Draco stirred awake when a gentle hand tapped his shoulder. He found a thin, frail child with beaming eyes standing before him.

"Good morning, senior brother Liu!" the child's voice couldn't help but crack with excitement.

Draco scrutinized him, "And who might you be?"

"Um..." the child laughed awkwardly, "I'm Lord Bai Xiao's personal disciple. He spoke about you when he returned to the sect yesterday, and I couldn't resist meeting you."

Draco gave the child a steady look, "What's your name, kid? You seem malnourished as if the sect can barely afford to feed you. You look like a gust of wind could blow you away!"

Embarrassed, the frail child's ears turned red, "Um... Senior Brother, it's not the Sect's fault. I have a naturally frail body, and the sect lacks high-grade healing pills. We are barely surviving, so we can't afford pills or medicines for non-fatal conditions..."

"...Uh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Zhuo Ruo, and I'm 14 years old..."

Draco cut him off, "Wait a minute, who would name their child Ruo... What a pitiful sect. I never imagined it was this impoverished. Non-fatal, you say. Do you believe me if I say I could flick you to death..." He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Kid, I think this sect is out to scam people. You better run while you still can... I'll be leaving soon anyway..."

Zhuo Ruo couldn't hold back his anger, "Brother, how can you be so heartless... 5 generations of Sect Masters prayed for you every day. Today, when you should bring hope to the sect, you plan to leave on the brink of its destruction?..." His throat dried up, and tears flowed from his eyes.

'Damn, this is emotional blackmail !'

Trying to console the kid, Draco patted him on the shoulder, but the frail child nearly folded in half at the touch. Draco retracted his hand immediately and led the poor child to sit on his bed.

Zhuo Ruo stopped crying as Draco's hand touched his shoulder. He muttered, "How soft!"

'Soft!? That thing is hard as a rock, I was tossing and turning all night.'

"Have you never seen a mattress before? Where do you usually sleep?"

"Senior Brother, I think this is the only mattress in the entire sect. This house belongs to our Master, and the previous Sect Masters lived here too. I never saw Master use this. I always thought it was a precious artifact used for cultivation. When I saw you sleeping on it, only then did I understand that it's used for sleeping... The disciples usually sleep in the common hall, where there are mats on the floor and bamboo roll-ups used as pillows..."

"No more! No more! Ru- No, junior brother, please stop. I can't take any more of this misery. How did it decay to such extremes? Were the previous Sect Masters so incompetent?"

Zhuo Ruo began to narrate how the sect had come to be in such shambles. It was a long, bitter story. It was during one such tale of misery that Zhuo Ruo's only parent, his father, died while fighting their mortal enemy.

'Wow, it could all be summarized in a few words. Celestial Tyranny Sect, misery, misery, and more misery.'

As Draco looked at the frail body of his junior brother, a potent rage brewed within him, one he hadn't felt in a long time.

A voice echoed in the house, urging Zhuo Ruo to let his senior brother rest. As Zhuo Ruo apologized and ran away, Lord Bai Xiao, the miserable Sect Master, stepped in.

Draco gave his supposed master a meaningful look, "Nice touch with the kid."

A flash of shame appeared on Lord Bai Xiao's face, "I just wanted you to hear a genuine plea. I didn't manipulate the kid in any way, everything he said is true. If you still want to leave, I won't stop you."

Draco scoffed, "Enough with the misery porn, I'm not leaving."

With his hands clasped behind his back, he looked 45 degrees to the sky and spoke with a solemn face, "Lord Bai Xiao, as you know, I'm from another world. A world that is the same as this in many ways, but quite different in others..."

"...You could say it's an alternate reality. In my world, even without cultivation, Humans were able to conquer the heavens. And I'm at the peak of this Humanity I speak of. I'm young in body, but not in mind. I'm undying. I have far more tools at my disposal than you can ever imagine. Whether it's prophecy or circumstance, I have decided to conquer this world, and I promise to not only save your sect but to ensure it stands at the very top of this world..."

"...Are you willing to hand me your sect?"

Lord Bai Xiao gulped. As he processed the words spoken by the youth in front, a desire he never had arose within his heart.

With a nod, he yelled, "Yes!"

Draco nodded, turned his back to Lord Bai Xiao, and spoke with the same stoic voice, "I also require one more thing from you, Sect Master."

"Anything! Name it, What do you want?" Lord Bai Xiao yelled in anticipation.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Draco turned, facing the old man, "I want..Your soul."

As streams of particles and light surrounded him and the young man, Lord Bai Xiao's eyes widened.

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Three days later, the 'Seraph of the Cosmos.'

"We now have a complete copy of his consciousness..." As Arthur looked through the memories of the honorable Bai Xiao, he couldn't help but snicker.

"... Gargantuan is his stalk, for he shall sow his seed." Arthur guffawed out loud. "I didn't know you had dreams of a harem!"

Draco rolled his eyes, "I don't... But the prophecy is pretty impressive, these newer physiques are indeed designed to achieve maximum fertility, in case there's a need to populate a world."

Arthur laughed out loud before displaying a mind map, which neatly organized all the information extracted from Lord Bai Xiao.

The information about cultivation realms was what caught his attention the most.

1. Novice : Initial, Middle, and Late Origin.

2. Seeker : Origin, Boundary.

3. Adept : Origin, Boundary, Celestial.

4. Arcanist : Origin, Boundary, Celestial, Transcendence.

5. Sage : Origin, Boundary, Celestial, Transcendence, Stellar.

6. Ascendant : Origin, Boundary, Celestial, Transcendence, Stellar, ?

7. True Immortal : ?

8. ??? : ?

Looking at the information, he couldn't help but roll his eyes, "So who are considered immortals?"

Arthur looked at the data before answering, "Anyone from Stage 5-8 can be called an immortal, though cultivators from later sub-stages of Stage 4 onwards are able to take flight. Most of the time, they use a sword for this, but other weapons or artifacts could also be used."

"Analyze the cultivation levels and all the techniques in his memory. Once you are done, collect any data you can from his body. We should figure it out before I try any of this. I'll head back and acquire some spirit stones and some crafting manuals for these so-called artifacts and alchemy manuals."

"Do you want to check the data from my recon?"

"Is it extremely important? If not, we should sort the sect first. It looks ready to disperse any moment now."

"Go ahead then."

Draco disappeared.

"Damn, he's really serious... Not that we have anything better to do," Arthur looked at the old man, a Sect Master who was now pitifully tied up, his eyes clamped open as electrodes fumbled in his brain.

"Hold on for a while longer, we'll get you a new body," Arthur continued with his experiments.

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Draco returned to the dilapidated house and started walking in the direction of the main sect hall. A 3D map was projected from the communicator, which had detailed structures along with their descriptions; thanks to Arthur's recon and the Sect Master's memories.

As he walked toward the main hall, he could see the girls and the men's common hall on either side of the path that led toward the Sect's main hall.

There were many disc-shaped platforms, each slightly raised from the ground. As many as 30 disciples were sitting close to each other, eyes closed.

'They don't even have individual rooms to cultivate... They have to be packed like sardines in these so-called spirit gathering formations.'

Just as he was about to enter the main hall, which was built atop a small hill, he saw the frail Zhuo Ruo running towards him.

"Senior brother...." gasping for air, Zhuo Ruo started talking, "I saw you walking over here, so I came to greet you. Senior Brother, where is our Master? I haven't seen him for 3 days, and the Elders are worried too!"

Looking at this pitiful adopted junior brother of his, Draco couldn't help but sigh, "Junior brother, don't run the next time you see me. You look ready to collapse... Now from today, I'm the Sect's Young Master. When we are inside the sect or in private, call me whatever you like, but when we are outside, you should call me Young Master while having a solemn and respectful look on your face..."

Draco put a hand around Zhuo Ruo as they walked into the sect hall.

"...Our sect's rise isn't far off. Once I settle the issues in the sect, we'll venture out into the world and show our might. So you have to keep this in mind."

Zhuo Ruo's face beamed with happiness, his eyes sparkling, "Seni- Young Master, I'm really excited for such a day!"

Inside the main hall, after looking at the interiors, Draco shook his head. He then looked at Zhuo Ruo, "You can call me senior brother or Brother Liu in private. Now go get the Elders and tell them I have something important to relay from the Sect Master."

Ten minutes later, under the curious gazes of the eight Elders of the Celestial Sage Sect, Draco introduced himself as the newly appointed Young Master of the Sect, their prophesied savior.

Without waiting for them to talk, he clasped his hands behind his back, assuming the posture of an expert, and started talking.

"I've led the Sect Master to a Heaven-sent opportunity. I will lead you all to this same opportunity in a moment, but before that, call for a disciples' meeting. And also gather all the Sect's manuals, be it techniques or alchemy or formations, or crafting. Also gather some spirit stones, along with samples of each of the herbs and pills in the inventory..."

"...If you Elders have any such items not present in the Sect, be it manuals or items, it's time to gather them. This opportunity you're going to receive is the blessing of your nine lifetimes, please hurry."

The Elders were now looking at Draco with some confusion and suspicion. One of the Elders started to speak, "Disci- Young Master Liu, it's not that we don't trust-"

Draco cut him off, "Elder Liang, stop. I know all of your names along with all the details of the Sect. I'm not here to scam you. Truth be told, I was the one scammed by the Sect Master. Even if I wanted to scam, I wouldn't choose such a dilapidated and truly shabby Sect..."

"...If it wasn't for the idiotic prophecy and the Sect Master using the pitiful Zhuo Ruo to emotionally blackmail me, I wouldn't even spare a glance at such a sect. If you want to argue with someone, you can argue with your Sect Master. We'll meet him soon. But right now, do as I say or else I will leave, my origin and capabilities are beyond your wildest imagination."

Hearing all this, the Elders had no choice but to scramble and busy themselves with the task. Left alone, he walked to the seat of the Sect Master, he wanted to take a seat but it didn't look comfortable. He just paced in the hall, thinking.

'I have bluffed them successfully, they didn't even question my lack of cultivation, the people of this Sect are truly retarded; How else could it end up like this... But truly, who would even want to scam this Sect...'

'...Well, whatever, with this Sect at hand, I won't need to build a force of my own. No matter how shabby the Sect is, its name will give me credibility. It's better than being an upstart...'

'...This sect being scholarly and not a martial Sect, I could force my way in and bluff them. If they used their fists to determine things, that would've been bad. Overall, not a bad start.'

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Twenty minutes later, Zhuo Ruo led Draco to the entrance of the hall. All the disciples looked at Draco with curious gazes. His short hair, tall stature, muscular build, and handsome face with foreign features gave a powerful exotic impression.

He clasped his hands behind his back, assuming his Young Master pose. He gently nodded at the Elders and cast a glance at the disciples standing on the stairs below the Sect Hall.

In a resounding but calm voice, he began to deliver his speech.

"Disciples of the Celestial Sage Sect,

Today marks a pivotal moment in our sect's history. We stand here, united by resilience and unwavering loyalty. Amidst the turbulent currents of adversity, you have clung steadfastly, refusing to abandon the Sect in its time of Crisis. For this, I commend each of you as the pillars of our legacy..."

Pausing for effect, he continued his speech.

"...As the new Young Master of the Celestial Sage Sect, I, Liu Draco, pledge to bring about a revolution within our sect. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, we shall soar higher and stronger. In seven days, our resolve will be unshakable, as if mountains themselves root us in place..."

"...For too long, our scholarly ways have been a target for others to exploit. No more shall we be mere playthings in the hands of the unscrupulous. From this moment on, the Celestial Sage Sect shall shed its passive cloak and claim its rightful place in the world."

"The Celestial Tyranny Sect, which inflicted its tyranny upon us, shall face the consequences of their actions. They will learn that rivers of blood shall flow, painting a canvas of our return to power."

"Together, we shall forge an era of unyielding strength and wisdom, transcending the heavens themselves. Our foes shall tremble, for they face not just the Celestial Sage Sect but the indomitable spirit of every disciple standing here today."

With each pause, the hearts of the disciples began to stir. They too knew of the epitaph on the tomb, at which their Sect Master bowed every single day. Their expectations and hopes grew as this new Young Master continued his dominant speech.

"With courage in our hearts and unity as our foundation, we shall rewrite the destiny of our sect. The Celestial Sage Sect shall rise like the morning sun, illuminating the cultivation world with its brilliance once more."

"We will march forward, disciples of the Celestial Sage Sect, for greatness awaits us!

Thank you for your trust, your dedication, and your unswerving faith.

May the wisdom of Sage Tianyu guide us on this journey!"

With his speech at an end, he inconspicuously pressed a button on the communicator, whispering "Do it now, get these Sect Elders too."

As thunderous applause and cheers erupted from the disciples, streams of particles and flashes of light surrounded the Elders and Draco, and they disappeared into thin air.

This powerful feat, which they had never seen even a sage do, left them shocked.

In a united voice, a powerful chorus echoed, "Hail the Young Master! Long live the Young Master!..."

~~~