“Failure will result in being struck by flying swords and nailed to death.”
“Success will grant a reward, as well as qualification to enter the second half of the competition.”
“Begin!”
The progress bar finished loading at high speed.
The entire world fell into silence.
The freak was leaping high in midair, the longsword in his hand only one centimeter from the tip of Xu Yuan’s nose.
But everything had stopped.
Xu Yuan only felt that even his breathing had become incomparably slow.
He wanted to raise his hand, but couldn’t.
He wanted to move, but couldn’t move at all.
The heavy, stagnant void began to squeeze his body with intense force, as if rejecting him.
“Ah—”
Xu Yuan was suddenly “squeezed” out of this spacetime.
In an instant.
The entire gymnasium and the six-armed monster were like scenery outside a train window, racing backward and swiftly receding until they could no longer be seen.
He only felt himself shuttling through a dark ocean abyss at a speed beyond imagination.
Perhaps it was an incomparably long stretch of years; perhaps it was only the snap of a finger.
At a certain moment.
A line of faintly glowing small text silently appeared before his eyes:
“Current time: three days ago.”
Xu Yuan only felt his speed slow down. In its place came waves of an increasingly urgent sensation of falling.
Light began to appear.
—It was the incandescent lamp above a classroom,
then the blackboard, the lectern, desks and chairs, and people.
Xu Yuan abruptly raised his head and discovered that he was sitting in a classroom, holding an exercise workbook in his hand.
All around him were classmates with their heads buried in study.
His deskmate had his head tilted back, asleep.
Outside, the sky was dark.
It was precisely the time for evening self-study.
—It was three days ago.
He really had gone back to three days ago!
What about the shop?
He glanced toward the void.
The shop immediately opened, manifesting as the “Apprentice Qi Refiner’s Combat Preparation Room.”
The shelves were still completely empty.
There was only a black box, on which was written: “Gift pack has been issued. Open?”
—Why the hell didn’t you issue it earlier!
This guy had already crossed back three days, so late that he hadn’t even gotten to fight!
“Open.”
Xu Yuan sighed regretfully and silently said.
The black box immediately opened.
Inside the box were a blank slip of paper and a dim silver ring.
A slip of paper…
This could count as a reward?
With a thought from Xu Yuan, the slip of paper appeared in his hand.
At the same time.
A line of faintly glowing small text quietly appeared on his retina:
“You have obtained ‘Blank Historical Branch.’ Please write down your wish. This branch will immediately be established.”
Xu Yuan’s heart jolted.
He had played all sorts of games before, so the moment he saw something like “write down your wish,” he immediately understood the weight of this slip of paper.
Could it be—
This was actually a special item that “granted wishes”?
Then he’d made it big!
He steadied himself and looked left and right. Seeing that all his classmates had their heads down working on problems, he took out a pen and wrote his wish on the blank slip of paper:
“Please grant me one hundred wishes.”
The moment he finished writing, all the small text vanished.
The slip of paper remained blank.
A new prompt swiftly popped up on his retina:
“Please write down a realistic wish within 30 seconds, or the slip of paper will disappear.”
No way!
Are you angry?
Xu Yuan sighed, his expression somewhat bleak.
It couldn’t even grant one hundred wishes.
—Life was thorns every step of the way!
Then what should he write?
There was nothing else to write.
Only—
He picked up the pen and wrote four words:
“Improve my strength.”
That should be fine!
A cultivation world was absolutely a world that valued strength.
This could be considered standing upon the main theme of the world. There shouldn’t be a problem!
Xu Yuan put down the pen and stared at the slip of paper.
This time.
The words on the slip did not disappear.
Beneath the four words he had written, “Improve my strength,” line after line of new small text rapidly appeared:
“Historical branch established.”
“This historical branch was born from your will and has not affected anything that occurred in the past era.”
“Congratulations.”
“You have obtained an unknown personal history:”
“Starting from middle school, you hid it from everyone and studied and trained with all your might.”
“You once breathed and refined qi alone at midnight;”
“You also once shed sweat in the training grounds at four in the morning;”
“The sole witness, Yang Xiaobing, hid in the shadows and silently observed all this, yet kept it secret.”
“Until now, at this very moment unknown to all others—”
“You have already broken through to the first level of Qi Refining.”
Once all the small text finished displaying, the slip of paper disappeared.
Xu Yuan’s heart shook violently.
What!
There was a way to improve strength like this?
He suddenly jumped up, gave a low shout of “Stomachache,” then, under his classmates’ astonished gazes, ran out of the classroom.
Like a gust of wind, he ran into the restroom at the end of the corridor, found a stall, and locked the door.
It had begun!
A constantly flowing, vibrant power quietly appeared within Xu Yuan’s body.
“This is…”
He raised his hand.
Following his will, his five fingers began to emit a faint glow.
Spiritual power!
He had spiritual power now!
At the same time.
Countless images surfaced in his mind.
The diligence and hard work of every day over the past several years.
Reciting texts while walking, reciting texts while eating, reciting texts even while going to the bathroom; the countless sword swings on the training grounds; the persistent breathing cultivation in the dead of night—
These memories surged in like a tide, turning real, as though if he turned his head, he could see the road he had come from.
Xu Yuan closed his eyes, then opened them again.
The entire world became clearer before his eyes.
Without looking, relying only on feeling, he could sense the movements around him.
His body was light as a swallow.
His hands held the strength of a thousand jin (not really).
A mysterious force circled in his lower abdomen. As long as he moved his will, it would rush out, responding as easily as his own arm.
Could this be…
the legendary…
chakra?
Pah, pah, pah, wrong set.
However.
This was spiritual power!
—It was the wondrous essence of this world.
Xu Yuan thought for a moment, walked out of the stall, gathered spiritual power into his feet, and tried walking toward the wall.
One step.
He didn’t fall.
Two steps.
Still didn’t fall.
Three steps, four steps, lifting his head to gaze at the sky, watching stars one by one connect into lines.
Stop!
This wasn’t the occasion for singing!
Xu Yuan walked a few more steps and stood directly on the mirror above the sink. He turned around, stuck both hands into his pockets, and gave a whistle.
The mirror surface was smooth.
But he simply didn’t fall.
This kind of power…
As long as you weren’t wearing a skirt, it was simply perfect.
Quiet.
Quiet.
Silence—
A marvelous and unbelievable emotion surged in Xu Yuan’s heart, to the point that he didn’t want to say another word.
Many techniques, once infused with spiritual power, would also unleash power as different as clouds and mud!
—When the leaves of Konoha dance, perhaps I could take a Zanpakuto and go search for the One Piece upon the sea.
Life would be completely different from now on!
This feeling of being remade from head to toe gave Xu Yuan the thought that “everything before this had been lived in vain.”
“This is only the first level of Qi Refining. If I keep improving…”
He murmured softly, his heart growing fervent.
Ever since crossing over, he had either been nailed to death by swords or frantically fighting gun battles.
He hadn’t even had time to carefully examine the original body’s memories.
In fact.
In this world, cultivators were quite eye-catching existences among the masses.
They were not only powerful, but true super-first-rate celebrities!
What livestreaming influencer hawking products could compare to a man flying on a sword?
What female celebrity could be mentioned in the same breath as a woman who could manipulate water, fire, and the five elements, and remain youthful forever?
Precisely because of this.
The humans of this world worshiped martial power very much.
Schools of every level strengthened physical education from a young age, and society also had various graded combat tournaments.
—Xu Yuan felt that this was also why the original body’s constitution was good.
Having said that.
A tiny slip of paper had actually let him break through to the first level of Qi Refining!
And he hadn’t done anything at all!
How damn bizarre. It could actually “add history” directly!
—Could he do it again?
Xu Yuan looked toward his shop, only to see that its name had already changed.
“Qi Refiner’s Combat Preparation Room.”
—The two words “Apprentice” had been removed.
The black box was still there.
The blank slip of paper had vanished, but there was still a dim silver ring.
With a thought, Xu Yuan took out the ring.
“Ring of Final Enlightenment.”
“One of the ?? Set (1/2).”
“Effect: Increases cultivation speed by thirty percent, limited to the Qi Refining stage.”
“Obtaining the other piece of equipment in the set will activate the set effect, as well as the corresponding identity inheritance.”
“—At the proper time, the ring will guide your direction.”
Identity inheritance!
What the hell was that?
Xu Yuan searched the original body’s memories for the meaning of “inheritance.”
Generally speaking.
Only those powerful, secret skills would be named “inheritance.”
In that case, it should be able to directly improve his combat strength.
Then he absolutely had to get his hands on it!
Xu Yuan slipped the silver ring onto his finger and waited for a moment.
The ring showed no movement.
It seemed that right now was not the “proper time.”
Fine then.
He’d return to the classroom first.
He walked down from the mirror, turned on the tap and cleaned the mirror surface, then left the restroom and returned to the classroom.
His classmates were all busy working on problems.
Only one or two people looked up at him, then lowered their heads again and continued writing exercises.
Xu Yuan returned to his seat, slowly calmed down, and felt the tense and oppressive study atmosphere in the classroom.
Senior year, huh? That was how it was.
Even if he had awakened spiritual power, if he didn’t know how to use it, that wouldn’t do either.
He needed the corresponding knowledge system to bring out the effects of spiritual power!
All right.
—Study hard and get into university!
This was youth!
Xu Yuan resolutely looked toward the blackboard.
On the right side of the blackboard was a line of large, vigorous characters:
“191 days until the college entrance examination.”
A familiar sense of urgency.
Almost by reflex, Xu Yuan flipped open the notebook on his desk.
This was a senior-year “Alchemy” exercise workbook. On it was written a thinking question:
“Your alchemy furnace is 12 meters long, 8 meters wide, and 6 meters tall. If a cube with side length 3 meters is cut off from one of its corners, what volume of medicinal liquid can the remaining portion contain?”
“If, during the alchemy process, water qi added at the ‘Kan’ position exceeds the standard by threefold, the infused astral wind is twice as much as the water qi, and the measured amount of Li fire is another 4.2 times greater than the astral wind, will your pill furnace explode?”
“—Please answer according to the Third Law of Full-Efficiency Operation of Pill Furnaces.”
Xu Yuan went numb for several breaths, then snapped the exercise workbook shut with a smack and closed his eyes.
Who the hell came up with this question?
No—
I’ve already crossed over, so why do I still have to attend senior year?
How about just hanging me back on the bridge instead?