3. A New Body

(5 minutes later, in a deserted alley in White Lotus City)

Mo Tian is shocked awake. He looks around him.

"How am I alive? Wait I'm alive due to the system. Wait that's not me? Or is it? It should be me right?" mutters Mo Tian in confusion. But quickly stops thinking as he realizes the critical situation he is in.

"Shit I need to stop the bleeding quickly and find a way to replenish my blood." Says Mo Tian aloud. So he quickly shreds the bag he used to carry the food and binds the wound and says "This should do for now". Then he proceeds to look into the things he carried in the bag.

He quickly found a box that looks like it should carry cookies. He opens the box and finds a set of sewing tools. "Why does everyone put sewing kits in cookie cans… Well I'm lucky this kid grabbed it before he died" mutters Mo Tian in a low voice as he proceeds to remove the rags and stitch up his own wound.

"How do I know how to stitch?" mutters Mo Tian in a confused voice. But still continues until the wound is fully stitched and then uses the shredded bag to cover the wound up again. Suddenly he hears a voice in his head.

[Merging results. Soul strengthened due to the fusion of the origins of both Mo Tianjue and Mo Tian. Memories have been kept intact. Dominant mind: Mo Tianjue.]

[ERROR… Host appears to be suffering from identity crisis. Merging considered partial success.]

[Attention Host! Time will be needed for the fusion of the mind to occur.]

[Starting reward has been suspended due to the current issue. Please resolve the issue.]

When Mo Tian hears that he displays a face of shock on his face, but is inwardly not shocked as he has seen this screen a few times already.

"So I have two minds at this moment. Rather inconvenient, but nothing you can do about it." Mutters Mo Tian in a low voice.

*Brrrr* A low, desperate rumble echoed from his stomach, louder than he'd expected.

 "I better eat something quickly before I die again" thinks Mo Tian as he stares at the pile of food that he had robbed from the restaurant. With shaky hands he picks up a piece of bread and shoves It down his throat. Resulting in him coughing a fit before picking a bag filled with water and drinking half its contents in one gulp.

*Haaaa* sighs Mo Tian in satisfaction after eating all the food he had stolen. He quickly stands up and pockets the gold coins into the pocket of his rags. Then he quietly leaves the deserted alley with the torn bag on his back.

"It seems I need to start my martial arts training all over again. The body of this kid should be around 10 years old. Back when I was trained as the Demonic cult heir, I was around 8 when I started training and became a transcendent at 18. So this is a small setback, but with the experience I have I should be able to build up my cultivation again at a fast pace, but do I want to use my old experience and repeat the same process... Hmmm maybe it is time for me to create my own methods." thinks Mo Tian while walking down the dilapidated streets where all the homeless people gather to beg.

"Ah maybe I can use this system thingy to help me in some ways." thinks Mo Tian as he starts to think about how to open the Demonic Clan System. After a while, he figured that he just needs to look into his Mindspace to see the system. It was easy to find, because of his mental strength he has thanks to the mental training he did for 2 years in the mysterious space that is specially suitable for it.

When he looks at the Demonic Clan System interface again, he sees that a new button has been added titled [Rewards]. It is greyed out, but when clicking on it still displayed some information.

[Rewards are granted to the host based on the successful development of his own strength and his demonic clan. These rewards are granted in the forms of Knowledge, Removement of Impurities or Lifespan.]

[Return]

 "It is a little unclear what the requirements are for getting the rewards, but it aligns with my wish to build the demonic cult again. I'll see how useful this system thingy is after I get that first reward." Thinks Mo Tian as he goes back to the main menu and selects [Host Status].

[Host Status]

Name: Mo Tian

Lifespan: 80 Years

Race: Human (Savage Grade)

Cultivation: Mortal Realm, Third Rate Martial Artist (No cultivation method detected)

Techniques, Arts & Inherent Abilities: Basic Movement Art (Mortal Mid-Grade, 10%), Demonic Blade Arts (Mortal High-Grade, 80%)

Physique & Bloodline: None

Occupation: None

[Return]

"It seems this body is really talented as it has been born at the martial artist realm, while not even possessing a trained cultivation method" thinks Mo Tian as he is reminded of the cultivation method he used in his previous life called 'The Demonic Way', which was a cultivation technique that could be trained until one became a Transcendent Master created by the founder of the demonic cult. Curious about it, Mo Tian clicks on [Cultivation] in the panel.

[Cultivation Methods]

Cultivation Methods are used by cultivators to gather spiritual energy and enhance their cultivation, thus increasing their strength and lifespan. Cultivation methods can enhance 1 or more elemental energies. The more energy types, the more difficult it is to cultivate. Cultivation can only progress with the appropriate cultivation method. Changing cultivation methods can damage foundation, but for similar cultivation methods it only costs time and spiritual qi to adapt the foundation. One cannot progress further in cultivation without an appropriate cultivation method. Cultivation methods can only be recorded on items of the same grade.

Type: based on maximum accessible cultivation realm by cultivating the method.

Grading: Low, Mid, High, Top, Law

[Return]

"Hmmm… It does not seem to tell me more about the levels of cultivation. I need to look at the possible cultivation levels after the transcendent realm, since this world has evolved." Thinks Mo Tian as he presses return and goes back to the main menu of the system. Then he clicks on the [World Info] again to see if he could get some more information.

[World Info]

Name: Green Rock Planet

Grade: Low

Region: Mortal

Owner: None

[Return]

"Hmmm… The world has indeed upgraded, but I don't really get more information out of it. There is something new in world info." Says Mo Tian as he clicks on the [Region].

[Region]

Regions are created by the Dao of the world. It divides the world in various parts depending on the strength of the restrictions placed in the region. These restrictions can be broken by cultivators who reach the limit of their realm to upgrade the realm to the next level and help the world advance. Otherwise, it will take a lot of time before the region advances. The restrictions can only be broken by local cultivators.

The Mortal-Grade Region is the lowest grade region. Cultivators can only advance in grade until the body refining realm.

[Return]

"Currently, this is the most information I can get out of the system I think. I definitely know it is withholding information from me, but I don't know if it's a good or bad thing. The sect master always said that knowledge is power, only if it is gained at the right pace. Concluding from this information, it appears that the system considers me especially weak and I should strive for the limit of the region before advancing further. Hmmm… Interesting." Says Mo Tian with big grin on his face. He always liked a challenge.

While he was focusing on the system in his mind, he unconsciously walked to a shed in the middle of the slums. It was Mo Tian's home, where he lived at this moment. Mo Tian is an orphan after his parents died one day in the war. They were not great martial artists, only first grade martial artists. This was already really good for people their age as they eloped together when they were just 18 at the start of the Justice-Demonic war 5 years ago. Mo Tian figured out from his memories that the war ended only 2 years ago.

*Haahhh* "It is good that I practiced our cults secret mind technique or I would not be able to cope with the pain of losing everyone." Says Mo Tian with a sad smile on his face as he thinks back to the beautiful times he spent with his wife in the demonic cult after his release from training.

*Clap* He slaps himself to get back into focus. "I need to focus. My Mind and Mo Tian's need to fuse so it is probably best if I practice the mind technique some more." Says Mo Tian as he sat cross legged to start cultivating the mind cultivation method of the demonic cult called 'The Whispers of the Demon'.

His breath became slower, his thoughts still.

Slowly he started to hear whispers.

Mo Tian knew these were his thoughts. They were both conscious and unconscious thoughts in his mind. If this was his previous life, he would here tens of thousands of loud thoughts a day, because he never thought this cultivation method was useful. But right now, Mo Tian could only hear a whispers. Nothing was distracting him.

Suddenly, There were a few loud thoughts coming in and out. These were not Mo Tianjue's thoughts. These were Mo Tian's thoughts.

Mo Tian inhaled deeply, feeling the cool air fill his lungs. He released it slowly, exhaling the weight of these distracting thoughts. The unconscious doubts, the aches in his limbs, the bitterness of his fate—all faded into the distance.

With each breath, his awareness sharpened. The loud thoughts started to become silent and fuse with the rest of the whispers. Mo Tian could feel his senses expanding. He was sharpening the connection between his mind and his body, slowly becoming in sync again. This experience helped Mo Tian elevate his mortals' perception beyond the ordinary.

As he opens his eyes, Mo Tian seemed to feel that there was something different between how he felt now and how he felt in his last life. He just could not put his finger on it. It seemed subtle difference. He quickly put it out of his mind as he got a message from the system.

[Starting reward has been rewarded to the Host. Please click on the Rewards Tab to claim your reward.]

"Maybe that reward is the cause of the difference." Thinks Mo Tian as he gets into his mind space to look at the system. "It feels bigger for some reason." Concludes Mo Tian as he looks around, but quickly puts it out of his mind and focuses on the [Reward] button. He clicks it.

[Rewards]

[Starting Reward – Ready to be claimed]

[Return]

When he saw that the reward was ready to be claimed. Mo Tian did not have much hesitation. He did not know where this system came from or the dangers it brought, but it had saved his life and now he can avenge his wife. He did not have many aspirations after he became apathic about life. The same was true for Mo Tian before Mo Tianjue took his body. He lost his parents so life lost its luster and he only continued living as an orphan, because it was all he could do.

He clicked to claim the reward. Immediately the system gave a reaction.

[Starting Reward has been claimed!]

[Training Space Mind Technique Manual Acquired.]

[Reverse Chain of Yin and Yang Dual Cultivation Manual Acquired.]

[Basics of Cultivation Knowledge Acquired.]

Mo Tian looks at the rewards and found directly that it consists of 1 technique, 1 cultivation method and some basic knowledge about cultivation. He immediately focused on the Basics of Cultivation knowledge and could not help himself but click on it.

It was as if a dam had burst inside his mind. A flood of knowledge poured in, raw and untamed, searing through his thoughts like a flood.

"AAAHHHH!!!"

A loud scream came from Mo Tian's Broken down. Then, just as suddenly as he began to scream, the flood ceased. The pressure lifted, but the aftershock remained, leaving his thoughts fractured and disjointed. His hands trembled. His breath came in short gasps. Shortly after it ended, Mo Tian got knocked out.

…

(15 minutes later)

A dead body lies in a broken down home, but if you look closely you can see that the body is still moving. It began with a trembling finger, before the eye lids slowly opened.

Mo Tian woke up with a bursting headache. *Ugh* mutters out of his mouth as he massaged his head with his hands.

After orienting himself for a few seconds, he realized he knew things. Things he had never studied, never questioned, never even considered before. Slowly, he tries to remember all the information he acquired. Firstly, it starts with the beginning of cultivation. This is apparently an extremely important phase as it decides your potential in the future.

Cultivation starts with the Martial Realm, which is categorized by creating the potential for the body through tempering. Mo Tian always used to know the following cultivation levels: Third-Rate, Second-Rate, First-Rate, Master and Transcendent. In these stages you temper the skin, bone, marrow, viscera and apertures. Each stage can give special characteristics to the body depending on the cultivation method. 

The 'Demonic Way' manual learned by the demonic cult is a top grade manual as it gives a special characteristic to every stage, except third rate martial artists. This is the reason martial artist of the demonic cult were feared across the land. Now, Mo Tian immediately felt like a frog in a well.

Afterwards, comes the Awakening Realm. This Realm is more of a transition between mortal Martial Artists and Cultivators, but nonetheless extremely important as it sets the potential of your energy realm. This realm consists of 3 stages, namely Energy Sensing, Spiritual Root awakening and Dantian opening realm. Each of which is tailored for the cultivator to find out what elements suits them and what the highest realm is they can cultivate to.

*Sigh*

After sorting out his memories Mo Tian is tired. He climbs from the ground and lies on his self-made bed.