Tu Syaoran coughed out a mouthful of blood. He knew that by now, everyone was dead. Although he did felt quite furious seeing his 'family' slaughtered, he didn't know most of them. Therefore his emotion wasn't greatly affected. However, he will still pursue revenge as he had almost died.
Apart from Tu Syaoran rustling, the dark area was filled with silence. Tu Syaoran, tried to look around but could see nothing; all he saw was the obsidian-black darkness. The wall that he rested on was cold and sturdy. The uneven floor that was similarly cold were pointing at the fact that he was in a cave. Even the air has gotten frigid as well.
Slowly, Tu Syaoran stood up with the support of the wall. Using his sense of touch, he walked along the walls of the cave. He realised he had to find a way out or else he would die of starvation and lack of water.
10m
100m
1000m
A faint noise continuously echoed. Tu Syaoran, breathe quietly as he listened to the sound. As his brain processed the source of the sound, his eyes lit up. His whole body acted as if it had fully recovered as he paced to the source of the sound. The louder the sound became, the happier he got.
When he got within 200 steps, he could clearly hear the water gushing gently. His lips that had cracked up moaned in joy. Steadily, he arrived at a large underground river. There was a feeble light shining from the azure crystal. The light exposed the beautiful clear river. Although the crystal had only lit up a part of the river, he could tell it was very large; he would not be able to cross it.
He squatted down before the river as he saw his reflection. It was the first time he had a good look at himself after transmigrating into this new world. This body had long dark, black hair that fell onto his shoulders. The pair of eyes were brown and sharp. They weren't big nor small. Surprisingly, this body had a perfect proportioned nose. He also had a nicely-sized lips that made when coupled with his sharp jawline made him very masculine.
Despite having the memories, they weren't clear. As a result he never realised that he was quite the handsome.
He scooped a handful of water and splashed it on his face. Then again, he scooper another handful, before slurping it.
Refreshed, Tu Syaoran went for second rounds as he scooper another batch of water. The water was quite cold which suited his taste; he prefers cold water more than normal temperature water.
After a few minutes of drinking, he took of his bloody robe that was in tatters and laid it on a boulder nearby the river. He had a lean body as his abs were slightly peeking out the skin. Both of his arms were quite muscular as they both has a small bicep peak. Looking down, his legs had some striation but it was not refined: he looked like a guy who had only been going gym two times a week for a year.
His attention averted to his 3rd leg.
Tu Syaoran eyes dilated in surprise. It was huge. It was certainly larger than the one he previously had - 4 inches (flaccid). He looked at his flaccid 'little brother' that was at a unbelievable size of 6 inches. Not only was the length crazy huge but also the girth - it girth was slightly smaller than a 500ml water bottle from his previous life.
However, he didn't heed much importance to it. Although he wasn't a virgin and had multiple bodies in his previous life, they were all for ''business deals" to help him rise to the top.
He had to admit, some of the 'sessions' felt good but he was not addicted.
After arriving, in this new world, his yearn for immortality became more firm; he had the chance to make it true.
When he was watching the battle between the grand elder (Tu Xuan) and the assassins, he realised the potential of this world. People in his previous world would describe its as magical; from the large flame barrier that were more sturdier than diamond to the powerful orbs of water that could devastate a whole town easily, Tu Syaoran began to see this new life as an opportunity.
Despite the water being cold, he dip his toes, then his feet than his whole legs into the water. Even though the frigid water was at his chest level he remained silent. He treated this as just a normal bath.
In fact he felt quite relaxed as more than half of his body was submerged under the frigid water. As someone who had frequently taken ice bath in his past life, this was nothing to him.
He rested his back on the side. Now that he had his thirst solved, there still remained the problem of food. Although he hadn't check the river, he knew that no normal fish could survive in such cold water. If there was a fish, it probably wasn't a normal one.
Previously, he had walked over 4520 steps to get to this river. Estimating that each step covered 40cm, he believed he had travelled an approximate of 1808m. However, he still hadn't found an entrance nor an end.
Fortunately, there was still 'Heaven and Earth essence' flowing within this place. In fact, this essence was a couple time more denser and abundance in this place than when he was outside.
Because of this he managed to refill his core to 80%. From the memories of the orbs, he knew that refilling the core over 80% could have some risk.
One would need a proper method to refill more than 80% since its a unique trait of core expansion cultivators; they are able to fill up above 80% to 100% of their core.
One would be considered a core expansion cultivator when they are able to fill up 100% of their core with essence.
However, he didn't dwell too much about it. Instead, with the essence, he is certain he could survive without food but not forever. The longest period of time he could sustain not eating food with his essence is two weeks, as a initial stage 3-sided cultivator.
Tu Syaoran didn't know how long had passed since that tragic event. He had lost count of time ever since he arrived here. As a matter of fact, he hadn't seen a single shred of sunlight since he arrived here.
The only light source was still that azure crystal about 200m to the right of him.
Knowing that there is nothing he could do, he sat down in a cross-leg position. He began to consume his essence by pushing the walls of his 3-side core.
Gradually he could feel the walls of his 3-side core being stretched. Nonetheless he was still quite far from reaching the upper stage of 3-side core.
There are three small stages: initial stage, upper stage and peak stage. Each stage is superior to each other but only by a small margin. However, this small margin allowed one at the peak stage to beat the upper stage in a one on one battle.
As Tu Syaoran continued his cycle of drinking water, pushing his essence into the wall, and occasionally taking a cold bath, he began feeling his 3-sided core walls becoming loose.
This was the benchmark of the upper stage!
A initial stage core wall would be rock-hard, an upper stage wall would be loose and more elastic, and finally a peak stage wall would be brittle and weak.
Once he had broken through to the upper stage 3-sided core, he felt his essence become denser and had been purified. His ball of essence became less cloudy and slightly transparent.
Furthermore, he felt his physical capabilities increased. He was at least 10% stronger physically.
This breakthrough also allowed him to survive another week without food. Although, he lost track of time, he could feel his body slowly deteriorating. If he were to take a guess, at least 12 days had passed.
However, now that he had broken through, he no longer had that uncomfortable feeling. After the breakthrough he also felt his mind expand, though he didn't know if this was just a placebo effect.
Nonetheless, Tu Syaoran regarded this as a good thing and planned to absorb another orb of memory. Now that he got a better look he saw that there were thousands of orbs of memory that were the size of a pea and many that were even larger.
What he lacked now is information. Decisively, his will slowly absorb a pea-size memory. His mind instantly remember the pain and a trace of fear flashed in Tu Syaoran eyes. He gritted his teeth and endure the hellish pain. He felt as if his mind was being bitten by millions of ants.
His face creased as tears of sweat trickled down his face. His hand tightly grasped the rock beside him.
The pain slowly subsided after an hour. He felt exhausted. The pain this time had intensified by ten-fold. He felt as if he was going to pass out any second during the process but a magical force prevented it from happening.
After about four hours, the pain was completely gone. Instead, Tu Syaoran was flooded with a library of information. These information were like gold to him; he valued it a lot even though they may not be accurate.
They were the key factor that could help him escape this damn place.