Chapter One: Even the Cultivation World Has These?

“Crack!”

A resounding slap brought Lin Chuan abruptly back to his senses.

“You brat! I was saving you, and you tried to molest me?!” The burly man’s eyes were wide with fury, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles cracked.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Lin Chuan apologized, clutching his stinging cheek. “I thought you were my girlfriend. The last thing I remember, I was kissing my girlfriend, and then… who knew it’d be you…”

He hadn’t even finished his sentence before a tide of memories surged into his mind.

Lin Chuan had been an ordinary wage slave on Earth. Like so many others, his days were spent in office buildings working overtime late into the night, packed like sardines on the subway, endlessly paying off a mortgage that seemed impossible to clear…

Finally, on a rare holiday, he’d taken his longtime girlfriend to a mountaintop he’d prepared in advance. After some heartfelt words, his proposal was a success.

“Qingqing, I swear I will love only you for the rest of my life. If I break this vow, may heaven strike me down with thunder.”

Who could have foreseen that just after making this vow and kissing his fiancée, Lin Chuan would be struck by a bolt of lightning from the clear sky—only to awaken in this world known as the Cangxuan Continent.

This was a realm of cultivation, where humans could train by absorbing spiritual energy from the heavens and earth. Cultivators of great power could move mountains, fill seas, soar through the skies, and traverse the earth. But the problem was—

“Spiritual energy has been depleted?” Lin Chuan blurted out.

The burly man paused, then barked, “Did the lightning fry your brain? Isn’t that common knowledge?”

Only now did Lin Chuan take note of his surroundings.

He was lying on wide, open ground. In the distance stood a majestic city, its walls towering into the clouds, built entirely of some kind of luminous jade that gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight.

Above the city, a faint, translucent barrier could be seen, domed like an upside-down bowl, enshrouding the entire city.

“Is that… a cultivation city?” Lin Chuan asked, pointing in the direction of the radiant walls.

“No kidding, what else would it be—a brothel?” the burly man snapped. “Kid, where on earth are you from? Don’t you even recognize a cultivation city?”

Lin Chuan didn’t answer, still reeling in shock.

From the memories now flooding his mind, he learned that as the number of cultivators grew, spiritual energy on the Cangxuan Continent became increasingly scarce and eventually began to dry up.

To prevent the collapse of their civilization, the most powerful cultivators had formed the Cangxuan Dao Court thirty thousand years ago, gathering all spiritual veins and treasures rich in spiritual energy to construct countless cultivation cities.

Only by entering a cultivation city could one absorb spiritual energy and continue cultivating. But the catch was—

“You need city residency?” Lin Chuan muttered under his breath.

“Hey, finally catching on.” The burly man clapped him on the shoulder. “Name’s Wang Tiezhu. You must be new around here, right?”

Lin Chuan nodded, a dreadful possibility dawning on him.

“Wait, to get city residency, don’t tell me you have to… buy property in the cultivation city?”

Wang Tiezhu burst out laughing. “Exactly! Even if you’re new to the city, you know a thing or two about how things work!”

Lin Chuan felt as if he’d been struck by lightning all over again—this time, for real.

It wasn’t enough to be a mortgage slave on Earth; even after transmigrating to a world of cultivation, he was still fated to be a mortgage slave?

“Isn’t there any other way to enter a cultivation city besides buying property?” Lin Chuan asked, clinging to a shred of hope.

Wang Tiezhu stroked his stubbly chin. “Of course there are other ways.”

“What ways?” Lin Chuan’s eyes lit up.

“You can apply for a city entry permit,” Wang Tiezhu explained. “As long as you have that, you can enter the city even without official residency.”

Lin Chuan had barely begun to relax when Wang Tiezhu continued, “But the permit is only valid for seven days. After that, you have to apply again, and you can only apply twelve times a year. If you manage to get residency during those twelve visits, you can stay indefinitely. Otherwise, you’ll be expelled from the city and have to wait until next year to apply again.”

…

Lin Chuan’s mouth twitched. Wasn’t this just the cultivation world’s version of a Beijing entry permit? On Earth, you needed a permit to get into the capital; here, you needed a permit to enter a cultivation city. No matter where he went, he couldn’t escape the clutches of bureaucracy!

“What, not satisfied?” Wang Tiezhu raised an eyebrow. “Do you know how much a house costs in a cultivation city these days? Take Tianyun City in front of us—even the cheapest little room costs five thousand lower-grade spirit stones! An ordinary person couldn’t afford it in a thousand years!”

Spirit stones were both currency and cultivation resources in the Cangxuan Continent. One lower-grade spirit stone was equivalent to an ounce of gold, and an ounce of gold could be exchanged for eight ounces of silver or eight hundred copper coins.

In other words, buying the smallest house in Tianyun City would cost forty thousand ounces of silver, or four million copper coins.

Lin Chuan’s vision darkened. The housing prices here were even more outrageous than in Beijing or Shanghai!

He nodded, then suddenly thought of something. “Right, Brother Wang, you said you can only apply for the city entry permit twelve times a year. That means, without city residency, you can only stay in the city for eighty-four days a year?”

Wang Tiezhu gave him a thumbs-up. “Not bad! So that’s why everyone’s desperate for city residency. And there are different grades: ordinary residency just lets you stay, but higher-level residency allows you and your children to enter special martial academies for free cultivation education!”

Lin Chuan was dumbfounded. Even the concept of school-district housing existed here?!

“Even after crossing over to the Cangxuan Continent, I can’t escape life as a mortgage slave. Am I destined to be the Chosen Mortgage Slave?” Lin Chuan mocked himself inwardly. Suddenly, he recalled something and looked down at his hand—a crimson ring gleamed on his finger.

The moment he saw the ring, memories surged forth.

The original Lin Chuan of the Cangxuan Continent had lost his parents in childhood and was raised by his grandfather, who died of illness three months prior. Left alone, Lin Chuan pursued his dream of becoming powerful and set off for Tianyun City.

Upon arriving at the city gates, he inquired about entry requirements and was drawn to a ring on a roadside stall. After some haggling, he spent all his savings on the rusty ring and slipped it onto his finger.

No sooner had he done so than a bolt from the heavens struck him dead. At that moment, the Lin Chuan from Earth, struck by lightning right after making his vow, found himself inhabiting this body.

Orphaned young, only relative dead three months ago… Wasn’t this the standard opening for a power-fantasy protagonist? Had he transmigrated to become the so-called Child of Destiny?

At this thought, Lin Chuan’s spirits stirred. After hastily thanking Wang Tiezhu, he hurried alone to a deserted corner of the market outside the city.

On the Cangxuan Continent, all markets—inside and outside the cultivation cities—were officially regulated, requiring a fee or rent to set up a stall. The people in the city markets at least had entry permits and decent means; those outside were, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, too poor even for a permit.

Thus, even though the flow of people outside the city was dozens of times greater, many stalls remained unmanned.

Glancing around to confirm he was alone, Lin Chuan began to examine his ring closely. The coppery rust had fallen away, revealing ancient, intricate patterns beneath.

The moment his gaze locked onto the ring, a faint current flickered through his mind, making him shiver.

“So I was right. This ring is the golden finger of a power-fantasy protagonist!” Lin Chuan was inwardly thrilled, feeling luck at last was on his side—he was destined to be the hero of this tale.

“System! Are you there, System? System…” Lin Chuan whispered urgently to the ring, but there was no response.

“I’m the protagonist! I’ve transmigrated! Why aren’t you coming out, System?” Still, nothing happened.

“Does this system need a special password to activate? Open sesame! Spirits of heaven and earth, heed my call! Tai Shang Lao Jun, by urgent decree!”

…

After half an hour shouting every code, password, and incantation he could think of, the ring remained utterly inert.

“Don’t tell me—I don’t have a system or a golden finger? Then why bring me here? Just to be a mortgage slave again?”

“Damn it, at least on Earth I could work hard enough to qualify as a mortgage slave. Here, I can’t even do that!”

At that moment, Lin Chuan suddenly felt that being a mortgage slave wasn’t so bad after all. In his frustration, he blurted out an old catchphrase.

“Curse your aunt!”

The moment those words left his mouth, the ancient, crimson ring on his finger began to emit a faint glow.

In the next instant, a voice echoed in Lin Chuan’s mind.

“Withtoday, you have finally arrived.”