I Was Ten Thousand Years Late?

Early morning, the Cloudmist Mountains.

As one of Great Xia's oldest primeval forests, the Cloudmist Mountains had always been a place that left climbers reluctant to venture in.

It wasn't just because the mountains teemed with snakes, insects, rats, and ants. More importantly, the Cloudmist Mountains endured a fog season lasting half the year. For a hundred li in every direction, clouds and mist swirled through the air, and even the most skilled climbing teams could easily lose their way among the towering trees.

Yet today, these ancient mountains had welcomed a very special guest.

Wearing a thin jacket and carrying a huge hiking pack on his back, Shen Yuan walked through the forest. With the entrenching tool in his right hand, he casually swept aside a branch and tossed the snake hidden beneath it into the distance, his movements swift and practiced.

This was already Shen Yuan's third day deep in the Cloudmist Mountains. One of Great Xia's few remaining primeval forests, the outer foothills of the Cloudmist Mountains had long since been developed into a scenic area. Visitors were only allowed to explore the outskirts under a guide's supervision, to prevent them from venturing too far into the mountains.

Even Shen Yuan had joined a tour group, disguising himself as an ordinary tourist so he could enter the Cloudmist Mountains.

Not long after entering the scenic area, Shen Yuan had deliberately left the tour group and gone off alone, venturing beyond the grounds and deeper into the Cloudmist Mountains.

Shen Yuan dared to take such a risk for one simple reason: he was no ordinary person.

He paused and sensed the dense mist around him. Standing still, he gradually slowed his breathing until it grew long and rhythmic. Warm currents circulated through his body, driving away the morning chill.

After a long while, he released a prolonged breath through his lips. The white stream of air surged forth like a wandering dragon, cleaving through the dense fog and leaving a deep mark on the trunk of an ancient tree ten feet away.

"Just as I thought. The worldly qi of the mortal realm is too mixed and impure for cultivation. The Cloudmist Breathing Method is better practiced close to nature. I've only been in the Cloudmist Mountains for three days, yet my cultivation has already advanced considerably. That's worth half a month of hard training."

Shen Yuan couldn't help smiling. He wasn't a mortal—or, more accurately, he wasn't from this world.

Half a year ago, Shen Yuan had transmigrated to the Profound Yellow Realm, a world whose level of technology was about the same as that of Earth before he transmigrated.

The only difference was that the Profound Yellow Realm had always been home to legends of gods, immortals, demons, and devils. Great Xia, where Shen Yuan now lived, had a long history stretching back more than three thousand years.

Although nothing online had ever confirmed even a single word of these stories about gods, immortals, demons, and devils, Shen Yuan was still certain that real immortals existed in this world.

That was because he had brought a system called the Ascension System with him when he came to this world.

According to the Ascension System, it would issue a series of missions to help Shen Yuan ascend to the Immortal Realm and attain eternal life.

With the system's help, Shen Yuan had learned the Cloudmist Breathing Method, provided as part of the system's beginner's guide, and successfully entered the Refining Essence Realm.

Essence Refinement into Qi, Qi Refinement Transformation, Spirit Refining Returning to Void, and Void Refining Merging with Dao were the four steps to ascension passed down by the ancient qi refiners.

In the Refining Essence Realm, one circulated spiritual power through the body, strengthening one's vital essence. This made one's body many times stronger than an ordinary person's and prepared them for the next step: Essence Refinement into Qi.

Upon reaching this realm, Shen Yuan was already able to withstand extreme cold and heat. By circulating his inner breath through his body, he could drive away the cold, and snakes, insects, rats, and ants could not approach him.

To have achieved such results in less than half a year in this world was thanks not only to the Ascension System's help, but also to Shen Yuan's own diligent cultivation.

However, the Cloudmist Breathing Method was only a basic technique. To break through the Refining Essence Realm, Shen Yuan still needed to obtain the next cultivation method—and that was where the Ascension System's beginner's guide came in.

Thinking of this, Shen Yuan glanced at the display on his system interface.

Beginner's Guide: Take the Ascension Token to the Cloudmist Mountains and join the Falling Cloud Sect to obtain the Violet Cloud Qi Refining Method.

The words "Beginner's Guide" hung above the mission. Shen Yuan had assumed it would be an easy task, so not long after entering the Refining Essence Realm, he had found an opportunity to come to the Cloudmist Mountains.

Yet he had spent three whole days wandering through the mountains without even catching a glimpse of the so-called Falling Cloud Sect.

If not for the Ascension Token in his arms, which gave off a faint sensation that helped him confirm the direction of the Falling Cloud Sect, Shen Yuan would have lost his way in these mountains and given up long ago.

Even so, finding the Falling Cloud Sect within the Cloudmist Mountains was no easy task.

"By rights, the entire Cloudmist Mountains, stretching a thousand li in every direction, should belong to the Falling Cloud Sect. I brought the Ascension Token here, so the Falling Cloud Sect should have sensed its presence.

"But I haven't seen a single member of the Falling Cloud Sect. Could this be one of those old-fashioned trials where they watch from the shadows to temper my resolve?"

Shen Yuan couldn't help wondering to himself.

But no matter what, he had already come this far. The Ascension Token glowing faintly in his arms seemed to be telling him that the Falling Cloud Sect was right before him. There was no way he could give up halfway.

He crossed mountains and ridges all day, walking from early morning until the sun began to slant west. At last, he reached a ravine between the mountains.

Clear spring water flowed down from a cliff. Rising mist, bathed in the glow of the setting sun, made the place look like an Immortal Realm. A few sika deer occasionally came to drink from the spring, curiously sizing up Shen Yuan, this uninvited guest.

"This is the place."

Shen Yuan took the Ascension Token from his arms. It had grown somewhat hot, and he carefully inspected his surroundings.

As a cultivator, he could sense that a layer of spiritual power seemed to cover the area, as though concealing something.

"An immortal sect's formation? A barrier? Or perhaps the entrance to some kind of Grotto-Heaven?"

Shen Yuan's eyes lit up as he held the Ascension Token and curiously examined his surroundings.

But soon, Shen Yuan realized that something was amiss.

He had crossed mountains and rivers to reach the Falling Cloud Sect's location. Whether the sect intended to take him in or turn him away, someone should have shown themselves.

The situation before him didn't look like the work of some hidden sect at all.

As the Breathing Method circulated his vital essence into the Ascension Token, a hazy mist began to rise within the ravine before him. Purple qi shimmered and flowed through it.

Then, as though layers of folded space were opening, an entirely new world appeared before Shen Yuan.

It was a Grotto-Heaven filled with pavilions and towers. Buildings adorned with carved dragons and painted rafters stood atop mountain peaks, while winding stairways clung to the mountainsides. Across an endless sea of clouds, rosy light flickered, revealing a landscape of boundless wonder.

Anyone who saw such a sight would praise its immortal splendor.

Yet the scene lasted only an instant. In the next moment, the phantom before his eyes shattered, and all that remained was a collapsed mountain.

The ruined pavilions and towers had long since been overrun by lush vegetation. Cracks mottled the sky, tearing through the sea of clouds and revealing a scene of desolation. The once splendid Grotto-Heaven Paradise had become nothing more than ruins.

Before the entrance to the Grotto-Heaven Paradise stood a massive stone stele. Its ancient, graceful script held a resentment and indignation that had endured for millions of years.

"In the ninth year of Great Yin, the Human Emperor wielded his divine might to Sever Heaven and Earth. From then on, there was no path to ascension in the mortal world.

"I could not accept this. I used my Grotto-Heaven Paradise to attain the Earth Immortal rank and led my sect in an ascension beneath a rosy glow. Yet we suffered a great calamity, and the Falling Cloud Sect's ten-thousand-year legacy was destroyed in an instant.

"Our founding patriarch once divined the workings of fate to their very end. But where, exactly, is the Ascension Daoist who can save the Falling Cloud Sect from its peril?"

Shen Yuan stared blankly at the ancient characters, his mind in a daze.

"The history of this world stretches back a long way. Before the present-day Great Xia came Great Qin, Great Yu, and the long era of the Hundred States Conflict. The ninth year of Great Yin was more than ten thousand years ago."

"The Falling Cloud Sect was destroyed ten thousand years ago."

"Was I ten thousand years late?"