The Great Flame Dynasty, Tengzhou, Misty Sect.
A dozen meters down from Zhou Tong's feet on the edge of a steep cliff, a plant emanating a golden light grew. It was the Phenix Herb that "housekeeper" Li, of the servant's quarter, ordered to be collected.
Zhou Tong rubbed his hands, looking out at the seemingly bottomless drop before him, his legs suddenly becoming weak.
But if he failed to complete his task, it would be far from pleasant on housekeeper Li's end. Drawing a deep breath, he carefully tied one end of a rope around a big tree close by before securing the other around his waist, and slowly started descending the cliff.
The air in the middle of the cliff was pervaded by a miasma, but the golden gleam was striking, making it easy to locate the Phenix Herb.
Zhou Tong painstakingly sought out foot points, gradually descending until after a tough seven to eight minutes, he finally reached the Phenix Herb.
Crash.
Suddenly, the gravel on the cliff's edge fell apart, and Zhou Tong's entire body fell fast downward - hitting a few sharp rocks along the cliffs face.
Zhou Tong was hit badly, but luckily the tree above was strong, and the rope held. He did not plunge into the endless abyss, but the impact had severely injured him.
Blood was dripping from his right shoulder.
His body was so weak.
Zhou Tong clenched his teeth, seeing the Phenix Herb that now hovered above his head again, he continued climbing up, and this time, he did not falter.
Holding the Phenix Herb tightly in his hand, he heaved a sigh of relief.
Just then, a voice suddenly rang inside his head, "Ding, the All Worlds Recycling System is officially activated, scanning host's identity, host identity qualified."
Not long after, a light panel appeared before Zhou Tong.
Host: Zhou Tong.
Cultivation Level: Ordinary human.
Talent: None.
Bloodline: None.
Profession: None.
Zhou Tong has been in this divergent world for two months, with his temperament already ground down to humility. He had accepted the fact that he was nothing more than a menial worker with no cultivation within the sect. The sudden notification from the system caught him off-guard, leaving him momentarily stunned before the expression of joy appeared on his face.
Finally, the moment has come!
I knew it all along, the gods didn't send me here just to do manual labor.
"In view of the host's first successful system binding, a beginner's gift pack is hereby awarded. Proceeding to heal the host's injuries."
Quickly, Zhou Tong's right arm stopped bleeding and felt stronger than before. He mustered his strength, scrambled up the cliff, shrugged his arm, and expelled a turbid breath from his mouth.
"The delivery of the beginner's gift pack continues—the host's power is feeble, as an award, your cultivation level is upgraded to the first level of Martial Artist."
With a whoosh, a streak of golden light flashed around Zhou Tong. He clenched his fists and immediately felt his body brimming with strength.
So, this is what it feels like to be a Martial Artist?
In the Cloud Mist Sect, only those who attain the rank of Martial Artist at the age of sixteen, or contribute significantly, can be promoted outside, becoming a proper disciple.
The Martial Artist is a threshold, and within the menial workers' quarter, except for Manager Li, all the rest are below the rank of Martial Artist.
Zhou Tong was about to find something to verify his strength when he spotted a shard shimmering atop the phoenix grass before him. It read, "Phoenix Bloodline Shard +30."
Footnote: When shards reach 100, a complete bloodline ability can be obtained.
"This system can also collect the spiritual energy, martial arts techniques, talents, bloodlines, or even Tao law that have fallen from everything within the world. However, this does strongly depend on the host's strength."
Upon hearing this from the system, Zhou Tong was overjoyed. He extended his hand towards the shard which immediately disintegrated into a streak of light and flew into his body.
The personal panel before Zhou Tong's eyes changed instantly as well.
Host: Zhou Tong.
Cultivation Level: Level-1 Martial Artist.
Talent: Lower grade.
Bloodline: Phoenix Bloodline +30.
Profession: None.
Whew, he struck it rich!
The Phoenix is a legendary holy beast, and the associated benefits were rather obvious!
Zhou Tong stabilized his mind and curiously asked the system, "Why has it been two months since I arrived in this foreign world, yet you only appear now?"
Without any hesitation, the system replied, "The system's initial activation requires the host to touch a herb."
Only then, Zhou Tong nodded his head. As a mere odd-job worker, he hardly had any chances to touch herbs in his daily life.
Putting it that way, I indeed need to thank Steward Li for assigning the task.
But Zhou Tong searched meticulously for a long time, yet found not a single stalk of Phoenix Grass.
Feeling somewhat disappointed, he climbed up the cliff. While he was deep in thought, a sharp-eared and monkey-cheeked fellow walked over, blocking Zhou Tong's path. The man said contemptuously, "Hand over the Phoenix Grass to me, and I'll spare your life."
Looking at this man, Zhou Tong also sighed deeply.
Hou Ye from the Miscellaneous Service Department, a warrior of Nine Heavens, usually played the role of a flatterer, often following steward Li around and playfully acting powerful.
Unexpectedly, this time he was even more excessive, planning to grab Zhou Tong's herbs.
Had it been before, Zhou Tong would only have been able to retreat tactfully.
However, now Zhou Tong was smiling, feeling the spiritual power circulating within his body. He asked, "On what grounds?"
Hou Ye, who'd been looking down his nose at Zhou Tong, suddenly growled, "Because I'm stronger than you!"
"Because you're an ordinary person, and I'm a warrior of Nine Heavens!"
"If you don’t hand over the herbs, you will have no place in this Cloud Mist Sect, and both you and your idiot brother will be kicked out!"
"But if I give you the herbs, I'll probably be severely punished by Steward Li, won't I?" Zhou Tong's smile turned noticeably cold.
Hou Ye did not care at all and said indifferently, "That's none of my business."
Zhou Tong's eyes changed subtly, his memory began to flash back to the long past.
On a peaceful ordinary day in the small town, a practitioner who was flying with a sword unexpectedly fell, nearly severing Zhou Tong's father's arm.
Nevertheless, Zhou Tong's father, Wang Tianxiang's arm was stiffening significantly.
The practitioner seemed to have dozed off briefly, woke up, knelt to the ground to pick up his precious sword, and simultaneously apologized, "Sorry. It was my carelessness."
In the mundane world, ordinary people might never witness the sword-wielding practitioner flying in their entire life, thus most of them are quite terrified.
Unlike them, Zhou Tong, who was new to this parallel world, was rather undaunted.
"Just a 'sorry' is enough? You almost chopped off my father's arm!" Zhou Tong suppressed his anger. If his mother hadn't been holding him back tightly, Zhou Tong would have grabbed a wooden stick beside him and assaulted the man.
"Inner disciple of Yunwu Sect, Yun Zheng," the sword-wielding practitioner uttered softly, "I'm sorry."
He said it again. However, the sword in his hand instantly turned into thousands of sword auras, and directly pierced into the bodies of Zhou Tong's parents.
Yun Zheng said indifferently, "I'm sorry, I've killed your parents."
"Ah!" Zhou Tong desperately wanted to fight with Yun Zheng that day, but Yun Zheng contemptuously glanced at him and flew away abruptly.
With eyes filled with blood and tears, Zhou Tong swore a deadly oath that he would not rest until he had avenged Yun Zheng. He would rather die!
He sold all his properties and joined the Yunwu Sect on his own. But to his utter surprise, he discovered that his talent was too inferior, his strength was far too weak, and he ended up as a menial worker within the Yunwu Sect.
But Zhou Tong didn't leave because only by staying here could he avenge his parents!
Above the menial workers were the outer disciples, only above the outer disciples were the inner disciples!
Phew.
Zhou Tong let out a heavy sigh.
Before dealing with Yun Zhen, let's take care of the guy in front of us.
Looking around, Hou Ye moved quickly, punching with a slightly glowing golden fist.
As a Ninth Heaven Warrior, he could control martial arts skills simply.
The martial art he currently used was none other than Tong Bei Fist, the lowest-level technique disseminated within Yunwu Sect.
Even if it's low level, it still carries a formidable momentum.
Zhou Tong has never learned any techniques, and despite possessing the strength of a higher-level warrior, he still proceeded with caution. He mobilized all the spiritual energy within his body and swung his left fist powerfully, the surface of his fist radiating golden light, which was more than ten times stronger than Hou Ye's.