The morning mist clung to the jagged peaks of the Radiant Sky Sect like tattered silk. At the highest point of Clear Cloud Peak, a figure sat motionless against the rising sun.

Su Bai looked less like a man and more like a painting of a lonely deity.

His long, raven hair flowed over a robe of snow-white crane feathers and his skin was so pale it seemed carved from translucent mutton-fat jade. His features were sharp and his eyes were seemingly gazing into the very secrets of the Great Dao.

To any onlooker, he was the personification of "untouchable."

A few yards away, a young female disciple stood frozen.

Her breath hitched.

She wore the crisp, silver-lined robes of an Inner Sect disciple, having recently ascended to Verdant Peak.

Yet, looking at Su Bai, she still felt like a lowly outer sect servant.

’He’s so beautiful it’s frightening,’ she thought. ’Is he contemplating the laws of the universe? Or perhaps mourning the plight of the mortal realm?’

In reality, Su Bai was wondering if the mold on his last loaf of bread was green or blue.

He felt a presence and slowly turned his head. His movements were fluid, graceful, and to the girl... intimidatingly elegant.

When his gaze landed on her, she squeaked and dropped into a deep bow.

Su Bai let out a long, melodious sigh.

***

Six years. It had been six years since Su Bai "woke up" in this world.

In his previous life, he had been a corporate slave. A man whose blood was 40% caffeine and whose soul was owned by a tech conglomerate.

He had died at his desk, staring at a spreadsheet. When he opened his eyes again, he was a twelve-year-old boy being carried up a mountain by the Sect Master himself.

At twelve, this body was already in the Foundation Establishment Realm. In the cultivation world, he was a rare seed.

His coworkers back on Earth would have been green with envy. He had skipped the "9-to-5" of the mortal world and gone straight to the executive suite of immortality.

The problem is...

Su Bai had absolutely no memories of the body’s original owner. He had no idea who he was, where he came from, or how a twelve-year-old had managed to reach Foundation Establishment in the first place.

And he never got the chance to find out. Because the moment he tried to practice the Radiant Sky Manual, his life became a living nightmare.

While others felt the "warmth of Qi," Su Bai felt like he was swallowing broken glass and gargling molten lead. The more he cultivated, the more his power leaked.

He didn’t progress, he regressed.

The Sect Elders had been horrified. They tested his spirit root and recoiled.

It wasn’t a vibrant Wood Root like they expected. It looked like a piece of charred, blighted driftwood.

"A curse," they whispered. "He was too talented. The Heavens grew jealous and withered his roots."

But Su Bai knew better. It wasn’t the Heavens. It was his body.

He speculated that he might have a bizarre allergy to spiritual energy.

Spirit rice? It burned his throat.

Pure spring water? It felt like acid in his stomach.

High-grade pills? They violently destroyed his cultivation base.

Because of this, he had completely fallen from Foundation Establishment. He crashed through Qi Refining and was now sitting squarely in the Body Forging Realm... the absolute lowest tier.

He was essentially a fragile mortal with a very fancy title.

***

"Senior Brother," the girl called out sweetly, pulling him from his thoughts. "I... I have brought your monthly allowance. Ten low-grade spirit stones, a bag of spirit rice, and a jar of pure spring water."

Su Bai nodded slowly then gestured toward a flat rock. "Place it there, Junior Sister Liu."

Liu Meng obeyed instantly.

Years ago, she had been a struggling outer sect disciple.

That was when Su Bai, realizing he couldn’t eat "immortal food" without agonizing pain, had descended to the market. He had traded his high-grade rations for the cheapest, most pathetic mortal food he could find.

To the outer sect disciples, Su Bai was a saint. He gave them Spirit Rice in exchange for stale bread and cheap, watered-down tavern wine.

It was because of those trades that Liu Meng had skyrocketed into Foundation Establishment and entered the Inner Sect.

They thought he was testing their karma or showing "righteous benevolence."

In truth, Su Bai had just been trying to survive.

Since his body seemed to violently reject anything beneficial, he discovered that things devoid of spiritual energy... bypassed the agonizing pain.

The cheap tavern wine didn’t hurt him as much as the pure spring water. But the real breakthrough was the bread.

Even "normal" bread had a tiny bit of grain essence that made his stomach ache. It wasn’t until he let a loaf sit in the corner of his hut and turn fuzzy with mold that he found salvation. The mold had killed the spiritual essence.

Eating moldy bread was the first time in years he had actually felt full. It had made him cry.

...

"Senior Brother," Liu Meng asked. "Will you be coming down to the market again? The handymen and outer sect brothers and sisters still speak of your generosity."

Su Bai sighed again.

To her, it sounded like the wind through bamboo.

To him, it was the sound of a man who missed pizza but would settle for fermented dough.

"Perhaps," he said softly.

Liu Meng beamed. "As expected of Senior Brother! You are the model of our Righteous Sect. Six years of helping the weak without fail... I am so glad I got to know you."

Su Bai looked away.

’I’m not helping them, Meng. I’m just trying not to starve to death on a mountain of gold.’

Just then...

Liu Meng hesitated, becoming fidgety. Then, with a flash of light from her storage ring, she summoned a neatly wrapped box.

She presented it to Su Bai with both hands, bowing deeply.

"Happy 18th birthday, Senior Brother!"

Su Bai blinked.

18? Right. Today was the day. Back on Earth, 18 meant adulthood. Here, it just meant another year of being a beautiful, starving fraud.

His heart softened.

To him, Liu Meng was just a kid. He still felt like the middle-aged guy who died of overwork.

Instead of taking the gift immediately, he reached out and gently patted her head.

"Thank you as always, Meng. I appreciate it."

The girl’s face turned bright red. She thrust the box into his hands, squeaked, and bolted down the mountain path, completely forgetting she could now fly on a sword.

Su Bai watched her go. His pale face finally formed a genuine smile.

He opened the box to find a flask of high-grade wine.

’At least someone cares,’ he thought.

Suddenly, the world went still.

The wind stopped.

The birds fell silent.

A cold and mechanical sound echoed directly inside his skull.

[Ting!]

[Condition Met: Host has reached the age of 18.]

[Sign-In System has been unlocked.]

Su Bai froze, the flask of wine halfway to his lips.

.....

.....

.....

"Are you kidding me?" he whispered to the empty peak. "I had to eat moldy bread for six years before you showed up?!"