The teleportation point happened to be halfway up Water Mirror Peak.
A clear spring gurgled as water flowed down from different directions, gathering into a lake.
The lake reflected the full moon and the stars filling the sky, making the stars and moon seem close enough to touch.
A cold wind blew down from the high heavens, stirring ripples across the surface.
Unknown species of trees surrounded the lake, ranging from several meters to dozens of meters tall.
Beneath his feet stretched a long path paved with rough jade. To the left, jade stairs led upward to a five-story wooden pavilion built in the style of ancient Huaxia, nearly a hundred meters wide.
On a sparsely forested stretch of the mountainside road stood a wooden gazebo.
To the right was a downhill path, with scattered buildings below.
Not far from where Su Lin stood was a spacious clearing.
It looked like a plaza.
Occasionally, dead leaves drifted down and scattered over the rough, ancient jade steps.
The cold wind carried the scents of soil and leaves into his nostrils.
Looking at the scenery before him and breathing in those scents, Su Lin felt momentarily at a loss.
Only after a while did he remember what he was supposed to do.
He walked along the stone steps while taking in the surrounding scenery.
Thinking carefully, he had once fantasized about scenery like this.
Back when he was a student, he had loved reading novels. Though he read almost anything, he had always preferred Immortal Cultivation stories.
Everyone's youth was different. Some people had vibrant, colorful youth—an idol drama, an ordinary person's path to success, the rise of a top student, an unregretful chapter of friendship and love balanced alongside academics.
But those who had such youth were ultimately few.
Su Lin belonged to the majority.
The crushing pressure of school, pressure from family, and pressure from every other direction.
Novels and comics had been his only way to relieve stress.
Whenever he was exhausted, he would imagine setting foot upon the path of Immortal Cultivation, cultivating within a sect removed from the mortal world, beneath scenery like this—watching the stars, gazing at the moon, discussing the Dao.
Compared to continuing to struggle amid the masses against the countless troubles of real life, he was undoubtedly fortunate to have been chosen by the system.
As for what lay behind it, he would deal with that when the time came.
He slowly approached the lake. There was another wooden gazebo nearby, encircled by trees. The exquisite pavilion and clear crescent-shaped lake complemented each other beautifully.
A stone table stood beneath the gazebo, along with several bamboo and jade scroll tubes.
Curious, Su Lin walked over, sat on a stone chair, and picked up one of the scrolls to examine it.
It was written in a script he had never seen before.
It was not any common ancient script from Huaxia's history. No, it might not even be writing from Earth.
Su Lin secretly guessed that if that was the case, perhaps Earth was not as shallow as it seemed. Could the system encompass items from other worlds? A trace of hope rose in his heart.
If Earth's waters ran deep, would he not have to race against time for strength?
He had been a wage slave for two lifetimes. Couldn't he just cultivate leisurely and enjoy himself for once?
Wouldn't it be great to peacefully farm, then visit a safe world now and then for fun?
Before Su Lin could study it for long, a belated understanding surfaced in his mind.
[Rain Transformation]
After staring blankly for several seconds, Su Lin hurriedly picked up another tube.
[Weaving Starlight]
These were spells?!
The next morning, Su Lin experienced a real-life Zelda—or perhaps real-life Genshin Impact.
After exploring a small part of Water Mirror Peak, an indescribably strange feeling grew within Su Lin.
Drawing Water Mirror Peak might have been an incredible windfall.
The various cultivation techniques and inheritances within seemed to have been preserved. This was the complete inheritance system of Water Mirror Peak from an Immortal Cultivation sect called the Xian Ning Sect.
What he had drawn was not merely a Floating Mountain, but an entire immortal sect.
But...
It was too complete.
During his exploration, Su Lin had sensed something very strange.
It was as if the people of Water Mirror Peak had merely stepped out for a while.
The pavilion atop the mountain contained cultivation techniques and spells.
Not to mention the tables, chairs, tea sets, brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and decorative greenery.
Some of the rooms he entered even contained sect robes and private clothing.
In the scattered houses beneath the plaza, there were books left half-read on tables, tea in teapots, and even some pills to be found after rummaging through the cabinets.
One room even contained women's clothes, though he had no idea whether they belonged to an eldest martial sister or a junior martial sister.
The more he thought about it, the creepier it felt.
After returning home, Su Lin stored away Water Mirror Peak and carefully examined the system's description of the item once more.
The lengthy description ran for tens of thousands of words, until Su Lin reached the final passage.
[Founded in Year 334 of the Tianwu Calendar—Destroyed in Year 1745 of the Kuiyue Calendar]
He fell silent for a while.
Destroyed?
Could Water Mirror Peak have been reconstructed?
Recalling the scenes within, Su Lin guessed that the system had restored a particular moment in time. Perhaps it had been the instant before its Destruction, or perhaps an earlier point.
The system had copied and recreated Water Mirror Peak exactly as it had been at a certain moment.
As long as it had not moved someone's home over from another plane, it was fine.
Otherwise, all he could do was apologize.
The following night.
Su Lin sat within Wangshu Pavilion on Water Mirror Peak. A pot of tea and a platter of cold Sea Kings meat were set on the table.
Several fire-element essence stones he had exchanged for lay at his feet.
There was no helping it. The temperature ten thousand meters in the air was cold enough to freeze his feet.
He ate while following the cultivation technique's instructions to learn the basics.
It had to be said—
His talent was probably at the level of an ordinary person.
Well, he had no idea what level ordinary people were at.
If he had to learn entirely by himself without anyone guiding him through the beginning, it would probably take him some time.
No rush. No rush.
Though he could achieve it in one step through the system, this was still a rare experience.
If it really came down to it, could he find someone to guide him?
Emmm.
Wangshu Pavilion contained its own space, far larger than it appeared from the outside.
Though it did not contain many cultivation resources, it did have a core cultivation technique that led directly to the immortal path, along with all sorts of spells.
If he opened these up to the group members just to find someone to teach him, would he not become the group's opportunity?
Just yesterday, he had wanted to cling to someone else's thigh. After making a trip to another world, the roles had completely reversed.
In the end, I'm the opportunity.
Excluding Luffy, he had only known the people in the group for one day. They had not even met offline yet.
Of course, the male lead from the pole-vaulting story had not even shown up once.
But when he had needed help yesterday, everyone had immediately sent over a pile of items without a word, providing him with considerable assistance.
Looking at the bigger picture, although some people in the group were a little black-hearted and others were somewhat overly cautious, they all shared one trait: they repaid kindness and valued loyalty, provided they truly considered you a friend.
He would not lose anything by taking these things out. It was only that the shift in roles had happened so quickly that he still had not quite adapted.
Sure enough, skipping the startup phase and jumping straight to becoming nouveau riche felt pretty good.
His fingers slowly tapped against the wooden table as he turned to glance at the numerous bookshelves floating through the space behind him.
In a wilderness region of the Shrouding the Heavens world, Ye Fan found a massive boulder to lean against while evading pursuit from the various sacred lands and suppressing their Sons and Saintesses.
He was reading the novel that had himself as its protagonist.
Ye Fan ignored the big black dog beside him, which was bragging about its glorious exploits and still egging him on to have children with the Zifu Saintess.
Wouldn't reading Shrouding the Heavens and chatting in the group be more interesting than having children?
Wasn't his romantic storyline already complicated enough...
Thinking about the contents of the book gave Ye Fan a headache.
(End of Chapter)