Square One

In a hill behind a village, the silhouette of six different people could be seen along with the presence of dense and unknown, yet terrifying energy. The villagers were disturbed by this energy and felt as if they couldn't breathe at times.

"What is the cause for such a terrifying presence? I barely like coming outside anymore..."

"Sigh...We still have to do our parts in the village or it won't last that long..."

.

.

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On the hill, mysterious and malevolent energy could be seen revolving around Xiang Xiang. Along with this, she was condensing her Killer Qi into the form of gauntlets repeatedly.

She had a frustrated expression on her face as a thought surfaced in her mind.

"...I've been going about everything until now all wrong. Everything has felt out of order since I arrived in this world too. First I beat up a bandit for an amazing treasure, then I fought magical beasts, snooped around the disciples of the Billowing Clouds Sect, met the Gaphoms, and even made my own Mortal Qi. But it feels like I haven't been in control of any of the events at all.

Like I was just a paper being swept up in the wind...

Ugh, I've made so many stupid decisions and I haven't even been in this world for that long. What was the point of only picking two villagers and teaching them how to cultivate? And then there was no point of me going in the forest to fight magical beasts to collect monster cores...

And if I'm trying to build up a powerful force, I shouldn't be doing this much work and only getting little rewards. Who cares about my individual power? If I don't have subordinates that can help me in battles that I'm not capable of winning by myself, then what good am I?

If I'm ambushed, what good is my power alone? Sigh...I've been going about this all wrong, maybe the events happening recently have messed up my head."

Xiang Xiang lectured herself as her mood gradually worsened the more stupid decisions she realized she made. A few minutes later, Xiang Xiang stopped circulating her Killer Qi and stood up.

She looked down at the village and the villagers doing their jobs with anxious expressions.

'I guess I have to start from square one...ish.' She thought before grabbing the Gaphoms, Remona, and Song.'

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WNote: I'm just now realizing how stupid the name 'Jelvin' and 'Dina' sounds, so I'm gonna change it from(sorry) Jelvin to Yu Tan, and from Dina to Yu Qing. I don't think Luciana is too bad. Sorry btw.

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Xiang Xiang and the others reached the village and went straight to the center. The villagers were confused because Xiang Xiang didn't speak until she was in front of the fountain.

"Sigh, Alright you all. I know most of you have been worrying about Song Luixian and Remona, but they're fine. I taught them how to cultivate, and I'll be teaching the rest of you as well. From today on, this will no longer be a simple village. Once you all reach the 2nd stage of the foundation building realm, I will send you in groups of 10 to hunt magical beasts.

Not only will the monster cores within them help you all, but you'll also be cleaning out the forest. And also, none of you have any choice to refuse, because the world will become chaotic from here on out. A new race will try to take over the world, and without any power, you'll all be sheep!

I will also teach you all the ways of the weapons you choose to use. I'm experienced in almost every weapon you can think of, so don't humble yourself. After all, this is a chaotic era now!" Xiang Xiang shouted to the top of her lungs, causing birds to fly out of nearby trees.

Every last villager looked at Xiang Xiang dumbfoundedly for a moment before silently speaking to themselves. They didn't know whether to believe her or not, considering she killed their village leader before.

Finally one of them spoke up.

"Miss Xiang Xiang, how do we know you aren't lying? What is in it for us?" It was a man who looked to be around 40 years old. He didn't have much to live for so he didn't fear speaking against Xiang Xiang.

She looked at him before replying.

"Power, wealth, immortality, you name it. But these things are not guaranteed, you'll have to put in hard work to see results. And I won't baby you all the entire way through, the way of cultivation is a long process and you'll most likely outlive your relatives.

So if you are not ready to accept the fact that you'll most likely be alone on this path, then I won't force you.

That is, unless you find a partner to pursue immortality with. And don't worry about your appearances, they'll get better too."

After Xiang Xiang's explanation, all of the villagers were convinced and persuaded to become cultivators with Xiang Xiang's help. They didn't want to become sheep for another race, but they also didn't want to outlive their families.

So the only option left was for them all to cultivate and pursue immortality together. The blacksmiths who used to make metal buckets and the such for livelihood immediately switched over to weapon-making.

The only things being made now were armor, weapons, and other things like that.

'Great, now that the persuasion part is done, the hardest part is here. Teaching them to cultivate and fight properly, but I don't think it'll be too hard. I haven't spent hundreds of years raising a kingdom in my past life for no reason.

I think I'm quite a good teacher...' Xiang Xiang thought as she looked around the village. Things were getting busy and she didn't have the time to slack off.

From now on, it was teaching the villagers, training them, personal cultivation, figuring out the mystery behind the strange monster, and possibly stumbling upon great treasures.

'It's gonna get real busy around here.'