Silence.
Yun Yi sat cross-legged on the plush bedding like a man awaiting divine judgment. The golden sunlight streaming through the intricately carved window panels bathed his body in an ethereal glow, but internally, he was anything but calm.
The demonic voice that had echoed in his head, dark, metallic, and full of dreadful authority, had vanished as abruptly as it had arrived. No further instructions. No flashing screen. No floating text. Just a suffocating, creeping awareness that something ancient had wormed its way into the depths of his soul.
He looked around. The ornate room felt colder now, as if a thin veil of dread lingered just out of sight. He half-expected the air to distort and the curtains to catch fire or start chanting. Still no voices. No blue screens. Just that one, horrible announcement seared into his memory:
[System Initializing… Legacy Core Identified…]
Yun Yi started knocking on the floor, tapping mirrors, and peeking behind wall scrolls. At one point he crouched by the bed with narrowed eyes like a sheriff in a Texas standoff, his hand hovering at his hip where a revolver should have been. Of course, there was no revolver. Only soft silk robes and more mystery.
"System check," he whispered cautiously.
Nothing.
"Status window?"
Still nothing.
"…Main menu?"
A pause. Still absolutely nothing.
He sighed. "So it's one of those systems…"
Yun Yi leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and buried his face in his hands. A quiet groan escaped his lips. "What kind of protagonist nonsense is this?"
Minutes passed. He tried everything: reciting random cultivation phrases he half remembered from the body's latent memories, clapping his hands in weird patterns, even focusing on the abstract concept of "information" as hard as he could.
Still nothing.
Then, with the solemn expression of a man committing an ancient and sacred ritual, Yun Yi turned himself upside down on the bed. His legs went up against the ornate headboard, his head dangling off the edge, allowing the blood to rush to his brain.
"Maybe it only works if I meditate in reverse…" he muttered to the floor.
A soft, collective gasp broke the silence.
Yun Yi's eyes snapped open. He was still upside down.
Several pairs of eyes stared at him from across the room. The three maids were frozen mid-step, having just entered the chamber. Their expressions were a masterful blend of concern, confusion, and the barely concealed panic of servants watching their young master perform what looked like a blood activating, mind melting, gravity defying demonic ritual.
He slowly righted himself and smoothed his tousled hair with all the dignity of a man who was definitely not just caught trying to astrally project through his bedframe.
"You all may leave. I need to... rest."
They hesitated, eyes wide. Yun Yi gestured toward the door with a weak, strained smile. "Seriously. Go."
The maids bowed quickly, almost in unison, and practically fled the room.
Outside in the corridor, the three maids gathered like conspirators in the aftermath of a failed exorcism. The door clicked shut behind them, the sound unnaturally loud in the quiet hall.
"The young master is behaving strangely," Ling, the middle maid, whispered, her voice tight with anxiety.
Xu, the eldest, nodded once, her usual composure looking more like a strained mask. "He's… quiet."
"Far too quiet," Ling replied, wringing her hands. "He hasn't corrected my posture. He didn't even notice my sleeves are folded a quarter inch too tight. Xu, he's never missed that before."
"He also didn't complain about the incense blend," Xu said, her own voice dropping to a near inaudible murmur. "Which is the wrong one." A beat of heavy silence passed between them, filled only by the distant rumble of the storm.
Meimei, the youngest, hugged herself, her voice barely a squeak. "And… and the upside down meditation? What was that?"
"Oh heavens," Ling gasped, stepping back. "He's talking to ghosts! I told you something was wrong. What if it's a possession type cultivation technique? I heard one of the Peak Masters once invited a Nether Spirit into his dantian and exploded during a sect tournament."
"Don't spread nonsense!" Xu hissed, her voice sharp but low. "You want the housekeeper to hear that and report us?"
"But it makes sense!" Meimei insisted. "He asked us to leave so he could 'rest'. That's exactly what cultivators say before they begin some forbidden technique that requires solitude. What if he's transforming? Or shedding his skin? Or, oh no, what if he's ascending inside his room?!"
They stared at each other in horror.
"…Should we prepare a tribulation shelter?" Ling whispered, eyes wide.
Xu massaged her temples, a deep weariness in her expression. "No one is ascending. He's just... experimenting. You both know what happened the last time the Young Master 'experimented'." Her gaze grew distant and haunted. "The last time he was this silent was right before he declared 3 Sword Peak had an 'asymmetrical aesthetic'."
She shuddered, her voice dropping lower. "He took the new Heaven's Wail sword, the one the Patriarch had just gifted him, and went there alone. An hour later, the third peak was gone. Just a crater of smoking rock and shattered formations. He returned for lunch and told the visiting elders from the Azure Cloud Sect that he had 'improved the mountain's Feng Shui.' They had to sit there and praise his 'profound artistic insight' while their own disciples were still helping extinguish the fires."
Ling paled at the memory. "That's why it's called Two Swords Peak now," Meimei whispered in horror.
Xu nodded grimly. "I would rather he just shouted. At least then we know what we're dealing with."
Back in Yun Yi's room, finally alone, he let out a long, defeated groan and rolled off the bed. His silk robes were wrinkled, his pride was in shambles, and he still had no idea what the system even wanted from him.
He slumped into a nearby chair.
"Okay," he mumbled to no one. "This isn't my first day alive. If the system hasn't activated, maybe it's still calibrating or updating its drivers or whatever ancient cosmic horrors do." He paused, a new resolve hardening his expression. "You know what? Fine. I don't need you. I'll just be a normal, obscenely rich young master. I'll learn the clan's martial arts, buy enough pills to make an alchemist weep, bribe a few sects for protection. Hell, I'll start my own rival sect out of spite. Just watch me."
[Calibration Complete.]
He froze.
The cold voice returned. Still metallic. Still demonic. Still deeply uncomfortable.
[Core Origin Node Detected.]
[System Classification: Obsolete Node – Legacy System Core]
[Moral Scale Not Found. Initiating Villain Protocol.]
"…what."
[Fallback Instruction Loaded.]
[First Directive: Establish Dominion.]
[Quest Issued: Recruit Your First Minion]
Yun Yi's mouth opened and closed like a fish.
[Requirement: Subdue or convince a cultivator of the Foundation Establishment Realm or lower to willingly serve you (Personal Loyalty must exceed 60%).]
[Reward: Authority Level +1 | Skill Tree Access: Minion Management]
[Failure Condition: Quest objective not met. System functionality remains locked.]
"…I'm sorry, what now?"
The voice didn't respond.
Yun Yi stared at the air as if it owed him money. "What kind of system doesn't have a moral scale?! What kind of villain protocol? Minion management?!"
He rubbed his face, trying to process the sheer absurdity. This wasn't normal, even by transmigration standards. There were no flashy lights, no tutorials, no convenient starter packs or guides. Just an eerie, unstable system whispering quests like a devil on his shoulder.
Yun Yi stared at the ceiling for a long time.
"…Maybe I am possessed."