The sky on the horizon turned a strange and nauseating green, with flashes of reddish-orange light resembling a sunset.
"Damn it, what is happening here?"
I feel my legs trembling because of the horrifying and disgusting sight of the hordes of rotting corpses filled with worms moving through the sect building,
yet my legs betray me and refuse to move.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it… move, you damn legs!"
I try to flee with everything I have as I see an ugly giant zombie with a drooping jaw approaching me slowly.
I feel tears welling up in my eyes as I kick my legs, trying to make them move,
yet nothing happens except that I feel something warm in my pants, as I see a disgusting giant zombie fist rushing toward my face at an unnatural speed.
"Please, I—"
The last thing I saw in my life was the giant zombie's fist heading toward my face.
Then…
Cold.
I feel cold.
A strange feeling of cold envelops my body as I stare in shock at the frozen world outside the window.
"Aaagh…"
"Ah… ah…"
I feel my stomach churn, and a powerful headache strikes my mind as I remember the scene of the rotting zombie hand that was inches away from my face.
I vomit everything in my stomach.
"Hah, what the hell is happening?"
"Damn it… was that a nightmare?"
"No, it wasn't."
I stare stupidly at the familiar sight of the village outside the window while my mind works at full capacity, trying to explain what is happening.
"Did I go back in time?"
I mutter in disbelief at the possibility that crossed my mind.
"Hahaha, how ridiculous and unrealistic."
I feel an overwhelming sense of absurdity and surrealism surrounding me.
"Wasn't it enough that I entered a cursed cultivation world, and now I also have the ability to return through time? This is becoming more and more like a third-rate novel."
And yet, it's fine.
I try to push the disgusting image of the zombie horde out of my mind.
"So what if it is? Isn't this like a role-playing game? All I have to do is slowly gather information and experience with each cycle I go through, and in the end I'll become the strongest being in the world and uncover all the hidden secrets."
Thinking this way, I can't help but smile while trying not to touch the vomit that has dirtied the floor.
"Isn't this more exciting and enjoyable than wasting my time studying and then entering a boring job?"
It seems my life in this world is becoming more exciting little by little.
After regaining my calm and renewing my resolve, I head down to the lower floor, waiting for Yi Guang to arrive to take me to the sect, and searching for some water to clean my mouth.
"Despite saying that I'll become the strongest, I don't even know how to deal with the living-corpse catastrophe that will strike the sect after three months."
"Should I run away?"
Thinking this, I can't help but remember the chatty Li Chen and feel repulsed by the idea of fleeing.
"Escaping the island is possible, but right now I barely know anything about this world or cultivation methods. Damn it, I don't even know how to leave the island or where to go."
It seems I have no choice but to stay here and learn about the world and cultivation from Li Chen.
"Alright, I'm already able to sense and absorb spiritual energy, and with my experience in purifying my body and forming a dantian, I should be able to reach the Qi Gathering stage before the living-corpse disaster happens."
"Maybe I can even save Li Chen."
As I think this way, a plan begins to take shape in my mind…
All the effort I put into purifying my body over four months may have disappeared, yet my experience did not; the experience that will allow me to return to the same point, but in a shorter amount of time.
"And thus, cycle after cycle, by accumulating experience, I will become the strongest being in this world."
"Boy Salim, are you here?"
The sound of the old woman knocking on the door pulls me out of my imagination, and just like last time, I hand her the bottle containing Dawn Rose petals before returning to sit and wait for Yi Guang's arrival.
After a short while, I feel the spiritual energy in the sky grow denser, and my body, like a sponge thrown into water, begins to greedily absorb spiritual energy.
"So this is the method Yi Guang used to determine that I possess spiritual roots?"
"Interesting."
To my knowledge, ordinary humans cannot sense or absorb spiritual energy, so no matter how dense the spiritual energy becomes, they won't feel anything. However, for someone who possesses a spiritual root, even if it is a false spiritual root, when the density of spiritual power in the air surpasses a certain threshold, they begin to automatically absorb spiritual power into their body.
So for me, Yi Guang—who repeatedly and deliberately increased the density of spiritual energy—would appear as though a small hole absorbing spiritual power had appeared out of nowhere.
"And this is how he was able to determine my location."
As I think this, I feel a powerful shockwave strike my house and turn the roof into rubble, while Yi Guang's exhilarated voice reaches my ears:
"I finally found you!"
Yi Guang appears in the air, looking at me with overwhelming ecstasy in his eyes.
"Finally, after five years, this damned place has produced someone usable. The elder will be very pleased."
Yi Guang points his hand toward me, and I feel the spiritual energy in the air move to form a rope of spiritual energy that binds my body.
And the events continue to happen exactly as they did last time, word for word.
And after taking my robe and spirit stone, I head toward my room to begin training.
With a single thought occupying my mind.
"Faster, faster—I must finish as quickly as possible."