He found a Blood Wolf near a ravine.
The beast was crouched over the remains of some unlucky prey, tearing flesh from bone with savage relish. Its crimson fur was matted and wet, its muzzle stained dark. It was only a Tier 1 beast, but its eyes were sharp, and its body carried the raw violence of something that had survived by killing anything weaker than itself.
Chu Feng watched it for a moment from behind a tree.
Then, careful as breath, he stepped forward.
He was still closing in when Chu Feng made his mistake.
A twig snapped beneath his foot.
The beast's ears jerked upright. Its crimson eyes locked onto him, and in the blink of an eye, it lunged with a roar that shook the trees.
Chu Feng cursed and turned to run.
"Sorry," he muttered under his breath. "I didn't mean to interrupt your meal."
The wolf was fast. Too fast.
Its claws tore through the earth behind him as he sprinted between the trees, his heart hammering in his chest. He flung a rune formation behind him. Spiritual light bloomed on the ground, only to shatter the instant the wolf hit it.
"What?" Chu Feng's eyes widened.
He threw another.
Broken.
Another.
Broken again.
Panic sharpened his breathing. "My calculations are still off!"
The wolf launched itself forward. Chu Feng dodged at the last second, barely avoiding the jaws snapping shut where his shoulder had been. He reached into his pouch and found one last rune stone.
"Flash Rune!"
Light burst outward.
The wolf staggered, blinded for a heartbeat.
A flash of silver burst from his palm.
A sword of pure energy pierced the wolf's heart mid-air.
The creature fell beside him with a heavy thud, eyes wide and lifeless.
Before he could celebrate, the ground collapsed beneath him.
His body dropped into darkness.
"Ah—!"
He slammed into stone and rolled hard, dust exploding around him. The cave sealed behind him with a deep rumble. For a moment, he lay still, coughing, his ribs aching from the fall.
Then he pushed himself up.
A faint illumination rune floated above his palm, spreading pale light across the chamber.
He froze.
Ancient symbols covered the walls.
Not random scratches—real runes, carved long ago and preserved by something powerful enough to keep time from wearing them away. The air was cool here, dense with spiritual energy, and the deeper he looked, the more his heart began to pound.
At the far end of the cavern was a pool of clear water, reflecting the rune-light like a broken sky. Beside it grew a small tree heavy with red fruit that shimmered faintly from within.
And near the pool's edge—
Books.
Dozens of them, stacked neatly, untouched by dust.
Chu Feng walked toward them slowly, as if afraid the entire scene might vanish if he moved too fast. He picked up the top book and opened it.
The writing inside was unfamiliar.
"These characters..." he murmured. "I can't read them."
As he turned a page, something metallic slipped free and fell to the floor with a soft clink.
A ring.
He stared at it.
Then his breathing quickened.
A storage ring.
He had seen elders wear them before. Symbols of power. Wealth. Access to things ordinary people could never imagine.
Biting his finger, he let a drop of blood fall onto it.
The ring drank it at once.
His soul sense swept inward.
His eyes widened.
Spirit stones. Elixirs. Weapons. A low-grade artifact sword.
Enough wealth to make a village kneel.
Chu Feng let out a low laugh, half disbelief and half joy.
"Heaven finally remembers me."
His attention returned to the books. One volume was filled with diagrams—complex circular formations layered with runes that matched the carvings across the cavern floor.
"A transportation formation," he murmured.
His pulse quickened.
If it still worked...
He studied the pattern carefully, then took spirit stones from the ring and placed them into the shallow sockets around the array in the correct sequence.
The last stone clicked into place.
The formation erupted in light.
Chu Feng staggered back as the cave trembled. The pool rippled. The air twisted like heat rising off stone. The entire chamber seemed to bend around the glowing circle.
He stared at it, then grinned despite himself.
"Well... what's life without a little risk?"
He tossed one of the red fruits into the centre.
It vanished.
A heartbeat later, Chu Feng's grin widened.
"It works."
He stepped into the formation.
The light swallowed him whole.
When his vision returned, the world had changed.
Chu Feng stood in a forest richer in spiritual energy than anything he had ever felt before. The air was heavy, sharp, and alive. Every breath drew power into his lungs.
He turned slowly, stunned.
"This aura..."
His eyes narrowed.
"It's at least ten times stronger than home."
A path led out of the trees toward a small village nestled between mountains. Smoke rose from the chimneys. Children's voices drifted through the air.
An old woman sat at the village entrance, weaving straw.
She looked up in surprise when she saw him.
"My, you're not from around here, are you, child?"
Chu Feng bowed politely. "No, Grandma. My family was attacked by Blood Wolves in the Beast Range. I got separated... I don't know if they survived."
The woman's expression softened immediately.
"You poor thing. Heaven must have spared you for a reason. Come, stay with me until we hear word."
Her name was Old Lin, though Chu Feng quickly began calling her Granny Lin. She accepted the name with a smile.
That night, she fed him warm porridge and gave him clothes that had belonged to her late grandson. Chu Feng thanked her again and again until she waved him off in mild annoyance.
"You can call this home for now," she said.
Chu Feng lowered his head.
No one had said that to him in a long time.
A year passed.
Chu Feng lived in the village, helping Granny Lin by day and training in the woods by night. He tempered his body, refined his senses, and worked endlessly to fuse rune and sword into one.
The fruit from the hidden cavern proved valuable. It strengthened his essence and made his cultivation smoother, allowing him to endure longer and push farther than he once had.
He applied some to the food they ate.
Granny Lin noticed she looked healthier, but she never asked too many questions.
One morning, as mist drifted across the valley, she said, "Child, the Sword Sect is recruiting new disciples in six months. Our village has a quota. You should go."
Chu Feng looked up.
"The Sword Sect?"
She nodded. "If you succeed, you'll have a chance to see the world beyond these mountains."
That night, he wrote a letter and left it on her table.
In it, he told her everything.
About the Feng clan. The awakening ceremony. The accident in the sky. The hidden cave. The teleportation array.
He did not know if she would believe him.
But he could not leave without telling her the truth.
When Granny Lin read the letter the next morning, tears slipped down her cheeks.
"Silly boy..." she whispered, clutching the page. "Go. Heaven walks beside you."