1. Death

~~~Starlake city~~~

In the coolness of that evening, Lu Shang emerged from his apartment with a backpack strapped to his back.

He stood outside for several minutes looking around before moving towards the direction where he kept his bike, then slipped on his motorcycle helmet and hopped on.

Lu Shang was a nineteen-year-old computer programmer who lived alone in a two-room apartment. He was the physical embodiment of masculine beauty, with a strong, chiseled jaw, full lips, and a sharp, straight nose that lent him a striking appearance. His eyes were dark and expressive, with the slightest twinkle in them, as if he always knew a secret that he wasn't letting on. His hair was brown, and he kept it short and neat, but with enough disheveled quality to give him a carefree, relaxed look.

He had a presence that commanded attention and respect, and a smile that could light up a room with its warmth. Girls feel attracted to his beauty anytime they see him and always want to be with him but he wasn't ready for anything with any lady.

He lost his father and mother to the icy hand of death at the age of 16, unfortunately he was the only child of his parents . Since then, he has been living alone because none of his family members wish to take him into their home.

He hold his phone at one hand, looking at the location he was going right now; he was riding at high speed on the road because he liked riding motorcycles in this condition, and he was also in a hurry to get to the place fast.

The other motorcyclists and road users noticed Lu Shang's movement and made way for him afraid that a serious accident will occur. There weren't many vehicles on the road now because most people usually don't like driving at this hour.

The location Lu Shang was going to now was an ancient place; it was an ancient tomb built in ancient times. It has been abandoned and forgotten for a long time.

Ancient tombs are very rare nowadays. Because there isn't much preservation happening here, nobody knew about these ancient tombs except for a few high-level people and researchers who go there often for research and study.

Lu Shang was fortunate enough to come across the location of this ancient tomb through his computer. Many of the ancient tombs were ruined and deserted by humans; most of these tombs turned into ruins that resembled wildernesses with trees scattered everywhere.

It took some hours before Lu Shang arrived at the site where the ancient tomb was located.

As soon as he arrived at the location, he immediately stopped the bike, came down, and took off his motorcycle helmet.

Then, Lu Shang opened his backpack and pulled out a metal detector. After checking the metal detector carefully, he began to walk around.

The tomb was well hidden making it not easy for him to find the tomb. "So this is why nobody knows or discovers it," he silently muttered to himself.

He walked and wandered around for quite a while until he found a sign that indicated an entrance to a tomb.

He walked inside the ancient tomb with caution.

Inside the tomb, it was mostly quiet and peaceful, with shadows falling on everything; the only things audible were the footsteps and breathing sounds of Lu Shang as he walked inside the tomb with a torch hanging from his head.

He continued walking till he finally reached a spot that appeared brighter than any other part of the tomb. When he stepped closer to it, he discovered a golden-colored sphere in the middle of the rock wall. A tiny symbol was engraved on the sphere; this represented a mark used in the past to signify it belonged to a person or place.

Lu Shang was here to observe and find out information about the ancient tomb, that's all. This kind of work was something every adventurer would love doing; after all, it's not that hard, and Lu Shang was one of those who loved going to ancient places to collect information.

A lot of thoughts went through Lu Shang's mind at this moment when he saw the golden-colored sphere for the first time. How strange, it looked like a golden ball... but it's probably just his imagination or maybe due to his curious nature.

The rest of the tomb was pretty big, containing different chambers that looked more ancient compared to what he was expecting. But he couldn't see or find anything that seemed to be important in the tomb.

All in all, Lu Shang just went through the tomb and found nothing out of the ordinary.

He went back to the spot where he saw the golden-colored sphere, walked closer to it, and took a careful look at it.

"What the heck is this?" Lu Shang said aloud that, as he inspected the item, he felt a little strange.

This golden-colored sphere was a strange artifact, different from the ones you can find in museums today.

This spherical object, however, didn't appear normal but rather exotic and bizarre. Lu Shang stared at the object intently, trying to figure out what it was.

The surface of the sphere was shiny and smooth. When he shifted his eyes to other material near the golden-colored sphere, he saw a dusty, old book there.

That book contained black-colored pages; it was written in ancient Chinese.

"Let me take a closer look." Lu Shang muttered as he slowly reached forward with his hand and then carried the book. He wiped the dust that was at the front of the book with a piece of cloth he collected from his bag.

He opened the book and was surprised to see that the page of the book was still neat and clean as if it were newly manufactured. "This can't be possible?" He thought but he brush the abnormal scene to the back of his mind as he opened the book to see the information written inside.

He started to read through the details in the book. Then Lu Shang figured out the whole story. This ancient tomb belonged to one of China's legendary generals and statesmen, Yin Deng!

For thousands of years, Yin Deng has been regarded as one of the great geniuses of history and Chinese culture, a person who has created something new and contributed greatly to Chinese society.

Yin Deng was the founder of many military techniques used during that period, including military strategies. But Yin Deng died in battle when he attacked the barbarians of the outer land. Yin Deng then became immortalized as a war hero and an important figure in Chinese culture.

Very soon, he finished reading the book and then dropped the book.

He then carried the golden-colored sphere and was observing it; when he carried it, he felt a familiar feeling coming up to him. It was warm, comforting, and cold.

Suddenly, he felt a little connection with the golden-colored sphere within himself, and he quickly dropped the golden-colored sphere down out of fear.

"Which type of artifact is this?" He said this while still looking at the golden-colored sphere.

Just as he was about to turn back, he heard a sound, but he didn't know the source of the sound; a light quickly enveloped him. Lu Shang was surprised at why the light was covering him and how the light came about; he could not walk out of the light.

Everything about him became somehow lifeless; his breath was seized; he was struggling, but all his efforts were in vain; slowly, his life was drained off him he tried everything to stay alive but he couldn't. Before he even noticed it, his vision suddenly started to darken slowly until he could finally see nothing but pitch black.

He tried to resist but couldn't; His death couldn't be avoided.

Lu Shang's body fell to the ground, lifeless, and the light that surrounded him disappeared back to its source.

He did not even know what killed him. What a weird death to experience; Lu Shang just remained motionless on the ground, dead.

There was nowhere in the tomb where his corpse lay. As soon as the body dropped to the floor, the lights that covered him disappeared.

There was no disturbance in the tomb; the darkness didn't change. No breeze moved. No noise came forth; everything around was quiet, almost unnatural.

Even the silence itself is eerie and creepy because it has a certain emptiness of its own that creates a feeling of strangeness.

A peculiar event occurred when Lu Shang faced the prospect of death. His soul resisted passing away, driven by a deep desire to understand the cause of his demise, his unfulfilled ambitions, and the aspiration of becoming a legendary figure revered by all of China. This resistance to death intensified, leading his soul to fight its inevitable disappearance.

However, just as his soul teetered on the brink of vanishing entirely from the mortal realm, a portal materialized in the air, pulling his soul within and transporting him to an unfamiliar dimension, entirely unknown to him.

To his shock and astonishment, he did not die "How come I am still alive, and where is this place?" He exclaimed and looked around the place with a confused emotion on his face.

In the dimension, he could see boundless stars that faded away in space and eternity. A mysterious place, where the vastness and tranquility ruled over everything, bringing calmness to the soul of Lu Shang. The place was dark with extreme silence that could scare the soul out of any man.

Soon, his soul began to gradually dissolve, but before it fade away entirely, he heard a voice say unto him:

"You now have a second chance since you appear in this dimension of reincarnation, you better use this chance to redeem yourself. You have successfully reincarnated."

He tried to look around trying to see if he will be able to locate the person behind the voice but unfortunately, he couldn't. He became confused after hearing the words because he could not make out their meaning.

Still, in his confused state, his soul vanished from the dimension going to an unknown place without any disturbance.