Qing Lan shifted his attention toward the translucent screen again, and the System immediately displayed another window.
[Paradox Sign-In System]
[Status]
[Host: Qing Lan / Neolan Ashburn]
[Cultivation Stage: Qi Refining Realm {Late Stage}]
[Available Sign-In: One]
[Current Location: Azure Heaven Realm]
[Talent: --]
[Techniques: Silent Steps (Intermediate)]
[Soul Essence: --]
The Status window ended there, giving Qing Lan enough time to examine each term carefully. ’Hmm, I am at the very lowest Cultivation Realm, it’s no wonder I feel so weak.’ From the memories he had received, he already knew that the Qi Refining Realm was the first major stage of Cultivation, and being at the Late Stage meant that the original Qing Lan had spent twenty years cultivating without even reaching the next Realm.
He continued looking through the Status window, first noticing the Available Sign-In before moving toward his Current Location, Talent and Techniques. The first three were easy enough for him to understand, and when he saw the Talent section showing only a simple --, he immediately understood that this body didn’t possess any special talent. After all, twenty years of cultivation had only allowed the original Qing Lan to reach the Late Stage of the Qi Refining Realm despite all the effort he had put into improving himself.
However, the term Soul Essence caught his attention.
’Soul Essence?’
He had never heard of anything like this in his previous life, and it also wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the memories he had received from Qing Lan, so he decided to simply ask the System. From the novels he had read, Systems usually provided their hosts with explanations for their basic functions, even if they sometimes hid important information for reasons that the host wasn’t supposed to know. Qing Lan wasn’t particularly concerned about that possibility either, because after already experiencing death once, he didn’t care even if the System had some kind of hidden purpose behind helping him.
"What is this Soul Essence?"
The System responded almost immediately.
[Description: Soul Essence is theessencegained from the souls of living beings after Killing them. The stronger the being killed, the greater the amount of Soul Essence obtained.]
[Soul Essence can be used by the Host to Upgrade Skills, Abilities and Techniques. Advancing Cultivation Stages is also possible.]
Qing Lan stared at the explanation for a few moments while processing the information.
’So, it’s a kind of resource that can be obtained by killing living beings...’ He didn’t know how much Soul Essence would be required to upgrade something, nor did he know whether there were any restrictions, but at least he now understood its basic function. He was about to examine the Sign-In function when a groan suddenly came from nearby.
"Ugh..."
Qing Lan immediately turned his head and saw the man who had collapsed from fear earlier slowly waking up. The man moved his head slightly while looking around in confusion before muttering, "Wh-Where am I?" Qing Lan immediately crouched down in front of him and asked, "Which Sect do you belong to?"
The moment Shen heard his voice and opened his eyes enough to see the person standing in front of him, his expression immediately changed. His eyes widened in horror as he recognized the same dead body he had just seen standing inside the corpse pit.
"D-DEMON!!"
Before Shen could scream any further, Qing Lan’s fist suddenly tore through the air and stopped directly in front of his face, making Shen’s entire body freeze as he stared at the fist only a few centimeters away from him. His throat moved as he gulped, and his entire body trembled while Qing Lan looked at him with a cold expression.
"I am not a Demon, do not call me that shitty species’ name." His voice remained cold as he looked down at Shen, and his entire demeanour changed the moment he heard someone calling him a Demon. He hated them to the core. No, he loathed Demons so much that if he saw one standing in front of him, he would kill it immediately.
For a moment, he remained like that before shaking his head and moving his hand away from Shen’s face. The sudden movement startled Shen and made him tremble even more, causing Qing Lan to sigh before speaking again, "First thing first, I am not a Demon. Believe it or not, I am Qing Lan, a Human Cultivator, as you can see in flesh and blood."
As he spoke, he bit one of his fingers, causing a few tiny drops of red blood to fall from it. Shen stared at the blood while slightly raising an eyebrow.
From what he knew, possessed Demons no longer had normal human blood. The moment a Demon possessed a human, their blood would turn purple or even black, and even their skin colour would change slightly. But the man standing in front of him, no, this corpse standing before him, clearly had human blood.
But...how could a corpse suddenly walk and talk while claiming to be human?
Looking at Shen’s face, Qing Lan could clearly see the confusion in his expression. Although the memories he had received contained enough knowledge to understand the difference between Humans and possessed Demons, they couldn’t explain the simple fact that he was currently a talking corpse.
He shook his head again before speaking, "I showed you proof that I am human. The other part isn’t my concern. If you believe I am some kind of ghost, then so be it, but I need you to tell me which Sect you belong to and what’s your name?"
Shen looked troubled by the question, his earlier trembling slowly calming down as he continued struggling to believe the situation in front of him. "My name is Gu Shen, I-I am just a worker in the Stoneheart Sect!" He spoke loudly out of fear.
Qing Lan nodded at the answer. From his memories, he knew that the Stoneheart Sect was one of the lowest-tier Sects in the eastmost part of the Azure Heaven Realm, and he also knew that it had almost been destroyed by the sudden Demon Invasion.
"Is the Sect still there, or was it also destroyed?" Qing Lan asked while remembering that most of the lowest-tier Sects had already been destroyed, and the original Qing Lan had been fighting against the Demons around one of those Sects before ultimately meeting his end without even putting up a proper fight. Seeing that Shen was from the Stoneheart Sect made him wonder how he was still alive and doing this kind of work.
"O-Our Sect is still there, but it’s not in that shape anymore. After eighty percent of our forces died along with the Sect Master, some powerful Cultivators suddenly descended from the sky and killed most of the Demons. But the Demons kept coming day after day without showing any shortage in numbers, and those Cultivators continued fighting them. Later, some powerful Demons started appearing as well, which made even those Cultivators become exhausted. Only because of them is our Sect still standing."
Shen lowered his head after speaking, his voice almost devoid of hope as he struggled to continue.
Qing Lan went into thought as he remembered that descending from the sky meant they were at least at the Foundation Establishment Realm, because that was the stage where Cultivators gained the ability to fly, whether through their own strength or by controlling a flying sword with Spiritual Energy.
"I see, so that’s the case, but...did they not state which Sect they were from?" He asked while wondering about their identity. Cultivators powerful enough to descend into this region and fight against the Demons could either belong to some hidden force or a Sect with a connection to a much stronger region.
Shen lifted his head and spoke in the same weak voice, "Th-They said they were from the Nine Lotus Sect, b-but the strange part is that there is no such Sect in this eastmost part of the Azure Heaven Realm."
The moment the name came out of Shen’s mouth, Qing Lan’s eyes widened, and he immediately repeated the name, "Nine Lotus Sect you say?"
"Y-Yes! Nine Lotus Sect! Perhaps you know something about it?" Shen asked in the same weak voice as he looked at Qing Lan’s shocked expression.
Qing Lan remained silent for a moment as his thoughts immediately connected the name to the memories of his previous life.
’...Master’s Sect was also Nine Lotus Sect, does that mean-!’
Before he could finish that thought, he suddenly felt a massive shadow loom over the entire area of the corpse pit.
Qing Lan immediately looked upward.
The moment he saw what was above them, his eyes widened in pure horror.
’A-An Elite Rank Demon?!!!’