Chapter 3 - The Mysterious Ring
Lin Mu found himself in a dark place once again, but this time he can see his body clearly even though there was no source of light present there. Lin Mu, clearly having no idea how he ended up there, felt scared and couldn’t help but ask himself if he was back in a dream.
"How do I get out of here? Should I just wait till I wake up naturally? ...Since I’m here, I may as well walk around and check this place out."
After being in the dark place for a couple of minutes now, Lin Mu’s eyes start to adapt to the darkness and could see things more clearly. Looking around in all directions, he found a pale glow of lights coming from one position and decided to walk towards it; trying to find out what it was. While walking towards the pale glow, Lin Mu observed some changes to the dark sky.
"What are those faint streaks of light in the sky? I’ve never heard of phenomena like this before, guess I’m definitely in a dream."
There were silver and grey faint streaks of light in the sky, which would fade away into darkness and then appear again. Thousands of them could be seen, as if they were dancing in a mysterious harmonic pattern. After a few minutes, Lin Mu reached the source of the pale glow that he observed from far. Finally seeing the object - he found it to be an altar, but it was made up of faint glowing runes and mysterious scripts which were floating in the air; forming the shape of an altar, not having a physical presence itself.
"Those runes and scriptures look similar to the ones that were carved on the outside of the ancestral temple of Wu Lim city. But aren’t they used by cultivators to make qi formations? Why would they appear in my dream?"
Now, Lin Mu did not want to sell the ring at all. Only a fool would let go of an opportunity like this which he knew would only bring benefit to him. As for whether the ring was a spatial storage ring, he could not verify it as he was not a qi cultivator yet; nor did he know how he ended up in the dark place with the altar made of glowing runes and scriptures.
Thinking that he may be able to fulfil his long-lost dream of becoming a qi cultivator one day, he felt excitement he had not felt ever before and all the feelings of sadness and despair from yesterday’s events washed away.
"If I become a cultivator, I’ll be able to buy back my house and I will no longer have to live with my head down! I’ll be able to walk proudly with my head held high, and the townsmen will have to treat me with respect."
Now knowing the direction in life that he was supposed to walk, Lin Mu was filled with determination. Still, he knew that if he wanted to become a qi cultivator he would need a lot of resources like herbs and fierce beast meat rich in vital energy. He could not hunt beasts which had rich vitality in the forest as he was not strong enough and would simply be courting death. He could trap smaller beasts, but they will only fill his belly and would not be of much use in tempering it.
"I guess I’ll just have to make some traps and catch some small fierce beasts like the black horned rabbits and thorn tailed rats. Even though they don’t sell for much, I can still exchange them in town. I’ll need to start somewhere so I can save at least until I have enough coins to buy a weapon sturdy enough to kill stronger beasts."
Lin Mu went in search of small animal trails where he could set up some traps. Upon finding one, he used the vines growing nearby and some slender, flexible trees to set up snare traps. Now he just had to wait until something was caught. Feeling hungry again, Lin Mu saw the position of the sun in the sky and felt that he had two hours until sunset. Walking back to the apple tree, he plucked a few more apples for his dinner as he doubted whether he would be able to catch anything in the traps; and even if he did, going to the forest at night time would be dangerous even in the outskirts. If a stronger, fiercer beast decided to wander off it could mean his death, so he thought it would be better to just eat the apples again.
Walking back to the shack, he once again filled the pot with water, put the chunks of apples in them, and set it on the stone stove to cook. While waiting for the apples to cook, Lin Mu decided to chant the calming heart sutra once again. He felt the feeling of calmness spreading through his body, but did not feel the waves of energy that flowed through his muscles increasing; no matter how much he focused, they stayed the same.
"Huh, I guess the calming heart sutra only helps if I have the necessary vital energy in my body. It only helped me break through because I had the surge of energy that was released from the ring in the morning. Now that it’s depleted, I’ll have to train and eat more food to slowly accumulate vital energy."
Thinking about the mysterious ring, he lifted his right hand to look more closely at the ring and its peculiar design. As Lin Mu focused on the ring, he suddenly felt a force pulling his hand. Shocked at this, his right hand was pulled towards a direction forcing him to walk towards there. Finally, Lin Mu’s eyes went wide as his hand was pulled up in the air where a rift opened and his hand was pulled in.