All right. Now what?

I was out in this xianxia cultivation world, a powerful immortal cultivator — maybe one of the most powerful ever — and I could do literally whatever I wanted. I could go anywhere on my flying sword. Literally anywhere. To do literally anything.

I wished I had some kind of wheel I could spin to pick an activity. For real, this was a little too much freedom.

"Hey!" I called out just for fun. I hadn't talked to the useless xianxia system in years, but now I was on my own. Who else was there for me to talk to? "Xianxia system! Hey, you! What should I do now?"

No one answered.

I huffed in annoyance. Such bad customer service. And even after I un-fucked it so many times.

Suddenly, a Siri-like voice spoke in my head.

"Hello. Post-sleep reboot complete. How can we help you?"

"You rebooted? You went to sleep because I didn't use you for so long? What are you, a computer?"

Oh, wait. I guess the system was kind of like a computer, heh.

"Anyways! Xianxia system, help me figure this out. This customer wants a recommendation on what to do next. Are there any bad guys in this world?"

"Yes. Within this xianxia world, there are many antagonists. For example, there are Divine Beasts living in the Beastly Realm who plot to take over the human realm some day. There is also the possible threat of an Outer God invading this planet and destroying its inhabitants. There is also—"

"All right! Got it. There's a lot of bad guys here. But what should I do first? Who should I take out first?"

"If you wish to take someone on a date, the system programming recommends you do not ask an antagonist of this world, as that may lower your chances of survival — "

Stolen story; please report.

"No! Stupid system — I mean, take down! Take out! Kill!"

"We apologize for any inconvenience. The system programming recommends that you spend sufficient time cultivating in solitude in the Glittering Mountains before fighting major antagonists. This will increase your cultivation level further. In addition, civilians often visit the Glittering Mountains to seek out the help of mythical immortals through prayer. You will be able to establish a name for yourself by cultivating there. This is the recommendation of the system programming."

I frowned. "That's kind of specific, no? I thought you said I could do whatever I wanted here."

"You may do as you please. However, you will surely die if you face a major antagonist without cultivating in solitude first in the Glittering Mountains."

"Seriously?! That's practically a death threat! Are you blackmailing me? Stupid customer service...I want to file another complaint..."

"Your complaint will be added to the queue. We will take your feedback into account..."

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I headed for the Glittering Mountains.

It looked like I was gonna have to "make a name for myself" or whatever here before adventuring and doing whatever I wanted.

This was seriously false advertising. Whoever designed this xianxia system needed to be sued big time.

From high up, these mountains were seriously...well, glittery. I'd read about them in a book in the Quiet Clouds Library, but seeing them was a whole other story.

For real...why were they so glittery like that?

So excessive.

I landed on a ledge and floated around on my sword for a bit, eventually finding a nice, big, and extremely glittery lavender-colored cave where I could set up camp and wait for some rando villagers to come up and start praying to rando immortals for help — cough, cough, I meant, where I could diligently continue to cultivate in solitude.

Food wasn't going to be a problem, and honestly, neither was water. I'd already mastered the practice of unending inedia, and what's more, with this immortal body, I didn't need to eat if I didn't feel like it.

I settled in just as the sun was setting, casting a beautiful glow onto the opalescent lavender walls of the cave and filling my eyes with light.

Then...I took a nap. A nice, big one.

You could also call it meditating, I guess. Over the past couple years, I'd experimented with the intersection between sleeping and meditation, and sometimes I kinda got them mixed up. So it's more like I was meditating and circulating the qi through my meridians while I took a nap. Efficient, and effectively a method of solitary cultivation. So the system couldn't tell me I wasn't doing my job.

I'm not sure how long that nice nap lasted, but when I opened my eyes, it was winter.

Yeah. It was snowing outside and freaking freezing.

I quickly created a floating ball of flames that illuminated the lavender cave with sparkling light.

There were also a group of villagers huddled close by, staring at me with a mix of fear and reverence.

"Uh...who are you all? What d'you want?"