The return was a punch to the gut. In the blink of an eye, the excruciating pain of having the flesh of his back and the rest of his body lacerated was replaced by the dull silence of his room. Long Chen sat up in bed, cold sweat trickling down his forehead, which just a minute before had been running with blood.
He patted his abdomen. Smooth. Perfect. He let out a low, hoarse chuckle.
"Hah... I still need to get used to this," he murmured to the empty room. Dying in that world was just an illusion. A scare.
His greatest advantage wasn't the Spiritual Fox or his future knowledge; it was this conditional immortality. He could always go all-in because his chips, more often than not, returned to his hand.
With a thought, he checked his spatial ring. The relief was sweet. The panther's massive body was there. "Gotcha, you hellcat."
He dumped the pile of Silver-ranked demon spirits onto the floor. "Okay, let's start with the snacks, weakest ones first."
One by one, the Silver-ranked cores, he devoured them. The energy was sucked into his Soul Realm, and he felt the circulation of the Yin-Yang Sutra move with the speed of a lazy snail.
"Tsk. This technique is truly amazing, but it would be even better if it had a greater absorption force!" he cursed inwardly, impatience gnawing at his calm.
Shortly after consuming the last Silver-ranked core, he picked up the One-Star Gold-ranked one. The richer energy made his soul energy, previously slow, spin a little faster. He soon felt his next breakthrough. It was there, on the edge. The barrier seemed as thin as a sheet of paper, able to be torn at any moment.
"Staying here won't do," he decided. A Rank breakthrough could cause a small light show, and he didn't want to have to explain what happened to his mother, or even attract unwanted attention.
He put on his dark cloak and sneaked out through the window, finding refuge in a familiar training field, the same one where he had healed Xiao Ning'er.
Taking out the Four-Star Gold-ranked Panther core, he felt the violent power pulsating. "Come on, kitty," he whispered with a malicious grin. "Be generous. Give me your hide-and-seek trick."
He then sat down cross-legged and plunged into absorption.
Boom!~
The energy exploded within him like a storm, a fury his Soul Realm eagerly drank. The Yin-Yang tomes spun like crazy, and a golden aura erupted from his body, flattening the grass around him.
BOOM!~ An even greater explosion occurred, and the aura around him changed from silver to gold.
Finally, Gold Rank!
At this moment, he could already be compared to the greatest experts of Glory City, falling only below the family heads and the legendary Ye Mo.
Long Chen opened his eyes, power rushing through him like a raging river. He probed his soul, but to his disappointment found nothing. No ability.
Just the substantial increase within his soul sea, and his own physical strength that soared to a new level.
Even happy with his increase, he couldn't help but feel a wave of frustration.
So much pain, so much risk, for nothing? He really wanted that shadow teleport ability, but it seemed luck wasn't on his side.
Long Chen sighed, shaking his head.
While his mind was lost in thought, the world around him began to disintegrate, his consciousness also became blurred, and he lost consciousness.
The moment he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the training grounds.
He was in an infinite, silvery space, his own Soul Realm. And before him, stood the Spiritual Fox, the one that seemed to be hibernating in his soul realm every day.
But this time, it wasn't just standing still or sleeping.
It moved with a grace he had never seen before, a dance that was both elegant and deadly.
Suddenly...
It raised one of its front paws, the claws normally used for tearing flesh gleaming with a strange, silvery-purple light.
Then, it slashed the air in front of it.
Swoosh!
It wasn't a physical attack.
The air didn't move.
Instead, space itself seemed to tear. A thin, black rift, with shimmering violet edges, appeared where its claws passed. It wasn't a shadow, it was... a cut in the very fabric of space.
With an unperturbed calm, the Spiritual Fox stepped through the rift. And disappeared.
The next instant, another rift opened dozens of meters away, and it emerged from within, as gracefully as it entered.
"What the hell?"
Long Chen watched, mesmerized. But he didn't have time to process it for long.
That's because all the knowledge of that action, the feeling, the theory, everything flowed into his mind in an overwhelming rush.
The skill wasn't from the panther.
It was from his own soul, or rather, from the soul of the spiritual fox in his soul realm, awakened probably by his qualitative increase in cultivation.
[Void Teleportation.]
His consciousness returned to his body in the training field with a jolt. The aura on his body had already disappeared, settling as if it had never been there. But he didn't care about that. His eyes were wide, shining with feverish excitement.
"It can't be..." he whispered, his heart pounding. He stood up, his body still a little dizzy, but his mind racing.
He had to try.
He raised his hand, imitating the gesture he saw the Spiritual Fox make. He concentrated his Soul Force, feeling it flow from his Soul Realm to his fingertips.
His fingers glowed with a silvery-purple light, digging into the spatial fabric in front of him. "Come on, this is my chance!"
He felt a strange resistance, as if he was trying to cut through the hardest rubber in the universe.
"Cut!" He ordered in his mind, forcing more and more energy to his fingertips, and then his hand came down fast, as if cutting a piece of butter.
Swooosh!~
A small, unstable black rift, less than a meter high, opened in front of him with a soft sound, like fabric being torn.
He hesitated for only a few seconds before deciding to take the risk. It wasn't arrogance, but a pure instinct that nothing bad would happen to him. Knowing this, he took a step forward.
Woom!~
The sensation was indescribable. It was like being squeezed through a needle hole and stretched through infinity at the same time. Darkness enveloped him for a fraction of a second, and then... light.
He stumbled forward, falling to his knees. The smell of the forest and damp earth was replaced by the familiar scent of old wood. He was no longer on the cold ground of the training field, but on the wooden floor of his own room.
"Success?"
He was breathing heavily, the sensation and the slight discomfort of the sudden journey hitting him. It was an incredible ability, but the price...
He immediately looked within himself, inspecting his Soul Realm. His eyes widened in shock.
A tenth.
A single spatial journey, and a tenth of all his newly acquired Gold-Rank Soul Force had disappeared, consumed in a single instant. If this were done while he was Silver Rank, it was questionable if he would have enough soul energy to make this trip.
"What monstrous consumption..."
But then, understanding hit him, and the shock was replaced by pure, maniacal euphoria. He laughed, a loud, genuine sound that echoed through the silent room.
He hadn't teleported a few meters. The training ground was deep within the Holy Orchid Institute, a place that was kilometers away.
And he had appeared here, in his room, in the suburbs of Glory City.
The distance was... enormous!
He had crossed a barrier that even the greatest experts of Glory City would have to pay a high price if they wanted to cross in an instant.
The cost was high, yes. But the reward? The reward was absolute freedom. A perfect escape route. An impeccable infiltration method. A very useful ability on several occasions. Furthermore, he felt that this was not the only use of this ability.
"Now we're talking," he said to himself, a predatory smile spreading across his face. "This was very, very worth it."
He was excited!
---
[Winged Dragon Family]
The next morning, a servant respectfully knocked on Xiao Ning'er's courtyard door. "Young Mistress, the Patriarch requests your presence in the meeting hall."
Xiao Ning'er nodded, her expression maintaining the same mask of coolness, and followed the servant.
In the hall, the atmosphere was heavy.
Her father, Xiao Yunfeng, sat in the main chair, his face a rigid expression, a mixture of discomfort and shame. Seeing him like this, pressured by those old men, irritated Ning'er. Even if a part of her was hurt that he hadn't fought harder against her engagement, he was still her father, and his helplessness enraged her.
Unconsciously, her fists clenched at the hem of her dress, making her pale hands red.
Elder Xiao Yi, a man with whom her father notoriously did not have a good relationship, spoke first, his tone dripping with accusation. "Xiao Ning'er. We have been informed that you were seen with a boy in the forest late at night. What do you have to say in your defense?"
"I—"
Before Ning'er could even open her mouth, he cut her off sharply.
"You know you are promised to Shen Fei of the Sacred Family! Your reckless behavior shames not only yourself, but our entire Winged Dragon Family! What were you doing? Doing shameful things and putting our family in a difficult situation?"
"What!?" Xiao Ning'er's face turned pale.
The other elders murmured in agreement, disregarding her emotions.
Some tried to calm Xiao Yi, but with words no less contemptible. "Elder Xiao Yi, calm down. I'm sure Young Mistress Ning'er wouldn't do anything to tarnish her reputation... intentionally."
Xiao Yunfeng opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He just lowered his gaze, in silence. Not that he didn't want to defend his daughter, but he didn't know how to do it.
Seeing that expression of his was the last straw. Xiao Ning'er clenched her fists so hard that her nails dug into her palms. Was this her family? A bunch of cowards and tyrants?
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, she exploded.
"ENOUGH!"
Along with her shout, a powerful and oppressive aura erupted from her body. One-Star Bronze Rank! The spiritual shockwave silenced the hall instantly.
The elders stared at her, their jaws dropped. Complete shock.
It should be known that not even the direct heirs of the Sacred Family and the Snow Wind Family, Ye Ziyun and Shen Yue, had reached Bronze Rank yet. And Xiao Ning'er's soul energy was extremely pure, so dense that even they, Silver and Gold Rank Soul Masters, felt a pang of pressure.
"This—This is..."
A single thought arose in all their minds simultaneously: A Genius!
Xiao Yi's expression changed from anger to astonishment, and then to thinly veiled greed. The tone in the hall changed completely.
"Patriarch Yunfeng! What a wonderful daughter you have raised!" The same elder who minutes before had scornfully reprimanded her, now smiled as if she were his favorite granddaughter.
The hypocrisy was so dense that Ning'er almost choked on it."
"Indeed! To reach Bronze Rank at this age! Your talent is rare, even in a hundred years!"
In the end, after a shower of praise, they quickly "resolved" the matter.
They decided to drag out the marriage negotiations as long as possible. If Xiao Ning'er continued to advance at this rate, wasting her on the useless Shen Fei would be a catastrophic failure for the family.
Seeing this, Xiao Ning'er finally breathed a sigh of relief, listening to the comforting words of her father and the elders, now filled with pride. But in her heart, she knew. She owed them nothing. She owed all of this to Long Chen. If not for him, she would still be trapped and submissive to "the family's" wishes.
_____
[Library]
Long Chen met Nie Li's group in the library. The group had already bought a mountain of Purple Mist Grass, and now they were sitting in a corner, studying inscription patterns under Nie Li's tutelage.
As Nie Li was now far behind Long Chen in cultivation, he could no longer perceive any abnormality with him. To him, Long Chen was just a peak Bronze-Rank talent, who would remain in that realm for at least a few more weeks.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the vast library, a larger and noisier group was gathered around Chen Linjian, from the Divine Family. He was enthusiastically talking about exploring some ancient ruins outside Glory City, trying to incite more people to join his group.
"Whoever joins me on this expedition will certainly not leave empty-handed!" Chen Linjian declared, and to prove his point, he handed a black armor with flame patterns to one of his followers. "Xiao Li, this is for you. Battle armor, Five-Star Bronze Rank!"
The act immediately caught Lu Piao's attention. "Wow! Look at that! That armor is worth more than a hundred thousand demon spirit coins."
Everyone else also noticed the commotion and turned to look.
Nie Li, who was explaining a complex pattern, finally noticed the group. His gaze fixed on Chen Linjian, and he seemed to sink into thought for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes lit up with the fire of a plan forming. With a confident smile, he stood up.
"Guys, keep studying. I'll be right back." He said, and then walked away.
He walked directly towards Chen Linjian, with confident steps. "I heard you're organizing an expedition to some ruins outside Glory City. I'd like to join."
Long Chen, who was observing everything, saw the opportunity. He also stood up and approached. "I'm interested too."
He wasn't really interested in the ruins themselves, but wanted to go out to see what the demon beasts of this world were like compared to those of the Spirit Ancestral World.
He felt that the energy in each had a great difference, and wanted to know if their strengths were also different, being at the same level.
"Hm? Who are they?"
The arrival of the two immediately caught the attention of Chen Linjian's group. Long Chen's aura, which he kept suppressed at the level of a Five-Star Bronze Rank thanks to the fox's concealment ability, seemed to be on the same level as Chen Linjian's.
Nie Li, on the other hand, looked like just a handsome common boy.
Chen Linjian didn't know Nie Li, and was about to dismiss him. But with Long Chen, an apparent expert of the same level as him, also joining, he reconsidered. Having another strong expert under his command would be beneficial.
He looked from Nie Li to Long Chen, and finally nodded. "All right. You two can come. But you need to listen to my orders when we're outside."
Nie Li smiled and didn't immediately agree. Instead, he demonstrated his knowledge and value for this expedition, and immediately proposed an agreement with Chen Linjian.
The agreement was made. Nie Li could take one treasure before everyone else.
With that concluded, even with his subordinates against it, Chen Linjian made his final decision. They would leave within three days.