Chapter One: The Awakening of the Sloth

In the depths of the Hundred Thousand Mountains on the Xuantian Continent, atop a towering cliff carved as if by the blade of a giant axe, there sat a delicate, petite bird’s nest. Within it, an extraordinary commotion was unfolding.

“In my previous life, I was the Dreaded Demon Lord who struck fear into all!”
“Yet I was betrayed, and now, I have been reincarnated as a mere scruffy little bird.”
“But so what?”
“All beings under heaven can cultivate; even birds and beasts, if they devote themselves to cultivation and strive step by step, can one day transcend the mundane and ascend to sainthood, forging a new reign!”
“When I reach the realm of seizing the heavens once more, just wait—you traitors shall pay in blood for your debts!”

Hearing these words, Jiang Xuan turned his head and saw a black-feathered fledgling had already emerged from its shell. Flapping its wings and chirping noisily, it must surely be the rumored Dreaded Demon Lord.

Compared to it, Jiang Xuan remained comfortably nestled inside his egg, a mere crack on the shell allowing him to observe the world outside the nest. It wasn’t that Jiang Xuan was unwilling to come out; the main reason was simply his laziness.

In his previous life, he’d been caught in the endless grind, rising at five and sleeping at ten as a student, then suffering the relentless 996 and 007 work schedules as an employee, never enjoying a proper rest. Eventually, he died of exhaustion, only to find himself unexpectedly transmigrated into this world of cultivation.

In this life, Jiang Xuan vowed never to toil endlessly again.

Yet, to his surprise, he awakened the “Lazy Cultivator System.” This system had no other abilities, but so long as Jiang Xuan stayed still, spiritual energy would accumulate at the rate of one point per second. As his cultivation advanced, the system could even upgrade—a must-have artifact for any lazy cultivator!

With such a system in hand, Jiang Xuan saw no reason to move at all, luxuriating in the comfort of his egg, utterly content.

However, he did not expect that his younger brother would emerge from his egg before him. Judging by the words spoken earlier, his sibling was no ordinary chick but a powerful soul reincarnated—a Dreaded Demon Lord! The name alone suggested a mighty demon cultivator who once dominated his realm.

But so what? Now, everyone was just a scruffy little bird. As long as this younger brother didn’t bother him, Jiang Xuan would let him act as wildly as he pleased.

Jiang Xuan imagined they could coexist peacefully, but he was soon proven wrong.

The black-feathered chick, the Demon Lord reincarnate, suddenly flashed a cold gleam in its eyes and declared arrogantly:

“The path of cultivation is a relentless race; only those who seize the greatest resources can surpass all others on the grand way!”
“Though I am now reborn as a scruffy little bird, I will not fall behind!”
“What is the most crucial resource now?”
“Food!”
“Only by snatching the most food from the mother can one grow swiftly, until one’s wings are strong and full!”
“And how does one obtain the most feeding?”
“It’s simple—eliminate all other scruffy birds. Only I shall remain in this nest!”
“This egg has started to crack. If nothing goes wrong, the fledgling within will soon hatch.”
“Let’s start with you. I’m sorry, but the path to power is bloody and cruel—what’s a little fratricide for the sake of greatness?”

As the words faded, Jiang Xuan watched the Demon Lord reincarnate struggle to move in front of his own eggshell, then, with its back to him, exert all its strength in an attempt to push him out of the nest.

Outside the nest lay a precipitous drop—falling would mean certain death, the body shattered and lost forever.

“Damn, truly worthy of being a Demon Lord reincarnated!”
“Such ruthlessness—resource competition seems ingrained to the bone!”
“But with your size, trying to push me out of the nest is mere wishful thinking.”
“No, it’s a bird’s wishful thinking!”

Jiang Xuan glanced at his own form inside the egg, then at the scrawny black-feathered chick outside, feeling a bit awkward.

Ever since awakening the Lazy Cultivator System, his spiritual energy surged by one point every second, and Jiang Xuan’s body underwent a dramatic transformation. Though still unhatched, he was now round and plump—three times the size and weight of the black-feathered chick outside.

So what if the Demon Lord was reincarnated? In their current state as fledglings, even three black-feathered chicks might not budge the ball-shaped Jiang Xuan!

“Damn it!”
“How can this egg be so heavy?”
“I’m exerting all my strength, yet he won’t move an inch!”

After several attempts, the black-feathered chick failed to dislodge Jiang Xuan and finally retreated, sulking in a corner and questioning his existence.

Meanwhile, another voice rang in Jiang Xuan’s ear.

“Interesting!”
“This black-feathered chick, upon birth, already understands the law of the jungle, trying to slaughter all the other birds and monopolize resources.”
“Perhaps, like me, it is a powerful soul who has rebuilt its cultivation through reincarnation!”
“However, I am the Fate Empress, born with the ability to sense the strength of surrounding spiritual bodies!”
“Though the fledgling in the cracked egg has not yet hatched, judging by the strength of its spiritual body, it far surpasses all other chicks in this nest.”
“Moreover, it grows stronger each passing moment—surely some mutated divine bird!”
“Once I regain my human form, I must recruit this chick under my banner—even as a mount, it would be the envy of all!”

This time, the voice was a pleasant female, and from her words, Jiang Xuan deduced she was an Empress reincarnate.

For a moment, Jiang Xuan was stunned. In this tiny bird's nest, there lurked both a Demon Lord and an Empress.

It seemed that even as a transmigrated bird, he would not know peace!

Yet Jiang Xuan was perplexed: why could he hear their voices? Wasn’t everyone here a bird? By rights, they should only be able to chirp, not speak in human tongue.

Just then, the system offered a timely explanation.

“Reporting to host:
This system includes an eavesdropping function, enabling the host to access the inner thoughts of any creature within a one-meter radius whose strength matches yours.”

So that was it. This feature was quite handy—whenever anyone harbored sinister intentions toward him, he could prepare in advance.

At that moment, the Demon Lord reincarnate seemed to have rested and rekindled his fighting spirit.

“Fine!”
“If this cracked egg won’t budge, I’ll turn my attention to the others.”
“This pure white egg looks odd—somehow, it makes me feel a faint sense of threat!”
“Let’s start with you!”

Seeing the black-feathered chick fixate on the egg housing the Fate Empress, Jiang Xuan couldn’t help but smile calmly.

Fascinating—Demon Lord versus Empress!

He eagerly awaited what would happen next…