Martial Dao Was Too Cutthroat—I Had a System!

"Li Yun, let's break up!"

On the bed, the newly awakened Li Yun looked at the woman before him, utterly bewildered.

"I know you're unwilling to accept this."

"But this is reality."

"Before, I had no way to resist the marriage agreement our parents made for us. But now that I've come to the Celestial Martial Sect, I want to take hold of my own life."

"Senior Brother Liu has already promised me that as long as I follow him, he'll provide me with resources and help me achieve Acquired to Innate Reversal in the future. I don't want to miss this chance."

"I also hope you won't resent me because of this, much less do anything extreme. People simply cannot be compared to one another. If you offend Senior Brother Liu in the Celestial Martial Sect, you won't have any place to stand at all. You'll only bring humiliation upon yourself."

"Think it over carefully. Don't appear before me again in the future."

After saying that, the woman turned and left without hesitation, carrying a trace of relief and a smile for the bright future awaiting her.

"What was that supposed to mean?"

"I'd only just arrived and already got dumped? What a clichéd opening."

"But this world... the Ancient Celestial Continent. Heh, it really was vast and boundless. It had to be at least a hundred times larger than Earth in my previous life, right?"

While the woman had been rattling on to herself, Li Yun, who had only just transmigrated here, had already absorbed the memories of this body's former owner.

This world was called the Ancient Celestial Continent. Its lands were vast, Martial Dao flourished, and powerful figures emerged in endless succession!

The place where he was now was called the Celestial Martial Sect. It belonged to the Mysterious Moon Kingdom east of the Ancient Celestial Continent and was one of the four top Martial Dao sects in Eastern Cloud Prefecture.

The Celestial Martial Sect was based on the Celestial Eastern Mountains in Eastern Cloud Prefecture. It had stood for eight hundred years, with even its Sect Masters passing through dozens of generations. More than ten million disciples had emerged from the Celestial Martial Sect, and it could truly be said that experts gathered like clouds while prodigies sprang forth in droves.

By now,

after the Celestial Martial Sect had once again opened its gates to accept disciples this past September, the entire sect—from the Sect Master to the disciples and even the menial servants—numbered over two hundred thousand people.

The entire Celestial Martial Sect was practically no smaller than a small city.

And this small city could be called prosperous through the ages, its splendor unceasing.

Anyone who passed the trials and became a disciple of the Celestial Martial Sect took immense pride in it.

But precisely because of that,

all the pressure fell upon the disciples of the Celestial Martial Sect.

Why?

Because it was too cutthroat!

After eight hundred years of existence, the Celestial Martial Sect had long established a fixed ranking system for its disciples. Or rather, this was the system used by all sects throughout the present-day Mysterious Moon Kingdom.

From lowest to highest, the system consisted of four ranks: Outer Sect Disciple, Inner Sect Disciple, Core Disciple, and the highest rank, Sect Emissary.

The rights and status enjoyed by disciples of those four ranks differed enormously. One could even say they were worlds apart.

From the most ordinary Outer Sect Disciples, who possessed no privileges whatsoever, to Sect Emissaries who could represent the sect abroad and even participate in its decisions... it was a gleaming pyramid.

The Sect Emissaries standing at the pyramid's peak looked down upon the Outer Sect Disciples at its base like gods gazing down upon the mortal world.

Who wouldn't be stirred by that?

Who didn't want success and fame?

Who didn't want to return home in glory?

Who didn't want to become a Martial Dao titan whose name shook the world?

Who didn't want to be the golden carp that successfully leapt over the Dragon Gate among the countless carp striving to become dragons?

But wishing alone was useless. Martial Dao valued talent.

Talent encompassed physique, bone structure, comprehension, even Spirit Roots, and more. Virtually every one of those things was innate.

If you were born with it, you had it. If you weren't, you didn't. It was almost impossible to change after birth.

Those inborn differences largely determined one's circumstances after entering Martial Dao.

Among all talents, Spirit Roots were the rarest. Anyone born with a Spirit Root who entered the Celestial Martial Sect became an Inner Sect Disciple immediately. Their introductory cultivation was an Innate Martial Art, and after cultivating for a few years, they would become a proper Xiantian Martial Artist.

Those without Spirit Roots were divided into nine grades of aptitude based on their talents, with Ninth Grade being the lowest and First Grade the highest.

No matter how high their aptitude, such people could only begin as Outer Sect Disciples. Their introductory cultivation could only be Houtian Realm martial arts, and they had to go through countless efforts, with a bit of luck added at the end, before they could achieve Acquired to Innate Reversal.

Among a thousand people, only a scant few succeeded.

They were basically all people with Second Grade, or even First Grade, aptitude.

Li Yun possessed only Fifth Grade aptitude. Entering the Celestial Martial Sect with Fifth Grade aptitude merely meant he had just reached the sect's threshold for accepting disciples. For someone of such aptitude to successfully achieve Acquired to Innate Reversal years later, the odds were infinitely close to zero.

If one could not achieve Innate, one could not become an Inner Sect Disciple.

And if one could not become an Inner Sect Disciple, the Celestial Martial Sect could not support them forever. Three years was the limit. Any Outer Sect Disciple who had remained in the Celestial Martial Sect for three years without successfully achieving Acquired to Innate Reversal had to participate in the annual grand competition every June.

Anyone ranked below the top thousand had to leave the sect.

Only those within the top thousand could remain temporarily by serving as Deacons or taking on similar roles, helping the sect handle miscellaneous affairs.

But not forever. They only had two more years.

If they still could not achieve Acquired to Innate Reversal after two years, then sorry, they had to leave as well.

Only then would large numbers of new Outer Sect Disciples pour in every September, much like graduation season in Li Yun's previous life.

Every June, masses of people left in disappointment, and masses of people came in filled with hope.

And from the day they entered the sect, unless they were fools, nearly everyone had to understand one truth: if they wanted to achieve anything in Martial Dao, they had to fight with everything they had for these three years!

"This is way too cutthroat..."

"In an environment like this, who the hell has the mind to date?"

"That woman just now seemed to be called Huang Yiyi... Heh, it was good that she left. At least I didn't have to waste brain cells figuring out how to get rid of her..."

Having finally come to such a vast Martial Dao world, he did not want to make the trip for nothing.

Even if he only had Fifth Grade aptitude and the odds of achieving Acquired to Innate Reversal were low, he still had to give it a shot. No matter what, he did not want to spend another lifetime at the bottom of society like he had in his previous life.

He took a deep breath.

Li Yun's gaze swiftly became clear and resolute. He got up and headed for the door.

As an Outer Sect Disciple, he was not qualified to have a room to himself. He lived in a large dormitory with eight people to a room.

Those dormitories together formed a large courtyard.

When he stepped outside, he saw a flat courtyard as large as a basketball court, with several rows of towering pines planted around its edges.

It was evening, and the sun was setting.

Pale red sunlight slanted across the courtyard. A gentle breeze blew, making the leaves sway, creating the beauty of a setting sun painted into a picture.

Some Outer Sect Disciples living in the same courtyard had each claimed a corner of the spacious yard. They were either practicing martial arts until sweat poured like rain or holding books while frowning deeply in bitter contemplation.

He had walked more than ten meters out of the room without encountering anyone who greeted him.

It was as though no one even knew he existed. Everyone was so engrossed in their cultivation that no one had the time to bother with anyone else.

Seeing that scene,

Li Yun could not help silently cursing again. It was fucking cutthroat. Then, just like on the eve of the college entrance exams in his previous life, seeing everyone else working hard while he was idle gave him a sudden, intense sense of crisis.

"Everyone is working hard. If I don't work hard, then fuck... I'll be a salted fish again in this life!"

"Damn it, no. I need to go too..."

The more Li Yun thought about it, the more wrong it felt. He suddenly spun around, intending to return to his room and get his copy of Basic Stance Cultivation, the introductory manual uniformly issued to every new Outer Sect Disciple when they joined.

Ding—

The host's heart in pursuit of Martial Dao is resolute. The Martial Cognition System has activated.

Analyzing the host's current Martial Dao understanding. Martial Cognition Points +30.

The host witnessed others practicing martial arts. Cognition Points +1.