Chapter 1 The Boy Who Crawled Out Of A Grave

On the Sky Continent, within the Sky Mountain Range, lay the headquarters of the Void Sect atop Cloud Peak. At the mountainside, nestled among the disciples' quarters, night had fallen. A handsome young man with a sword approached one of the rooms. After glancing around to make sure no one was watching, he knocked on the door. "Who is it?" "Senior Brother Booth, it's me, Alan." "Come in." Alan pushed the door open and stepped inside. The dim room was lit by a single flickering candle. It was small, with simple furnishings: a table, a few chairs, a bed, a bath barrel, and a bamboo screen. On the bed sat a young man, legs crossed. His sharp eyebrows and bright eyes gave him a striking look, and his features were chiseled like a sculpture—undeniably handsome. This was Booth, the sixth disciple of the Void Sect's leader. He wasn't just good-looking; his cultivation level was high too—a true prodigy. Booth glanced at Alan and asked calmly, "Is it done?" Alan replied in a low voice, "Yeah. I buried that boy in the mass grave behind Moon Peak." "No problems, right?" "None. That boy was dead as a rock. After burying him, I even stomped on the dirt a few times." Booth gave a slight nod. "Good. But remember, our Void Sect has a reputation to uphold. Felix was Elder Dragon's disciple, and we can't afford to leave any traces. If karma catches up with us, we're both doomed." Alan hurriedly said, "Don't worry, Senior Brother. I'll take this secret to the grave. No one will ever know Felix is dead, and no one will find his body. Even if Elder Dragon returns, he won't discover a thing." A satisfied smile spread across Booth's handsome face. He pulled a small pouch from his robe and tossed it to Alan. Alan caught it—a bag of black spirit stones. His eyes lit up as he bowed deeply. "Thank you for the reward, Senior Brother Booth." Booth waved him off. "You earned it. Now go rest. In a few days, we'll head to the herb garden and clean up any loose ends." Alan nodded, clasped his hands in respect, and left. After Alan was gone, Booth's expression darkened. He muttered to himself, "Felix, I hope you reincarnate soon. We were just following orders. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being too curious." ****** It was deep into the night at the overgrown graveyard. The moonlight peeked through patches of clouds, casting dappled shadows over the ground, dotted with headstones and scattered bones. Ghostly flames flickered among the weeds, and the occasional caw of a crow or yowl of a stray cat added an eerie chill to the place. Suddenly—thwack! Out of nowhere, a dirt-covered hand shot up from the ground. Moments later, a boy, completely caked in mud, dragged himself out of the earth, gasping for air as if it were the sweetest thing he'd ever tasted—even with the stench of decay all around him. He lay flat on his back, panting for a long time before finally catching his breath. When he sat up and saw the graves surrounding him, he blinked in disbelief. "What the hell is this place? Who the hell buried me in the ground? Oh, no! Corpse!" His eyes landed on a nearby corpse. Thinking it was just a dummy, he gave it a casual shove. Then he froze. The stench of rotting flesh hit him hard, and fat maggots wriggled in the decayed remains. Sticky, slimy flesh clung to his hand. There was no mistaking it—this was a real, rotting corpse. His pupils shrank, and he let out a shriek, frantically kicking his legs to back away from the disgusting sight. "That's really a corpse..." The boy had never seen anything this horrifying before. He scrambled away, crawling and rolling until he was a good distance away—only then did he stop. "Call the cops! Yeah, yeah, call the cops... Where's my phone?" He patted his pockets, but his hands came up empty, and his face went slack. All he found was that he was wearing some ancient costume, totally caked in dirt—definitely not his clothes. "What the hell? Who changed my clothes?" He glanced around and finally realized he was deep in some unfamiliar forest surrounded by mountains. Under the bright moonlight, he spotted a massive peak towering into the sky, with several other mountains floating midair around it. It looked like he'd somehow ended up inside one of those fantasy RPGs. "Where the hell am I? Am I dreaming?" He pinched the back of his hand—hard—and let out a yelp. "Ow! Damn, that hurt! Not a dream!" He wracked his brain, trying to piece things together. And then it hit him—he remembered what happened. On his way to work, he saw an out-of-control truck barreling straight for a little girl on the sidewalk. Without thinking, he sprinted over and shoved the girl out of the way. But the truck slammed into him instead, and he was crushed under its massive weight. "So... I... just died like that? Is this the afterlife?" While he was still reeling from the shock, he noticed a few figures drifting toward him. Under the pale moonlight, they glowed faintly, floating in midair with pale faces that looked creepily lifeless. "Are those... ghosts?" Felix rubbed his eyes, muttering to himself, "Nah, no way! I was born in modern times with modern science. There's no such thing as ghosts! That's just superstitious nonsense..." But as he tried to convince himself, eight or nine of those ghostly figures drifted closer. Their pale faces twisted into terrifying sneers, and their glowing green eyes stared at him like they were ready to devour him whole. "Oh my god, they are ghosts! Help! Mom... Uncle... Somebody, save me!" The moment Felix realized they were real, pure terror flooded his body. His hair stood on end as he turned and bolted, screaming bloody murder. His heart was pounding, and with the rough terrain, he kept tripping every few steps. Each time he fell, he scrambled back up on all fours, rolling and crawling like his life depended on it, wishing he had eight more legs to run with. Meanwhile, the spirits floating near the graveyard stared at him, baffled. "Why is this guy freaking out so much? We're ghosts, not demons..." Felix ran for miles, tripping and falling who-knows-how-many times, until his legs finally gave out. Panting hard, he slumped against a big tree, trying to catch his breath. "Thank god I ran fast, or I'd have been ghost chow by now! But seriously, what the hell is this place? Is this hell?" He frowned, racking his brain. "No way. I didn't kill anyone or rob anybody. I've never even peed in public. In elementary school, I helped old ladies cross the street three times. And this time, I died saving someone! I should be in heaven, not... whatever the hell this is!" Felix was completely stumped. Somewhere along the way, something had obviously gone very, very wrong with his reincarnation process, landing him in this strange and terrifying world. Worried that those ghosts might come after him again, Felix only rested for a couple of minutes before dragging his exhausted body deeper into the forest. He kept running until dawn finally broke through the darkness, and sunlight bathed the land. Completely drained, he collapsed near a small stream in the woods. By now, the sky had brightened, and he realized he was several miles away from the graveyard. In the distance, he could see the massive black peak towering into the sky, surrounded by smaller, floating cone-shaped mountains suspended midair. "This place looks pretty nice, actually. Doesn't feel like the underworld... Did I... get transported to another world?" He rubbed his eyes, taking a closer look at the floating mountains. They were just hovering up there, with nothing holding them in place—there was no way this was Earth. It hit him—maybe, just maybe, he had crossed over into another world, like the main characters in web novels. Determined to confirm his theory, Felix dragged himself to the stream. Leaning over, he looked at his reflection in the water. Even though his face was smeared with dirt, he could tell right away—he looked young. He quickly scooped up some water and washed his face. A moment later, a youthful but strikingly handsome face appeared in the water's reflection. He looked about eighteen years old, with well-defined features and bright, expressive eyes that stood out. Felix gently touched his face, tracing the contours as if trying to make sense of it. "Did I really get transported? Damn... I look good! If I had a face like this before, there's no way I'd have stayed single for 30 years! I could've been a total heartbreaker on campus instead of wasting my time being a simp!" Then something clicked in his mind, and he shot to his feet. "System! System!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the forest and scattering birds from nearby trees. But nothing happened.