Tales of Demons and Gods (CH1) (Patreon)

After finishing my quota for the One Piece fic, I fiddled with this. As far as cultivation novels go, it's pretty famous, so people should be familiar with it.

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Exhaling slowly, a teenage boy rose from his bath, steam curling from his body. Drying himself roughly and wrapping a towel around his waist, he strode toward a tall, engraved mirror. Though he was young—around thirteen or fourteen years—he was unmistakably handsome. Strands of long, black hair covered his fine features, scattering over his toned chest and shoulders.

‘I wasn’t bad myself, but this ‘Shen Yue’ is in a whole different league…’

Turning this way and that, he admired himself in the mirror. As the youngest scion of the renowned Sacred Family, a bloodline of born and bred cultivators, his good genes weren’t surprising. Not even the Snow Wind Family—Glory City’s ruling family—necessarily compared to them.

Idly rubbing his chin, he strolled over to his bathroom closet. A selection of robes were laid out, each more luxurious than the last. Looking at the lavishness surrounding him, and knowing his personal wealth from his memories, Shen Yue’s only complaint was everything being a tad too fancy.

‘Well, that and the fact that the Sacred Family isn’t long for this world…’

Picking a plain black robe, he pulled the sleeves over his arms, tying the sash around his waist. Sitting down to comb his hair, he reflected on the novel’s events. Having been here for nearly a week, he’d long since realized this was the world of ‘Tales and Demons and Gods’.

Suddenly transmigrating and the implications of that, together with the novel’s plot were the biggest issues he faced. However, he had no choice but to ignore them for the time being. As a small-time villain—a stereotypical young master destined to get face-slapped by the protagonist—he had more immediate problems.

‘Besides, do I even really care about stopping the Sage Emperor? It’s said that he wants to destroy the entire Draconic Ruins Realm. Unless he’s trying to destroy himself too, I can only guess he has somewhere to escape to…’

The protagonist, Nie Lie’s struggles were irrelevant to him. He had his loved ones to protect, but Shen Yue had no such problems. The Sacred Family was a group of unscrupulous villains, willing to devour their own flesh and blood if it benefitted them. He couldn’t care less if they lived or died.

‘And even if the Sage Emperor refines the entire Draconic Ruins Realm and I end up being unable to follow him to a different one, there’s always that…’

Turning his attention to the side, he looked at a small blue square floating in his vision. Focusing for a second caused it to expand, transforming into a transparent window. Like all transmigrators, Shen Yue hadn’t been left to make due on his own, having received a system.

‘Though calling it a system is a tad generous…’

Scanning it from top to bottom, he reviewed its contents. It was better referred to as a status-window.

[Shen Yue]

[Age: 13]

[Tribe: Human]

[Gender: Male]

[Personality: Prideful, Conceited]

[Profession: Demon Spiritualist]

[Soul Realm: Green (rare/genius)]

[Cultivation: 1 Star Bronze]

Chuckling at its evaluation of his personality, he stood, sliding the paper-screen door and entering his bedroom. He couldn’t exactly deny it. In this kind of world, there was a clear difference between people. He was better than most of them. That was simply a fact.

‘If Nie Lie, a member of a trashy aristocratic family, hadn’t regressed to his youth—retaining his knowledge and experience—he wouldn’t have been anyone special. In the end, the only reason he could excel was the Temporal Demon Spirit Book.’

Shen Yue sat cross-legged on his bed, closing his eyes. It wasn’t even really that he looked down on the protagonist. Rather, he didn’t care much about him at all.

If it hadn’t been for Shen Yue’s own ‘cheat’, he’d have considered making friends to leech off Nie Lie, but that wasn’t necessary. Having taken his time during meditation the past week, he’d long since noticed the peculiarity in his soul…

[Warning! Unknown energy fluctuations detected!]

Seeing the same pop-up for the umpteenth time, he drew himself inward, deeper and deeper until he reached a black space, devoid of light or sound. Even his thoughts fell away, his attention entirely occupied by the phenomena inside his dantian.

[Danger! Host is approaching a dimensional rift! The system advises against initiating contact!]

Shen Yue wasn’t stupid enough to disregard such a blatant warning. However, being inside of himself, there was simply no way he’d could ignore this ‘dimensional rift’.

He stopped his soul-sense some distance away—not that ‘distance’ really had any meaning in that space. He couldn’t really see what it was, but there was the impression of a spherical object, surrounded by a faint halo.

In that way, he was given the impression of a ‘door’; something that was shut, but not perfectly cut-off from whatever was on the other side. A type of ‘wind’ blew through the seam—the energy fluctuations detected by the system.

Steeling himself, he reached out toward it for the first time, touching that chaotic force. It was like nothing he’d ever felt, completely unlike the normal ‘Soul Force’ cultivated by both Fighters and Spiritualists.

The blowback was immediate. A lance of burning pain shot through his body as the droplet of energy was absorbed, searing his meridians like acid. It was only fraction of a wisp of power.

If it wasn’t for a recent addition to the bottom of his status window, he wouldn’t even have dared attempt it.

[Dao Body of the Heavenly Chaos Devil]

[???]

[???]

[Talent: Allows the holder to cultivate ‘unknown energy’]

[???]

[???]

[???]

[???]

[…]

Shen Yue doubled over where he sat, blood surging up his mouth and nose. He vomited into a silver bowl, hacking and coughing until it was halfway full. The liquid had an acrid smell, not like normal blood, but something that didn’t belong in a human body.

That single strand of energy continued to advance unstoppably through his meridians, obliterating everything in its way. Not even his normal Soul Force was spared, igniting like oil touching fire.

Before he passed out, he had a vague feeling of familiarity, almost like he’d experienced something similar before. Coming in contact with this ‘Chaos Force’, one of his suspicions was confirmed.

‘As I thought! That ‘door’— I’m almost certain my soul passed through it before arriving in this world…’

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There was a week before Shen Yue attended the Holy Orchid Institute, so he used that time as productively as possible, using the dimensional rift to cultivate. However, it wasn’t as straight-forward as it seemed.

Whatever the ‘Dao Body of the Heavenly Chaos Devil’ was, it wasn’t like anything he’d ever encountered. It was an entirely alien constitution, unable to coexist with normal Soul Force practices. As such, the only way to embark on this new path was to completely abolish his current cultivation.

No cultivator in their right mind would consider something like that, but Shen Yue was different. Talented as his body was, there was no way he’d keep up with Nie Lie—someone with boundless experience and secret knowledge. He had to forge his own path.

The process was excruciating, allowing that ‘Chaos Force’ to rampage through his body, tearing it down before it could be built back up. The only saving grace was, given the energy’s destructive power, the process required little input from him. If he actually had to mutilate his dantian and meridians step-by-step, he doubted his willpower would hold.

Having secluded himself, using a sedative elixir to take the edge off the pain, he concluded the torturous process three days later. Waking up that morning, he was pale and bloodless, his body frail as a mortal. Having cultivated from youth, the feeling of utter weakness was something he could hardly bare.

During that time, he’d forbidden any servants from entering, using the excuse of cultivation. Not that it was even necessary. Aside from Shen Fei, his older brother, none of his family showed much interest in him. To his father, his only use was continuing the Sacred Family’s bloodline, and his mother passed when he was young.

Lying weakly on his bed, Shen Yue chuckled.

‘Now that I think about it, there is someone else. I’d almost forgotten about her.’

That person was none other than his fiancé Ye Ziyun, the novel’s main female lead. The two of them weren’t exactly close, but they were familiar, having grown up since childhood. Usually, the ‘broken engagement’ trope would be reserved for the protagonist, but instead it was him, a small time villain, who originally ended up cucked by Nie Lie.

Phantom pain still lancing through his body, Shen Yue considered the issue. Cultivation was undoubtedly the most important thing, but in his current state, he could barely keep his eyes open, never mind concentrate.

‘Do I even care, though? Hmm… the original was besotted with her, but I don’t have any special feelings. I don’t exactly like the idea of handing Ye Ziyun over to Nie Lie either. If he wants her, he’ll have to put in some effort this time around.’

Deciding to at least let the protagonist suffer a little, he rolled over on his side with difficulty. Between wakefulness and dreams, his mind wandered to his mother. Strangely, he couldn’t remember much about her.

‘What was her name again? And her family—who were they? Where did she come from?’

In Shen Yue’s life, this was the biggest oddity. He couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with his transmigration. On the surface, this idea seemed a stretch, but it was the ‘Dao Body of the Heavenly Chaos Devil’ that piqued his interest.

‘Such things are usually inherited. And combing through the Sacred Family’s history, I find no mention of such a strange constitution.’

Thinking about it a bit more, it was funny how pathetic the original Shen Yue was. Despite having such a unique talent, there was no way he could ever cultivate it without ‘Chaos Force’. If the real ‘him’ hadn’t appeared from that dimensional rift, occupying this body and opening the way for that weird energy, he was destined to be mediocre.

‘Was my soul originally attracted to this body because of this constitution? If that is indeed the case, my crossing-over might not have been completely random…’

Starting to nod off again, he pushed such thoughts to the corner of his mind. Even if he did dig up all the details, it was unlikely to benefit him much. Instead of thinking about useless things. He decided to rest a while longer. The sooner he recuperated, the sooner he could start cultivating for real.

It wasn’t long before he fell asleep, dreaming about both his past and future.

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Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Shen Yue examined his status-window. At the week’s end, by judging the accumulation in his dantian, he managed to step into the first level of… well, whatever this was.

[Shen Yue]

[Age: 13]

[Tribe: Human]

[Gender: Male]

[Personality: Prideful, Conceited]

[Profession: ???]

[Soul Realm: ???]

[Cultivation: ???]

Giving it a once over and confirming he didn’t miss anything, he frowned. What the hell was the use of his status if it couldn’t tell him anything?

‘Well, at least I can confirm for sure I’m different from the Fighters and Spiritualists in this world.’

Extending his consciousness through his body, he was struck by a feeling of weirdness. His Chaos Force was very strange, not only serving a similar role as Sole Force, but also possessing a body-refinement quality.

During the excruciating process of circulating it through his meridians and gathering in his dantian, his power, speed and toughness had increased multiple-fold. There also seemed to be a mental component to it, enhancing his senses and strengthening his mind.

The only problem was, he simply had no idea how he ranked in the cultivation hierarchy. He’d certainly passed his 1-Star Bronze level from before, but other than that, he was unable to tell.

Flexing his hand, he stared at the tips of his fingers. A black, viscous substance, somewhere between a gas and a liquid, gathered there. It almost looked like a flame, with sinister crimson patterns forming in the center. They undulated slowly, maintaining the same appearance no matter which direction he looked from.

Concentrating, he was able to extend it outward, tendrils snaking toward his dresser. Upon contact with the wood, it was set alight, the almost liquid-like flame slowly turning the panel into black ash.

With a flick of his fingers, Shen Yue extinguished it, not wanting to destroy his own room.

‘…it’s a bit hard to judge the strength by attacking a piece of furniture, but my gut feeling tells me this power isn’t a joke. It’s definitely not something a Bronze or Silver rank can deal with, but I won’t know for sure until I test it against a cultivator’s Soul Force.’

Absentmindedly looking at his hand, he eventually stood. He’d been cooped up for nearly two weeks at this point. Before class started, he wouldn’t mind stretching his legs and getting some fresh air.

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