"...After entering Phase Three, the boss's shield stays up permanently. Since the damage output of the dedicated shield-breaking character is rather low, I chose to have the support spread ice and wind across the field to break the shield quickly."
"As long as I manage to break it twice, after that I just need to fish for the boss's moves, perfectly dodge every attack, and fish for critical hits along the way. That'll be enough to clear the Abyss with my current build..."
"That's the core guide I'm planning to publish after becoming the first person on the server to clear the Abyss. Sure, writing a guide before actually clearing it is a little like popping the champagne too early, which is bad luck."
"But I've done things this way for years, and I've always won. This game's popularity has exploded worldwide, and the competition is much fiercer than before, but... I can still win."
"I don't believe in blind confidence, so before launch and the start of the grind, I thought through every possible mishap—power outage, internet outage, graphics card turning into a brick, phone exploding, Jiangshan Ruci Youjiao suddenly coming back from the dead with an update... I made contingency plans for all of them. But I never imagined the surprise would be transmigration."
"At the time, I was one hit away from killing the boss. After fighting through the night and drinking caffeine, my heart rate was high, but still within the normal range. I'd also taken coenzyme Q10 in advance, so I didn't feel unwell at all... When the bright light came, I was certain I hadn't died of a sudden heart attack. Yet my soul left my body and was sucked up into the boundless heights of the sky. After that, the glory of being the first in the world to clear the game—and the world I'd lived in for more than twenty years—both receded into the distance."
"The new world I'd transmigrated into wasn't friendly. In this world that seemed to be some sort of cultivation realm, my name was Wu Ming. I was a fourteen-year-old boy from Wuyang Village in Feng Prefecture, Qiongzhou. My parents had both died in a famine, and my maternal aunt's family had sold me to a slave trader."
"Then, on the way to Prefecture City under the slave trader's guard, we ran into several extraordinarily powerful Mountain Spirits. Half the people from the slave-trading house were eaten in the blink of an eye, while I was slapped off a cliff by a Mountain Spirit in the chaos. I bounced off several trees on the way down, and only just barely avoided dying on the spot..."
"As opening situations in a new world went, this was pretty much hell... But I'd played plenty of games with hellish starts. This was just a new run."
"Once I started thinking of the dangers after transmigrating as a game, the path at the bottom of the cliff suddenly opened up before me. Even the Mountain Spirits above the cliff looked rather charming. After all, the more treacherous the stage, the more satisfying it was to clear."
"After that, I kept moving and stopping along the way, and managed to avoid danger several times. In the end, I left the Mountain Spirits and slave traders behind and, more or less, found a way to survive."
"Unfortunately, there was only so much a person could do. Once I'd crossed the danger zone, I simply couldn't go any farther. The area ahead would have to wait for another day... Before I passed out, the only thing I could do was review the route I'd taken and draft an escape guide in my head. At least I'd live up to my name as a professional gamer..."
"Wait! What does 'Completed first regional escape guide; received 600 Spirit Crystals as a creative incentive' mean!?"
Before the bed in the small house stood an old man in Daoist robes, his hair and beard completely white and his frame slightly stooped. His brows were tightly furrowed, and his gaze remained fixed on the boy lying in bed.
The boy looked about fourteen or fifteen. He was small and skinny, dressed in ragged clothes, with injuries all over his body. Even so, he still had delicate features and an unusual, handsome appearance.
But from this handsome boy's mouth had come a story so fantastical that the old man couldn't make heads or tails of it.
"Ying'er, did you understand what he just said?"
The old man turned his head and asked the girl beside him.
At the head of the bed stood a young woman in plain clothes. She had a slender figure and lovely, refined features. The corners of her eyes tilted slightly upward, and her bright, sharp gaze lent her a spirited air. Her dark hair was tied behind her head, its ends swaying lightly at her waist, revealing how deeply confused she was.
Only after a moment did the girl named Zhu Ying quietly reply, "I... didn't really understand. I could follow the part about Wuyang Village and the slave trader. I went to investigate the area nearby not long ago, and there really were signs of a battle with Mountain Spirits. But the first half of what he said—things like the Abyss and first clear—was utterly incomprehensible."
The old man sighed too. "I didn't understand it either... The child Ling Xi picked up this time is rather strange."
At the name Ling Xi, Zhu Ying's brows shot up. Her gaze flashed toward the doorway, and she snapped, "Zheng Lingxi!"
"S-s-s-senior Sister, I'm s-s-s-sorry!"
A shrill wail came from the doorway. A girl in a pink top and white skirt was timidly clinging to the doorframe, showing half of a young, innocent face... and a mature, curvaceous figure that seemed quite at odds with it.
Zhu Ying gave a cold snort. "Get in here!"
Zheng Lingxi reluctantly shuffled into the room, where she was immediately subjected to a fierce scolding.
"How many times have I told you not to bring random little animals home from outside?! Just look at this place! It's covered inside and out in animal fur and feathers. It looks like a beast pen, a chicken coop, and a monkey show all rolled into one! Our Gujian Sect may only have three people, master and disciples alike, but we're still a proper cultivation sect. This is no way to conduct ourselves... You didn't just ignore me—you've even brought back a whole person this time! A strange man, no less! You... want to be punished again, is that it?!"
"Wuwu... I'm sorry..."
Amid the wailing, several small black shapes darted into the room from outside and gathered at Zheng Lingxi's feet. They were two squirrels, a sparrow, and a Little Wild Boar... all creatures Zheng Lingxi had brought home from the wild. The little animals unanimously stood in front of her, trembling as they fixed Zhu Ying with watery, pitiful eyes.
Encouraged by her friends, Zheng Lingxi immediately steadied herself and defended her actions bravely. "Senior Sister, that child really looked so pitiful..."
Zhu Ying flew into a rage at her words. "Pitiful? Every time it's 'so pitiful, so pitiful'... Our Gujian Sect doesn't even have the Cinnabar Talisman Paper we'll need next month, and you still have time to pity other people?!"
Faced with her senior sister's fury, Zheng Lingxi was like a boat tossed in a raging sea, shaking from head to toe as if her soul might scatter... The birds and beasts at her feet literally scattered, showing no loyalty to the death at all. Before long, a succession of startled birds and fleeing animals could be heard in the woods outside.
Seeing this, Zhu Ying gritted her teeth in frustration.
The old man couldn't help sighing. "Ying'er, don't be too hard on Ling Xi. She's pure by nature, with a compassionate and innocent heart. In this day and age, for a cultivator to preserve such compassion and empathy is truly precious."
Zhu Ying snorted. "Master, because Junior Sister Lingxi is pure by nature and doesn't understand how people get along, she needs us to teach her properly. But you're always indulging her... As the saying goes, 'If the teaching is lax, it's the teacher's fault!'"
"You're right." The old man smiled wryly. "It's true that I'm incompetent, and that's why the Gujian Sect is so poor. I've made you two sisters suffer too..."
"Master!" Zhu Ying cut him off at once. "You know that's not what I meant! I've never felt I was suffering! Ling Xi and I are both nameless orphans. If you hadn't taken us in, our bones would have been exposed in the wilderness long ago! You didn't just save our lives and raise us—you also taught us superior Immortal Arts..."
The old man shook his head helplessly. "They can hardly be called superior Immortal Arts. Your achievements are really thanks to your own talent. What I taught you was nothing but shabby Heterodox Zen..."
"...So what if it is Heterodox Zen? Here in the frontier of Qiongzhou, Desolate People like Junior Sister Lingxi and me, with Desolate Blood in our veins, would have to struggle endlessly just to get a basic breathing mantra! And Master, you're a Nascent Soul True Person, with a place even in the renowned Qingzhou, yet you spend day after day deriving cultivation arts tailored to the two of us..."
The old man shook his head again. "My severe injuries damaged my Dao foundation long ago. I've lost the divine powers of a True Person. Though I still have the status of a Nascent Soul, I lack the substance. I'm nothing but a crippled wreck..."
Zhu Ying said urgently, "Even with your Dao foundation damaged, you're still a thousand times better than those mediocrities!"
The old man sighed. "Ying'er, I took you in when you were little, so you're biased toward this old coot. You simply don't know how vast the world is..."
"Gu Bai, shut up!"
Zhu Ying had been needled until she was furious. Her roar shook the entire Tree House.
The dignified Nascent Soul True Person Gu Bai straightened up under the shout and didn't dare say another word... Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the sleeping boy's eyelids twitch faintly. It seemed he was about to wake.
Gu Bai felt as if he'd been granted a reprieve. He hurriedly said, "Ying'er, the boy's awake."
Zhu Ying gave a cold snort and let her master go, turning instead to scrutinize the slowly awakening boy, Wu Ming, with a stern gaze.
Let's see what this boy, who's so obviously spouting nonsense, is really hiding!
On the other side, Wu Ming abruptly awoke from his slumber and opened his eyes. The sight before him immediately brightened them.
What a lovely, refined young woman! She wore nothing but plain clothes and no makeup, yet her features were as beautiful as a painting, and her natural beauty was striking. Only her pupils were slit like a cat's, and her expression was a little too sharp, which somewhat marred her loveliness.
Even so, she was at least a five-star character in the standard pool. If she got a fancy alternate outfit in a future update, she'd definitely make it into the limited pool.
As he was admiring her, the standard-pool girl gave a cold snort. Her face was set in a stern frown, and a chill swept toward him.
"Who are you, really?! What's this 'first clear of the Abyss,' and what's 'popping the champagne'?! Explain yourself!"
Before she'd finished speaking, an old man beside her coughed.
"Ahem, ahem. Ying'er, don't frighten him... Child, don't be scared either. I'm Gu Bai, the head of the Gujian Sect on Yan Mountain. This is my disciple, Zhu Ying. You're safe now. My other disciple, Zheng Lingxi, brought you back... Lingxi? Lingxi! Honestly, where did she go?"
Gu Bai looked around and finally realized that his pure-hearted but timid little disciple had taken off to who-knew-where while he and Zhu Ying were bickering.
Zhu Ying furrowed her brows and shouted, "Zheng Lingxi! Get back here!"
Her voice rolled like thunder, shaking the earth... A moment later, a girl in a pink top finally appeared. Head lowered, she shuffled back into the room, looking thoroughly dispirited.
Zheng Lingxi came to the bedside with her head bowed, not daring to meet Wu Ming's eyes. She nervously touched her pointed ears and spoke so softly it was almost a mosquito's buzz. "I'm Zheng Lingxi. You... I'm glad you're all right."
When Wu Ming got a good look at Zheng Lingxi's face and figure, his heart filled with admiration.
Baby face, huge chest—guaranteed five-star!
Still praising her inwardly, Wu Ming shifted his gaze to Gu Bai.
Compared to the two five-star beauties, the old man looked thoroughly ordinary. He had neither the air of an immortal nor an imposing presence; he seemed more like a poor old neighbor... But in the end, he was the one in charge here.
Gu Bai smiled faintly. "Child, you've only just recovered from your serious injuries. Lingxi treated you with medicine, but your qi and blood are still weak. Rest here in peace for now. Once you've fully recovered, I'll look for your family and send you home... Of course, if you have no family left, I can find you work in a nearby county town. The Gujian Sect may be a laid-back sect tucked away in the wilderness, but we still have a little influence in the surrounding area..."
Before he'd finished speaking, Wu Ming exclaimed in surprise, "How could I do that? I haven't repaid you for saving my life!"
Gu Bai was surprised, and a little pleased. He may be a bit strange, but at least he's a grateful child.
But Wu Ming continued, "It's a pity I'm completely broke right now... The only thing I can do is become your disciple. Once I've learned your ways, I'll bring glory to the sect!"
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