1: Chapter 1: The Ancestor Awakens, Summoning His Descent

Dark, cold, decaying.

This was Lu Bei's first sensation upon regaining consciousness.

He was like a wisp of dust forgotten within an ancient painting, drifting senselessly for a long time before barely managing to coalesce a faint thread of thought.

His vision was blurred; everything before him was obscured as if behind frosted glass, only allowing him to vaguely distinguish looming dark shadows.

They were memorial tablets.

Wooden tablets, each engraved with a name, were displayed in an orderly yet deathly silent fashion upon a decaying offering table.

Cobwebs hung from the tops of the tablets, entwined with thick dust like pale funeral banners woven for the souls of the dead.

"This place is... the Lu Family Ancestral Hall?" A thought bubbled up like a water droplet, only to quickly shatter.

His memory was fragmented, like colored glass smashed by a blunt instrument; every shard shimmered with a piercing light, yet they could not be pieced together into a complete whole.

He only vaguely remembered that his name was Lu Bei, once a once-in-a-century cultivation genius of the Lu Family, who had perished in a mysterious upheaval, leaving only a wisp of a remnant soul imprisoned within his own family's ancestral hall.

"How long... have I been dead?"

He struggled to urge his remnant soul, his weak spiritual sense spreading like spilled mercury, laboriously penetrating the walls of the ancestral hall to extend outward.

As far as his eyes—or sense—could reach, there was only ruin.

The once grand estate with its carved beams and painted rafters was now nothing but broken walls and debris.

Weeds grew rampant in the courtyard, almost high enough to submerge a person's knees.

When the wind blew, it didn't carry the scent of flowers, but rather the smell of decaying leaves and dust.

The entire Lu Family was deathly still, showing not a hint of its former prosperity.

His spiritual sense continued to spread, finally perceiving the breath of living people in a side room in the backyard that could barely still provide shelter.

It was an old man with white hair and beard, hunched over on a small stool, holding a pitch-black piece of iron and tapping it intermittently.

Every time he coughed, his entire body shook violently, as if he might fall apart at any moment.

"Grandpa Li..." Lu Bei's soul form rippled.

This was the family's old blacksmith, loyal and devoted; he hadn't expected that only he would be left.

Besides Grandpa Li, there were several sallow, emaciated children and two elderly people in their twilight years in the room.

They were the last remaining bloodline of the Lu Family, their eyes dim like candles about to go out.

"Cough, cough... San'er, do you think... those godforsaken bastards from the Black Wind Stockade will really come?" an old woman asked tremulously.

The middle-aged man called San'er—who in fact already had graying hair at his temples—sighed with a face full of misery: "How could it be fake? That wretch Third Li came the day before yesterday to give the final ultimatum, and he made it very clear. Within three days, if we can't scrape together a tribute of a hundred low-grade spirit stones, they... they're going to seize this land and kick us out."

A hundred low-grade spirit stones!

This number plunged the room into a deathly silence.

For the current Lu Family, this was no different from an astronomical figure.

Never mind a hundred, they couldn't even produce a single one.

"That damned Wang Two Tiger! Back when the Old Master was around, what was he supposed to be! Now he dares to bully our Lu Family!" Grandpa Li slammed his hammer onto the iron block with a dull "clang," but it sounded weak due to his lack of strength.

"Father, watch your words!" the middle-aged man hastily advised. "Things are not like they used to be..."

"The three-day deadline... tomorrow is the last day..."

The aura of despair hung over everyone's hearts like a thick fog.

Inside the ancestral hall, Lu Bei's remnant soul fluctuated violently.

Black Wind Stockade!

Wang Two Tiger!

These names were like steel needles piercing into his shattered memories, stirring up sparks of hatred.

He remembered now; this gang of mountain bandits had taken advantage of the Lu Family's decline to extort them repeatedly, maggots sucking the blood of the Lu Family.

Now, they actually wanted to completely uproot the Lu Family's last foundation!

If the ancestral hall were destroyed and the territory occupied, then his remnant soul, which was bound to the hall, would have only one fate: to be scattered and completely extinguished!

"No... absolutely not!"

The instinct for survival and the obsession to protect his family caused Lu Bei's remnant soul to burst forth with unprecedented power.

He frantically battered against his restraints, trying to find a glimmer of hope.

Just then, a flood of strange information poured into his mind without warning.

[Detected host's strong desire for survival and family bonds...]

["Heavenly Chosen Filial Grandson" system activating...]

[Core system function: Cross-realm summoning, maintaining the ancestral incense.]

[The host can consume soul power to summon "Heavenly Chosen Filial Grandchildren" from an otherworldly realm called "Earth," descending into this world in the form of a "game."]

[The filial grandchildren are unafraid of death and possess peculiar ways of thinking. By completing tasks issued by the host and bringing honor to the ancestors, they can condense incense for the host and strengthen the soul body.]

[Warning: Summoning will exhaust all of the host's current soul power, resulting in an extremely weakened state.]

[Warning: The behavior of the filial grandchildren is unpredictable; please use with caution.]

Lu Bei's soul body froze.

Heavenly Chosen Filial Grandson?

Earth?

Game?

These unheard-of terms left him feeling a wave of confusion.

But following closely was wild joy!

This was simply a godsent straw in a desperate situation!

Though it sounded inconceivable, even somewhat absurd, did he have any other choice now?

Watch the family perish and his own soul scatter, or bet everything on this suddenly appearing "system"?

"I'll bet on it!"

Lu Bei no longer hesitated.

He could feel his soul power rapidly draining away, like a punctured water bag.

He had to complete the summoning before he completely dissipated.

He concentrated all his will, following the guidance of the information flood in his mind.

"In the name of the Lu Family ancestors, burn my remnant soul, pierce through heaven and earth, and summon my... Filial Sons and Virtuous Grandchildren wandering in the other world!"

Boom—!

The entire ancestral hall shook violently.

That dust-covered bronze incense burner lit up with a faint glimmer without warning.

On the offering table, Lu Bei's own core memorial tablet began to vibrate intensely, its surface revealing countless fine, golden patterns like a spiderweb.

An invisible force centered on the ancestral hall pierced through the world's barriers, reaching toward a distant and unknown plane.

Lu Bei felt himself instantly drained, his consciousness becoming blurred once more, as if he would sink into eternal darkness the next second.

Before completely losing consciousness, he heard the final prompt from the system.

[Soul power check passed... Coordinates locked...]

[The first batch of "closed beta" slots has been issued...]

["Heavenly Chosen Filial Grandson"... about to descend!]

...

"Holy crap! This immersion is way too real, isn't it?"

A cry of surprise broke the deathly silence of the ancestral hall.

Under the dim light, over a dozen figures appeared out of thin air. They looked around blankly, their faces filled with wonder and excitement.

A tall, thin young man with the ID "I Love Exploiting Loopholes" was reaching out, cautiously touching a pillar full of cracks, feeling the rough, realistic texture of the wood.

"Hiss... even the grainy feel of the dust is simulated? What kind of high-tech holographic technology is this?"

Nearby, a burly man with the ID "War God Number One" clenched his fists, feeling the sense of power coming from within his body, and shouted excitedly: "Where's the newbie village? Is there a newbie guide? Hurry up, I can't wait to start slaying mobs and leveling up!"

"This starting scene is way too dilapidated, right?" a female voice sounded. A girl with the ID "Appearance is Justice" was pinching her rough burlap clothes in disgust. "Isn't there a newbie gift pack with a set of decent-looking fashion? The production team is way too stingy."

Among the crowd, a player named "Infrastructure Maniac" walked around the ancestral hall, muttering to himself: "The load-bearing structure is severely aged, the timber is decaying, there's a risk of collapse. If this were on our construction site, the project manager would be chewed out to death."

They were precisely the first batch of "closed beta" players summoned by Lu Bei.

In their eyes, this was merely an online xianxia game with an extremely exaggerated slogan—"Xianxia World: I Can Summon Players."

Just as the crowd was chattering and exploring curiously like a group of groundhogs that had just entered the city, a translucent panel glowing with a faint golden light popped up on everyone's retinas.

[System Announcement: Welcome, "Heavenly Chosen Filial Grandchildren," to the "Totem World"! You are the last hope of the family, the sparks personally appointed by the Old Ancestor!]

[Core Gameplay: Other games require money; this game requires life! Please always remember, every death of yours will come at a heavy price!]

[Main Quest: Honor the Ancestors! Restoring the family's glory is the unshirkable responsibility of your generation!]

[Emergency Quest: Survival of the Family (Phase 1)]

[Quest Description: The mountain bandit force "Black Wind Stockade" has issued a final ultimatum and will come to take over the family territory in two days. Please protect the ancestral hall and the last of the clansmen at all costs when the Black Wind Stockade attacks!]

[Quest Reward: Large amount of Contribution Points, unlock the Family Shop.]

[Failure Penalty: Family wiped out, character forced deletion.]

"Holy shit! Forced character deletion? That's brutal!"

"Bargaining with life? What does that mean? Does respawning cost money?"

"Black Wind Stockade? Sounds like the first mini-boss of the newbie village. Let's get him!"

The players instantly erupted into a frenzy.

The severity of the penalty and the urgency of the task, far from scaring them off, instead stirred up the high fighting spirit of this group of chaos-loving fellows.

Just then, on the offering table directly above the ancestral hall, the tablet belonging to Lu Bei shone brilliantly.

An illusory, hazy humanoid light shadow slowly emerged from the tablet.

He looked extremely weak, his figure flickering as if it were a candle in the wind, but he exuded an innate aura of majesty and ancientness.

It was Lu Bei, who had exhausted his last bit of strength to barely condense a form.

"My... children..."

Lu Bei's voice was hollow and ethereal, echoing within the ancestral hall as he struggled to play the role of a majestic and mysterious "Old Ancestor." "You... have finally answered my summons."

The players instantly quieted down, everyone's eyes focused on this light shadow.

"Wow! An NPC! And a glowing one! This is the Old Ancestor?" The female player with the ID "Gossip Reporter Little Trumpet" had eyes shining with excitement.

"This special effect is pretty good; the production budget is burning!"

"Greetings, Old Ancestor! May I ask if there's a newbie gift pack? Give us a divine weapon!" "War God Number One" shouted at the top of his lungs.

Lu Bei: "..."

This group of "Filial Sons and Virtuous Grandchildren" seemed a bit different from what he had imagined.

They had no reverence, no piety, only... a clamor comparable to a wet market.

He forced down the discomfort of his soul body, maintained a profound and mysterious tone, and used his last ounce of strength to point at the cold incense burner.

"The Lu Family's... incense has been severed for too long..."

He then pointed at his own plain wooden tablet.

"This final resting place of mine is but... a piece of decayed wood..."

"The heavy responsibility of honoring the ancestors now falls upon your shoulders. Let the Lu Family's prestige resound across this land once more! When that time comes... I shall lead you onto the true path of immortality!"

After saying these words, Lu Bei's light shadow flickered and became even dimmer, as if it would go out at any moment.

The players were left scratching their heads, but they eventually caught a few keywords: incense, decayed wood, path of immortality, rewards!

Just then, "I Love Exploiting Loopholes," who hadn't spoken much, was sneakily rummaging through something in the corner of the ancestral hall.

He actually dug out a small pinch of dry wood shavings from a mouse hole.

His eyes darted around, and he trotted over to the bronze incense burner, carefully placed the wood shavings inside, then took out two stones and began to strike them together, imitating the way ancient people made fire by friction.

The other players looked at him with confusion.

"Loopholes, what are you doing? Cosplaying Bear Grylls?"

"I Love Exploiting Loopholes" didn't even look up as he said: "Are you guys stupid? Didn't you hear the Old Ancestor? The incense is severed! This game is called 'Totem World,' and the description says 'offering incense to the Old Ancestor can add buffs'! I'm trying it out; what if these wood shavings can serve as incense?"

Before he could finish his sentence, a faint spark landed in the wood shavings.

With a "pfft," a small wisp of pale green smoke curled upward.

At the very moment this wisp of smoke rose, a prompt popped up on the panels of all players present.

[Ding! Player 'I Love Exploiting Loopholes' has for the first time ignited a mundane fire to honor the ancestors, triggering the 'Sincerity Brings Results' effect!]

[All players have received a temporary Buff: [Ancestor's Solace] (Weak)]

[Effect: All attributes +1%, duration 10 minutes.]

The ancestral hall instantly fell into a deathly silence.

In the next second, the eyes of all players turned into brilliant light bulbs, staring fixedly at that unremarkable incense burner, their faces revealing greedy and fanatical smiles.