Danger!

"You tell, Sister Xun Er. Where am I? What is this place?" Asked Hong Chen while looking around the precipice.

"This is Wu Tan City, Brother Chen, You're currently not in the central plains, but in the Jia Ma Empire which is an empire in the North-West Region of the Dou Qi Continent," explained Xun Er with a smile.

She giggled a little when she saw the shock in Hong Chen's eyes but she continued with her explanation.

"You are right now in my favourite spot in the entire Wu Tan City. This precipice is behind the Xiao Clan where I am currently staying."

"Currently staying mean-" asked Hong Chen but was immediately interrupted.

"Asking about my background is a taboo, Brother Chen. Also I would like you to keep the information of this place and of uncle Ying from anyone you meet, please" she said earnestly with a smile.

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"It's done!" came the voice of Ling Ying after which Hong Chen looked at the hole near him with stairs going downwards.

Xun Er and Hong Chen both curiously went inside only to be shocked by the sheer size and style of the House Ling Ying made so quickly.

'He is too powerful' thought Hong Chen as he couldn't even imagine this level of power and control of Dou Qi.

"I hope you like it, Young Master." said Ling Ying with a little pride in his voice to which Hong Chen nodded with a chuckle.

"Senior is too talented," praised Hong Chen and Xun Er and Ling Yin both smiled.

"We'll let you rest today. Tomorrow we can talk further about your condition on how to deal with the Hall of Souls." said Ling Ying after which he and Xun Er left.

Hong Chen looked around the house which not only had a bedroom, a bathroom, and a cultivation room, but also had a hall and was lit up by many light motes.

Hong Chen summoned his bed from his ring and lied down on it, and breathed a very long breadth after which he started shaking a little.

During the entire time, he was very nervous and was always ready to [Apparate] away if things go south. He even had to let Xiao Yan live for a little while, as killing him just after arriving would surely put him on the list of the prime suspects, not to forget he was still Xun Er's best friend in the Xiao Clan.

After closing his eyes and relaxing a little, he spoke in his mind.

'Use [Flame Mantra]'

[User cannot have 2 active Dou Qi techniques. First either upgrade the [Wind-Lightning Dual Mantra] to peak perfection and merge it with an upgraded [Flame Mantra] or Destroy the [Wind-Lightning Dual Mantra].]

'Well well well…That is pretty dangerous. But I Have Salvage Shards for days now. Upgrade [Wind-Lightning Dual Mantra] to peak perfection'

[[Wind-Lighting Dual Mantra] has reached peak perfection. Cost: 6000 Salvage Shards]

[[Wind-Lightnig Dual Mantra] is ready to evolve. Evolve Cost: 10000 Salvage Shards]

All the wind and lightning elements in the surrounding started rushing towards Hong Chen as he could feel each and every particle of these elements in the surrounding very carefully.

A big smile appeared on his face as he continued in his mindscape.

'Upgrade the [Flame Mantra] to peak perfection, and combine it with the [Wind-Lightning Dual Mantra]'

[[Flame Mantra] has reached peak perfection. Cost: 4000 Salvage Shards.]

[Combining [Flame Mantra] and [Wind-Lightnig Dual Mantra]. Cost: 2000 Salvage Shards.]

[Three Nuclei Empyrean Mantra] learned]

Just like Hong Chen had felt the wind and lightning attribute elements before, now he could also feel the fire attribute as well and he felt a certain connection with them.

'It feels like they are my pets, who always want to surround me.'

Hong Chen came to know that if he reached the Perfect tier in this new [Three Nuclei Empyrean Mantra] which appeared in his mind, then he could passively cultivate all the time.

It was a very powerful Dou Qi technique, and he didn't want to see the upgrade requirements for it.

'Now to the main course…'

Hong Chen didn't use the system to refine the [Bone Chilling Flame] as he felt that he could easily refine a strange fire with his [Three Nuclei Empyrean Mantra] and hence, without taking it out of the system space, he sat cross-legged, and used his Dou Qi technique to refine the Heavenly Flame internally.

He couldn't be too sure, as it was highly possible that Ling Ying might have set up some surveillance charms here, and although from reading the novel, he knew that Ling Ying was not a bad person like him, but he didn't want to test that theory.

The [Bone Chilling Flame] brought a very cool sensation with it which threatened to freeze someone's soul, but because Hong Chen's soul force was so great and on top of that he was using a Heavenly Grade technique such as [Three Nuclei Empyrean mantra] the heavenly fire was thoroughly refined by Hong Chen in the matter of just half an hour.

'That was easy.' he mused as he broke-through to consecutively 2 levels and arrived at the peak of the 7-Star Dou Master realm instantly.

'Since I am already here, Why not go all the way?'

Hong Chen took out the [Three Lines Green Spirit Pill] which can help breakthrough a cultivator of Dou Master to Dou Grandmaster from 7-Star directly, and swallowed it before running the [Three Nuclei Empyrean mantra].

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Ling Ying was guarding Xun Er like he always did, when he suddenly sensed a Dou Qi fluctuation from the precipice where Hong Chen was staying. He focused a little there and soon saw Hong Chen breaking through 2 consecutive ranks in one sitting.

It wasn't that rare for geniuses to breakthrough multiple ranks at once and hence he didn't pay much attention but immediately after he felt Dou Qi disturbance again, and this time, Hong Chen broke through to Peak Rank 1-Dou Grandmaster directly.

"Heh?" Ling Yin was too stunned to speak and with a dumb look, he thought 'I must win him over!'

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Soon the night fell on the Wu Tan City and the entire night was spent in Hong Chen solidifying his new realm.

Gu Xun Er was lying on her bed thinking about Hong Chen. She couldn't help but compare him to Xiao Yan, and in any way she did, Xiao Yan always fell short.

She didn't know why but she just was not able to take his face off of her mind.

Xun Er was a complicated child. At a very young age, her father sent her here, to retrieve a piece of the [Tou She Ancient God's Jade], but she searched everywhere and couldn't find it.

It was probably guarded by Xiao Zhan, who was her real uncle.

Another reason for sending her here was because Gu Yuan wanted a quiet childhood for his daughter, which he himself didn't have.

Gu Xun Er didn't like anyone in the Xiao Clan at first but when one night, Xiao Yan came and clutched her soles, with which he transferred his Dou Qi in her bones to strengthen her, she was touched.

Obviously, that didn't strengthen her bones all that much but the thought counted and she had to stop her uncle Ling Ying from separating Xiao Yan's head from his neck.

Xiao Yan continued to do this for 3 years, where he would sneak into her room, hold her feet, and transfer his Dou Qi in her bones which used to temporarily relieve her of the pain which was caused by her Heavenly Flame.

This made her slowly and slowly open up to him but when she found out that he was like this with every girl of Xiao Clan, she felt betrayed.

She would see him play with Xiao Mei in the morning and he would come to her and play with her in the evening some more before going to cultivate.

Xun Er felt even more betrayed when she saw the smile which came on Xiao Yan's lips when they heard about his marriage contract with Nalan Heiress.

After learning about his marriage, she started maintaining her distance from Xiao Yan, but she was still just a 10-year-old child, and missed her dear friend daily.

It was only today that she didn't miss Xiao Yan, or had the urge to go to him and play with him.

Today, she was interested in the mysterious Hong Chen.

The way Hong Chen carried himself, the way he talked with so much gentleness, his worry for her when she mistakenly slipped a sigh while mentioning the heavenly flame. It felt good to feel that someone cared for you.

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It was the morning, and the first rays of sun peered through the windows of Xiao Manor and landed on Xiao Yan's face who woke up with a yawn.

'Huh…That's weird. Why am I asleep on the floor?'

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Hong Chen opened his eyes and there was a purple electrical arc dancing in his eyes while a chilling temperature permeated from him.

'Salvation, Upgrade the [Crazy Lion Roar] to peak perfection and show me my [Status].'

[[Crazy Lion Roar] has reached peak perfection. Cost: 2000 Salvage Shards.]

[[Crazy Lion Roar] is ready to evolve. Evolution Cost: 9500 Salvage Shards]

[Status]

[Name: Hong Chen

Age: 15 (+6 months)

Physical Attribute: 53 [Danger!]

Mental Attribute: 515

Bloodline: Human

Cultivation: 1-Star Dou Grandmaster

Professions: Inscriptions(1/5000 Major)

Skills: Three Thousand Lightning Movement(114/2000 Perfection), Three Nuclei Empyrean Mantra(10/5000 Minor), Oscillating Thunder(378/4000 Major), Crazy Lion Roar(Evolve: 9500 Salvage Shards), Occlumancy(Evolve: 4000 Salvage Shards), Legilimency(Evolve: 7000 Salvage Shards), Divination(Evolve: 8000 Salvage Shards), Apparition(Evolve: 15000 Salvage Shards)

Special Skills: Purple Void Lightning(2011/10,000 Minor), Bone Chilling Flame(15/5000 Minor), Purple Cloud Black Fire Eagle Wings(Evolve: 5000 Salvage Shards)

Equipment: Cloak of Invisibility(Evolve: 13000 Salvage Shards), Thunder Smite(unrefined), 2 x Skill Scroll [A Million Lightning Blades] (Power: 1 Star Dou Ancestor), Mirror of Erised

Salvage Shards: 193]

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Upon seeing the Status, Hong Chen immediately clicked the [Danger!] text beside his physical attribute with a mental command and heard the system's voice.

[User's Soul Force is Too strong for the current body. Suggesting to User that he acquires a strong bloodline to offset the spiritual load on his body, or breakthrough to Dou King very soon.

The [Purple Void Lighting] itself had made the user's Dou Qi incredibly dense and has strained the user's meridians, but now, the [Bone Chilling Flame] has also started to put extra strain on the User.]

Listening to the system's diagnosis, Hong Chen realized his shortcomings.

'Looks like I'll have to acquire a bloodline sooner rather than later. I can't do much in this world on bloodline, maybe the world of Against the Gods? But that is too dangerous! I cannot speedrun it like I did in the Harry Potter world. I'll have to live there, fool girls into falling for me and becoming my ally. Idiots like Jasmine or Shui Meiyin would help me a lot.

The world of Warlock of Magus world is also an option but yet again, that is dangerous as well, not to mention that people there are more benefit-oriented and the women there are not idiots like other worlds.

Or should I try the world of DxD? No! There are literal god-level satan powerhouses roaming around everywhere. I don't have confidence in defeating them a bit.

Hmm, I should look into the memories and make an informed decision.

I also still don't know how to use this [Purple Void Lighting]. I don't have any fighting technique to use it efficiently, speaking of which I don't know any weapons technique either. I should visit a world where I can refine a Spiritual weapon and learn some weapon arts as well.

Right now I am very fragile.'

Hong Chen thought over his shortcomings and after carefully listing them out, he started making a plan to get rid of them.

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Gu Xun Er woke up and went to meet Xiao Yan after taking a bath, but after reaching his courtyard, she found him walking towards Xiao Mei's courtyard, and with a dejected sigh, she left.

Xiao Yan, on the other hand was very restless. He had been robbed! He couldn't find the black ring, which was the last memory of his mother and since morning he had been searching for it. When he didn't find it in his room, he started backtracking the entire last day. He remembered that yesterday evening he was playing with Xiao Mei so he first went to her.

.

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Hong Chen took a good warm bath, after which he wore a simple white shirt and white pants.

As he was getting ready to go out, he heard footsteps and soon saw Gu Xun Er coming down the staircase with a bag.

"Sister Xun Er! It is so happy to see you first thing in the morning! Please come."

Xun Er's face lit up with Hong Chen's compliment and she smiled before coming up to him and handing him the bag.

"I have brought you breakfast, Brother Chen."

"Oh wow! It has been quite some time since I had eaten a meal" said Hong Chen with excitement as he took the bag from Xun Er and opened it.

"Really!?"

"Yes, I mostly just consume Pills to survive" responded Hong Chen while opening the Bento Style tiffin box which was giving off a mouth-watering aroma.

Xun Er was shocked at this statement. She was a big foodie! She could never just survive off of Pills. She knew that Uncle Ying usually eats pills for dinner but even he eats her homemade lunch.

"What are you saying!? You don't know what you are missing out!"

Xun Er excitedly started to tell Hong Chen about the different cuisines she could make and what her favourite was, and Hong Chen patted himself on the back metaphorically for manipulating Gu Xun Er into opening up to him so easily.

"Sister Xun Er, Can you show me around the city, please? I really want to see how Jia Ma Empire is!"

"Uh Brother Chen, it is not that awesome. You are not even near the capital of Jia Ma Empire; there is nothing to see here."

Gu Xun Er politely rejected his request and Hong Chen could only sigh internally.

"By the way, this was one of the best breakfasts I've ever had…Just the salt was a bit much." teased Hong Chen to which Xun Er immediately complained

"Noooo! The salt was perfect! Your tongue must be ruined with all those pills you gobble up!"

Hong Chen laughed at Xun Er's retort before continuing

"Well, Sister Xun Er. I would like to thank you for the meal. Please wait."

Xun Er was confused as to why Hong Chen asked her to wait for saying thanks but then suddenly Hong Chen took out various ores and minerals from his spatial ring and summoned his Purple-lightning gloves and started crafting something.

When Hong Chen had upgraded his Inscriptions to the Major Tier, the information on how to carve and mould with bare hands just came into his mind along with a wide variety of different scrolls, charms, tokens, glyphs, etc, and that's why earlier, he decided to show it off to Ling Ying while making his Tracking Charm.

Gu Xun Er got excited when she saw Hong Chen craft something. She found it quite entertaining to see him inscribe inscriptions and refine ores. Hong Chen looked very handsome doing it, as his entire concentration was on the ores in his hands while his face glowed because of the purple arcs of lightijng flying around.

It truly was a fascinating thing to witness.

Xun Er patiently waited while sitting on Hong Chen's bed, as he was immersed in the crafting, and after 4 hours, a very beautiful necklace, sparkling with ruby, sapphire and emerald landed in Hong Chen's hand.

"This is….for you Sister Xun Er." said Hong Chen in a very exhausted voice, because he was.

Controlling his [Purple Void Lightning] was hard, but carving with it was harder. But he still persevered and soon, he carved a necklace for her.

Gu Xun Er curiously took the necklace from Hong Chen. She was not a fan of jewellery in the least bit but she was still interested in the craftsmanship.

She inspected the necklace and was stunned to find "For Xun'er by Hong'er" written on it.

"I am sorry, there was not enough space so I had to shorten our names" said Hong Chen with an embarrassed laugh and when he sensed that Xun Er might return it, he added.

"Drop your blood on it."

"Huh? Brother Hong…"

"Just trust me. Drop your blood on it and wear it. This is not a piece of jewellery, but it is a Magical Artefact. Please refine it after claiming it with your blood. Just trust me on this." Said Hong Chen.

*Do it, Princess Xun Er, with this, we can more accurately deduce his level of mastery on Inscriptions* came Ling Ying's voice in Xun Er's mind, after which she thanked Hong Chen and left with the necklace.

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Gu Xun Er had a lot of thoughts on her mind and after she arrived at her courtyard, she silently walked towards her bedroom, and then sat on her bed with the necklace.

She deliberated for some time, but since even Ling Ying had asked her to refine it, she sat cross-legged and bit her tongue, after which she put the necklace a little into her mouth and then wore it.

The necklace shone with a red light, and soon, Xun Er went into a meditative state and started refining it.

She had refined a lot of magical artefacts and most were either Earth Grade or Heaven grade, and hence, it didn't take her long to refine this necklace, but what she discovered after refining it left her stunned.

She felt that her focus while cultivating had increased, and she could suppress the Heavenly Flame with her Dou Qi a lot better now. In fact, she didn't even feel the pain of the heavenly fire in her body anymore!

She checked again and again and found that suppressing her Heavenly Flame had become easier.

A silent tear left her eye when she remembered the incident when Hong Chen had asked her if something was wrong just from her simple discomfort at the mention of Heavenly Flame and he not only remembered that, but also used rare earth minerals to refine a magical artefact for her.

'Trust me' he said; she remembered Hong Chen's voice.

'Did you guess that I had a Heavenly Flame? Why go so far for me?' She soon started crying as she could feel that he really cared for her.

She knew that many people would die for her in the Ancient Clan, but Hong Chen, a stranger, not only understood her pain, but went ahead and did something about it without being told.

It felt special. It felt really really special to be cared for like that.

"Princess Xun Er! What happened!? What is this artefact!? Why are you crying!?" Suddenly Ling Ying appeared in her room and started scanning her with his spiritual senses but could not find anything wrong with it.

He scanned the necklace next but even then he could not find anything wrong with it either.

Xun Er on the other hand touched the necklace and remembered the engraving on it. "For Xun'er by Hong'er". At first, she felt very repelled by such brazen use of her name, but now she found it endearing.

"Uncle Ying…My pain is gone" she breathed slowly to Ling Ying's enquiring to which Ling Ying froze.

"What?"

The pain that even the Ancient Clan couldn't suppress, was suppressed by Hong Chen with a necklace he crafted in mere 4 hours?

Granted he did use many rare earth minerals in inscribing the necklace, but they were nothing in the eyes of the Ancient Clan!

He immediately conveyed this news to Gu Yuan, who was again very shocked!

"If this guy had my Gu Clan bloodline or Dou Di bloodline, then I would've married Xun'er to him." said Gu Yuan as he sent his spiritual sense through the communication charm into the necklace and thoroughly scanned it, only to get shocked at the inscriptions carved on it on the microscopic level.

Hong Chen was a greater genius than he had first gave him credit for.

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Hong Chen was looking at the mountains far away from the cliff as he was contemplating his next moves.

He was very short on Salvage Shards, and right now, he was second-guessing his decision on his investment in the Little Fairy Doctor. Sure she would be a very powerful ally in the near future, but should he focus on the long-term benefit, or the short-term gains of the Salvage Shards?

He was not an expert in judging the situation with one look, as no matter how many novels he had read in the memories of the earthly soul, he was but a 15-year-old child, who had read a lot of fiction and cultivated.

Hong Chen had very little practical experience of the real-world problems and had very limited options in solving those.

Earlier he was thinking of looking for ways to very quickly acquire the wood attribute, and become a once-in-lifetime genius by becoming not only an Inscriptions master, but also an Alchemist. He was also going to go to the Tager Desert and grab the Rank 19 [Green Lotus Core Flame] before Medusa, but now, when his very normal body was barely holding up with the amount of power he had acquired, he concluded that he might not be able to refine the [Green Lotus Core Flame] after all.

'I have very few options and a lot of time.'

'Salvation, Is there a way to accurately go to a specific location at the specific time in any world I want through the [Space Mesh]?'

[The reason Space-Time coordinates are randomized is due to the ever-changing and ever-expanding redshift of the Space.

[Space Mesh] only has the locked-in coordinates for the different worlds themselves and not the Space-Time coordinates for every event that happened in those worlds.]

'So I can't just teleport in the S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters, and take away their [Space Stone], eh? Pity. But still, is there no way even with a million Salvage Shards to determine my position and time in the world I travel to?'

[The only way for the User to accurately travel to the world, is by first going there, and saving the Space-Time coordinates of the place with Salvage Shards; After which the host can freely travel back and forth to that world at whim, with enough Salvage Shards, Of course.]

'I knew that, That is not what I meant. *Sigh*. Travelling back and forth is expensive; is there any alternative where I can freely travel between another world without incurring the fees in Salvage Shards at every travel?'

[Yes, There is. Most of the Salvage Shards are used to record the point axis of time in vector. This calculation is very heavy and hence the cost.

If the user decides that he doesn't need to keep the time coordinate saved up, then the fees of travelling will become much less.]

'That is to say, if I want to travel to a world and come back, then instead of coming back to the exact point in time, some time would've passed in this world? Like if I had chosen to do that with the Harry Potter world, then when I came back from that world, 6 months would've passed in this world as well? '

[No. It can only happen the second time the user goes to that world. The first time the User travels to any world, he has to stay in that world for a minimum of 6 months, after which he can choose to travel again to that world with or without the Time-Coordinates.]

'Oh okay! Now I get it. This means If I had saved the Space-Time Coordinates of the Harry Potter world before leaving it, I could've travelled to it again, but this time, If I stay there for 6 months without the Time Coordinates, and return, then this world would've also advanced by 6 months, right?'

[Correct]

'That is an exploit! I can just go steal something from an expert, and when he wants to retaliate, I can just jump to another world, stay there for the minimum duration which is 6 months, and come back again at that exact location 6 months later! By that time, that expert would've gone somewhere else!

Wait wait, there is too much potential here. Can the vector also calculate the time coordinates in exponents? So that if I stay in a world for 6 months and return, then instead of 6 months, only 3 months or 12 months have passed here?'

[That calculation can be done, but the corresponding cost of that would greatly increase.]

'Then do one thing-'

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