Pain! Headache! Excruciating pain!
Qin Yang swore this was the most agonizing awakening he'd ever experienced.
Opening his eyes, he found himself in a dense primeval forest... and at the bottom of a deep pit!
The sound of shovels digging soil reached his ears as dirt continuously rained down from above, pelting his body.
"Are they... trying to bury me?" Qin Yang's mind went blank for a moment before a flood of memories suddenly surged forth.
After a brief moment, Qin Yang was utterly speechless.
It turned out he'd been transported to another world, inhabiting the body of a pitiful outer disciple. Same name, same age - sixteen.
How pitiful, you ask? His family heirloom jade pendant had been stolen, and he'd been beaten to death before his corpse was discarded.
"Damn it all!" Qin Yang tried to rise, but a metallic chime echoed in his mind.
Copy System activation successful. Host: Qin Yang.
"System?" Qin Yang's heart raced with excitement. He immediately demanded, "What functions do you have?"
The Copy System can replicate any opponent's abilities, including cultivation methods, martial techniques, dan refining skills... even random movements can be copied.
"Once replicated, the host will master the ability and automatically upgrade it to the highest level."
"Replication can span one major realm, but cross-realm replication won't elevate the host's major realm."
"To advance the host's major realm, ten cultivation methods and ten martial arts matching the current realm must be replicated. Meeting this condition automatically advances to the next realm. Cross-realm replicated methods count, but aren't double-counted."
"So powerful!" Qin Yang's excitement surged. "Isn't this like turning an opponent's own techniques against them? Others' arduous cultivation efforts would essentially be benefiting me!"
However, Qin Yang considered another issue and asked, "System, if an opponent's martial art proficiency is also top-tier, wouldn't that result in a stalemate?"
Complementary and conflicting principles exist in all things. No martial art is absolutely perfect. By continuously replicating and mastering all martial arts, one can naturally find countermeasures.
Qin Yang nodded. Now this was intriguing!
"Perfect! I just need to walk through crowds, and I'll acquire everyone's abilities. Keep moving like this, and I'll become invincible in the world!"
The system added, "You can only replicate your opponent's abilities. Do you understand what an opponent is? It's not just mortal enemies—any ordinary competition counts as an opponent."
Qin Yang's eyes darted about. Before he could speak, the system interjected again: "You must not initiate combat!"
"As long as I don't strike first, I can do whatever I want, right?" Qin Yang asked.
"Correct."
Now Qin Yang felt reassured. As long as someone else made the first move, he could replicate their entire set of abilities!
Watching the dirt piling up on his body, Qin Yang smiled. Here was a perfect opportunity to test his new power!
"Hello there, Senior Brother Sun Mu?" Qin Yang emerged from the pit, his body still caked in mud.
Sun Mu was the hardworking disciple who had been toiling away. As an outer disciple of the Thousand Hidden Sect, he possessed a late-stage Qi Refining Realm cultivation, slightly higher than Qin Yang's.
Sun Mu stiffened as he turned to face the supposedly dead man now grinning brightly at him. His scalp prickled with unease.
"You... you're not dead?" Sun Mu stammered, his shovel trembling in his hands.
"I died a horrible death! Why did you all want me dead?" Qin Yang taunted, relishing the moment.
Sun Mu fell to his knees with a thud, muttering through his fear, "Every wrong has its righter, every debt its debtor. Li Xiaoqian coveted your jade pendant, so she made Elder Brother Zhou Shi target you. I only handle the burial - don't blame me if vengeful spirits come knocking!"
"Hm?" Qin Yang's eyebrow arched. Li Xiaoqian was a striking female disciple among the Outer Sect, while Zhou Shi held considerable influence.
They'd kill me over a jade pendant? This makes no sense.
"The truth isn't so simple! Spill everything you know!" Qin Yang lowered his voice, his tone darkening.
Sun Mu's words tumbled out like spilled beans. "It was just a coincidence you died..."
Zhou Shi's grandfather was an Outer Sect elder overseeing the Pill Dispensary, responsible for allocating monthly cultivation pills to disciples.
Each disciple was supposed to receive two Foundation Establishment Pills monthly, but Zhou Shi secretly reduced the allocation to just one pill per person!
With the Outer Sect Competition approaching in a month, disciples were focused on cultivation. The pill shortage had reached a breaking point, and they'd chosen Qin Yang as their sacrificial lamb.
"Kill a chicken to scare the monkeys? What a coincidence?" Qin Yang's eyes blazed with fury as he sneered. "The grandson of an Outer Sect elder dares to act like he owns the place?"
He deliberately shifted his stance, casting his shadow directly into Sun Mu's line of sight.
Sun Mu saw Qin Yang's shadow and instantly realized he'd been played. This Qin Yang wasn't some vengeful spirit at all!
"Ah, so you're not quite dead yet!" Sun Mu's teeth itched with rage as he sprang to his feet, glaring daggers at Qin Yang. "Then let me finish you properly! I'll rip your head off and leave you without a whole corpse!"
Qin Yang toyed with his words. "Didn't you say 'every wrong has its perpetrator'? Now you're afraid of vengeful spirits?"
"Seeking death!" Sun Mu roared in humiliation, his voice cracking. "Tiger Dash Punch!"
Opponent's technique copied: Tiger Tempering Art. Realm automatically upgraded to Qi Refining Realm - Perfect Stage!
Opponent's basic martial art copied: Tiger Dash Punch. Automatically upgraded to peak mastery!
"Tiger Dash Punch!" Qin Yang growled, mirroring Sun Mu's stance. Yet the aura surrounding him was utterly different.
Qin Yang radiated the primal ferocity of a true demonic tiger, while Sun Mu looked like nothing more than a cub.
Thud! The two fists collided.
Pfft! Sun Mu spat out blood as he flew backward, his eyes wide with terror.
A horrifying indentation marred his chest. Before he hit the ground, he was already dead.
Until his last breath, he couldn't comprehend how this Tiger Dash Punch—originally bestowed by Zhou Shi—had been mastered by Qin Yang. Moreover, Qin Yang's proficiency even surpassed that of his senior brother!
"One punch kill?" Qin Yang shook his hand, finding it almost too effortless.
Still, this proved the Replication System... was truly invincible!
System: First use of Replication System. Reward: Beginner's Gift Pack containing technique: Yin-Yang All-Embracing Art.
"What? Beginner's Gift Pack?" Qin Yang called out to the system, opening his character panel.
Host: Qin Yang
Cultivation: Qi Refining Realm - Peak
Techniques: Yin-Yang All-Embracing Art. 1/10.
Combat Skills: Tiger Dash Punch. 1/10.
All abilities were at the top-tier for his current realm, but the panel didn't explicitly indicate this. What did that 1/10 mean?
1/10 is the condition for upgrading. Copy nine more cultivation techniques and nine more martial arts to upgrade.
"So that's how it works," Qin Yang said. "But isn't this cultivation technique a copy of the Tiger Tempering Art? What's the Yin-Yang All-Embracing Art?"
The Yin-Yang All-Embracing Art is the supreme cultivation technique, capable of absorbing all elements. It possesses all the advantages of the Replication System.
Qin Yang understood now. This technique was perfectly designed to complement the Replication System. Some powerful martial arts required specific cultivation techniques to activate, and the Yin-Yang All-Embracing Art was tailored for this purpose. With it, he wouldn't need to switch between different cultivation techniques when using various martial arts.
Thanks to the Yin-Yang All-Embracing Art, Qin Yang could even use two conflicting martial arts simultaneously - something no one in the world could do!
"Zhou Shi! Li Xiaoqian! You just wait!"