He continued deeper into the mountains, with no idea how long he had been walking.
Night had fallen completely, and, perhaps because of the spiritual qi revival, the mountains were especially eerie and terrifying.
The beam of his flashlight seemed to be swallowed by something, fading away completely before it could reach ten meters.
The woods were unnaturally quiet. There were no chirping insects, no birdsong, not even the rustle of wind through the leaves, as though a soundproof cover had been placed over them.
With every step, Chen Du had to hold on to a tree trunk and gasp for breath. His left knee still ached from his fall while the wild boar was chasing him.
His strength had long since run out, and he had finished the last half bottle of mineral water twenty minutes ago. His throat was terribly dry, too.
He cursed himself eight hundred times in his heart for coming unprepared. If the man with the saber hadn't stepped in, he would already be half-digested in the wild boar's stomach.
Even so, there was no way he would give up.
He wanted to ask: why?
Why were some people born holding inheritances in their hands,
while the fates of ordinary people like them could be controlled by others at will?
Why were they born weak and still weak?
He refused to accept it,
refused to resign himself to it.
If he hadn't awakened World's Spiritual Endowment, he wouldn't even have been qualified to stand in these woods.
Chen Du gritted his teeth and walked several hundred meters farther. His foot slipped, and he tumbled down a slope.
His backpack strap caught on a dead branch, leaving him dangling in midair and swinging around twice before he fell.
He lay facedown in a pile of fallen leaves, every bone in his body crying out in pain.
He turned over and lay on his back, facing the sky. His chest heaved, and every breath carried the taste of blood.
Then he felt it. Something seemed to be drawing his consciousness toward it.
[World's Spiritual Endowment] was resonating!
Chen Du shot upright, casting the pain in his body beyond the ninth heaven in an instant.
He closed his eyes and focused all his attention on the depths of his consciousness.
Chen Du opened his eyes and looked around.
There was nothing. This place was no different from anywhere else, but there was a flat clearing at the bottom of the slope.
But his reaction couldn't lie. He took a step forward, and the vibrations in his consciousness abruptly quickened.
He took another step, and the vibrations grew stronger.
Chen Du kept walking forward, and when he reached a certain spot.
Boom!
The panel appeared again, and text once more emerged:
[Unexplored independent world detected... "Xuanye Realm"]
[World level: Tier 3]
[World type: Lost Secret Realm (Note: Worlds of this type are usually fragments of space left behind from ancient eras. Their internal physical laws may differ greatly from those of the main world. Please make thorough preparations before entering.)]
[Enter?]
When Chen Du came to his senses, he glanced back the way he had come. Deep in the dark woods, one or two faint beast roars sounded in the distance. He didn't know if something else that had mutated was drawing near.
But he had no other choice. Going back meant continuing to be an ordinary person left behind by the times.
Going forward meant the unknown and danger, but also opportunity.
That evolver had said... opportunities were reserved for those who were prepared.
This time, he didn't hesitate.
"Enter!"
In an instant, it was as though a pitch-black passage had opened.
His physical body was instantly sucked into the passage, but it could neither reach the new world nor return to the old one. His true spirit, however, continued onward through the passage.
Chen Du looked back. Through the passage, his true spirit could still see the scene in the main world.
The clouds above the clearing suddenly parted, and purple light poured through the gap, illuminating the entire mountain forest.
Then everything went dark.
Xuanye Realm.
The capital.
The underground imperial prison was cold, gloomy, and dark. Those held there were either the most vicious and evil people of the jianghu or disgraced officials and their children and families.
The imperial prison was guarded by heavily armed troops at every turn; not even a mouse could escape. Everywhere inside were prisoners tortured beyond human shape.
Once someone entered the imperial prison, they couldn't even put an end to their broken lives. Most ended up in a state worse than death.
The corridors of the imperial prison were patrolled by imperial guards in red armor. In terms of martial skill, they were at least second-rate experts in the jianghu.
Chen Du awoke on a dingy, disheveled straw mat. Looking at the light from an imperial guard's torch before him, he couldn't help feeling puzzled.
Having traversed to this world, he seemed to have gotten off to a rather bad start.
Since his true spirit had traversed here and possessed someone else's body, he soon received the original owner's memories.
I'm Su Yuanzheng, the seventh prince of the Great Sheng Dynasty? At a banquet, in full view of everyone, I tried to molest and rape another country's princess. The emperor was furious and the court and the country were shocked, so I was sent to the imperial prison.
Chen Du's expression flickered.
The emperor couldn't possibly kill him. He was his own son, after all.
His imprisonment was probably meant as a punishment.
Of course, the original owner couldn't have been so stupid. He had been framed; his wine had been drugged with something that could throw a person's mind into confusion.
Just then, golden light shone before him once more, and the panel reappeared:
[Entered new world: Xuanye Realm]
[World's Spiritual Endowment triggered...]
[Awakening a talent that resonates with this world's laws...]
[Talent awakened: Divine Revelation Reading]
[Level: Lv1 (0/2)]
[Ability 1: Martial Arts Creation Lv1 (0/2): Favored by heaven and earth, imbued with boundless righteous qi, and able to perceive the divine meaning hidden in books, you possess heaven-defying comprehension of martial arts manuals! By reading books, you can comprehend techniques and create martial arts. The higher the ability's level, the stronger your heaven-defying comprehension through reading!]
[Note: As long as you can read, you will have the heaven-defying comprehension granted by Divine Revelation Reading and be favored by the world.]
He hurriedly checked his panel again:
[Name: Chen Du] [Realm: None] [Current status: True spirit descended] [Talent 1: World's Spiritual Endowment Level: Lv1 (1/2) Ability 1: Infinite Awakening Lv1 (1/2) (expandable) [Talent 2: Myriad Worlds Traversal Level: Lv1 (1/2) Ability 1: Gate of Traversal Lv1 (1/2) (expandable) [Talent 3: Divine Revelation Reading Level: Lv1 (0/2) Ability 1: Martial Arts Creation Lv1 (0/2) (expandable)
This is the talent this world nurtured?!
Chen Du was stunned.
This talent was truly heaven-defying. Simply reading gave him heaven-defying comprehension.
As he was thinking, the cell door suddenly opened. Outside stood an imperial guard commander, who said coldly:
"Your Highness, seventh prince, you've finally awakened."
"We have been ordered by His Majesty to take you back to Qianchuan Hall."
"From now on, you may not leave Qianchuan Hall by so much as half a step without His Majesty's verbal decree."
With that, Chen Du was taken out of the imperial prison.
Escorted by the imperial guards, he arrived at the so-called Qianchuan Hall.
It turned out to be a secluded library hall in the imperial palace, housing the books the Great Sheng Empire had collected over the past several hundred years. They covered every subject under the sun, with all manner of wonders among them.
But few people ever came to the library hall. Weeds ran wild in the courtyard, and the bricks of the courtyard walls lay exposed. The place was desolate and dilapidated beyond words.
Chen Du entered the hall. Fortunately, apart from a few books damaged by damp and insects, most of the collection was intact.
I've been swept out of this struggle among the nine sons for the throne.
Chen Du, however, felt that his confinement offered a rare chance for leisure. He had no interest in becoming emperor anyway.
The reigning emperor of the Great Sheng Dynasty had many children, and now nine princes were taking part in the struggle for succession.
Now there were only eight. He was completely out of the running and would gradually be forgotten by the world.
If he hadn't appeared, the seventh prince, if lucky, would have spent the rest of his life under house arrest. If unlucky, he would have been granted a cup of poisoned wine and put to death when the new emperor ascended the throne.
The seventh prince was born of a concubine, and his mother had been a mere palace maid. He was considered the weakest of the princes, and his only praiseworthy quality was his thorough study of the Four Books and Five Classics.
At court and throughout the country, he was known as the scholar prince.
Beyond this secular dynasty lay a vast jianghu, where everyone practiced the Martial Dao, and martial experts could leap across rooftops and run along walls.
There were also legendary Martial Dao powerhouses who could fight a hundred men alone and take an enemy general's head from the midst of ten thousand soldiers.
Looking at the books filling the room, Chen Du simply took one out and began leafing through it.
After he had read for roughly half an hour, text flashed before him.
[Divine Revelation Reading · Martial Arts Creation experience +1]
[Current progress: Martial Arts Creation Lv1 (1/2)]
Chen Du could feel that his reading ability had improved a little. He could understand the contents of books more quickly and easily.
Unlike before, when he had only half understood what he read and found it ambiguous, he now truly understood it.
His reading ability was as different from before as heaven from earth.
Seeing the number on the panel rise and being able to feel his own growth firsthand, he found the feeling of effort always being rewarded highly addictive.
The books in Qianchuan Hall were as vast as a sea of mist. There were histories compiled and written by the Hanlin Academy over successive dynasties, as well as martial arts manuals that people in the jianghu dreamed of obtaining.
Every single one would be worth a fortune if it were to get out.
Unfortunately, even if someone obtained these Martial Dao manuals, without a teacher, they would very likely suffer qi deviation while practicing.
"But if my reading comprehension is heaven-defying enough, I'll practically be able to master them without a teacher." Chen Du felt excited.
Six days later, Chen Du, who had been working hard for a long time, opened his panel. Countless notifications fell like flowing water:
[Divine Revelation Reading · Martial Arts Creation experience +1]
[Divine Revelation Reading · Martial Arts Creation experience +1]
[Divine Revelation Reading · Martial Arts Creation experience +1]
[Current progress: Martial Arts Creation Lv2 (3/4) → Martial Arts Creation Lv3 (2/8)]
[Martial Arts Creation upgraded to Lv3. Your comprehension when reading martial arts books has greatly increased, and your ability to create martial arts based on martial arts manuals has greatly increased.]
During this time, he had been reading books like mad.
His ability to comprehend martial arts manuals and create martial arts from them had reached an unimaginable level.
He took out another Martial Dao manual.
[You read the Martial Dao manual "Flying Bird Step" and comprehended the Flying Bird Body-Flicker Technique!]
In less than half an hour, he had fully mastered the entire Flying Bird Step manual and could use it at its highest level: flickering like a flying bird, like a ghost.
Flying Bird Step wasn't some commonplace technique. It was at least a second-rate martial art, and an ordinary martial artist of average aptitude would need to spend at least several decades to reach that level.
That was how terrifying the talent [Divine Revelation Reading] was.
He picked up another intermediate martial art, Black Tiger Fist, and carefully read the manual through.
[You read the Martial Dao manual "Black Tiger Fist" and comprehended Black Tiger Fiend Palm!]
He struck out with a palm, faint fiendish qi gathering in its center. It was merciless and vicious, like a ferocious black tiger bent on taking a life.
With that Black Tiger Fiend Palm alone, he could certainly become one of the very strongest second-rate fighters in the jianghu.
"The Great Sheng Dynasty has an army of a million. Over the past several hundred years, it has wiped out quite a few Martial Dao holy lands that stirred up trouble and seized a vast number of Martial Dao manuals. In Qianchuan Hall, Third-rate and second-rate martial arts are merely the lowest of the lot."
Chen Du pondered silently.
There were first-rate, top-tier, and even Houtian martial arts.