly, this was the truth of this world. There were far more ill-tempered cultivators than there were kind-hearted ones. In fact, most who pursue the martial Dao were quite violent, since one could not go far on the path of cultivation without a little bit of… violence.

Truth to be told, Xuan did not feel bad for the suffering man at all. He felt pity, sure, as a fellow male, but that guy had it coming for him, given how much he was pushing the line. The funny thing is, that guy looked like he was from some rich family too, given his well-refined blond hair and rich perfume scent.

It just goes to show—no matter who one was back in their old world, here in Xianxia Online, everyone restarted from zero. How rich and powerful somebody once was didn't matter—only strength did now. The strong triumphed over the weak, and the stronger devoured the strong. That was the ultimate law of this world, and one would do well to remember that.

*****

Soon, Xuan and the others were led to the temporary lodgings of the Sky Cloud Sect, formally known as the Guest area. The layout was similar to that of a quadrangle architecture from ancient times—a central rectangular courtyard surrounded by three wide one-story buildings. In a sense, it was similar to the main lobby of the sect where they had just come from, just much smaller in scale.

"Here are the temporary residences you all can stay at for the night, honored guests," the girl surnamed Chen said with a polite curtsy. "Three of you can take this quadrangle, while the rest, please continue following me."

Three members of the group broke off from the rest and entered the quadrangle, each taking up the residence on one side. The rest continued moving, and after a minute or so, they arrived at another near-identical architecture. The same process was repeated a good couple of times, until at last, only Xuan and one other person was left.

"The remaining two of you can stay here," Sister Chen said, bowing. "When Sister Hua brings that perv- I mean, that other honored guest here, he will also be staying at this place. I hope you do not mind."

"All good," said the person standing beside Xuan, a young man with a wide, stout figure, folding his arms. "It's not like he's going to lust after our bodies, after all, haha! Unless he swings both ways, in which case… ahem. What about you?"

He turned to Xuan, who had been busy staring off into the distance. These words, however, managed to snap him back to reality, and he closed his eyes before speaking.

"Since this brother has no qualms with this, naturally I do not as well."

"Huh… the way you talk… you're a past player as well?" The other man asked, arching an eyebrow. "And one who has spent quite a bit of time over in this world, too…"

"Ah, no," Xuan lied, shaking his head. "I played a bit, yes, but I unfortunately did not have the time to invest too deeply in it. This dialect of mine mainly comes from reading lots of Eastern Fantasy web novels and manhua."

"Oh, I see. A chunni, then! Haha, a shame you didn't play this game a lot—you would've loved it. Anyway, since we're living together here now, even if it's only for a night, I guess it can be called fate. My name's Kuang Ming. What about you, little brother?"

"So it is Brother Kuang," Xuan said, forming a respectful martial greeting with his hands. "This one is simply called Xuan."

Nobody knew his past identity as 'Xuan', so there was no need to use a fake name here. If anything, Xuan was a fake name, in a sense—after all, in this world. 'Zero' was his true name. Only a select few people knew him as Xuan, and all of them were NPCs—not to mention he couldn't be the only one named Xuan in the entire world.

"Xuan… huh, alright. It's not everyday you come across someone with only one character in their name," Kuang Ming noted to himself, before flashing Xuan a good-hearted wink. "Want to set off together tomorrow morning? Since you didn't play very much, I imagine you aren't too familiar with this world. I'm no veteran myself, but I do know this beginning area pretty well at the very least. It's really easy to get lost if you don't know what you're doing, and with all the dangers, it'd be best to have a guide helping you out."

"I appreciate the offer, but I prefer working alone," Xuan said calmly, shaking his head.

Kuang Ming blinked. "You sure? Don't worry, I don't charge. You don't have anything right now anyway."

"You misunderstand, Brother Kuang," Xuan corrected, red eyes steely and cold as he stared straight into the depths of the other man's pupils. "I'm not refusing because I don't trust your character. It's just that I really work better alone, and am already used to it. Don't take it personally."

At that, Kuang Ming froze for a brief moment. He suddenly felt a lone bead of sweat trickle down his neck, and he gulped in fear as he was engulfed in the immense darkness emanating from Xuan's body. It felt like the bloodlust and raw aura of Death within the atmosphere was threatening to consume him whole, and those few seconds in reality turned into what seemed like eons for Kuang Ming.

"… Is something the matter?" Xuan asked after a period of silence, and the other man snapped back to reality. He quickly recomposed himself, and gave an awkward laugh.

"Oh, no, not at all! Haha, well, if little brother insists, then this Kuang won't push the matter any further," he declared, scratching the back of his head. "Good night, Xuan!"

"Good night, Brother Kuang."

Kuang Ming immediately turned around and headed into his own residence across from Xuan's, eager to get away from the younger man. He didn't exactly know why he was doing this either—it was more of an instinct than a conscious thought. For some reason, a voice in his head told him that if he continued to press the matter, he would suffer a fate worse than death.

'Strange… we're all just newbie players with no cultivation right now, so… just now, why did I feel like I was being stared at by an unfathomably powerful existence?'

Shaking his head, Kuang Ming perished those thoughts and closed the doors behind him, still shuddering in fear.

Outside, the girl surnamed Chen narrowed her eyes a bit, having bore witness to the entire conversation. She'd noticed Kuang Ming's slight moment of fear and despair when speaking to Xuan, as well as his eagerness to escape the situation. It could just be a misjudgment on her part, but… this was still too strange to let go. She decided to report the matter to Elder Yun later, and left with that in mind.

After she disappeared, Xuan headed into his room, let out a sigh, and berated himself slightly in his mind.

'I accidentally let out my Transcendent aura there… a mistake.'

Of course, it was not a real Transcendent aura—he had no cultivation as he was now. However, having once been a Heavenly Transcendent stage master, his very personality exerted a certain amount of dominance and influence, even without the energy fluctuations that were supposed to accompany it to form a real Transcendent aura. If he was truly at that stage right now, he could contain the aura easily when he so chose, but just now, he'd accidentally let it slip out in his gaze, since he really wanted to act alone.

'Well, whatever. What's done is done. I have more important goals in mind… but now is not the time.'

He needed to wait a few more hours, until nearly everyone in the sect was asleep. That would be the best time to act. Guards would still be active and patrolling, of course, but guards were the least of his worries when it came to the place where he wanted to go tonight. If the loophole he'd left behind in his previous life was still here, then no guards or barriers were going to be able to stop him.

The chances of it still being here were unlikely, since it's highly probable that the entire world went through a 'reset' of sorts to wipe out players' possessions and return owned locations to a neutral state. But even so…

… Well. It was worth a shot, if nothing else.