A Grand Awakening

First of all, I'm definitely not an expert when it comes to cultivation within Chinese novels, I'm doing this story solely because I found the idea an interesting thing to write. Secondly, this is NOT a harem story, you can guess who the love interest is by looking at the cover.

Finally, I may make up a few things to help better integrate the cultivation theme into the world of Genshin Impact, though no major changes will be made to the existing laws and such of the world of Teyvat. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

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Kusanagi Tsurugi.

He wasn't the best-looking person out there, but he certainly wasn't at all ugly, definitely above average. He had smooth straight black hair and a pair of sea-blue eyes he inherited from his mother's genes, while his black hair was obviously from his father's side.

He was a young man no older than seventeen, in fact, it was supposed to be his high school graduation soon. He was on his way to a formal party that was being held prior to the graduation, but it didn't seem like that was going to happen considering his current situation.

Since he was living alone, he didn't have anyone to really drive him over to the party venue, not like he really minded. The place was relatively close to his apartment, so walking there wasn't too much of a pain. If not for the fact that some crazed person had been running through the street, said person having thrust a literal knife into his chest.

That was what led to the current situation, him lying on the ground motionless as a large pool of blood formed beneath his dying corpse. He could feel his body becoming colder, though not literally. His vision was becoming blurred, and his head was going through all sorts of pain.

'So, this is it...' Tsurugi didn't know if he should laugh or not, though he doubted he could even if he wanted. The situation was so pathetic that it made him want to laugh, he hadn't even stepped into the 'real' world yet, yet here he was on the ground about to embrace Death himself. 'Wonder what my parents are doing right now...'

It was during these moments that he had honestly started thinking about everything that had happened in his life leading up to this point, especially the moments he wished he could have changed. He barely even registered the scared screams of the people around him.

Tsurugi wasn't an idiot, he knew that the ambulance wasn't going to make it to him in time, the culprit had stabbed him straight through the heart if he wasn't mistaken. He had never felt so much unbearable pain before in his life, yet he couldn't even get himself to scream.

'God damnit...'

"..."

"..."

"..."

『Shit, I'm late!』

The silence he was enjoying was interrupted when a loud voice drowned out any others, and while Tsurugi wasn't able to properly see who shouted, the people around him obviously as they turned their heads before screaming again as they seemingly dove out of the way.

『BEEP BEEP, mother fuckers! Truck-kun coming through, move the fuck out of the way!』

Managing to focus his vision a bit, Tsurugi could only stare as what looked to be a white truck of sorts speeding down the road towards the location where he was lying down. While he himself couldn't see it, the people around him could see the words 'Isekai Express' written on the side of the truck.

Tsurugi had no idea if he was going crazy due to the situation or not, but he could swear that the person shouting was the truck itself.

『Don't you die just yet, you piece of shit!』

Tsurugi just stared as the truck got closer and closer, his vision turning darker the closer it got.

『Locked on target! ORA ORA ORA!』

Just like that, the truck ran over his body, and everything went dark.

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Mt. Tianheng.

Despite its name, referred to a vast mountain range located within the lands of Liyue. It was a subarea with much history to its name, dating back all the way back during the Archon War, a battle for supremacy thousands of years ago.

At the peak of one of these mountains, a familiar figure could be seen lying unconscious at the top on the mountain's flat peak. This individual was none other than Tsurugi himself, who didn't seem to be waking up and was instead motionless as the wind blowing past caused his hair to flutter.

Moments passed by with nothing extraordinary happening, though Tsurugi seemed to shift his position as he unconsciously rolled over onto his back. His eyes began to flutter before slowly opening, he then blinked a few times, seemingly out of confusion.

"Huh... what the hell?!"

In a panic, Tsurugi rolled to the side as soon as he noticed that he had almost rolled over and off the edge of whatever it was he was currently lying on. Once he was a good distance away from the edge, he sat up with widened eyes as sweat rolled down the side of his face.

"Where the hell...?" Tsurugi looked around in confusion. He quickly noticed that he was no longer on the sidewalk he had been stabbed and run over on, instead sitting on the grassy hard ground of... whatever this place was. 'This definitely isn't Tokyo, then is this the afterlife?'

With a confused frown, Tsurugi pushed himself off from the ground, stumbling a bit before managing to stand tall. He knew for a fact that he died, there was no way in hell he managed to survive getting stabbed through the heart and being run over.

"Either this is Heaven, or I'm getting ready to be judged. I highly doubt this is Hell." Tsurugi shook his head before stretching his body. He was strangely calm about the situation, mainly due to the fact he had already accepted that he was dead. 'What am I supposed to do? Sit here?'

Walking back over the edge, Tsurugi looked down while making sure to watch his step. Instantly, he had already deduced that he was most likely standing on top of a relatively tall mountain, cliff, or rock formation. If he were to make an estimation, it was probably somewhere between 100 to 200 meters tall.

Looking down, Tsurugi's eyebrow twitched. "Guess I'm stuck up here..."

From what he could tell, at least from this side, there were now obvious spots he could grab onto safely to climb down. If he had hiking equipment though, there was a chance he could probably get down. Though being as empty handed as he was right now, he'd definitely fall.

On top of that, with the black suit he had on, he was really in no position to even think about climbing such a dangerous formation. Therefore, the only option he had right now was to remain here until something happens... or he becomes desperate.

"At least I still have my clothes, they're even patch up too." Tsurugi shook his head as he took off his suit's jacket, revealing his white dress-shirt underneath as he swung the jacket over his right shoulder. He was about to roll up his sleeves but stopped momentarily. 'Huh? What's this?'

Tsurugi blinked when he noticed something rather strange, more specifically, something strange at the corner of his peripheral vision. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he saw that it looked to be a square transparent icon with the logo of... a shopping bag?

This wasn't the only one either, there was a second icon located directly next to it that had the logo of what looked to be a circle with an exclamation mark at the centre of it. The more he focused on either one of them, he noticed them slowly colour in, and the colour would fade away when he took away his attention.

Out of curiosity, Tsurugi focused his attention solely on the first icon, watching as it soon fully coloured in. What happened next took him by surprise, causing him to flinch back as a floating holographic screen soon projected itself in front of him.

"The hell is this...?" With a bit of hesitation, Tsurugi tapped one finger against the frame of the screen. It felt as if he had tapped against a cold pane of glass, it even produced the same sound as if he had done so. "Hold on, Cultivation Shop?"

.

『Cultivation Shop - Current Points: 0』『Search: _________』

● Spiritual Enhancement Pill - [Cost: 5] [Description: A low level pill utilised by low-level cultivators to help improve their power]

● Crystal Spirit Root - [Cost: 30] [Description: A root that grows within areas of concentrated Qi, which when consumed or absorbed, wilts away while granting the cultivator a boost in their cultivation strength]

● Blank Talisman - [Cost: 10] [Description: A blank piece of paper crafted utilising specialised materials. When inscribed with specific symbols, has the ability to cast powerful spiritual spells and techniques or create specified effects]

● ...

.

"Say what? These things sound like they'd come straight out of those Chinese novels..." Tsurugi frowned in confusion as he read a few of the things he saw. There were many, many more, and he saw no end to the list. 'I'm not hallucinating, am I?'

He wouldn't at all call himself an expert when it came to cultivation novels, but he understood the general idea about what Cultivators were from the ones he had read to a certain point. To put it simply, they were people who utilised the Qi to perform supernatural arts.

That was a very simple explanation for what they were, though it obviously went much deeper.

'If what I'm seeing is not just my imagination, does that mean I can become a cultivator? They're supposed to be really power, right? Then again, I guess it entirely depends on which Cultivation System I'm talking about.'

『This certainly looks interesting』

Tsurugi froze for a second before slowly turning his head to the side, and when he did, he found his eyes meeting the eyes of an old man who appeared to be hovering above the ground by a few centimetres. The elder was pretty much directly beside him.

As strange as it sounded, the elder looked pretty damn elegant as he stood tall or hovered or whatever. He was donned in a fancy silk white and gold robe that seemed to defy gravity, along with his long white hair tied into a ponytail and the long beard he also had, he was in a sense... majestic.

The way he stood with both arms crossed behind his back, and his hair swaying in unrealistic gravitation only made that image greater as Tsurugi honestly found himself speechless at the mere sight of the old man.

"...Who the hell are you?"