A carriage. Like, a horse-drawn, old wooden carriage. That's what I found myself in when I opened my eyes. Looking around the interior revealed nothing but wood, a poorly cushioned seat, and a window showing a grassy plain being passed by. I felt understandably confused, blinking a few times at the sight. I could even smell the horses from here, and hear the click of hoofs on a cobbled road. What on earth? Where was I? I tried to poke my head out of the window but felt a bun of hair smack against the top of the carriage, what. I-I don’t have my hair in a bun?

I felt the top of my head and sure enough, it was done up in a weird kind of top knot. I didn’t have enough hair for that. I looked down at that point, realizing several new things about my body. For one, my hands were super calloused, my clothes were beaten up but looked nice, and are in a super old-fashioned style, and finally, I had a sword.

… I slowly unsheathed it, enough to see that it was metal before slamming it back in. Who gave me a weapon??? I could feel sweat start to drip down my face. Ok, calm down, what's the situation? Was I being kidnapped? Because a kidnapper could grow my hair, give me callouses, and would hand me a sword. Did I develop a split personality who became a countryside swordsman? That doesn't even make sense. While I slowly started to spiral into possible explanations for what was going on, a splitting headache pierced my skull. I let out a slight grunt before grabbing my head, it felt like a knife was inside my skull and was trying to carve its way out. I barely held back from screaming, before I started, remembering. Remembering a life that wasn’t mine.

A life that started as all do, as a baby, a well-loved one though, with parents who chareshied him. The next memory was of said child, older, but now seated on the mother's lap while in the backyard, sun shining on the trio as the father ran through movements with a sword. It was elegant, powerful, and beautiful. In the next memory, the child was older, and sloppily attempting to replicate his father's sword movements, the mother and father both laughing and encouraging him. Then the body was a lot older, around the point I am now, bowing to a tearful father and mother with a sack of clothes and money in his hands, as he set out on a journey, one which would make him strong or dead.

When the visions finally stopped, the headache recessed, to a dull thumping as I was left with the memories of a man who wasn’t me. It took a few minutes before I was able to collect my thoughts. So, if I understood a few things, this wasn’t the world I was used to, or, at least not the time, and I, the son in the memories, am going on a journey to join a sect to gain strength. … I don’t know where some of that information came from. Ok, safe to say, someone spiked my drink with acid, right? Or shrooms, or cocaine, or LSD, yeah, yeah that makes sense.

Just as I had figured out a perfectly reasonable explanation for my situation, the carriage came to a stop. The doors opened, and sure enough, a village with a large tree-covered mountain rested in front of me. The houses looked sturdy though not appealing, and the largest building was clearly labeled as the “Rising tao inn”. Clearly labeled, in a language I don’t recognize, but can read, Oh, oh I hate this.

I took a deep breath before exhaling and stepping out of the carriage, an older man with a straw hat was the one guiding it, and I handed him 10 silver teals, he nodded to me, before turning around and starting his journey back. What the fuck is a teal. I-ok, hold on. I think I’m just going to have to get used to knowing things I don’t know, as disorienting as that is. For instance, I should go stay at that inn before the trial to join the sect begins. See? Didn’t even question how I knew that a trial was happening. Yup, not curious at all. I shook my head as I walked to the larger building.

I could hear a bit of noise coming from the inside as I opened the door, and sure enough, there was a large table full of different people all eating and drinking, I walked up to the rotund man smiling happily behind a small wooden bar.

“How much for a night.” He looked up at me, a cheery expression never leaving his face.

“Oh! Another sect hopeful! Well, if you’re trying to join the Heaven-guided white sect-” Dumb name “then it's free! But food and alcohol aren’t, and I’d recommend buying some! After all, if you join, you have to swear off alcohol!”

“Just the room please.”

“Are you sure young man! This may be your final drink!”

“Yes, I’m sure. I’ll return later for dinner, but otherwise just the room.” The innkeeper gave a nod as I walked away. Time to get the lay of the land.

_____________

The sect elder watched as the young man walked back out of the inn, he had a short head of black hair done in a top knot and was on the taller end with fairly developed mussels. He passed the disguised elder without a second glance. The first trial was always a hidden one after all! One should commit themselves fully to a group's ideology before joining them, not after even if the ideology is something as distasteful as swearing off alcohol. It’s one thing not to know, but it's another to know and ignore. Well, they wouldn’t actually kick anyone out because of that, but that young man certainly had a head start now as opposed to the group currently holding a small party.

Even for a large sect such as theirs, they would scarcely ever actually prohibit someone from joining, they would only really do so if it was deemed that they’d surely end up dead should they ever enter a fight, or if the person betrayed some vital principles of the sect, after all, the destruction of the demonic clans was a mission anyone should be able to give aid to.

Still, he’d keep his eye on that stoic young man, he seemed like he had quite a lot of potential to be resisting temptations before even joining the sect.

_____________

The lay of the land sucked. The village had two major buildings, the inn and a small governmental building for managing imports and exports, apparently, it was directly tied to the local sect. Other than that the only notable area was the mountain, which pretty obviously had a path going up it in a spiral. Hmm, interesting. The mountain was surrounded by woods and forest, but taking a better look wouldn’t hurt.

I walked around the mountain, going through the dense forest. The area was quite peaceful, I glanced at my blade, figuring out what this body could do might be a good idea. Muscle memory might be able to carry me through this life. I walked until I found a small clearing before unsheathing my blade.

5 Movements, that was what I knew, they flowed into each other smoothly. Thrust, slash, forward step with a second slash, spinning slash and thrust again. It was just those 5 movements on repeat. I felt my mind moving in and out of consciousness as I fell into the repetitive movements. Thrust, slash, step, slash, spin, slash, thrust. Again and again. I could feel an energy in my body, stockpiled in several different points, each felt like it wanted to add, it wanted to participate in the dance I had started but was blocked by something.

I finally stopped when my blade slashed in and through the majority of a tree. That wasn’t something a human should be able to do. I also noticed that it was now quite dark, meaning I had wasted away quite a few hours, crap.

I ran back to the inn, managing to make it just in time to eat the last dinner bowl of soup. It wasn’t great, but it was very filling. The inn's room also wasn’t really anything special, just a gray bed. But hey, a bed is a bed, right? No sense looking down on it.

I awoke the next day as soon as the first light cracked through my window, not knowing nor caring enough to learn, I never redid the topknot just leaving my expanse of black hair to flow. I walked out of my room, heading down to the inn's hall to get breakfast. Most important meal of the day. I stepped into the dining hall to see the party group all eating just as boisterously as they were last night. Well, it's good to be excited. I ordered some food and started to sip my soup. Suddenly, the round innkeep addressed all of us.

“Did you all sleep well? I hope so, after all, the trials have already begun!” In a bright flash of light, the innkeeper transformed from a rotund man into a thin gray-haired elder, accompanied by shocked exclamations from the rest of the inn's hall. I kept sipping my soup with bleary eyes, it was too early for this. The elder looked at me sipping my soup and let out a cough. I made eye contact with him as I continued eating. I didn’t have to drop everything to be listening, and I’d be damned if some old sect member made me skip breakfast.

“W-well, regardless, the first stage of the trial has already passed! Those who accepted the alcohol last night are now at a disadvantage! You’re not out of the running yet but you’re going to have to work hard to catch up!” That was met with a few passionate voices of disapproval, from the crowd, not that I could blame them. It’s a little messed up to tempt people before they join and then get mad when they accept. “This means that the only ones who get to skip the next step is that young man eating soup, and the young master of the Lin family!” Ah, I’m the soup boy, aren’t I? A lot of the crowd was focusing on either me, or another kid I figured must be the Lin family's young master. He had long black hair which he left down pretty similar to mine, but whereas mine was rather messy he didn’t have a single strand out of place, also his features were a lot sharper, his eyes especially as they seemed to look down on everyone. A voice called out at me from the crowd.

“HEY! Why didn’t you tell anyone if you knew!” I looked at the speaker, a girl around my age with a ponytail and a rough scowl. I picked my bowl up by the side to start drinking the final part of it.

“Quit ignoring me!”

“Now, now, no one was informed that would be part of the trial after all! Now then, for the rest of you, the new objective is to ascend to the top of our very own Yang peak mountain! It’s only a few thousand meters!” An entirely predictable groan came from that. I finished my soup bowl while I wondered how exactly we were going to get up to the mountaintop if we weren’t climbing.

My thoughts were cut off as I and the young master were enveloped in a golden light. My eyes widened and the glow was all the warning I got before I was suddenly at the peak of a mountain. A small table with 2 chairs on one side and one on the other resting in a covered area was present, the only thing breaking up an expanse of flat grass that overlooked the rest of the mountain and surrounding forest. We were below the clouds, but only barely, I think if I were determined enough I could’ve jumped and touched one.

The old man was already sitting at the other end of the bench. The young master and I exchanged glances before he let out a huff and sat down opposed to the elder. I took the hint and did the same, as far as possible from the Lin kid, he seemed moody. The elder looked at me with a smile before he started talking.

“Now then, I’m well aware of who you are, young Jin, but who might you be?” A name came to my lips before I could stop it.

“Yìchén.”

“Yìchén! How nice to meet you, now, why did the two of you refuse to drink?” Jin spoke before I could.

“The alcohol served in such a small village would taste like poison. I had my final drink with refined and expensive alcohol.” A little pretentious are we?

“Alcohol dulls the senses, and I like to have those intact while journeying somewhere unfamiliar.” The elder stroked his goatee while listening to us and nodding along.

“I see, interesting reasons for both of you. Now then, while we wait for the rest of the members to catch up, how would you two like to move to the next step instantly?” The elder had a knowing smile on his face, one I wasn’t a fan of. Jin let his opinion be known regardless.

“I’d like to get this over with as soon as possible.”

“I can wait.” Jin looked at me with a scowl. Scowl all you want buddy, I’m not playing along with this geezer. The old man interrupted my thoughts with a laugh.

“What interesting recruits we have this year! The next step is a duel, don’t worry about winning or losing though! We just want to see your skill.” Jin stood and drew his sword, which I felt was a bit of an overreaction. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He spoke while looking down on me.

“Well? Aren’t you going to fight? Or are you too cowardly for that lowborn?”

“I just don’t have a reason to fight you, you seem like the type to take this kind of thing too seriously. I’ll wait for some of the mountain climbers to come.” Jin scowled

“What do you mean take this too seriously! This is a sect initiation test! This should be life or death!”

“Should it? I don’t see why.”

“What do you mean you don’t see why! This is a sect! A martial school that will define the rest of our lives! A holy sect that devotes itself to fighting evil! Only the strong should be allowed entry.”

“See, this is what I mean, I’ve no intention of entering a life or death battle under the pretense of a test. I’ll wait for someone with more sanity.”

“You bastard! You dare!” The elder held up a hand from where he was standing.

“Now, now young Jin. Yìchén has made it clear he has no intention of fighting, attacking an unwilling opponent would be quite disgraceful. Jin let out a loud “Tch” While sheathing his sword.

“You’ll regret this!” I glanced at the elder when he made that not-so-subtle threat but the elder still had that jovial smile on his face. Well, I’d probably be fine. I noticed some steam as I sideyed the elder and looked down to see a cup of tea had appeared in front of me. I thanked the elder before sipping on it and waiting, Jin remained standing for a few minutes still steaming but eventually sat down and received his own tea, glaring at me the whole time. I avoided eye contact.

After what felt like an hour or so, the first person made it up, surprisingly enough it was the girl who had yelled at me in the inn. She let out a victorious laugh before running up to where we were. Her expression turned to a scowl when she saw me, she pointed at me. “You! Fight me!”

“Alright.” The elder let out a laugh and Jin looked like he had popped a blood vessel, but well, she seemed a little dumb but harmless, Jin would hurt me on purpose because he was a jerk, she just seemed a little hot-blooded. “Are you sure you don’t want to take a minute to rest? The climb couldn’t have been easy and I’ve just been sipping tea.”

“Grr-” Did she just say grr?! “Don’t look down on me! I can handle you anytime!”

“Well, alright, that's your call to make.” I looked to the elder who nodded at me before drawing my sword. She grinned before entering a fighting stance with just her fists. I might not fully understand this world yet, or even a little, but fighting someone unarmed while using a weapon seemed … wrong. “You intend to fight unarmed?”

“You got a problem with it!?”

I let out a sigh before sheathing my sword and placing it on the bench, returning to her. I entered my own stance, one which mirrored the one I use for swordplay, which is to say one hand, the sword hand, extended outward, while the other rests slightly back. She let out another snarl. Was she feral?

“Are you looking down on me?”

“No, I just don’t want to fight someone unarmed with a weapon.” Getting a better look at the girl, she was a beauty, but a weird one. As in, she looked the part of a dignified and refined girl but had dirt smeared on her face and clothes and spoke with rough words. People here are weird. The Elder threw a raised hand down and yelled out.

“Go!”

The girl rushed forward, a fist cocked back seemingly to try and end the fight in one overhand hit. Certainly a … unique approach. Regardless, what I learned from my body in the brief woods training applies to all weaponry as far as I could tell, fists included. I thrust my hand forward, forcing her to stop her advance to dodge it. I threw a hook at her with my off-hand, which managed to catch her in the side, before advancing a step and throwing another hook with my sword hand once more. Jab for a thrust, hook for a slash, easy. Jab, hook, step, hook, so far the attacks had landed on either air or her forearms as she blocked when I reached a slightly more confusing part of my cycle, spin? I wasn’t sure about that one but decided to follow it anyway, spinning and using the momentum to try and hit her.

She managed to duck under the spinning hit, which gave her enough time to interrupt my rhythm with an attack of her own, landing a jab right to my chest. I let out a grunt, as she rose with an uppercut I managed to dodge, now eye to eye again, she threw a hook of her own which I blocked with my arm. I grabbed the still extended arm, before managing to pull her towards me and into an uppercut to the stomach. Strong enough to knock the wind out of her, despite that, she managed to leave me with a hook to the face while we disengaged.

We started slowly circling each other as we settled our breathing, though hers was a lot shakier after that hit. Something about the exchange felt wrong though, despite her toughness, she wasn’t used to fighting like this, the grab took her by surprise and she isn’t rolling with the punches at all. I was taken out of my thoughts as she spun and kicked at my chest. The hit landed, but she was slow to retract again and I managed to grab it, leaving her in an awkward position. I kicked her other leg which knocked her to the ground while letting go of the grabbed one.

“You aren't used to fighting with your hands.” her eyes widened as she stood. and her voice rose a few octaves.

“Wha-what are you, ahm.” Her voice deepened again. “What are you talking about?” Well, none of my business I guess.

“N-Nevermind.” I initiated my combo again. Jab, hook, step, hook, skip the spin the spins useless, jab. And repeat. I was able to keep going, cycling the full combo 4 times before I started running out of breath without managing to land a decisive blow. The constant blocking and evasion were also clearly tiring to her, now also breathing from her mouth at this point. We made eye contact, and an unspoken agreement crossed our eyes. One more hit. I dropped my guard and she dropped hers as we both cocked our arms back, and launched a hit at the other's face. They landed at the same time and both of us hit the ground, breathing roughly.

The elder laughed once again. “A draw! This early into the trials too! How fun! Now then, you two rest up! I’ve got other fights to watch!” The elder then walked away, humming to himself as he did. The girl and I remained on the ground for a solid minute, before I started picking myself up, which she mirrored as soon as she noticed I had. Once we were both standing she addressed me.

“I misjudged you, you weren’t looking down on me at any point. Now that we’ve bonded over a fight, we should become sworn friends!” I looked at her blankly.

“that's, not how that works.” She cocked her head.

“What do you mean? Sure it is, you and I beat each other up, grew from the experience, and now we’re sworn, friends.”

“We’re skipping so many steps here, I don’t even know your name.

”lì huá!”

“Er, Yìchén, but still, I feel like we need to know each other a little bit better before skipping straight to friends.”

“We already fought, what else do we need to do?.”

“I-I I don’t, whatever. Better friend than enemy I guess. Sure, we’re sworn, friends.” Her face lit up at that and she held her arm out for a handshake. I reluctantly took the handshake, wondering what I signed up for.

“So friend! Why are you becoming a cultivator?” She looked up at me enthusiastically. That's actually a great question. What on earth am I doing here?

“I’m going to get strong, then return to my parents in the countryside to help the village.” yeah, that sounds nice, a good peaceful farming life with superpowers, perfect. “And you?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you becoming a cultivator?”

“O-oh! Uh, b-because, I-I really like fighting!” She was sweating. So that was a lie. Between her lack of understanding when it comes to social situations like the fight, not being used to hand-to-hand combat, and lying about why she's cultivating, she's painting a rather strange picture of a person. Still, not my business.

“Well, to each their own.”