Li Tian woke to the taste of copper and starlight.
The dream lingered in the space between sleep and consciousness—fragments of impossible images that made his head throb. A woman's face, beautiful but fading like watercolor in rain. Hands reaching through soil and stone, grasping for something always just out of reach. And underneath it all, a voice that wasn't quite a voice, whispering secrets in a language that predated words.
The roots remember what the leaves forget.
He sat up in bed, cold sweat dampening his shirt despite the morning chill. Outside his window, the first light of dawn painted the sky in shades of amber and rust, the perpetual smog from New Shanghai's industrial district lending everything a sepia tint that photographers paid good money to recreate.
But something was different about the light today. It seemed to... pulse, like a heartbeat made visible.
Li Tian stumbled to his feet and pressed his face against the glass. What he saw made his breath catch in his throat. The farm—his family's dying, cursed farm—was shrouded in a faint golden mist that drifted between the rows of vegetables like captured sunbeams. Where yesterday there had been withered crops and barren soil, now there were plants that seemed to glow with their own inner light.
And in the center of it all, where the mech had fallen, fragments of black metal lay scattered like the bones of some mechanical beast. The earth around them was scorched, but not in the way fire would leave it. This was something else—a burning that went deeper than mere heat, as if the very essence of the soil had been transformed.
A translucent panel flickered into existence at the edge of his vision, startling him.
[Good morning, Host]
[System Status: Operational]
[Spiritual Energy Detected: Rising]
[Farm Status: Transformation - 12% Complete]
Li Tian rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was still dreaming. But the panel remained, its amber text pulsing gently like a patient tutor waiting for a slow student to catch up.
"Okay," he muttered, feeling somewhat ridiculous for talking to what might be a hallucination. "So you're real. And yesterday really happened."
[Affirmative]
[Query: Would you like to access the System Interface Tutorial?]
[Recommendation: Understanding your abilities is crucial for survival]
Survival. The word sent a chill down Li Tian's spine. He'd spent most of his life worried about surviving poverty, surviving his grandmother's illness, surviving the slow death of everything his family had built. But this was different. This was survival in the most basic sense—staying alive in a world that had suddenly become far more dangerous than he'd ever imagined.
"Yes," he said aloud, then felt foolish for it. But the panel responded anyway.
[System Interface: ACTIVATED]
The world exploded into information. Panels cascaded across his vision like falling leaves, each one filled with data that somehow made perfect sense despite being utterly alien. His stats, his location, his... cultivation potential?
[HOST STATUS]
Name: Li Tian
Age: 18
Cultivation Level: None (Mortal)
Root Affinity: Earth (Purity: 99.9%)
Spiritual Energy: 12/12 (Untrained)
Physical Condition: Healthy
Mental State: Confused but Determined
[LOCATION ANALYSIS]
Current Site: Spiritual Node - Grade 1 (Unstable)
Node Type: Earth/Life Fusion
Historical Significance: Ancient Cultivator Burial Ground
Danger Level: Moderate (Increasing)
[SYSTEM FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE]
Cultivation Guidance: Basic
Spiritual Sight: Active
Plant Communion: Locked (Requires Body Reinforcement - Stage 1)
Combat Analysis: Basic
Li Tian stared at the information, trying to process what he was seeing. Ninety-nine point nine percent purity? That sounded impressive, but impressive compared to what? And what exactly was a Spiritual Node?
As if responding to his thoughts, another panel appeared.
[EXPLANATION REQUESTED]
Spiritual Nodes are locations where spiritual energy naturally concentrates. Your farm has become such a location due to the presence of an ancient cultivator's remains. The corpse beneath your land spent millennia slowly releasing accumulated spiritual energy, transforming the soil into a natural cultivation site.
[WARNING]
This transformation will attract attention from various factions. Preparation is advised.
"Various factions," Li Tian repeated, thinking of the Iron Covenant mech and its casual dismissal of his property rights. "Let me guess—people who want to take this away from me."
[Affirmative]
[However, you possess a significant advantage: Your Root Affinity allows you to bond with this specific Node in ways others cannot. The land recognizes you as its guardian.]
Guardian. The word resonated through Li Tian's chest like a struck bell. His grandfather had always said the land chose its caretakers, not the other way around. He'd thought it was just the rambling of an old man who'd spent too much time talking to plants. Maybe it hadn't been rambling after all.
"So what do I do now?" he asked.
[QUEST AVAILABLE]
Seed of Tempering
Objective: Plant and nurture the Seed of Tempering using spiritual energy and emotional resonance
Reward: Body Reinforcement - Stage 1
Warning: Growth is influenced by the cultivator's emotional state. Fear accelerates corruption, hope promotes stability, intent shapes form.
Accept? [Yes/No]
A seed materialized in Li Tian's palm—literally appeared from nothing, as if the System had reached into reality and plucked it from some cosmic garden. It was roughly the size of an acorn but felt warm against his skin, pulsing with the same rhythm as his heartbeat. Its surface was smooth and dark, shot through with veins of silver that seemed to move when he wasn't looking directly at them.
He'd been farming his entire life. He knew seeds—their weight, their texture, the potential they carried. But this was different. This seed felt alive in a way that went beyond mere biology. It felt... aware.
"What exactly will this do to me?" he asked, though part of him suspected he already knew.
[Body Reinforcement - Stage 1 strengthens the physical form to handle spiritual energy. Without it, using your abilities will cause internal damage. Consider it... basic safety equipment.]
Li Tian couldn't help but smile at that. The System, whatever it was, seemed to have a sense of humor buried somewhere in its mechanical precision. Basic safety equipment for becoming something more than human. Sure. That made perfect sense.
He walked outside, the seed warm in his palm and system panels flickering at the edge of his vision. The golden mist was thicker now, and he could see that it wasn't randomly distributed. It flowed in patterns, following the same mysterious blue veins he'd noticed in the soil, creating a network of light that turned his humble farm into something from a fairy tale.
Li Tian chose a spot near the center of the field, where the mist seemed thickest, and knelt in the still-damp earth. As he dug a small hole with his hands, the soil felt different—more alive, more responsive. It seemed to part for his fingers as if eager to accept what he was planting.
The moment the seed touched the earth, everything changed.
The world tilted sideways, and Li Tian found himself somewhere else—somewhen else. He stood in a vast chamber carved from living stone, its walls covered in murals that seemed to move in the flickering light of crystal formations. But it wasn't the architecture that held his attention. It was the man kneeling at the chamber's center.
He was tall, gaunt, with the kind of otherworldly beauty that came from decades of cultivation. His robes were rich but travel-stained, and his hands—his hands were covered in blood. Not his own blood, Li Tian realized with growing horror. The bodies around him told that story clearly enough.
But the man wasn't looking at the carnage he'd created. His attention was focused entirely on the woman in his arms—mortal, fragile, and utterly still. Her skin had the waxy pallor of death, but there was something else. Something that suggested this death wasn't permanent, wasn't final. She was suspended in the space between life and death, held there by will and power and desperate love.
"I can bring you back," the man whispered, his voice echoing through the stone chamber. "I can remake the laws of heaven and earth if that's what it takes. Just... please. Don't leave me alone."
The vision shifted, and Li Tian saw the same man years later, decades later. His beauty had become terrible, his power grown beyond mortal comprehension. He stood atop a mountain of crystallized spiritual energy, arms raised toward a sky that bled light. Around him, the world was dying. Plants withered, animals fled, and the very air grew thin as he drew every mote of spiritual energy into himself.
All for her. All to bring back one mortal woman who should have been allowed to rest.
The scene changed again, showing Li Tian glimpses of a world transformed. Steam-powered machines rising to fill the void left by departed magic. Nobles in brass and copper crowns declaring cultivation a relic of a superstitious past. Books burned, masters executed, disciples scattered to the winds.
And through it all, the woman slept, neither alive nor dead, while the man who loved her became something monstrous in his devotion.
"History has lied,"* a presence whispered in Li Tian's mind—not the System this time, but something older, sadder. *"They erased cultivation to maintain control. But the roots remember what the leaves forget."
Li Tian gasped and found himself back in his own field, his hands buried in soil that now glowed with soft green light. The seed had already begun to sprout, sending out tendrils that pulsed with the same rhythm as his racing heart. But something was wrong. The young plant writhed as if in pain, its growth erratic and twisted.
[WARNING]
Emotional instability detected. Seed growth compromised.
Current state: Fear (67%), Anger (23%), Hope (10%)
Adjustment recommended.
Li Tian forced himself to breathe, to center his thoughts on something other than the horrific visions he'd just witnessed. He thought of his grandmother, finally sitting up straight after months of decline. He thought of his parents, and the possibility that their disappearance might finally make sense. He thought of the farm, and how for the first time in years it looked truly alive.
The plant responded immediately, its twisted growth straightening as green light flowed through its leaves. Li Tian could feel the connection between them—not just gardener and plant, but something deeper. A partnership.
[Seed of Tempering: Growth Rate 34%]
[Emotional Balance Achieved]
[Estimated completion: 6 hours]
Six hours. Li Tian settled back on his heels, wiping dirt from his hands. Six hours until he became something more than human. The thought should have terrified him, but instead he felt... ready. Whatever was coming, whatever forces were converging on his small farm, he would meet them as more than just a desperate teenager with a hoe.
A new panel materialized, this one larger and more complex than the others.
[CULTIVATION PATHS AVAILABLE]
The display showed a tree-like diagram with five main branches radiating from a central trunk. Earth, Fire, Metal, Wood, Water—each glowing with its own distinct color and energy signature. But only the Earth branch was accessible, its warm brown light pulsing in harmony with the seed growing at his feet.
Li Tian studied the diagram, noting the way the paths intertwined and supported each other. This wasn't just about raw power—it was about balance, about understanding the fundamental forces that shaped reality. He was about to ask for more details when something impossible happened.
A sixth branch flickered into existence for just a moment—a path of absolute darkness that seemed to drink in light rather than produce it. Before he could focus on it properly, it vanished, leaving only the five traditional elements.
"What was that?" he asked aloud.
[Information Restricted]
[Current access level insufficient]
[Focus on available paths recommended]
"That's not ominous at all," Li Tian muttered. First the System refused to explain why cultivation had vanished from the world, now it was hiding entire cultivation paths from him. He was starting to suspect that having a mysterious ancient system in his head might come with more complications than benefits.
A sound from the direction of the house made him look up—a thin cry, barely audible above the ambient noise of wind and distant city traffic. His grandmother's voice, but wrong somehow. Frightened.
Li Tian rose to his feet, brushing dirt from his knees. The Seed of Tempering pulsed urgently, its growth suddenly accelerating as if responding to his spike of adrenaline. The plant writhed, its leaves rustling with a sound like whispered warnings.
He ran toward the farmhouse, system panels flickering frantically at the edge of his vision.
[DANGER DETECTED]
[Unknown Energy Signature]
[Spiritual Concealment: Advanced Level]
[WARNING: Hostile intent masked by false neutrality]
Li Tian burst through the front door, his heart hammering against his ribs. His grandmother lay crumpled beside her chair, unconscious but breathing. And sitting calmly at their small kitchen table, sipping tea from his mother's best china, was a figure that shouldn't exist.
The stranger was tall and lean, wrapped in a dark coat that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. Their face was hidden beneath a deep hood, but their eyes... their eyes glowed with the soft amber light of perfectly calibrated clockwork, gears turning behind irises that had never been human.
"You're late, heir of the forgotten," the figure said, their voice carrying the precise cadence of expensive machinery. They gestured to the empty chair across from them with one gloved hand. "Please, sit. We have much to discuss, and very little time."
Li Tian's hand moved instinctively toward the kitchen knife drawer, but the figure raised one finger in gentle admonishment.
"Violence would be... unproductive," they continued. "I come bearing information you desperately need. The Iron Covenant has dispatched Collector-Class assets to your location. Shen Ruin leads them—a pilot of considerable skill and even greater ruthlessness. They will arrive within the hour."
"Who are you?" Li Tian demanded, though he made no move toward the weapons. Something about the stranger's posture suggested that kitchen knives would be about as effective as harsh language.
"I am what remains when cultivation meets clockwork," the figure replied, lowering their hood to reveal a face that was beautiful in the way that perfectly crafted machines were beautiful—flawless, precise, and utterly inhuman. Half their skull was visible bone and brass mechanisms, gears turning slowly behind synthetic skin. "I am what your ancestor created when he tried to bridge the gap between magic and mortality."
They leaned forward, and Li Tian could see his reflection multiplied in the compound lenses that served as their left eye.
"I am the answer to a question you haven't thought to ask yet: What happens when love becomes obsession, and obsession becomes transformation?"
The tea cup clinked softly against its saucer as the creature set it down, the sound somehow final, like the closing of a door that could never be opened again.
"And I am here to offer you a choice that will determine whether cultivation returns to save this world... or destroys it entirely."