"Where is this?" Li An looked around the room and frowned. After she collected herself together and started pondering, she found out that she had no knowledge whatsoever of her location or who she was.
Not to forget, Li An still had no idea how she had been reborn in the body of this girl. It could be a fracture in the space-time web of the cosmos, or the river of time that was only said to exist in the legends of the Andromeda Galaxy.
"The most important thing is knowledge. Right now, I am just an ignorant girl with no memories of her current life. If this situation attracts attention, it might become dangerous for me."
Li An watched the village outside the window and her brow narrowed. The houses were made of stone and timber, and there was no electricity running inside the walls. It looked like she was in a primitive region without any type of advanced technology, which was both an advantage and a disadvantage.
"This body feels weak..." As a Conqueror of Galaxies, Li An felt uncomfortable with the sense of weakness in her body. It was a feeling she was not used to anymore.
Her eyes flashed and she threw a punch against the gray stone wall out of nowhere.
Crack!
"Oh? This little girl is not a mortal?"
Her fist had only turned slightly red under the full strength of her punch, and there were now a couple open cracks on the wall.
Li An found this strange; only a Gene Booster could have this effect on a body, and this small secluded village could never have access to such an expensive injection.
She was about to continue testing the limits of her physique when the door to her room was lightly pushed open and a young boy walked in.
"Miss Li An, I brought the water for your bath. Where should I put it?"
The boy was chubby and younger than her previous self. His face looked dirty and was filled with freckles, lacking any type of skin cleansing. Going from his tattered attire, he was most likely a servant.
"Truly fascinating, I would never have expected to be reborn in the body of another Li An. And she doesn't seem to have a very high status." She raised the corners of her lips at the thought of the boy's behavior.
Although he was polite with his words, his voice did not sound too respectful, and his shoulders were relaxed, a sign that the gap between their statuses was not high.
As for the name of the girl being Li An like hers, it smelled of a conspiracy, but she was too weak to consider it at the moment. Survival came first.
"Place the bucket next to the bed and bring me as many books as you can. Focus on the history and geography of the village." Li An said without even looking at him.
The boy raised an eyebrow and bowed before leaving. "Why does Miss Li An need history books? The assessment day is tomorrow." However, he decided not to stick his nose in matters above his level.
Li An let out a sigh of relief when the door closed.
Any unusual behavior, sentence or emotion could escalate into a greater problem, so it was better to be prudent about it.
Li An had met a lot of brave men and women in her one thousand years of life who were destined to achieve great feats. They had laughed at her, oh how they laughed about her careful nature.
Li An's eyes became colder. Their mockery is the music of the ignorant, for prudence is not the coward's cloak as they believe; it is the armor of the wise.
True power, the kind that commands not just fear but respect, comes from a deep understanding—a meticulous gathering of knowledge.
Those brave men and women were much stronger than Li An, yet they were all killed by her own hands due to their carelessness.
Therefore, she would become a coward to survive.
It didn't take long before the servant boy returned with a pile of books under his robe. The paper was a bit wet, but it was clearly readable enough for her.
"You can leave." Li An lost her interest in the servant and began reading on the floor with her legs crossed.
As the storm intensified, the incessant drumming of rainfall grew louder, and the bamboo groves swayed and hissed under the torrent. Even the splatter of water droplets against the cobblestone paths seemed loud in the silence of the village.
"This..."
Boom!
The thunderclap followed a flash of lightning that lit up the sky.
Li An was in a state of shock, an emotion she had never thought she would feel again. She did not even have it when she was surrounded by enemies, the decisive moment of her life.
What she read was too shocking! Too mind-blowing!
"I am in the Cultivation World." Her ecstatic smile suddenly returned to that of cold indifference.
The books spoke about the art of cultivation, which could transform a mortal into a cultivator, and a cultivator into a God. She was in the Gentle Sword Sect, an organisation similar to a school where students learned how to cultivate.
Cultivators were forces of nature that could not be stopped by anyone weaker than themselves. They could split mountains and move rivers with their bare hands, and there were legends that the Great Ancestor of the sect had once severed an entire realm with one finger.
Although Li An had great power in her previous life, it mostly came from the technological advancements of the nanosuit. Her previous human body could only survive 500 kg of strength.
There were also many books explaining the rules and principles of a righteous sect, detailing the need to be kind and selfless towards those weaker than oneself.
Li An read them all, despite the growing scorn on her face. She was not unfamiliar with righteous organisations; she had seen plenty of them in her previous life too.
They parade their reputation, kindness and selflessness before the world like banners in the wind.
"But the naked truth, stripped of its pretentious formalities, is that this is the cultivation world, where might indeed makes right. So what if your sect has many experts? A God realm cultivator can just obliterate everyone in less than a second." Li An was not memorising the rules in order to follow them, but to use them for her own benefit.
The hypocrisy of these so-called righteous sects is staggering—a thick fog that blinds even the wisest sage.
Reputation?
It becomes a prison, confining their actions to what is visible and applauded by others.
Kindness?
A mask that often hides ulterior motives, wielded like a weapon to gain followers and crush dissent.
Selflessness?
A clever illusion, a means of binding others to them, demanding loyalty and sacrifice for the sect's greater good—or so they claim.
Li An finally closed the last book on the pile. "I am not interested in their useless idealism."
After reading all the records in the books, she understood the gist of this world. This was a world made by the strong, for the strong.
Li An placed her hand on the bed and felt a sudden sense of dizziness. This body was too weak and required some sleep. Now that she had gathered some knowledge about her surroundings, Li An believed she was a bit safer than before.
She lied down on the bed and quickly drifted to sleep.
· · ────── ·𖥸· ────── · ·
Ding... Dong... Ding... Dong...
As the horizon blazed with the fire of the rising sun, the bell began its toll, sending deep, resonant chimes through the streets of the village.
Li An opened her dry eyelids while her heart silently thought, "It's already dawn, and this body is still shrouded in exhaustion. Did the girl die from sleep deprivation?"
She shoved away the thin silk blanket and got up neatly. The sky was clean and the first light of the morning brightened the room. One could even say that after the rain's lament, the sun smiles.
Li An was met with the distinctive scents of the valley— earth mingled with tree sap and wildflowers. She felt a rush of clarity as the lingering sleepiness was swept away.
"It is time for me to explore the Gentle Sword Sect. After all, first-hand information is always more accurate than reading books." Li An did not believe that she was ready to go out there with the current knowledge she had, but staying inside was an even worse option.
If she remained in the safety of the cage for too long, the cage would become her weakness.
Li An also used this opportunity to have a better look at the village in the light of day. The dwellings sat sheltered beneath the towering cliffs and sprawling green canopies of the Yi Jian Valley.
The houses were built from thick blocks carved from the valley's own rocky outcrops, mixed with some kind of paste made from soil and water.
There was also a large stream that was said to meet a river further inside the valley, but not many people had ever gone there.
Li An seemed to be in one of these small houses, but she was living pretty far away from the center of the Sect. "I am not a servant, since they live in cabins made of timber, but I am also not from the inner sect considering the distance between my house and the center."
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Li An's gaze shone. "This girl is an outer sect disciple, and her status is not too high. This means that my talent for cultivation will probably not be too good."
"Li An, wake up! The sect assessment is today, why are you not ready yet?" At this moment, the door was opened with a bang and a lady with black cultivator robes entered.
Looking away from the window, Li An saw the friendly face of a girl around the same age as her body.
Her looks were only average at best, and it did not help that her robes were messy and full of sweat. Her blonde hair was locked in a pearl hairpin, and her whole body radiated the energy of youth.
"Oh, a problem arrived." Li An did not panic when confronted with an acquaintance of the girl.
The previous night, Li An had read about the outer sect assessment and knew how it worked, but she would never have expected it to be today. Regardless, it did not affect her plans. Perhaps it was even a blessing in disguise.
"I am ready. We can go." Li An showed a gentle expression outside, but her heart was unmoved.
"You sound weird. Did you overexert yourself last night?"
Li An brushed away her worries with a hand, as if it weren't a big issue. "I guess I was a bit nervous about the assessment."
"As expected, my personality is not similar to the girl's. It's best to keep our interaction at a minimum." Li An thought inside her heart, yet outside she didn't even twitch.
They left the house. On the way they bumped into many youths of similar age, all in groups of twos or threes, quite clearly heading to the same destination. Li An's friend did not stop babbling about random topics like the news of the sects in the area and the most renown martial seniors in the inner sect.
Li An listened but didn't reply. Not because it would be suspicious, but because she realized that the girl stared at her weirdly every time she opened her mouth to speak. The previous Li An was probably a very shy person.
A female servant caught her eye out of nowhere. "An opportunity."
Li An dashed towards the old lady and placed her hand around her waist, restricting her movements.
"Eh?" The old lady turned her head with a gasp and froze. Two pools of darkness were staring at her, reflecting nothing but their own disinterest.
"Follow my lead and I won't kill you."
The woman gulped and nodded her head in agreement. She would never be able to match a true cultivator, and she didn't want to die.
"Do you know this lady, Li An?" Her 'friend' came running after her and looked at the servant with raised eyebrows. "I never knew you were good at making friends."
Li An gave her a hesitant smile and blushed. "This is my new friend, Shu Yi. The other day, she saw me dragging my feet and offered to give me a back massage."
The servant was confused since that was not her name, but she did not dare to mention it. "Nice to meet you, Miss...?"
"You Mei, or Miss You if it is more comfortable for you."
Li An was still blushing, but inside she couldn't help but sneer. "Young people are too easy to manipulate."
What Li An was doing was nothing short of bullying the weak servant for her own benefit. But so what? There is only one sin in this world, and that is being weak!
There was no excuse for not knowing the name of her friend, so she only had to arrange the situation in a way that someone else would ask for her.
"Nevermind that, You Mei. We will be late." Li An let go of the servant's waist and made a nervous expression.
You Mei gave her a small nod and both girls began to walk towards the Outer Sect Pavilion. However, Li An paused for a moment and turned around to look at the old servant out of nowhere.
"By the way, thank you for the massage yesterday."
As their eyes met, the servant saw the young woman's lips curving into a friendly, warm smile that seemed to light up her entire face.
She felt a lump in her throat.
The eyes of the young lady... they did not look human. They held a chilling glint, like the sheen on ice. They pierced through the old servant, sending shivers crawling down her spine.
The warmth of the smile could not reach these inhuman eyes.
She ran away in a panic, not bothering with a reply. When she woke up today, she never thought such an incident would happen with this mad cultivator.
"What are you doing, Li An? I swear that if we are late I will blame you!" You Mei pouted and grabbed her friend's arm to catch her attention. Li An did not look like her usual self, so she attributed it to the stress of the assessment.
As they continued moving towards the tall building in the distance, Li An paid attention to the comments of the youngsters walking along the same street.
"The outer sect assessment is so stupid. We all know that only You Rou and Ning Jing have a chance of moving up to personal disciples. The rest of us can only reach inner sect at best, and even that is hard." Someone said in a sour tone.
"Hmph, if you had their talent you would not complain. What's the use of trash-talking them?" Another guy coldly replied against the person.
The friend next to him added, "Besides, the inner sect is already hard to enter. I am plenty happy if I can manage to be a part of the lower elders in the future."
"A competitive environment... Cultivators seem to fear the strong and disdain the weak. Although I still have the martial arts from the galaxies I conquered, they are just body movements and cannot be compared with the spiritual energy of cultivators." Li An thought with a smirk as she listened to the gossip.
Any other person would not think much of this, but Li An could see the dark designs of this system. She did not have more than one thousand years of experience for nothing.
The rigid hierarchy of outer sect, inner sect and personal disciples was just a giant scheme to control foolish youngsters.
It's a system crafted to breed competition, not out of a desire to push disciples towards their potential, but to stoke the fires of envy and control. By creating tiers, they create division; by offering the illusion of ascension, they bind the ambitious to an endless race.
The outer sect is full of hopeful souls, each dreaming of recognition—they are given just enough to taste possibility, but not enough to seize it. The inner sect, closer to the core, witnesses power but often finds the doors barred by those chosen few—the personal disciples. These chosen ones are paraded as paragons of potential, living proof of the rewards of absolute loyalty and conformity.
What becomes of dreams in such a place? They are not nurtured; they are controlled. Ambitions are not encouraged; they are directed, channeled into serving the sect's overarching aims.
"But this is good." Li An eyed the buildings in the distance coldly. "Righteous sects are the easiest to conquer."
The appetite of a demoness was not so easily satisfied.
· · ────── ·𖥸· ────── · ·
The sun climbs into the morning sky, its rays brilliant and sharp as they slice through the light mist of the valley. Although the sunrays penetrate the fog with ease, they fail to dispel the lingering cold in the air and in the hearts of the youths gathered at the Outer Sect Pavilion.
Over three hundred 15-year-old youths stood silent in front of the giant building. The Outer Sect Pavilion was located right before the residences of the inner sect disciples, having sweeping roofs that overhang significantly and high ceilings filled with the carvings of dragons and phoenixes. It was also used as a battle stage for the outer sect, so the arena inside was often full of cultivators looking to gain reputation through victory.
"Good lads, no one is late. Today is the Outer Sect Assessment for the disciples who have just begun their cultivation journey; you should know how important it is for your future. Haha, you all seem pretty nervous, so I won't nag you. Come with me." The one responsible for greeting them was one of the lower elders of the sect. His brown moustache gave him a comical look, but no one dared to laugh as he led them into the pavilion.
The elder's pressure was enough to make Li An wary. According to the book about the Gentle Sword Sect, lower elders were in the Core Formation realm, the third level of cultivation.
Core Formation experts could already destroy the strongest metals on Earth with their bare hands. Li An's shoulders became tense when she thought about what they could do with a weapon.
The elder led them through the entrance and they entered the battle stage. Right now, it was empty except for the elders and the sect leader on the podium.
"Mhmm, what's that, a mirror?" Li An raised an eyebrow when she saw the eerie mirror in the middle of the arena. It could float in the air alone, and there were ripples on its surface, just like water in a pool.
"An artifact!" Someone whispered excitedly among the crowd.
The group of youths made surprised and amazed noises. Only personal disciples had the right to have an artifact for personal use. Even Li An was interested in these artifacts that seemingly disobeyed the concepts of science.
"This is the Talent Mirror, a mortal grade artifact that every sect must have to assess the talent of its disciples." The lower elder explained with straight shoulders and a wide smile.
"Alright, listen as I call your names. Those who are called must touch the surface of the Talent Mirror and wait for the light to appear. Of course, the brighter the light, the greater your talent. Did you understand?"
"We understand, elder." The youths replied. The majority of them were not surprised by the elder's explanation because they had already heard about this process from their predecessors. It wasn't really a secret.
"Liu Xiao." The elder held the list of names and called out the first person.
The distance between them and the Talent Mirror was very short for a cultivator. In less than five seconds, Liu Xiao was standing before the artifact with trembling hands.
With a face full of seriousness, he lightly touched the surface of the artifact, causing a ripple in the mirror. As he did so, he could feel an invisible pressure on his spiritual energy, as if it were being squeezed inside his meridians.
The Talent Mirror made a buzzing noise and gave off a white light. Liu Xiao was relieved when he noticed the pressure dropping inside his body, but Li An noticed the disappointment in the faces of the elders. "That doesn't seem like a good result."
As he watched the white light, the elder sighed. "Liu Xiao, Grade 4 talent."
Liu Xiao's smile instantly collapsed, and he walked back to the line of youths with a pale face and clenched teeth.
A Grade 4 talent was a disciple who would only reach the peak of the Spirit Realm in their lifetime. In other words, trash.
The book about the Gentle Sword Sect did not explain all the realms of cultivation, but Li An knew about the first five.
Foundation Realm, when one would learn how to absorb and circulate spiritual energy. Li An was at the Foundation Realm first stage.
Then came the Spirit Realm, where cultivators would begin to form their spiritual core in order to increase the power of their blows. The majority of the older inner sect disciples were at this level.
Both the Foundation Realm and the Spirit Realm were divided into nine stages, while the latter ones only had three levels.
The Core Formation Realm was the moment cultivators formed their true spiritual core, drastically improving their strength. The personal disciples were all at least in this cultivation realm.
The two next were the Essence Condensation and the Nascent Soul realms, but Li An did not gather any information about the principles behind them. She could only guess that sects guarded this information for safety purposes.
Three other youths came forward, but it was three consecutive failures, with one of them even receiving Grade 5 talent, the worst of them all.
The elders observing the scene on the podium started frowning, not liking how the assessment was going. Even the sect leader couldn't help but sigh with closed eyes.
"Xu Ling."
"Here!" A slim-faced boy dressed in the outer sect's black robes came forth. He was much taller than his peers, and there was a bestial aura around him. Looking at him, Li An felt her lips curl up. "This Xu Ling looks strong and prideful. He will definitely advance to the inner sect."
Be it here or in her previous world, Li An had a special liking for prideful people.
Why? Because they were easy to control, fools with a pride that made them blind to the schemes of other people. How could Li An not love them?
The moment his fingers razed the surface of the Talent Mirror, a bright silver light emerged, which caused the sect elders to laugh.
"Good! Good! Xu Ling, Grade 3 talent!" The lower elder next to the mirror smiled while looking at the silver light. Every Grade 3 talent meant another Core Formation expert for their sect. Core Formation experts were not as common as one would believe.
In fact, barely 1 out of 100 cultivators would reach Core Formation in their lifetime. That is why the majority of elders in a sect had the cultivation realm of Core Formation.
One of the elders in the podium began laughing boisterously. "As expected of my son. Truly a tiger among men!"
"Then what are You Rou and Ning Jing? I doubt their talent is in any way inferior to that of your son, Elder Xu. To be honest, it is almost certain that their talent is higher." It was a middle aged elder who spoke. He had a chiseled chin and glittering green eyes that gave him a very handsome appearance, and he seemed to be at odds with this Elder Xu.
"Tch, if you have anything to say, say it to my face in a fight, Elder Wen."
"What a brute. No wonder the female beasts are so attracted to you."
Elder Xu heard this and fully released his aura, scaring the poor girl who was taking the assessment.
"Do you think I am afraid of you?" Elder Wen met him with his aura, causing sparks to fly on the podium of the battle stage.
Just when Li An thought a battle would start, the sect leader raised a hand and suppressed the auras of both elders.
"Silence, Elder Xu and Elder Wen. Don't you see the kids are nervous about the assessment? Please don't embarrass yourselves."
"We apologise for the commotion, sect leader." They cupped their fists and glared at each other.
At this moment, the elder next to the Talent Mirror shouted, "You Rou!"
All eyes were fixated on the serious-looking youth walking towards the artefact. He had straight eyebrows and a stiff face, resembling a sword-like human. Even the sect leader seemed slightly surprised by the sharp aura coming from the boy.
"You were not lying when you said this You Rou had an extreme talent for swordsmanship, Grand Elder." The sect leader said with an empty smile. This was not good news for the young leader contender he had been grooming.
The Grand Elder chuckled with a discrete smirk on his lips. "Indeed, he does not disappoint."
When You Rou came into contact with the mirror, vast amounts of golden light spread around the battle stage.
"Looks like we have another elite in our sect. You Rou, Grade 2 talent!" With a bow, the lower elder announced the results. He did not dare be disrespectful towards someone who could become a Grand Elder in the future.
Li An squinted her eyes and could almost smell the stubborn nature of a swordsman from the kid. "It would be best to avoid him."
As she pondered about him, she suddenly heard the lower elder call out her own name.
"Li An!"