I stared at the floating blue text, my hand hovering in mid-air. I tried to swipe it away, thinking it was some lingering illusion from the void, but my hand passed through it like smoke.
"World... System?" I whispered, my voice hoarse from disuse.
The text changed instantly, the words rearranging themselves with a mechanical fluidity that felt alien yet oddly reliable.
{Affirmative. The World System is an assist tool bound to the Host's soul. It is designed to aid the Host in defying the Heavens and rising to the Top.}
My eyes narrowed. Defying the Heavens? That sounds exactly like something I would do. In my past life, I fought against countless struggles, armies, and even fate itself. If this strange artifact, or whatever this is, claims it can help me rise, then I will use it. I will use anything I can get my hands on for my benefit.
'Show me what you can do' I commanded in my mind.
{Analyzing Host's current status...}
A new window flickered open, displaying a list of data that made my face darken.
[Status Window]
* Name: Yin Shen
* Age: 19
* Race: Human
* Cultivation: None (Mortal)
* Vein Type: None
* Physical State: Malnourished, Poisoned (trace amounts), Weakened.
* Soul State: Fused (Recovering)
'Poisoned?'
I scoffed, a cold sneer forming on my lips. It wasn't enough that they bullied this boy; someone was actively trying to ensure he never recovered. The "expired pills" weren't just expired; they were likely laced with toxins to keep his constitution weak. The cruelty of this Yin Family is truly astounding.
{Notification: Novice Gift Package detected. The System has provided a starter gift to help the Host survive the initial phase. Would you like to open it? Y/N}
"Open it," I replied without hesitation. I needed power. Right now, this body was as fragile as a twig. If a strong wind blew, Yin Shen might collapse.
{Opening Novice Gift Package...}
{Received: Body Purification Pill (Low Grade) x1}
{Received: Star-King Breathing Technique}
{Received: Eye of Insight (Level 1)}
Just as I was about to inspect these rewards, a loud BANG echoed throughout the small room.
The flimsy wooden door of my quarters was kicked open, nearly flying off its rusted hinges. Dust fell from the ceiling as a heavy-set figure stomped into the room, followed by the stench of cheap alcohol and sweat.
It was a servant. I recognized him from Yin Shen's scattered memories. His name was Zhao, a lowly servant who was assigned to bring food to this courtyard. But in reality, he was just another tormentor who enjoyed stepping on the fallen young master to make himself feel superior.
"Oi! Trash Shen!" Zhao bellowed, holding a wooden bucket that sloshed with a gray, vile-smelling liquid. "I know you're in here! Don't tell me you died from crying too hard?"
He stopped in his tracks when he saw me standing by the broken mirror. His beady eyes widened slightly, not expecting me to be awake, let alone standing upright.
"Oh? You're still alive?" Zhao sneered, kicking the broken leg of the table aside. "That's a shame. I bet the Patriarch would have been happy to save money on your funeral."
He walked forward and carelessly dropped the bucket onto the floor. The gray liquid—supposedly my 'porridge'—spilled over the edges, staining the cracked floorboards.
"Eat up, Young Master," Zhao mocked, emphasizing the title with dripping sarcasm. "The dogs in the kitchen didn't want it, so I brought it to you."
My golden eyes shifted slowly from the spilled slop to the servant's ugly, grinning face.
In my past life, a general wouldn't even dare to breathe loudly in my presence. Yet here, a mere servant, a man with no cultivation and the grace of a pig, dared to offer me dog food?
The air in the room seemed to drop in temperature.
'This body is weak' I thought, analyzing the distance between us. 'I have no muscles, no stamina, and no weapon. But...'
I looked at Zhao's neck. I looked at his unguarded stance.
'I have the experience of a thousand battles.'
"Pick it up," I said softly.
Zhao blinked, digging a finger into his ear as if he misheard. "Hah? What did you say, trash?"
I turned my body fully toward him. I didn't shout. I didn't scream. I simply released a fraction of the killing intent that had been etched into my very soul from my previous life. It wasn't cultivation pressure—it was the sheer, bloody aura of a predator.
"I said," I repeated, my voice calm but sharp as a blade, "Pick it up. And eat it."
Zhao froze. For a split second, he didn't see the cowardly, weeping Yin Shen he was used to. He saw something else. Something ancient and terrifying looking out from those golden eyes.
"Y-You..." Zhao stuttered, instinctively taking a step back, his survival instinct flaring up for reasons he couldn't understand. "Have you gone mad? Do you want a beating?!"
"Try it," I challenged, taking a step forward.
{Alert: Hostility detected. Mission Generated: First Blood.}
{Objective: Teach the servant a lesson he will never forget.}
{Reward: 10 System Points.}
A savage grin tugged at the corners of my mouth.
"Perfect," I muttered. "I needed a warm-up."
--
Zhao's face flushed a deep, ugly shade of red. The fear that had momentarily gripped him was quickly replaced by humiliation. To be talked down to by the family's "trash"—a cripple who couldn't even awaken a Low Grade Vein—was an insult he couldn't swallow.
"You ungrateful little bastard!" Zhao roared, his fists clenching as he lunged forward. "I'll break your legs for that!"
He threw a wide, clumsy haymaker aimed right at my temple.
In the eyes of a normal person, the punch might have looked fast. But to me? It was agonizingly slow. It was full of openings, telegraphed by the shifting of his weight and the flaring of his nostrils.
'Pathetic. No technique, just brute force.'
My body was heavy, and my muscles screamed in protest as I forced them to move. I couldn't block it—if I tried to block a grown man's punch with these twig-like arms, my bones would snap instantly.
So, I didn't block.
I exhaled a sharp breath and shifted my left foot back, twisting my torso just as the fist came flying. The wind of his punch brushed past my nose, missing me by a mere inch.
Zhao's momentum carried him forward, throwing him off balance.
'Now.'
I didn't have the strength for a knockout punch, so I aimed for the soft spots. I stiffened my fingers into a spear-hand and drove them viciously into his armpit—right where the nerve cluster sat unprotected.
"ARGH!"
Zhao howled in pain as his arm went numb. He stumbled, his heavy boots slipping on the very slop he had spilled on the floor.
I didn't give him a second to recover. In a battlefield, hesitation means death.
As he flailed to regain his balance, I grabbed the back of his greasy hair with both hands and used my entire body weight to drag him down. I slammed his face directly into the puddle of gray, rotting porridge.
SPLAT!
"Mmph—! Grah!"
Zhao thrashed wildly, trying to push himself up, but I planted my knee firmly onto the back of his neck, pinning him to the floor. My body was weak, but leverage was a powerful tool.
"Eat," I commanded coldly, pressing his face harder into the filth.
"L-Let go! You crazy—!"
"I said, eat."
I grabbed the wooden bucket he had dropped—it still had a little bit of the vile liquid inside—and smashed it over the back of his head. The wood splintered, dazing him.
"You treated the previous owner of this body like a dog," I whispered into his ear, my voice devoid of any warmth. "So today, you will dine like one."
Zhao was terrified. This wasn't the Yin Shen he knew. The aura radiating from the person pinning him down was suffocating, like standing in front of a predator that had just woken up from a slumber. He choked, gagging as he inadvertently swallowed some of the slop in his panic to breathe.
I held him there for another ten seconds, ensuring the humiliation seeped deep into his bones, before I finally lifted my knee.
"Get out," I hissed. "And if you ever step foot in my quarter with anything less than proper food... I will feed you your own fingers next time."
Zhao scrambled backward, slipping on the mess, his face covered in gray filth and blood from a cut on his forehead. He looked at me with pure terror, wheezing and coughing. He didn't say a word. He didn't dare. He turned and scrambled out of the room on all fours before sprinting down the hallway.
As soon as he was gone, the adrenaline left from my body.
"Haa... Haa..."
My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the edge of the bed, gasping for air. My chest burned, and my vision swam with black spots. Just that brief struggle had nearly exhausted this frail body's entire reserve of stamina.
'This body... is even worse than I thought. If he had been a Cultivator, even of the lowest rank, I would have died just now.'
{Ding!}
The familiar blue window chimed, floating before my weary eyes.
{Mission Accomplished: First Blood.}
{Evaluation: Ruthless and efficient. The Host utilized the environment and psychological warfare effectively.}
{Reward: 10 System Points received.}
{Perfect Evaluation Bonus: 5 System Points received}
{Current System Points: 15}
I wiped the sweat from my forehead, a faint smirk returning to my face.
"At least the rewards are real," I muttered.
I looked down at the items I had received from the Novice Gift earlier, which were now materialized in my inventory—a small dimension I could access with my mind. A small, jade-colored pill and an old, leather-bound manual.
[Body Purification Pill (Low Grade)]
* Description: Cleanses impurities from the marrow and meridians. Cures minor poisons and strengthens the user's constitution.
* Warning: Process is painful.
"Painful," I chuckled dryly, looking at the pill in my palm. "I've suffered so much on battlefield in my previous life. What is a little pain?"
I didn't hesitate. I threw the pill into my mouth and swallowed it dry.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, it felt like I had swallowed a ball of liquid fire.
"Guh—!"
I gritted my teeth, clutching my stomach as the heat exploded outward, rushing through my veins like a torrent of lava. It wasn't just heat; it was an itching, tearing sensation, as if millions of ants were crawling inside my bones, scrubbing away the filth.
Black sludge began to seep out of my pores, smelling of tar and rot. The toxins accumulated over years of neglect and poisoning were being purged.
I curled up on the bed, my body trembling violently. I didn't scream. I refused to scream. I bit my lip until it bled, enduring the agony in silence.
'Burn it all away...' I thought fiercely, my consciousness flickering. 'Burn away the weakness. Burn away the past. When I wake up... Yin Shen will be reborn for better or worse.'
As the pain reached its peak, the System chimed one last time before I blacked out.
{Purification Process Started. Estimated time: 6 Hours.}
{Standby...}
--