Chapter 5: Portal Activation
Lin Yuan woke before dawn.
There was no hesitation this time. Everything that could be prepared had already been prepared. Waiting any longer would only slow things down, and hesitation was dangerous.
He washed, dressed, and stepped into the courtyard. The air was cool, carrying faint smoke from early morning kitchens. Ridgefall City was just starting to wake up. For a moment, everything felt normal.
He liked that.
Lin Yuan sat at the stone table and opened the system.
The interface appeared, calm and familiar.
He read through everything one last time.
Broken Cloud Mountain was still under evaluation. That wouldn't change today. The system had already accepted that the location was possible. What it needed now was pressure—activity that would prove whether the mountain could endure attention.
His preparations were complete.
Tools were bought and stored. Materials were secured. Transport routes had been arranged quietly through merchant channels that wouldn't attract notice. Nothing was rushed. Nothing was careless.
He could delay another day.
He chose not to.
Lin Yuan scrolled to the final function.
Open Website Portal — READY (Initial Entry Cap: 150)
He paused briefly.
Once this was activated, there was no turning back.
Then he pressed it.
Nothing dramatic happened.
No sound. No light.
Only a single line appeared.
Portal Activated.
Lin Yuan let out a slow breath.
"That's done," he said softly.
On Earth, confusion spread almost immediately.
It started with notifications.
Emails. Alerts. Messages that appeared without warning. One hundred and fifty people received the same short confirmation.
Closed Beta Access Granted
No celebration. No detailed explanation. Just confirmation and a login time.
Everyone else received nothing.
At first, people assumed it was delayed.
Inboxes were refreshed again and again. Spam folders were checked. Screenshots were compared.
Then the forums exploded.
"I got in."
"No way, show proof."
"I registered early—how am I waitlisted?"
"This is rigged."
Screenshots filled the threads. Confirmation messages. Helmet serial numbers syncing successfully.
Excitement and frustration arrived together.
"So we're just locked out?"
"Closed beta moment."
"Congrats to the lucky ones."
Memes followed quickly.
A helmet edited into a golden ticket.
Caption: Early registrant.
A locked gate.
Text: Should've clicked faster.
No one thought it was real life.
They thought it was marketing. Artificial scarcity. Closed beta hype.
Then another detail appeared.
Some of the accepted players tried to livestream.
Every attempt failed.
Streaming software couldn't find a signal. Platform dashboards showed nothing. Instead, a small notice appeared inside the interface.
Real-time broadcast unavailable in closed beta.
Reactions were mixed.
"Bruh, NDA mode."
"Anti-leak tech, makes sense."
"Kinda annoying, but whatever."
Recording still worked. Screenshots saved normally. Local files confirmed without issue.
Most people adapted quickly.
"I'll upload later," someone said.
Helmets were put on.
Chairs were adjusted. Beds were cleared. Cameras were set to record.
Some joked nervously as they settled in.
"If this fries my brain," one laughed, "delete my browser history."
From Lin Yuan's perspective, the system shifted again.
Connection requests appeared one by one, not all at once.
Earth Connection Detected — Initializing…
The first completed.
The air in front of him shimmered faintly. Qi gathered, condensed, and slowly took shape. A human figure formed, becoming solid until a young man stood there, blinking in confusion.
The man looked down at his hands.
"…This feels strange," he said.
Another shimmer appeared nearby. Then another.
More figures formed—different faces, different builds, different reactions.
One jumped lightly in place. "No lag?"
Another crouched and touched the ground. "The detail's crazy."
A woman flexed her fingers. "The feedback feels real."
They spoke casually. Comfortably.
There was no fear.
Lin Yuan watched silently.
The system updated in his vision.
Earth Disciples Connected: 9 / 150
More arrived.
Twelve.
Fifteen.
Eighteen.
Some immediately tested movement. Others laughed and waved at each other. A few slapped their arms or faces.
"Okay, pain's real but muted," one said.
"Probably adjustable," another replied.
One person frowned. "Streaming's blocked for you guys too?"
"Yeah," someone answered. "Beta restriction."
Lin Yuan stepped forward.
He didn't raise his voice. He didn't shout for attention. He simply walked into view and waited.
Slowly, people noticed.
The noise faded.
"Who's that?" someone whispered.
"NPC?" another guessed.
Lin Yuan frowned slightly at the unfamiliar word.
"My name is Lin Yuan," he said calmly. "You appeared on land I oversee."
A few people laughed.
"Ownership dialogue," someone muttered.
Lin Yuan ignored it.
"You arrived suddenly," he continued. "You are not from this land."
That caught their attention.
A woman tilted her head. "This feels unscripted."
Lin Yuan paused.
"…Unscripted?" he repeated, unsure.
Several people smiled.
"Yeah, the AI's wild."
Lin Yuan didn't respond to that.
"You may look around," he said instead. "Do not damage what you do not understand. If you do, you will be removed."
"Removed how?" someone asked, half-joking.
Lin Yuan met his eyes calmly.
"You will wake up elsewhere."
There was a short pause.
Then laughter.
"Respawn confirmed."
Lin Yuan didn't reply. He didn't understand the word, and he wasn't going to guess.
He stepped back and let them move freely.
More connections completed. The courtyard filled with people—talking, laughing, recording, testing limits.
Not warriors.
Not cultivators.
Just people.
And that was exactly what he needed.
The system updated quietly once more.
Lin Yuan closed the interface and looked at the crowd once more.
This was no longer preparation.
This was the beginning.
And now, everything depended on what he did next.