The afterglow of the setting sun illuminated an abandoned building, twisted into a bizarre shape by years of rust and the strangling embrace of vine plants.
"Beep-boop——"
A fist-sized bright spot suddenly appeared in the air above the building, emitting a terrifying pressure that sent small beasts and insects hiding in the building fleeing in all directions like a tide. The bright spot grew larger, the yang giving birth to the yin, and a black hole gradually appeared in the center of the bright spot before it exploded suddenly. Rings of light quickly spread outwards, and a tiny figure appeared where the black hole had just been, hovering strangely in the air for a few seconds before crashing to the ground with a thud.
The surroundings returned to silence.
'Drip-drip——'
A drop of water, mixed with the scent of soil and grass, fell on her face. The girl's eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes, staring at the fiery clouds filling the sky before she let out a deep breath.
Li Xing never thought that one day, such a peculiar thing as time travel would happen to her, a modern cultivator.
She was wrong; if she hadn't gone to pick that Star Moon Orchid, she wouldn't have fallen off the cliff; if she hadn't fallen off the cliff, she wouldn't have encountered the space rift; if she hadn't been sucked into the space rift, she wouldn't have been injured by the violent gales, almost losing her life; if she hadn't come close to losing her life, she wouldn't have triggered the Protective Ring, which activated the maximum defense at the cost of burning her own flesh.
In a stroke of misfortune that turned fortunate, the moment the ring disintegrated into ashes, she successfully passed through the space rift and arrived here. Her flesh and blood were nearly exhausted, and her remaining body was reshaped by mana, transformed into a young child.
Looking at her small and withered palm, Li Xing's eyes twitched twice. Honestly, the spicy chicken feet she ate last night were even more tender and plump than this hand.
Her body felt as though it had been crushed, the pain nearly unbearable as Li Xing gritted her teeth and sat up, moving her limbs into a meditative position to mobilize spiritual energy for healing.
With this move, Li Xing vomited a mouthful of clotted blood with a "wah," her face not showing the slightest improvement; in fact, it became even more ashen, and even her eyes showed a hint of fear.
Because, as she circulated her cultivation, Li Xing discovered that her Dantian was shattered!
With divine sense internal observation, she saw her Dantian covered with web-like cracks, and the Golden Core within was dull, with dense spiritual energy rapidly leaking from it through the cracks, seeping out of her body. In just a few breaths, the Golden Core had dimmed significantly, on the verge of collapsing completely.
Without time to lament her hard-earned cultivation disappearing in an instant, Li Xing concentrated her mind, mobilizing the remaining spiritual energy in her Dantian to circle three cycles before the Golden Core completely vanished, barely repairing the internal injuries left by the blood sacrifice.
With the pain subsiding somewhat, Li Xing finally let out a long breath, taking in her surroundings. The first thing that caught her eye was a strange plant resembling ostrich feathers, its pure color and soft, flowing form tempting Li Xing to reach out and touch it.
Just as her hand was about to touch the Feather Grass, a meter-long Grass Lizard suddenly darted past. The Feather Grass, which had been swaying in the wind, swiftly wrapped around the Grass Lizard. The feather-like leaves, once soft and flowing, now stood rigid like steel needles, piercing the Grass Lizard's body mercilessly.
Blood sprayed as the Feather Grass savored the taste, growing more excited. Its broad leaves enveloped the Grass Lizard entirely, hoisting it into the air and twisting it forcefully. The Grass Lizard let out a harsh shriek, struggling desperately but helpless against the significantly larger Feather Grass. Its struggles only caused it to bleed more freely.
The surrounding Feather Grasses sensed the blood and converged toward the one that had captured the prey, extending their leaves to seize a piece of the prey. In the blink of an eye, the Grass Lizard was torn apart and devoured, the Feather Grasses that obtained a piece curling up into a ball, their leaves contracting and squirming, with faint chewing sounds that were hauntingly eerie. Meanwhile, those that hadn't gotten any food grew increasingly agitated, slapping the ground fiercely, each mark in the dirt underscoring their tremendous strength.
Terrified, cold sweat dripping down her back, Li Xing scrambled and crawled away from the Feather Grass.
How fortunate! Thanks to the blessing of her ancestors, she hadn't fallen into the Feather Grass thicket; otherwise, she'd have become a pile of flower fertilizer by now.
This truly was a strange world, where everything she saw—plants, animals, insects—was vastly different from anything within her knowledge.
Aside from the Feather Grass she'd never seen before, the Grass Lizard with its leathery wings was also new. Nearby insects that flitted around like bees had glowing organs on their heads and long antenna-like appendages trailing from their abdomens; birds the size of a palm perched atop trees, their melodious chirping revealing mouths full of shark-like teeth... Most peculiar of all, this world not only contained spiritual energy but also a wild, chaotic energy that Li Xing felt resembled what the scriptures described as Chaos Qi.
According to legend, after Pangu opened the sky, only Chaos Qi existed between heaven and earth. The earliest cultivators practiced using Chaos Qi. It wasn't until ten thousand years later, when the world stabilized, that Chaos Qi began transforming into spiritual energy, and eventually, Chaos Qi vanished, leaving only spiritual energy in the world.
In a certain sense, Chaos Qi is actually the mother of spiritual energy. Those who cultivate using Chaos Qi can also manipulate spiritual energy easily, but the reverse isn't possible.
As a cultivator born ten thousand years after the transformation from chaos to spirit, Li Xing's physique had long been pampered by spiritual energy. Forget about using Chaotic Power for cultivation; even just breathing the air mixed with Chaos Qi caused her to feel her physical body being gradually corroded and destroyed.
If she couldn't find a way to repair her Dantian and lacked spiritual energy to protect her body, she wouldn't survive in this world for more than three months.
Li Xing had always been proud of her status as a cultivator, living in harmony with heaven and earth, pursuing her desires and ambitions through diligent cultivation. Yet now, having fallen unexpectedly into another world, her body turned into that of a child, her cultivation path severed, and her life hanging by a thread, even Li Xing's resilient mind was anxious, uncertain of what lay ahead.
As Li Xing sat in bewilderment, a series of footsteps approached from a distance; someone was coming.
"Captain, what's... going on here?"
Li Yi frowned at the sight of the child before him; he too wanted to know what was happening here!
Twenty minutes ago, an unexplained spatial fluctuation appeared above the city's outskirts, the energy wave akin to a high-level Star Beast's spatial jump. Li Yi's team was closest, so they came to investigate upon receiving the warning. As it turned out, they saw not even a single hair of the supposed Star Beast, only this emaciated child.
"Search the area, quickly. Let's complete the mission as soon as possible."
Night had already fallen, and in the Dark Forest, Star Beasts grew even more fierce and aggressive at night. Though unafraid of a lone high-level Star Beast, facing a horde, even if they were low-level, would make escaping a challenge for his group.
"Yes!"
After sending his subordinates to search the surroundings, Li Yi removed his helmet and scratched his disheveled hair, his gaze complex as he looked at Li Xing.