Translation:

Ninghai, an 18-year-old top-performing senior at Ling city high school.

He is tall and handsome, with outstanding academic performance - consistently ranking within the top three of his grade.

Being the campus heartthrob, he receives letters of admiration from female students on a daily basis.

Ou Xinya, also shows interest in him, however, nervous about getting on the wrong side of her father, Ou Yuepeng, Ninghai always avoids her.

Yet yesterday, she seized the opportunity to get him drunk and even moved him to a hotel... Quite ruthless indeed!

Half an hour later, Ninghai arrived home.

His father, Ning Xudong, is a small-medium enterprise's boss, with a family wealth of around 20 million.

His mother, Sun Qinying, works for a charity organization.

They have a car and a house, live in a small villa and has enough pocket money. He could be considered a minor rich second-generation.

However, Ninghai's parents are frequently not at home.

Recently, his father's company is preparing for financing expansion, and hasn't been home for two days.

His mother went to the countryside for inspection.

Ninghai changed his clothes, took some tea leaves from his father's study to make a cup, and comfortably lay on the chair to ponder about the future.

He feels his awakening in this life is later than always, unsure of what uncertainties will come.

He is already eighteen, with only four years left to twenty-two.

Four years, will he ascend to immortality or will he cease to exist?

Ning Hai was lost in contemplation.

Even with the knowledge and preparation from his previous life, the ordeal of ascending to immortality was still extraordinarily difficult.

But he had no other choice, he could only give it his all.

Time was of the essence, he couldn't afford to waste a single minute.

Ning Hai sipped his strong tea, squinted his eyes and thought inwardly, "I need to put my cultivation plan into action immediately."

Ling City was a regular prefecture-level city in Lingbei Province.

In his previous life, Ning Hai had hidden a cultivation treasure trove in Lingbei.

He had set up a myriad of defensive formations, but sixty-eight years had passed, who knows whether it still existed?

Regardless, he had to go and see.

He pulled out his phone, the navigation showed that it was more than 300 kilometers away from his current location.

Luckily, he didn't have any classes for the next couple of days, he could go and collect some cultivation resources.

Ning Hai had always been decisive and swift.

Having made his decision, he packed a few essentials, picked up his bag and headed out the door.

A few hours later, Ning Hai finally arrived at his destination.

After getting off the car, he took out his money to pay the driver, his eyes were drawn to a mountain peak in the distance, causing a slight upward curl at the corners of his mouth.

"Sixty-eight years now, this place remains unchanged."

The mountain appeared close, but it was a different story when he started walking.

Ninghai moved swiftly, however, it took him half an hour just to reach the foot of the mountain.

Without a word, he sprinted up the mountain.

When he finally reached the top of the mountain, Ninghai stood on the edge of the cliff, taking in a long breath.

He could feel that the array he laid out years ago was still intact, suggesting that the treasure vault was safe.

He took a moment to regain his stamina, adjusting himself to his optimal state.

Then, his hands began to move rapidly, casting a chain of complicated spells.

With the execution of the spells, the air in front of the cliff suddenly distorted, and a black hole appeared out of nowhere.

Without a second word, Ninghai took a running leap and jumped right into it.

In the blink of an eye, he found himself in a cave.

The cave was dry and comfortable. The walls were embedded with glow rocks that emitted a gentle light, keeping the interior of the cave well-lit.

The cave wasn't big, just around a hundred square meters.

Apart from a stone bed, there was only a stone table, with three boxes of different sizes placed on it.

Ning Hai carefully crept towards the stone table, stopping a meter away.

He skillfully cast a spell, and the surrounding space momentarily twisted, then resumed to its normal state, accompanied by a soft 'pop' sound.

His eyes lit up as he observed the three boxes on the table.

Ning Hai reached out to pick up one, and upon opening, found an ancient-looking ring lying inside.

Satisfied, he took out his fruit knife he carried with him, lightly made a cut on his finger, and squeezed out a drop of blood, dropping it on the ring.

The blood was quickly absorbed by the ring.

In an instant, Ning Hai felt a connection formed between him and the ring.

Soon, he opened the other two boxes.

One contained a strange short sword, sharp at both ends and without a handle.

This sword that could fly is used by those who cultivate immortality, named the Cold Moon Sword, a top-tier magic weapon.

In the other box was a small bronze bell, named the Soul Seizing Bell, specifically used to harm the spirit, and it was quite formidable stuff.

Ning Hai repeated his previous action, dropping a drop of blood on both the Cold Moon Sword and the Soul Seizing Bell.

Quickly, he felt that he had established a connection with these two magic weapons as well.

Ning Hai put the ring on his finger and put away the Cold Moon Sword and Soul Seizing Bell.

With a thought, a jade bottle that was exuding a soft glow jumped out of his storage ring.

This ring is no ordinary goods; it's a storage ring renowned in the immortal cultivation world.

Although it's merely a low-grade magical tool, it's enough for him to store treasures.

The Cold Moon Sword and the Soul Snatch Bell, being top-notch magical tools, are too large to fit.

The jade bottle contains Qi Gathering Pills, which to a cultivation novice is literally a treasure of treasures.

The cultivation method Ning Hai practices, "Heavenly Essence Scripture," is specifically a cultivation technique; these pills can be said to be tailor-made for him.

With two or three moves, he opened the restrictions on the bottle, pouring out an emerald pill that exuded an appealing fragrance.

Once swallowed, the pill dissolved immediately.

A warmth swept his entire body instantly, leaving Ning Hai feeling radiantly warm and extremely comfortable.

He dared not to slack, seated himself cross-legged on the stone bed, and began to operate his cultivation method.

An hour later, Ning Hai shivered slightly, a soft "crack" noise echoed from within his body.

The corners of his mouth curved upwards subtly, revealing a smirk of triumph.

"I've finally broken through to the Qi refinement second layer!"

However, from the journey from Ling City to here, plus an hour of cultivation, nearly six hours had passed.

By now, his stomach had been grumbling for a while.

He took another pill from the storage ring and swallowed it; hunger vanished instantly.

Ning Hai consumed the Fasting Pill, no need to eat or drink for three days.

Having dealt with the issue of hunger, he took a Qi Gathering Pill and began his cultivation.

Time flew by, in a blink of an eye, Ning Hai had spent more than thirty hours cultivating diligently in the cave.

His cultivation power had soared to reach the peak of Qi Refining Level 3, just a step away from advancing to the 4th level.

However, his meridians had already reached their limit, continuing to cultivate might cause an injury.

He stood up and walked to a corner within the cave.

Activating the short-distance teleportation matrix, he vanished from inside the cave, just like that.

When he reappeared, Ning Hai was in a secluded area at the foot of the mountain. He quickly cast the Wind-riding spell and rushed towards the highway.

By the time he returned to Ling City, it was already deep into the night.

Fortunately, his parents were not back, or they would inevitably interrogate him.

Early the next day, as usual, Ning Hai arrived at Ling City's Number One High School.

The moment he walked into Class 1 of Senior Year 3, he sensed that his classmates' gazes were unusual.

There were looks of shock, astonishment, envy, and also schadenfreude.

With a slightly furrowed brow, Ning Hai quietly walked to his seat.

"Ning Hai, you're awesome!"

Barely had he settled into his chair, his desk-mate threw him a thumbs up, a mischievous grin plastered across his face.