Since he had completed the circulation, it was time for him to leave the cave. That shallow amount of water had already decreased by more than half and he would have to eat at some point.
Walking over to the altar he glanced at the ring that had remained untouched till now. Picking it up he studied it and instantly felt a vague connection with it. Like there was a room inside of it that he could control with his Qi.
Manipulating it came naturally and he was soon able to see inside of it. It was just a small space, right around half a cubic meter. Still, he was very pleased by this. With a few minutes of practice he was able to store the book inside of the ring. With that out of the way, he slid the ring down his left ring finger and started looking for an exit.
First he went to the shallow water and looked up. As far as he could gather, he'd fallen through the river there and the cave must've closed up behind him. He crawled up the cave walls and tried banging on the ceiling. Nothing happened however.
Maybe he could use his new Qi? He had no way to move it outside his body yet, so focusing, he controlled his Qi to move from his dantian, through his arms and to his hand. But it didn't do anything either.
Frankly he had no idea how it worked, so he could only give up on that idea for now. Having reconsidered, he began walking along the cave walls and found a few crevices, though they were pretty much all so narrow that he wouldn't be able to get through. After doing the whole tour and not finding anything satisfactory, he bit his lip and went back to the widest crevice he had found.
Trying to make himself as slim as possible, he barely managed to squeeze into it. It really was a tight fit as the rocks cut against his bare skin. The crevice turned out to be quite long as it took him 15 minutes of maneuvering to pop out into another part of the cave system. He stretched his limbs and looked down at himself. A few cuts here and there, but nowhere too important and nothing that time wouldn't cure quickly.
After that the rest of the way was smooth sailing despite how dark the cave was now that it wasn't lit up by the white orb. Over a day of walking later, he came out on the other side and was met with bright, warm sunlight shining through the gaps of a multitude of trees.
It felt good to finally be free. Not only from the cave, but from the Manor itself. He didn't feel like the situation was over before he got out of that cave. After all, he had no idea where he would end up after wards. Luckily, he was now a days walk away in some random direction.
With his newfound freedom and abilities he found himself wondering what he should do. He didn't know anything about the rest of the continent. He considered going back to the 14 Lesser Kingdoms, but he was a cultivator now, it was clear he was meant for something more. Sure his mother was there, but he was a far different person than he had been when he last saw her.
There was also the question of his comrades Guan Yi and Huang Bo. How much did he care about them? Enough to go throw himself into the wolf's den to find and save them? He wasn't quite so sure about that. Something in him had changed, he felt a bit more cold when considering these people he'd once fought to survive with. He didn't quite understand it yet, but inside he knew he wasn't going to go offer himself up for a chance of saving them.
Well, for now the goal was just to get out of this forest and get some clothes. It was decently warm now, but in the night time he would be freezing. With no clue where he was, he could only pick a direction and keep following it.
But as fate would have it, he was out of there in less than an hour. As he passed away from the forest he suddenly realized that it wasn't that big at all. No matter which direction he went in he would've been out quickly.
Finding a road nearby, he started walking along it, letting it take him wherever it may lead. There was no one to meet along the way as he walked. He started growing a bit frustrated, when he spotted a farm house in the distance.
Walking up to the house, he knocked and covered his manhood as best as he could with his hands.
"Be right there." A gruff voice yelled as heavy footsteps came near.
"What do you want?" A man in his late thirties opened the door, his expression quickly turning into surprise, "What in the world?"
"You some kind of pervert?" The man warily closed the door slightly, leaving a small gap.
Something inside him took over and urged him just to kill the man, it would be far easier. Again he was baffled where it came from, he never would've considered it before. He shook off the thought and answered the man.
"I was in a bit of an accident and hoping to borrow some clothes, " Hesitantly he added, "and maybe a place to stay for the night."
"Clothes, yeah I can see you need those," The man chuckled at his own wit and looked Wang Jie over carefully, "But I'm not sure we want someone like you staying around here looking like that." The man pointed to his tattoos and cuts, "You look like a bloody beast. It's not a good image for my household."
"Honey just stop giving him a hard time and let him in. We've got plenty of space." A cheerful voice came from behind the man as a woman stepped into view. "Oh my, strong and handsome." The woman winked at him while the man just grumbled and opened the door to let him in.
"Thanks." Wang Jie stepped inside and looked around.
"I'm sure you can fit into some of my husband's old clothes." The woman smiled and left to find some clothes.
"Coming into my house naked." The man continued to grumble, "Stealing my clothes." He took a seat and stared vigilantly at Wang Jie, "Coveting my wife."
It was hard to tell whether he was serious or just messing around. After all, for Wang Jie this was quite an awkward situation too. He was butt naked in this man's living room, only two hands to cover himself, while the man's wife had gone to fetch him something to wear.
The woman soon came back and led Wang Jie to a room where he could change clothes in privacy. When he came back out, there was a younger girl alongside the husband and wife in the living room.
"Hello, dad said you lost your clothes?" The girl spoke to him.
"Uhh yeah sort of." Wang Jie nodded.
"How'd that happen?"
"Actually, I'd rather not talk about it if that's fine." He really couldn't be bothered to come up with a convincing excuse.
"Okay sure, I understand."
"Now he's trying to take my daughter too." The dad crossed his arms and glared, "When will this vulture have enough?"
"Oh stop it already." The woman rolled her eyes and jabbed her husband in the side. Instantly his attitude took a 180 degree turn.
Now all smiles, Wang Jie was a bit overwhelmed by the man's prior acting abilities.
Still, getting past that it was a bit less awkward and Wang Jie shamelessly took them up on their offer of dinner. He hadn't ate anything in days.