"Master, are you all right?" A servant's voice came from outside the door.
Wei Yuefu, inside the family shrine, answered at once. "It's nothing. I knocked over a memorial tablet. Go on about your business."
Wei Yuefu had no mind to spare for the servant just then. His gaze was fixed on the corpse before him, which was slowly turning transparent.
As a transmigrator who had come into this world through the womb, he'd felt that living through the Spiritual Energy Revival was fantastical enough already.
But this situation was the first of its kind he had ever encountered.
Today was the death anniversary of his parents. He had come to the family shrine to pay his respects, and then this person had suddenly appeared and attacked him.
And then Wei Yuefu had turned the tables and killed him.
"Little brother, I think something's off about this guy," Wei Yuefu said gravely.
"Aww?" A spirit entity in the form of a one-year-old child floated out. He was Wei Yuefu's younger brother, named Wei Geci.
The truth was, the Spiritual Energy Revival had never been a risk-free thing, nor was it something from which everyone could gain supernatural power.
When the Spiritual Energy Revival had only just begun, it was more like a plague. Those without supernatural aptitude went unaffected, while those with aptitude developed symptoms of varying severity depending on the quality of that aptitude. The better the aptitude, the more severe the symptoms, and so at first the Spiritual Energy Revival had been classified as a disaster.
Wei Yuefu and his younger brother Wei Geci both possessed aptitude. His younger brother was too young and hadn't been able to pull through.
Fortunately, Heaven always leaves people a way out. His younger brother's aptitude was top-tier, and his survival instinct at the brink of death had awakened a supernatural power, so that after he died he became Wei Yuefu's Companion Spirit.
As for whether he counted as truly alive—in Wei Yuefu's eyes, his younger brother was still alive. The actual truth of it... Wei Yuefu knew clearly enough in his heart.
On top of that, his younger brother was also subject to a limit: forever after, he could only keep the body and mind of a one-year-old. But having become a spirit entity, his brother was formless and intangible, and could fly. And only Wei Yuefu could see him, hear him, and touch him—which had helped him a great deal.
Normally his younger brother surely couldn't have understood Wei Yuefu's words, but now that he was his Companion Spirit, through their heart-to-heart connection he could understand Wei Yuefu.
As for the two brothers' parents, one had died of illness and one had died in difficult childbirth. Neither had lived to see the Spiritual Energy Revival, passing away before it came.
"Whether it's a Qi Refiner's divine ability or a spell, neither can pull off teleportation," Wei Yuefu went on. "Then there's the way he fought. It looked a bit like martial arts."
The so-called Qi Refiners were the court's official designation for those who possessed supernatural power on account of the Spiritual Energy Revival. In Wei Yuefu's view, though, these Qi Refiners were less like cultivators and more like bloodline spellcasters.
Of course, Qi Refiners could also absorb spiritual energy for passive growth. It was just that in the early days of the Spiritual Energy Revival everyone was still groping in the dark, and there were no cultivation methods or the like yet. At present they could improve only by eating things that carried spiritual energy, or else passively through breathing—but either way, the efficiency was extremely low.
His younger brother was Wei Yuefu's divine ability, though he was a special case. Wei Yuefu himself had not gained a divine ability during the Spiritual Energy Revival, only a single spell. Lofty as the names sounded—Qi Refiner, divine ability, spell—in reality it was all at a low-magic level. A Qi Refiner was only a little stronger than an ordinary person, with a few extra supernatural abilities that required spiritual power to unleash. Those with good aptitude could gain a higher spiritual power cap.
Fortunately, his younger brother's ability was of the continuously consuming kind—it couldn't be switched off, but its energy drain was extremely low.
And the person who had suddenly appeared and attacked him presented two enormous problems. First, teleportation was simply something no Qi Refiner could manage. Second, his fighting style and physical strength far exceeded the standard of any Qi Refiner who possessed body-type divine abilities or spells.
"It's fine if you don't understand." Wei Yuefu understood what his brother meant—he was just a child, after all; what could he be expected to grasp?
As he thought this, the corpse had already completely vanished.
At that, Wei Yuefu was of course utterly baffled. But the next moment, a panel appeared before his eyes.
Except it was all in classical Chinese, very much in keeping with an ancient dynasty...
Luckily the information on the panel could be converted, and in the end, according to Wei Yuefu's own thoughts, it transformed into something more plainly expressed.
【World Proxy qualification acquired. You have become a World Proxy.】
【Name Register: Wei Yuefu】
【Ranking: Earth Grade + Heaven Grade (Heavenly Ranking, ranked third)】
【Essence: 6/7】
【Qi: 6/7】
【Spirit: 6/7】
【Fate: Transmigrator (1. Before the first descent into each world, you may choose to replace the identity of a deceased person who held an unfulfilled obsession and carry out the mission; after completing the obsession of the one you replaced, you may obtain all of their talents, which will automatically adapt into a divine ability. 2. If you die while holding an identity, that current identity will serve as a substitute for one death.)】
【Divine Ability: Companion Primordial Spirit (A special companion spirit entity that can carry out Descent Missions together with you.)】
【Spell: Yellow Turban Strongman (Summon one Yellow Turban Strongman, who automatically performs agricultural work within a designated area according to commands; the produce and byproducts it yields carry a faint spiritual energy effect.)】
"Truly, a divine ability cannot overcome fate."
"The Earth Grade and Heaven Grade in the ranking should be the aptitude of my brother and me together," Wei Yuefu thought. "Even added together, we only rank third on the Heavenly Ranking. Then what sort of heaven-defying figures are the top two?"
The court had a clear classification for aptitude, and Heaven Grade belonged to the confidential tier. Since Wei Yuefu was publicly only a Mystic Grade, he had no way of knowing. He couldn't prove his younger brother's existence, and he couldn't be bothered to explain—it conveniently let him hold something in reserve. And this Earth Grade aptitude of his was in fact a boost brought about by his younger brother's lingering blessing.
Earth Grade meant possessing a divine ability; Mystic Grade meant possessing a complete spell; Yellow Grade meant possessing an incomplete spell.
"Looking at these stats, it seems I haven't reached my limit yet. At my current stage, the limit for my three attributes—Essence, Qi, and Spirit—is 7 points, but I'm only at 6." He turned the thought over. On this point Wei Yuefu didn't overthink it; it was the same logic as physical training—a limit was never so easily reached. An ordinary adult's Essence, Qi, and Spirit should be around 3 to 5 points, and the Qi attribute might even be 0, since Qi was spiritual power, and only Qi Refiners had it.
Before long, new information appeared.
【The qualification assessment for the first batch of Proxies is complete. All World Proxies, please prepare to carry out a Descent Mission in two hours' time.】
【Please choose the identity you will replace this time.】
【1. Martial arts school disciple. Gender: Male. Talents: Whale Swallowing and Silkworm Devouring + Dragon Vitality and Tiger Vigor + ???? + ????】
【2. Top courtesan. Gender: Female. Talents: Innate Alluring Bones + Graceful Socialite】
【3. Failed scholar. Gender: Male. Talents: Photographic Memory + Six-Direction Vision + Eight-Direction Hearing】
【4. Do not replace any identity.】
"A martial arts school disciple..." Wei Yuefu's eyes narrowed as a thought surfaced in his mind. "That makes sense. The guy I turned the tables on must have been a martial artist."
He ignored the top courtesan outright, and after a moment's thought chose the martial arts school disciple. He didn't know why the last two talents showed as question marks. In truth he had also considered the failed scholar—but the problem was that even a scholar who could see in six directions and hear in eight had still ended up dead. That showed the environment he'd been in was not much better than the martial arts school disciple's. Choosing the martial arts school disciple, he could at least gamble on having the strength to protect himself.