Based Guy in ATG Prologue (Patreon)

(I think I should lower the amount of YouTube I watch, lol)

I knew it; it was too good. The guy might have given me a broken power, but he never explained the circumstances to me.

I didn’t read much Xianxia, only some mainstream ones, like Desolate Era, Coiling Dragon, and others. I pulled out quickly after realising how similar everything was.

By the same, predictable…cliche.

Now, I was in such a place. 

The first thing I needed to do the moment I woke up was to get married. 

If I were a doormat, I would have been over the moon, but I knew better; either the marriage would be interrupted, or my ‘wife’ would come with baggage.

I knew what it was just an hour later…

After successfully exchanging vows, I realised it was condition B. She came with baggage. Her hand was freezing cold.

And I was right; the moment I entered the room, my gorgeous ‘wife’ was sitting cross-legged on the bed, already cultivating.

She opened her mouth the moment I closed the door behind me.

“...I won’t be able to be a proper wife to you.” She said without even looking.

“I know; you are part of Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace.” 

As far as I know, following cliche trends, she is part of one of the superpowers of the Blue Wind Empire; when I touched her hand, it was freezing cold.

Knowing the tropes, she is their premier disciple; for such a disciple to be married to me is unthinkable. 

Her reaction was immediate; her eyes snapped open, and she looked at me. This reaction was what I wanted.

“How do you know?” Her eyes narrowed, but I ignored her scrutinising gaze.

“How many sects or palaces practise such cold arts?” I replied to her while taking out a very important piece of paper.

Right before her very eyes, I ripped it apart. She saw the text on the paper, and I made sure she saw the letters.

What I just ripped apart was our marriage certificate. Once in two pieces, I ripped it again and made it into four, then eight.

Each time I did it, her eyes trembled.

“W-Why?”

“What do you mean why? You just said yourself. Why would I bother with someone incapable of basic duties?” I scoffed at her before pointing at the doors.

“You may leave.”

“...”

However, she ignored my actions. I expected such a reaction. After all, women like Xia Qingyue have never experienced rejection in any form or shape.

Such women develop not just confidence in their strength but also as women. No matter what kind of title a woman will hide behind- Goddess, a Fairy, or Mistress- behind those titles is a woman, and a woman wants that chase. She wanted me to argue with her even if she didn’t realise or grasp herself. Or simply accept the arrangement she has set up for me.

To my surprise, with a gust of wind, another woman appeared. This woman is most likely her Master.

“You just divorced my student. You could have gotten my Palace protection. Being Qingyue’s husband has some perks.” Even her Master is interested in my actions. How amusing.

“I have no interest in pity. You two can leave. It was a long day, and I want to sleep.”

Once again, I motioned for them to leave. The poker-faced older fairy frowned as she used her cold wind to pick up Xia Qingyue. The student even struggled as she wanted to say something—no doubt there would be some consequences for her father, who set this up.

I can only imagine the backlash he would get. But, then again, Xia Qingyue is in the top sect of the Empire.

“Whatever.”

I scoffed again, walked over, and got into my bed. I closed my eyes and imagined darkness.

The power I got for being shoved into this world is ‘Profound Art creation,’ which allows me to create any and all Profound Arts.

This power is based upon my ‘strength’. I was a writer in my previous world. One of the side effects of being a writer is that one eventually perceives the characteristics of people, like how I did with XIa QIngyue and her Master.

Men chase, while women want that chase. Ladies wish men would be interested in them. The higher the pride, the stronger such desires can be. All I needed was a trigger that I was not interested in you.

The trigger I have chosen was the highest form possible—a marriage certificate. 

With marriage annulled, it has shaken her to her very core. It doesn’t matter that she never intended to be my wife. What matters is that she thought that I was her husband. Yet, I severed such a connection right in front of her eyes.

“I do wonder if I impacted her cultivation?” For a second, I pondered. I did recall that stuff like inner demons exist. I could have traumatised her.

“Well, it’s not my problem anymore.”

With my eyes closed, I imagined a blank sheet of paper.

‘According to that dude, in this world, cultivation, like profound arts, is based upon intent in the form of words.

So stuff like ‘freeze’, ‘cold’ and ‘chilly’ are supposed to have coldness intent behind them.’

Profound energy gathers. It heals and nourishes one’s body, giving one another a chance to walk on lands again.

It felt that I was writing nonsense, but It was a short paragraph with the intent of healing and mending.

Even if one’s path was shattered, it can heal again, allowing one to restart it once more.

After writing these paragraphs, I stopped, and the letters on the blank paper glowed, forming the art I envisioned. 

With my abysmal cultivation of [First of Elementary Profound] and shattered Profound Veins, I needed a healing art. So, I created this and started to practise it.

In other words, I gathered Profound energy from outside and fed it into my broken Profound veins. However, the issue with this was that people in the realm of [First of Elementary Profound] need to ‘prepare’ or ‘awaken’ their profound veins.

According to memories I inherited from the wimp body I took over from.

After practising for a bit, I realised that the art I had created was garbage. No surprise there. It was simple to gather energy from outside alters to heal the veins.

The issue is that those veins are most likely already burst. So, the best alternative solution is to refine the body like in those novels.

And rebuild everything.

So I closed my eyes and started to write. This time, it was not simple, profound art that heals veins but Nature’s energy, which restores, empowers, and alters for optimum cultivation necessary to reach the apex.

Honestly, I didn’t take some average realm I did not know existed. But I have chosen simply the ‘Apex’.

This time around, it was five paragraphs, and what I got was called ‘Nine Rebirths of Nature’.

The intent behind it generated the name as the text was quite long. But I liked the sounds of it.

With the technique creation done, I started to practise it.

~~~

The invisible nature energies surged and rushed into his body, a thin layer of miasma condensed around his body, creating a cocoon of white energy.

Inside the cocoon, the skin started to remove itself, revealing healthier skin underneath. The process lasted several times. 

Skin was not the only thing which was refined as organs, muscles, meridians and Profound veins refined over and over again, becoming stronger and stronger. All of the impurities burned away.

On top of that, His cultivation surged and reached [Second of Elementary Profound], then several hours later, in the early morning, it surged again and reached [Third of Elementary Profound].

When he opened his eyes again, a white smoke-like breath escaped from his mouth as he sighed.

~~~

Meanwhile, in the Extreme North of the Blue Wind Empire in Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, Xia Qingyue was spacing out in her small ice house. She was already dressed in blue and white robes.

‘What just happened? Why am I so bothered by this? I wanted this, no? I was planning to leave him after a month.’ The girl had no idea that her husband’s move was supposed to trigger her.

The greater her pride, the more it will affect her. Now she was so bothered that she could not stop thinking about him!

All she wants is clarification! Why can't they be married? He could just keep that paper! Wasn’t she the most talented girl in Floating Cloud City? AND a member of Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace.

It's like he sees no value in her whatsoever! It's simply infuriating!

Xia Qingyue’s situation even affected other fairies. Her master, Chu Yueli, told the remaining seven fairies and the Palace Mistress.

Their pride was hurt. One should be honoured to be married to a Fairy of Frozen Cloud even if one never would touch this fairy or bed her.

There is prestige in that alone, or at least that is what they think.

“That brat is not allowed to live!” Chu Yuechan said with a frown as she felt that Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace had been wronged.

“Yes. But this was Qingyue’s original intention in the first place.” Chu Yueli replied with a similar frown. She is conflicted; for her, it felt like that brat Xiao Long used something on them.

“There won’t be any intervention from us. Just forget about him.” Gong Yuxian said from the icy throne.

“...But Mistress…”

“It should have a secret that Xia Qingyue was part of our Palace, and it's a personal matter of hers.” The leader fairy said with a voice full of finality that there was no more arguing.

“Instead, focus on training her for the Ranking Tournament, which will happen in one and a half years.”

“...But she is only [Peak True Profound].” Jun Lianque replied, then proceeded to expand what she had in mind.

“Won’t it be better if she was to train till the next tournament?” 

“...This tournament will give her experience so that she could win the next one.” The Mistress explained to her. This explanation was enough, as no other fairies questioned her.

Not that this matters, as none of them understood what kind of mental state Xia Qingyue was.

After all, they have no idea how to deal with this. 

The girl doesn't even know herself. Should she prove herself to him by reaching a high cultivation realm? But would that matter?

Normally, this wouldn’t mean anything to her, but this was her husband with whom she exchanged vows. When she did it in front of the altar, it didn’t mean much. She understood that they were bound for life. But when he ripped that paper, something inside of her was ripped out.

Something she wants to regain! But how!?

Just like that, her mental health started to spiral out of control.

~~~

Morning arrived, and Xiao Long slowly stretched out and got up from his bed. He could feel that he was far better than he had ever been before.

Before, he felt that he was wearing a tight skin suit.

Which is not bad, considering he inhabits a wimp’s body. At least now, it feels that he is getting closer to being a proper male instead of a cowardly wimp. All it took was to improve the physique.

“Well, I got to the third stage, and I can use this technique to reach [Nascent Profound].” 

He mumbled to himself as he inspected his hand. After that, his stomach rumbled, and he felt quite hungry.

“I guess refining my body the whole night took its toll on me.” He left his pavilion without bothering to change his clothes and walked towards his grandpa’s place.

As he was walking, he heard a bunch of people mumbling when they saw him.

‘I guess they look surprised to see that my cultivation increased.’ 

As far as his memories go, he recalls that he couldn't increase beyond the baseline initial stage of [Elementary Profound].

‘I guess I will stick with the ‘I found a herb’ trope.’

As he arrived at the pavilion, the grandfather of the wimp’s body greeted him. He was surprised that he was not with his wife.

“Long'er, where is Qingyue?”

“I divorced her.” He replied bluntly.

CoughCoughCough

A piece of food went into the wrong place. It would seem he was quite surprised…