The moment Yuchi Mengxing opened her eyes to this new life, she nearly started cursing on the spot.
Just what kind of godforsaken place had she been reborn into?
A cultivation world?!
Or some bizarre, unnamed continent that had absolutely nothing to do with the world she once knew?
Was it simply because she had been a top-tier feng shui master in her previous life that the heavens had decided it was perfectly reasonable to dump her into a cultivation world?
What kind of logic was that?!
In her previous life, all she had done was examine feng shui, arrange formations, and occasionally deal with a few particularly vicious “good brothers.” Sure, there had been dangerous moments.
She had been chased by malicious ghosts in the middle of the night more times than she cared to remember.
She had climbed mountains, entered abandoned houses, wandered through graveyards, and once even lost a handful of hair while fleeing from an especially nasty spirit.
But compared to this place?
That was child’s play!
At least the ghosts and evil spirits from her previous life couldn’t flatten her into meat paste with a single slap.
Here, some powerful beings could probably crush her without even bothering to lift a finger.
Just thinking about it made her scalp tingle.
And this world didn’t merely have divine beasts and spirit beasts.
There were demonic beasts and even the legendary devil beasts!
That wasn’t even the worst part.
These creatures could cultivate.
Cultivate!
Once they reached a sufficiently high level, they could become terrifyingly powerful.
Yuchi Mengxing suspected that some of them could probably send an ordinary person flying ten miles away with nothing more than a sneeze.
She hugged her battered broom tightly, shivering at the thought.
Damn it!
Who could possibly survive that kind of attack power?
Even the fiercest “good brothers” I dealt with in my previous life weren’t monsters with cheats like these!
Unfortunately, the beasts were only the beginning.
This world was divided into multiple realms.
There was the Human Realm, Ghost Realm, Nether Realm, Divine Realm, Immortal Realm, Demon Realm…
And then there was the one that made her scalp go numb every time she heard its name— the Devil Realm.
The inhabitants of these realms often looked surprisingly similar to humans.
Two eyes.
One nose.
One mouth.
Perfectly normal-looking faces.
At first glance, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly frightening about them.
But that was exactly the problem.
Aside from those from the Human Realm, most of them weren’t actually pure humans.
Some even possessed terrifying true forms.
Yuchi Mengxing’s imagination immediately ran wild.
Imagine a handsome young man standing before her.
Tall and elegant, dressed in flowing robes, with a gentle smile and an aura as warm as jade.
The kind of man whose smile alone could make a young maiden’s heart flutter.
Then— BANG!
The next second, he transformed into a gigantic flood dragon several meters long.
Or perhaps fangs suddenly grew from his mouth.
Maybe fur covered his entire body.
Wings might even burst from his back.
Yuchi Mengxing shuddered.
Good heavens.
That kind of visual shock would be more terrifying than meeting a ghost inside a haunted house!
More importantly, even the so-called Human Realm here was completely different from the mystical world she had known in her previous life.
In this place, practically everyone could cultivate.
Even children born into ordinary farming families had to undergo an aptitude test once they reached six years old.
The test determined what kind of spiritual root—or cultivation affinity—they possessed and which path suited them best.
After that?
They entered an academy.
There, teachers would guide them through various cultivation methods.
When Yuchi Mengxing first heard about this system, she thought it sounded suspiciously similar to children going to school in her previous life.
There was just one tiny difference.
Normal children learned arithmetic, reading, and writing.
Children here learned how to meditate, circulate spiritual energy, strengthen their bodies…
and eventually split rocks and crack mountains apart.
Very educational.
Very safe.
Absolutely perfect for six-year-olds.
Yuchi Mengxing had nothing to say.
Everyone also had to choose the cultivation path most compatible with their spiritual root.
As for figuring out whether someone had advanced?
That wasn’t particularly complicated either.
A person’s cultivation could often be judged by the strength of the aura surrounding them, along with the changes occurring within their dantian.
But cultivation alone wasn’t enough.
There was another crucial matter— bloodline awakening.
If someone failed to awaken their bloodline before the age of fifteen, their future prospects were basically finished.
They could still cultivate.
They could still become stronger.
But there would always be a ceiling hanging over their heads.
Unless some extraordinary opportunity appeared, reaching the true heights of cultivation would be almost impossible.
At best, they could become strong enough to live comfortably and protect themselves.
As for soaring into the heavens and becoming a supreme expert?
They could forget about it.
The first true stage of cultivation in this world was the Body Refining Realm.
And because apparently cultivation wasn’t complicated enough already, the Body Refining Realm itself was divided into five major ranks: Human, Earth, Heaven, Mystic, and Yellow.
Each rank was further divided into four phases— Early, Middle, Late, and Peak.
And each phase contained another ten minor stages.
When Yuchi Mengxing first learned all of this, she stared blankly for a very long time.
Five ranks.
Four phases per rank.
Ten minor stages per phase.
Was she cultivating or sitting for some ridiculously complicated examination?
A cultivator had to climb upward one step at a time, breaking through rank after rank until finally reaching the Peak Yellow Rank.
And only after reaching that point could they truly cross the threshold into the next great realm— the Qi Refining Realm.
After Qi Refining came Foundation Establishment.
Then Core Formation.
Golden Core.
Nascent Soul.
Soul Emergence.
Spirit Severing…
And many, many more stages after that.
The list was long enough to make Yuchi Mengxing’s head hurt.
There was another particularly unpleasant rule in this world.
If someone’s cultivation was a full level higher than yours, they could usually see through your cultivation with ease.
Which meant— if they were stronger than you, they could figure out exactly how weak you were.
And once they knew that…
Well.
Whether they bullied you, robbed you, threatened you, or simply did whatever they pleased depended entirely on whether they had morals.
Yuchi Mengxing rolled her eyes dramatically.
Her entire face practically screamed— Whatever.
So what if this was a cultivation world?
In her previous life, she had dared to capture ghosts.
Was she really supposed to be afraid of a few demons, monsters, spirits, and strange beasts now?
Of course…
deep down, she was still a little nervous.
Just a little.
A tiny bit.
But there was absolutely no way Yuchi Mengxing would admit that aloud.
She tightened her grip on the broom and silently encouraged herself.
It’s fine.
I’m not completely helpless.
I had skills in my previous life too.
At worst, she simply had to learn a new system.
Previously, she had relied on feng shui, formations, talismans, and a compass.
Now she would rely on spiritual energy and her dantian.
How different could it possibly be?
She just had to practice more.
Work harder.
Figure things out slowly.
Yuchi Mengxing took a deep breath and nodded firmly to herself.
Fine!
She would compromise!
She would cultivate!
Was that good enough now?!