You're awake, Mrs Sevada?!

Back on earth, a black haired woman suddenly stirred awake. She blinked twice, looking around her surroundings, before a frown slowly formed on her face.

"He's crossed over, hasn't he?"

She had sacrificed her soul to make sure that Seth stayed away from the dangers of the other world, but it seemed like he had still found a way to cross over. She had to do something, anything, to make sure that he found the Scroll of Serpentis. Because without it, he would not be able to survive there.

Doctors rushed in at that moment, surprise etched deeply on their faces.

"M... Mrs Sevada, how are you awake?!"

"You're supposed to be in a coma!"

These were the doctors that had looked after her for almost ten years, and as such they were very shocked and surprised to see a person who had been in coma for so long awake and walking around. But how could she tell them that she had not been in a coma, she had had her soul locked away in the Void as an exchange for her son, the heir to the throne of serpents, to remain safe on earth. Her husband had also gotten angry with her decision and left earth to serve as a substitute, but left her the transmigration pendant for when Seth was ready. Even he knew nothing about her losing her soul. She couldn't possibly tell the doctors the truth, and had to come up with a half assed excuse.

"Uh, its a miracle?"

***

Seth lay sprawled out on the ground panting hard. His entire right hand from the wrist to his shoulder was a mangled mess of bone, ligaments, and flesh.

'Good thing I'm unable to feel pain here...'

Indeed, if he could feel pain, then the sheer amount of pain that would have washed over his very soul was enough to kill him ten times over. He had barely managed to survive the battle against the hunched demon, considering his state, but thanks to his terrible aim, he managed to impale the smiling mouth head while aiming for the stomach. That was probably the definition of dumb luck, right?

Anyways, all that mattered was that the creature lay dead, and he was alive.

"I think I have it here somewhere..."

Having only one functioning hand would severely inconvinence him in the days to come, luckily he had bought a spirit grade herb that could be refined into a healing elixir.

"He he, here it is."

It was mushed up from when he had squeezed it during his temporary wave of anger at seeing the little girl's corpse, no, it wasn't really temporary as he could still feel an empty hole in his chest when he thought of them, but the.spirit grade sucrose herb was mostly fine.

"How do they refine stuff though?..."

He had been in this world for merely three months, and even those there months were spent on learning forging at the Forger Sect. He had little to no idea about anything else in this world. Of not for old man Shiro's info dump, he wouldn't have even known about the Imperial Sky Emperor's Trial.

"Ah, rubber duck."

Seth shrugged his shoulders and simply threw the herb into his mouth. If it worked, it worked, and if it did not, well, he would cross that bridge when he got there. A gooey soft liquid emanated from the plant as he chewed it up, tasting like a cross between honey and soft chocolate.

"Asami was right, these really are really good."

Now he could understand why the pink haired child had gobbled it all up almost as soon as she had found it. Thinking about them made his heart clench, but that only served to drive him on harder.

'I'm gonna survive this. And when I return, I'll find the bastard who did all that, and make him feel as much pain as they did...'

Seth did not just rush head in after seeing the massacre like the MCs of most chinese novels he had read. Those dudes would go there, get beaten, cultivate, then beat up the culprit. The culprit's family would then get involved, even up to their thousands of years old ancient ancestors. Blah, blah, blah, and he somehow wins. The black haired young man knew that with his current strength, he would only get himself killed too. Stretching his good hand, Seth drew a large square on the thawing floor. The sun would soon rise, and the desert would become boiling hot once again.

"Goal: become the strongest I can be."

With enough training, and the power of the scroll in his hands, he could become an unrivaled powerhouse. A truly formidable force who would crush the bastard that slaughtered old man Shiro. But as the saying went,

"...Uh, what was it again..."

Well, he actually couldn't really remember the saying, but he was sure that there was one. He had to work hard to grow strong. He had gotten his powerful cheat, he had found the jade beauty, he had encountered the arrogant young... well, Lee Xiaoping was by no means young, but he was still a master. All that remained was for him to find an ancient guru that would teach him cultivation. But till then, he would grow strong the only way he knew how to.

"Pushups: 200, Sit-ups: 100"

The anime about that bald superhero dude served as a source of inspiration for him. If the Satanman or whatever he was called could grow strong with exercises, then why shouldn't he be able to?

"Run 20 kilometres daily, and make sure to hydrate."

These ones were stolen off a fitness awareness banner he had seen once. That again posed yet another problem.

"Where am I going to find water..."

Forget exercising, water was one of the three basics of survival in almost any situation. The first was shelter, the second clothing, and the third, food and water. Well, he had clothes on him, and he could use the scrolls power to build a small fort somehow, but the unlimited power of the ancient scroll could only stop there. It could not create food, water, or even a fire.

"Damn..."