"...Fuck!"
After a bout of spinning dizziness, when Gu Zhao opened his eyes again, he no longer saw his own balcony—or the young lady in the building opposite who occasionally opened her window to practice yoga.
The sunlight was still warm, but the air carried a trace of salty dampness, while insects chirped and birds sang in the woods.
The green trees still cast deep shade. A few farmhouses stood nearby, and faint voices drifted over.
A rough, gritty sensation scraped beneath his feet. Gu Zhao looked down and realized he was barefoot on coarse earth, still dressed in light, comfortable loungewear.
When he raised his gaze, he knew he had transmigrated.
There might have been farmhouses and human voices nearby, but nowhere on Blue Star did the sun grow as large as a millstone!
Gu Zhao was dumbfounded. Instinctively, he reached for the Five Thunder Token at his chest—only to grasp empty air.
"Where the hell is my token?!" Gu Zhao's eyes nearly split open in fury.
He looked down and found only a lone red cord swaying in the wind around his neck. The Five Thunder Token that had previously been tied to it had vanished without a trace.
The Five Thunder Token was the culprit behind his transmigration. How had it suddenly disappeared?
"This damn thing can't be a one-way ticket, can it?!"
Gu Zhao's pupils dilated, cold sweat breaking out all over him. His mind spun, then blurred again, as though someone had poured a bucket of paste into his skull.
But in the next instant, he "saw" the Five Thunder Token.
A black-and-red token, half the size of his palm, floated in the void of his Sea of Consciousness. Purple arcs of electricity flickered around it, accompanied by faint, intermittent thunder that echoed through the depths of Gu Zhao's mind.
The Five Thunder Token!
Gu Zhao stared wide-eyed. The Five Thunder Token had actually run into his head!
Lightning flickered around the Five Thunder Token, and something resembling a seed circled it in flight.
The moment Gu Zhao "saw" the Five Thunder Token, bolts of lightning suddenly shot out from it, pouring down from above and straight into his chest.
As he watched the lightning race through his body, Gu Zhao felt numb all over. Then it seemed as if something in his chest had been opened, and a breath of Qi surged forth, rapidly swelling as it fused with the lightning.
For no reason at all, Gu Zhao knew that this Qi was the breath of Innate Qi he had cultivated through ten years of Taoist practice since childhood.
In the blink of an eye...
Spirit Moves Qi, Qi Fills Body. His Essence, Qi, and Spirit surged forth. With Innate Qi as its foundation, Gu Zhao's body greedily absorbed some substance from the surrounding air, and Mana brimming with spiritual energy gradually filled his parched body.
Gu Zhao stood there like an idiot. The change was simply too shocking, so overwhelming that he could not find words to describe how he felt.
One second ago, he had been in a comfortable three-bedroom apartment, getting ready for an afternoon nap. The next, he had appeared almost stark naked in the rural outskirts of another world.
One second ago, he had thought he was on a one-way journey. The next, his golden finger had suddenly appeared and granted him power.
Not even a movie opening moved this fast!
Gu Zhao felt the Five Thunder Token in his mind, the breath of Innate Qi in his chest, and the Mana gradually filling his Dantian and meridians. His entire mind was a blur.
"Who am I?"
"Where am I?"
"What am I supposed to do?"
Gu Zhao blanked out for a moment before finally coming back to his senses.
His first reaction was to look inward into his Sea of Consciousness again, focusing all his attention on sensing the Five Thunder Token.
The Five Thunder Token gave off a faint pull, but it also carried a trace of exhaustion.
Gu Zhao sensed that the Five Thunder Token could take him back, but it seemed to have been weak for a long time. Having been abruptly activated, it needed time to recover before it could carry him through another transmigration.
"Whew—" Gu Zhao let out a long breath. "As long as I can go back!"
Although he had suddenly gained the Mana he had dreamed of after transmigrating here, if he could not return...
As a modestly wealthy second-generation heir, he lived in a peaceful country with abundant material comforts, rich entertainment, a harmonious family, good health, and a great many easy, pleasant days waiting ahead of him.
Who could stand being suddenly thrown into another world?
"But if I can travel between two worlds..."
Gu Zhao's eyes grew brighter and brighter. As one of the five good youths of the new era who spent all day surfing the internet, he had already recalled several novels about traveling between two worlds.
"Boss, there's another person here!"
Just as he began imagining the future, a hoarse voice dragged him back to reality.
Gu Zhao looked up and saw two men in hemp clothing emerge from behind him. Their eyes gleamed with viciousness, and they carried blades and spears as they closed in on him.
"What's going on?" Gu Zhao jumped in fright.
The two men looked Gu Zhao up and down. The one on the left sounded somewhat puzzled. "Such delicate skin and tender flesh. Are you from this village?"
The man on the right gave a savage grin. "Who cares whether he's from the village? This kid's fair and clean-looking. We can drag him back to the Mountain Stronghold and have some fun with him."
Gu Zhao: ???
It was easy enough to understand transmigrating into a world resembling ancient times, but what the hell were "delicate skin and tender flesh," "fair and clean-looking," and "drag him back to the Mountain Stronghold and have some fun" supposed to mean?
I fucking...
Seeing a long blade flashing with cold light slash before him, Gu Zhao—still unaccustomed to his newfound strength—staggered back in fright. He moved away from the two men, circled around the house, and then learned why he had heard all that noisy clamor earlier.
More than a hundred people had already gathered in the small open space at the village entrance.
Villagers, old and young, huddled together and trembled. More than a dozen men wielding cold weapons surrounded them, while another dozen or so men ransacked the nearby houses without restraint.
Gu Zhao was the fish that had slipped through their net.
After forcing Gu Zhao to the open space at the village entrance, the two men laughed loudly. They did not press closer, instead heading off to break into other places and search them.
Gu Zhao stood alone to one side, watching as the villagers and bandits alike turned their gazes toward him.
Gu Zhao, meanwhile, looked uneasily at a strong man surrounded by bandits at the very center.
He was a strong man nearly one meter ninety tall, solid as an iron tower. His skin was dark, his shoulders broad and waist thick, with heavy brows and a curling beard. He held a Nine-Ring Saber in his left hand as though it weighed nothing, perfectly fitting the tyrannical image of a stronghold chief.
Yet the bandit leader merely glanced at Gu Zhao before looking away.
Clearly, Gu Zhao was not to his taste. The target in front of him was what interested him.
A slender woman in a blue-green dress stood before him.
From the side, Gu Zhao saw that the woman wore a calm expression, seemingly without the slightest fear.
The bandit leader looked at her as if she were prey. He bared his teeth in a frivolous smile. "Miss, since you happened to come here seeking shelter, isn't that proof that Heaven has destined our bond?"
He reached out to touch the woman's chin. "Why not come back to the mountain with me and become my bandit wife?"
The woman tilted her head aside to avoid him, letting out a disdainful snort. "You're too ugly."
Before you continue