After a late breakfast, Tang Chun Xi thanked Chen Kai for his assistance with training and bid him farewell with a gentle smile. With the same kindness, she dismissed Ah Tao, allowing her faithful maid to enjoy a rare moment of rest or even dedicate time to her own improvement.
With steady steps and renewed determination, Tang Chun Xi headed to her meditation chamber, located beside her bedroom. This space was specially designed for her cultivation and spiritual training, equipped with an advanced protective formation and a second-class Qi-gathering system. For a cultivator at her level, these features made a significant difference, providing an ideal environment for concentration and progress.
The meditation chamber was more compact than her bedroom, occupying approximately half the space, but its simplicity made it even more efficient. At the center of the room lay a meditation futon, a carefully chosen spiritual artifact. The futon radiated a faint aura of tranquility, helping to calm the mind and facilitate Qi circulation in her body.
The exclusivity and quality of Tang Chun Xi's resources were a direct result of her family's uniqueness. As it was only her and her father, the resources typically distributed among multiple family members were concentrated between the two of them. Her father, a strategic and pragmatic man, used his share to strengthen his team, recruiting casual cultivators and investing in strategic business relationships.
In the city, the Tang family was widely respected for its ties with hunting teams. Tang Pai, her father, acquired raw materials from these teams and processed them into specialized resources. The refined materials were then sold back to the same teams at competitive prices, creating a solid and mutually beneficial partnership. This business model not only enhanced the family's reputation but also ensured a steady flow of allies and resources.
Tang Chun Xi entered the meditation chamber and closed the door behind her. The environment was silent and immersive, ideal for the focus required for cultivation. She walked to the futon and sat in the lotus position. With a subtle gesture, she accessed her storage pouch, where she kept precious resources for her cultivation. However, as she attempted to connect with the device, she was surprised. Something was different. She felt a strange presence—something that shouldn't have been there.
"Another contract? How is this possible? When did this happen? I don't remember anything..."
Her mind filled with questions as she tried to comprehend what was happening. Determined, she activated the contract associated with it. In an instant, the room disappeared around her, and she found herself in a completely new place.
The ground beneath her feet was black earth that seemed to absorb light, while a dense, unsettling gray mist surrounded the environment. Yet, the mist emitted no perceptible aura, which deeply intrigued her. At the center of the surreal landscape, a tower stood imposingly, like an eternal sentinel of that strange place.
Tang Chun Xi was shocked by the scene before her but quickly regained her composure. Her gaze swept the area, trying to understand how she had ended up there. She thought of leaving, concentrating on her will, and in the blink of an eye, she was back in the meditation chamber.
Her breathing was rapid, but she made a conscious effort to calm herself. "This happened when I connected to my new storage device," she thought, trying to organize the events. Determined, she reexamined the device and, to her surprise—but perhaps not entirely—realized that the phenomenon's origin was her ring.
The ring that had accompanied her since the day her biological mother placed it on her finger. A wave of sadness enveloped her, pulling her mind into old memories—ones she feared revisiting.
Tang Chun Xi recalled the day of her birth, an event that haunted her in nightmares until she was six years old. Despite being unable to open her eyes at the time, she vividly remembered the voices, sounds, and emotions. Her mother spoke to her in the womb with such love and affection, and yet everything culminated in sorrow and pain.
She heard again the loud sounds of the surroundings, her mother's suppressed voice as she placed her, according to the books Tang Chun Xi had read, in a teleportation matrix. This act, a final effort to protect her, remained a painful mystery to her. The only connections she had to her biological parents were a jade pendant with her name engraved on it, which she always wore, and the ring, which remained invisible to everyone.
Tang Chun Xi believed her parents had cast a powerful protection on the ring, preventing anyone from seeing or stealing it. Even she, for years, couldn't speak of it or mention it in writing. Not even her adoptive father knew of its existence.
Taking a deep breath, Tang Chun Xi closed her eyes, trying to push away the sadness and the crushing weight accumulating in her heart. The words of her biological mother echoed once again in her mind—a soft whisper, yet laden with meaning:
— "It's all here."
The memory brought a mix of comfort and determination. Opening her eyes, she felt her resolve renewed. The ring that had been with her since her birth held the secrets of her past, and now, more than ever, she was determined to uncover them. Every step she took seemed to bring her closer to the answers she sought, even if the path was shrouded in mystery and danger.
Taking a deep breath once again, Tang Chun Xi decided to return to the strange domain revealed by the ring. Her mind was alert, but her heart still carried a trace of apprehension. With focused thought, she activated the bond with the ring, and in the blink of an eye, the meditation room vanished, replaced by a field of black earth shrouded in gray mist.
She observed her surroundings once more—the oppressive vastness of the mist and the imposing presence of the tower at the center. The tower seemed to call to her, but Tang Chun Xi knew she had to be cautious. She walked to the edge of the mist, her posture tense, carefully examining the terrain.
To test the safety of the place, she opened her storage bag, which was sizable enough to hold a variety of items, including food. From it, she retrieved a simple training stick.
With a hesitant gesture, she pointed the stick at the mist and threw it. The object penetrated slightly into the fog before bouncing back, landing about a meter away. Tang Chun Xi approached to inspect it, picking up the stick with caution. She then tried poking the mist directly, but no matter how much she moved the object, there seemed to be no reaction. It was as if the mist was an immutable boundary, impossible to cross by conventional means.
After a few moments of testing, she gave up on investigating the mist and turned her attention to the tower. Her heart raced with anticipation as she walked toward the structure. With each step, her curiosity grew, and the environment around her seemed to grow heavier, as if the very black earth reacted to her approach.
When she finally reached the tower, she noticed that the surrounding space had a distinct dimension, appearing to encompass about 500 square meters. It was an oddly organized terrain, but not hostile. The tower, on the other hand, was an awe-inspiring sight. Its surface appeared to be made of polished black stone, reflecting the dim light as if absorbing the essence of the place.
Before the entrance, Tang Chun Xi saw something that made her stop. On the tower's door, words were engraved in gold:
"Tower of Tang Harmony."
The letters glowed intensely, and as she read them, Tang Chun Xi felt a direct impact on her mind, as if an invisible force was probing her heart and determination. A shiver ran down her spine, and she instinctively lowered her head, sensing the imminent danger emanating from that place.
Her mind buzzed with questions. 'Why is my name here? Who created this place? What does 'Tang Harmony' mean?'
Even in the face of fear trying to take hold, she took a deep breath, focusing on her courage. A powerful impulse moved her, and her curiosity outweighed any hesitation. Extending her hand, she touched the surface of the door with reverence, feeling its cold, firm texture beneath her fingers.
With renewed determination, she tried to push the door.
And at that moment...