The Cave and The Ring

The dark cave-like area was scary, to say the least. It wasn't like I haven't had any interactions with darkness, but the modern era I lived in spoiled me, and I sort of craved a light source.

What in the hell happened?

Why would my guy Fan Liang do something like that?

I recalled many things as I thought over it all. From the cook, my brother, the servants, and to what most recently happened. There seemed to have been some sort of conspiracy building up in the past that the present me isn't aware of.

The past owner of this body might have been aware of it, but I didn't receive any of his memories, unfortunately.

Clueless as I was, I couldn't just give up. In my past life, I've had countless similar situations and have never deviated from how I solved the problem.

Workout. As an almost professional bodybuilder, I had absolutely no life.

To be honest, working out was all that kept me sane. Reaching the peak of my genetic potential was all I ever really craved.

In the cave, it was completely silent. All sound from the outside world was cut out like the light as if the outside world and this inside were completely separate.

All that was heard were my breaths that gradually grew more haggard echoing through the

No matter how strong a person is, exercises would and will always find a way to make you build up lactic acid in your muscles. Or in other words, make your muscles feel madly sore.

Calisthenics.

Right now, I was going to work on doing a handstand so I could improve my possible workouts.

I never tried it in my past life since I really had absolutely no need for it.

So I failed a good 3 or 4 times, but almost got the hang of it. It was pitch dark, but I was on a sort of wide flat platform right now that gave me enough space.

On the 5th try, I pushed with my legs very lightly to pull them in the air straight up above the floor.

Supported by my hands, they swang and swang from side to side until they turned somewhat still.

Next was to hold this for 30 seconds 3 times with a break in between each time to make sure I didn't pour too much blood into my head, bursting my brain.

Although this supernaturally enhanced body might be able to handle it, I wasn't too sure about that. I was definitely stronger than the above-average man, but I'd say this strength was at the level of a peak weightlifting champion in all aspects.

It then became very easy as it seemed this body had some innate balance.

After feeling that I was able to do a handstand easily enough, I thought about what I could do.

Normally it wouldn't be possible to master something like this so quickly, but with my small experience in some calisthenics and years of harsh physical training, it was easy to create a short program to master the handstand.

Of course, the body's supernatural domineering strength may have contributed a little.

Only a little though!

I trained a regular handstand hold for a little and after realizing this did not affect me, I decided to take a short break and explore the place.

…

So all there is in this place was a bunch of floor and ceiling and at one point I reached a bump on the floor where, after rapidly digging up, I found a bunch of unrecognizable food in a ton of ice wrapped in some insulation material.

I rapidly adapted to the environment around me and after an hour or two, I was able to actually see everything around me in the complete darkness.

It normally shouldn't be possible for a human to see in absolute darkness since the eye really relies on light to have the ability to see, but from when I first came into this world, I knew nothing was based on my "normal" logic at all.

It might be because of a sort of "mind's eye" or maybe because of a cultivator's ability to adapt quickly to the situations they were in.

Either way, I wasn't sure, and once again, I continued working out, slowly advancing my workouts in the way I felt comfortable.

If I died underground only days after arriving in a new world by overworking myself, that would be a terribly tragic death, wouldn't it?

…

In a plain with dirt covering a wide expanse of it, two men stood opposite of each other as they formally shook their hands.

One had a black mask that covered their entire face with golden swirl-like decorations. The other was bold enough to expose their face with the most prominent features being a sharp jawline and thick curly hair on the top of his head.

They were both held really strong physical features with clear signs of being fit.

The one in the oval-like black mask firmly grasped the other's hand. "You're great at what you do, Xi Jin."

Although the curly-haired man looked like the talkative type, he just grunted in response.

Behind the black-masked man, a person in a golden robe with white cloud like decorations handed over a ring to the curly haired man.

After confirming the colorful and luxurious contents inside of the spatial ring, the two left their locations with rather satisfied expressions.

Unlike the black-masked man, Xi Jin didn't have anybody following him and was by himself.

With arms as large as an adult male's leg, he grabbed a certain groove in the dirt below him when he reached around five miles away from the original location.

Xi Jin then pulled the floor up, ripping off a large portion of the earth below like a toy, pulling it over his head to look below.

Below that partition of the earth, there was a large artificial hall filled with a bunch of people with a solemn expression on them, all participating in different tasks.

Every person there had a decently fit body and had certain natural powers seeming to surround them.

A few on one side of the hall were lined up to take turns in intaking a red and white pill. Once one of them took it, that natural power that surrounded them seemed to grow stronger and more intimidating, but the others that took it had a spasm with foam coming out of their mouths and passed out on the spot.

Those that passed out were dragged by specially designed people through a corridor in the side.

One old man overlooking from the side with tied-back hair and a flowing beard wore a black robe with many overlapping layers of silk. The natural power that surrounded the others seemed to not exist around him yet a certain dominant aura surrounded him, like a dragon hiding its enormous wings to look like a lizard.

When the "ceiling" opened many of the people below were shocked and looked up in curiosity.

The old man ignored the grand change above him and at the same time, from the old man's side, a subordinate stepped forward to scold the people.

"You failed cultivators! Focus on what you're doing next if you want to do anything properly! Tsk."

The people that were lined up immediately retracted their attention from the "ceiling" that was ripped open like a cardboard box and faced forward hesitantly.

Xi Jin only had to glance before the old man caught his eye.

He leaned forward from the edge of the "ceiling" that was at least 200 meters above the floor of the underground space.

He jumped off towards the direction of the old man that was ignoring him and simultaneously dropped the patch of land above him.

Boom!

With a thud, Xi Jin landed about 6 feet from the old man, forming a small crater beneath him.

The burly man's dark eyes looked up lifelessly towards the old man as he shrugged off the dust on his armor-plated robe.

"Grrr..." A deep grunt came out of Xi Jin's mouth like a beast's.

The man that stood at the old man's sidestepped forward in response.

"Xi Jin, how dare you show yourself around here. You should be happy the Master has even allowed talentless garbage like you to stay in this clan." The man snickered.

The old man continued ignoring the conversation between the two as the people lined up for their pills with determined expressions.

Xi Jin didn't seem bothered in the slightest which caused the man to frown.

He put his hands on his hips as he took a deep breath. He curbed his desire to lash out at the burly man. "So? Have you at least completed your mission?"

Xi Jin laid out a palm with a ring on it.

He knew the little subordinate couldn't steal the ring directly from him as Xi Jin had the strength to easily dominate him and instantly kill him.

In it were a large swath of golden colors, all creating the image of what a dragon's secret treasure would look like.

In it was a scroll that the man recognized at a glance. It contained information that could easily interest the likes of the Elder beside him who's reached a Heaven Defying Realm.

A power the likes of him, a master of sword arts, and even Xi Jin, the Domineering Mercenary couldn't compete with.

The man had a look of greed in his eyes, but once again forced himself to curb his desire.

The subordinate then handed it to the Elder.

The Elder eyes glanced over most of the treasure with no interest.

He used some means to immediately pull out the scroll.

He unfurled it and in it was a name he didn't recognize.

''Dai Ning'?'