2026-08-11 05:20:20Jasper stood motionless in the center of the training arena, legs trembling beneath him while the flood of foreign memories continued to settle inside his skull like sediment sinking to the bottom of a lake. The two robed men still held his arms, steadying him so he wouldn’t collapse.
“Young Master, are you alright?” the older man asked, his voice thick with worry.
Jasper barely heard him. The words sounded distant and muffled, as if echoing from the far end of a long tunnel, while his thoughts scrambled over each other like panicked rats. The only question that managed to cut through the chaos was the one that mattered most.
Who am I now?
The answer came swiftly through the merging memories, clicking into place with the certainty of a key turning in a lock.
Jasper Stonehart. Third son of the Stonehart Family, a mid-tier noble house in the Australis Kingdom on the Star Sky Continent.
The Stonehart Family was neither the strongest nor the weakest in the kingdom. Their true value lay not in military might or cultivation prowess but in the extensive web of connections they had woven over generations—friends in high places and alliances that kept them relevant despite their modest power. The original owner of this body had grown up surrounded by luxury: servants, private tutors, fine clothes, and the best food money could buy.
Yet he had always been overlooked.
His two older brothers were talented cultivators who brought pride and glory to the family name, their achievements spoken of in reverent tones at noble gatherings. Jasper, on the other hand, was weak. His cultivation progressed at a snail’s pace no matter how hard he trained, and he struggled with even the most basic martial techniques that came naturally to others. Most people in the family barely remembered he existed, and those who did usually wished they didn’t.
He was simply… the disappointing third son.
As the memories continued to integrate, one particular recollection stood out sharper and more vivid than the rest. Jasper’s eyes widened as the pieces clicked together with horrifying clarity.
The Australis Kingdom. The Star Sky Continent. The Stonehart Family.
His heart began to race, pounding against his ribs like a caged animal.
No. No way. This can’t be…
He knew these names. He had read them before, late at night on his worn-out couch while hiding from a world that had turned its back on him. This wasn’t just any cultivation world—this was the world of the web novel he used to read back on Earth.
Path of the Heavenly Sword Emperor.
And if this was truly that story, Jasper was in deep trouble.
He knew exactly what fate awaited the Stonehart Family in the original plot, even though they were barely important characters who existed mostly to fill background roles and provide occasional plot convenience. Still, he remembered how the original Jasper Stonehart’s life would end, and it was anything but pleasant.
*I’m screwed. Completely and utterly screwed.*
“My lord? Young Master, are you alright?”
The older man’s voice pulled him back to reality as a gentle hand shook his shoulder. Jasper blinked and focused on the man’s face—kind eyes, neatly tied gray hair, and simple but well-maintained robes that spoke of decades of loyal service.
“You look lost, Young Master,” the man said softly. “Did you hit your head too hard during the fall?”
Jasper took a slow, steadying breath and tried to calm the chaos in his mind. The two people buzzing around him with worry weren’t helping, and a bitter thought surfaced before he could stop it—they were just characters in a story, nothing real about them.
But then again, he was a character now too, wasn’t he? So there was no difference between them, no hierarchy of realness that made him special. They were all trapped in the same narrative, playing roles they hadn’t chosen.
He looked at the two people before him and replied, his voice sounding younger and smoother than he expected.
“Who are you?”
The older man’s face drained of color. His eyes widened in horror while the younger attendant beside him gasped sharply.
“Young Master!” the older man cried, immediately reaching up to examine Jasper’s head with frantic care. “Oh no… Oh no! This is bad! Very bad!”
The younger man began bowing repeatedly, his forehead nearly touching his knees. “Forgive us! We failed to protect you properly! This is all our fault!”
Jasper stared at them in confusion as the older man continued checking his scalp as if searching for hidden injuries.
“Do you remember your name? Where you live? Who your father is?”
“Please, Young Master, try to remember!” the younger man pleaded desperately.
Their over-the-top reactions were so dramatic that Jasper nearly laughed despite the situation, because honestly, this was straight out of every amnesia plot he’d ever read. He raised his hands quickly to stop them.
“Wait, wait… I’m fine. My head just hurts, and everything feels a little fuzzy.”
The older man let out a deep sigh of relief, his shoulders sagging. “Thank the heavens! We feared you had lost your memory completely!”
“Young Master, I am Chris,” he said, bowing deeply. “I have served the Stonehart Family for twenty years. This is my nephew, Victor. We are your personal attendants.”
Chris. Victor. The names felt familiar now that the memories had settled, fitting into place like puzzle pieces he hadn’t known were missing.
“Right… Chris,” Jasper said, nodding slowly. “Of course.”
Chris still looked concerned, his brow furrowed with worry. “Young Master, what is the last thing you remember?”
Jasper thought carefully, drawing from the original owner’s memories and letting them wash over him like scenes from a movie he’d somehow been cast in.
Today had been a training day. The entrance examination for the prestigious Azure Sky Sect was approaching soon—one of the most powerful sects in the kingdom, and every noble family desperately wanted their children to join. But unlike his two older brothers, who had their pick of sects, this was the only one Jasper could reasonably go for, and everyone knew it.
He had been training in this arena when visitors arrived.
Deen River, the young master of the much more powerful River Family, had come with someone special.
Marlene Azure.
Just recalling her name caused a rush of warm, unfamiliar emotions to surge through him, and Jasper realized with a start that these feelings weren’t his—they belonged to the original Jasper, remnants of a heart that had wanted something it could never have.
The original Jasper had been deeply infatuated with her. Marlene was considered one of the greatest beauties in the city: long, silky black hair, bright intelligent eyes, and a soft, gentle voice that could make any man forget his own name. The original Jasper had been too shy to ever approach her properly, watching her from afar at noble gatherings and dreaming of conversations he was too nervous to start.
Deen knew about this crush—of course he did—and loved using it as a weapon.
That day, Deen had deliberately brought Marlene to the training arena to humiliate Jasper in front of her.
“Hey, Jasper!” Deen had called out with a mocking grin, his voice carrying across the arena. “I heard you’ve been training hard. How about a friendly spar? Show Lady Marlene what the Stonehart family’s third son can do!”
It was obviously a trap. Deen was far stronger and more talented, and everyone watching knew this wasn’t a friendly invitation but a public execution dressed up as sport. Yet Jasper couldn’t refuse—not in front of Marlene, not with her watching and waiting. Backing down would have made him look like a coward, and he had spent his whole life trying to prove he wasn’t one.
The fight had ended quickly.
Deen toyed with him, dodging Jasper’s clumsy strikes with lazy ease and making him look foolish before finally sweeping his legs and slamming him hard onto the stone floor. His head cracked against the ground with a sickening sound, and everything went black.
Deen had laughed, standing over him with triumph in his eyes.
“Is that all? I expected more from a Stonehart.”
Marlene had watched the entire humiliating display, and the original Jasper never clearly remembered her expression—pity? Disgust? He didn’t know. All he remembered was the sound of their footsteps as they left together, growing fainter and fainter until silence swallowed him whole.
Then… the original Jasper had died.
The head injury was worse than it appeared, and his broken spirit finally gave out, unable to bear the weight of one more humiliation, one more reminder that he would never be enough.
That was the exact moment the Jasper from Earth took over this body.
Jasper frowned, turning the thought over in his mind. It was weird for someone to actually die from a heartbreak—or more accurately, a heart shame, since it seemed less about romantic devastation and more about being publicly humiliated in front of someone he admired. Still, it was strange and honestly just bad writing to kill a character simply because his crush watched him get beaten up without doing anything.
Who wrote this story? He wondered. And why did I have to end up in it?
Chris cleared his throat gently, pulling Jasper from his spiraling thoughts. “Young Master, perhaps we should get you inside and let you rest. You’ve had a difficult day.”
Jasper looked at the two men—his attendants now, apparently—and nodded slowly, because what else could he do? He had no idea how this world worked beyond the vague recollections of a novel he’d read for escapism, no clue how to navigate the politics and dangers of a cultivation society, and no plan for how to survive the fate that awaited the Stonehart Family.
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Chapter 26 A Gift and a Cage
A cold wind swept through the frozen clearing as night settled over the land. Ice spread across the earth in slow, creeping patterns while deep cracks split the ground like veins beneath ancient skin. Even the air felt cold and strange.At the edge of the clearing, a young woman rested against the trunk of a tree that had long since frozen solid. Her dark hair spilled over her shoulders, and her eyes remained peacefully closed. She possessed the same beauty as a frozen lake—quiet, untouchable, and dangerous.Gwen's breathing was slow and steady. Despite the freezing landscape surrounding her, an unnatural calm lingered around her body, making it seem as though she had become part of the endless winter itself. Beside her rested her katana. The blade was completely encased in opaque white frost.Then… a faint crack appeared then another followed. Hairline fractures raced across the frozen shell before multiplying at an astonishing speed.Crack… Crack… Crack…The ice exploded into count
Chapter 25 Blood on the Floor
Aris looked over his new student—the one he'd chosen… or forced into becoming his disciple, depending on who was telling the story. If Jasper were the one telling it, he'd calmly explain that he'd been backed into a corner. Aris was a Spiritual Master Phase expert, while Jasper was barely in the Mortal Phase. What kind of choice was that?But there was one thing Aris didn't know. Jasper was no pushover. In his previous life, he'd been a rising actor in Hollywood. Even before the false murder accusations destroyed everything, that world had never been kind to naïve people. Backstabbing, manipulation, smiling faces hiding sharpened knives—he had survived that ruthless industry for years before it finally swallowed him whole.Now he had been thrown into an even crueler world, where cultivators could erase a person's existence with a single thought. If he wanted to survive, he needed a plan. Unfortunately, every path he considered led to the same dead end. He couldn't fight. Even if hi
Chapter 24 A New Roommate
On the restaurant's second floor, a lone guard leaned heavily against the balcony railing, staring down at the dining hall with wide, disbelieving eyes.His face had gone pale.Three assassins. Three peak Mortal Phase experts, hired specifically for this mission. Now they lay unconscious on the polished wooden floor. The man who had defeated them wasn't even breathing hard. He hadn't used a single thread of Chaos Energy. Only his bare hands and flawless movement.The guard's fingers tightened around the wooden railing until the hardwood groaned beneath his grip. This wasn't how things were supposed to happen. His young master had made it perfectly clear. Jasper Stoneheart—the third son of the Stoneheart family—was a useless waste of space with no talent, no influence, and certainly no powerful protectors. So why… why did someone like that appear at his side?A cultivator capable of defeating three peak Mortal Phase experts without even drawing on Chaos Energy wasn't someone a mid-tie
Chapter 23 Three Against One, and It Wasn’t Close
Inside Aris's Chaos World, he stood before his spiritual guardian. Every Master Phase cultivator possessed a guardian within their inner world—a mysterious existence born from the moment they defied the heavens and stepped beyond mortality itself.After giving the masked figure a few quiet instructions, Aris watched as it bowed deeply before dissolving into the ever-shifting mist. Back in the real world, however, he simply continued eating as though nothing had happened.Jasper, Chris, and Victor sat frozen across the table, not one of them touching the feast spread before them. Aris, on the other hand, ate with complete ease. Invisible wisps of gray smoke slowly seeped from his body, drifting across the polished wooden floor between tables before slipping beneath chairs and silently climbing toward the ceiling. No one noticed.The smoke gathered above the restaurant roof, twisting together until it formed the outline of a tall figure wrapped in layered robes the color of fading mist.
Chapter 22 The Free Meal
Aris pushed open the restaurant's carved wooden doors, and the four of them stepped inside. Warmth embraced them immediately. The rich aroma of freshly grilled beast meat, fragrant spirit herbs, roasted spices, and simmering broth filled the air, blending into a scent so inviting that it made the bustling restaurant feel warm and alive.The dining hall was spacious, its polished wooden floor reflecting the gentle glow of spirit lanterns suspended from the ceiling. Thick cedar pillars, intricately carved with drifting clouds and soaring cranes, supported the upper floor, while silk banners embroidered with mountains and rivers hung gracefully between them.Rows of sturdy wooden tables filled the hall, occupied by travelers, merchants, wandering cultivators, and noble families enjoying their meals. Waiters moved effortlessly through the crowded room, balancing heavy trays piled with steaming dishes and clay wine jars without spilling a single drop. Laughter and conversation blended t
Chapter 21 Master Phase
At the heart of the capital's marketplace, Aris moved like a streak of lightning. He slipped effortlessly through the crowded streets, weaving between merchants, vaulting over stacked wooden crates, and disappearing into the flow of people as though he had become part of it.Chris stayed right on his heels. Despite his advanced age, the old servant matched every sudden turn without breaking a sweat, his robes fluttering only slightly as he chased after the mysterious stranger.Victor, however, wasn't nearly as fortunate. His breathing quickly grew ragged, and with every passing street he fell farther behind until he finally had to brace himself against a fruit stall, desperately trying to catch his breath before forcing his aching legs forward once more.The chase finally came to an abrupt halt inside a narrow stone alley was a dead end. Aris skidded across the worn pavement just as Chris appeared directly before him. Without saying a word, the old servant thrust his palm toward Aris
