Heaven’s Recoil

"His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There's vomit on his robe already, Mo Yan's spaghetti…"

Mo Bei rapped inwardly, hyping himself up as he walked down the streets of Gu Yue Village, Glock tucked behind his sleeve like the world's weirdest cultivator.

"He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready… to drop bombs..."

He bobbed his head slightly to the beat in his brain. A few villagers gave him side-eyes as he passed. He ignored them.

This was his coping mechanism. Joking around when stressed. Some people turn to alcohol or porn; he turns to Eminem quotes and existential memes.

Healthier, he decided. Marginally.

Like that, he reached the village's only inn.

He had no idea where Fang Yuan was, so he decided to camp there. His first assassination mission, and he was winging it like a casual stalker.

'From what I remember, Fang Yuan would first walk around to compare wine prices. That's what a smart person would do.'

Mo Bei entered the inn, ordered a simple meal and some cheap wine, and found a seat in the darkest, edgiest corner available. Classic assassin behavior.

He sipped his wine slowly, and played with his food. In between, he practiced moving his Primeval Essence inside his Aperture.

The green-copper waves of his Primeval Sea lapped gently at the walls, nourishing them.

Once he used about 10% of his essence, he pulled out a Primeval Stone and topped up. He had to be in peak condition for the moment of truth.

Every time someone came through the inn door, he looked up.

Eventually…

'Fang Yuan.'

The protagonist himself stepped in.

Fang Yuan also glanced at him, a flicker of mild surprise crossing his face before he returned to his usual poker face. He approached the waiter and asked about wine prices.

Smart. Just like in the novel.

He bought a jar of cheat rice wine and left.

Mo Bei stood up immediately and followed.

Jar in hand, casual stroll activated.

Fang Yuan seemed to be very self-conscious of his own actions, so he was observant and noticed Mo Bei. It should be because he didn't want to arouse suspicions with his actions of searching for the Liquor Worm every day.

However, Mo Bei ignored it and pretended as if he just happened to be there. It wasn't the greatest strategy, but it was good enough.

He followed from a distance.

Eventually, Fang Yuan exited through one of the village gates.

Mo Bei hesitated, watching. Then followed.

He had no idea which direction Fang Yuan had taken once outside, so he picked a direction.

Right.

It was based purely on gut instinct.

He then walked along the palisade at a quick pace.

After about 100 meters, he felt the creeping dread of failure crawl up his spine.

'Yeah no, this feels off. I should have ran into Fang Yuan already.'

He turned around.

And then—

"Grrrr…"

A wolf stepped out from the shadows. Skinny, grey and with eyes glinting with menace.

Its growl rumbled through the quiet night like the voice of Fate itself.

"Oh, come on," Mo Bei hissed. "Are you serious right now?"

The beast blocked his path back to the village. What were the odds of a stray wild animal showing up this close to the settlement? Near zero. And yet…

He considered slipping around it, avoiding a fight, because a gunshot would alarm the guards.

But the wolf leapt at him with surprising speed.

"Shit—!"

In one motion, he summoned his Glock into his right hand, thumbed the hammer back, and fed a bullet into the chamber with a pulse of Primeval Essence.

BANG!

The shot was clean. The wolf's skull exploded in a mist of gore and fur. Its corpse hit the dirt like a bag of rotten meat.

Mo Bei panted heavily, adrenaline still buzzing and his heart beat hard like a drum.

He quickly hid away his Gun Gu and started walking back to the gate.

Only to bump into two unfamiliar Gu Master guards rushing out soon after.

They stopped short, clearly startled by the gunshot. One of them opened his mouth to speak…

Before they said anything, Mo Bei told them, "There was a Wild Gu worm here, but it already flew away."

"Ah? A wild Gu?..."

Mo Bei ignored them and passed by them.

Walking at a quick pace, he came back to the village gate.

He then went in the other direction, walking along the village wall.

His heart was clouded with worry.

In a 50/50 chance, he had taken the wrong path. Additionally, a wild beast came out to stop him.

It was a bad sign, as if he had to go against the Heavens to finish what he planned.

But having reached this point, Mo Bei was determined to follow through.

After all, just what else could Heaven's Will send at him? Logically, it shouldn't be able to suddenly mobilize anything that he couldn't deal with.

Even if Heaven's Will might be able to influence people, it can't directly control them.

It could control beasts or wild Gu worms, but there shouldn't be anything strong enough to stop him.

Mo Bei kept walking.

Eventually, a familiar scent wafted through the night air—cheap wine.

'He's close.'

Not long after, Mo Bei spotted Fang Yuan ahead, walking slowly with a wine jar in hand.

Fang Yuan turned around. "Gu Yue Mo Bei?"

He looked surprised. His voice was casual. Too casual.

Mo Bei began to step closer to reduce the distance to ten meters. Just in case his Gun Gu had a range limit. He didn't want to find out the hard way.

Ten meters was still a lot of distance.

"Haha. It's a fine night for a drink, don't you think?" After speaking, Fang Yuan raised his jar of wine, his eyes looking depressed.

It might've fooled a normal person, but Mo Bei knew that it was just acting.

"Why are you here, brother?" Fang Yuan asked, brow furrowing ever so slightly.

"..."

A gun materialized in Mo Bei's right hand, glinting coldly under the moonlight.

Seeing Mo Bei pull out a modern gun out of nowhere, Fang Yuan's eyes went round like saucers.

Fang Yuan blinked. "Huh?"

Crack, crack.

Mo Bei cocked the hammer twice, loading two shots.

Fang Yuan stared at him. His eyes opened wide. His mouth opened slightly.

He rubbed his eyes as if he thought he saw an illusion. His originally stoic face looked thoroughly dumbfounded.

He did not drink any wine, so what was that?! Mo Bei suddenly pulled out a gun? Was this a dream?

Mo Bei did not explain himself while eyeing Fang Yuan with a cold look.

Safety's off. Morals too.

'Hasta la vista, Fang Yuan.'

He placed his finger on the trigger to double-tap Fang Yuan—

KATCHA!

A lightning bolt dropped from the clear night sky, splitting the heavens.

Mo Bei's world turned white.

His body convulsed as raw electricity coursed through him, shocking him. His muscles locked. His vision blurred.

'No way…'

And then… blackness.

…

The spring rain quietly rained down on Qing Mao Mountain.

It was already late in the night, a slight breeze blowing with the light rain.

Yet Qing Mao Mountain was not covered in darkness; from the side down to the foot of the mountain, dozens of tiny lights shone like a bright band.

Inside a bamboo villa, Gu Yue Mo Bei stood at the window, blinking at the peaceful scenery outside.

He opened his mouth, then closed it, not saying anything.

He blinked again.

"... Huh?"

He was back in his room. No burns. No scorch marks.

He rubbed his temple slowly.

"Was that… a dream?" he asked out loud, but no one answered.

He then quickly searched his body for Gun Gu.

That's when he realized - he didn't have an Aperture!

He was still a mortal.

And then the floodgates opened - information poured into his head.

Mo Bei stood there, stunned.

'I… respawned?'

At that time, Mo Bei gained information on two abilities he possessed.

The first:

[Respawn] – After death, you respawn one day earlier. The maximum number of respawns is three before Game Over. Respawns can be recharged by consuming the souls of opponents with the same level as the player. Recharge takes 24 hours to complete.

The second:

[Player's Perspective] – You keep your memories across multiple playthroughs.

'Oooh…'

Apparently, what he experienced wasn't a dream. He really did try to kill Fang Yuan. Heaven really did smite his ass.

And then… he respawned. Rewound 24 hours into the past like some janky save-state.

It was as if someone was treating him like a video game character.

Mo Bei sat with that for a long while.

Eventually, he was forced to admit that it had to be real.

He was not dreaming, he was alive.

Just... back where he started.

His heart tangled with conflicting emotions.

For one, he couldn't just kill Fang Yuan and steal his Protagonist status. Heaven's Will clearly had other ideas about that.

But on the flip side, he had a respawn system! A busted one. Broken, even.

Limited for now, sure.

But in the future, he could recharge it. All it would cost was the souls of people roughly his level. Easy peasy.

'... Ehh.'

Mo Bei suddenly realized how incredibly dark his thoughts had already become.

'Really? Give a kid a gun and he'd think he's gangsta...'

Still, this was Reverend Insanity. The world ran on ruthlessness. The strong devoured the weak. The only way to survive was to adapt.

So he would.

But first, some sleep.

Tomorrow, he had to attend the Awakening Ceremony. Again.

Lesson learned: Reverend Insanity Fanfic 101 – How Not to Not Die on the First Day:

Stay the FFFFF away from Fang Yuan.

...

...

...

AN: Sigh, this story is not doing well. I guess it's difficult for people to get hooked on the idea of a gun user in a cultivation/fantasy world, so they wouldn't even check it out.