Zhang Yuhe quickly surveyed his surroundings and confirmed there was no immediate danger. Without hesitation, he summoned the game system.
He had to see the immortal cultivation qualifications he had just activated.
Although a person's qualifications are determined at birth, the moment of activation still felt like a revelation. It wasn't a lottery, technically—but emotionally, it might as well have been.
It felt like holding a scratch-off ticket. The result was already fixed, but the thrill was in the reveal.
"I just hope it's not something tragic, like 'mortal trying to cultivate immortals,'" Zhang muttered as he opened the system panel.
A digitized interface appeared before him.
At the center of the screen was his personal information:
Name: Zhang YuheSect: NoneRealm: MortalSpiritual Roots: Gold (Dao-grade), Wood (Dao-grade), Water (Dao-grade), Fire (Dao-grade), Earth (Dao-grade), Wind (Dao-grade), Thunder (Dao-grade), Ice (Dao-grade)Special Physique: Hunyuan Dao BodyLuck: GoodComprehension: ???Skill: Qi-Inducing ArtMagical Power: None
"Holy shit."
Zhang stared at the panel in disbelief.
"Did I save the Milky Way in my previous life or something?"
In cultivation terms, talent was mostly judged by spiritual roots. The better the roots, the faster one could cultivate—and the easier it was to break through bottlenecks.
Zhang's eyes jumped straight to the spiritual roots section.
According to Yufantian's official site, spiritual roots were ranked from Grade 1 to Grade 9, and above that were Earth-grade, Heaven-grade, Saint-grade, and finally, the legendary Dao-grade.
Grades 1–3 were considered low—barely useful. Cultivators with such roots had almost no chance of significant advancement. They'd be lucky to survive the foundational stages.
Grades 4–6 were medium. With hard work and enough resources, those cultivators could walk a respectable path in the cultivation world.
Grades 7–9 were high. Cultivators in this range were seen as the future leaders of the sects and the world itself.
Above Grade 9, things got mythical.
Earth-grade roots were said to appear once in a billion people. Heaven-grade, once in ten thousand years. Saint-grade and Dao-grade? No confirmed records—only legends and ancient scrolls.
And Zhang Yuhe had eight spiritual roots.
All of them Dao-grade.
He scratched his head, half-laughing, half-stunned.
"Am I... a main character?"
Even the Yufantian website hadn't explained what having eight Dao-grade roots would mean. He had already blown past their scale.
"With this kind of talent, cultivating should be like riding a rocket."
Zhang's thoughts surged ahead. Would he truly ascend to the immortal world? Could he really live forever?
Then he stopped himself.
"Don't get arrogant. This is just the beginning. I don't even know if this is real yet."
He took a deep breath.
"This might just be a hyper-immersive game... or a dream."
He forced himself to calm down and returned to the attribute panel.
Just now, he'd been so fixated on the spiritual roots that he hadn't even looked at the other attributes.
"What's this... Hunyuan Dao Body?"
He racked his brain for any reference from the Yufantian website. Nothing came to mind.
"So I have some kind of special physique? Something others don't have?"
He shrugged. "Whatever it is, special should be good. Hopefully."
He moved on.
Luck: Good.
That seemed promising. According to the website, "Good" was the highest recorded value for luck so far.
But Zhang didn't think too much of it.
"Luck's a weird thing. It's better not to jinx it."
Comprehension: ???
Zhang scratched his head again.
"Isn't comprehension supposed to be on a scale from 1 to 10? What the hell are these question marks?"
Was it a bug?
Or did it mean his comprehension was off the charts?
"Surely they're not saying I have zero…"
He shook the thought away.
"Forget it. No need to stress over the stuff I don't understand."
Next, he looked at the Skill section.
It showed "Qi-Inducing Art." That matched what he'd felt when entering the game—a sudden flood of knowledge had appeared in his mind. This must be it.
As for magical powers: none, yet. Understandable. He was still just a mortal.
After studying the panel for a while, Zhang closed it with a satisfied smile and turned his attention to the rest of the game system.
Yufantian was surprisingly minimalist. Only four core functions:
Personal Attributes
Chat Channel
Trading Market
Logout
Zhang clicked on the Trading Market, curious.
Empty.
Of course. Everyone had just logged in. No one had anything to sell, and no one had money to buy.
"Let's see what people are saying."
He opened the Chat Channel, and messages streamed past in a blur.
"Damn, you guys are way too excited," he chuckled. "The chat's exploding."
Unlike typical MMOs, Yufantian only had one global chat. No local, regional, or team-based channels.
With nearly 10 million players online—each having passed the qualification test—the chat was absolute chaos.
"This isn't a game. It's a real world. You can feel it.""No way tech could pull this off. This is beyond VR.""Bro, we're cultivating immortals and you're still talking about science?""Enough philosophy! What are your spiritual roots? I got 4th-grade Fire… wuwuwu…""You think that's bad? I got 2nd-grade. Don't even wanna talk.""3rd-grade Gold root reporting in.""5th-grade Water here. Could be worse.""1st-grade Earth… I wanna go home.""Don't panic! We're cultivators now. Our path is to defy heaven's will!""Defy heaven's will? Bro, I'm defying my will to stay awake. Might just log out and nap.""Good thing there's a logout button. Otherwise, I'd be terrified.""Hahaha! I've got 7th-grade Fire! Come hug my thigh!""Hey, 7th-grade guy, where you at? Take me with you!"
Zhang grinned at the stream of banter. There was something oddly comforting about it all—human nature didn't change, even in a digital cultivation world.
He closed the chat for now and leaned back.
Everything was just beginning.
And he was already far ahead.