According to the memories he had inherited, he was in a corroded zone—a place struck by the blinding radiance of God's power. Within these zones, all life was wiped out, leaving only a strange, corrosive substance behind. Humans and animals would either die or mutate into horrendous creatures.
And speaking of God, a massive hand hung in the sky, visible to all living things. It had appeared thousands of years ago, and with it came the bizarre existences—new life forms that defied the laws of nature, guided instead by God's perverse power. The cultivation world was thrown into chaos, and the remaining human experts fled with their people.
A few months ago, God's power struck the city he was in, killing everyone or mutating them into beasts. Everyone except him. He didn't know how or why he had survived. The bizarre existences were incredibly strong, and he couldn't even contend with the mutated beasts, let alone the true horrors of the zone.
Grey had been cultivating and had managed to reach the second level of Qi Accumulation, but that was not even the bare minimum for survival. And he had been killed shortly after.
He held the purple crystal in his hand and continued to limp forward. According to his memories, a mutated creature at the seventh level of Qi Accumulation resided within a nearby blood lake. The sky would soon darken, and with it, the bizarre existences would emerge. If they found him, he was dead.
Gritting his teeth and enduring the pain, he limped through the growing, lush forest of the corroded zone, the purple crystal a heavy weight in his hand. He avoided obvious dangers and took long detours around places that should have been harmless. As the sun dipped below the horizon, he finally found refuge within the walls of a dilapidated building—one of the few that had survived the cataclysm.
He sat down, biting his lip to keep from crying out as a wave of pain turned his vision white. After blocking the door with miscellaneous items, he finally allowed himself to relax.
'What kind of world did I transmigrate into?'
As the sky turned completely dark, the sounds of the mutated creatures began. Howls, growls, and groans echoed outside, filling Grey with a deep, consuming fear. He pushed the fear aside, focusing on his immediate problem: his broken leg. He needed to be able to walk by morning to find food.
Pale from exhaustion, he drank from his water bottle until his thirst was quenched. He gritted his teeth and shifted into a more comfortable position, making sure his leg lay straight to allow the bone to reattach correctly. Luckily, he found some dirty bandages nearby. He bore through the pain of cleaning the wound and wrapped the bandage around his leg. The bleeding had stopped long ago, but any sudden movement would reopen it, leading to another round of suffering. By the time he was done, his shirt was drenched in sweat and his face was even paler than before.
"Now I can study this crystal..."
He held the crystal in his hands, examining it from every angle. It looked like a normal purple crystal, and after several minutes of scrutiny, he sighed and brought it back to his chest. As it touched his skin, the purple light within the crystal seemed to grow brighter. A strange sensation spread through his body, and he felt his damaged body slowly repairing itself.
"So, the healing only works when I'm in contact with it."
Another thought entered his mind. This crystal was surely a valuable treasure—something people would kill for. If it were found on him, it would be taken by force.
"So where do I hide it?"
He looked at the large, still-unhealed wound on his chest. Gritting his teeth in anticipation, he pushed the purple crystal into his flesh. He nearly screamed from the unbearable pain, but the thought of the creatures outside made him clamp his mouth shut.
He bit his lip so hard that he tasted blood. When the purple crystal was fully inside his body, he sighed in relief. The crystal wasn't small, but it wasn't large either. Inside his chest, the purple crystal continued to emit light, and before his very eyes, his wounds began to heal.
The tear where he had inserted the crystal closed, and his broken leg realigned and healed. The gash on the back of his head vanished. In just fifteen minutes, he was fully healed, without even a scar. Exhausted from the ordeal, Grey immediately fell into a deep sleep.
'I fell asleep...'
Grey awoke, half-expecting to see his old room.
'Ah yes, I remember. I transmigrated.'
He stood up and was astonished. His body was completely healed. There was no discomfort, not even a trace of an injury. It was as if everything had vanished. His chest felt normal, like he hadn't shoved a crystal the size of a small rock into it.
He felt oddly powerful, as if he could face anything. But he knew this feeling was common during cultivation and didn't reflect his true strength.
"Finally, I can hunt for food while digesting the memories."
He touched his side and felt the presence of a pouch. When he opened it, he found a jade slip and a few other things. The contents of the jade slip were in a foreign language. But as he focused, the symbols shifted, from strange to somewhat alien, then to familiar. Soon, he could read it. He saw the title at the top and read it aloud:
"Sky Mist... Cultivation Art."
This was the art the previous owner of this body had been learning. It included the breathing method and the way Qi should flow during cultivation, and it noted that for best results, it should be practiced where mist was present.
"But there's no mist here... Still, I'm grateful I have a cultivation art to learn."
The jade slip explained what to expect while cultivating and outlined the number of levels. For now, he was at the second level, corresponding to the second stage of the Qi Accumulation Realm. All he had to do was sense the Qi in his body and guide it. He had already succeeded!