Morning gave way to noon. One by one, defeated examinees exited the academy gates, heads lowered, robes dusted with effort. From his seat just beyond the wall, Ziyang watched them leave, eyes tracking each slumped figure without a word.
By afternoon, more followed. Some scowled. Others walked in silence. Ziyang leaned back on his rock and observed them all, unreadable.
As night settled, the stars emerged, sharp and clear in the sky above. Ziyang rested humming a tune, light and unbothered. The gates creaked, and Master Juechen stepped out, his robes shifting with the breeze. Ziyang sat up, brushing the dirt from his sleeves.
Juechen paused at the sight of him. Their eyes met. Neither spoke. The master turned and walked off into the night.
Ziyang watched him disappear down the slope.
Then he lay back, resting one ankle over the other, arms tucked beneath his head. He tilted his chin toward the stars, expression thoughtful. Above him were two moons, one large, pale blue and luminous; the other smaller, dimmer, trailing behind like a sibling chasing the first.
"Interesting," he murmured.
[Natives call the two moons Qingluan and Lieque]
Ziyang clicked his tongue. "Look who shows up. Took you long enough. I've been stuck here all day. Where's my first task?"
[Patience is advised for guidance instructions]
"Oh come on…"
He fell quiet. The wind picked up slightly. A dry leaf scraped across the rock near his foot.
"You know," he said after a moment, "I meant to ask earlier, but didn't want distractions while I was waiting for the old man to have a change of heart. Since it's just us now… maybe we should finally get to know each other. Or are you just gonna throw another 'patience is advised' at me?"
[We may get to know each other, Ziyang.]
Ziyang grinned. "That so? Then let's start with the obvious. What's your name? And, while we're at it, since today's theme has been 'purpose', what's yours?"
[My name is Lingxi. My function is to assist you by any means necessary.]
"Assist, huh? Sounds like a fancy way of saying you'll hand me infinite power if I ask nicely."
[Negative. I function as an interactive archive. I track planetary data, analyze power structures, and quantify individual and environmental statistics. I am also tasked to guide you toward an undisclosed reward when the time arrives.]
"Cool. Who gave you that task?"
[Patience is advi-]
Ziyang groaned. "Alright, alright. I get it."
He rubbed his temples. "You say you're here to help. But how do I know you won't betray me or something?"
[I am incapable of deviation. My sole directive is to assist you.]
"Hmm. Guess if you were going to vaporize me, you'd have done it already. Fair point."
He fell silent for a moment, scanning the academy walls. "By the way, that tower inside. How does it even have a thousand floors? Seems… spatially irresponsible."
[The natively called planet Shouyuan has a planetary mass and surface area equivalent to Jupiter in your former universe. Structural limitations are vastly different.]
Ziyang's body snapped upright. "Wait- Jupiter? You're telling me this planet is that big?"
[Affirmative.]
He whistled. "Name checks out. Shouyuan… sounds like a place where life doesn't die easy."
A pause.
"Wait, speaking of long life, I haven't eaten since morning. Why am I not starving?"
[Your body has undergone physical conditioning. The previous inhabitant trained to suppress hunger over long periods.]
Ziyang stared at his hand. "So I did transmigrate. This isn't teleportation, it's… transfer." He flexed his arm. "But it feels exactly like mine."
[Your consciousness was implanted into the host body with the closest quantum signature. You may scale it to cosmic coincidence but it was a highly calculated decision.]
"Mhm. What rank was the guy?"
[This body belongs to a D-Rank cultivator.]
"D-Rank and this trained? That's promising."
Suddenly, he caught movement in the distance. A bird, soaring toward the academy.
"What about that thing? Got a stat on it?"
[B-Rank. Magical beast construct. Masked in illusion.]
"What-"
The bird struck the barrier with brutal force. Light exploded, smoke rushing out from the impact point. As the fog swirled, a sigil glowed within it, sharp and defined.
Then the entire magic barrier of the academy vanished.
Inside the dormitory halls of Tianlan Academy, students had settled in, paired off into shared rooms. Liangyu, the odd number out, had been assigned a room alone. He entered, changed into a fresh set of academy robes, and sat on the edge of the bed, elbows on knees, staring across the room at the empty cot opposite him.
He exhaled. "Hmph. I kind of miss the dude."
Lying back, he closed his eyes. The bed was firm, the wooden frame creaking under his weight as he shifted.
Just as sleep began to take him, a bell sounded. Not the soft chime of class rotations. This was sharp, relentless, like metal colliding with metal. Liangyu sat up at once. He threw the door open. In the long stone corridor outside, others were emerging from their rooms, murmuring confusion.
"What's happening?" he asked one of the students.
"No clue," the boy replied, eyes wide.
A dormitory guard stepped into the corridor and raised his voice. "Everyone return to your rooms! Remain indoors! The academy's officials are responding to the disturbance!"
On the western perimeter of Tianlan, beyond the outer wall, shadowed figures scaled the incline beneath the barrier wall. A cluster of assassins, cloaked in black and moved like water.
A sentry sprinted across the central court, headed toward the Scroll Pavilion nestled beneath the eastern tower. He burst through the polished double doors and dropped to a knee before Lu Zhenyu, Guardian of the Pavilion and Tianlan's Internal Strategist.
Zhenyu was mid-sentence, ink still drying on parchment.
"Master!" the guard shouted. "Apologies! But there's been a breach! Intruders sighted on the western side. Should we deploy reinforcements?"
Zhenyu didn't look up. "How many?"
"A few assassins and one confirmed Martial Soldier. Description matches Gao Yansheng."
Zhenyu's brush stopped. He set it aside, eyes narrowing in thought. "Let the local guards delay them. You, gather reinforcements and head to Tianmiji, east sector. Now."
Back in the west, a dozen guards lay scattered on the ground, groaning. Yansheng stood before the academy wall, observing the architecture, smooth stone columns, wide jade archways, glowing with sigil-etched wards.
"Wreck it," he ordered. "Burn it all."
He inhaled. Then, with a guttural roar, expelled a blast of concentrated sound. The force shattered trees, cracked the walls, and buckled the stone beneath their feet. The sky pulsed from the shockwave.
Outside the academy gate, Ziyang remained in place, head tilted.
Suddenly, a translucent grid hovered before his vision.
[Body Rank: D]
Strength: 40/100
Speed: 70/100
Endurance: 50/100
Qi Control: 60/100
Wit: 90/100 (Enhanced by Prior World Knowledge)
"Whoa," Ziyang muttered. He tried to touch the interface, but his fingers passed through it.
[The screen is not a hologram. It's projected directly into your retinal field.]
"Neat."
[Guidance instructions unlocked. Task one updated: Proceed to Tianlan's west quarter. Eliminate the intruders. Reward undisclosed.]
Ziyang took a moment of breath. He slowly smiled and then grinned wide. He jumped up and down slightly with excitement, cracked his knuckles, and roared, "FINALLY!!"