Bai Yixin

The Vast Mountain Range was a land of towering peaks and forests of giant trees.

Ferocious beasts roamed the mountains: colossal wings that blotted out the sky and cast vast shadows, Forest-Howling Beasts whose terrifying roars shook the heavens, and unknown venomous insects as thick as a forearm, stirring in the shadows beneath the leaves...

"Kitty cat, be a good little thing and become my lunch!"

A child who looked as if he had fled from a refugee camp, his black hair hanging loose, fixed his bright, piercing eyes on a leopard-shaped ferocious beast five or six meters away. He licked his lips and spoke.

The beast looked much like a leopard, but strangely, a horn pointed skyward from its head, a faint black gleam flickering at its tip.

"Roar!" The beast glared viciously at the child. Several bloody wounds still gushed blood, but they did nothing to distract it. Its claws dug hard into the grass, and its terrifying muscles bulged visibly. A fearsome power stirred inside its car-sized body.

A gentle breeze lifted a fallen leaf. The leaf circled the short sword in the child's hand, as if carried by the wind; faintly, an invisible current of air seemed to swirl around the blade.

"Gale!"

A glint suddenly flashed in the child's eyes as he stared at the Single-Horned Leopard. He raised his short sword and slashed at it from a distance. The leaf shattered, and a tornado roared forth.

The whirlwind was fast. In the blink of an eye, it reached the Single-Horned Leopard, carrying leaves and rocks in its wake as it swelled to nearly three zhang across.

"ROAR!!!"

The Single-Horned Leopard howled, and a black streak shot from the horn on its head, hurtling straight toward the oncoming whirlwind.

Black as ink, the unremarkable-looking beam pierced straight through the whirlwind and tore it apart. The gale scattered, sending leaves flying in every direction.

The Single-Horned Leopard dodged a rock that the wind had hurled straight at it. Just as it turned to face the human who had gone from prey to hunter, it realized the child had already vanished.

At that moment, a Wind Blade emerged soundlessly from the canopy above the Single-Horned Leopard's head and sliced through the air toward its skull.

Its head fell to the ground, blood spraying three zhang into the air.

[Gale Sword Technique Proficiency +1]

[Experience +10]

[Money +6]

The boy sheathed his sword, though there was no blood on it to wipe away. Hearing the notification by his ear, he let the corners of his mouth curl slightly upward.

A faint flicker passed through the boy's eyes. With a thought, a panel with a white background and black text appeared before him.

[Name]: Bai Yixin.

[Age]: 6/22. (6 indicates his current age; 22 is how old he was before he became young again.)

[Realm]: Sixth Layer of Qi Refining (399/600).

[Cultivation Art]: Second Layer of the Wind and Rain Summoning Art (52/100)

[Skills]: Gale Sword Technique—Slightly Accomplished (96/100), Wind Manipulation—Gale (9/10), Minor Rain-Calling Art—Beginner (5/10), Breath Concealment Art—Slightly Accomplished (86/100), Minor Fireball Art—Beginner (8/10).

[Experience]: 114

[Money]: 1856

[Talent]: Dao of Grinding. The Liver Emperor has livers all over his body. When he enters a liver-grinding state, his efficiency doubles with each passing moment.

"Probably another two or three days of grinding before I reach the seventh layer of Qi Refining. Once I get there, I should be able to try flying on a sword. I wonder how long it'll take me to grind my way to Foundation Establishment. Only after I establish my Foundation and open up my qi sea will I truly have set foot on the path of cultivation. As things stand, I really don't feel safe at all!"

Bai Yixin gave a wry smile.

It had been a month since he had landed in this mountain range. The strange beasts and fierce birds here were far too powerful and terrifying. Every attempt to find food had been a life-or-death challenge.

Only in the last few days had he finally managed to turn the tables a little and raise his standing on the food chain. At last, he no longer had to live in constant fear and could hunt some weaker ferocious beasts.

"Where in the world have I transmigrated to?! I'd thought about transmigrating, sure, but only as a daydream. I was much more comfortable at home, drinking soda and playing games."

Bai Yixin had never imagined that staying up all night cultivating by reading novels and grinding games would actually cultivate him right out of this world. He had even transmigrated, his body reverting to the age of six, making him look like a little one.

Talk about having my eyes opened!

Still, fortunately, like the transmigrators in the novels, Bai Yixin had a cheat of his own.

It was the Game Panel in front of him.

Yeah, a Game Panel.

Bai Yixin felt as if he were playing a VR cultivation game. It had everything: a personal status panel, an inventory, a shop, quests, and more.

The Wind and Rain Summoning Art, Gale Sword Technique, and Minor Rain-Calling Art had all been rewards from the beginner's tutorial quests.

"Minor Rain-Calling Art."

At Bai Yixin's murmured words, a tiny black raincloud appeared in front of him.

It wasn't big, only about a zhang across, and it drizzled lightly.

Using the rainwater to deal with the Single-Horned Leopard, Bai Yixin skillfully set it over the fire and got the flames going.

"After I finish this meal, I'll keep heading east. I need to figure out where I am as soon as possible and get out of here. Better yet, I should find somewhere with people."

Bai Yixin thought of the night a few days ago when he had been startled awake. In the darkness, a black pillar that reached the heavens had moved off into the distance, accompanied by rumbling. It had left behind a small basin shaped like a footprint. He shivered at the memory.

Suddenly, a deafening roar shook the mountains and valleys. Deep in the forest, everything trembled as if a massive earthquake had struck!

Bai Yixin looked up in alarm. Instinctively, he stowed the nearly cooked leopard meat in his inventory and darted into the dense canopy overhead, peeking out to survey the surroundings with his round, darting eyes.

"What happened??"

Ten thousand beasts thundered past, while all the fierce birds in the surrounding forest took flight and fled skyward. Were they running for their lives, or rushing eagerly toward something?

"I should go take a look." After thinking it over, Bai Yixin decided to head toward the roar and see what was going on.

As the saying goes, fortune favors the bold.

The roar had most likely come from some vicious ferocious beast, and going there would be extremely dangerous.

But look at it another way: perhaps someone was hunting it, and it had let out that earth-shaking roar because it was about to die?

That wasn't unlikely.

After a month of struggling through this forest of unknown size, Bai Yixin had picked up a few instincts of the wild.

For example, he could judge the state of prey by its calls. The roar was terrifying, but it sounded weak, giving Bai Yixin the feeling that whatever had made it was near death.

His judgment wasn't all that reliable, but it was still worth taking a risk to find out.

Lately, Bai Yixin had felt, vaguely, that some great calamity was bearing down on him. The sense of crisis hadn't faded with time; it had only grown more intense.

No, he had to figure out where he was as soon as possible. What if this was some kind of forbidden land for humans?

Tsk~~

He hadn't encountered a single person in a month. Could this really be some forbidden land of gods and demons?!

Bai Yixin shook his head, putting the thought aside. First, he would go and see what was happening.

"Even if I'm wrong, it won't matter. I can still keep myself safe." Bai Yixin glanced at the Ten Thousand Mile Trace-Free Talisman amid the jumbled mess of items in his inventory. He took a deep breath, activated the Breath Concealment Art, and moved with the wind, stepping lightly across the leaves as he headed toward the roar.