Ling Yi looked at the watermelon knife in his hand, his bloodstained shirt and jeans, then the dozen or so people surrounding him, feeling somewhat bewildered.
This was a dilapidated courtyard, its walls built from packed earth and damaged in many places. Even a child could climb in from outside without any effort.
The courtyard was fairly spacious, with a main hall and side courtyards to the east and west, but all were equally run-down.
A sign hung on the plaque above the main hall's entrance, and he could vaguely make out the words "? Yang Sect."
The first character was rather scrawled. Ling Yi stared at it for a long time but still could not tell whether it was "Li" or "Qin."
"What, you want a fight?" Ling Yi flicked the watermelon knife in his hand, swept his gaze over them, and asked with a wicked grin.
Ling Yi had never been afraid of a fight. Even before transmigrating, he had been leading his brothers in a bloody clash with a rival gang. He was a notorious reckless brawler.
No matter who these people were or where this place was, if they dared to attack, he dared to put his life on the line.
"Where is this?" Ling Yi asked.
The middle-aged man frowned. "This is Mount Lu, Dongyang County. I am Zhao Dongli, the current sect leader of the Liyang Sect! May I ask your name, young hero?"
Ling Yi knew Mount Lu, but he had never heard of Dongyang County. This Zhao Dongli's manner of speaking was completely unlike that of a modern person, instead having something of the flavor of the wandering martial heroes in television dramas.
Could this Liyang Sect be a martial sect of the jianghu? But this information alone was not enough to determine what world he had transmigrated into.
Looking at Zhao Dongli's stance, Ling Yi, with his wealth of brawling experience, could easily tell that neither Zhao Dongli nor his subordinates showed the slightest fighting spirit.
It looked like this fight was not going to happen. Ling Yi lowered the blade of his watermelon knife and transferred it to his left hand.
Unable to gauge Ling Yi's capabilities, Zhao Dongli naturally did not dare to fight him rashly.
The way Ling Yi had appeared was far too bizarre, as though he had materialized out of thin air. "Lightness skill" of this caliber was simply something he had never seen or heard of.
Coupled with Ling Yi's fearless attitude, Zhao Dongli felt even less certain.
"I'm not here for a fight. Coming here was a complete accident. Tell me about this world."
Ling Yi turned, walked to the steps in front of the hall, and sat straight down, speaking quite casually.
"Er, what would you like to know, young hero?"
"Tell me whatever you know. For instance, has anything major happened recently?"
"Half a month ago, the Fuwei Escort Agency in Fuzhou was wiped out by the Qingcheng Sect," Zhao Dongli said after some thought.
Ling Yi's eyes lit up. "Keep going!"
"Liu Zhengfeng of the Mount Heng Sect plans to wash his hands in a golden basin and retire from the jianghu. Almost every righteous sect in the jianghu has received an invitation. It counts as one of the martial world's rare major events in recent years."
"All right, that's enough!" Ling Yi stood up again. Zhao Dongli and his disciples grew somewhat nervous, unsure what he intended to do.
"The world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer? This is getting interesting. To think I survived that disaster and actually ended up in this world."
Ling Yi had earned his reputation as a reckless brawler through fighting, but after every fight, the constables would invite him in for tea.
That was really annoying.
Ling Yi had said more than once that it would be great if he could transmigrate into a wuxia world. Then he could really fight to his heart's content.
He had never expected to actually transmigrate into a wuxia world, let alone the world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer!
He just did not know which version of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer this was.
Just then, an electronic notification sounded in Ling Yi's mind.
Ding! Passive Aura System successfully bound. System officially activated.
"There's a system?" Ling Yi froze, then grinned. Transmigrators really did all have golden fingers.
The Passive Aura System-he wondered what functions it had.
With a thought, he silently called up the system interface, knowing how without being taught.
Host: Ling Yi HP: 32 Internal power: 0 Cultivation: None Techniques: None Aura list: Passive Cultivation Aura lv1 (activated): Once activated, all learned martial arts enter automatic cultivation mode. Current cultivation speed bonus: 1x. Passive Life Aura lv1 (costs 1,000 points to activate): Once activated, hitting a target allows you to absorb the target's HP and store it in the Life Aura. When attacked, HP stored within the Life Aura is deducted first. Currently 1%. Passive Damage Reflection Aura lv1 (costs 1,000 points to activate): Once activated, reflects damage when attacked. Current damage reflection ratio: 10%. Passive Healing Aura lv1 (costs 1,000 points to activate): Once activated, automatically casts a healing skill at set intervals. If at full HP, skill uses are automatically stored. Current CD: 1 hour. Passive Misfortune Aura lv1 (costs 1,000 points to activate): Once activated, any target hostile toward the host has a chance of triggering a misfortune state. The greater the hostility toward the host, the higher the triggering chance and the higher the misfortune level. Current maximum triggering chance: 30%. Maximum misfortune level: 1. Passive Devouring Aura lv1 (costs 1,000 points to activate): Once activated, automatically devours the internal power and vital essence Qi of nearby hostile targets. Current maximum number of targets that can be devoured: 3. Passive Learning Aura lv1 (costs 1,000 points to activate): Once activated, grants powerful learning abilities. No cultivation technique or skill can hide its secrets before the host. The higher the skill level, the greater the efficiency. Passive Transmigration Aura lv1 (activated): Transmigration becomes available once participation in the current world's plot reaches 30% or higher. Destination worlds are random. The timeline of each destination world begins at the start of its plot.
Being able to transmigrate into a wuxia world was his fortuitous opportunity, but without martial arts, he was nothing.
Now, the two auras activated at the outset were what he could rely on.
"I wonder how effective the Passive Cultivation Aura is." Ling Yi could not help looking toward Zhao Dongli, the leader of this fallen sect.
"I need a few cultivation techniques for an experiment. Good or bad doesn't matter, as long as they're cultivation techniques."
Zhao Dongli pondered for a dozen seconds or so, then gritted his teeth and took three manuals from inside his robes.
"Sect leader..." one of them called out in surprise as a reminder.
Zhao Dongli shook his head with a bitter smile. "The Liyang Sect has already fallen into decline. Struggling to keep it going is futile. You and I have ordinary aptitude, and our sect's supreme arts are incomplete. Keeping them in our hands only makes them wastepaper."
"Young brother!" Zhao Dongli looked at Ling Yi. "If you can master these three secret manuals, I hope you can preserve a legacy for our Liyang Sect."
"I can tell you really have fallen on hard times." Ling Yi did not stand on ceremony either and accepted the three secret manuals. He urgently needed martial arts manuals right now. Strong or weak, he would learn them first and gain some ability to protect himself before worrying about anything else.
Ding! Techniques detected: "Liyang Heart Sutra," "Liyang Sword Technique," and "Liyang Palm Technique." Add them to the Passive Cultivation Aura?
"Yes!"
Ding! Passive Cultivation Aura officially activated!
As the system's voice faded, Ling Yi felt his body shudder. Immediately afterward, faint streams of warmth coursed through his body. In just a dozen seconds or so, he underwent a transformation as though he had shed his mortal flesh and changed his very bones.
He checked his personal attributes again:
Host: Ling Yi HP: 57 Internal power: 15 Cultivation: First Level of the Houtian Realm Techniques: "Liyang Heart Sutra" (beginner 5%), "Liyang Sword Technique" (beginner 10%), "Liyang Palm Technique" (beginner 11%).
For an ordinary person to become a martial artist, even with heaven-defying aptitude, a long period of tempering was necessary.
Going from nothing to something was extremely difficult. Even someone with excellent aptitude needed several months, while an ordinary person would take roughly three to five years to generate internal power.
And merely generating internal power was not enough. They also had to guide it through the eight extraordinary meridians and finally store it in the dantian before they could officially cross the threshold and become a martial artist.
Ling Yi, however, had skipped all of this entirely. With the support of the Passive Cultivation Aura, he had instantly learned the techniques. Moreover, he did not need to cultivate himself at all; the passive aura would remain in a constant state of cultivation.
Sensing the changes in his body, Ling Yi threw back his head and laughed.
This fundamental improvement felt so good he could have soared.
Holding the watermelon knife in one hand, Ling Yi leaped into the courtyard and began performing the Liyang Sword Technique...