The Legendary Idle Game

"Without talent, is it really impossible to practice martial arts?"

Great Qian Dynasty, Kaiyang City, Lin Family estate.

The sun had yet to rise, but the training ground already rang with shouts. Young members of the family practiced their strikes or regulated their breathing, their movements brimming with energy.

At the edge of the ground, someone clenched his fists as he watched the vigorous disciples training. His eyes were full of frustration.

"Of course you can practice martial arts without talent."

A clear voice came from behind him.

Everyone turned to see a young man approaching at an unhurried pace.

The young man stood tall and handsome. Though dressed in training clothes, he carried himself with quiet composure.

"Young master."

Several people at the edge of the ground hurriedly bowed.

Lin Chen nodded slightly. His gaze swept over them before settling on the questioner's tense face, and he repeated himself.

"Of course you can practice martial arts without talent."

"The road may be fraught with difficulties, but of the fifty ways of the Great Dao, Heaven reveals forty-nine and leaves one for man to find."

"Everyone has that one chance. Seize it, and you can defy fate."

Lin Chen spoke calmly. It sounded less like encouragement than a statement of fact.

The others hurriedly nodded.

Whether they understood, failed to understand, or merely pretended they did was anyone's guess.

Lin Chen did not mind. After offering a few pointers, he turned and left under their watchful gazes.

He had not been trying to comfort anyone.

He had simply been passing by, and the question had struck a chord.

Because that very morning, Lin Chen had seized his own chance and changed his fate.

He focused, and a translucent panel visible only to him quietly appeared before his eyes:

[Character]: Lin Chen

[Age]: 16/79

[Innate Divine Weapon]: Iron Sword (Tier 1, Ordinary)

[Realm]: Body Tempering Realm, Fifth Stage (0/40)

[Martial Art]: Eight Extremes Fist

[Idle Training]: Not Started

Note: This is a legendary idle game.

Characters can farm monsters on different maps to gain experience and various drops, leveling up and growing stronger.

This was Lin Chen's chance.

He had a simpler name for it:

Cheating!

So what if he lacked martial arts talent?

I have a way to move mountains, split seas, open the heavens, destroy the earth, pluck stars, chase the moon... and add points!

Ahem. It had all begun a few days earlier.

One evening, Lin Chen had been practicing Eight Extremes Fist as usual, toughening his body and building his strength in hopes of reaching the sixth stage of the Body Tempering Realm soon.

But in the middle of training, his vision had suddenly gone black, and he had passed out. When he woke that morning, Lin Chen discovered he had gained a cheat.

Good thing I was already a transmigrator, even if I was reincarnated. Otherwise, while I was unconscious, someone might have taken over my body, used this cheat to slaughter all opposition, married a beautiful, wealthy woman, and reached the pinnacle of life...

Lost in thought, Lin Chen hurried back to his room in the side courtyard.

As the young master, he had been unconscious for several days without explanation. Upon waking, he had immediately let his parents know he was safe. Only now, back in his room, did he have time to settle down and work out how to use the system that had awakened.

After telling his maid that he would be concentrating on cultivation and was not to be disturbed by anyone, Lin Chen began examining it closely.

"Wait, a legendary idle game? Why does this interface look so familiar...?"

As he studied the system interface, Lin Chen felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.

He racked his brain for a while before it finally clicked. Wasn't this a game he had played in his previous life?

He remembered it was called War God. It boasted absurdly high drop rates, rapid leveling, and VIP 8 just for logging in.

That sounded nice, but its gameplay had offered nothing new. It was the usual routine of offline farming, leveling up by killing monsters, and fighting world bosses.

The only real difference was an innate divine weapon that could devour other equipment and grow without limit, greatly improving the efficiency of idle farming.

He remembered that when he first started playing, he had claimed a pile of enhancement stones from the first-day login rewards and used them to raise his innate divine weapon straight to +18. His combat power had shot up by tens of thousands.

Thanks to that, he could clear the screen with a single slash in the early game. His farming was so efficient that he reached level 100 in just a few days—even if, a few months later, any stray dog by the roadside was level 300.

As Lin Chen recalled the game, his eyes grew brighter.

"If it really is that legendary game, then idle farming is the key..."

Lin Chen's gaze settled on the Idle Training entry, and he tapped it.

Images immediately flashed before his eyes.

There was the Primordial Wilderness and the Big Dipper Star Domain, mountains of corpses and seas of blood, ruined planets, the Dark Heavenly Court...

Lin Chen felt as though he stood on a bloody battlefield. Everywhere he looked, he saw only deep darkness and endless decay. Countless enemies lurked within that darkness, waiting to strike.

At last, the visions swept past his eyes like flowing sand and vanished. Only a remote, desolate mountain remained before him.

Beside the mountain entrance stood a wooden sign. Three blood-red characters warned anyone who dared enter: Fierce Wolf Mountain.

[Map: Fierce Wolf Mountain]

[Recommended Level: 1–10]

[Idle Rewards: 9–11 experience points per month; very small chance of dropping spirit stones, spirit herbs, equipment...]

[You may send a wisp of your consciousness to hunt monsters on Fierce Wolf Mountain and gain experience and various resources.]

(Note 1: Your projected consciousness inherits your body's combat power. Your innate divine weapon also counts toward that power.)

(Note 2: The greater your combat power and the higher the quality of your innate divine weapon, the faster you can farm monsters and the more rewards you will gain.)

[Begin idle training?]

"Just as I thought."

"Offline farming, killing monsters to level up, sky-high drop rates—now that's a legendary game!"

A smile spread across Lin Chen's face.

He knew this routine inside out. Back when the game launched, he had spent heavily to boost his combat power!

"Right now, idle farming gives me nine to eleven experience points a month. I need forty to reach the sixth stage of the Body Tempering Realm, so four months should do it."

That was not slow. Lin Chen had begun cultivating at fourteen, and despite receiving the family's finest resources, he had only reached the fifth stage of the Body Tempering Realm after two years.

It was not for lack of effort. His talent held him back.

As the saying went, supernatural powers could not overcome fate, and hard work could not overcome talent.

"The path of martial arts is long. Progress takes patience and comes one step at a time. Four months isn't long. I can just farm Fierce Wolf Mountain in peace."

"But my innate divine weapon is only Tier 1, Ordinary. There's plenty of room for it to grow."

"I can spend these months gathering weapons and armor. Once the idle training ends, I'll have the weapon devour them to improve its quality. That should boost my farming efficiency considerably..."

With his mind made up, Lin Chen began idle training on Fierce Wolf Mountain.

The next morning, he went to the training ground to practice as usual.

The more extraordinary the opportunity he held, the more ordinary he had to appear.

As a transmigrator, Lin Chen might have been unremarkable in other respects, but when it came to keeping a low profile, he had long since mastered the ultimate art!