The beast charged at Tang Ling with reckless fury, its movements wild and unrestrained—driven by nothing but the desperate need to kill.
Tang Ling, who had already won this battle once, stood frozen in shock. His mind struggled to process what was happening. The creature hadn't just revived—it had changed. Its power and defense had surged beyond anything he had faced before.
One wrong move, one moment of hesitation, and he wouldn't survive the beast's rampage.
As the beast charged toward him, Tang Ling sprinted toward a tree, using it as a shield to avoid the attack. It was a clever plan—killing two birds with one stone.
Though his plan was working, the beast's scales had become tougher, and the trees were easily destroyed by its headbutts. Over and over, the same process repeated: the beast shattered a tree, and Tang Ling moved to another.
But eventually, everything had to come to an end. The beast finally regained control over its emotions and ceased its wild attacks.
It began its real assault. With a roar, the beast opened its mouth, and a massive orb of poison appeared—this one much larger than the one it had used before.
"Not this again," Tang Ling muttered, gritting his teeth. "I need to hide from it. That thing nearly killed me last time. I don't want to suffer again."
Tang Ling observed the attack's trajectory carefully, planning his next move.
He dodged it—barely.
But the beast wasn't done. It charged at him once more, much faster than before. This time, it didn't pause after using the poison orb. Maybe its power capacity had increased due to its transformation.
Tang Ling managed to dodge, but his previously injured left leg was grazed by a small portion of the poison. The bandages luckily absorbed the toxin, but the pain was unbearable. If the beast used the attack again, he wouldn't be able to dodge.
It was a matter of luck, but unfortunately, luck wasn't on his side anymore. The beast shot the orb again.
"I won't make it. I need to use the weapon Uncle Xiao Dan gave me," Tang Ling muttered. With trembling hands, he took out a long gun from his storage ring.
The gun was crafted from a mixture of materials, its color a blend of green and black. It looked like a lesser-grade weapon, but it held a certain power.
"Thereʼs already some energy stored in it," he thought. "Iʼve never used it before. It has only one shot. I can't afford to miss."
He aimed at the orb which was straight to beast, his hands shaking from both fear and sweat. He knew that if he missed, it would be the end.
With a deep breath, he pulled the trigger.
A ray of energy, golden-yellow in color, shot out with incredible speed. It hit the orb dead-center, and with a burst, the orb shattered just before reaching Tang Ling.
The ray didnʼt stop there. It continued toward the beast, unrelenting.
The beast, seeing the attack coming, raised its tail to block it, and succeeded—but at a cost. The tail was blasted, causing significant damage, and the rune patterns etched into the beast's tail were destroyed.
Tang Ling was stunned. "A small ray almost broke the beast's tail?"
From the destroyed rune patterns, tiny silver particles began to emerge. They gathered around the damaged area, regenerating the runes one by one, healing the wound as if it had never existed.
The beastʼs injuries mended rapidly, as if it had never been wounded in the first place. Tang Ling watched in silent frustration. His grip tightened. "It didnʼt work… The stored power wasn't enough. It wasn't strong enough to kill it."
The beast, now fully recovered, shot another poison orb.
As another poison orb hurtled toward him, Tang Ling instinctively turned to flee, desperation surging through his veins. But the moment he tried to push off the ground, pain flared through his injured leg like a searing blade. His body faltered, his balance shattered, and he collapsed hard onto the dirt. It seemed fate had decided today would be his end.
Desperately, he tried to use the gun again, but when he pressed the trigger, the weapon began absorbing energy to reload. It only managed to charge halfway before the energy from Tang Ling himself ran out.
"I don't have enough power for another shot," he whispered, despair creeping in. "Am I going to die here? I still havenʼt seen the outside world Uncle Dan told me about."
In an endless abyss of darkness, Tang Ling was falling continuously. His body drifted weightlessly, swallowed by the void, as if the world itself had abandoned him. From his closed eyes, droplets of water—souring from sadness—fell into the emptiness, vanishing without a trace.
Suddenly, in the vast darkness, a small jade-green flame flickered to life. It burned softly, a lone spark against the suffocating void, its gentle glow carrying an inexplicable warmth. The cold emptiness that had seeped into Tang Ling's very soul seemed to retreat before its presence.
A faint sensation spread through his numb body, stirring something deep within. His eyelids, heavy with despair, slowly opened, revealing eyes filled with exhaustion yet ignited by a sliver of curiosity.
"What is this light…? Why does it feel so warm?" he murmured, his voice barely a whisper in the silence. A strange sense of familiarity gripped him—elusive, yet undeniable. "I… I think I know it..."
He reached out with curiosity, and the moment his fingers brushed against the flame—
The flame vanished.
Suddenly, the surrounding void was no longer empty. Enormous visions appeared all around him, each one like a massive screen, floating in the endless abyss. Countless scenes flickered across them—some familiar, others completely foreign.
Tang Ling's gaze instinctively locked onto one among them.
One vision revealed a young man clad in a white robe with intricate gold embroidery, a black sash around his waist, and dark boots. In his hand, he held a black scroll, its presence radiating an eerie power. He stood alone, unwavering, before an army of millions.
The battle erupted with unimaginable fury. Not just the young man, but every single one of those millions of warriors unleashed devastating attacks that shook the very fabric of space. The sheer power of their clash sent energy waves rippling across the void, tearing apart asteroids as if they were nothing more than dust. Even a distant planet, caught in the aftermath, shattered completely, its fragments scattering endlessly into the abyss.
The scale of destruction was beyond comprehension. Each warrior wielded power that defied reason, their strikes distorting space, their movements faster than the eye could follow. Some fought with blinding speed, appearing and disappearing in an instant, while others commanded forces that could collapse stars. Their combined might made it seem as if the universe itself was being rewritten with every clash.
Yet, in the midst of this chaos, the young man remained standing. He fought as if he were an unshakable force of nature, wiping out thousands with each strike. No matter how many enemies came, his will was unbreakable.
People were falling like stars, their bodies scattered across the battlefield in a rain of destruction.
The battle raged on for what felt like eternity, stretching over countless years and days. The endless slaughter continued until even the strongest among them began to show signs of exhaustion. But just as the young warrior's energy was about to reach its limit, he raised his hand and activated a technique—
"Time Reverse."
Blood seeped from his mouth as he activated "Time Reverse." Space and time itself seemed to warp and bend around him. The endless cracks in the void, the asteroids shattered by their battles, and the fragments of destroyed planets all began to heal and restore themselves. The destruction that had been caused by the clash of such immense power began to reverse, as though the very fabric of reality was being mended.
Though all his injuries had healed from the mysterious technique, the blood continued to flow from his mouth, a silent reminder of the toll it had taken on him. His body trembled, the strain evident, but his will remained unshaken.
At the same time, half of his enemies—those caught in the effect—were subjected to a drastic transformation. Some regressed into frail old men, their once-immortal bodies now brittle and fragile, while others were turned into infants, their strength and power stripped away, leaving them helpless. Their formidable forms and unyielding might were replaced by frailty and vulnerability, their bodies no longer able to withstand the forces that had once made them fearsome.
As these changes swept through his enemies, the young man's body continued to tremble, but his gaze remained fixed, unwavering. His technique had cost him dearly, but the devastation he had wrought was now being undone, leaving only the aftermath of his unrelenting will.
But the situation remained the same. With a single flick of his finger, the remaining enemies fell, their bodies crumbling like leaves in the wind, their once-mighty forms reduced to nothingness. The battle was over, and the young man stood victorious, his overwhelming strength having crushed every opponent in his path.
However, just as victory seemed certain, a spatial crack suddenly appeared, splitting the fabric of reality itself. Seven figures emerged from the crack, their presence dark and ominous. All were cloaked in black robes, with the word "POWER" boldly written in red across their masks.
The last figure, their leader, stepped forward with deliberate grace. He lifted his head, his single exposed eye piercing through the darkness, as if seeing straight into the very soul of the young man. His gaze was unyielding, filled with an unnerving calm.
Then suddenly, the leader looked toward Tang Ling's side. The vision of the battle, which Tang Ling had been watching, shattered into countless pieces like a broken mirror.
He turned his head, trying to focus on another one of the countless visions around him. But to his confusion, each of them vanished as well, one by one.
But Tang Ling had learned something: the warrior's undefeatable will. Alone, he had fought millions of enemies.
"Who was that guy? How powerful was he? Are there people like him in the outside world?"
This made his curiosity grow even more, strengthening his will to survive.
"I want to live," he cried.
Just as he spoke those words, Tang Ling stopped falling and was able to move. The green light reappeared, circling around him as if it wanted to say something.
"What are you?" Tang Ling asked. The light stopped moving and slowly floated ahead.
"Are you telling me to follow you?" he asked. The light bobbed up and down in response.
With no other choice, Tang Ling began following the light. After hours of walking, he arrived at a strange sight: a larger (adult form) version of himself, chained in the air.
Suddenly, he glanced at his hand, then his body, and realized that he was in soul form. "I didn't notice I was in soul form before... Am I already dead?"
His attention returned to the soul that was chained.
"Is this my soul?" he wondered, reaching out to touch it. But as soon as his hand approached, an invisible barrier blocked him, pushing him backward. The barrier was strong.
The green flame then moved closer, hovering near the chain that bound the soul. It swirled in the air as if urging Tang Ling to remove the chain.
"How can you go near?" Tang Ling wondered. The light remained still, unmoving.
"It seems like it wants me to unchain this soul," Tang Ling muttered. Without hesitation, he punched the invisible barrier. To his surprise, the barrier shattered easily. It was odd, especially considering how strong it had seemed before, but now, it broke with just a simple punch.
After the barrier broke, a massive wave of energy erupted, causing Tang Ling's clothes to evaporate instantly, leaving him naked. The chain also disintegrated with the wave, breaking apart into particles and freeing the soul.
The liberated soul floated towards Tang Ling, its essence intertwining with his own, merging with his soul.
"This… it merged with my soul," Tang Ling whispered, feeling a deep connection. "I don't know why, but… it feels like something I lost long ago has finally returned to me."
The green light disappeared into the darkness, and in its place, golden rays began to pierce through the emptiness. Slowly, an endless blue sea started to take shape, and glimmers of light spread across the vast nothingness, turning the whole space darkness to fade away.
In just a few moments, the sea was fully formed, its waters calm yet vast, stretching far beyond the horizon. But just as the sea completed its formation, a green light reappeared, now surrounded by a strange, pitch-black mist. The mist, small in size, wrapped around the green light, hiding it from view as it passed just beside Tang Ling's head, entering the sea.
"Wasn't that the same green light?" Tang Ling wondered, his eyes narrowing. "But what was that black mist that seemed to envelop it?"
"As long as that light was with me, I felt a sense of familiarity. I don't think it will harm me." he muttered to himself, trying to make sense of the strange occurrence.
However, before he could contemplate further, he suddenly found himself back in the middle of a fierce battle—one he had fought before. His body reacted instinctively, as if his mind had been pulled into the fight once again.
It was unbelievable—time hadn't moved from the moment he had been pulled into that endless darkness. Everything was exactly as he had left it.
The attack was still coming, now just two steps away from ending his life.
A moment ago, Tang Ling had closed his eyes, resigned to his fate, with no hope left. But now, they snapped open.
This time, his eyes were different. Where there had once been despair, there was now unwavering determination. Where there had been no will to survive, there was now a blazing fire of resolve.
With his now strong will, he roared, "No! I want to live!"
A faint golden glow appeared from the thin air surrounding him. It looked the same as before he had been pulled into the emptiness of darkness.
The light moved toward him, pouring into his body from all sides. Every strand of golden radiance seeped into him, filling him with an unfamiliar yet invigorating warmth.
Then, a small amount of black mist emerged from his body—only to swirl back in just as quickly.
Tang Ling raised his hand, staring at it in disbelief. A newfound strength coursed through his veins, unlike anything he had ever felt before.
"What happened to me? Why do I suddenly feel stronger than before? Is this because of that strange accident?"