Transmigrated as a Stone, Starting at Hell Difficulty

Skeleton Mountain, White Bone Cave.

Qin Feng's consciousness awakened amid endless darkness and solitude.

How many times had it been?

The thousandth time? Or the ten-thousandth?

He could no longer remember.

Time was the most meaningless thing here.

He had transmigrated, yet it seemed he had not fully transmigrated.

Qin Feng was desperate. When others transmigrated, they were either princes and nobles, or useless trash who rose to greatness. Even at worst, they were living creatures.

But what about him?

He had become a stone.

An utterly ordinary, even somewhat ugly stone, rooted within the body of Skeleton Mountain. He could neither move nor speak.

The only thing he could do was use a thread of Spiritual Sense, so faint it was nearly negligible, to perceive the world around him.

And that perception lasted ten thousand years.

Over those ten thousand years, Qin Feng witnessed countless Demonic Beasts slaughter one another over territory. He also felt the sun and moon rise and fall, the seasons shift and change.

More often than not, there was only deathly silence.

Skeleton Mountain—just hearing the name made it clear this was no blessed Cave Heaven. The spiritual energy here was violent and impure, and ordinary living beings simply could not cultivate here.

If not for his unusual nature, he would likely have long since been burst apart by that violent spiritual energy and reduced to dust.

Loneliness was the only melody.

Powerlessness was the eternal accompaniment.

Qin Feng had even begun to think that he might remain like this forever, in the form of a stone, watching the Primordial World until the heavens grew old and the seas ran dry.

Until that figure appeared.

She was an incomparably beautiful female immortal. Clad in a green Daoist robe, she had a graceful figure and cool, delicate features that could not conceal her peerless elegance.

She did not seem to notice anything unusual about Qin Feng's stone form. She merely found the place quiet and settled in a cave dwelling not far from him.

That stay lasted several thousand more years.

Through fragments of memory, Qin Feng soon learned her identity.

An immortal of the Interception Sect, Niangniang Shi Ji.

An unlucky soul who would die an utterly miserable death during the Investiture of the Gods Calamity.

Her disciple would be killed by a brat, and when she went to demand an explanation, the brat's master would burn her alive with the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover. Her entire cultivation would vanish like flowing water.

Yet Qin Feng felt no sympathy for her at that moment. Instead, he felt an inexplicable closeness toward her.

After ten thousand years of solitude, this female immortal who had inadvertently entered his life brought a glimmer of light into his dead world.

Whenever she cultivated, her steady Dao resonance soothed the violent spiritual energy around them, bringing Qin Feng's Spiritual Sense a comfort it had never known before.

Sometimes, she played the zither to the empty valley. Its clear notes cleansed Qin Feng's heart, which had nearly twisted under ten thousand years of loneliness.

She was like a clear spring, watering Qin Feng's parched "heart of stone."

It could be said that Shi Ji's presence was what allowed Qin Feng to retain his last shred of sanity as a "human."

Qin Feng had even entertained an absurd thought. Perhaps quietly accompanying her as a stone would not be so bad.

However, peaceful days were always destined to be broken.

That day, an arrogant and domineering aura filled with scrutiny and disdain descended from the heavens, instantly shrouding the entire White Bone Cave.

Shi Ji, who had been meditating before her cave dwelling, abruptly opened her eyes. A trace of vigilance flashed through them as she looked skyward.

Upon an Auspicious Cloud stood a middle-aged Daoist wearing a Bagua Daoist Robe and holding a Fly Whisk.

The Daoist wore a proud expression and looked upon Shi Ji with contempt, as though she were some lowly piece of filth.

Qin Feng's Spiritual Sense instantly tensed as well, and a powerful unease surged within him.

This man had come with ill intent!

"This mountain has caught my eye."

The Daoist spoke. His voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable command, as if he were merely stating something self-evident.

Shi Ji slowly rose to her feet. A flicker of anger surfaced on her cool face as she clasped her hands in greeting. "What do you mean by that, Fellow Daoist? This mountain is called Skeleton Mountain. It has been my place of cultivation for several thousand years."

Her tone remained fairly polite. After all, they were both members of the Mystic Sect, and she did not wish to tear apart all pretense unless absolutely necessary.

Yet the Daoist seemed to have heard some great joke. His lips curled, and he sneered.

"You, a furred creature born from moisture and eggs, dare call yourself my Fellow Daoist?"

"Such a filthy place deserves to be called a Daoist sanctuary?"

Boom!

Those two sentences exploded through Qin Feng's consciousness like thunder.

An uncontrollable blaze of fury erupted from his heart of stone.

This was going too far!

This was simply going too far!

Furred creatures? Born from moisture and eggs?

Those were the deepest thorns in the hearts of Interception Sect disciples!

Yuanshi Tianzun looked down on the Interception Sect's principle of teaching without distinction. Naturally, his disciples followed his example and looked down on Interception Sect immortals at every turn.

But Qin Feng had never expected such discrimination to be so naked, so utterly undisguised!

What was more, those insults were aimed at Shi Ji!

The woman who had accompanied him for thousands of years, who had kept him from going completely mad in his solitude!

Shi Ji's face instantly turned deathly pale, then flushed with humiliated red. The hand gripping her sword trembled slightly.

"You!"

Her pearly teeth clenched tightly, leaving her too furious to speak.

"You what?" The Daoist's gaze grew even more disdainful. With a flick of his Fly Whisk, he pointed at Shi Ji. "I am Taiyi Zhenren, one of the Twelve Golden Immortals under Yuanshi Tianzun of Jade Void Palace on Kunlun Mountain!"

"If you know what is good for you, get out of here at once and clean this cave dwelling. I may yet spare your miserable life!"

"Otherwise, do not blame me for showing no mercy and wiping out your ten thousand years of cultivation in a single day!"

Taiyi Zhenren!

So it really was him!

The master of the true culprit who would kill Shi Ji!

Qin Feng's fury nearly burned through his Spiritual Sense.

So this was where it all began!

The curtain of that tragedy had already risen today, at this very moment!

Shi Ji took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the humiliation and rage in her heart. Her voice was ice-cold as she said, "Taiyi! You and I are both disciples of the Three Teachings, taught from the same source! Aren't you afraid of suffering Karma Retribution for acting this way?"

"Karma?"

Taiyi Zhenren seemed to have heard an even funnier joke and threw back his head in laughter.

"Hahaha! I am a direct disciple of the Heavenly Venerable, blessed with profound fortune and enduring destiny. Why would I fear the karma of a mere Spirit Monster like you?"

"Forget seizing your cave dwelling—if I killed you here today, the Heavenly Venerable would not utter a single word of reproach!"

His voice was filled with the arrogance of someone who had nothing to fear.

That confidence came from his background and his master. It was the superiority deeply ingrained in Chan Sect Golden Immortals when facing Interception Sect disciples!

"You... you traitor to your master and ancestors!"

Shi Ji trembled all over in rage. Unable to endure any longer, she drew her treasured sword and pointed it at Taiyi Zhenren.

"Looks like you won't give up until you see the coffin!"

Taiyi Zhenren's expression darkened, and Killing Intent blazed in his eyes.

"Fine. Today, I shall act on Heaven's behalf and rid the world of you, this Demonic Evil!"

Before his words had even faded, a terrifying pressure swept down from all directions and locked firmly onto Shi Ji.

It was power far beyond Shi Ji's!

Both were Grand Unity Golden Immortals, but Taiyi Zhenren was Yuanshi Tianzun's favored disciple. Whether in magical treasures, divine abilities, or foundation, he was far beyond Shi Ji, a mere "auditor."

Under that pressure, Shi Ji found even breathing difficult. Her face was as pale as paper, and her body swayed as though she might collapse at any moment. Yet she stubbornly held her back straight and refused to lower her head.

"Move!"

"Move for me, damn it!"

Qin Feng roared madly in his heart. He pushed his Spiritual Sense to its limit, desperately trying to shake this cursed stone body of his.

He wanted to rush out and stand before Shi Ji.

He wanted to point at Taiyi Zhenren's nose and curse that bastard who bullied others by relying on his power.

He wanted to tell that woman, cold on the outside and proud within, not to be afraid. He was here!

But it was useless.

No matter how hard he tried or how fiercely he screamed, this Stone Body remained utterly still.

He could only watch helplessly as Shi Ji was humiliated, oppressed, and pushed step by step toward the abyss of despair.

That feeling was ten thousand times more painful than ten thousand years of solitude!

What kind of hell difficulty was this?

Watching the person he wanted to protect suffer humiliation while being unable to do anything at all!

Extreme fury and extreme helplessness were like two invisible hands, viciously tearing Qin Feng's soul apart.

Why!

Why could those born noble trample upon the dignity of others as they pleased?

Why could those of extraordinary origin act without restraint and treat lives like grass?

I refuse to accept this!

An unprecedented obsession, a resentment powerful enough to break through Heaven and Earth, erupted from the deepest part of Qin Feng's consciousness.

"If one day, I can break free!"

"If one day, I can take human form!"

Qin Feng swore the first oath since his transmigration, and also the weightiest oath of his life, to his own soul.

"I will protect this woman through life after life, and she will never again suffer humiliation!"

"If Heaven oppresses her, I will defy Heaven!"

"If saints bully her, I will strike down saints!"

"This damned Primordial World, this damned fate—I, Qin Feng... will not accept it!"

Rumble!

As though answering his oath, an invisible Dao resonance quietly gathered in the depths of his Spiritual Sense.

That was his Dao Heart.

With protection as its core, unyielding defiance as its bones, and Defy Fate as its edge!

At the instant his Dao Heart condensed, a cold mechanical voice crossed time and space and rang directly in his mind.

[Ding! The host's intense obsession has been detected. Dao Heart stabilized. Conditions for system activation have been met...]

[Backing System, officially bound!]

[Newbie mission issued: Become Niangniang Shi Ji's backer and help her repel Taiyi Zhenren!]

[Mission reward: Chaos Undying Body!]