Quartex The System

Chapter 8 – Spiritual World?

He took a step forward but suddenly started to sway, "I can't... hold on for much longer"

His vision started to blur, and he struggled to keep himself moving, with the last amount of strength left in his body, he pushed the door to the shop open and dazedly made his way in.

Zhao Yun looked around the familiar-looking shop and sighed: "It's a wonder as to how he kept the business going". (Author note: He was implying his past life's self)

The shop was like that of any other ordinary shop, as soon as one entered the shop from the entrance one would see that there was only a small round table with a few chairs placed around to their left and the reception desk that was direct across from the shops front. Next to the reception desk was a door that Zhao Yun recognized, it led to the back room where he would sleep and the herbs he stored.

The room was quite empty, and it was hard to imagine that anyone would willingly come here to purchase anything, especially since the store looked quite shabby, what could a shop this poor looking sell of value?

It was true.

Zhao Yun recalled that his business was indeed poor only selling medicinal herbs and fruits that were quite common around this area. With the strength of an average mortal, his past life's self could only spend a certain number of hours in the forest collecting herbs before being physically exhausted, not only did he have to carry the goods back, he also had to be careful of any bandits, beasts or animals that might attack him.

Even if he came back with the goods the quality as well as the quantity was low and minimal, with these facts his business, of course, couldn't make any profit. In fact, for the past 3 years that he has had this shop for, the number of transactions he has completed could be counted on his fingers.

His past life's self was very pitiful, which was why Zhao Yun sighed, "Despite me being you and possessing your memories, I still respect you for you, who had such a strong mind and heart" he paused for a moment, with a determined look, his dim blue eyes flashed before continuing: "I will erect a burial for you and with it… inherit your dreams and wishes, everything you wished to achieve, every dream you wished for, I will turn them into a reality! I swear it".

"You wish to become strong? I will make you into an Immortal! You wish to become someone important? I will let you rule the heavens! You wish to run a successful business? Eh? I… I will let you become the best CEO this world has seen!" He declared and hardened his resolve, "This is the very least I could do - I am only here thanks to you after all"

His declaration was not just a promise to his past life's self, it was a challenge he set for himself that ultimately broke the chains restraining his mind and allowed him to live in the most present.

Although he declared all of this, his current appearance betrayed everything he just said, at the moment, Zhao Yun looked as if it was about to keel over.

The exhaustion from running two days straight coupled with his injection of the Mystic Eye bloodline, the merging of his Divine Spiritual Veins and his body's restoration put a large toll onto his physical body.

Although the Energy Vitality Pill he took from the system gave him the energy to move forward, his body, after all, underwent so many transformations that demanded a lot of mental strain as well as some suffering. The merging with his Divine Spiritual Veins and his Mystic Eyes bloodline, in particular, drained a lot of his mental and physical energy.

Not only that, to escape to Chen Clan he even had to run with his already exhausted body whilst continuously using both his Mystic Eyes, which used a lot of energy as it was and his Void Shadow Steps, that drained his physical stamina.

With this, he even had to use another Energy Vitality Pill just to get to Qingwei Town, it was shocking that he even made it this far as it was! Now he only had one left!

It was completely understandable as to why Zhao Yun was on the brink of passing out before he could even begin to walk to his room to sleep, a notification appeared in front of him.

"Ding, suggesting host to use a "Spiritual Energy Gathering Pill", after consuming the pill, spiritual energy will come to you much easier allowing the host to cultivate faster – this will allow the host to recover his depleted energy at a faster rate"

He had to read over the notification several times because his eyes would lose focus when he did he quickly contemplated.

His situation was still one of uncertainty, what if someone from the Chen Family came after him? What if they were already in the town searching for him? He had a feeling that it would not be all that hard for an influential clan such as the Chen Clan to find someone like him should they need to.

The people they send would most likely be cultivators at a high level since the person who was injured in this case being the daughter of the Grandmaster, Chen Luoyang!

Would he be able to escape if they attacked? How much time did he have left? Several questions appeared in his mind.

Zhao Yun bit his lips and shook his head: "Standing around panicking won't solve the problem… focus on what you can do now and deal with the problem when it comes. At the very least, they shouldn't be able to find me within a short time"

He walked through the back door behind the receptionist counter and walked down a very short hallway before entering "his" room on the left.

The room was quite a small one and was very plain looking, only having the single bed in the corner of the room with a bookshelf, a wooden desk, and a chair. It was as plain as a room could get.

Without complaining he walked weakly towards the bed in the corner of the room and took off his brown cloak that he found thrown out in the forest and threw it at the end of his bed.

He sat on his bed: "Let's try this pill", he opened his inventory whilst yawning and took out a pill. The "Spiritual Energy Gathering Pill" was a plain dark blue pill and it emanated spiritual energy outwards so much so that even Zhao Yun could feel it.

Praying in his heart that the system wouldn't kill him, he hesitantly threw the pill into his mouth. Immediately after Zhao Yun swallowed the pill, he could feel a great amount of spiritual energy come from within side him and felt that the energy in the air was surging towards him like a black hole that pulled in anything and everything.

Under such a feeling, he quickly began to focus by meditating with his eyes closed and crossed his legs.

Zhao Yun could feel the spiritual energy come into him and circulate throughout his body following along the path of his spiritual veins relieving any tension that was in his muscles while also refining his meridians.

"Incredible! So… this is what cultivating spiritual energy feels like" He couldn't help but exclaim in some shock and excitement, this was a feeling he could get used to, it was like his body was being cleansed and treated making him feel more alive.

The more spiritual energy that entered his body the more his body relaxed, the pale white color of his face regained a tinge of redness, proof that he was indeed recovering.

After a long while passed he felt renewed as if someone had swapped out his flat battery with a charged one. Unknowingly, several hours had passed and Zhao Yun fell deep into his subconscious, his body seemed to fall asleep, only sitting cross-legged on his bed still not moving a single inch.

…

In a world that seemed to be surrounded by nothing but darkness, a figure of a young boy with white hair and masculine body shape was transparent as if a ghost and was floating within this world of darkness.

It wasn't just the abyssal darkness that existed in this world, seven stone pillars existed, surrounding the young boy's ghost.

With a jerk, the ghost-like figure seemed to gain some life as it lifted its head. This ghost-like figure was naturally Zhao Yun. He felt like his consciousness had been s.u.c.k.e.d into a dream, both confused and curious as to where exactly he was, he observed his surroundings: "Where am I?"

"Eh?!" He was shocked when he noticed that he could see through his arms: "Why am I a ghost? The system didn't kill me did it?" He pauses for a moment to observe his condition before speaking again: "This shouldn't be a dream, No… I can still feel my body. I can return to my body whenever I feel so, but this feeling, it feels like I am bordering in between a dream and not at the same time"

"Could it be..."

An old memory surfaced into his mind making him say in doubt, "This is… my spiritual world?"