Mindful Words (Passive): Host's words carry an inherent sincerity. Minor missteps in dialogue will be interpreted with greater leniency. This effect is nullified if host's actions contradict their words.]
It was a social cheat. A lie-detector's inverse. It wouldn't make him a silver-tongued devil, but it would buy him grace. It was exactly what a villain trying to reform needed.
"System, use Soul Cleansing Elixir."
─[Ding! Soul Cleansing Elixir consumed.]
A cool, refreshing sensation spread through his skull, like a spring breeze clearing away a feverish fog. The lingering echoes of the original Zhen Wei's arrogant impulses, his petty cruelties, didn't vanish, but they became… quieter. Like background noise he could now consciously ignore. The two identities within him settled, the gamer's mind firmly in the driver's seat, with the villain's memories serving as a GPS to navigate the pitfalls ahead.
The cold voice came again, sharper this time. "Master? Are you deaf as well as a disgrace?"
The impatience was a whip crack. The old Zhen Wei would have thrown the door open and berated her for her insolence.
Before leaving he noticed that he had also received two nascent soul experience card 3 hours. The Nascent Soul realm was far beyond his current comprehension, a power that could level mountains and drain seas. These cards were a miracle.
"System, use the Nascent Soul Experience Card," he commanded, his mind reeling from the sheer audacity of it. "And the second one."
─[Ding! Nascent Soul Experience Card consumed.]
The world dissolved.
It wasn't pain. It was a violent, catastrophic unraveling. His meridians, the delicate pathways for Qi that he could barely sense at Stage 3, were suddenly flooded by a tsunami of cosmic energy. They weren't just filled; they were obliterated, then rebuilt wider, stronger, forged from some divine, stellar metal. His Qi Condensation core, a pitiful puddle of spiritual mist, was crushed under the weight of an ocean.
His physical body was a crucible. Bones cracked, marrow boiled, and every cell screamed as it was forcibly evolved, infused with a power it was never meant to hold. He felt his Dantian, the energy center below his navel, expand from a small pond into a vast, swirling reservoir. The primitive mist solidified, coalesced, and then detonated inwards, forming a tiny, radiant pearl.
The pearl was him. His Nascent Soul.
A miniature, perfect replica of himself, glowing with ethereal light, now floated within the vast sea of his new Dantian. His consciousness didn't just reside in his brain anymore; it was tethered to this nascent divine spark. The world looked different. He could feel the flow of Qi in the air outside the room, the gentle life-force of the grass in the courtyard, the slow, patient slumber of the mountain beneath the sect.
The second card activated before the aftershocks of the first had even settled.
If the first was a tsunami, the second was the birth of a star. The immense energy of the early Nascent Soul stage didn't just grow; it was refined, compressed, tempered. His Qi transformed from a potent liquid into a thick, viscous spiritual honey, its density multiplying tenfold. His Nascent Soul, once a simple pearl, began to shimmer, its form solidifying. Faint, phantom limbs, a perfect mirror image of a body, started to coalesce around it. The power thrumming through him was no longer just raw energy; it was the nascent beginning of a will that could bend reality to its whim. He was now at the second level of nascent soul he could now be compared to his fellow peak elders. The only reason Zhen Wei was a peak elder in the first place considering his weak level was because his grandfather was the ancestor who had ascended to the immortal realm but now he was gone. "What a truly heaven-sent newbie gift pack that's the legendary golden finger for you."
He staggered back, one hand slamming against the wall to steady himself. The lacquered wood splintered under his fingertips, not from force, but from the uncontrolled leakage of his immense spiritual pressure. The sheer magnitude of the change was staggering. He had gone from the lowest rung of the cultivation ladder, an ant in the eyes of the world, to a being that could crush the entire Silent Moon Sect without breaking a sweat.
Lan Xue's voice was no longer just impatient. It was laced with a hint of shock, of alarm. She had felt it. That sudden, terrifying eruption of power. The pressure rolling from the master's chambers was like a mountain falling from the sky.
He took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing the oceanic power back under the surface of his skin. The 'Mindful Words' skill felt like a flimsy shield against a tidal wave, but it was all he had. He had to play this perfectly. One wrong move, one flash of the old Zhen Wei's arrogance, and all this power would be for nothing. He'd just be a more powerful monster in their eyes, confirming their worst fears and making them even more eager to see him fall.
He reached for the door, his movements now impossibly fluid and precise. He could feel every grain of the wood, every shift in the air pressure. He pulled it open.
And there she was.
More stunning than any 3D render, more perfect than his wildest imagination. Lan Xue stood in the fading light of dusk, her white hair catching the last rays of sun and transforming them into a halo of pure silver. Her face was a masterpiece of icy sculpture, high cheekbones, full lips, and those eyes… those piercing, sapphire blue eyes that currently held a tempest of confusion and fury. She was dressed in a simple white disciple's robe, but on her, it looked like sacred vestments. This was his goddess. And she hated him.
She had felt the power spike, but she was still expecting to see the same weak, arrogant man she knew. Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly as she took in his appearance. He hadn't changed physically, not in any obvious way, but the… aura was different. The weak, blustering pressure she was used to was gone. In its place was a profound, terrifying stillness, like a calm ocean that could swallow the world. His eyes, once filled with petty pride, were now deep and unreadable.
"The elders are waiting," she managed, her voice losing a fraction of its sharp edge, replaced by a wary caution.
Zhen Wei didn't respond with a snap, as she expected. He gave a slow, deliberate nod. "I am aware. Lead the way."
His tone was calm, measured. The 'Mindful Words' skill woven into the fabric of the sentence made it sound not like a command, but a simple statement of fact. It disarmed her.
She turned, her movements stiff with suspicion, and led him through the familiar paths of the Silent Moon Sect. Every disciple they passed stopped and stared. Some even took a step back, their faces pale. They couldn't see the change as clearly as Lan Xue, but they could feel it. The oppressive, weak pressure their master used to exude had been replaced by something that made the very air feel heavy, charged.
The whispers followed them like ghosts.
"Did you feel that earlier?"
"What was that spiritual pressure?"
"Is Master… alright?"
The journey to the council hall was a gauntlet of silent judgment. Zhen Wei walked with a newfound, effortless grace, each step deliberate and silent. He was aware of everything—the rustle of leaves, the distant clang of a training bell, the accelerated heartbeats of the disciples around him. The Nascent Soul senses were an overwhelming, yet intoxicating flood of information. The system reminded him that the cards could only last for three hours, the only reason Zhen Wei used was to later on intimidate the leaders if they had any evil intentions against him his grandfather had ascended now there was no one to protect him and he also had to find a way to survive against the Protagonist who was coming to kill. "Why is life as a villain so hard," he thought sighing.
Lan Xue walked a few paces ahead, her back ramrod straight. He could feel her tension, a coiled spring of suspicion and animosity. She was expecting a trap, some new form of humiliation. He didn't falter. He just walked, exuding an aura of profound calm that was so alien to the Zhen Wei they all knew, it was more terrifying than any overt display of anger.
They arrived at the main hall, a sprawling structure with a sweeping, tiled roof. The doors, made of massive, iron-bound planks, stood open. Inside, the elders of the Silent Moon Sect were assembled.
The Silent Moon Sect wasn't a major power. They were barely clinging to their status as a second-rate sect, their glory days a distant memory, tied to an ancestor who had long since ascended. The elders were a motley collection of old, complacent cultivators, most stagnating at the peak of core formation stage, with only the Sect Leader, Elder Fei, having reached the peak of nascent soul.
Elder Fei was a thin, reedy man with a face like a disappointed vulture. He sat at the head of the long, polished table, his fingers steepled. As Zhen Wei entered, Fei's eyes narrowed. He too had felt the surge of power, and like Lan Xue, he was trying to reconcile it with the pathetic youth he'd known.
"Zhen Wei," Fei began, his voice dripping with condescension. "You've finally decided to grace us with your presence. Tell me, was your embarrassing defeat at the tournament so debilitating you needed a nap?"
The other elders snickered, a chorus of dry, rustling leaves. They were vultures, all of them, circling the last vestiges of his family's influence, waiting for the moment to peck it apart.
Lan Xue stood by the door, her arms crossed over her chest, her expression a mixture of contempt and grim anticipation. She wanted this. She wanted to see him humiliated, to have her own loathing validated by the council.
Zhen Wei didn't rise to the bait. He didn't even look at Elder Fei. His gaze swept across the hall, a slow, deliberate pan, taking in every face, every flicker of emotion. The sheer audacity of the act silenced the snickering. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and even, yet it carried to every corner of the room with impossible clarity.
"The tournament was a lesson."
The words hung in the air. A lesson? Not an insult, not an excuse. The elders exchanged confused glances. This wasn't the Zhen Wei they knew. This was something else entirely.
Elder Fei's scowl deepened. "A lesson? The lesson is that our sect is now a laughingstock because of your incompetence. Your grandfather's name is being dragged through the mud!"
"You are mistaken," Zhen Wei said, finally turning his full attention to the Sect Leader. He took a single step forward. "The only thing being dragged through the mud is your understanding of power."
He let the nascent soul pressure leak. Just a fraction. Not a violent wave, but a slow, inexorable tide. The temperature in the hall plummeted. The air grew heavy, viscous. One of the younger Core Formation elders gasped, his face turning pale as he felt his own Qi, which he'd cultivated for over a century, tremble like a leaf in a hurricane. The teacups on the table began to rattle.
Elder Fei, at the peak Nascent Soul stage himself, resisted it better, but his eyes widened in disbelief. This pressure… it was real. It was profound. It was vastly superior to most of the elders.
"H-how…?" Fei stammered, the condescension vaporized, replaced by raw shock and a dawning fear.
"The tournament was a catalyst," Zhen Wei continued, his voice still calm, yet now it carried the weight of a mountain range. "A crucible. I was weak. I was arrogant. And I was defeated. That defeat showed me the true nature of the path forward. I spent the afternoon in meditation, and in the depths of my shame, I found a breakthrough."
It was a plausible lie, one that leveraged the very humiliation they were celebrating. The 'Mindful Words' skill wove its subtle magic, lending the fabricated tale an air of profound, humbling truth.
He let the pressure recede as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving the elders gasping for breath in the suddenly thin air.
"I now stand at the Nascent Soul stage," he stated simply.
Silence. Absolute, deafening silence. It was as if he had announced he could turn the moon to cheese.
This was impossible. A breakthrough from 2nd level core formation to Nascent Soul in a single afternoon? It defied the known laws of cultivation. It was a fairytale. A lie so audacious it shouldn't have been uttered.
But they had all felt it. They couldn't deny the truth of their own senses.
This changed everything. Zhen Wei was no longer a disgraced, declining minor figure. He was now the single most powerful combatant in the Silent Moon Sect after Elder Fei. His potential was suddenly unknown, terrifyingly vast. The vultures who had been circling were now looking at a dragon that had woken from its slumber.
He turned his gaze to the side, where Lan Xue was still standing. Her face was a frozen mask of disbelief. The sapphire eyes he had adored from behind a screen were wide, a tempest of warring emotions. Fury, suspicion, confusion, and a tiny, flickering spark of something else. Fear? Not fear for herself, but the primal, instinctive fear a mortal might feel witnessing a god descend to earth. Her entire worldview had been upended. The weak, pathetic master she despised had become a powerhouse overnight. The foundation of her hatred was cracking.
"The council is dismissed," Zhen Wei said, his tone leaving no room for argument. "I have matters to attend to."
He didn't wait for a reply. He turned and walked out, the stunned silence of the hall his only escort. Lan Xue followed a moment later, her steps hesitant for the first time, her mind a chaotic storm.