Courtyard House: Time Traveler Not Yet a Ghost

Cheng Jun was woken up by the cold.

It wasn't the kind of bone-chilling cold you get in winter, but rather a damp rag wrapped around your bones, seeping into them with a musty smell. His eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and with difficulty he opened them a crack, revealing a patch of pitch-black wooden beams.

The roof was truly dilapidated. A few loose planks were haphazardly placed together, with a hole in the middle through which cobwebs swayed and clung to half a withered yellow leaf. The corner of the wall was even worse; a crack gaped open like a child's mouth, allowing a thin ray of sunlight, as thin as a hair, to squeeze through and cast a bright, shimmering line on the ground, landing squarely on a few ants frantically moving their nest.

"Cough cough..." Cheng Jun tried to sit up, but his throat was so dry it felt like it was on fire. When he inhaled, his nose was filled with strange smells—the musty smell of damp wood, the smell of burnt herbs, and a faint metallic rust smell. All mixed together, it was even more irritating than the garbage cans he had smelled when he was delivering takeout in his previous life.

He then realized that he was lying on a hard board bed with a thin layer of straw on it. The quilt covering him was patched upon patched, with crooked stitches and stiff cotton inside, like a tattered sack.

"Where...where am I?" Cheng Jun's head was buzzing, and he felt a sharp pain, as if he had been hit on the head with a club. He remembered that he should have been on his way to deliver food, right? The rain was pouring down, and he ran a red light to save time, and then...then everything spun around, and when he opened his eyes again, he was here.

He tried moving his fingers and felt okay, but he felt unwell all over, especially in his chest, which felt stuffy and painful when he inhaled. He looked down and saw that he was wearing a drab gray coarse cloth jacket with shiny cuffs and several scars on his arms that hadn't fully healed.

Just then, my mind exploded with a "boom," like a hornet's nest had burst open. Countless unfamiliar images, sounds, and fragments of memory flooded in like a burst dam—

The bluestone-paved road felt cool to the touch when you walked barefoot; the big houses with upturned eaves had the three characters "Qingyun Sect" written on their lintels; young people dressed like Taoist priests in TV dramas were running along the mountain road with swords on their backs; and there were mountain peaks so high that they seemed to pierce the clouds, shrouded in mist, like a fairyland.

The clearest thing was a huge stone platform, surrounded by a dense crowd of people. On the platform, a boy a head taller than Cheng Jun, dressed in a light blue outfit, lunged at him with a sinister grin. Cheng Jun tried to dodge, but his body wouldn't obey him, and he watched helplessly as the boy's hand struck his chest.

"Bang!"

It felt like he'd been hit by a truck; his chest burned with pain, his mouth tasted metallic and sweet, and he was sent flying like a kite with a broken string, crashing to the ground with a "thud." He grimaced in pain and couldn't get up for a long time.

Everyone around was laughing, laughing so hard they were doubled over.

"Cheng Jun? This Qi Refining Level 3 trash dares to take the inner sect exam?"

"Hahaha, I think he's gone crazy for money!"

"Get back down the mountain! Stop making a fool of yourself here!"

"The Qingyun Sect does not accept trash!"

Those voices pierced Cheng Jun's ears like needles, making him tremble with anger, but he just couldn't utter a word.

"Cheng Jun... Qi Refining Level 3... Qingyun Sect... Outer Disciple..." Cheng Jun murmured to himself, these fragments slowly piecing together in his mind. He remembered that the original owner of this body was also named Cheng Jun, an outer disciple of this place called Qingyun Sect, twenty years old this year, with a cultivation level of only Qi Refining Level 3. Among a group of disciples who were fifteen or sixteen years old and had already reached Qi Refining Level 4 or 5, he was at the bottom.

Yesterday was the inner sect assessment. The original owner of this body, oblivious to the danger, went up to join the fun and was punched off the stage by an inner sect prospective disciple named Zhao Gang, immediately losing consciousness. And then... and then this soul from Earth somehow ended up occupying this body.

"I...time traveled?" Cheng Jun sat up abruptly, wincing in pain in his chest, but he didn't care. He looked down at his hands, which were those of a young man, with distinct knuckles and thick calluses on his palms and knuckles. They felt rough to the touch, clearly the result of years of physical labor or sword practice.

He touched his face again. The features were quite defined, but he was a bit thin, with prominent cheekbones. He looked much younger than the deliveryman in his previous life, who was in his thirties, exposed to the wind and sun every day, and had a weathered face. He was also... much poorer.

He pinched his thigh hard.

"Ouch—" That really hurts!

It wasn't a dream. He really had transmigrated to a cultivation world called Xuantian Continent, becoming a useless outer disciple named Cheng Jun.

"God, are you kidding me?" Cheng Jun was on the verge of tears. In his past life, he worked tirelessly delivering food from dawn till dusk, braving wind and rain, barely saving a penny at the end of the year. He finally managed to buy a secondhand electric scooter, but before he could even get used to riding it, he was in an accident. He thought death would be the end of it all, but unexpectedly, he was reborn as a lowly person in a different place? This Qi Refining Level Three sounds like the lowest-level monster in a game.

Just as Cheng Jun was sighing, a clear voice suddenly rang in his mind, like a cell phone notification tone:

"Ding!"

Cheng Jun was startled. "Who? Who spoke?"

"Optimization system activated." The voice sounded again, neither male nor female, devoid of emotion. "Host: Cheng Jun. Current cultivation level: Qi Refining Level 3. Cultivation technique: Azure Cloud Technique (Tier 1, Low Grade). Elixirs: None. Mission: Pass the inner sect assessment within six months. Reward: Unknown."

Cheng Jun was stunned. A system? The golden finger that every transmigrator has? He blinked and pinched himself again. It still hurt.

"System?" he tentatively called out in his mind.

"I am here."

It really is! Cheng Jun's heart pounded, almost leaping out of his throat. In his past life, weren't all the protagonists in novels the ones who relied on systems to rise against all odds and reach the pinnacle of life? Could he be destined for that too?

"Optimize the system... what can be optimized?" Cheng Jun asked cautiously.

"Cultivation technique level can be optimized. Pill quality can be optimized." The system answered crisply, "Current optimization target: Azure Cloud Technique (Tier 1, Low Grade). After optimization: Azure Cloud Technique (Tier 1, Mid Grade). Optimize?"

The Azure Cloud Technique? Cheng Jun immediately recalled the contents of a cultivation method, which the original owner must have practiced since childhood and knew by heart. The Azure Cloud Technique was the standard cultivation method for outer disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect, a low-grade first-level technique. It was said that even if one mastered it to the highest level, one would only reach the fifth level of Qi Refining, which was considered very weak.

"Optimize! Of course, optimize!" Cheng Jun agreed without hesitation. Even a small mosquito is still meat, better than nothing.

As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Jun felt a warm current flow through his body, like soaking in warm water, so comfortable that he almost groaned. The warm current went straight to his mind, and the previously obscure and stumbling Qingyun Mantra suddenly became clear. Those incantations that he couldn't remember before were now as if engraved in his mind; those meridian routes that were always blocked when circulating were now as smooth as a newly opened highway.

Cheng Jun subconsciously closed his eyes and began circulating his internal energy according to the optimized Qingyun Technique.

"Phew..." He let out a long breath.

The meager spiritual energy in his dantian surged like a seedling receiving rain after a long drought, becoming more than twice as concentrated as before! It also circulated much faster. Before, he could practice for an hour without feeling anything, but now, after just one cycle, he felt warm all over and his spirits improved considerably.

"Qingyun Technique optimization complete. Current rank: Mid-grade, Tier 1." The system notification sounded again. "Next optimization will require more energy. Energy sources: Host's cultivation, combat, and completing missions."

Cheng Jun opened his eyes, which gleamed. First-tier, mid-grade! Although still first-tier, mid-grade was significantly stronger than low-grade! He could feel that his cultivation speed had at least doubled!

But that's not enough. Cheng Jun knew this very well. Those who could pass the inner sect assessment six months later would be at least at the fifth or sixth level of Qi Refining, or even higher. He was only at the third level of Qi Refining now. Even if his cultivation speed doubled, catching up within six months would still be a bit risky.

He needs stronger techniques, more elixirs, and a faster cultivation speed!

Cheng Jun rolled out of bed, but as soon as his feet touched the ground, he stumbled, his legs feeling a little numb. He walked to the window and pushed open the creaking wooden door.

The view outside the window stunned him.

In the distance, rolling mountains rise higher and higher, their peaks shrouded in mist, like a fairyland. The air is filled with a refreshing scent; a single breath is invigorating, a million times better than Earth's smoggy days. This must be what they call "spiritual energy," right?

At the foot of the mountain were clusters of small courtyards, all dilapidated wooden huts similar to his own—the residences of the outer disciples. Further on, a particularly tall peak rose, its summit faintly revealing pavilions and towers, quite imposing—the dwellings of the inner disciples. Behind the inner disciple peak, there was an even taller and more majestic mountain, its summit gleaming with golden light, resembling a palace—that must be the core of the Qingyun Sect—the Qingyun Hall.

"Qingyun Sect, Xuantian Continent, the world of cultivation..." Cheng Jun took a deep breath of the spiritually rich air, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

In his past life, he was a food delivery driver, riding his electric scooter through the city every day, braving wind and rain, drenched in sweat on sunny days and covered in mud on rainy days. One bad review from a customer meant half a day's work was for nothing; being even a minute late meant a deduction in pay. After working himself to the bone for a month, he only earned a few thousand yuan, not even enough for a down payment on a house.

In this life, he became a cultivator. Although he was currently a useless person, at least he had hope. Cultivation, immortality, flying through the air, moving mountains and filling seas... things he had only seen in novels before, could now be realized.

"Damn it, I'll risk it all!" Cheng Jun clenched his fists, his eyes hardening. "In my past life, I lived like a dog. In this life, I, Cheng Jun, will cultivate immortality, achieve eternal life, and stand at the very pinnacle of this world!"

He closed the window, returned to the bedside, and sat down cross-legged. His immediate priority was to improve his cultivation.

Cheng Jun closed his eyes, cleared his mind of distractions, and began to circulate the optimized Qingyun Technique.

Wisps of spiritual energy surged in from all directions, like bees finding their home, eagerly burrowing into his body and flowing along his meridians to his dantian. Previously, cultivation was like trying to scoop water from a vat with a small spoon—you couldn't scoop much in a long time. Now, it felt like using a different ladle, pouring water "glug glug" into his dantian.

He could clearly feel the spiritual energy in his dantian gradually increasing and becoming denser. The bottleneck at the third level of Qi Refining seemed to be loosening somewhat.

Cheng Jun sat there, motionless. The sky outside the window gradually brightened and then gradually darkened again.

He didn't open his eyes until his stomach started growling with hunger.

"Hoo..." He exhaled a long breath, feeling refreshed and full of energy. Looking inward at his dantian, he saw that the spiritual energy inside was much richer than in the morning, having reached the peak of the third level of Qi Refining, only one step away from the fourth level!

"Soon!" Cheng Jun felt a surge of excitement. "At this rate, I should be able to break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining in two or three days at most!"

He stood up, stretched, and his bones cracked. He was starving and needed to find something to eat.

Cheng Jun pushed open the door. Outside was a muddy path with a few crooked trees growing sparsely on both sides. His place was on the very edge of the outer disciples' area, rarely visited by anyone. It was quiet, but also very dilapidated.

He walked down the path, heading to the canteen at the foot of the mountain for lunch. The outer disciples' canteen was located at the foot of the mountain, providing three meals a day. Although the food wasn't great, at least it filled his stomach.

They hadn't gone far when they encountered several outer disciples. They were wearing similar gray cloth jackets to Cheng Jun's and carrying wooden swords, so they must have just finished practicing their swordsmanship.

The group stopped in their tracks as soon as they saw Cheng Jun, giving each other strange looks and exchanging winks.

"Hey, look, isn't that Cheng Jun?" A tall, thin guy nudged the short, fat guy next to him, his voice just loud enough for Cheng Jun to hear.

The short, fat man squinted at him, then sneered, "Isn't that him? The one who got punched off the stage by Zhao Gang yesterday, he completely lost face!"

"I heard he's already twenty and still only at the third level of Qi Refining. Tsk tsk, what a waste." Another man with a long face shook his head, his tone full of sarcasm. "We outer disciples, if we haven't passed the inner sect exam by the time we're twenty, we'll be kicked off the mountain. I think he's about there too."

"A mere Qi Refining Level 3 cultivator dares to participate in the inner sect assessment? He's truly overestimating himself. If I were him, I would have crawled into a hole in the ground long ago."

"A complete waste!"

Those words pierced Cheng Jun's heart like needles. His fists clenched silently, his knuckles turning white from the force.

In his past life, when he delivered food, he was often looked down upon. Some complained that he was slow, some complained that he smelled bad, and some even called him "the food delivery guy" as if he were some kind of filthy creature. "Incompetent," "Serves him right for being poor," "That's all he'll ever be"... He heard these words at least a hundred times. Back then, he could only endure it because he truly had no skills, no connections, and could only suffer.

But in this life, he doesn't want to endure it anymore!

Cheng Jun raised his head and coldly glanced at the group of people. They were taken aback by his gaze, not expecting that this usually timid and weak-willed person would dare to glare at them.

The tall, thin man, his neck stiff, said menacingly, "What are you looking at? You piece of trash! You're not happy with that?"

Cheng Jun took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He was only at the third level of Qi Refining, while these people looked to be at least at the fourth level. He couldn't defeat them. Engaging in verbal sparring was pointless and would only invite more trouble.

He lowered his head, quickened his pace, and walked past those people without saying a word.

"Tch, coward!" the tall, thin man spat behind him.

Cheng Jun paused for a moment, then continued walking forward.

Just wait, one day I'll make sure none of you dare speak to me like that again!

The canteen wasn't big; it was just a large thatched shed with a dozen or so wooden tables missing arms or legs. The tables were greasy and didn't look very clean.

Cheng Jun walked to the food serving window, where a middle-aged man with a fierce face was serving food to his disciples with a large ladle, making a clanging sound.

"Here." The man didn't even glance at Cheng Jun. He scooped up a spoonful of spirit rice, a plate of stir-fried vegetables, and a bowl of tofu soup, and placed them on the windowsill with a "thud."

Cheng Jun picked up his plate and found a corner seat to sit down.

The spirit rice was cooked with the lowest grade of spirit rice; the grains were yellowish and slightly undercooked, containing a pitifully small amount of spiritual energy—barely better than nothing. The stir-fried vegetables were just ordinary vegetables, with hardly any oil, bland and tasteless. The tofu soup was even worse—clear broth with only a few pieces of tofu floating on top.

This is the food for outer disciples. Cheng Jun smiled bitterly, picked up his chopsticks, and shoveled food into his mouth. In his previous life, although he was poor, he could at least have meat and vegetables with every meal. He had never suffered like this.

But when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. He's penniless now, and he's lucky if he can even get something to eat.

While eating, Cheng Jun pondered the system in his mind.

"System, what conditions are needed to optimize the pills?" he asked in his mind.

"A sample of the elixir is required," the system quickly replied. "After the host obtains the elixir, the system can analyze its components and optimize it. The quality of the optimized elixir can be upgraded to the highest grade."

"Top-grade pills?" Cheng Jun's eyes lit up. He knew that pills were rare commodities in the Qingyun Sect. A low-grade Qi Gathering Pill could sell for over ten low-grade spirit stones, a mid-grade one was even more expensive, costing over a hundred, and high-grade ones were almost impossible to find. As for top-grade ones... they were practically legendary items!