The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was that I still didn't have eyes to open. Or a body. Or, well, anything physical at all. I was just... floating there, a spiritual consciousness untethered from flesh.
"Well," I thought to Azure, "this is... different."
Usually, when I jumped between worlds, I woke up already nestled in a convenient corpse that had sohow recovered from a deadly injury, ready to start my new life. The whole "ghost floating around looking for a body" thing was definitely new.
"Perhaps it's because we used the Genesis Seed's fruit rather than the system," Azure suggested. "The chanics of transition might be fundantally different."
I nodded, or at least perford the spiritual equivalent of nodding since, you know, no actual head. "Makes sense. We can't assu anything works the sa way here." I paused, considering. "Though I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed about the energy in this place."
The world around us felt... thin sohow. The ambient qi – if you could even call it that – was nothing like the primal force I'd sensed from the golden fruit. It was weaker, diluted, almost like soone had taken normal qi and watered it down until it was barely recognizable.
"The primal energy we sensed likely ca from the Genesis Seed itself," Azure theorized. "It was probably just the power that enabled the world-walking, not a representation of this world's energy."
"Yeah, that tracks." I sighed, watching as a wispy tendril of the local energy drifted past. "Still, what is this stuff? It feels almost like qi but... not quite?"
Before Azure could respond, I noticed my surroundings properly for the first ti. I was floating above what appeared to be a city, though 'city' might have been a generous term. The buildings were a hodgepodge of architectural styles, ranging from what looked like ancient Chinese influences to sothing more... industrial? Most were in various states of disrepair, with crumbling walls and patched roofs that spoke of long-term decay rather than sudden destruction.
The streets below were dimly lit by what looked like crystal lanterns, though many were cracked or flickering. The few people still out at this hour hurried along with their heads down, their clothes a mix of traditional robes and more practical working wear.
Everything had a worn, tired quality to it – like a painting that had been left in the sun too long, its colors slowly fading away.
"We should gather information," Azure suggested. "But be mindful of your soul essence consumption. Without a physical vessel, you're burning through it simply by existing here."
Right. That was definitely sothing to worry about later. For now, I drifted down toward what looked like the local equivalent of a pub. The wooden sign above the door was too faded to read, but the sounds of conversation and the sll of cheap alcohol were universal constants, apparently.
I passed through the wall – which, let tell you, is a very weird sensation even when you're expecting it – and found myself in a room that could have been pulled straight from a wuxia novel's "local tavern" template. Round tables, wooden stools, the distinct aroma of whatever passed for baiju in this world... The only thing missing was the mysterious old expert drinking alone in the corner.
Instead, the clientele seed to be mostly middle-aged n, their clothes suggesting various working-class professions. A group of what looked like dock workers occupied one corner, while what I guessed were craftsn of so sort clustered around another table. The conversations overlapped, creating a steady murmur of voices discussing everything from daily complaints to...
"...telling you, it's getting worse," one particularly vocal man was saying, punctuating his words by slamming his cup down. His dirty face and calloused hands marked him as soone who worked with his hands, though the slight shimr of energy around him suggested he had at least so cultivation. "My grandfather used to say that in his day, you could feel the rouqi thick in the air, like soup. Now? It's like trying to breathe through a wet cloth."
His companions nodded glumly. One of them, a thin man with a thick beard, leaned forward. "Ever since the Celestial Sovereign vanished, everything's been going downhill. My oldest just started training, and you know what the instructor told ? Said there hasn't been a breakthrough to Tier 3 in centuries. Centuries!"
That caught my attention. Tier 3? And what was this about a Celestial Sovereign?
"It's not just that," another man chid in, this one wearing what looked like a rchant's robes, though they'd seen better days. "The stories say that back a few millennia ago, Tier 5 wasn't even considered impressive. Now? We're lucky if soone reaches Tier 2 before their hair turns gray."
"The rouqi's running out," the first speaker declared with the certainty of the thoroughly drunk. "Running out like water in a cracked jar. Soon there won't be any Rouqin left at all, mark my words. We'll all be nothing but mortals, scrambling in the dust."
I floated there, processing what I'd heard. Rouqi instead of qi, Rouqin instead of cultivators, and a world that seed to be slowly dying. The implications were... troubling.
"Azure," I thought, "what do you make of this?"
"It appears this world is experiencing so form of energy decay," he replied. "Though whether this will result in complete entropy or perhaps a transition to a different type of civilization – like your Earth – is unclear."
I was about to respond when Azure's tone shifted to one of urgency. "Master, your soul essence is depleting faster than anticipated, it is now at 70%. We need to find you a vessel soon."
A quick internal check confird he was right. The simple act of existing in this world as a spiritual entity was consuming my energy at an alarming rate. I needed a body, and I needed one fast. Preferably a fresh corpse – I'd had enough experience with those to be comfortable with the arrangent.
The thought of possessing a living person made my non-existent stomach turn. It was one thing to inhabit an empty vessel, to give new purpose to a body whose original owner had already moved on. But to forcibly enter soone else's body? That felt... wrong. Even in a cultivation world where morality often took a back seat to power, there were lines I preferred not to cross.
"There are pragmatic concerns as well," Azure pointed out. "A living host would likely resist the possession, making the process more difficult and dangerous for both parties."
He had a point.
The streets were mostly empty at this hour, but I searched thodically, checking alleys and doorways for any recently deceased. I even found a promising location - a small shrine where the local custom seed to be leaving bodies for collection in the morning. But the only corpse there was already days old, too decomposed to serve as a viable vessel.
I tried a few animal corpses next - a stray dog, a cat that looked like it had lost a fight with sothing bigger. But each attempt at possession failed, it felt like trying to push through a wall made of rubber. There was resistance, then a sudden recoil that sent tumbling backward through the air. Apparently, the rules of this world were more specific than I'd hoped.
"Master," Azure warned, "your soul essence is now below fifty percent."
He was right. I could feel the energy draining away with each mont I remained in this spectral state. If I didn't find a solution soon...
"Maybe..." I thought reluctantly, "maybe we could find soone who wouldn't mind sharing temporarily? Just until we can locate a proper vessel. Soone in a bad situation who might welco the help?"
"And you would release control back to them afterward?" Azure asked carefully.
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"Of course," I nodded. "I'd make it worth their while too - help them improve their cultivation, leave them so techniques, sothing to compensate them for the intrusion."
It still felt wrong, but better than simply taking over soone's life entirely. With that compromise in mind, I began searching the streets again, this ti looking for the living rather than the dead.
It wasn't a perfect solution, but I didn't have any other option.
The first potential candidate I found was a young man who looked to be so sort of hunter, judging by his leather gear and the bow strapped across his back. He was sleeping in an alley, probably having spent his last coins on drinks.
More importantly, I could sense that his cultivation was stagnant, not even at the first tier. Perhaps I could help him advance in exchange for temporary use of his body?
I moved closer and attempted to enter the hunter's body, expecting the usual smooth transition I'd experienced with the system, instead I felt that sa rubbery-type resistance and was pushed back. The hunter shifted slightly in his sleep but otherwise showed no sign of noticing the attempted possession.
"Well," I managed after regaining my equilibrium, "that was... unpleasant."
"Perhaps we need to consider different criteria for compatibility," Azure suggested. "The system might have handled certain aspects of the transition that we now need to manage ourselves."
Right. Because that wasn't vague at all. Still, he had a point. I spent the next hour trying to possess various people – drunks, beggars, even a few cultivators (or Rouqin, I supposed I should call them here). Each attempt ended the sa way: with being forcefully ejected while my intended vessel remained blissfully unaware.
It wasn't until I ca across an old man collapsed in a side street that things changed. He was clearly near death, his breath coming in shallow gasps as he shivered in the cold night air. As I approached, considering him as another potential vessel, sothing unexpected happened.
"Who's there?" the old man wheezed, his rheumy eyes searching the darkness.
I froze. "You can hear ?"
The old man's eyes widened in terror as I apparently materialized in his vision. He tried to scramble backward, his movents weak and uncoordinated. "No, no, no... not yet! Please, I'm not ready!"
"Wait," I started to say, but he was already babbling prayers.
"Great Celestial Sovereign, protect your humble servant..." His words devolved into incoherent muttering as passersby stepped around him, apparently used to the sight of ranting drunks.
Then, mid-prayer, the old man's eyes glazed over. His body slumped, the last breath leaving him in a quiet sigh. Just like that, another soul had departed this slowly dying world.
"Well," I said after a mont, "that was depressing."
"Though potentially informative," Azure noted. "He could see you, perhaps because he was already close to death's door? Anyways, we can figure that out later, your soul essence is now at 30%, you need to enter his body now."
I nodded and took a deep breath that I didn't really need and flew into the old man's body, but this ti I didn't feel any resistance. The body wasn't exactly rejecting , but it wasn't accepting either. It was just... empty, cold. A shell without the spark needed to sustain life.
"What if," I said slowly as I left the corpse, "we need sothing in between? Not fully alive, but not completely dead either?"
"You an soone in a state between life and death?" Azure considered this. "It's possible, it would explain why the old man was able to interact with you."
"But where exactly are we supposed to find soone who's dying but not dead yet? It's not exactly sothing you can put an advertisent out for."
"More pressingly," Azure interrupted, "your soul essence is now below 25%. I'm not certain what will happen when it reaches zero, but I doubt it will be pleasant."
That was a good point. A very good point. The last thing I needed was to find out what happened to a worldwalking soul when it ran out of energy in a foreign reality. Would I just... cease to exist? Get snapped back to my body in the cultivation world? Or maybe get trapped here as a genuine ghost, haunting this dying world forever?
None of those options sounded particularly appealing.
I was about to suggest we try a different approach entirely when I heard sothing that made pause – the unmistakable sound of steel on steel, accompanied by angry shouts.
"Well," I said, already moving toward the noise, "either that's soone trying to die, or soone trying to help soone else die. Either way, it might be worth checking out."
The sounds led to what appeared to be a warehouse district. The buildings here were larger, mostly stone and tal rather than wood, with high windows and heavy doors. Perfect for storing goods – or for hiding less legitimate activities.
As I approached, I could make out more details. Three figures were facing off against a single opponent in what looked like a loading area between two warehouses. The three attackers moved with the coordinated precision of professional killers, while their target...
Their target was young, probably in his early twenties, wearing what looked like rchant's robes though they were now torn and bloodied. He was holding his own surprisingly well, his movents suggesting at least so martial training, but it was clear he was outmatched.
"Rouqin," Azure observed, noting the shimr of energy around all four combatants. "Though the three attackers appear to be at the late Tier 1 stage, while their target seems to have only broken through to Tier 1."
I watched as the young rchant narrowly avoided a thrust that would have taken him through the throat, only to catch a kick to his ribs that sent him stumbling. He managed to turn the stumble into a roll, coming up with his sword still ready, but I could see he was tiring.
"Young Master Han," one of the attackers called out, his tone mockingly formal, "why make this difficult? Lord Zhou rely wishes to discuss so... business matters with you."
"Lord Zhou can go fuck himself," the young man spat back, though the effect was sowhat ruined by the blood trickling from his split lip. "I know exactly what kind of 'discussion' he has in mind."
The speaker sighed. "As you wish. We'll simply deliver your corpse then. I'm sure that will send an equally effective ssage to your father."
What followed was brutal but efficient. Two of the attackers drove Young Master Han back with a series of coordinated strikes while the third circled around behind him. The young rchant realized the trap too late – by the ti he started to turn, a blade was already plunging toward his unprotected back.
The sword took him just below the left shoulder blade, angled upward to pierce the lung. A killing blow, but one designed to be slow rather than quick. The young man's eyes widened in shock and pain as his legs gave out beneath him.
"Make sure he stays down," the leader ordered, "but keep him breathing for now. Lord Zhou wanted him to have ti to... reflect on his choices."
I watched as they withdrew their weapons and stepped back, leaving their victim gasping on the ground. They weren't even going to finish him properly – just leave him there to slowly drown in his own blood while they watched. Charming.
"Master," Azure called out, "his current state..."
"Yeah," I nodded, already moving closer. "Dying but not dead. And probably not too attached to his current situation either."
I could feel it as I approached – the young man's soul was already starting to loosen its hold on his body, the shock and trauma creating exactly the kind of in-between state we'd been looking for.
More importantly, I could sense sothing else: a fierce determination not to die here, not like this.
Perfect.
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