[Place: Sistine Continent, Riverwood forest]

The Riverwood forest was full of viscious beasts and there were rumors that many ancient ruins and tombs were found in this forest. Ling was walking without any hurry following a narrow trail in this deep forest. A big boulder of at least five hundred kilograms was tied to his back. He was also wearing a ring with a red stone on it. That red stone was actually a high level artifact which had an small independent space in it. It was Vanisha's personal artifact. Only she could go inside and come out of that independent space whenever she wanted. Ling wore it because Vanisha had said that she would be inside that space as long as he was traveling or was around others. She didn't want to show herself to the outside world.

“Miss Vanisha....we have been wandering like this for seven days now. Are you sure there's a town in this direction? ” Ling asked. Vanisha had partially linked Ling's mind with the artifact so that he would be able to communicate with her through his mind.

“I kind of remember there was one…but I don't remember how far that was or when I saw that. ” Vanisha said while trying to remember it.

Ling gave a helpless sigh but suddenly his eyes darted downwards as he leapt in the air and did a backflip .

Rumble!

The ground where he was standing crumbled as a giant snake like beast came out of it. As Ling landed on his feet almost hundred meters away, he looked at the beast which had two horns and was about fifty meters in size. Its body was covered in hard scales and the monster's green needle like pupils was focused at Ling as it hissed.

“It looks like its a Blue Star realm beast. ” Vanisha told Ling.

Hearing that Ling got scared a bit at first as he had never fought with a beast of this higher level. Ever since he had started training, he only fought beasts whose power were near Sky Star realm.

Then the earth shook again as two more snake like beasts appeared but they didn't have scales on them and were smaller than the first beast.

“It looks like this beast is a king or something like that. The other two are Yellow Star realm beasts and strong ones at that.”

Ling was even more scared and panicked now.

‘Why god!Whyyyyy! I just became a Cultivator and now you wanna kill me! You son of a..’

But then he noticed that he felt no pressure from their auras at all. He was dumbfounded at first but then a sinister grin appeared on Ling's face as his eyes grew focused. He released his Void energy and instantly he dashed towards the armored beast's head and threw a punch with his full power. The beasts were startled by this. Even though Ling had a boulder in his back..his speed was still shocking enough that before the beast could even properly react, his fist struck its head.

Bang!!

The beast's head exploded into several pieces as blood splattered everywhere. Ling didn't wait much longer. The other two beasts were still in daze. He immediately rushed towards the beast that was on his left side. The beast swept its tail to attack Ling. But when the tail was only fifteen meters away from Ling's body, he leapt in air and did a forward roll to dodge the attack. Then he thrusted his palm at the beasts body.

Swoosh! 

The entire body of the beast cracked and burst apart as the head of the beast swiftly fell on the ground. Blood rained down and drenched the area in dark red color.

Seeing the scenes unfolding right before it, the other beast was scared and tried to run for its life but Ling didn't give it a chance. He immediately appeared right above the beasts head. Seeing that the beast hissed loudly as it spat venomous liquid. But Ling easily dodged that as Void energy was already consolidating on his right hand. Then he struck his hand like lighting.

Pah!!! 

The Void energy blasted the beasts entire body and made a cretor about the size of the beast on the ground. The beasts body was turned into minced meat in an instant.

When Ling landed again, he was stunned. He looked at his own bloodied hands with disbelief.

This was the first stage of Primary Void realm and he just defeated three beasts, one of Blue Star realm and two of Yellow Star realm…each with just one hit. And there was also a boulder of five hundred kilograms tied to his back. Although Vanisha had told him in the past that even though Void Cultivation was slow but the increase in power with each stage far outstrips any of the other Cultivations. She also told him that the power of a first stage Primary Void Realm cultivator could easily surpass a peak stage Yellow Star realm cultivator but at that time he thought that she was exaggerating. But today he finally knew that what Vanisha told him was not exaggerated at all…in fact it was a little understated.

“You were right! This power….really feels unreal!! ” Ling exclaimed with a unbelieving look on his face.

“Heh! I told you before!! ” Vanisha said with a proud face.

Ling turned back and moved towards the beasts' corpses. Though one of the corpse was nothing but a pile of meat and blood.

Seeing that Vanisha asked, “What are you doing? ”

“Well since I have already killed these…I might as well take their Blood Core. Blood cores are somewhat valuable in the market. ” Ling explained with a grin on his face.

After extracting the beasts' cores, although he only obtained two of them as one beast died without a corpse, Ling started walking again. But only after fifteen minutes, his heart suddenly started racing as his breathing grew irregular. Vanisha sensed this sudden change and asked worriedly, “What happened? ”

“I don't know….but I think…. there's something near …. that's calling me…. No… it something that belongs to me.” Ling said as he swiftly turned right and rushed forward in that direction.

Soon he came out of the woods to an comparably barren field. He looked around and suddenly his gaze fell on a giant gate. Behind the gate, there was a path which led to an underground passage. As Ling saw it, he started moving towards it but all of a sudden, Vanisha's voice rang out in his mind, “There are three cultivators approaching this place! Be careful! ” 

Listening to Vanisha, he instantly retreated and hid behind the trees. To hid his presence, he retreated all his aura and slowed his breathing as much as possible. Though he knew that he would be discovered if any cultivator swept their senses around their surroundings but still he didn't approach them directly. He decided to observe their movements first. Ling looked around him and after a few moments three people came out from the bushes right opposite to him.

“Hey we found it!! Prince Tianying and princess Meng come here!  ” a man who had a stern face and a brawny body shouted. Following behind him was a weak looking willow youth and a beautiful woman who looked to be around twenty.

Then they cleared out the path and a girl who was around eighteen came out. Her skin was exquisite like a flawless white jade. Her face was cute and there was a cute purple bow on her Vermilion colored Long hair. There was a hint of innocence and cuteness on her pretty black eyes but also she had a pride and majestic air around her. She wore a purple colored training robe. 

Behind her was a handsome guy who had short black hair and a well built body. The man had a sharp and clear gaze. He looked to be around twenty and he was wearing an golden imperial robes. And there was a prideful and domineering air around him.

They both came out and stood in front of the group.

“So…the rumors about the ruins are true.” the young man said while looking at the ancient gate in front of them.

“Three late stage Yellow Star realm and the two in the middle are early stage Blue Star realm. ” Vanisha said with an uninterested look.

“Looks like they are from those sects which serve the Imperial family. ” Ling muttered. When he said this, the names of Xiao Meiyan and Xiao Shun floated in his head.

The girl who called princess Meng started staring at the gate of the ancient ruin unblinkingly. She didn't care about her surroundings at all.

“Our Starlight Imperial sect will finally be able to rise above the other imperial sects. If we find something precious in this ruin…Our sect's power will drastically increase. ” the young man called prince Tianying exclaimed. Then he swept his gaze to observe his surroundings and suddenly knitted his eyebrows tight as he said in a heavy solemn voice, “Who's there? Show yourself!! ”

‘Crap!! They already find me! ’ Ling thought. He slowly came out from the bushes and stood in front of them. All the four people except princess Meng turned to look at him. Princess Meng was still looking at the ruin gate with a face filled with excitement.

Tianying looked at Ling for a few breaths as he was carrying a giant boulder on his back and his clothes were stained with fresh blood.

“Who are you? ” prince Tianying said.

“Greetings fellow practitioners! I am called Shin Ling and I am a traveller who was wandering around here. May I ask who are you?” Ling said politely.

“Shin?? ” Vanisha asked.

“ Well I don't have anymore connection with my sect or that man anymore! And also ‘Lieyan’ is a title bestowed to only our family by one of the previous emperors as our ancestors used to serve the Imperial family before so if I said that…it would make unnecessary trouble for me...‘Shin’ is my mother's family name and so I decided to use it from now on.” Ling explained to Vanisha in his mind.

“You don't know us!….oh right…you are a pathetic traveller.…we are from the Starlight Divine sect. And we are here for that ruin…it belongs to our sect now as we have found it ….so scram now!! This is not a place for a peasant like you ” The guy with the stern face said coldly. 

Ling didn't pay attention to him and said in a cold voice, “I don't know if ancient ruins can be bought and be called someone's property. But I am sure that you also found this by chance ......so at least this one here is not your own thing. Anyone can enter it. And as a matter of fact…I will definitely go in! Heh! If you don't want that ….then try and stop me! ”

“You are courting death!! ” as the brawny looking guy shouted, he was about to dash towards Ling but prince Tianying raised a hand and stopped him. 

He said in a proud voice, “You sure have guts! Despite being a mid stage Yellow Star Realm....you are provoking a peak Yellow Star realm cultivator. I like brave people like you. But I must say….it is not always wise to be so arrogant. ”

Then prince Tianying looked angrily at the brawny guy and said, “And brother Kuanguang... you shouldn't insult someone like that. Our sect is dignified and well known for its kind and fair behavior. This man is a traveller and it's just as he said….we don't have any right to stop him! If he wants to enter this place…. it's his choice. We shall not waste any time! Princess Meng is already eager to explore the ruin. It's her first time coming out of the sect. Let us depart. ” As Tianying finished speaking, he called princess Meng who was still indifferent to her surroundings and turned around to enter the ruin. The others also followed behind those two. Only before entering the gate, the girl glanced at Ling for once.

Ling stood silent for a while. He was thinking something. Then he said to Vanisha, “Why did he call me a mid stage Yellow Star Realm? ” 

Vanisha said languidly, “Well..you are a Void Cultivator and it's impossible for anyone to tell that unless you are a Void Cultivator yourself. So he must have gauged the level of the energy that you are absorbing from the surroundings. So that means the level of Void energy in your body is around mid stage Yellow Star realm. ”

“Wait.. but that doesn't make any sense. I just defeated one weak Blue Star realm beast and two strong Yellow Star Realm beasts. Then how is my power in the middle stages of Yellow Star Realm? ” Ling asked with a confused look.

“Well that's because Void energy is far more purer and denser than Heavenly energy! So even if it's only at the level of Yellow Star realm…your energy is far more thicker than a normal Cultivator's. ”

Ling finally understood as he nodded his head slowly. “I see.…Well then let's get going! ”

“Hey idiot! Before that don't you think you should leave that boulder outside? ” Vanisha said like she was talking to a fool.

“Huh? ” ,then Ling realized that he was carrying a boulder all these days. He had gotten so accustomed to it that he had forgotten its existence.

“Oh! You are right!  ”

As Ling said that, he put the boulder down and also entered the ruin.