In a dark, eerie forest, the sound of animals fighting could be heard clearly.
The forest was filled with countless tall trees, ferocious animals, weird looking plants and a strange, poisonous miasma.
At the center of the forest however, a little wooden dilapidated stood, that seemed completely out of place.
All the animals in the surroundings avoided this little wooden hut, as if they were extremely afraid of it.
If any cultivator was here, they would be completely shocked when they saw this wooden hut.
In the Xuan Continent, there are 7 famous Forbidden Areas. Each of these Forbidden Areas are extremely dangerous, not only to ordinary people, but even to powerful cultivators.
No one knew how the 7 Forbidden Areas were formed, but everyone knew that they were dangerous and avoided them like the plague.
Some people speculated that these areas appeared naturally, while others claimed that they were formed as a result of the battle between powerful cultivators.
This dark forest is exactly one of these 7 Forbidden Areas, the Dark Mirror Forest.
The forest is filled with powerful monsters and has strange terrain, while natural disasters occur at random times. This makes it particularly unsuitable for living even among the Forbidden Areas.
But now, a wooden hut appeared in this place.
Outside this little wooden hut, a young man wearing a white robe was sitting on a half-broken wooden chair.
He had a handsome face, sharp eyebrows, long black hair and blue eyes.
In complete contrast with the atmosphere of the forest, the young man was very calm, sipping his tea expressionlessly.
Although his actions were simple and ordinary, they exuded an aura of confidence and tranquility.
However, if someone were to ask him why he was here, at the center of one of the Forbidden Areas, the young man would be unable to answer.
This man is Li Yuan and he originally wasn't a person from this world.
He vaguely remembered that it was just an ordinary night, when he went to sleep as usual, only to find the next morning that he had been transported to this world.
That's right, Li Yuan wasn't reborn or possessed another body, but he transmigrated to this world with his own body.
At first, when he found about it, Li Yuan was quite excited.
He didn't have a family on Earth and his life was that of an average middle-class worker. There was nothing to miss, while coming to an entirely new world meant infinite possibilities.
As a transmigrator, he was confident that with his supreme intelligence and outstanding talent, he would be able to reach the peak of this world!
However, it was only later that he found that he had been cheated.
On the day he transmigrated, a system was bound to him, named Heaven's Secret System.
At the moment he bound the system, he received a message explaining the function of the system, as well as his current situation.
Learning that he was at the very center of one of the most dangerous areas in the entire Xuan Continent, Li Yuan was very panicked at the time.
Thankfully, the system seemed to sense his worries and gave him a gift.
The gift was the little wooden hut next to him.
The wooden hut's ability is quite simple: in an area of 50 meters around it, Li Yuan was almost invincible.
Even if powerful cultivators came here, once they entered the hut's range, Li Yuan would be able to kill them with a simple wave of his hands.
Of course, this was just a gift and not the main function of the system.
The system's function was to be able to deduce cause and effect and predict the future by spending Heaven's Secret Points, or HS Points for short.
The way to gain HS Points was by trading cultivation techniques, magic weapons, pills and even knowledge.
Unfortunately, Li Yuan had none of these things on him.
This also meant that for the last year, he had been living in the hut doing nothing all day, living off the daily rations that the system gifted him.
He had thought about leaving the forest, but he quickly threw these thoughts away.
He was just an ordinary person with no cultivation or strength. Even cultivators would have trouble surviving in this forest, let alone him.
If he left the hut's range, he would simply be courting death.
Li Yuan could imagine that even a random chicken monster would be able to slap him to death.
"One more day has passed and still, no one has come here.", Li Yuan sighed and shook his head.
From the very first day, he had been sitting outside the hut, waiting for someone to come and put him out of his misery.
Unfortunately, so far, he had yet to meet anyone.
Just as he was about to put away the chair and the table, a sudden noise interrupted his actions.
Raising his head, Li Yuan saw a young man flying in the air while creating flames in his hands and throwing them behind.
The young man looked ordinary, with black hair and black eyes, and no outstanding feature whatsoever.
From his expression and the fact that he constantly turned his head to look behind, it was obvious that someone or something was chasing after him.
What he didn't know however, was that he had entered the hut's range.
"Finally, a cultivator has come.", Li Yuan thought excitedly.
With a thought of his mind, he cast the Identification Technique that came with the system.
He had never used it on a person before, but over the past year, he had used it on various items around the hut.
Instantly, a golden translucent panel appeared in front of him, showing the young man's information.
[Name: Xiao Huo]
[Cultivation: Foundation Building Realm - Early Stage]
[Current Situation: He is slightly injured and being chased by a parrot monster at the peak of the Foundation Building Realm.]
[Click to read more...]
As Li Yuan was going through all the information in front of him, he felt that another creature had entered the hut's range.
It was a massive bird that looked like a mutated parrot. Its whole body was bloody red and there was a sharp beak on its face.
Its wings were five meters long and the waves of its wings caused wind to fly everywhere.
Neither the parrot nor Xiao Huo noticed Li Yuan and continued flying away at a high speed.
Soon, the giant parrot managed to catch up with Xiao Huo and opened its giant beak, wanting to eat this damn human in one bite.
Xiao Huo looked behind and was a little desparate.
"Master..", he thought.
Before he could finish his thoughts, Xiao Huo saw a giant palm appearing in the air. The giant hand moved towards the giant parrot and caught it in its palm, as if it was not a giant monster, but an ant.
No matter how hard the parrot struggled, it couldn't shake the giant hand away.
Finally, the hand clenched into a fist, turning the giant parrot into flying ash.
Staring blankly at the giant hand that easily killed the monster that had been hunting him for so long, Xiao Huo was shocked.
As a cultivator, his instinct was to run away whenever he met an unknown power.
However, before he could do so, a young man in a white robe appeared in front of him.
Or, to be more accurate, it was he who had been teleported in front of the young man.
"I can't see through this man's cultivation, as if he is a mere mortal."
"Be careful. He should be a powerful cultivator that lives in seclusion here.", a voice sounded inside Xiao Huo's mind.
Xiao Huo wasn't surprised. This voice belonged to his master, a cultivator that had been gravely injured in the past and whose soul lived inside his necklace!
Hearing his words, Xiao Huo became even more cautious and respectful.
"Senior, I didn't know that someone was living here, it's all my fault.", he cupped his hands and saluted Li Yuan.
Raising his head to look at the senior's expression, Xiao Huo saw that the young man remained calm, seeping his tea while sizing him up.
Of course, in reality, Li Yuan wasn't as calm as he looked.
After he clicked to see the rest of Xiao Huo's information, he learned many things he previously didn't know.
According to Xiao Huo's experience, the closest human force to this forest is an empire called Sun Empire.
In the Sun Empire, there are countless smaller cultivation sects, as well as a bigger one, the Snow Phoenix Sect.
Although the cultivation of the Sect Leader of the Snow Phoenix Sect and the Emperor of the Sun Empire wasn't mentioned, Li Yuan guessed that they were at least in the Nascent Soul Realm.
As for Xiao Huo in front of him, his life was quite interested.
He was formely known as the lowest trash with no cultivation talent and was born in the smallest family in the smallest city of the Sun Empire.
But then, the soul of a powerful cultivator that stayed inside his necklace woke up.
With a powerful cultivator's guidance and his childhood sweetheart's secret support, Xiao Huo quickly increased his strength and shocked everyone around him.
Li Yuan's eyes when he looked at Xiao Huo were a little subtle.
"Isn't this the protagonist's script?", he thought secretly.
No wonder he was able to reach this deep into the Dark Mirror Forest with his mere Foundation Building cultivation.
If it were any other cultivator in the Foundation Building Realm, they would have died long ago.
But Xiao Huo was not only safe, but managed to reach this place while being chased.
Li Yuan became excited. Wasn't this the opportunity he had been waiting for?
He had been waiting for someone to come here, and now, someone with the template of a protagonist finally came.
Countless thoughts flashed through Li Yuan's mind and he took a deep breath before speaking up.