The temple

After a few hours of following the rocky edges of the cliff, he reached the pond full of red flowers.

Looking at the pond from a distance, he thought he was lucky that thirst was not a problem, as the blood of the hyena was enough to sustain him for some time. Being forced to settle his thirst from this pond unsettled him.

Shifting his view, he watched as the water continued flowing, creating a small river a dozen meters away from him.

He decided to follow the small river instead of jumping between branches. He began following it as it flowed in the same direction as the weird temple.

The jungle opened up to reveal a narrow, winding path that seemed to lead directly to the temple.

Now that he was walking on the ground, he started seeing lots of moss-covered rocks and boulders that resembled a wall beside the river.

His eyes lit up, and he mentally remarked, 'There used to be a road here, so the temple has to be a ruin and not just rocks!'

The prospect of exploring ancient ruins excited him, so he hurried his steps, his powerful legs propelling him forward with ease.

――

Looking up at the old ancient temple inspired by old Chinese architecture, he felt awe and respect for whoever designed and built this imposing structure.

The temple was situated at the top of a lone hill filled with rocks and white flowers. All around it stood large pillars inscribed with runes, in a clearing overrun by vines and moss.

'The passage of time is relentless,' he thought while walking through the large clearing of pillars.

He was not familiar with the language carved on them, and neither did he find any resemblance between them and the hieroglyphs he saw in documentaries back on Earth.

Instead of uselessly pondering their origin and purpose, he made his way up the hill to seek the entrance of the temple.

While following the path filled with rocks and pebbles, he was assaulted by the sweet smell of white chrysanthemums. The smell was especially pronounced because of his developed nose.

During his climb, he thought, 'Hopefully this place won't be my indefinite resting place.'

Reaching the top, he turned around and was greeted with a surreal view.

The dilapidated pillars formed a weird, massive character when viewed from above, while the hill filled with chrysanthemums and large rocks contrasted the lush greenery surrounding the large yard of pillars.

He whispered the word "beautiful" to no one in particular, but all that emerged from his large mouth was a distinct grunt.

Not acknowledging the sound he just made, he turned back to look at the temple and saw a pair of large stone doors fallen to the ground. Further ahead, he saw the entrance covered by a curtain of dried vines and lianas.

Pushing through, he made his way inside the temple undeterred by the oppressing darkness that enveloped its large chambers.

It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust, then he looked around and saw several fallen and broken statues near the moss-covered walls. The statues were covered with inscriptions similar to those on the pillars outside.

A hundred meters ahead, he spotted a small altar illuminated by the sun rays streaming through the collapsed ceiling.

Curious, he made his way towards it while eyeing the floor and walls for any possible trap or contraption.

He stopped at the 10-meter mark and loudly inhaled to keep his nervousness in check.

'This is the most scripted scenario ever,' he silently muttered to himself, 'but since I'm already here, I might as well.'

Reaching the altar, he was surprised to only see a 1-inch-long and half-inch-wide, black ring.

'What am I supposed to do with a ring in this form?' He mentally yelled at himself.

Moving closer, he discovered a set of runes carved on the insides of the ring.

Perplexed, he pulled out one of his claws and tried picking it up. Just as he was about to touch it, the ring suddenly flew off the altar and attached itself to the top of his right ear.

'What the hell?!' He tried moving his head, but the ring on his ear didn't budge.

'Stop struggling, you can't get rid of it even if you cut off your ear.' A voice echoed through his mind, low and resonant.

Spooked by the voice, he asked, 'Who are you?' while trying to calm down. He expected something like this when he first reached for it, but thinking it might happen and actually happening are two different things.

'I'm the only surviving inheritance left by the Primal Monarch,' The voice deeply said then continued, 'my sole purpose is to help you achieve your maximum potential.'

'You sure that me reaching my maximum potential has nothing to do with this monarch's revival or something?' Fang indignantly shot back.

The voice stayed quiet for some time then calmly clarified, 'Well, normally I would suck you dry of any bloodline, physique or ancestral power to keep myself alive and hopefully end up in the hands of someone else,' Fang could hear the frustration of the entity but kept quiet and waited for it to finish, 'but for some reason I can't tap into your powers or body, so I'll be with you for eternity or hopefully—until you die.'

'Great, I'm stuck with some cursed magical object that wants to cripple me.' Fang thought.

'Actually, I want to kil—' the entity could not finish its sentence before Fang screamed at it to shut up.

Sitting down and scratching his right ear, he began pondering.

'Maybe it's not that bad. This thing can guide me and tell me about this world.'

While Fang was making plans on how to best use his new ancient companion, said companion was still trying to check Fang's dantian or bloodline with no success.

'What the hell is this kid and why is he possessing the body of a large cat? I can't sense his cultivation at all, and there is no way he broke through the 5th sequence as his aura is that of a complete mortal.' The entity tried to search through its old memory but found nothing relevant.

With a resounding sigh, the entity gave up trying to figure out the identity of its new possessor and instead addressed Fang who was now walking out the temple.

'Listen kid, I give up, so let's pretend we did not have that conversation and start fresh. You can call me Corbin. What do you think?' The entity—or now, Corbin—proposed.

Fang still doubted this so-called inheritance but decided to make things easy for Corbin, so he mentally responded, 'Fine, I go by the name of Fang. And just so you know, I just found myself in this forest with no memories of my past, so do me a favor and tell me about the world.'

Corbin could tell Fang was keeping something from him but could not point out what it was.

Instead of pressing the kid for answers, he calmly responded, 'We are currently in the Whispersea Forest, located in the Bai Prefecture, within the Heidian domain.'

Curiosity got the best of him, so Corbin asked back, 'I know this is a sensitive topic, but can you tell me your cultivation realm?'

Fang was just about to reach the exit when he abruptly stopped.

'What do you mean by cultivation, old man?' Questioned Fang, with a bad premonition creeping in.

'Come on, kid, don't play games with me. I know you said you don't have your memories, but you have to at least remember what cultivation is,' answered Corbin, raising his non-existent eyebrows.

'Besides, no matter where you came from, you must have heard of cultivation, energy refining, or people with mystical powers,' continued Corbin, noticing Fang's furry face now twisted in weird ways as if he just ate shit.

'Are you... serious?' questioned Fang, with the biggest grimace his face could manage.

'Dead serious, now tell me what realm you're at.' pressed Corbin.

Fang read his fair share of fantasy novels, so he was awfully familiar with the concept of cultivation.

On the bright side, he was happy he could get more powerful and maybe live a long life while traveling the world, but on the other side, he knew that if the cultivation world was like the ones described in those novels, he would need to shed a lot of blood to reach higher realms—not that he minded that small detail.

'I'm a mortal,' replied Fang, his face returning to normal and resuming his walk.

Before Corbin had a chance to speak, Fang quickly said, 'No, I really didn't know cultivation existed since my memories only go back to yesterday. Now, tell me about cultivation realms and be specific.'

Unfortunately, Fang didn't receive a reply as he felt a heavy blow on his right side just as he stepped outside the temple, rendering him unconscious.

―――