A young man devoured instant noodles with almost desperate urgency, hunched over his desk while his eyes remained fixed on his phone screen. The device's bluish glow illuminated his face, highlighting the dark circles that betrayed far too many nights just like this one. With one hand he held his chopsticks, and with the other he swiped rapidly and compulsively.
"Ah, damn it… cursed gacha… 50/50s are trash…" he muttered through clenched teeth when the golden animation on the screen faded, revealing something that clearly wasn't what he had hoped for.
His expression tightened, but there was no time to dwell on it. The banner was about to end, and he still had pulls left. Many pulls. The steaming broth nearly spilled as he tilted the container again without taking his eyes off the game.
Then the notification appeared.
Low battery. The device will shut down in 30 seconds.
He froze for a moment, processing the words as if they were a death sentence.
"No, no, no, no… not now…"
He shot to his feet so fast that the chair screeched violently against the floor. He began searching around with clumsy movements, pushing aside clothes, old cables, and empty wrappers until his fingers found the charger. It was old, the plastic yellowed and the cable slightly bent near the connector. Questionable, yes—but it had worked before. More or less.
Without stopping to inspect it, without thinking about anything but the silent countdown on his screen, he plugged it into the power strip and forced the cable into the phone.
For a fraction of a second, everything seemed normal.
Then came the spark.
A white flash exploded in front of him, accompanied by a sharp crack. The smell of burning plastic filled the air as a jolt of electricity surged through him. His body tensed and instantly lost balance, falling backward with the phone still in his hand.
The sound faded.
The room grew distant.
As his consciousness slipped away, as darkness began to devour him completely, only one thought managed to break through the chaos.
No… damn it… I can't die…
I still have forty pulls left…
And then everything went black.
Somewhere on the Dongling Continent, within a small sect barely known outside its region, a young man lay sprawled on the floor of a modest cabin. From the position of his body, it seemed he had not managed to reach the bed before collapsing. One hand was stretched forward, as if he had tried to grasp something at the last moment, but now it remained completely still.
The room was silent.
Suddenly, a flash descended from the sky, invisible to most, passing through the roof as if it did not exist and plunging directly into the young man's lifeless body.
The air trembled for barely a second.
Then everything returned to calm.
Moments later, the boy's fingers twitched.
His eyes snapped open.
He jolted upright, breathing heavily as he looked around in absolute confusion. The wooden walls, the simple bed, the crude table, the packed dirt floor… none of it looked even remotely like his room.
"What the hell…?" he muttered, his voice still hoarse. "Where am I? What happened…? And more importantly… where's my phone?"
He jumped to his feet and began searching around with clumsy, increasingly desperate movements. He looked under the table, lifted the blanket from the bed, even checked his own clothes as if the phone might have magically materialized in some nonexistent pocket.
It wasn't there.
His breathing quickened.
That was when the pain hit.
A brutal lash tore through his head, as if someone had driven a burning wedge into his skull. Fang Li let out a muffled cry and fell to his knees, clutching his head with both hands. The pain wasn't superficial; it was deep, invasive, as though foreign memories were being forced into his mind.
Unfamiliar images began overlapping with his own.
The Clear Wind Sect.
The Dongling Continent.
The body he now inhabited… and the life it had led until this moment.
"Ahhh—!"
He rolled on the ground as the information forcefully settled into his consciousness. Each fragment snapped violently into place until, little by little, the pain began to subside.
Fang Li's breathing grew heavy.
Silence returned to the cabin.
And this time, when he opened his eyes, they were no longer filled only with confusion.
There was understanding.
And a faint, very faint suspicion.
"Don't tell me…" he whispered, growing incredulous.
Before he could pursue that thought further, a cold, mechanical voice echoed directly inside his mind, interrupting any attempt to organize his ideas.
—Initializing… Supreme System of Heavenly Fate Suppression and Absolute Domination.
Fang Li went completely still.
The voice continued, devoid of emotion, without pause or emphasis.
—Binding complete. Confirming host identity: Fang Li. Current physical state: critical. Damaged meridians. Weakened internal organs. Unstable Qi flow. Overall evaluation: body in extremely poor condition.
There was a brief silence.
—Recommendation: the host should avoid any immediate confrontation if he wishes to continue existing.
Fang Li blinked several times, trying to process what he had just heard.
Supreme System of Heavenly Fate Suppression and Absolute Domination.
It sounded like the kind of name only someone with too much free time—or a severe superiority complex—would invent.
"…Sure," he muttered hoarsely. "Because after dying from exploding due to a faulty charger, the logical next step is reincarnating in a cultivation world with a ridiculously long-named system."
He pressed a hand to his forehead and took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Panicking wouldn't solve anything.
Let's analyze this logically, he thought.
One: he was no longer on Earth.
Two: he had memories that weren't his.
Three: a mechanical voice had just called him 'host.'
He exhaled slowly.
"Apparently… I'm in a cultivation world now."
The pieces began to fall into place with alarming speed.
His name was Fang Li.
Outer disciple of the Clear Wind Sect, located on the Dongling Continent.
And, most irritating of all…
He had been killed by some idiots.
Over a few simple Qi Accumulation Pills.
He fell silent, absorbing the original body's memories. The former Fang Li had saved for months to obtain those pills, hoping to improve his cultivation, even just a little. However, before he could use them, he had been ambushed by stronger outer disciples.
He had been beaten, insulted, humiliated.
And then… there was no "then."
"Seriously?" he muttered in disbelief. "Not even a hidden genius? Or the secret heir of some powerful clan? Just an outer disciple who got robbed of a few pills?"
As he delved deeper into the memories, the mechanical voice spoke again.
—Additional reminder: the host died due to severe internal injuries caused by physical assault. Without system binding, the body would have permanently ceased functioning.
Fang Li remained silent for a few seconds.
Then, slowly, a smile began to form on his face.
"So… basically, I'm occupying the body of an unlucky guy who got beaten to death over cheap pills."
The smile widened.
"What a healthy world."
The voice continued with the same absolute indifference.
—Warning: the host currently lacks the necessary talent to excel under conventional cultivation methods.
Fang Li raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Is that so?"
—Confirmed. Without system intervention, the probability of the host reaching the Spiritual Realm is below five percent.
Silence fell.
Fang Li looked up at the wooden ceiling of the cabin.
Then he let out a low chuckle.
"Perfect."
Fang Li slowly released the air from his lungs and planted his hands on the ground to push himself up. Every muscle protested. The pain wasn't sharp, but constant, as if his entire body were covered in poorly healed bruises.
He rose carefully.
His back hurt. So did his ribs. When he tried to straighten completely, a stab of pain shot through his abdomen, and he had to resist the urge to sit back down.
"Fine…" he muttered through clenched teeth. "Sitting here won't get me anywhere."
He steadied himself beside the table until the dizziness passed. Then he walked toward the cabin door. Each step was measured. He couldn't afford another fall.
He pushed the door open.
Light hit him head-on.
The sun stood high in the sky, merciless. The brightness was so intense that his eyes, accustomed to the dim interior, shut reflexively. A fraction of a second was enough to lose his sense of balance.
His right foot stepped wrong.
He stumbled.
And fell face-first onto the packed earth of the yard.
The impact knocked the air out of his lungs. He tasted dry dust in his mouth and felt a sharp pain in his nose. He remained there for a few seconds, motionless, trying to understand what had just happened.
Something crunched beneath his cheek.
He turned his head slightly.
An insect, no larger than a fingernail, lay crushed against the ground, split in two by the weight of his fall.
Fang Li blinked.
The world still spun with uncomfortable slowness.
Then, before his eyes, a translucent notification appeared.
[ Host's First Blood detected. ]
[ Reward granted: +100 Beating Points. ]
Fang Li remained face-down, staring at the text.
Then he looked at the insect's corpse.
Then back at the text.
He pushed himself up slowly until he was sitting on his knees. The notification still floated there with absolute indifference.
"…What the hell?" he finally said.
The mechanical voice responded without inflection.
—Confirmed. The host has caused the death of a living entity for the first time since system binding. Condition fulfilled: First Blood.
Fang Li looked at the crushed insect again.
"That counts?"
—It counts.
He fell silent for a few seconds.
"And what exactly are… 'Beating Points'?"
—Basic system resource. They may be used to strengthen the body, improve techniques, or execute special functions.
Fang Li lowered his gaze to his dust-covered hands. Then to the insect.
"So… you're telling me I just got a hundred points for face-planting?"
—Correct.
The pain in his nose was beginning to intensify. He wiped it with the back of his hand and saw a small smear of blood.
He looked around at the ground.
There were more insects.
Small. Slow. Completely defenseless.
He raised his gaze to the bright sky, then to the empty sect courtyard.
Then back to the ground.
His expression changed, and a shameless grin spread across his face.
"System."
—Yes, host.
"Define 'living entity.'"
There was a brief pause.
—Any organism with active biological functions.
Fang Li nodded slowly.
He looked down at another insect crawling aimlessly across the dirt.
He moved his foot.
Crack.
A new notification appeared.
[ +10 Beating Points. ]
Fang Li kept his eyes fixed on the miserable +10 floating before him. The text was small, discreet, almost insulting compared to the generous +100 he had received seconds earlier.
He narrowed his eyes.
"System… why did this insect only give me ten points and the other one a hundred?"
The answer came immediately, as cold as before.
—As it was the host's First Blood, the base reward was multiplied by ten.
Fang Li remained silent for a few seconds, processing that.
He looked at the crushed corpse beneath his foot. Then at the first one. Then at the dusty courtyard where several insects crawled about, unaware of their impending doom.
"I see…" he murmured.
The bonus was unique. An inaugural event. Nothing special after that.
He lowered his gaze to another small insect crossing in front of him, slow, vulnerable, completely ignorant of the system that had turned it into a resource.
Fang Li spoke without raising his voice much.
"Well… mosquito meat is still meat…"
He moved his foot.
Crack.
[ +10 Beating Points. ]
The notification appeared and disappeared with the same mechanical indifference.
Fang Li watched the message with a satisfied smile.
He lifted his chin slightly and scanned the courtyard. Beneath the eaves' shadows. Near the well. Between the cracks in the packed earth.
There were enough.
He nodded to himself.
"Alright, insects…" he said as he took a step forward. "Time to farm."
[ +10 Beating Points. ]
[ +10 Beating Points. ]
[ +10 Beating Points. ]
The sun remained high.
The courtyard stayed empty.
And Fang Li, outer disciple of the Clear Wind Sect, spent the next few hours methodically exterminating every insect that moved within his field of vision.