In a remote street in the southern part of Nagazora City, a few female Honkai Zombies roamed. Although it was close to the city center, this street was lined with shops like game stores and flower shops that didn't attract much foot traffic, so the number of Honkai Zombies wandering here was small.
Besides the shuffling footsteps of the Honkai Zombies, there were no other sounds. Everything was silent.
But the quiet didn't last long.
A white light, enveloping a human figure, suddenly appeared above Nagazora City. It fell like a meteor, trailing a white flame, and descended upon this world—this Honkai world.
BOOM!
The impact gouged a large crater in the white concrete road, sending rubble and dust flying. The debris shot out like bullets, piercing the bodies of the few Honkai Zombies gathered on the street. The shockwave of the impact obliterated all obstacles around the landing site. Several Honkai Zombies were even thrown several meters by an invisible force, their spines snapping as they collapsed, never to rise again. The kicked-up dust formed a small, spectacular mushroom cloud.
The culprit behind all this was currently lying spread-eagled in the crater he had created, seemingly asleep, with a trail of shiny, mysterious liquid trickling from the corner of his mouth.
The sun was exceptionally bright today, which made it hard for Li Xuan to sleep. He opened his eyes with some annoyance, thinking to himself that he should have closed the curtains. The glaring sunlight forced him to squint, and only after his eyes adjusted could he see clearly—the azure sky.
The blue sky with a few floating white clouds and the faint outline of shops in his peripheral vision gave him the feeling that he was lying in the middle of a road.
Heh, how could that be possible? Li Xuan raised a hand to cover his face and chuckled, completely unaware that he had just jinxed himself.
'Holy crap! Why am I really lying on the road?!' The reality, so far from what he'd imagined, stunned Li Xuan as he climbed up from the ground. He was sitting in a crater that looked like it had been made by a meteor. Dust floated around him, and a few female corpses lay not far away, with spatters of blood on the ground. The shops on either side of the road looked like they'd been abandoned for years. For someone who had just woken up, the scene was as bizarre as a murder scene.
"Hiss..." Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his right hand, making him suck in a breath of cold air. In a moment of carelessness, his palm had been cut by a sharp piece of rubble, leaving a three-centimeter-long gash. Blood flowed out ceaselessly.
My quest was over before it even began. Counting from childhood, Li Xuan had never had such a serious injury.
Li Xuan held his hand up helplessly, a look of frustration on his face as he stared at his palm, trying to figure out how to stop the bleeding. His gaze unintentionally fell upon a silver ring he was wearing on his right index finger.
Huh? When did I buy a ring? Li Xuan stared at the ring, completely baffled as to where it came from.
However, the next scene left Li Xuan and his little friend utterly stunned.
The blood on his palm, which should have obeyed the law of gravity, not only didn't drip down but flowed upwards, swallowed directly by the silver ring. What the hell is this? The beginning of a third-rate fantasy novel? Newton must be rolling in his grave. In just one day, Li Xuan's worldview had been mercilessly shattered, ground into dust, and scattered by the wind.
After drinking its fill of blood, the ring stopped absorbing. And then, under Li Xuan's astonished gaze, the wound on his palm slowly healed. In one minute, it completed a miracle of medical history. A scab formed, it healed, the scab fell off, and the wound was covered by tender new skin.
Coming to his senses, Li Xuan tried to pull the silver ring off his finger, but it seemed to have grown into his flesh. Pulling harder only made it hurt more.
As Li Xuan struggled with the ring, he suddenly felt a needle-like pain in his head. Segments of information appeared in his mind. His heart began to race, his thoughts accelerated, and his limbs felt filled with inexhaustible strength, yet his whole body ached as if being eaten by ants. The process lasted less than a minute, but to Li Xuan, it felt like a year.
"Ahhh!!!!" Li Xuan stood up and roared, a cry of power and a groan of pain. The free-floating Honkai energy in the surrounding air began to swirl, forming a vortex that entered his body.
As he endured the pain, a red mark quietly formed on the back of his right hand.
One yin, one yang. Two taiji fish, interdependent and coexisting—this was Taiji, the origin of all things.
(End of Chapter)