A Pace Faster Than a Movie Opening

"...Damn it!"

After a dizzying spin, Gu Zhao opened his eyes again to find himself no longer on his balcony, nor seeing the yoga-practicing cutie in the opposite building who occasionally opened her window.

The sun was still warm, but the air carried a hint of salty dampness, and the chirping of insects and birds echoed through the woods.

The trees were still lush and green, with a few farmhouses not far away, and the faint sound of human voices could be heard.

He felt a rough, abrasive sensation under his feet. Gu Zhao looked down and saw that he was barefoot on the coarse ground, still wearing his comfortable, light home clothes.

His gaze lifted, and he knew he had transmigrated.

Even though there were farmhouses and people nearby, the sun wouldn't be the size of a millstone anywhere on Earth!

Gu Zhao was stunned. He instinctively reached for the Five Thunder Token on his chest, but his hand found nothing.

"Where's my token!?" Gu Zhao's eyes widened in fury.

He looked down and found only a lone red string swaying in the wind around his neck; the Five Thunder Token that had been tied to it was nowhere to be seen.

That Five Thunder Token was the culprit behind his transmigration, so why had it suddenly disappeared?

"This isn't a one-way trip, is it!?"

Gu Zhao's pupils dilated, cold sweat breaking out. He felt a wave of dizziness, followed by a sense of disorientation, as if his head had been filled with mush.

But the next moment, he "saw" the Five Thunder Token.

A token, half the size of his palm, black and red, hovered in the void of his sea of consciousness, surrounded by flickering purple lightning and accompanied by faint thunderclaps that resonated deep within Gu Zhao's mind.

The Five Thunder Token!

Gu Zhao stared, dumbfounded. The Five Thunder Token had somehow ended up inside his head!

Lightning flashed around the token, and something resembling a seed was circling and dancing around it.

Just as Gu Zhao "saw" the Five Thunder Token, streaks of lightning suddenly shot out from it, descending from above and directly into his chest.

As he watched the lightning flow through his body, Gu Zhao felt a tingling sensation. Then, it seemed like an opening appeared in his chest, and a surge of energy poured out, rapidly growing stronger as it merged with the lightning.

Gu Zhao inexplicably knew that this energy was the Innate Qi he had cultivated for ten years since childhood.

In the blink of an eye...

Spirit Moves Qi, Qi Fills Body, Essence, Qi, and Spirit surged. Based on the Innate Qi, Gu Zhao's body began to absorb a certain substance from the surrounding air in large gulps. Then, the spiritual power filled Gu Zhao's depleted body.

Gu Zhao stood there, utterly dumbfounded. The change was too astonishing, too surreal. He couldn't find words to describe how he felt at that moment.

One second he was in his comfortable three-bedroom apartment, preparing for a nap, and the next he was almost naked in the countryside of another world.

One second he thought he had embarked on a one-way journey, and the next his cheat system had suddenly appeared and granted him power.

Even a movie wouldn't have such a fast-paced opening!

Gu Zhao felt the Five Thunder Token in his mind, the Innate Qi in his chest, and the growing magic power filling his Dantian and meridians. He was completely dazed.

"Who am I?"

"Where am I?"

"What should I do?"

Gu Zhao was stunned for a moment before he finally came to his senses.

His first reaction was to look inward at his sea of consciousness again, focusing all his attention on sensing the Five Thunder Token.

The Five Thunder Token emitted a faint pulling force, but it also carried a sense of exhaustion.

Gu Zhao sensed that the Five Thunder Token could take him back, but it seemed to have been weakened for a long time. Now that it had been suddenly activated, it needed some time to recover before it could transport him again.

"Hoo—" Gu Zhao let out a long breath. "It's good that I can go back!"

Although he had transmigrated to this world and suddenly gained the magic power he had always dreamed of, if he couldn't return...

As a wealthy second-generation heir, he lived in a peaceful country with ample material possessions, rich entertainment, a harmonious family, and good health. A comfortable future awaited him.

Sudden transmigration was something no one could handle!

"But, what if I could travel between two worlds..."

Gu Zhao's eyes grew brighter. As a modern youth who spent all his time online, he had already thought of many two-world novels he had read.

"Boss, there's another person here!"

Just as he began to fantasize about the future, a hoarse voice pulled him back to reality.

Gu Zhao looked up and saw two men in coarse clothing, with fierce eyes and holding swords and spears, emerging from behind him and approaching him.

"What's going on?" Gu Zhao was startled.

The two men sized Gu Zhao up. The one on the left looked confused, "He's so fair-skinned and tender. Are you from the village?"

The man on the right chuckled sinisterly, "Who cares if he's from the village or not? This kid looks so clean and fair. We can take him back to the Mountain Stronghold to have some fun."

Gu Zhao: ???

It was understandable to transmigrate to a world that resembled ancient times, but what was with the "fair-skinned and tender," "clean and fair," and "take him back to the Mountain Stronghold to have some fun"?

Damn it...

As the cold gleam of the long saber flashed past his face, Gu Zhao, not yet accustomed to his own strength, hastily retreated. He moved away from the two men and circled around the house, only then realizing the source of the noisy commotion he had heard earlier.

In the small clearing at the village entrance, over a hundred people had already gathered.

Villagers, supporting the old and carrying the young, huddled together fearfully. Around them, more than a dozen men armed with cold weapons had surrounded them, while another dozen were ransacking the surrounding houses.

Gu Zhao was one of the stragglers they had discovered.

After forcing Gu Zhao to the clearing at the village entrance, the two men laughed and didn't press him further, instead continuing to break down doors elsewhere.

Gu Zhao stood alone to the side, watching as the gazes of both the villagers and the bandits focused on him.

Gu Zhao's heart skipped a beat as he looked at a large man, surrounded by the bandits, at the very center.

He was a burly man, nearly 1.9 meters tall, as solid as an iron tower. His skin was dark, his back broad and his waist thick, with thick eyebrows and a beard. He carried a nine-ring saber in his left hand as if it weighed nothing, perfectly fitting the domineering image of a bandit chief.

However, the bandit leader merely glanced at Gu Zhao before shifting his gaze away.

It was clear Gu Zhao wasn't his type; his interest lay with the target before him.

In front of him stood a slender woman in a blue dress.

Gu Zhao looked at her from the side and saw that her expression was calm, seemingly without fear.

The bandit leader looked at the woman as if she were prey, grinned, and said flirtatiously, "Miss, you just happened to arrive here for lodging. Isn't this fate decreed by heaven?"

He reached out to touch the woman's chin. "Why don't you come back to my mountain with me and be my wife?"

The woman turned her head to avoid the bandit leader's touch and let out a dismissive snort, "You're too ugly."