Li Nianfan spent a long time believing he had been scammed.
After waking up in a cultivation world filled with immortals, demons, and people capable of shattering mountains with a flick of their sleeves, he naturally expected some kind of powerful cheat to help him survive. Instead, the mysterious “Saint System” attached to him focused on things that felt completely useless for cultivation, painting, cooking, music, literature, architecture, gardening, even mathematics.
No martial techniques.
No cultivation manuals.
Nothing that could actually keep him alive in a world where ordinary mortals died every day without anyone caring.
Then the System vanished entirely, leaving him stranded with no spiritual roots and no way to cultivate.
At that point, Li Nianfan made what he considered the smartest decision of his life, stay as far away from cultivators as possible.
Deep within the mountains, far removed from sect conflicts and dangerous experts, he built himself a peaceful courtyard and settled into an ordinary existence. He grows vegetables, fishes occasionally, writes poetry when he feels bored, and spends most of his time trying not to attract attention from the terrifying people outside.
To Li Nianfan, it’s a simple life.
To everyone else, it’s horrifying.
The chickens wandering casually around his courtyard radiate pressure strong enough to unsettle powerful cultivators. Paintings hanging on his walls contain insights people spend centuries searching for. Meals prepared from his garden carry effects comparable to legendary spiritual treasures, while the music he plays absentmindedly leaves visitors shaken long after they leave.
The problem is that Li Nianfan notices none of this.
Completely convinced he is an ordinary mortal pretending to survive among immortals, he treats every guest carefully and politely, terrified of offending someone powerful enough to erase him accidentally. Meanwhile, the visitors themselves leave his courtyard mentally overwhelmed, each encounter feeling less like meeting a person and more like brushing against some incomprehensible existence hidden behind simplicity.
Rumors begin spreading quietly through the cultivation world about a mysterious recluse living in the mountains, someone whose casual words seem to contain profound truths connected directly to the Dao itself.
Some dismiss the stories as exaggeration.
Others become obsessed with finding him.
Then certain influential figures start appearing near the mountain courtyard one after another, and the misunderstandings surrounding Li Nianfan grow larger than anyone intended. Sects, experts, and hidden old monsters slowly begin realizing that the “ordinary man” living in isolation may be connected to something far beyond cultivation itself.
Ironically, Li Nianfan remains the only person completely unaware of it.
