Plight (Prologue pt. 1)

Lightning struck down on a summit, followed by a roar of thunder. A loud crack reverberated through the middle of the large mountain. In one instant, the mountain had been cut in half.

At first glance, this disastrous occurrence appeared to be a natural event. However, it was clear to anyone that possessed adequate knowledge of this world: this was man-made.

As the mountain disappeared from the landscape, a certain person flashed through the now empty space. Another flash pursued right behind the preceding one.

"No matter how fast you run, you won't escape! Luo Ling!"

A glint appeared in the eye of the one chasing behind Luo Ling.

"Hahaha! That's based on the assumption that I'm trying to escape." Luo Ling's prideful laugh echoed throughout the empty area.

"...! What do you mean, Luo Ling!" The pursuer stopped his frantic chase. Alertness rose inside his mind as he looked at Luo Ling suspiciously.

At this moment, the man with the surname Luo invoked fear in his heart. The person thought that Luo Ling wasn't as simple-minded as he seemed.

Just then, he heard the voice of Luo Ling reach his ears. "Well, you're right! I am trying to escape! Hahaha!"

The pursuer's gaze turned dark as he saw Luo Ling's figure fade from his view. He continued on his pursuit as he launched his body from the ground, creating a large crater in his wake.

The pursuer had 10 gold-stroked gems lit up so he had sight that could see up to a dozen miles away. However, even this didn't help him track down Luo Ling.

"Luo Ling! You won't be able to hide from me!" The dark face of the pursuer shouted in the middle of nowhere.

Meanwhile, the long-gone Luo Ling continued on his way.

Around him were withering trees that leaked ooze from their trunks, dark fog that would block a normal person's sight completely, and black lakes that reeked of creature corpses and beast blood.

"I've arrived." Luo Ling let out a resigned sigh as he trekked into the Caliginous Forest for the first time.

The ancient records had lost count of how many geniuses entered this forest long ago. Every single one that went inside never came back.

This was the reason why another name for the Caliginous Forest was the Graveyard of Geniuses.

As Luo Ling got deeper into the eerie woodland, the corpses lessened in number.

Squish...

Luo Ling's foot had stepped onto a decomposed head of a human body. The skull was already fractured before he did the final blow.

"Uhh..." Infiltrating his nasal cavity was the stench of the deceased. However, he didn't have the luxury to be bothered since the sound of a pressure plate being pressed arrived in his ear.

An abrupt arrow launched from his left side, trying to lodge itself into his neck.

"Goddammit!" Luo Ling was taken aback by the sudden arrow that appeared out of nowhere.

However, his sudden exclamation didn't mean that he panicked. He took a slight step back and avoided the arrow effortlessly.

When the arrow passed by his neck, he felt an intense heat coming from it. The next thing he knew, the arrow pierced through ten trees, burning their trunks in the process.

The Caliginous Forest was known for its trees that looked like they were about to wither. These were called the Deception Trees, more famously known as the Dark Trees.

As soon as the arrow pierced through the dark trunk of one of these and ignited a small radius around the hole, the Dark Tree would dispose of that part of the trunk and replace it with a bark of the exact same color.

Soon enough, every trace of the Ardent Arrow disappeared, leaving Luo Ling to wonder whether what he saw was an illusion or not.

"I really am not ready... but I've no choice anymore." Normally, Luo Ling would have waited until he had illuminated at least 15 gold-stroked gems before going on a journey in the Graveyard of Geniuses.

However, he was short on time and needed to rush as he unintentionally offended someone with much influence on this Core Gem Continent.

The way he offended that someone was rather silly. A girl named Xiao Yueyue had fallen in love with him, but due to her own pride, she had been unable to say it for a long time.

However, as he was aiming for greater heights, he left the place not long after. Xiao Yueyue didn't give up and persisted on following him around everywhere, falling deeper in love with him.

Eventually, he had become accustomed to having this girl around him and agreed to let her accompany him. This meant that he now bore the heavy responsibility of protecting Xiao Yueyue since she had extremely inferior strength.

A few years passed by and the girl had achieved strength on par with Luo Ling when they first met. Of course, he had left that realm of power and entered a higher one long ago. By that time, Luo Ling had strength comparable to that of the strongest individual in the Core Gem Continent, who had a cultivation of 12 illuminated gold gems.

In a sudden revelation, it was revealed that Xiao Yueyue was the missing daughter of the strongest emperor of the continent, Lan Yunhao. The emperor had sent his most powerful soldiers to search for his daughter but by the time these soldiers found her, she laid on Luo Ling's arms without much life left.

As soon as Lan Yunhao got the news, he harbored resentment toward Luo Ling. If not him, who else could be blamed for his daughter's sudden paralyzation? In a frenzy, he sent the empire's army to avenge his daughter.

Even though Luo Ling had high cultivation, he still wouldn't be a match for an entire army. Thus, he found this whole situation dire but silly at the same time.

Xiao Yueyue had been the first person that he grew to care about and develop feelings for. Not to mention the guilt that he bore for letting her get hurt. He was not willing to give up.

Thus, he recklessly entered the Caliginous Forest to search for one rumored artifact that could revive a person from the brink of death. It was called the Gemstone Mirror.

The Gemstone Mirror could completely heal someone, but rumors said that it had a heavy cost. To power the mirror, one needed 3 illuminated platinum-stroked gems from the body of a cultivator of Light energy.

Even finding a person talented enough to reach that level was hard, not to mention the fact that these people had abandoned their humanity to reach this level. It would be near impossible to find a cultivator of this level to sacrifice one of his hard-earned platinum-stroked gems for a stranger they have never met.

Luckily, Luo Ling had high confidence in reaching the platinum realm within three months since he had the secret technique of his clan.

As long as he lit up the remaining gold-stroked gems, he would be able to use the technique to forcefully light up five platinum-stroked gems. This would sacrifice his future potential for a burst in strength.

"Short term gain, long term loss, huh?"

Although he felt slightly hesitant about this matter, once Xiao Yueyue's bruised and bloody face popped up in his thoughts, his mind was made.

That silly Xiao Yueyue had stupidly blocked a fatal attack for him. If not for the girl, Luo Ling would be dead for a long time now.

In a miracle, Xiao Yueyue had survived the attack that could have killed Luo Ling which the latter found incomprehensible. Other than her identity of being the daughter of Lan Yunhao, she probably had another secret which even she had no knowledge of.

As Luo Ling thought about various matters while walking around the Caliginous Forest, he felt a crack come from the ground.

Swoosh!

Luo Ling's light feet brought his whole body on the top of a Dark Tree far away from where he stood before.

The crack formed a hole on the ground he previously stepped on. The hole expanded, eating up everything in its way.

Luo Ling looked closer at the peculiar hole.

"...That's a mouth!"

The hole's sides had multiple white spikes protruding from it while in the center was a tentacle-like red tongue that extended further and further upwards.

At the top of the tree, Luo Ling hissed as he imagined what would have happened if he didn't react on time. He thanked his own well-honed instincts.

The Dark Tree he stood on was sturdier than he thought. Just from the thinness, it would seem it was extremely easy for the branches to break off.

"They aren't called Deceptive Trees for no reason."

Luo Ling planned on staying on top of the tree until the hole on the ground closed. The hole kept expanding as Luo Ling watched from afar.

Then, a thought came into his mind: 'What if that hole reaches up to here?'

Just in case, Luo Ling leapt from tree top to tree top, getting farther away from the ever-expanding hole.

But-!

"Aahh!"

One more hole opened where he just landed, rendering him helpless against gravity.

"No!"

Luo Ling's body became less visible as he fell into the dark abyss of the unknown beast.

.....

In the Swordlight Empire--

Crack!

A table collapsed due to the sudden force applied to its middle. In other words, someone slammed the table.

The one who broke the table was a man with middle-aged features. However, his actual age was more than a hundred.

Lan Yunhao, the emperor of the Swordlight Empire.

He had received news that his daughter's case was one in a kind.

All of her organs had been ruptured and all of her gems had been shattered. In normal cases, this would mean absolute death.

Yet, Xiao Yueyue still had an aura of life force around her.

Lan Yunhao had been delighted at this news. His daughter was still alive!

However, the doctors had no method to revive her. Even worse, they diagnosed that she could only hold on for four months.

Lan Yunhao despaired at the situation in front of him. Right now, there was only one person that he could think of that could possibly save his daughter, and that was her mother, Jing Liye.

There was one problem. Lan Yunhao had no idea where to find Jing Liye.

She disappeared suddenly along with their daughter, making him quite depressed at the time.

He had only found Xiao Yueyue's location by luck — there was absolutely no way for him to do so again with Jing Liye.

Helpless against the dire situation, Lan Yunhao could only wait until his daughter would die.

After that, he received the news that his daughter's companion, whom she protected, has escaped from his army's pursuit.

"No! I will not allow it!" Lan Yunhao's eyes filled with rage. No sign of his previous lofty attitude could be seen.

"That kid... He needs to be captured!"

Without much respect for his position, Lan Yunhao threw his crown on the floor and jumped out the window in the middle of the night.

The emperor had disappeared without anyone's knowledge, like a raven in the darkness...

.....

Swoosh!

Steel stabbed through a thick wall of flesh in the dark underground.

Luo Ling sliced his sword to open up an exit for him, who was covered in sticky liquids. The glowing tip of the sword dimmed as the youth stopped injecting Light energy into it.

Most of his clothes had been burnt already, due to the splashing acidic fluids inside the beast he was just in. The hapless youth forgot to bring extra clothes with him, so he needed to wear the battered and sticky clothing he had on.

As he went through the opening he made, the flesh started to decay right in front of him.

"...That was fast." Luo Ling walked away from the decaying body of whatever he just killed.

After getting that out of his mind, Luo Ling started to think clearly.

"Where am I?"

A large space stood in front of him, covered in stalagmites, stalactites, cobwebs, and insects of various sizes.

It was bright enough for Luo Ling to see everything, which weirded him out, since there was no visible light source. He tried to track down where the light came from to no avail.

Footsteps echoed as he walked along the huge cave. The light was still as stable as it was when he arrived.

Eventually, a huge natural formation stood in front of him. He knocked on it with his knuckles and no sound came out of it. "This is made of Blackstone, huh?"

Though the light allowed him to see, it wasn't quite enough to let him discern between different colors. As such, he needed to check what kind of mineral formed the column in front of him.

"Blackstone is one of the most durable minerals... maybe I can mine some right now." Luo Ling was tempted to stop his journey and get some.

"Wait, no, no! I need to save Yueyue first. This Blackstone is valuable, yes, but I can encounter it later in my life. Meanwhile, there's only one Xiao Yueyue. I can't lose her."

Luo Ling, who resisted the temptation, walked past the Blackstone column as he sighed in disappointment.

After an hour of walking, Luo Ling stared at the natural formation in front of him. "...This is the same column as last time."

This youth was starting to get annoyed.