1 Ascension

"Today is the day, huh?"

Sitting with his legs off the edge of a tall building was Jean Foster - a 32 year old American adult from Columbus, Ohio. It was nighttime but the streets were still bustling with noise, the city was still so bright, and the roads as busy ever. He looked up to the dark sky, hoping to see a beautiful, starry scene. He knew he wouldn't, though, with all the light pollution. And he looked down at the people and cars below, wondering what they were thinking about. He stood up and turned away from the streets, walking a couple steps before turning back again. Running back to the edge, he jumped.

He was falling, slowly. Very slowly. Time was at a standstill. His eyes were filled with tears as a wave of complex emotions swept him away. With blurred eyes, wet cheeks, and a heavy heart, he looked up to the sky once more, for the last time, and closed eyes.

His life flashed before his eyes. He saw all the good times. He saw all the bad times. He saw things he couldn't forget. He saw things lost in the deepest part of his memory. He felt the same as in the memories he saw but a wisp of melancholy lingered throughout. He remembered the years spent on martial arts. He saw the time he spent with his parents and younger sister. He saw the day he and his family alienated each, after which, they had never seen each other again. He saw his happiest hours. He saw his own downfall that led him to today. He saw all the betrayals from his closest friends. He saw his own success and failure. He relived decades of memories in an instant. Seconds past and he was nearing the end of his descent. He remembered a quote that struck him deeply: "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." Such profound words resonated within him. Though still full of tears, he smiled. He smiled because his burdens and worries were gone, lifted from his shoulders. He smiled cause he dropped the weight of the world off his tired back. He smiled because his aching heart was calm. He smiled because his restless mind could rest. He smiled without sorrow. He smiled because it happened. He smiled as he hit the ground. He smiled in his last moments. He smiled because it was over.

He smiled...

He smiled....

He frowned...

He regretted it...

...everything.

Crash! Honk! Smash!

"I... I d-don't want to die"

He regretted everything too late. Barely hanging on, he used the last of his strength and raised his bloodied, right arm towards the sky. Seeing a shooting star, he tried clutching it and made a wish.

"Give me... a second... chance"

Hoping for it to come true was the same as wishing for more than a miracle.

Lying in a pool of gasoline and his own blood, the last of his life left him. His outstretched arm fell to the ground as he uttered his last words. Dying, the last thing he could see was a blinding light as he felt his soul being taken by Death himself.

...

"Where am I?"

I awoke on an unfamiliar bed, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, in an unfamiliar room. Quickly getting up from the bed, a searing pain rushed into my body as stood, forcing me to sit back on the bed. Examining my body, I noticed multiple bruises and bandages stained with blood. The bed i lay rest in was in the corner of the room, which was mostly empty. I looked around the small room, decorated with a tradition Chinese interior but with no decoration other than on the walls, and saw a half-naked young man, to my right, silently practising a martial arts I had never seen before.

"Excuse me, where am I?"

"Finally! You're awake! I found you collapsed outside town. You were messed up pretty badly, so I took you in and wrapped you up. Did you get robbed or something?"

"I... I don't remember anything, but could you please put some clothes on?"

"Huh? Oh! Right."

The young man wiped the sweat from off his well-toned body and went to another room, before coming back dressed in martial artist attire. In his arms were a set of traditional Chinese clothing which he had brought back for me to wear.

I said I don't remember a thing but that was a lie. The last thing I remembered was... so how am I still alive? And how did I end up in a forest? And why am I in a traditional Chinese house? Am I in China? Wait, but how'd I get from America to China? Do houses like this still exist in China? And what's with the clothes? Do people still wear Changshan?

My mind was drowning in a river of questions.

"So where in the world am I? Last I checked, I was in Ohio."

"Ohio? I've never heard of it. Where is it?"

"You've never heard of it before? It's a state in America, in the West."

"Never heard of a country called 'America' in the West before. We're in the Azure Lake Kingdom of the Profound Sky continent - a small cultivation state in the East."

Cultivation? Profound Sky continent? He must be joking right? I love wuxia and xianxia fiction as much as, no, MORE than the next guy, but not to the point of having 8th grader syndrome. And cultivation isn't even real! Although, I had always hoped it was. Soaring through the sky on a flying sword and splitting Heaven and Earth with a powerful palm technique does sound really awesome. But that will never happen.

"Look... young man?"

"I'm Zhang Xiang. You can call me Xiang."

"Okay, you can can me Jean. Anyway, look, I really do need to know where I am and what's going on. So, please, stop mixing the real world with your made up cultivation fantasy BS. As cool as it sounds, cultivation isn't real!"

"What do you mean 'it's not real'? I'm already at the third stage of Qi Condensing! Look!"

"I'm telling you to stop! Cultivation is NOT r-"

Snap! Crash! Crumble!

"-eal?"

With a quick thrust of the young martial artist's palm, the wall to my left side had a large hole in it.

This is insane! That's not physically possible! Unless... maybe he wasn't lying with all that cultivation stuff earlier! So cultivation is real?! All this time, I could've been cultivating and dominating the world! Wait, no! I don't think this is Earth, I think I was transmigrated into another world! And I'm in a place that's similar to ancient China! I have left the mundane world and ascended to one of cultivation!

This massive realisation broke down and absolutely decimated Jean's rational thinking. This defied all logic and common sense. It just all came too suddenly! Nevertheless, he was ecstatic over what had just transpired. He now had a chance to abandon his normal, worthless life and do something he wanted. Instead of throwing his life away, as he thought he had done, he couldn't bear the thought of mediocrity.

Everyone gave up on me. They abandoned me. I, too, gave up on life. But now, the higher powers have taken pity on me! They've let me redeem myself, so I must use this opportunity to the fullest.

All those years and effort he spent on martial arts and training were finally going to bear fruit and turn into something worthwhile. Everyone called him a waste, and rightfully so. Most of his life, he was deluded into thinking that cultivation was real and spent everything to keep the dream going. But now, he had a second chance.

And thus begins a tale full of untold dangers and perils. Hardships, burdens and worries. A tale of conquest and domination. Power and authority. Watch the rise and fall of nations and kingdoms. Life and death go hand in hand, but you'll see less of the latter. Though this isn't a story revenge against those who wronged him, join Jean Foster's journey of redemption and the ultimate goal of immortality. See his epic saga of cultivation. Read all this and more: only in "A Westerner's Journey in Cultivation".