Chapter 1

The jade toad quietly vanished, and the golden crow scattered its light upon the earth.

In the sky, the east revealed a fish-belly white, and suddenly, a golden glow descended from the heights, illuminating the entire Wudang Mountain as if it were a fairyland on earth.

Bang!

Two fire workers, on duty, used all their strength to pull the pendulum to its farthest point and struck the bronze bell.

Instantly, the ancient and deep bell sound echoed through the mountains, startling a flock of birds that flew up from the forest and disappeared into the distance.

Hearing the bell, the numerous halls on Wudang Mountain immediately came to life.

"It's morning, get up quickly..."

A bearded, broad-shouldered man walked back and forth in the corridor, knocking on doors and loudly urging.

At the back of the mountain, in a mountain hollow.

The spring chill was still biting, and the green grass struggled to grow, making the desolate mountain hollow look green and lush. Near the mountain wall, there was a large rock.

On the large rock sat a handsome young man, wearing a light blue coarse cloth Taoist robe. He looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, with his black hair casually tied up, not neatly combed, giving him a somewhat unrestrained appearance.

The young man's eyes were half-open, sitting in a lotus position, exuding a unique aura. Combined with his graceful face, he looked like a celestial being descending to earth from a distance.

Upon closer inspection, it was clear that the young man's breathing was quite different from that of ordinary people, long and deep, with a rhythmic quality.

His chest rose and fell with each breath, and his strong heart beat with a deep "thump, thump, thump!" sound, which was quite terrifying.

Within a few hundred meters around him, the air began to distort, and a surging, profound force was continuously being generated.

A hard-to-describe power spread out in all directions, but fortunately, the back of Wudang Mountain was rarely visited by people; otherwise, it would have caused a great commotion.

"Whoosh!"

After an unknown amount of time, the young man suddenly took a deep breath, and instantly, the boundless primordial energy of the mountain hollow surged towards him, forming a huge funnel and being rapidly absorbed and consumed by him.

Time slowly passed.

At the same time, a tremendous change occurred within the young man's body.

With the integration of his physical body, spirit, and inner strength, his internal organs, every bit of flesh, and every bone underwent an indescribable transformation.

In places invisible to the naked eye, the primordial energy of heaven and earth rushed towards the mountain hollow where the young man was, like water flowing downhill, surging and powerful.

"Pop! Pop!"

Suddenly, two muffled sounds came from the young man's body, and immediately, the speed at which the primordial energy was absorbed increased. The surrounding primordial energy could not keep up, creating a vacuum within a few hundred meters around the young man.

As time passed, the speed at which the young man absorbed the primordial energy gradually slowed and eventually stopped.

"Whoosh!"

The young man exhaled a long, turbid breath, slowly opened his eyes, and his pupils were deep and boundless, like the vast universe.

"Ha ha ha... After ten years, I, Xiao Ning, have finally broken through to the innate realm..."

The young man stood up, his face beaming with joy.

At this moment, his physical body had completely transcended to a higher level, spontaneously absorbing the primordial energy of heaven and earth, and he could now abstain from food.

Those who can absorb qi are immortal.

Moreover, Xiao Ning vaguely felt that with a single thought, he could control the primordial energy within a few miles, and with a wave of his hand, he could unleash an incredibly powerful strike, like the might of heaven and earth.

Standing with his hands behind his back, Xiao Ning was in high spirits. Reflecting on the past, the confusion when he first crossed over, the excitement when he obtained the golden finger, and so on, all came to mind.

Indeed, Xiao Ning was not from this world; he was a穿越者 (穿越者 means "穿越者" in Chinese, which translates to "time traveler" or "穿越者" in English).

He vaguely remembered that he did not have a car accident, did not save an old man, did not save a child, and did not get cheated by his girlfriend. Spit, he didn't even have a girlfriend!

He just fell asleep, and when Xiao Ning woke up, he found himself in this world.

After absorbing the memories of this body, Xiao Ning discovered that he had entered the world of Jin Yong's "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber."

In the second year of the Yuan Shun Emperor's reign, the Southern Song Dynasty had been extinct for over fifty years, and the Mongols ruled the land, treating the Han people as inferior to pigs and dogs, causing widespread resentment and the rise of rebel armies.

Most importantly, in this world, the legendary abilities of walking on walls, plucking leaves to fly, and leaving no trace in the snow were not mere fantasies.

In the world, there were famous orthodox sects like Shaolin, Wudang, Emei, Kunlun, and Kongtong, as well as evil sects like the Ming Cult and the Tianying Cult, and various martial arts factions like the Hai Sha Gang and the Salt Gang.

It was in this year that Xiao Ning crossed over.

The original owner was also named Xiao Ning, a common villager from a village called Xiao Family Village at the foot of Wudang Mountain, who had lost his father at a young age and grew up eating food from various households.

A year ago, at the age of seven, Xiao Ning was taken up the mountain by the second hero of Wudang, Yu Lianzhou, to become a fire worker, ensuring that he was no longer hungry or cold.

Fire workers, in a better sense, were Taoist priests, but in reality, they were just servants, doing tasks like sweeping, chopping wood, and fetching water, with no chance to learn martial arts.

Upon crossing over, Xiao Ning could not bear the fact that he had become a servant.

Xiao Ning originally planned to find a way to join the Wudang disciples and learn martial arts, even if it meant being stubborn.

Of course, if he failed, he would have to spend the rest of his life on Wudang Mountain.

After all, in this world, the Han people were not treated well.

The Mongols divided the people into four classes, and the Han people were the lowest, the fourth class. A high-ranking Mongol could kill a Han person and only need to pay for a sheep to avoid the death penalty.

Truly, human life was as cheap as grass and dogs.

Xiao Ning thought that his small arms and legs were safer on Wudang Mountain.

Moreover, to learn martial arts, one needed martial arts aptitude.

If this body had excellent aptitude, Yu Lianzhou would not have placed him in the servant quarters when he came up the mountain.

Although Xiao Ning did not know his martial arts aptitude, he knew that it was not good enough to catch the eye of the Wudang heroes, so learning martial arts would be extremely difficult under normal circumstances.

Fortunately, the law that time travelers must have a golden finger did not fail, and it immediately came to him.

The golden finger might be late, but it would never be absent!

Just as Xiao Ning was deep in thought and at a loss, a mechanical voice sounded in his mind:

[Sign-in system successfully bound to the host...]

[System activation in progress...]

[System activation successful, the sign-in system is ready to serve you!]

"What?"

"Sign-in system..."

Xiao Ning's pupils slightly contracted, and his heart was filled with excitement.

As a time traveler, how could he not know the significance of a system?

His mind raced, and Xiao Ning regained his composure, asking excitedly: "Sign-in system? What does that mean?"

[The host can sign in once a day!]

[After a successful sign-in, the host can receive a random reward!]

[For more details, please explore on your own!]

The cold and emotionless mechanical voice sounded in Xiao Ning's mind, and his thoughts rapidly processed the information provided by the system.