Chapter 1—Zhang Xuan
Zhang Xuan found himself in an empty white room. The only things within were a simple out-of-place plastic chair situated in the center and a polished whiteboard hung on the far wall. Suppressing the bubbling bewilderment and growing panic in him, he squinted his eyes and carefully examined every corner of the room. There truly was nothing else, no distinct marks on the walls and no scrapes on the impeccable white marble floor.
He moved around, trailing his fingers across the surface of the walls, determining they were ordinary brick walls covered with cement and stark white paint, at least according to the sensations on touch. When he tried peeling off the paint, nothing happened. It was strange. Was it reinforced by some substance?
Have I been kidnapped? Zhang Xuan thought. This was the most logical conclusion.
He tried to recall what happened. His memories seemed to be a little hazy, as though he had just woken up from being drugged. However, Zhang Xuan didn't feel any headaches or cramps that should have been there as side effects if he was truly drugged. In fact, he was feeling more refreshed and alive than usual.
Zhang Xuan walked over to the plastic chair, probing it carefully but found nothing out of the ordinary. His mind was racing as the earlier panic creeped up his chest again. This is absurd! Zhang Xuan internally shouted, sweat forming on his forehead. I-is my life going to change? What do kidnappers do to their victims?! … No… I have to calm down. Think. I need to think. Is this situation really what I think it is?
Zhang Xuan slowly sat down on the chair, exhaling a shaky breath. He looked fixedly at the whiteboard, his mind gradually becoming more clear. However, to his shock, he couldn't remember anything from before he was here! Although he could make out some vague information about himself, they were blurred. He knew he was Zhang Xuan, a freshman college student enrolled in NUS in Singapore, specifically in Bachelor of Real Estate. His family was rich, owning a company worth a billion yuan. But apart from some other minor things, it was as if someone had brainwashed him, making him forget everything else.
Have I really been brainwashed! Zhang Xuan's face turned pale.
However, in the next moment, his eyes widened in shock. The whiteboard that was previously blank had some words written on it!
Points: 75150
[Talent]
Techniques
Background
Status
Other
Zhang Xuan was bewildered. He hastily approached the whiteboard, hesitating slightly before carefully touching the surface with his finger. When he tapped on the Talent tab, it expanded into more options below.
[Talent]
•Martial Soul
•Bloodlines
•Physique
•Other
"What is all this??" Zhang Xuan groaned out loud, feeling a headache pulsing from the back of his skull. This whole situation was too bizarre and his brain almost couldn't keep up. His common sense seemed to be put into question. This whiteboard was quite clearly ordinary, with a polished wooden frame. How could it be touch-screen! And what are these words?! If I'm not crazy, they are terms from a Xianxia fantasy cultivation novel…
Zhang Xuan had read a few novels like that back in high school before college, urged to do so by a friend. This was one of the minor memories he could still recall. He was already familiar with the story tropes, making him somewhat understand what the words on the whiteboard might be pointing to. But what did it mean that they were all listed here?
"Give me an explanation!" Zhang Xuan demanded in a frustrated manner, looking around him at the empty white room as though he wanted someone to just pop up in a puff of smoke to give him a much-needed explanation. However, he was met with silence.
Scratching his head roughly, Zhang Xuan sighed heavily. It seemed he had to figure things out himself. Looking back to the whiteboard, Zhang Xuan became thoughtful as he pondered. First, what did those points at the top signify?
However, as he started trying to make sense of what he was facing now, he had an abrupt epiphany from out of nowhere. Thinking about it, there were points and there was a list consisting of what a character could have, like their talents and background. It seemed similar to a simple character creation session from a cultivation RPG. He had played one of those in the past.
Thinking to this point, Zhang Xuan wanted to test it out. He tapped on the Martial Soul icon and it expanded as well, with a list of Martial Souls below it and a certain amount of points beside them.
"Could it be… these are the amount of points needed to purchase the so-called Martial Souls? So it is a character creation session using points as currency!"
Zhang Xuan turned silent as he processed this revelation. Why was he in this room, undergoing such a fantastical thing? By now, he understood something mystical must have happened, transporting him here. This character creation session should be meant for him… right?
His face turned a little pale as he clenched his fists involuntarily. He recalled one word… transmigration! One of the novels he read had the main character finding himself in a dark void just before he was transmigrated to a high martial arts world. Although there was no character creation session, the protagonist was bestowed with a golden finger in that void space, a cultivation system! Was he in a similar situation? Could this chance of building his character be a golden finger in itself?
Although vague, he was very sure that nothing bad happened to him just before he was forcibly whisked to this room. He was definitely alive and well, most likely having just arrived at his rented apartment near the university when this happened. He wasn't like the trope where the protagonists had…
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Xuan looked closely at the whiteboard. Since it had come to this, he might as well follow through while being careful. Transmigration was merely still an unproven conjecture. Perhaps this was all just a prank, and after he finished using up the points here, some people might appear and explain to him. Alternatively, if he was truly going to transmigrate, then he had to be absolutely sure of what he purchased with the points.
It was very hard to not have explanations anywhere. Was he supposed to guess his way through? To hell with it!
Zhang Xuan shook his head, his face a little somber but determined. Alright! Let's check it out.
The Martial Souls were categorized by their type and grade/rarity. There wasn't any detailed explanation, so he could only infer by scrolling through the list. The types seemed to be beast soul, tool soul, elemental soul and anomaly soul. They were somewhat self-explanatory, aligning with some Martial spirit tropes from other novels, but there were sure to be a few differences and unique details to them.
The grade and rarity was divided into Mortal, Earth, Heaven, Emperor, Saint and Divine. This was a very standard ranking in cultivation novels. Zhang Xuan first decided to look at the Divine or Godly Martial Souls, wanting to see how many points they cost.
With just a look, Zhang Xuan almost coughed blood uncontrollably and fainted on the spot.
Godly | Martial Soul (Filter: Strongest ––> Weakest)
Primordial Beginning Heavenly Dragon | Beast (27,000,000 P)
Primeval Chaos Lotus (Anomaly) (25,000,000 P)
Unconquerable War-God Spear (Tool) (23M P)
Nine Heavens Imperial Sword (Tool) (19M P)
The World Tree Piercing Heaven (Anomaly) (16M P)
Eternal Azure Dragon God | Beast (14M P)
Yin-Yang Taiji Emperor's Eye | Anomaly (13M P)
. . .
And so on. With a pale face, Zhang Xuan wiped the blood from his mouth and wordlessly set the Filter to Weakest —> Strongest. His hand was trembling while his eyelids kept twitching out of his control. He did not comment about the outrageous pricing which was more than twenty times his total points. It did not need to be said.
When Zhang Xuan laid eyes on the weakest Godly Martial Soul, he only sighed, heavily exhaling as he realized he was holding his breath. Its price was still over 2 million points. There were exactly 37 Godly Martial Souls. It seemed he couldn't afford any one of them and that he was aiming too high, like a frog wanting to eat swan meat.
Immediately switching to the Saint or Holy Martial Souls, Zhang Xuan's eyes were a little bloodshot as he checked the weakest one of them, gritting his teeth when it showed 107,499 Points for the points pricing. It was still too high!
"As a transmigrator, what's the point of not having one of the highest Talents among my generation? At this rate, I can probably only afford a mid-level Emperor Martial Soul. It is better if all this turns out to be a prank instead. In which case, I will not be a disgrace among transmigrators." Zhang Xuan sighed, lamenting his lack of points.
Zhang Xuan switched to the Emperor Martial Souls in a slightly listless manner. But then he paused as he realized something. He couldn't use all his Points for only his Martial Soul! If that were the case, he would be left with nothing for the other categories. If there was a default setting for his character, that would be one thing, but what if he were to be left with very bad conditions? That would be unacceptable. He definitely needed to spare some points to choose his background, at the very least. If he could also pick a rare technique and other talents, that would be ideal.
Thinking about this, Zhang Xuan glanced at his points balance. He had over 75,000 points. If he were to allocate 25,000 each for three categories, it would be just about enough. However, that would mean a lower-tier Emperor Martial Soul. Zhang Xuan was not aware of the exact difference between that and a high-tier Emperor Martial Soul, but he could guess there was definitely a huge gap in potential and power. Otherwise, there would be no significance in the price difference and ranking.
"This is a bit of a dilemma. I have three main choices. First, I can go all in with my Martial Soul, but that would leave me with no good background, techniques and other talents. Secondly, I can split my total points evenly for Martial Soul and background. Lastly, invest in three categories. There are other options, but these three are the most acceptable."
After weighing the pros and cons of each path available to him, Zhang Xuan thought that investing in three categories would yield the best results and outcome for him. However, he was still hesitant about the second option of choosing two categories, background and Martial Soul. With a good background, he would not need to worry about resources as they would be provided to him to an extent. If he were to be known as a good talent, the resources and attention allocated to him would be proportionately high. By then, developing his strength would not be a problem.
As a reader of a few Xianxia novels, Zhang Xuan knew that the nature of these worlds was always that the strong would devour the weak, and no matter the customs and rules established, there would be unscrupulous individuals all the time. One would be hard-pressed to avoid offending people even if one were to be cautious, and sometimes powerful cultivators would even disregard any consequences just to trample on you, relying on their might as well as the faction behind them to do whatever they want. Just like the trope of "arrogant young master". Not to mention, the truly arrogant would mess with you even without a reason!
As such, becoming stronger as fast as he could while under the protection of a strong backing was the most important thing, and he could choose a very powerful background while having a high-tier Martial Soul if he were to evenly split his total points.
However, Zhang Xuan wanted something else besides just those two categories.
He wanted a trump card!
Something that he could keep hidden while displaying the potential of the Martial Soul to the people around him.