Clover Spirit World
Cloudy Village
Until this moment, this has been just another day for this plain old town.
But right now, something was brewing. Something that was never seen, something that carries immense momentum.
In one of the dilapidated wooden houses that were too common for this town, a tall young man was lying on the floor.
He was unconscious despite all the shaking and the pain his body should be feeling.
Suddenly, the figure stopped shaking, and stillness took hold of the house. Then, his eyes opened.
'What is this? Where am I?'
He thought as he tried to sit up on the hard wooden floor.
Despite how weak his body felt, he somehow managed and started looking around.
There was nothing in the room except a pile of straws and dried leaves that was used as a bed.
'I don't recognize this place, and the stinging pain throughout my body tells me it is not a dream either.
Kidnapping? Or did I somehow come here myself?'
After trying and failing to gather his thoughts for a while, something happened.
He felt a jolt in his head and almost blacked out, feeling something stirring in his mind.
Once he regained his focus, his thoughts were clear.
'So I have transmigrated, and into the wondrous world of cultivation at that.'
Despite the memories he received, he forced himself to stay calm and think.
He always wanted a connection with the supernatural. Who among men didn't want superpowers, throwing fireballs, flying freer than a bird, lifting cars, and shattering mountains?
But he couldn't rejoice and dance in happiness, as there were always two sides to a coin.
He can now cultivate immortality, yes, but so can others. And for all the wonders and miracles, the cultivation world was an extremely dangerous place.
Even so, he was thankful. What this was was not good or bad; it was a chance. A chance given to him, a chance he was willing to take.
'From a mortal with no path forward, I now have a way. I will achieve immortality, I will reach the peak of cultivation, or die trying.'
Making his resolve, he delved deeper into his mind.
From the memories, he found out that his current name was Luo Chen. He was very tall, almost 190 centimeters, and still growing.
He had short black hair and black eyes. His face was somewhat rough, neither handsome nor ugly. He was malnourished, sickly thin, with bones showing.
He was a 15-year-old orphan living in a small village called Cloudy Village. It was in the territory of the Azure Crane Sect, under the jurisdiction of Azure Cloud City.
There were only a few thousand people living in the village, mostly farmers.
He, too, was a farmer. Or more accurately, he was a hired helper on others' farms.
He was orphaned at a young age, his mother died during childbirth, and his father when he was a child.
With only a house in the outskirts of the village to his name, he had no other option than manual labor.
Thankfully, he learned how to farm when working with his father, so he was barely able to find a job to get by.
This era closely resembled the ancient eras of the previous world, which meant great inconveniences.
Especially hygiene. Even in the comfort of his house, the stink was disturbing.
Villagers drew water from wells, so it was scarce, mainly for drinking and barely used for washing and cleaning.
There was no education, no police, no convenience stores. People would set up a cloth on the ground as stalls in a selected area, and that was the market of the village.
The only good thing about this world was, as mentioned before, cultivation.
With only a proper technique, everyone could begin cultivating and have a hope of achieving immortality.
This was also related to his presence here.
You only need a proper cultivation technique to start cultivating. And that's precisely why they were so hard to come by.
The body's previous owner grew up with the tales of cultivators, admiring them. He, like everyone else, wanted to become one.
So he saved up the meager amount of money he could earn, starving himself for years, just to buy a cultivation technique.
In the end, he was deceived. The technique he bought was fake, and he died when he tried cultivating it.
'I can't tell whether I have reincarnated or possessed this body, but from now on, I am Luo Chen.'
His thoughts settled. His body was no longer in pain. Perhaps it was a boon of his transmigration, but he felt he was no longer injured.
After finishing the trip through his memories, he noted three obvious differences.
First was his memory; it was almost perfect. He could recall almost any memory with extreme clarity from both his past life and the memories he obtained after transmigration.
'This might have something to do with my soul. Did I devour the original body's soul, and improve my own?'
Second was breathing. Despite the stench, it felt fresh and invigorating. He felt as if he was breathing for the first time in his life. Every breath he took nourished his weak body and injected him with vitality.
'This must be the spiritual energy that allows the people of this world to cultivate. Truly a gift from the heavens.'
And yet, despite how good it felt just by breathing, it couldn't distract him from the next order of business because the third difference was monumental.
There was a point of light within the depths of his mind, calling to him.
He didn't know what exactly this was, but he was hoping it was something beneficial.
If he wanted to not just survive but thrive in this deadly world, he would need every advantage he could get.
With that thought, he dived into the light.
When he came to, he found himself in a library.
He was surrounded by nothing but bookshelves filled with various books, scrolls, and scriptures.
There were several runes floating around, giving an ancient and ethereal feeling.
When he noticed the runes, it was as if they noticed him back.
He was hit by a sudden flux of information. It was both similar to and different from when he received the memories of this new life.
It was like a lock being unlocked, chains being released, remembering something he forgot.
The information told him about this place. It was no place at all.
His body was still sitting back at his home. He was simply within his soul.
This was a treasure of the heavens called the Dao Library. It didn't give much information about its origins, but it told plenty about its functions.
This was a place that recorded any and all Dao. From the inception of the heavens until now, every bit of knowledge of the Dao ever discovered, invented, or thought of was here.
Of course, it wasn't a man-made treasure, as no man would be able to achieve such a thing. It was a natural-born treasure, from the Heavenly Dao itself.
This library was divided into three parts, namely mortal, immortal, and dao sections.
In mortal section, all scriptures, techniques, spells, and such were within mortal bounds. There was no knowledge here that would allow you to transcend your mortality.
The immortal section contained all knowledge of the immortals, making time lose its meaning.
Most importantly, the knowledge of the dao section directly pointed towards the Dao, perhaps allowing one to reach the peak of cultivation.
And, when he noticed the last bit of information, he could barely hold himself. It was all free for him to browse! He had unlimited access to all the knowledge in this library!
The previous Luo Chen spent years trying to save money to buy a cultivation technique, only to end up with a fake one and die because of it.
Now, he had all the techniques in the world! Literally!
Every spell, every scripture, every method...His path to the peak was paved for him.
Right now, he needed to calm down and pull himself together.
This knowledge was priceless, yes, but knowledge alone was not enough.
He needed to absorb the knowledge, make it his own, and cultivate himself using that knowledge.
After regaining his composure for the nth time today, he entered the mortal section.
He was new to this world, this concept. An elementary school student should learn elementary school knowledge.
It is better to build the foundations first than learning advanced knowledge.
So he chose the mortal section and began browsing.
Dao Library truly lived up to its name. There were so many variations of knowledge that at first, he didn't even know where to begin.
Thankfully, there were not only techniques, scriptures, and spells, but also fundamental knowledge that was exactly what he needed.
What is cultivation? How to cultivate? The structure of the human body. The anatomy of monsters. Encyclopedia of herbs.
He started reading any and all that he thought might be useful.
Of course, for things that are not immediately useful, like the encyclopedia of herbs and such, he merely skimmed them.
After many hours of reading, he had established some ideas about this world and his position in it.