The smell of damp earth and cheap incense was the first thing Su Chen noticed.
The second was the stinging pain in his abdomen.
"Get up, Su Chen! If you don't finish weeding the Spirit-Tail grass by sunset, the Elder will have you whipped!"
Su Chen opened his eyes to see a teenager in grey robes sneering at him.
Memories flooded in—this wasn't Earth.
This was the Great Azure Continent, a world where the strong moved mountains.
He was an orphan in the Myriad Beast Sect, known for having a "Stone Spirit Root"—incapable of absorbing Qi.
As the bully walked away, a translucent screen flickered in front of Su Chen's eyes.
[Initialization Complete.]
[Host: Su Chen] [Level: 1 (Mortal)]
[Title: Buddin Puppeteer]
[Special Ability: 'Life Exchange' (Locked)]
[Current Task: Weed the Spirit-Tail Grass. Reward: 1x Bottle of 'Fast-Growth Liquid', 5 Exp.]
"A game system?" Su Chen whispered, his heart hammering.
He looked at the weeds. In his vision, they glowed with a faint red aura. He reached out, pulling one.
[Ding! Weed pulled. +0.1 Exp.]
He spent the next four hours working with mechanical precision.
While others complained, Su Chen was seeing his progress bar fill up.
When the last weed was pulled, a small jade vial appeared in his hand.
[Fast-Growth Liquid: Reduces maturation time of Spiritual Plants/Beasts by 50%.]
Su Chen's eyes gleamed. In a world where cultivation took centuries, he had just found a shortcut.
But he knew the rules of this world—if he showed off, he'd be dissected. He had to stay low-key.