Ning Shan's surroundings were disconcerting, to say the least. When speaking of the Shaft, he had imagined a mystical world located in sub-dimension where danger and opportunity commingled, creating the perfect environment for Ning Shan to hone his craft and rise again before tackling this new world he found himself in.

  Instead, he stood within a damp, dark cavern covered in stalactites, with only the sound of falling water accompanying his thoughts. No other signs of life surrounded him, and even the ever-present red dust seemed much too lacklustre. This was a barren world but also much too narrow.

  From the echoes of water droplets, Ning Shan estimated the dimensions of this cave of stone, only to be surprised by its size. He couldn’t help but thank the heavens he wasn’t claustrophobic, or he might have collapsed immediately upon arriving.

  The cavern was barely tall enough for him to stand, his head brushing against the inverted stone pillars. By extending his hands, he could even reach both sides of the tunnel. With his eyes closed, Ning Shan used his ears and sense of touch to guide himself, using the wall to show him the only path. The tunnel opened slightly, revealing a place he could only liken to a garden of stone.

  Ning Shan observed this open space using his enhanced sight, but since the red dust was lacking, what he saw was vague and blurred. His only choice was to create some light. Using the red dust as a catalyst, Ning Shan severed a piece of the black lightning out of his core, making it swim through his flesh until it appeared wrapped around his hand.

  The lightning only offered a dull glow, yet in this pitch-black darkness, this was enough to illuminate this cavern, reaching to the wall. However, when he gazed into the middle of this garden, his eyes couldn't help but narrow.

  A long rod propped upright stood in the centre, as if on a pedestal, one end deep into the stone. The rod alone was as tall as Ning Shan, not to mention whatever length was hidden in the rock. As he was too far away, he couldn't make out the designs engraved on its surface, though he could see them due to the shifting of the light.

  With apprehension but also curiosity, Ning Shan chose to approach the pedestal, his senses on high alert for any movement. Yet the garden was as peaceful as could be. There wasn't the slightest trace of a breeze, with the only disturbance being Ning Shan himself and the constantly falling water droplets.

  Now, before the rod, Ning Shan could finally see it in all its splendour. Its surface seemed hard—much harder than the surrounding stone. Yet, the designs carved on its surface were intricate and expertly carved, almost as if the material itself shifted to accommodate them.

  As he looked closer, shining the black light onto them, Ning Shan couldn't help but be stunned, for he knew the symbols. In fact, he was familiar with them, for this was a language of his previous world—an obscure one, but nevertheless one he recognized. Still, his knowledge was rudimentary, yet enough.

  How... he thought. Since the Heavenly Dao could transfer me here, I expected the two worlds to be connected, yet I didn't expect to find a link to my previous world so soon. Maybe they are closer than I expected. With any luck, this sub-dimension may be a bridge between the two.

  Pushing aside his wandering thoughts, Ning Shan chose to gamble. Throwing caution to the wind, he grasped the circular shaft in his hand, gripping firmly as he readied himself, waiting for something to happen, yet nothing did. In fact, he couldn’t help but smile deprecatingly; his only solace was that no one was there to see this embarrassing sight.

  “Maybe I thought too much,” he chuckled, the soft words breaking the silence as they bounced off the rock walls.

  Interestingly enough, the words that came out of his mouth weren't the same ones he had used since coming to this world but were from an ancient dead tongue no one had spoken for eons. Every trace of its pronunciation had been swept away by the sands of time; only written accounts remained.

  The words came unconsciously, spilling out of his mouth like water from a dam, and only when they were finally free did Ning Shan realize what he had done.

  However, before he could find the reason for such a thing, the design on the rod in his hand began to glow, filling the small underground rock garden with light. Eroded by untold eons, the surrounding rocks had been polished to a mirror sheen. While Ning Shan's black light wasn't strong enough to bounce off of it, the glow from the rod certainly did.

  It blinded him, searing his skin as if he stood within the focus point of a glass parabola. He tried to retract his hand, even using his jacket and sleeve as a shield, yet nothing worked. His palm remained firmly attached to the long pole.

  While the pain was intense, Ning Shan could still bear it thanks to what he had endured when arriving in this world. Still, it mounted with every moment, and his instinct screamed at him to let go, yet his body refused to obey. He could only keep holding onto the rod, suffering this pain. While only briefly, the thought of severing this limb—if only to get away—flashed in his mind.

  However, he chose to grit his teeth. He wasn’t one to buckle under mere pain. This simply wasn’t in his nature, yet the pain began to take its toll on him. No matter how tough he was, his mind could only take so much torture. How he wished he still had use of his qi, if only to numb his nerves.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Activating Imprinting Protocol...

  Just as he felt his mind swim in and out of consciousness, a familiar window of light appeared before his eyes, jolting him awake. He became lucid, his mind thinking clearly. It even felt as if his mind had been separated from the flesh, feeling the pain as something merely external to himself.

  Imprinting...!

  His eyes opened wide as he gazed upon the pulsing cryptic characters, their light rushing through Ning Shan's flesh as if his skin were transparent. They sought to burrow themselves into his core, flooding his system like a giant tsunami crashing on the shore.

  He felt his body reel back despite the illusory impact, mere weightless light bouncing around his body and hitting his optical nerve, blinding him. He felt a pang of vertigo but also felt as if his mind floated above his body, being a mere observer of the process.

  Commencing Data Transfer...

  The characters began to move, rising from the thick rod as they glided above the surface, climbing onto his arm and burrowing into his skin until nothing remained but a perfectly round cylindrical rod.

  The characters began floating within his flesh, burrowing ever deeper, the pain intensifying with every moment, yet his mind had already grown numb to it. In fact, he only watched the process happen, unable to interfere with it, but also unable to move.

  As they reached the core of his cultivation, the characters came into contact with the black lightning protecting the boundary. A large battle ensued, the two forces struggling against each other as if two armies waging war.

  They pushed and pulled, the boundary contracting and expanding as they struggled. Unable to bear it anymore, Ning Shan finally fell to his knees, his mind on the verge of breaking, yet the two forces grew stronger. Furthermore, this was in no way a two-way battle.

  Deep inside the black lightning cage, the red planet grew restless, its gravity on the verge of collapsing. As the lightning used more and more energy to repel the invading force, it offered an opportunity for the red planet to strike back against its captor, destabilizing Ning Shan’s core even more.

  The red planet exploded into a nebula of red dust along with its rings, filling his entire inner universe with its presence. However, it was stopped at the boundary, unable to go any further as the black lightning stood at the edge, ever vigilant in its duty.

  However, it was now pressed on both fronts, the only boundary between two merciless opponents. It raged as if a cornered prey, yet its resistance seemed futile. After all, even a single foe was already its match, forming an equilibrium. But now, it had to contend against two at the same time. Keeping one in while keeping the other out.

  Ning Shan's body also stood in the middle, bearing the brunt of the conflict. His skin ruptured like countless fissures in a dam, spilling its contents over uneven rock ground and tinting it dark red.

  His blood left him at an alarming rate, yet he was powerless to resist. In fact, it took all he had to keep breathing, a conscious effort as almost all other processes had been halted, if only to provide most of his body's energy toward resisting this three-way conflict.

  However, something surprising happened. As if knowing its impending demise, the black lightning relented, opening a breach in its defence, allowing the other two forces to come in contact for the first time.

  This meeting was like an explosion as the two ferocious forces collided, their intentions opposite: one to enter and the other to leave. It became a deadlock as the two rammed into each other, pulling all their forces toward the same point, finally allowing the black lightning boundary a slight reprieve.

  While the pain and damage to his body remained, Ning Shan could finally take a deep breath and observe much more closely. Still, more than the two fierce forces, what was truly bewildering was the black lightning. It acted much differently than the two. They seemed as if two predators fighting over territory, while the lightning acted as if with purpose, with intellect.

  As the obscure characters and the red dust nebula battled, using their full might against each other, even ignoring the black lightning, the lightning slowly surrounded them as if trying not to spook them, only to spring the trap soon after.

  Both were now back in the cage, their strength mutually sapping each other, unable to contend against the lightning imprisoning them. Somehow, within the chaos now reigning in his core, Ning Shan felt as if he saw a sneer coming from the black lightning, yet attributed it only to delirium. After all, he was on the verge of collapse, his nerves raw and tired, even as the pain began to recede, the conflict now contained within. The storm wasn't over, yet the worst had passed.

  Ning Shan finally collapsed, his face falling into a puddle. He felt its cool touch on his cheek, and the assurance of victory rose in his heart. He had gambled and won, yet by any other metrics, this would have been seen as foolish. He knew, more than anyone else, how perilous his actions were, yet he hadn't risen to his previous height by playing it safe.

  He had survived his fair share of cataclysmic events and had always emerged victorious. This was merely another one for the list. Still, he held no illusion that his luck would last forever. Sooner or later, he would face something he couldn't overcome, but he would rather take the plunge, seeking to pry victory out of the jaws of defeat, instead of capitulating to an unknown future.

  After a moment of rest, Ning Shan finally rose to his feet, only to find that his hand still held the dark rod, never once leaving his grasp, almost as if—if only unconsciously—he had been too afraid to let go.

  In a moment of frustration from what he had to endure, Ning Shan tugged on the rod, if only break it in two and have this inanimate object feel his pain. Yet, rather than the rod breaking, it was the ground that let go, with barely an effort from Ning Shan.

  What emerged from the rock seemed like a large arrowhead: a black one, adsorbing any light as if a dark abyss or a black hole sucking everything into its core. With a swipe of his hand, the blade cut through space, but also a stalagmite that stood in its path as if it wasn't even there, leaving not even a trace on its surface. It was only when Ning Shan took a step to observe it more closely that the two pieces of rock finally slid apart, revealing a mirror-sheen cut between them.

  What a sharp spear!

  Rise of a Planeswalker, as well as 25 chapters of my new series Advent of Sorcery.

  https://www.patreon.com/ZarthosNovels