Anthony couldn't believe his eyes at first and closed his eyes for a while to check if he was still trapped in the space-time capsule. However, he had never had the bad luck of experiencing such a thing. Except maybe when Priscilla sold him to evil cultivators. He waited for a while and opened his eyes. But to his greatest dismay, he was still at the same position he saw himself in when he first woke up.

A huge lump formed in his throat, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He looked around and realized that he was in a hut—the hut had a little window which was locked. There was also a door which seemed to be locked from outside. There were hays and straws all over the room, making it look like a woodshed. In fact, it was a woodshed with a door. There was firewood at a corner, tied with a twine, and dirty feeding troughs.

Anthony's skin crawled with disgust and he quickly tried to stand up. An invisible force pulled him down, and he fell flat on his face. A piece of straw scratched his face, and he sneezed to get the debris out of his nose. He looked at his hands and feet, noticing that he was bound with thick black chains of unknown material. He tried to summon a weapon from his storage space, only to realize that the storage ring on his finger was not responding. It looked like a mere article of decoration on his finger with its intricate designs.

"What's going on? Why isn't it responding to me?"

An idea suddenly occurred to him and he gasped out loud.

"It can't be that the criminal who captured me while I was unconscious realized that the ring's contents were precious and swapped them while I slept, could it?"

The thought was even more terrifying than the idea of being chained up. The fruits of his adventures in the perilous lands were all in the ring's storage space, including the loot from the old man in the cave, the spiritual essence he stored for his brother Kaiser, lavish gifts from Lan Xuanyu, the food, clothes, gold and other supplies Lan Xuanyu gave him to ensure he had a memorable time, some of the treasures he gathered on his own before he returned to the dragon clan, and other confidential documents. If the ring was truly gone, it would mean that he was stranded in a strange world without any means of survival. He doesn't even know the kind of place he currently was in, their language, the location, and the way out.

With a heart pounding in fear, he examined the ring once again and realized that it was indeed the same ring. His secret mark was still on it. But why was there no item in it? Someone emptying it out would be impossible because it was tied to his soul.

"It can't be empty. But why can't I summon anything out?" He whispered, and his stomach growled, as if to remind him of one small but very important matter.

"And I can't eat without access to the ring. What should I do?" He whispered, trying repeatedly. After a while, he realized the cause. There was currently no soul power in his body, the present him was equivalent to a mortal.

"No, impossible. I worked so hard. Why is there no soul power in my body? I'm already very close to the saint realm. Why is there none left at all? That's right, there's still the one being protected by Lan Xuanyu. His seal was especially powerful, and can't be undone. It even tightened itself in the space portal. It only gently releases energy whenever I need it, why is there no ounce of energy right now?" He whispered in desperation, as cold sweat covered every inch of his skin.

Him? Become a mortal? After tasting how sweet and exhilarating power could be. Impossible! The answer is impossible. There was no way he would agree to be a weakling after realizing how amazing power was.

He immediately tried to summon his energy multiple times. But each time, he was met with failure—utter failure.

"Um, maybe I used up all my stored energy in the portal, and while healing myself. Let me try feeling my cultivation pathways, meridians and core. I can also confirm my cultivation base. It should still be there even if the stored soul power is gone. It must still be there, right? Aish! Please let it be there." He whispered in desperation, nearly at the point of tears. The thing geniuses fear the most wss becoming useless. Yet it seemed as if he was about to become one of such unfortunate geniuses.

In a few minutes, the despair deepened and his eyes reddened.

"Lan Xuanyu, what should I do? I can't feel my cultivation. Didn't you say I was coming here to have a memorable time? What is this?" Anthony whispered, his heart aching terribly. Indeed, he was having a memorable time on his trip—just not quite the way he expected. This trip was one he will never forget. How could he forget such heart wrenching pain and humiliation so easily?

He caressed the soul sucking bell on his wrists, and then the jade. To his greatest relief, the things he got from Lan Xuanyu were still with him, but without soul power, they were all useless to him because they couldn't be activated.

"A'Xuan, what do I do?" He whispered, caressing the jade. He didn't even realize that he addressed Lan Xuanyu using an intimate term which was normally reserved for Hua Cheng. Unfortunately for him, he was nowhere close to the mirror formation. So there was no way for Lan Xuanyu to answer him, or help him, even if he wanted to.

"Lan Xuanyu, I know you're still waiting for me, same with Kaiser, I can't let the both of you down. I must find a way out of this place, enter the continent and seek my own fortunes. I must return victoriously no matter what happens." He whispered with determination and sat up.

However, his legs were chained, making him unable to sit cross legged. He sighed helplessly and managed to fold his legs backwards, in such a way that he was sitting on his heels.

He took a deep breath and tried to absorb some energy from the surroundings, and circulate it. Even if something happened to his previous cultivation base, with his talent, it shouldn't take him too long to recover it, especially with the knowledge he had gathered so far about cultivation and how his body works. Even if he lost all his cultivation, he was incredibly intelligent and remembered all the cultivation techniques, methods, skills and difficulties he had encountered in his journey, and all the pointers he had received from seniors during his adventures, including the ones he learnt himself. He only needed to gather enough energy to open the storage ring, so that he would regain access to it. Once the storage ring was open, the deep trove of cultivation treasures he gathered will have to be utilized by him. With his personalized cultivation detour of consuming things with energy, he won't have to do it the normal step by step way like other cultivators do. He only needed to consume energy, convert, cultivate, breakthrough, stabilize for a while and continue again. If he gets lucky enough to stumble onto something as amazing as the elixir pool again, he would have an express ride back to his initial realm. It would only cost him two years of multiplied efforts at most. Although it was quite a hassle, but without any other option, that was the only thing that could be done. His journey home would have to be delayed as he needed to find somewhere to lie low till he recovers a bit of soul power.

This was Anthony's thoughts as he tried to cultivate. But no matter how hard he tried, he still could not absorb a little bit of energy. There seemed to be a thin film blocking him from absorbing energy. In fact, he couldn't feel any resonation with the energy currents. There were no spiritual energy currents at all.

Anthony frowned deeply.

"Is it because I'm not from this world, and the laws are not familiar to me? That must be the case, let me try again with space law. There's space everywhere, there's just a little bit of difference."

He took a deep breath and continued his cultivation. But his brows furrowed deeply the next second. With a deep frown on his face, he tried to cultivate faster and even more furiously going all out. The chains on him glowed at that moment, causing him a backlash which made him vomit blood and groan. He looked at the chains with a frown on his face, wondering what just happened. Soon, realization dawned on him and he gasped in anger as he realized the reason he couldn't do anything despite all his efforts. The chains were sealing his soul power, spiritual power, and resonance, forcibly turning him into a mortal.

Anthony gritted his teeth and his eyes turned red in fury as he roared out.

"When have I, the great Anthony Meyers, ever suffered such a humiliation? Who dares to tie me up and chain me like a dog treating me so unfairly? Bastard. How dare you tamper with my abilities? Aaaaaaaaah!" He roared, his voice echoing all around the mountain top where the hut he was being held in was located.

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