When asked how much Soul Purity the other participants had, Aukhman only said that everyone had more or less the same starting point with some differences.
"But of course," He continued with a faint chuckle. "There is no such thing as complete fairness. Your race is already inferior relative to most, so your starting point is already disadvantageous. How Humans can fight against races like the Umbralis or Celestevians, I don't know."
The fact that his rank was at #863 was more so a random occurrence. The demon reverently explained something about the sequence in which the Dreamweaver's Cataclysm gave them new bodies, he was the 863th one to be transported to another world.
"Are all of them here?" Jing suddenly asked.
Understanding what he was talking about, Aukhman shook his head and said, "Only 100, all of which are humans. The other 9 races are in their different worlds."
When he heard that, he immediately clicked on the icon that said Leaderboard, dying to see how the others looked. What appeared before him was a long blue interface with a thousand rows. Each row offered an image to the left and some basic information.
Rank - Name - Race - Cultivation - Soul Purity
1 : ### - Musurian - Qi Condensation(4) - 48%
2 : MushroomLover - Goblin - Body Tempering(7) - 57%
3 : ### - Tauren - Qi Condensation (2) - 47%
4 : ### - Musurian - Qi Condensation(1) - 59%
Looking at the first four in ranks, Jing appeared deep in thought as several interesting questions surfaced in his mind.
First and foremost, the first and fourth participants had the exact same image. A humanoid creature with mouse-like features, but instead of the innocence one might expect from such features, they appeared to be especially fearsome with dark grey fur and vicious buckteeth.
Upon asking the small demonic creature about such a peculiarity, he was quick to get an answer. The image wasn't reflective of who they actually were, but more so a general picture of what that race looked like.
When he asked why the second participant had a name whereas all of the others didn't, he learned that there was such a thing as a Customizable Avatar that allows you to create an image and a name that would represent you in the leaderboard.
Just as he was about to click the small button at the very corner of the leaderboard's menu, he heard a voice calling for him.
"Xie Jing!" An old voice shouted from afar.
He swiftly made all of those windows disappear, something he had learned from the demon, and began looking for the source of the call, and he was very quick to find it.
Directly in front of him was a gigantic dark underground tunnel that was more than twenty meters in both height and width. How long it would have taken to dig such a vast space was something that astounded him.
In this big passage, a lone old man was slowly walking in his direction with a faint smile on his face. His tanned visage was etched with deep lines of age, framed by the black contours encircling his eyes like shadows. Scars marred his weathered skin, a testament to fearsome battles long fought. Clad in a dark red rustic robe, his white hair, once luscious, now tied into a neat ponytail, flowed behind him like a glorious banner. With a stride that exuded authority, hands clasped behind his back, he approached with an aura of menace. His smile, initially present, twisted into a snarl of frustration as he scrutinized the youth before him.
Understanding that this old man must've had some sort of relationship with the original Jing, the new one froze, unaware of how he should navigate this situation. Glancing to the side, he noticed that Aukhman had already disappeared.
It was then that a sudden change took place.
Memory Integration... 9%
Stroking the side of his head once again, Jing scowled as another bout of pain coursed through his brain. A new wave of memories flashed through his brain, and he quickly absorbed all of them. What was notable about these ones was the fact that this same old man appeared in one of them. He was the reason a week ago he left his village and ventured deep into this new dangerous place.
The old man who was a considerable distance just a second ago had already appeared before him as his strong hands grabbed the youth's shoulders asking, "Xie Jing, what is wrong with you?"
Feeling startled by the hands on his shoulders that came out of nowhere, Jing stumbled a bit backward before he quickly composed himself, "It's nothing." He said, meeting the old man's slightly concerned gaze. "Just a little headache."
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The old man whose concerned expression had already morphed into an amusing smile joked, "What happened? Did you see a beautiful woman naked for the first time and couldn't help yourself? How many rounds did you go for? Five? You need to drink some water." Without even waiting for Jing to say anything else he turned around and began walking in the residential area's direction sighing, "Youth is really wasted on the young!"
"What?!" Jing quietly mumbled, and as much as he wanted to know how the old man knew, he figured it was better that he left. However, before he could even sigh in relief, the old man suddenly halted in his steps and turned around saying, "Aren't you coming?"
'I am supposed to come?' Jing pondered, but seeing the impatient look on the old man's face, he quickly obliged and followed after him.
Unable to hold his curiosity any longer he questioned, "How did you know that?"
"Know what?" The old man asked back, but when he turned to glance at his slightly awkward expression he understood. With a soft chuckle, he replied, "Your senior brother Shen Yun told me that you'd be doing dual cultivation with some girls from the Twin Flames Peak."
Jing knew that Shen Yun was the dark-haired youth he left in that room, and understood that there was some sort of relationship between all of them. And from his understanding of this world, it seemed to be that of a master and his disciples. Going through all of that and sensing the palpable silence that he was afraid of, he decided to preemptively strike.
If he was to wait for the old man's questions he would be put in a vulnerable position which would expose his lack of memories, something he didn't want to show for fear of his safety. From the humble amounts of memories he had about this world, and more so what he learned from Aukhman and the notifications, he knew that this world was unfathomable in terms of capabilities and everything was possible. Thus, he was afraid he might be seen as what he truly was, an intruder in another person's body.
His gaze locked forward on the dirt path that stretched out before them, and he asked, "Where are we going?"
"We talked about this," The old man replied. "We'll have to go to The Blazing Tiger's Peak, to teach those bastards a lesson."
"We will?" Jing mumbled uncertainly.
The old man's steps paused as he turned to look at him, "It's necessary that I do this, in this way, I can help you and your senior brother to have a better standing in the dangerous mission you'll be going to tomorrow."
Jing just stood there for a few seconds after the old man continued walking once again, confusion coloring his face as he had no idea what sort of gibberish the old man was talking about.
When the duo reached the room where Xie Jin had previously, the old man asked, "Is this it?"
Jing nodded and remained at a distance, and the old man approached the room. However, just as he was about to climb the stairs leading up to the wooden porch, a loud moan of pleasure echoed, halting his steps.
Scratching his head, the old man turned around and said, "Let's just go by ourselves."
Jing who had no idea what was happening naturally had no objections, and so he merely nodded and followed after the old man. Just like last time, he sent a barrage of questions in the old man's direction, all of whom were vague in nature, something that he was sure even the original Xie Jing wouldn't know because they only knew one another for a week.
In this way, he managed to remain unsuspicious, or at least that was what he believed as they advanced further and further into this underground world that was laden with monstrous beasts, and equally terrifying insects.
The layout was rather simple but very peculiar. On their left side were the residential areas filled with identical rooms where a large number of people lived, but on their right there was only darkness and dirt. From time to time, he would notice an unreasonably big insect swimming through the dirt before it would swiftly disappear within it.
After a while, they reached another gigantic tunnel, just like the one they had left behind them through which the old man had appeared. Bracing himself, Jing followed into the dark after the dark red-robed old man into the depths of the tunnel, but fortunately, it wasn't as terrifying as it looked.
Other than the strange darkness, it was filled with people coming and going. Most of them would pause when witnessing the old man with him shouting, "Peak Master!" In a respectful tone with a reasonable bow with hands cupped together.
Strangely, most people they had met so far appeared to be allergic to clothes. Men strode around shirtless with simple shorts or loincloths, and the women even more so. They all wore very short skirts, stockings, tight tops, and other similar articles of clothing. Yet, most seemed to prefer a loose robe over their clothes or lack thereof. He noticed how the robes were symbolic of something because they were too similar and had the same five different colors.
At the end of the tunnel, they emerged into another area that was eerily similar to the previous one. The only notable difference was the lack of obvious flirty couples in this one, and the increase in more strong burly men with bulging muscles that rode on various beasts. In this way, they continued from one tunnel to the next, and each new area offered a distinctive unique change compared to the last one. The one that stunned him the most was where most people he had seen there had some animal characteristics about them. Scally forearms, spiked spines, gnarly long nails, inhuman eyes, among other things.
Upon reaching the fourth one, the old man said, "I'll show you a thing or two about saving face, young Xie Jing!" In a beeline, they made way for the last house in the area, which was more exquisite and bigger than its relatively shoddy counterparts.
"Zho Gen!" The old man suddenly yelled with a domineering booming voice, attracting the attention of everyone present. Understanding that something interesting was going to happen, they all gathered around and watched everything from a distance.
The house's door swung open, and a tall bushy man with rough eyebrows and a coarse beard appeared with a deep frown. "What is it? Li Yan."
"You know damn well what it is." The old man who was called Li Yan countered. His previous warm demeanor was nowhere to be found, and in its place was but a furious expression as he cracked his fingers in an obvious display of aggression.