Quartex The System

"In the end, the first step of escaping went well"

He began to ponder on the next step, he now had a crucial piece of information behind the people who had locked him up, "The Chen Family?"

Even though Zhao Yun had locked Chen Lei and Bao Jie inside the prison he didn't move away from the door at first so he could still hear their shouting and cursing.

"The exit should be down there" He narrowed his sights and peered down the hallway.

"It seems the people who had locked me up were actually from the famous Chen Family" Searching through his old memories he recalled that the Chen Clan was one of the three most influential clans in the Qing State next to the Xia Clan and Shi Clan. The clan had a thousand-year-old history and their name rang like gongs besides people's ears whenever they heard of this name.

The most famous characters within the Chen Clan would be the current Clan Leader, Chen Luoyang, at the age of thirty had already broken through to the Earth Realm earning the esteemed title "Grandmaster". For those who managed to break through to the Earth Realm, one would be regarded by the public as a "Grandmaster".

A Grandmaster!

It was these high-level cultivators that could easily change the landscape of the land should they feel like it, with a wave of their hand they could part the seas and fly through the heavens.

To put it in perspective, it wouldn't be strange for someone talented to have to spend a hundred years cultivating to be able to even reach that level, however, Chen Luoyang by the age of thirty had reached that level!

He became famous and was known as a first-rate talented genius by the public.

When word of his breakthrough reached the many powerful clans they became either wary of them or even decided to look for a partnership of some kind so as to revel in their success.

But besides Chen Luoyang's shocking talent, what stunned the public once again was that he received multiple invitations from the powerful hidden sects.

A sect was something akin to a powerful organization with foundations that were built from over ten-thousand years, throughout this time, they would have acc.u.mulated a lot of resources over the years as well as many treasures.

Sects had over the long years improved their skills rapidly and even producing world stunning level talents, so it was not difficult for their disciples to reached a very high level and especially with their resources it wasn't hard for them to nurture a young talent that what on the same level as Chen Luoyang within a short while.

However, the sects had a very strict policy when it came to accepting disciples, for every ten thousand people, it was lucky enough to even find one talent amongst them that could be accepted.

Even if they did get accepted their talent wouldn't be as great compared to their senior disciples and it would only hurt their confidence and self-esteem seeing how wide of a gap their cultivation was.

This was why they couldn't accept disciples who without a proper background check because it would only destroy them if their mind was not strong enough.

So one could see as to why the public was so shocked when they found out about Chen Luoyang being fought over by the sects. If Chen Luoyang could get where he was without the support of a sect then where could he get to if he should have their support?

The thought sent people shivering in fear, respect and in awe when they asked themselves this.

You could say that Chen Luoyang single handily made the Chen Clan what it was today, without him the clan would have stagnated and not have received the s.u.c.k.i.n.g up and praises of the other families and clans.

Zhao Yun searched his memories, even his past life self who was only a herb collector in a small town some ways away from Qing City has heard the news of the sects fighting over Chen Luoyang.

Zhao Yun was pondering whilst walking towards the exit, "The sects are almost identical to those of that in the novels written on Earth, I haven't read many of them but it still left a deep impression on me so I can match and piece information, however" he paused for a moment before continuing, "Is what is said in the novels on Earth any good in this world?"

"I will have to research a lot more about this land when I have the chance, after all, I am in someone else's backyard so I should at least know the rules"

As he walked down the hallway he saw that there were many other cellar doors just like his, although he was curious as to who was locked up and was even tempted to unlock the rest of the cells in an attempt to make a prison breakout, he only entertained the idea for a moment for returning back to walking.

There was one more piece of information that was in his memories about the Chen Clan, Chen Luoyang's daughter, however, was said to be just as talented as her father. Because of this many sects began to observe from the side and waited before presenting their offer again. It seemed like the Chen Clan particularly Chen Luoyang bloodline would all possess amazing talent. They were sure to enjoy a high status in the future becoming something great.

Then a thought struck Zhao Yun, "That girl in the forest. No, it couldn't be" as if a bolt of lightning hit struck him, he froze on the spot.

He compared the information from his memories with the image of the girl who "he" tried saving. A thirteen-year-old girl with flowing hair akin to a purple river.

Zhao Yun's face changed several times, and he seemed to have realised the dire situation he was in, "What kind of mess have I gotten myself into?" he had only just come to this world recently, yet he has already potentially made an enemy of someone like Chen Luoyang? A Grandmaster?

Should he slap his past self's life for even trying to help a stranger? Should he just slap himself then? Look what happened to him, it led to his own death which in turn would potentially lead to Zhao Yun's own death.

He was seriously contemplating on whether or not he should just bury himself a grave or even turn around back to his prison cell.

"Sigh"

Zhao Yun closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his mind, after a long while did he finally speak, "No matter what, since I have a chance at finding the old man, I won't die. I still have to beat him with my own two hands. Nothing will get in my way!"

His eyelids opened and with it, a pair of bright blue eyes were revealed, his eyes flashed in determination while they began shimmering.

....

At the end of the hallway, there was a long set of stairs going up, when Zhao Yun looked at the top of the staircase he could faintly see a golden ray of light at the top.

He made his way up the staircase and what came into his sight was a large and solid double door that looked to be made out of a type of very tough metal.

A majestic dragon was engraved into the doors with its wings spreading out the far corners of the door giving one a sense of feeling that whoever was to approach would be ripped apart, it made one reconsider their plan of escaping and to just return back underground.

In the centre of the door was a key holder that resembled a lot the keys Zhao Yun had stolen.

Zhao Yun felt an invisible pressure come down on top of him making him tremble a bit, but his eyes were still glued to the dragon, he couldn't help but exclaim, "What an incredible design!"

He walked forward and took out the spiritual cellar keys, it matched the keyhole, just before he was going to place it in he thought, "What if someone is guarding the entrance? Wouldn't I just be handing myself over at that point?"

He couldn't underestimate his enemies, not with someone as reputable as Chen Yuoyang being the Clan Leader. Especially since there was a high chance that the girl in the forest his past self tried saving could be the Clan Leaders' daughter, then there was also the possibility that Chen Yuoyang was under the impression that he had done something to her.

"But that doesn't make sense if he thought that I harmed her then killing me was as easy as killing an ant. Why would he wait? Is it because he knows I didn't do it? Or is it just that he was going to let me just starve to death?"

His face turned cold at this point, if someone wished to kill him he would gladly reciprocate in kind.

"In any case, the dangers of staying here is great, if I hadn't received the systems gifts in time I would most likely be pummelled by those guys earlier"

Having already learned the manuals from his gifts, he readied himself, Upon sliding the key into the keyhole the door began to glow faintly and a moment after it started to creak.

The door shook violently creating dust clouds to kick up into the air, slowly the door opened and revealed the outside crimson light, Zhao Yun backed away and quickly used Shadow Void Steps he had learned from the system to become invisible.

When he used it he felt as if he had become one with the void, or more too say one with the shadows almost comparable to a different dimension.

This feeling was exhilarating, he couldn't help sigh in awe. If he had learned this during the time he spared against the old man his chances at landing a hit would increase by 30%. Although he said it like this he still wasn't confident that he could do it, the old man was almost inhuman, now that he knows that his old man could potentially be a cultivator from another world he couldn't help but curse at the old man's shamelessness.

A cultivator against a normal human? What a joke.

It didn't take long before the metal doors opened. With the doors wide opened the outside world was revealed, the sun was sitting on the edge of the horizon and it created a sky of fire, the clouds looked like they were a pair of golden wings.

At the entrance of the Cold Cellar Prison there was a patch of barren land void of grass, some ways away was a long walk path leading to who knows where. On either side of the walk path was evenly placed trees that followed along to the end of the walk paths destination as if a guide.

Zhao Yun who was using Shadow Void Steps made his way outside carefully, he looked both to his left and right and found that nobody was guarding this place, after making some distance away from the entrance he turned around and realized the place he was locked up in was actually under a big mountain!

He thought to himself, "if that was supposed to be a prison then why aren't there any guards? Is the Chen Clan that confident that no one will get out once they were in?"

He felt that he was right, but he also thought that the Chens were a bit dumb, after all, two of them got themselves locked in their own prison.

Scratching his head in confusion he thought, "They couldn't be that dumb, could they? Whatever, it works better for me if they are. Onto step two, leave"

He turned around and stared at the walking path for a bit, he frowned as his eyes squinted shortly after, "In the off chance they are not dumb, this place might have traps. I mean if I had a prison I would put a defensive mechanism in place in the event a prisoner escaped"

Darting his eyes around the area he looked towards the thick dense mountain forest to his side, then back at the footpath, "Truly a test of wits"

If it was a normal prisoner and he or she managed to escape, they would most likely head into the wilderness using the trees as cover especially since the sun was setting, they could take advantage of the night.

However, at the same time, if an escapee could think of this why couldn't others? There is a high chance that the forest was filled with traps, and in a world with spiritual energy akin to magic, the traps could be even more advanced, maybe even unnoticeable.

But if he went along with the footpath...

A smile crept to the side of his lips if it was before he received the system he was not confident in escaping at all, but now things were different.

An idea popped into his mind and he walked into the thick foliage, he sat down and opened his inventory, he eyes looked down the list of gifts before resting his sights on the description of the item.