The Redford Order, although one of the seven great sword immortal sects of the Southern Nanzhan Continent, does not have many members. Aside from the sect’s founder John Brooks, there are only twenty-four direct disciples of David Stone’s generation. David Stone is ranked sixteenth among the disciples under John Redford, and is the one with the dullest aptitude and the least favored by their master. Even the flying sword he uses was not forged for him by John Brooks, who couldn’t be bothered, but was simply a low-quality sword seized from a demonic sect disciple and handed down to him.

At the time, John Brooks said, “Who knows how many years it will take before you can even ride a sword. Although this sword is of poor quality, it’s more than enough for you to practice our sect’s sword techniques.”

David Stone is the third son of Daniel Stone, the Grand General of Huaxu Kingdom. There’s quite a story behind how he managed to become a disciple of Redford.

Because The Redford Order and several other orthodox sects are the main forces supporting Huaxu Kingdom in resisting the six southern nations and the northern sea demon clans, they often accept noble children from Huaxu as disciples. However, these people are destined to serve the court, so they rarely devote themselves to cultivation. After learning some impressive martial skills and a few techniques for defeating enemies, they leave the sect to join the army and command troops.

David Stone, being born of a concubine and having lost his mother early, was ostracized by his clan. Hot-tempered in his youth, he caused a major disaster, fell out with several brothers, and developed deep resentment. Only then did Daniel Stone send him to The Redford Order to learn the arts—not expecting much from him, just hoping for some peace of mind. David Stone took advantage of this opportunity to join Redford, so whether he succeeded or not, John Brooks didn’t really care. Otherwise, this Mr. Redford would never have accepted such an untalented disciple.

Knowing his own poor aptitude, David Stone was nevertheless diligent in his cultivation, devoting almost all his time to it. This time, David Stone tried to forcefully break through a bottleneck that had stalled him for a long time, but something went wrong during cultivation—he suffered a qi deviation, his soul scattered, and his bleak life ended in regret. By a twist of fate, however, he was possessed and reborn by the transmigrator Brian White.

“If you’ve transmigrated, clap your hands! If you’ve transmigrated, stomp your feet! If you’ve transmigrated, play with your little jj, have a wank, if you’ve transmigrated, just accept your fate…”

A European research institute once conducted a survey, saying that when people suddenly find themselves in a strange environment—like a deserted park at midnight, or the wilderness, or an abandoned factory—13.9% of them choose to sing to bolster their courage, and the songs they pick are usually not the ones they belt out at karaoke.

Brian White couldn’t remember where he’d heard this perverse little ditty. He just remembered that in the video, a scrawny, lecherous man who called himself Hal Clark was completely naked except for a pair of white women’s panties with Pleasant Goat printed on them, and sang this transmigration song with a wolf-like howl, so soul-stirring it was like insisting on sprinkling cumin on your little brother while getting a blowjob from a sex worker—just to be different.

This transmigration song was so powerful that after hearing it once, Brian White never forgot it. Singing it now seemed perfectly fitting for the occasion. Using such a soul-shaking song as the finale to his previous life, Brian White briskly dusted off his tattered blue Daoist robe and accepted his new identity—after all, what choice did he have?

What saddened Brian White was that, despite his loud singing and shouting, no one paid him any attention. The The Redford Order disciple named David Stone had chosen such a remote place to cultivate that even if he screamed himself hoarse, no one would know he was trapped here.

“This unlucky bastard, why did he pick such a godforsaken corner where not even rabbits shit? It’s so hard to even find someone to help me leave!”

Thinking of this damned problem, Brian White was momentarily dazed!

The sword immortal lineage is the path followed by ancient cultivators, the oldest among the four great schools of qi, talisman, artifact, and soul. It inherits the true teachings of the ancient qi refiners and has always been regarded as the orthodox, legitimate tradition. Thus, sword immortals have always looked down on other cultivation paths—even talisman cultivators, who also descend from the ancient qi refiners, are considered outsiders, not equals. As for artifact and soul cultivators, they are simply dismissed as heretical.

No matter the sect or school in Southern Nanzhan Continent, regardless of differences in cultivation methods, there are nine major realms: Embryonic Movement, Entry to Aperture, Resonance, Condensing Fiendish Qi, Refining Gang Qi, Forming the Golden Core, Establishing the Dao Foundation, Transcending Tribulation, and Nurturing. Achieving the Golden Core means longevity is within reach; establishing the Dao Foundation opens the gates to immortality; passing the ninefold heart tribulation makes one barely half an immortal; nurturing immortal qi and refining the primordial embryo leads to ascension to the heavenly palaces and the study of primordial spirit arts. Anything above the primordial spirit is the true domain of immortals—ethereal and indescribable, beyond the reach of mortal cultivators, and only those in the celestial palaces of the nine heavens can comprehend it.

David Stone had been a disciple under John Redford for nearly twenty years, cultivating the Redford arts for almost as long, yet his progress was stuck at the threshold of Entry to Aperture, unable to reach the Resonance level. Unable to sense the fluctuations of vital energy between heaven and earth, he could not attune to the spirit of his flying sword, nor control it or wield magical tools from a distance. In any sword-flying sect of Southern Nanzhan Continent, a disciple who cannot master sword control after twenty years of hard cultivation is considered a great embarrassment.