Tan Bai's last conscious thought lingered on the never-ending work on the computer screen.
His heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand. A searing pain exploded from his chest, and everything before his eyes began to spin and blur. He tried to reach for the fast-acting heart-relief pills on the desk. They had been prescribed by the doctor after last month's checkup. He always said, "I'll take them on time once I finish this project." But the project was never finished. His fingers had just touched the edge of the bottle when the world went completely dark.
No eternal darkness as he had expected.
Tan Bai's consciousness—like sinking deep into the sea only to be suddenly thrown back to the surface—snapped his eyes open. He coughed violently. A piercing pain shot through his lungs.
"I… I'm not dead?"
He propped himself up, his palm pressing against the damp soil. The texture felt wrong. This was neither the cold floor of his office nor the sheets of a hospital bed.
He looked down. The palm of his hand was covered in dark brown humus soil, with a few withered yellow leaves stuck between his fingers.
He looked around and froze.
Towering ancient trees surrounded him on all sides, their canopies blocking out the sky as if he had stumbled into a primeval forest. Only scattered specks of light filtered through the gaps in the branches and leaves. From time to time, sharp, piercing cries echoed through the air—sounds that stirred an inexplicable sense of fear within him.
"Where is this?" Tan Bai muttered to himself. His voice sounded jarringly loud in the silent forest.
He tried to stand, but his legs gave way.
Looking down at himself, he saw the same wrinkled plaid shirt and jeans. His smartwatch was still on his wrist, but the screen was cracked, frozen at 3:47 AM.
"Kidnapping? A prank?" Tan Bai forced himself to stay calm.
As a programmer, he was used to logical analysis. "No, I clearly had a cardiac arrest. I should be in a hospital."
He touched his chest. His heartbeat was steady and strong, completely free of the stabbing pain he'd felt during the attack.
Stranger still, some unfamiliar power seemed to surge within his body—like a dormant volcano that could erupt at any moment.
Rustle.
The bushes to his left stirred.
Tan Bai's head snapped toward the sound. His heart skipped a beat.
That wasn't the rustle of wind through leaves. It was the movement of something heavy—snapping twigs, crushing fallen foliage.
He retreated instinctively, pressing his back against a thick tree trunk.
His palm rested on the rough bark. The unfamiliar sense of power became clearer—as if, with just a thought, he could easily crush the bark beneath his hand.
The bushes parted.
The creature was bigger than he'd imagined.
At least two meters at the shoulder. Ash-white fur, with a row of bony plates standing like blades along its back. Its mouth gaped open, saliva dripping to the ground, sizzling into white vapor.
Its amber eyes were fixed on him—the way one stares at meat on a plate.
A thought flashed through Tan Bai's mind: This isn't a wolf. It's more like a bear wearing a wolf's skin.
He wanted to run.
But his legs wouldn't obey.
Twenty-eight years of modern urban life, the fiercest animal he had ever seen was his neighbor's yappy little Teddy dog that barked at everyone.
But this creature—just standing there—made his legs tremble.
The giant wolf moved.
No slow-motion pounce like in the movies. Just a blurry gray shadow tearing through the air, rushing at him with a gust of foul wind.
Tan Bai could even see the interlocking fangs inside its mouth—each one like a sharpened dagger.
I'm going to die.
He closed his eyes.
His final thought: I just arrived in this strange place, and now I'm about to die.
[Detected host on the verge of death…]
A voice inside his head. Tan Bai froze. "A god? "An icy voice rang out in his mind.
[Ding! Host has activated the Invincible System.]
[Host is about to kick the bucket. Newbie Gift Pack auto-activating…]
[Host has obtained the cultivation base of the Transformation God Realm.]
Before Tan Bai could process it, a surge of warmth rushed from the back of his head down his spine—like boiling water being poured into his veins. His eyes snapped open, just in time to see the giant wolf's face lunging at him — but this time, that face before his eyes… moved as slowly as the speed at which you earn money.
It wasn't that the wolf had slowed down.
It was that he had become faster.
The surge of heat flooded his entire body, and he felt an unimaginably powerful force within himself.
He instinctively raised his right hand.
The motion was light—like brushing dust off his clothes.
The moment his palm made contact with the giant wolf's skull, time itself seemed to stop.
Thump.
Like a fist smashing into a watermelon.
Red and white splattered in all directions—but stopped three feet away from Tan Bai's body, as if blocked by an invisible pane of glass. Not a single drop touched him.
The headless wolf's corpse, still carrying the momentum of its pounce, slammed heavily into the tree trunk behind Tan Bai.
The massive tree—one that would take several people to wrap their arms around—snapped on impact. The upper half crashed to the ground, and dust hung in the air for a long time.
Tan Bai stood there, looking down at his palm.
These were the same hands that had typed code all day—long, slender fingers, with dark mud still stuck under the nails from pressing against the ground moments ago.
These same hands had just blasted a wolf's head apart.
"Holy shit!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a flood of information poured into his mind.
Cultivation, spiritual energy, realms, techniques, sects, demonic beasts, secret realms.
One unfamiliar term after another was crammed into his mind—like compressing an entire library into a zip file and then force-extracting it.
Even the soul power of the Transformation God realm couldn't handle this kind of assault. Tan Bai squatted down, clutching his head, his temples throbbing with pain.
No one knew how much time passed. Finally, the flood of information stopped.
Tan Bai gasped heavily and slowly straightened up.
Now he understood.
This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak.
The cultivation realms, from low to high, were Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Transformation God, Void Union, Great Vehicle, Tribulation Crossing—and above that, Immortal.
Just a moment ago, he had almost been bitten to death. Now he was at the Transformation God realm.
Transformation God.
In this region known as the Eastern Domain, someone at the Transformation God realm could basically strut sideways without fear.
Tan Bai walked over to the headless wolf corpse, squatted down, and took a look.
According to the information he'd just received, this wolf was called an Iron back Wolf, with a cultivation base of the third level of Qi Condensation. Before his current realm, it was no more than an ant.
Then he looked up at the dappled sunlight filtering through the gaps in the treetop canopy.
Suddenly, he smiled silently. The faintest curve tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Time travel!" This was something he had only dreamed of before. He never imagined it would actually happen today.
After what had just happened, he finally realized—he had truly traveled to another world.
He would never have to endure that miserable, overworked existence again.
Thinking of this, he took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart, and began to feel out this brand-new world.
Following the basic method he understood, he extended his spiritual sense outward. Invisible ripples spread from him, passing through trees, sweeping over grass—perceiving everything with clarity as vivid as if he were standing right there.
His spiritual sense swept toward the southeast, where he detected the outline of buildings.
Having confirmed the direction, Tan Bai stepped forward and headed southeast.
His footsteps fell on the soft, humus-rich soil, making a faint rustling sound.
The light among the trees grew brighter, and the forest gradually thinned. Finally, he stood at the edge of the woods and saw a city.
Grayish-blue city walls, over ten Zhang tall. Banners fluttered above the gatehouse.
At the city gate, streams of people moved to and for: swordsmen on horseback, peddlers carrying their wares and hawking, and richly dressed cultivators gliding across the sky on magical instruments.
Directly above the city gate, two ancient, elegant characters gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight.
Qing Yang.