Ashen awoke to the sound of crackling fire.
For a moment he expected to see the shattered walls of the Ironroot Sect… the carnage… the blood on his hands. He expected to feel the cold steel of the enemy saber piercing his back.
Instead, he felt straw.A scratchy straw mat beneath him.A weak body that barely obeyed him.And a dull ache in his chest, as if someone had buried a burning coal inside his heart.
He blinked. The world swayed.
A bamboo ceiling hung above him, patched with leaves. The smell of damp earth and smoke filled the air. Outside, faint village noises drifted through the cracks.
Where… am I?
Before he could gather his thoughts, a mechanical whisper echoed in his mind.
[Ember Root System initializing…][Host consciousness confirmed.][Assessing body status…][Body condition: Malnourished. Injured. Meridians—blocked. Spirit veins—fragmented.][Talent rating: Below common grade.][Starting Spark Level: 1]
Ashen froze.
A system?He had heard legends of ancient artifacts forming contracts with cultivators, but nothing like this.
Then memories returned—The collapsing sect hall.The injured disciples he pushed to safety.The enemy saber.Darkness.
Now he was alive again… but in a new body.
Reincarnation.
Before he could process it, footsteps approached. A thin, patched-clothed village woman peeked in.
"Ashen? You're awake? Spirits bless… I thought we lost you."
Ashen.So that was this body's name.
"I… collapsed?" he asked.
"Again," she sighed. "Stop chopping wood when your body can't handle it. The fever almost took you."
She placed a bowl of porridge beside him and left.
Silence returned.
The system spoke:
[Warning: Host body predicted to collapse at age sixteen due to meridian degradation.][Recommended action: Begin cultivation immediately.]
Ashen inhaled sharply.
This new life had a deadline.
He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. In his old life, sensing the dantian took years. Now he focused inward—
A tiny ember flickered in the darkness within.Weak.Fragile.
But unmistakably alive.
[Ember Root detected.][Ignition process beginning.]
Heat exploded through his veins.
He clenched his jaw as blocked meridians struggled to open. Pain wracked his body, but he endured it. Compared to dying under a collapsing sect, this was nothing.
Then—
POP.One meridian cracked open.
[Ignition complete.][Ember Root Level increased to: 2][One minor meridian unblocked.]
Breathing heavily, Ashen smiled weakly.
"This… is my chance."
New notifications appeared.
[Daily Challenges Unlocked]
Meditate 10 minutes (0/10)
Chop 20 pieces of wood (0/20)
Gather 3 spirit herbs (0/3)
Simple tasks… yet they offered growth.
Ashen stood, grabbed an old axe, and stepped outside.
The humble village lay before him. Smoke drifted from roofs. Farmers tended spirit grass fields. Children splashed water from buckets.
In his last life, he had climbed slowly despite terrible talent.Here, he started lower—
But he had something no one else did.
A spark ready to grow.
"I died once," he whispered."This time… I will rise from the roots."