Zhenya's footsteps echoed faintly as he descended the winding staircase, each step making the qi grow thicker until it hung in the air like morning mist. His lungs burned slightly with each breath, unused to such dense spiritual energy. A massive door stood before him, etched with intricate carvings of all kinds of celestial phenomena and mythical creatures, their lines faintly glowing as if alive. The crescent mark on his forehead pulsed in response.
His hand trembled slightly as he reached out, not from fear but from anticipation. The door's surface was ice-cold against his palm, but as his crescent mark blazed brighter, warmth began to spread beneath his fingers. The carvings shifted and writhed, the dragons seeming to turn their heads to watch him while the phoenixes spread their wings. Then seemingly all of them bowed down in unison toward Zhenya. A deep groan echoed through the chamber as ancient mechanisms stirred to life, and slowly, the door began to open.
A gust of warm qi rushed out; the qi inside the room was even denser than outside. Zhenya braced himself, taking a deep breath. "This is what I've been longing for. Strength to avenge my parents," he murmured, stepping into the chamber.
The chamber beyond was surprisingly modest in size, its walls smooth and featureless. In the center lay a circular array formation, its lines etched into the stone floor with remarkable precision.
He approached cautiously, each step measured and deliberate. Looking around cautiously to not miss anything. When he stepped onto the circle's edge, the crescent mark on his forehead tingled with increasing intensity, as if responding to a call he couldn't quite hear.
Moving to the array's center, Zhenya noticed how the lines beneath his feet seemed to ripple like water, though they remained solid to the touch. The qi here was so dense it made his skin prickle, and he could feel his meridians expanding slightly to accommodate the increased spiritual pressure. Something about this place felt right, as if he had finally found a key that fit a lock he'd carried his whole life.
Standing in the center of the formation, he was disappointed to see nothing change. "Where is the treasure? There is only a stupid formation here, and the qi is super dense." He grumbled, but then a realization struck him: the qi is so dense here, so he could start his cultivation journey right here.
But what he failed to realize is that the massive door had closed at some point during his approach of the formation.
Taking a deep breath, he sat down with his legs crossed. And then something extraordinary happened: the whole formation started glowing. Closing his eyes and covering them with his hands, Zhenya couldn't see anything; the whole room went white, the formation glowed so brightly.
When he opened his eyes again, he was still in the small room, but in front of him. Something was floating; it looked like a human, but his whole figure looked almost see-through as if it were a ghost. Trying to touch it, Zhenya froze. No, it wasn't that he couldn't move. His limbs felt impossibly heavy, as though an invisible force had locked them in place. Even his breath caught in his throat, his body refusing to respond to his commands. Panic prickled at the edge of his mind, but he snapped out of it; panicking now was useless, so he forcibly calmed himself down.
Even though his whole body felt heavy, he could still move his face. "Umm, hello, I am Jia Zhenya. I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but who are you, and what are you doing in the Jia family's ancestral tomb?" he asked nervously.
"Hahahah! Finally someone from my useless descendants has awakened my very own bloodline. Took ya bastards long enough." The ethereal figure exclaimed as he stretched lazily and looked Zhenya deep in the eyes as if scrutinizing him, measuring his potential, and gauging his worth. The intensity of the gaze was unnerving, as though the figure could peer into the depths of Zhenya's soul, assessing every hidden strength and flaw.
"Hmm, not bad. For even the Immortal World, your potential is quite solid," he mumbled, stroking his translucent chin with an exaggerated air of thoughtfulness. "Since you've caught the attention of someone as magnificent as me, I'll grant you a rare opportunity. Three whole questions. Use them wisely, boy!" His tone dripped with arrogance, but a mischievous gleam danced in his eyes, as though he found the whole situation endlessly amusing.
Zhenya stared blankly at the ethereal figure. His mind boggling with all the things it said, 'Immortal World? potential? What are you talking about?' He couldn't comprehend it, but what he did know is that these three questions were an opportunity, and he was going to make full use of it.
"Who are you?" asked Zhenya nervously; he knew it was a bit of a waste to use that as the first question, but the figure hadn't introduced himself yet, so he was curious about his identity. Even though he had a rough idea.
The ethereal figure looked at Zhenya with a smirk. "Good question, little one; I shall answer this one." He said, clearing his throat; he continued. "I am the great Jia Qiu, the creator of the Heaven's Fall bloodline, the one who terrorized the whole planet with his godlike talent. And the one and only ancestor of the Jia family."
Zhenya looked at the figure suspiciously but did not give a reaction. As he started thinking about his second question, he was not going to start a conversation to risk accidentally asking questions, and this weird ancestor could count that as another question.
"Why are you not answering? You're not fully immobilized." Jia Qiu asked, looking suspiciously at Zhenya.
Zhenya, with a lot of effort, pointed 2 fingers in the air. And Jia Qiu looked intrigued at the little boy. He hadn't expected this little boy to be so sharp he was trying to start a conversation to make him waste his questions. As a test to see how witty he would be, he was pleasantly surprised. He gave Zhenya a firm nod and patiently waited for the boy's next question.