Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Lottery**

1. A lottery game?

The mob of the Devil Sect was on the move.

It wasn't a common occurrence, but it wasn't entirely unprecedented either.

Since the term "martial world" came into being, the Devil Sect's invasions had occurred roughly once every century.

As usual, the orthodox and heterodox factions would temporarily halt their squabbles over rice bowls and form a cooperative relationship to drive away the Devil Sect.

A storm of blood would rage, but the newly emerging martial artists, who had yet to earn a proper nickname, would welcome it.

In the martial world, sword fights were as common as breathing.

How could they not welcome the opportunity to make a name for themselves by facing a common enemy, the evil Devil Sect?

But this time, something was different.

The Devil Sect's advance was relentless, and no one could stop their advance.

Many martial artists lost their heads.

Feeling the crisis, the orthodox and heterodox factions formed a proper alliance to respond, but it was insufficient.

Unbelievably, it was because they could not surpass the martial prowess of a single individual.

To some, he was known as the Heavenly Demon.

To others, he was known as the Demon God.

And to the majority of the martial world, he was known as the Mad Demon, a name steeped in hatred and fury.

The titles varied, but they all referred to one person.

The leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect, Jiang Shaiyi.

Leading his followers into the Central Plains, he was the unparalleled master of the martial world, fitting the description of "the only one under heaven and above earth."

- Pathetic.

Before the absolute power of a single individual, the many famous figures of the orthodox and heterodox factions were trampled like withered leaves.

Most of the Nine Schools and prestigious families that supported the orthodox faction suffered near-total annihilation and declared seclusion.

The large organizations and notorious leaders of the heterodox faction knelt before the master of the Devil Sect, whom they could not oppose.

The neutral forces, which did not lean towards either the orthodox or heterodox factions, trembled in fear and kept a low profile.

The unification of the martial world.

In the midst of a situation where an unprecedented event in the long history of the martial world was about to occur, the leader of the Devil Sect suddenly disappeared.

Various rumors spread.

Some said he had reached a realm beyond human limits and transcended.

Others said he had become disillusioned with the martial world's lack of worthy opponents and gone into seclusion.

Regardless of the truth, the orthodox and heterodox factions, along with the remaining forces, finally had a chance to breathe.

Under the command of the deputy leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect, Wu Xue, who possessed one of the top martial arts in the world, the remaining followers established branches of the Devil Sect in each city of the Central Plains.

- The Mad Demon must be dead. He must have burned his life to temporarily attain such power.

- Without the Mad Demon, we can defeat the Devil Sect's followers.

- Let's unite and reclaim our past!

With the disappearance of the Heavenly Demon, the orthodox faction, which had been swallowing their humiliation, and the heterodox faction, which had been lying on the ground, raised their heads again.

The establishment of the Orthodox-Heterodox Alliance, formed by the heterodox faction joining the martial alliance where the orthodox faction's vested interests were concentrated.

And the Devil Sect's branches rooted in each region.

Thus, a long-standing confrontation continued.

* * *

"But that was the game's story."

At the Jiameng Academy, an educational institution under the Orthodox-Heterodox Alliance.

Xiao Zhongtian, one of this year's new students, looked at the words floating before his eyes with a sense of absurdity.

"X Pearl. So, what is this?"

On a weekend evening, with no sleep and nothing to do, he had idly searched for a game on his smartphone and installed a new game called Wu Hun, which appeared in the new releases section.

The intro video was unusually long and couldn't be skipped, which made him grumble.

It was a mobile game based on martial arts, roughly about raising the player's character and companion heroes to dominate the martial world. But before he knew it, he found himself in this place.

'Xiao Zhongtian, 15 years old. Descendant of a martial family, not famous but just getting by. Hmm... In the past, the family was destroyed in a war with the Devil Sect, and his father, a martial artist of the martial alliance, died on a mission. And this year, he entered Jiameng Academy.'

The memories, clearly not his own, swirled in his mind as if they were his own.

To be in someone else's body with the same consciousness and share their memories—this was a situation he had only seen in novels.

Despite the absurdity, he had to accept that this was not the Earth he had lived on.

"So... you're telling me to live as this Xiao Zhongtian from now on? And my goal is to drive away the Devil Sect?"

Of course, understanding the situation didn't make the absurdity any less absurd.

"Damn! Why me?"

"Hey, what's been making so much noise?"

As he muttered to himself, someone approached from the side.

A broad, angular face with small, beady eyes.

One of the new students, like him, who had been assigned to the same room and would spend the next year together.

New students at Jiameng Academy were assigned to the Yellow Dragon Corps and stayed in the Yellow Dragon Pavilion.

The Yellow Dragon Pavilion was basically a four-person room.

"Seems like you're thrilled to have entered. Not everyone can get in, you know?"

Another boy nearby chuckled and spoke.

"When you were assigned a room, you probably heard the names. Since we'll be seeing each other often, why don't we introduce ourselves properly? I'm Zhang Zajun, from the Dianzhang School."

"Chao Yinghuo. I'm from Xianxue Province and have learned the Xianzhan Sword Technique. It's my first time meeting a Dianzhang School martial artist. I'd like to spar with you sometime."

"Ha ha! You're a spirited one. Let's do it when the opportunity arises."

After exchanging greetings, the two boys turned their heads towards Zhongtian.

Despite the bizarre situation, with no way to return to his original body, he decided to go along with their rhythm for now.

At least he had a vague memory of the body's owner, so introducing himself wouldn't be difficult.

"Hmm, I'm Xiao Zhongtian. I'm from Guangzhou City, and I'm 15 years old..."

"Of course, you're 15 if you're entering Jiameng Academy."

"There's no need to mention such trivial things."

Upon reflection, there was an age requirement for entry.

Except for a few exceptional cases who qualified through special evaluations, all new students were 15 years old.

'Well, to these little brats...'

The body's owner was the same age, but his original age was nearly double.

Feeling embarrassed by the scolding from much younger "brothers," he hastily finished his introduction and closed his mouth.

"Xiao and Zhang. Ahem! So, then..."

Chao Yinghuo, having heard the introductions, cleared his throat and turned his head to one side of the room.

The other two people's gazes naturally followed.

"Um... What is the young lady's name?"

The girl, who had been sitting in the corner with her eyes closed, glanced at him and then closed her eyes again without a word.

"Cough! You're a lady of few words."

"Looks like we were ignored."

"Ugh..."

The boys, who spoke freely among themselves, found it difficult to do so with a girl, and they all looked at each other awkwardly.

'Well, this is a funny place. Sharing a room with a girl?'

Given the historical context, the relationship between men and women would be quite conservative, yet it was surprising that the martial world allowed mixed-gender rooms.

'She's so beautiful that even famous actors can't hold a candle to her. At 15, they're in the prime of their youth. Won't there be troublemakers? Martial artists are just martial artists, regardless of gender. Is that the idea?'

The nameless girl, with her rare beauty, looked like a painting even when she was just sitting with her eyes closed.

'No, this isn't the time to be distracted.'

Without realizing it, Xiao Zhongtian had been lost in admiration and moved to the opposite corner to sit down, away from the other children.

It was hard to believe, but this was reality.

For an unknown period, he had to live as Xiao Zhongtian.

'Even if I wanted to leave, there's no way out. I guess I have to live the life of a student here.'

Jiameng Academy was an educational institution of the Orthodox-Heterodox Alliance, training martial artists to oppose the Devil Sect.

It wasn't a place anyone could enter, but once you were in, you couldn't leave just because you wanted to.

'You can enter freely, but you can't leave freely.'

Xiao Zhongtian barely met the minimum standards in the admission test.

Recalling the memory, there were 208 qualified candidates, and while the exact ranking wasn't disclosed, he probably didn't rank higher than 200th.

'And even that was with a bonus point for my father's service.'

If it weren't for the record of his father, a low-ranking martial artist of the alliance, dying on duty, he might not have been admitted.

Since there was no immediate way to survive outside, he had to pretend to be a martial artist in the academy.

"Sigh..."

It felt like he had been forcibly conscripted into the military, and a sigh escaped his lips.

'Worse than the military. As a martial artist... you never know when you might get stabbed and die.'

He had just started a game to pass the time, and now he was in the martial world with no way to return. It was maddening.

'Clearly, it's a game world. They just gave me the goal of driving away the Heavenly Demon Sect and told me to train normally. No game system support or anything? In this brutal world, shouldn't they give me the ability to survive?'

As he grumbled, something in his mind responded.

'Huh?'

A strange sensation, as if words were being etched into his mind, accompanied by a voice.

A small circular shape appeared before his eyes, and without touching it, it started to spin on its own.

As he stared blankly, the spinning circle stopped, and an arrow appeared, pointing to a simple image.

"...Silver Coin?"

The circle disappeared.

Xiao Zhongtian, who had been staring into space, suddenly came to his senses.

'What? 400? What just happened?'

A semi-transparent window, like a game menu, appeared in the corner of his vision.

'Is this... really a game system?'

Three small windows with text.

"Wow, it's real."

Xiao Zhongtian let out a hollow laugh.

To confirm, he thought about pressing the part