Prologue: Setting Sail in Another World
As Zhang Qingxuan's fingertips traced the last crack in the Book of Shangqing Dao, rain poured outside the window.
Only a little over thirty pages of the family heirloom remained legible. His mentor was certain it was a Ming Dynasty forgery, yet those vermilion patterns always glimmered in his mind whenever he woke from midnight dreams.
"CRASH!"
The instant thunder and lightning struck together, the pattern of the "Heaven and Earth Displacement Talisman" on the page sprang to life. The pages fluttered with no wind, and a vortex of azure energy swallowed him. His final clear sensation was the ancient book in his arms dissolving into a warm current that flowed into his chest.
[Special energy carrier detected... Resetting spacetime coordinates... Adapting to the laws of the new world...]
Salty seawater flooded his nose and mouth, the sting so real it sent a wave of panic through him.
