Zhang Qing regained consciousness and wanted to open his eyes to see what was going on around him.
No matter how hard he tried, however, he could not open his eyes. "What is happening? Am I a vegetable?" Zhang Qing panicked. The more panicked he became, the more impossible it was to open his eyes, but then the willpower he had forged through years of life-and-death encounters as a mercenary kicked in, and he slowly calmed down.
Could he actually sense the outside world now? Yet he clearly had not opened his eyes! How bizarre. As Zhang Qing grew accustomed to the sensation, he felt that the surroundings were a boundless, chaotic void, empty in every direction.
As for himself, he had transformed into the shape of a sword. The sword body was pale blue and translucent, covered in mysterious patterns. These patterns flickered slowly, growing brighter and dimmer in turns, and thin gray wisps of gas from the surroundings were gradually drawn into the blade along with the pulsing of the mysterious patterns.
Zhang Qing was dumbfounded, his mind struggling to process it all. Although he had frequently encountered paranormal phenomena during special missions, nothing had ever been this absurd. Was he turning into a "sword-person" now? In his past life, "bastards" were the people he detested most.
*Well, since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it.* He moved his "body" with effort, wanting to see if there were any reference points in the distance so he could at least figure out his bearings.
As the blade moved, it slowly passed through clusters of gray gas, and these wisps were actually absorbed by the sword body bit by bit. With every tiny fraction absorbed, his speed increased by a notch.
Zhang Qing's anxious heart finally found some comfort. At least he had something to do in this silent space; otherwise, he would have gone mad sooner or later.
He had no idea how long he flew through this chaotic expanse, nor how many of those gray gas clusters he had absorbed. By now, the sword's speed was well over a hundred times faster than before.
In the blink of an eye, he could now shoot right through countless gas clusters. He just kept flying back and forth incessantly, stopping inside a gas cluster to rest whenever he grew tired, and resuming his flight once he had absorbed enough.
Until one day, a dark shadow suddenly flashed past him, moving far faster than he was. He vaguely sensed that the shadow had multiple tentacles, which gave Zhang Qing a start. He had finally encountered a "living creature"!
He had to catch up and take a look. If they could communicate, even better—he needed to figure out where this place was first. With that, Zhang Qing swiveled the sword body and gave chase in the direction of the dark shadow.
He pursued it for a long time without catching sight of the shadow again, and just when he thought he had lost it, a violent tremor suddenly came from ahead. Clusters of gray gas were blasted scattering in all directions, revealing two figures locked in a fierce brawl.
One of them was a beast-like creature engulfed in flames, with two heads and eight legs. Its physique was vastly larger than his own three-foot-long sword—by comparison, Zhang Qing realized that fellow stood a hundred zhang tall.
The other was pitch-black, resembling an octopus, except that where its head should have been, it grew a massive, shark-like mouth. It was none other than the dark shadow that had just zipped past him. Zhang Qing cautiously concealed himself inside a cluster of gray gas and watched the fierce battle ahead.
Waves of roaring echoed from the fray. Flashes of fire and lightning erupted from time to time. Before long, one of the heads of the flame-engulfed beast was accidentally bitten off by the black shark mouth, and a torrent of fire surged forth.
Had he not been so far away, Zhang Qing would have feared being dragged into it. Even from here, waves of intense heat rolled over him, and he could feel the scorching temperature, prompting him to maneuver his gas cluster further back.
In this strange and eerie environment, it was best to be careful to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Fortunately, the surrounding area was filled with violently churning gray gas clusters, so they probably wouldn't notice him.
The battle grew increasingly intense, and one of the shark-headed creature's tentacles was burned away by the fire. Screams rang out, and both combatants went wild, biting and slashing at each other with even greater ferocity. From afar, Zhang Qing could no longer tell who was who.
After an unknown length of time, the battlefield gradually grew quiet. Zhang Qing flew forward a little distance and discovered a ball of fire and a mass of churning black vapor drifting there. "Did they both perish together?" Zhang Qing muttered to himself.
What on earth were these things? Zhang Qing approached for a closer inspection, circling the two objects without finding anything unusual. Both emitted an aura similar to that of the gray gas clusters.
Seeing that neither object showed any reaction, Zhang Qing sneaked up craftily and poked the ball of flame with the tip of his sword. At first, the fire remained motionless, so Zhang Qing grew bolder and gave it a hard stab.
That stirred up a hornet's nest. The ball of fire burst apart upon being poked, splitting into countless tiny fireballs that rushed toward the sword body. Zhang Qing had not anticipated this turn of events and was instantly engulfed by the flames.
He immediately felt as though his sword body was about to melt. Charging this way and that, Zhang Qing failed to break out of the encirclement, and a surge of fierce determination rose within him. *Since I can't run, I'll just absorb you!*
Just like how he usually absorbed the gray gas, he struggled to make the mysterious patterns on the sword body flash rapidly, chanting silently in his mind: *Absorb, absorb, absorb!* To his surprise, this tactic actually worked. The flames wrapped around the sword body began to shrink, slowly being sucked into the blade bit by bit by Zhang Qing.
The moment the flames were completely absorbed, Zhang Qing felt countless thoughts flood into his consciousness, nearly blowing his mind apart. It took a good while before he managed to digest those lingering remnants of thought.
He also gradually came to understand his current location. This place was actually the primordial chaos before the creation of heaven and earth. The entire chaotic space was infinitely vast, and the ball of fire he had absorbed was born right here in the chaos, having wandered never once to the edge of this realm through countless ages.
The surrounding gray gas clusters were masses of the Qi of Chaos. "Wait, there's actually a method for absorbing the Qi of Chaos in these thoughts?" This came as a great joy to Zhang Qing, as relying solely on the passive flashing of his own mysterious patterns to absorb it was still a bit too slow.
Finding a cluster of chaotic gas, he tried absorbing it according to that method, and sure enough, the speed was vastly superior to his usual passive absorption.
Zhang Qing was overjoyed. Fortune truly favored the bold, and this was an unexpected windfall indeed. Yet when he thought back to the recent peril, a lingering trace of fear remained—if he hadn't been able to withstand that stuff just now, would he have been the one getting absorbed?
Gazing at the mass of black matter still floating nearby, Zhang Qing hesitated: "Should I take a bite and see what it tastes like?" But looking at that pitch-black, slowly churning mass, it was obviously not anything benevolent.
His little life was more important. Since he was already in the chaos, there must be quite a few of those Chaos Demon Gods from the novels of his past life. If he accidentally bumped into someone formidable, he would be done for.
He would wait until he grew stronger before doing anything else; he shouldn't be reckless for now. Anyway, his speed at absorbing the Qi of Chaos was much faster now. Taking risks wasn't worth it, so Zhang Qing prudently turned the sword around.
With a whoosh, he flew off without a trace, his speed noticeably faster than before. Just as Zhang Qing departed, the dark shadow stopped churning and shot away at high speed in the opposite direction.
This wave was a guaranteed profit. Having no idea how long he flew, he finally stopped inside a super-large cluster of chaotic gas. As he absorbed the endless stream of Qi of Chaos, he thought of the novels, TV shows, and movies he had watched in his past life. Those immortals flying around in the Conferment of Gods—if he could eventually take human form, he shouldn't be any worse off than them, right?
Right, he might even get to meet Pangu! But in this infinitely vast chaotic space, who knew where that deity was currently hiding out to cultivate? Strengthening himself was what mattered most.