Burning Sun County, Blue Moon City.
Within the vast territory of the Lin family, a young man with long black hair tied in a bun, red eyes, a seductive youthful face, dressed in black with red details, walked unhurriedly towards the largest building nearby.
His upright posture, slow steps as he gazed lightly at his surroundings, conveyed an air of dignity. He could see some girls his age, even some older women, blushing at the sight of him and then looking away.
"It's young master Lin Xiao!" One of them said to her friend, in a louder tone than she intended, no longer the whisper she wanted.
"I heard he's already reached the 6th stage of Body Refinement! He's so amazing!" The other replied in the same tone.
Lin Xiao, the one who was the subject of the conversation, the same one who was walking without stem, could hear that conversation, as well as many other murmurs.
He gave them a friendly smile and continued walking without bothering to say anything.
As soon as he turned his attention back to the direction he was walking, he noticed a figure standing in his path. It wasn't just someone standing still, but someone intentionally blocking his way.
The young man had the same red eyes as Lin Xiao and even a subtle similarity in appearance, but his physique was somewhat more muscular, with more apparent muscles, even though his clothes covered almost his entire body.
"Lin Xiao, I heard you've reached the 6th stage of Body Refinement. How about testing your strength against me?" The young man's voice rang out quite loudly; his intention to be heard by passersby was clear.
And just as he wished, he was heard by everyone nearby, which caused even more murmuring than before.
"Lin Hao wants to fight Lin Xiao!?"
"Lin Hao is already at the 7th stage of Body Refinement, but he's a year older than Lin Xiao. I'm sure he's afraid of being surpassed, after all, both have the right to become the next clan leader!"
"Lin Xiao is much more talented! Even if he's a level below, I'm confident he can win this competition!"
Lin Hao smiled as he listened to all those murmurs; it was exactly what he had wanted.
'Come on, Lin Xiao, everyone's watching us. If you refuse, everyone will think you're a coward!'
Noticing the smile on the young man's face, Lin Xiao could deduce what he had in mind, but contrary to the indecision the other side expected, he let out a soft laugh.
"Cousin, I admire your efforts, but do you think I'm foolish enough not to notice your intentions?"
Lin Xiao took a step toward him and continued speaking "While you still have some strength advantage, you want to corner me into accepting a fight or refusing and being seen as a coward"
Lin Hao's smile visibly turned into a bitter grimace, while the murmurs around him shifted in tone, becoming increasingly repudiating of his attitude toward his cousin.
Of course, some already knew of his intentions from the start and still thought it would be cowardly of Lin Xiao to back down from the challenge.
Then, contrary to everyone's expectations, Lin Xiao said "But for someone who needs such deceptive tactics, the advantage of a single stage isn't enough. I accept your help to test my newfound strength!"
The expression of surprise appeared not only on Lin Hao's face, but also on most of the young people around him. None of them expected him to accept so easily, after having revealed that he knew his opponent's intentions.
To tell the truth, Lin Xiao intended to avoid that situation; he didn't care if some thought he was a coward, and explaining Lin Hao's plans had already greatly alleviated that problem.
It wouldn't be worth facing someone a level stronger just to gain some dignity; the effort and risk wouldn't compensate for the results. However, something compelled him to accept such a thing.
Ding~
{Your first mission has arrived}
[Win the friendly match against Lin Hao and show your great potential to the Lin family elders]
[Reward: Slight increase in cultivation talent and 5 lower spirit stones]
There was a floating screen right in front of Lin Xiao, which only he could see, and that was the reason he accepted the challenge.
...
Seventeen years ago, Lin Xiao was born into this world, carrying memories of a past life in which he lived on Earth, a place without Qi or cultivators.
It took him a while to learn the language of this world, a little faster than other babies in the Lin family, but nothing unbelievable. He slowly learned about his new world and managed to draw many parallels with some novels he had read in his former life.
Even as a small child, he had already understood that the world he was in was extremely vast and that Blue Moon City was just a grain of sand in the desert, where his family fought for dominance.
As the son of an elder in the Lin family, he could live like a carefree, wealthy young man; there were only a handful of people he couldn't offend, and as long as he kept that in mind, he could act as if he owned the town.
When his talent was tested by the family, his position as young master was solidified, since he possessed an orange talent, which was the same as that of the elders and geniuses of the family.
As far as Lin Xiao knew, the cultivation talents were: Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green.
Having a Black Talent was practically a way to be prevented from cultivating; a normal person with such a talent would be rejected by any sect or family clan.
It was rare for someone with so little talent to achieve anything beyond Body Refinement, even in their entire life. Without any support, it was most common for someone like that to live as a mortal.
Sure, even if Lin Xiao possessed such inferior talent, he would still be nurtured enough to have some strength, since his father was an elder, but not everyone would have that kind of support.
Red Talent was the most common among cultivators of the Lin Family and Blue Moon City.
With the potential to surpass the Body Refinement realm while still young, there was even the possibility of reaching the Foundation Establishment realm.
It was most common to see cultivators of this talent ceasing to evolve in the final stages of Qi Refinement realm.
The Orange Talent, a requirement for true respect in Blue Moon City, was what Lin Xiao possessed.
If he weren't lazy, reaching the Foundation Establishment realm would only be a matter of time, and he could even surpass it without much difficulty.
As for the other two talents, they were far superior; Blue Moon City didn't have anyone of that caliber.
Lin Xiao knew that there was someone with Yellow Talent in a city not too far away, and there were also sects in the surrounding area that included some of them.
However, with his Orange Talent, he was already satisfied; he would evolve without haste, but also without laziness, so he would become an elder of the Lin Family and live a peaceful life.
If he were to achieve Core Formation realm, just as his father did, he would have a lifespan of 200 years and could make good use of that time.
Perhaps marrying a woman from the Chun Family would form an alliance between the two families, making them truly dominant in Blue Moon City.
All he needed to do was use his position and talent to cultivate in peace, without seeking trouble for himself.
However, contrary to his desire to live simply, on the morning he turned 17, early this morning, the system appeared before him.
Ding~
{The Mission System has been successfully activated! Complete the objectives given by the system and receive extraordinary rewards!}
{Status}
Lin Xiao
Cultivation: 6th stage of Body Refinement
Cultivation Talent: Intermediate Orange
Perception Talent: Lower Profound
Current Cultivation Technique: Lin Family Qi Absorption Secret Art (Intermediate Earth Rank)
Dao: Intent of the Sword (Rudimentary)
After seeing those floating screens appear right before his eyes, just as he had woken up, Lin Xiao quickly gave up on living a simple life.
Before, he was just a young master from an isolated place, but now he was a system bearer, the protagonist of a story; he couldn't be mediocre.
So he decided to go to his father, who would probably be in the main building of the large Lin family complex.
His goal was simple: to request some cultivation resources to accelerate his progress to the next stage of cultivation, which would give him a good chance of joining one of the nearby sects that would be recruiting in a few months.
Most of the sects in the region surrounding Blue Moon City recruited disciples every three years, as they sought disciples between the ages of 15 and 19.
Most young people started cultivating around the age of 15, when their bodies reached a certain level of maturity.
Sects typically only accepted those with cultivation at the 4th stage of Body Refinement or higher, but of course age mattered in this case; someone who was 17, 18 or 19 years old needed to have a bit more strength.
Lin Xiao, who had reached the 6th stage of Body Refinement last month, had a reasonable chance of being recruited; in fact, he was confident he would succeed, but only as an outer disciple.
Being an outer disciple was never in his interest; he preferred to remain in the Lin family, where he was a young master, rather than join some sect and be a lackey.
So without the system, he would choose to stay right there.
Now with the system, he could evolve much more than before, so joining a sect would help with that, so he would do it. And if he could advance a stage before recruitment, perhaps he could even skip the outer disciple phase and become an inner disciple.
It was on the way to his father that Lin Hao appeared and unlocked the system's first mission, promising him far greater rewards than he would receive from his father.
...
In a training courtyard, several young people gathered around a raised platform, where Lin Xiao and Lin Hao faced each other, a few steps apart.
In Lin Xiao's hands was a training sword, which he held with lightness and familiarity. Although that sword was not sharp, it was still made of metal, and in the hands of a cultivator, even in the Body Refinement realm, it remained a lethal weapon.
Of course, when used against an opponent of equivalent strength, the risk of serious injury was greatly minimized; it would be very uncommon for someone to end up seriously injuring their opponent if they weren't malicious.
"Lin Xiao!" An exasperated female voice rang out from among several other young people.
The voice was familiar; even before turning his gaze, he already knew who it was.
A girl with a cute face, long dark brown hair, and large light brown eyes that looked at her with a glint of concern.
"Mei Mei, what happened? Why are you so worried?" Lin Xiao smiled at her, as if he didn't know exactly what was troubling the girl.
Lin Mei was a 15-year-old girl who was almost a younger sister to Lin Xiao, despite being genetically quite distant, with the girl being outside the main branch of the family.
Lin Xiao had known her for 10 years, and given that his mental age was far superior to hers due to his past life, he had always seen her as his little sister. Even though she had recently gained some curves, he never saw her differently.
"Lin Hao is turning 19 this year, while you're only 17! He's had so much more time to train, that's not fair!" The girl gave the more muscular young man an angry look.
There was almost a two-year age difference; that age would be irrelevant after a few decades, but currently it meant that Lin Hao had almost twice as much time to cultivate compared to Lin Xiao.
While one of them had just reached the 6th stage of Body Refinement, the other had already been at the 7th stage for over half a year.
Most of the young people gathered around the stage knew that, if it were a comparison of talents, Lin Xiao was superior.
"Don't worry, Mei Mei, what kind of genius would I be if I couldn't fight someone just one stage higher than me?" Despite speaking to the girl, he smirked arrogantly at Lin Hao.
Despite Lin Xiao being aware of his own current mediocrity compared to the world outside of Blue Moon City, he was still a genius within his family, and there was something that gave him great confidence.
Rudimentary Sword Intent. He didn't even know he had something like that before seeing his status in the morning.
Sword Intent was something any sword cultivator desired to possess; it was like a natural sharpener, making each cut more efficient than usual.
The Sword Intent had five stages: Rudimentary, Lesser, Intermediate, Greater, and Perfect.
Although the Rudimentary stage is well known, it is rarely noticed because it is very subtle; a cultivator would normally only realize they have acquired Sword Intent when they are on the verge of the Lesser stage.
So, although it wasn't a huge advantage, he still had something that made him confident, even if his cultivation was a stage below his opponent's.