Battle Bard: Bards of the Broken Empire

They laughed when he brought a drum to a cultivation fight. They weren't laughing long. Max Stone's laid-back life ends abruptly when a foolhardy rescue attempt earns him a ticket to the afterlife. Instead of heaven or hell, his soul becomes a poker chip in a game between gods. Winning a second chance, Max chooses to keep his memories through an agonizing process, awakening reincarnated not as a baby, but in the frail, teenage body of a recently deceased boy on Eedan—a world of chi cultivation, magic, and monsters straight out of fantasy epics. Starting weaker than the lowest level cultivator and immediately attracting the ire of arrogant nobles, Max must leverage his Earth-born wits and a unique blessing to survive. He needs to learn the ways of chi, overcome his pathetic beginnings, and navigate a world where power reigns supreme. This LitRPG Cultivation Fantasy features a reincarnated MC starting from scratch, a unique magic system involving chi and elemental affinities, status screens, meddling gods, and a world full of peril and opportunity.