An hour after dropping the ring, Gu Yan went to the place the ring was supposed to fall. He was afraid of the Demonic Dao practitioners, but he was more afraid of his bleak future. Moreover, the ring might have been a cursed weapon. Gu Yan didn't want to leave a cursed weapon loose after knowing about it.
Reaching the bottom, he went around the area looking for the ring. He didn't find it.
Strange. It's only been an hour. He thought.
He observed his surroundings carefully, only to find small palm prints. He realized that a monkey might have been close by, picking up on his mistakes.
Sigh. Maybe it wasn't my destiny. With that thought, he went back to do his daily activities.
Although he wanted to destroy the cursed weapon, the forest from that point on leads to the Seven Southern Mountains. Even the periphery of the forest has a few Tier 2 monsters roaming around, equivalent to foundation establishment cultivators.
Far away from Gu Yan, in a minor blessed land, a monkey carried a ring running as fast as possible. He had seen some mortals giving a ring to a female which made her very happy. He wanted to give this to the female monkey he wanted to choose as his mate.
Swinging from one tree to another, he made his way towards his destination before abruptly stopping.
He didn't have anything to store the ring in. He scratched his head while looking around. When his eyes laid on a special case, it refused to move. They locked in on it, and he made his choice.
Kreirgh~! (Perfection!), he thought.
He made his way towards the most pristine branch in the area. This is where the most beautiful monkey lived, and where she kept his heart, which refused to come back with him.
When he arrived in the area, his eyes were instantly drawn to the beauty sitting on the highest branch, shining brighter than the sun.
Her lush brown fur shone under the sun, blinding his eyes.
The rhythm at which she pulled lice from her fur to eat struck his heart strings until they broke.
Her palms, pink, soft and tender, as tender as a . . . a . . . very tender~ palm.
And her . . . her . . . um-, anyway, she was very beautiful.
The monkey was dazed for a moment, before coming to its senses. It climbed the tree faster than it ever did in its life and stood in front of his love.
The female monkey was stunned when it saw a lean monkey run up to it and crouched on one knee, before raising its clenched hand. It opened its hand to reveal a . . . folded banana peel.
It opened the peel and pulled a rusty siler ring from it and showed it to the female monkey.
"Kreirgh!!"(A/N: No translation needed.)
The female monkey paused for a few seconds, showing a troubled expression.
"Krei! Krei! Kreirgh!!"(Please take it back. I don't want him to misunderstand.)
The female monkey didn't know what else to say when it saw a muscular yellow monkey far away. It shouted twice with excitement and ran towards it, leaving a greyed lean monkey behind.
The monkey slowly turned its head and looked at the female monkey locking her hands with the village chief's son. It turned its head towards the sky and roared at the top of its lungs.
"Kreirgh!!!"(A/N: Again, no translation needed.)
That evening, it rained.
No monkeys dared to approach a single tree. The tree was surrounded by broken pots, pieces resembling an innocent monkey's broken heart. On top of the tree sat a monkey.
It had a bottle of monkey wine in its hand. Its eyes were red and swollen, but it never cried. It blamed the rain for making it look that way.
Damn! Absolute Cinema!
Lin Yuan didn't know what to say watching the monkey act tough while crying in sorrow.
Even though it stole this ring, I feel bad for it.
Lin Yuan mourned for the monkey for three seconds. After that, he started to make plans on how to escape from there. Out of ideas, he asked the Artifact Spirit for help. He only got one reply.
"Wait."
So he did. In the meantime, he asked the spirit about the world they were in. The spirit said that it doesn't know. Lin Yuan was dubious about the answer.
"I was crafted in the Immortal Realm, where I was baptized by Great Dao itself. But I was taken away before I could learn anything and was thrown into your world. After coming to this world, I tried to contact its Heavenly Dao but my instincts warned me of danger."
"Danger? What was it?"
". . . I don't know. To make matters worse, I(ring) don't have any other functions than storage and your survival, limiting my(spirit) capabilities."
"So you have no tips for me? Anything?"
"You should at least learn to control your Soul Power and the Surrounding Spiritual Power. Don't go outside, I cannot guarantee your safety."
Lin Yuan realized that the spirit was warning him about trying to go out of the ring to help Gu Yan during the clan gathering. He didn't know the reason for the warning, but he decided to follow it.
In the following days, he learned to use spiritual energy around him and the soul power within him from the artifact spirit. Two days later, he could already control them quite well. Feeling his progress, he thanked the spirit for teaching him such important skills.
In response to Lin Yuan's heartfelt gratitude, the artifact spirit coldly replied,
"I don't want gratitude for teaching someone how to breathe."
So Lin Yuan obediently shut up and re-refined his skills as far as possible from the spirit, without realizing that the spirit is everywhere and knows everything that happens inside the ring.
A few hours later, a group of humans attacked the monkey village.
The sounds of collision attracted Lin Yuan who was practicing inside the ring, and also the depressed monkey. The monkey made its way to look at the source of sounds.
A few hundred meters away from the monkey, the monkey tribe was having a fierce clash with a group of humans.
The humans all wore similar robes with a 'Zhou' character embroidered on their chest. The monkey chief was nowhere to be found, so the yellow monkey took the helm and lead its forces to fight against the humans.
The leader of the group was a young girl of about 20 years of age, but she has reached the peak of qi refining. She went straight for the yellow monkey, who was also a tier 1 peak monster.
The battle was fierce, but the humans held the upper hand. Slowly, the number of monkeys started to dwindle, and the yellow monkey started to fight desperately, exchanging injuries for injuries.
Sensing the yellow monkey's state, Zhou Qinghuan fell back, and two clan members hidden in the sky shot multiple arrows at the yellow monkey.
However, the yellow monkey was faking its rage. It also retreated when Zhou Qinghuan retreated.
Around this time, a monkey holding a ring arrived at the scene. It quickly his itself before the humans could find it.
Zhou Qinghuan relentlessly pursued the yellow monkey. While the chase was happening, the remaining monkeys were falling one after the other.
Realizing its desperate situation, the yellow monkey grabbed another monkey beside it and threw it towards Zhou Qinghuan. Zhou Qinghuan immediately slashed at the monkey flying towards it.
But to her surprise, a lean monkey appeared out of nowhere and jumped in her sword's path, falling down mortally injured. The monkey who was saved was also surprised by it, but it came to its senses and ran away under the fallen monkey's wet, dimming eyes.
Before she could go far though, a sword ray fell from the sky, instantly ending its life. The group looked at the direction of origin and spotted a young man flying on a sword, holding the head of an elderly monkey.
"Brother He!"
"Greetings, Elder He!!"
The young man is the older brother of Zhou Qinghuan, Zhou Qinghe. He achieved foundation establishment at the age of 30, and is the most popular figure in the Wu Wan city.
His talent is similar to Gu Shou, but he didn't have the clan's support because he was from a side family branch.
Zhou Qinghuan pouted and complained that she had it under control, and Zhou Qinghe nodded and smiled at her sister's antics. Enraged by her brother's smile, she walked towards the nearest monkey corpse and kicked it. The kick caused the palm of the monkey to open, and a ring flew out of it.
Zhou Qinghuan picked up the ring out of curiosity, but found out that it was just a mortal ring. She lost interest and threw it out, which was then picked by another clan member. Unlike Zhou Qinghuan, the others didn't have a brother with foundation establishment cultivation, so they try their best to gain resources.
The Zhou family members ransacked the area looking for something. The monkey wine they found was generously distributed by Zhou Qinghe, earning the team's respect.
They cleared the area but didn't find what they were looking for. And as the sky darkened, the danger in the area increased. It would be difficult even for Zhou Qinghe, a newly promoted foundation establishment cultivator, to survive.
The sun shone red, indicating its departure. Zhou Qinghe also started to worry.
"Elder He, we found the herb!!"
A sharp cry attracted everyone's attention, including Lin Yuan. He was mourning for his newly recognized brother's death when he heard the sound. He looked towards the location and found a member of the Zhou family holding a blood red herb.
Zhou Qinghe was relieved and quickly organized the group to retreat.
Back in the Zhou family home, the full group was questioned by the patriarch before sending them back. The group, except for Zhou Qinghuan and Zhou Qinghe, who were asked to stay back, made its way towards the night market.
While they were walking, Lin Yuan listened in their chats. Nothing stood out from the conversation except one statement, "It's better to live as a mortal than a Qi refining monk." He didn't know the reason, but he kept it to his heart.
The guy who got Lin Yuan's ring wanted to sell it, but found no buyers. He made up a story about how precious a monkey treated this ring and fooled a merchant to buy it for 30 spiritual pieces.
The merchant tried to test the ring, but found out that it was a mortal product. It is a common rule in the cultivation world to etch the date of making on the immortal product. This rule is vigorously implemented by both the Righteous Dao and the Demonic Dao.
He was furious at being cheated, but he couldn't stand up against the Zhou family, so he swallowed his loss.
The next morning, Gu Yan saw a familiar ring in a stall. He purchased a mortal martial arts book and haggled with the merchant to add in the ring as a compensation.
He held the ring in his hands and rushed towards the back hill, forgetting to buy a spiritual brush again.
On the back hill, Gu Yan held the ring in his hand and waited. He didn't know how to call out whatever was in there. Lin Yuan could sense his feelings, so he spoke first.
"Try to sense inside the ring."
Gu Yan put the ring near his forehead and sent his spiritual consciousness inside. Only alchemists and those in late stage Qi refining realm can extend their spiritual consciousness some distance from their body.
Gu Yan found space inside the ring, so vast it could fit in everything he ever saw in his life and still feel empty. Gu Yan was ecstatic. He found a space ring, something only cultivators in the Golden Core realm or above could own. He still remembered the envious expression in all the clan members when Ancestor Yuan used a space ring in public.
He carefully sensed around searching for the voice that spoke with him 3 days ago. After some searching, he found a soul waving his hand at him. The soul looked about 18 years old. Gu Yan couldn't see any color on it except for blue, but its short hair and unique style of clothing resemble a mortal.
Gu Yan was excited beyond imagination. He heard his father say that when a cultivator reaches a very high realm, they can survive even as a soul. He slowly extended his consciousness and wanted to greet him but stopped immediately.
He sensed the condition of the soul. It was weak, weaker than him. And it wasn't damaged, just weak.
Cold sweat dripped down Gu Yan's forehead. He slowly pulled back his consciousness under Lin Yuan's confused expression. Once he was out, he threw the ring down the cliff again, and ran back as fast as he could.
"???"
Now Lin Yuan was really confused if he was so scary. He didn't understand why Gu Yan would throw him down, twice for that matter. He put the thoughts at the back of his head and used his soul power to rush back up.
He found the direction Gu Yan was running and chased him, but found out that he couldn't catch up.
What a speed!!
Lin Yuan was once again amazed by Gu Yan's speed. He could only shamelessly ask the boost him once again.
Gu Yan found the ring appeared in front of him again and was so scared he fell on his buttocks and crawled back fast.
Lin Yuan cut him again and asked what was wrong.
"Why are you running, kid? Am I so scary?"
"Evil Spirit!!!"
"What?"
"What?"
Artifact Spirit: ". . ."
Gu Yan calmed down when he found he could communicate with Lin Yuan.
"Please, Leave Me Alone!! Don't kill me! I-"
". . . Why would I kill you?!"
The reply further cemented Gu Yan's doubt about Lin Yuan. He wanted to ask something but saw someone coming, so caught the ring and went back to the cliff. He sent his consciousness inside again and tried to speak again.
" . . . So, you are not an evil spirit?"
"Why would I be one?!"
"Because you are too weak."
". . ."
Lin Yuan didn't know what to say, so he summoned his trump card. Gu Yan found another entity which suddenly appeared and was scared again, but he gave up resisting when he couldnot measure its strength.
"It was also why I told you not to go outside. There is something wrong with this world. Usually, a Nascent Soul monk could survive as a soul, even a golden core and lower monks can survive under appropriate precautions. But this world forces souls without shells into corruption."
"Only those who have achieved the Harmony realm can travel freely as a soul. The weaker you are, the faster you will be corrupted."
Lin Yuan asked another question, "What are the realms of cultivation?"
The Spirit replied, "QI Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, Void Refining, Harmony, Fusion, Tribulation Transcending, and Mahayana."
The knowledge was eye opening for both Lin Yuan and Gu Yan. But Lin Yuan had another question.
". . . Didn't you say you didn't know anything?"
"The ring's functions include your safety, so I can learn about the dangers you could face through observation."
"Then what about the realms? How did you know them?"
The Spirit looked at Lin Yuan dead in the eye and said, "Basic Knowledge."
Critical!
Lin Yuan shut up obediently and looked at Gu Yan who was outside the ring contemplating. He then pointed towards Gu Yan and said, "If it was so basic, why didn't he know it?"
The spirit looked at Gu Yan and saw an awkward smile as he shook his head. It replied, "You cannot blame me for not being stupid."
Double Critical!!
The two men recovered after a while and introduced themselves. Gu Yan skipped about his humiliation and Lin Yuan didn't point it out. Lin Yuan only introduced himself as someone from a lower realm who accidentally ended up in this realm but didn't expand on it.
The two struck a deal.
Gu Yan would help Lin Yuan get a body when he could and in the meantime, Lin Yuan would help Gu Yan to the best of his abilities.
To start this partnership, Lin Yuan decided he would help Gu Yan break through first. Gu Yan sat down on the spot excited and they revised the plan.
Gu Yan quickly entered a meditative state, while Lin Yuan observed from the sidelines. Gu Yan first absorbed Qi to his limit, which was slightly higher than it was 3 days ago, and ran the clan suppressing exercise.
After finishing 3 full revolutions, he started the fourth revolution. The followed slowly from acupoint to acupoint as Gu Yan controlled it as much as possible. After turning more than 75% of the revolution, Gu Yan was incapable of pushing it further.
If he were in his room, he would have used the pill to try and break through as soon as possible, but he didn't have it.
Lin Yuan sensed Gu Yan 's situation and forced Qi inside the ring to flow into Gu Yan's body. As the Qi flowed from the ring and into Gu Yan's body, he circulated it according to the method and broke the barrier which lasted for 4 years.
Gu Yan was exhausted but happy and relieved. Lin Yuan himself also felt happy for Gu Yan, but he was also slightly exhausted. Although the ring had a lot of energy, he couldn't mobilize all of it with his strength.
Gu Yan dusted himself up and moved back to his home, skipping slightly along the way making Lin Yuan laugh at his childishness. But he didn't mind. For the first time since his father's death, he saw hope.
---***---
In the Black Imperial Realm, millions of races and trillions of species exist together. The Dao is complete, and the world flourishes. But there are few regions where this rule breaks.
There are 10 such zones in this realm, collectively called Forbidden Zones. There is no recorded history about the reason for their existence, and all who tried to find it disappeared inside them.
At the center of the Central Continent, the heart of the Black Imperial Realm, is one such zone. Inside this zone, at the center of it lay a mountain without a name, but everyone knows it.
There is a saying around the world, "There may be many mountains without a name, but there exist only one Nameless mountain."
The region surrounded by the mountain was corrupted by it and became devoid of life, abandoned by heaven itself. At the top of the mountain, a region where no one ever reached, lay a pedestal on which a book rests.
The book had a black leather binding, filled with descriptions which make any sane person go mad, mortal and immortal alike. The book suddenly opened, which caused a storm to brew in the sky atop it.
The pages turned until a certain page was reached, and words appeared on it. "Gu Yan has broken through a week earlier than necessary. Action?"
A red eye formed in the sky the size of which dwarfs the mountain. It looked at the words, thought for a moment, but did not take any action.
It chose to observe, . . . for now.