Zhua froze completely.
For a long moment, his mind stopped working.
His body, his muscles everything had gone rigid.
“What!? How!?” he muttered in utter shock.
The question echoed endlessly inside his head.
I awakened a Dao?
Seriously!?
The thought repeated itself over and over again, while countless emotions flooded his heart: joy, excitement, curiosity…
And hope.
“Alright… but how do I use it?”
He had no idea.
Think, Zhua Rengui.
Think.
After a few moments, he decided to focus on the very thing that had allowed him to awaken this Dao in the first place.
His hunger.
His overwhelming desire to devour those chains.
He couldn’t do much with his will yet.
It was still too primitive, too young, too wild to control properly.
He could try using the sword he had found, but the blade was ancient.
He had no idea how durable it was or how badly rusted it had become.
If he struck the frozen chains with it, there was a good chance it would simply shatter, leaving him defenseless.
Zhua placed both hands on the chains and tried to perceive the Dao that had formed deep within his soul.
Then he saw it.
A perfect sphere.
Its crystalline shell shone with a dazzling silver light, while within it swirled a strange golden substance that seemed to howl with endless hunger.
He let out a slow breath.
“What am I supposed to do…?”
He frowned in thought.
If the Dao resides within my soul…
does that mean the soul and the Dao are connected?
A Dao is, theoretically, born from the soul itself.
Maybe that’s why it was formed there…
Zhua continued theorizing, trying to find some way to exploit his newly awakened Dao—to make use of his will.
Then he focused on something else.
His soul.
Using the tiny amount of willpower leaking from the Dao, he attempted to alter it, guiding the flow of his soul toward both of his arms.
Once he managed that, he concentrated once more on his hunger, on his desire to devour, and tried to infuse that flowing fragment of his soul with his will.
Slowly, he placed his hands back onto the chains.
Focus, Zhua.
He pressed his palms against the frozen metal.
The instant he did, he gritted his teeth.
An unbearable pain erupted from within him.
It wasn’t physical.
It was…
metaphysical.
“Now I understand why ordinary people aren’t supposed to use willpower, even if they’ve cultivated it for years. Damn it… this hurts like hell. A mortal body simply isn’t built to wield a primitive, newly awakened will.”
The chains began to dissolve.
A golden substance flowed out from Zhua’s hands, spreading across the frozen metal.
Then it moved.
It devoured.
Little by little, the chains vanished into nothingness.
Zhua released the pressure and felt his soul slowly return to its normal shape, while his will seemed to drift back into a dormant state.
Without hesitation, he pulled open the trapdoor and jumped inside, landing with only minor bruises.
“Seriously… I wonder if I’ll recover fragments of my memories once I become a Semi-Awakened through this miniature historical dungeon.”
Dusting the dirt from his clothes, Zhua looked up.
He had landed inside a network of ancient catacombs.
“This is exhausting,” he muttered.
He began walking through the dark tunnels, gripping the sword tightly in his right hand.
“I really hate the dark…” he whispered.
Step.
Step.
A faint sound echoed in the distance.
Zhua immediately slowed his pace, doing everything he could to remain silent.
A thin ray of light escaped through a crack in one of the walls.
Carefully, he pressed himself against the stone and peeked through the gap.
Someone was standing on the other side, attempting to unlock an enormous door with some kind of artifact.
The door itself was gigantic, engraved with the image of a being made of pure light, radiating holiness and absolute purity.
Countless golden threads surrounded the figure.
It was the image mortals had always imagined when depicting the Primordial Goddess of Destiny.
The Mother of Dragons.
The Sovereign of the Cosmic Kingdom.
The eldest of the Primordial Gods.
Zhua quietly observed the man trying to open the door.
Does this temple belong to the Primordial Goddess of Destiny?
Would she truly have abandoned all those who worshipped her and let them die?
No…
she was famous for waging wars and provoking conflicts whenever another Primordial God dared harm her followers or destroy the cities and temples built in her honor.
Then…
did whatever happened here take place after the deaths of the Primordial Gods?
He pieced together every clue and fragment of knowledge he possessed.
Only then did he notice that the stranger wore the black coat and rugged clothes of a tomb raider.
A pistol rested at his waist.
Suddenly, the man turned his head.
His eyes locked onto the crack in the wall.
And directly into Zhua’s eye.
Zhua instantly pulled back, pressing himself flat against the wall.
The next moment.
The wall exploded as a beam of light tore straight through it.
“Holy shit!” Zhua shouted.
The man yelled back, “Who the hell are you, bastard!? No one is supposed to be here!”
“Hey, come on,” Zhua replied.
“Can’t we just talk this out?”
The stranger burst into laughter.
“You seriously think I’m going to let you walk away?”
Zhua lowered his head.
The shattered wall behind him collapsed even further.
He looked back up and sighed.
“Well then… I guess we’ll do this the hard way.”
He charged.
Gripping the sword in his right hand, he raised it high and swung.
The blade shattered into countless fragments the instant it collided with one of the glowing energy bullets. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Both of them froze for a second.
The man blinked before letting out a mocking laugh.
“You seriously thought that would work?”
“Had to test it,” Zhua shot back.
Without slowing down, he rushed straight toward him.
The tomb raider was still caught off guard.
Zhua dodged another energy shot, closed the distance, and slammed the broken hilt of his sword into the man’s stomach.
The man clenched his teeth in pain.
For the briefest instant, Zhua relaxed his guard.
The stranger noticed.
He pulled the trigger.
A beam of energy pierced straight through Zhua’s right eye.
Zhua’s body trembled.
Then, before the man could react, Zhua brought his left heel crashing down onto his opponent’s foot.
And he smiled.
He pulled his right hand back, clenching his fist so tightly that his fingernails dug into his palm and blood began to flow.
Then he punched.
His fist slammed into the man’s face while he was still dazed.
A second later, Zhua grabbed him and smashed him headfirst into the stone floor.
Boom!
The sound of the man’s skull cracking echoed throughout the chamber.
Zhua stood up slowly.
He bent down, picked up the pistol lying on the ground, and placed one hand over the gaping wound where his right eye had once been.
Blood continued to pour between his fingers.
And somehow…
His smile only grew wider.
It was the smile of someone completely insane.
Yet at the same time, it was filled with genuine joy.
The wounded man lay on the ground, gasping for breath.
His entire body trembled as he pleaded,
“No… don’t do this. It would be a sin. You don’t want to become a sinner, do you? Come on, kid, put the gun down. You look young… don’t make this mistake. It’ll haunt your conscience for the rest of your life. You don’t want that, right?”
Zhua’s smile turned darker.
More amused.
In a low, almost euphoric voice, he asked,
“Do you know who I am?”
The man suddenly saw a glimmer of hope.
“Then… who are you?” he asked weakly.
Zhua’s grin widened even further.
“Nobody.”
Bang!
The gunshot echoed through the catacombs.
The man’s head burst apart as though an apple had been smashed beneath a hammer, blood and fragments scattering across the ancient stone floor.
Then Zhua heard it.
A dark, amused voice.
The voice of the Tower.
[You have sacrificed a sinner. The lock has been broken. You may now enter.]
Zhua froze.
Because he had finally seen what lay beyond the great door.