Well, even if it came to this, he couldn’t afford to worry about it, so he didn’t.

With the help of his sense of flow, he quickly swam up to the surface, only to be grabbed by the collar. He could feel and hear a boat on the water. The disciples all laughed among themselves.

This was a little annoying...He didn’t want to leave the pier before the subplot arrived.

They dragged him along as their boat headed sluggishly downstream. Xu Jian didn’t know whether struggling would help in this situation. If he used his spiritual energy, it would be easy to escape, but then he’d be revealed as a fraud who had never experienced Qi deviation.

He could only let them take him far away from the pier, and drag him up on land. The sticks and rocks bit painfully into his feet. Xu Jian wasn't sure how common it was to sense energy in this world, so he kept the flow of his meridians sluggish, even if it made him more brittle.

They dragged him farther, through what Xu Jian knew from the novel to be a large forest, and chatted about the goings-on of the sect. Apparently those who were caught plotting against the poor, helpless Xu Jian were banished, and the one who actually managed to punch him received two lashes.

Two lashes for punching him, while Xu Jian was stripped of rank. It made his teeth ache. He’d take two lashes himself for the peace of mind of all those victimized by the original goods!

That sect leader really is a stupid, short-sighted, selfish, hot-headed, and very stupid leader! Did he not think about what that difference in lenience would look like?

Well, the punishment was already given, so he could only simmer.

The trip to the rapids took ages, about thirty minutes based on the novel description. Learning more about the world through gossip was a good distraction to the steadily accumulating injuries on his feet.

Soon, the sound of the river rapids was clear in his ears.

“Sound familiar?” His captor sneered.

He knew what was happening, so he wasn't nervous as they pulled off his clothes. It was good they were doing that; if he had to struggle against fabric too, it would be really hard on him.

Rope was tied around his waist, as expected, but his uneasiness flared back to life as the rope was circled around his arms.

“I won't be able to swim,” he said thinly.

“What? Don't trust us?”

Xu Jian's lips thinned. “...If the lead is too long…”

“We know how a current works, idiot.”

He was given a shove, and his wrists were yanked back so they could be tied behind him. The uneasiness was a thorn in his heart. This was bad. He wasn't a protagonist, he couldn't easily escape a situation like this.

‘System! System, advice?’

[ACT]

‘Don’t you have an ability to help, or a special mission…’

[POINTS INSUFFICIENT]

[QUERY UNKNOWN]

Blood built in his throat.

‘A mission! Like a task where I get a goal that matches my rewards system, and lets me buy a slight advantage…’

[DATA UNKNOWN]

[RECALIBRATING]

Xu Jian's hood was ripped off. He stumbled forward, to the water's edge. He could see that he was covered in bruises, from his stomach to his feet. The disciples all hooted at him mockingly. Xu Jian was still grateful he wouldn't have to swim with heavy clothes, and barely recognized the emasculation. He was on the verge of death in this situation already.

[RENDERING COMPLETE]

[TASK-BASED SYSTEM IMPLEMENTED]

[TASK: ADMIT WRONGDOINGS TOWARDS LAI MINGLIAO. +100 POINTS PER OBSERVER OF NEXT TRUTH.]

[ACCEPT TASK?]

He wanted to vomit blood until the river ran red. “Why would I possibly accept…?”

The system didn't respond, but there was a weight behind its silence.

But the people around him misunderstood. “Some pride left in you, bastard?”

Xu Jian was given a swift kick to the ribs that made him collapse to the ground, choking. He was close enough to be hit with spray from the river; it was freezing. His permanent tremble had escalated to shaking.

“You know, we were all wondering how you entered Qi deviation. You know what I think?” The leader yanked him back up again. “Knowing you, you found a good technique you didn't want to share, right? And you just assumed it would go great for you, just like it always does. The Golden Star of Wendian wouldn't know failure, right? You made sure everyone remembered that.”

Xu Jian was once again grabbed by the hair and this time, his feet left the ground. The leader jumped up in a massive arc over the river, and landed easily on the stone standing amidst the rushing water.

“Even when you finally got what was coming to you, you still found a way to ruin other people's lives. Finally seeing you this pathetic, I'm so happy I could cry.”

The rope was tied around the stone. Luckily, it was short, just like he asked. However, he wasn't sure it was enough. He was sore, weak, and unsure this guy was competent to tie the rope properly. The original goods was good at everything, including torture. Did this guy have any idea how dangerous it was to be bad at torture?

'I can't act if I die,’ Xu Jian complained.

[SKILL INSUFFICIENT?]

He couldn't answer yes or no. He wasn't confident in his own abilities, but he wasn't sure a system could understand the concept of 'just to be safe’.

He swallowed his complaints and looked miserably over the unforgiving spray of the water. He was cold now, and he doubted being in there would feel any better.

Even if he survived...if he missed his subplot, what was he going to do? A lot of things that happened in this middle period weren't defined in a strict timeline. If he lost the one event he could control...

He rested his feet in the water while the leader monologued about how much he hated Xu Jian. All rivers had their own flow. Lai Mingliao had escaped this scenario by using his seemingly useless ability to read the current of the river and ride it.

It was the main ability of the demon race; ‘Riding the World’. As for why Lai Mingliao, who was not a demon, could do it...The author didn't bother to say.

But Xu Jian only just learned how to read the river last week, and couldn't cling to currents of spiritual energy like a demon. This was too much. He was no protagonist, and he doubted even his body's absurdly high specs could do anything to help.

[SKILL INSUFFICIENT?]

Xu Jian frowned. He'd spent so much of his valuable time worrying.

Worrying was expensive, he reminded himself.

“Okay,” he said out loud. He scooted forward, sucked in his aching stomach, and jumped into the freezing water.

The first problem immediately made itself known; when he brought the air down with him using Path of Wind, he also inhaled the spray. Xu Jian choked, and he lost his initial air supply just like that.

With a scramble of his abused feet against the stone, he managed to hoist himself high enough to stick his head up and try again.

This time, he snagged air from higher up and pulled it down through the spray. It meant he had a harder time keeping track of the air flow, but he had air in his lungs again.

Once he'd overcome the arduous task of not drowning, he focused on the current of spiritual energy flowing through the river.

It was throwing him him back and forth, seemingly at random, and he had only the rope to orient himself. He could sense the current at the bottom, but the closer to the surface he got, the more chaotic it was. How did Lai Mingliao pick a pattern in this mess?

[SKILL INSUFFICIENT?]

It was still talking?

‘Your skill was very sufficient, thank you. I'm only worried about how much time I have left.’

The pressure on him lifted so suddenly Xu Jian felt light-headed. It was really insistent for an AI.

[TIME LIMITATIONS?]

'You know, when I attracted that demon, they're going to do a follow-up investigation. If I'm not there…’

The pressure returned, though it didn't feel nearly as direct.

[RECALIBRATING]

'Again?’

[RENDERING COMPLETE]

[TASK: RETURN TO HEAVEN'S CROSSING PIER. DEADLINE: 19 HOURS. REWARD: +1000 POINTS FOR NEXT TRUTH.]

Xu Jian brightened.

'Oh, I have a whole day! System, you're an angel, my hero!’

The pressure of the system's intent lightened again.

[ACCEPT TASK?]

'Yes. You've saved me from fretting over nothing. I really can't afford to worry, you know?’

But he would need to escape by himself. He brought his attention back to the river.

Path of Wind was under a lot of stress with so much water, and with how much he was moving. The river continued to throw him around, and it was a conscious effort to keep up the airstream, which ruined his attempts at meditation.

How much time passed? Xu Jian didn't know. Accommodating for the current and guiding the air around the spray of water kept him constantly occupied. His mind drifted. He was so cold he couldn't feel the ropes scraping his skin.

The situation was unpleasant to think about, so he just didn't think about it.

[PATH OF WIND CONTRIBUTED TO ACTING]

Well, yes, he did use it to react to something…?

The system added nothing to this observation. Xu Jian's brow furrowed. This system seemed a little...messy, somehow?

Now that he thought about it, it had slapped together such vague rules, and wasn't skilled in explaining things. In fact, a great deal of Xu Jian's patience with his absurd circumstances came from the fact the system didn't seem like an all-powerful AI controlling the fate of the world with his entry. It seemed desperately under-prepared, actually.

He had time to kill, so he decided to buckle down and just ask about something he'd been uneasy about.

‘System? O system?’

[SYSTEM]

‘Are the people in the world people, or just constructs?’

[QUERY UNKNOWN]

‘People. They have their own thoughts and will.’

[TRUE: STATEMENT. FALSE: CAN BE OVERRIDDEN]

Xu Jian almost lost control of his air.

'Overridden?’

[FOUNDATION]

Right. It was a world based on the book. In order to create the story, a fully autonomous population would need to be controlled to go where they were needed.

Xu Jian wondered if the original goods and all his bastard friends were evil by choice. His stomach hurt when he did that, so he decided to not think about it.

'What happens at the end of the 'story’, I wonder…’

[CALIBRATION PERFECTED. ALL ACT AS HUMANITY]

'Ah, so they'd be left alone? Are you the one making this foundation?'

[FALSE: SUPERVISOR]

This System definitely had no idea what it was doing.

'I see, I see. And if I perfect your calibrations of this world for you, will I go home?'

[FALSE: SAMPLE ALREADY CONFIGURED]

Well, he felt more optimistic about his future in this world, so that was fine with him. This world was convenient to him in a number of ways; for example, he couldn't relapse in a drug addiction if the drugs didn't exist. Being a cultivator was probably good from a quality of life perspective too.

He resolved to clear the story - or, considering how cause-and-effect worked, derail the story to the point they couldn't enact the plot - as soon as possible. People being controlled by narrative imperative meant people were being killed by the narrative imperative. A world without free will, where fate was written according to the whims of an author's comment section.

This world was nice. This world had a future. This world was his home now. He had to believe in that.

His thoughts lingered in dark places.

The river was dark.

It was dark.

He didn't bother trying to measure time, just focused on divining the wild paths of the river. He was starting to see repetitions. There was something very natural about it he couldn't quite put his thumb on.

Xu Jian felt the presence of a fish dash by. It rode along these currents effortlessly, the twisting of its body spurned on not by its own movement, but by the current pushing its tail in just the right way. Xu Jian's legs wobbled as he realized the way the river encouraged the movement he needed to flow along it. He could sense the group of disciples had left, by now.

He was a cultivator. With this info alone…

Xu Jian grit his teeth, flexed his arms, and snapped both ropes.

The river immediately yanked him into its current, tearing away his air supply. He lost his sense of direction instantly, and could only rely on what he observed until that point.

He reinforced his arms with spiritual energy to endure the barrage of rocks and debris on his path, predicting each new obstacle with the water's flow. His toes skimmed the surface when he pushed himself over a massive tree branch. He was close.

Xu Jian was sent spinning around another bend, but this time, he flipped around until his toes broke water again, and while he still knew which direction was up, threw all his energy at the riverbed below.

He was sent flying into the air in a geyser of water and light. He had wanted to get out the same way Lai Mingliao did, but he supposed it was too much for a cultivation beginner.

Xu Jian collided with a tree, and rolled to a stop on a bed of long grass. He coughed out the river water he'd swallowed and gasped for air.

He'd made it.

[TASK DEADLINE: 14 HOURS]

...Now Xu Jian would have to see if he could make it through hypothermia.