Traveling through a spiritual matrix was not a very pleasant thing. Li Jiong felt as if his body was being stretched to the point of breaking, and then there was the sensation of freefall. All around him was darkness and he thought it must be the same thing as plunging from Howl Peak into the depths of the canyon.

But it's feeling so fast it came, so fast it's gone. He felt that he had landed on the ground, but as if on a soft landing, somewhere that smelled like dust. His nostrils flared, as if the air around him was too dry. His whole body was without strength, the trip through the matrix had drained a lot of his qi.

Slowly he sat up where he was and looked around. The place where he had ended up was in a light penumbra and his eyes little by little began to get used to the landscape around him. Meng Fei's matrix design was still emitting a faint, visible glow on the ground. There were mounds of sand and a few raised walls made of a rough grayish material.

It was nothing like the stone and wood he was familiar with. Even the roof was still unfinished, with spare iron spikes and from the opening in it, it was possible to see that this structure seemed to rise in other floors far above his head. Even so, it was possible to have a brief glimpse of the sky, whose colors were with a slight orange tone, separating the pitch blue of the night.

Li Jiong concluded that he was in some kind of ongoing construction, as there were signs of the presence of people working there. Maybe it was a pagoda? However, there were other strange objects, machines he had never seen before. Where had Meng Fei sent him anyway???

A slight rumble came from behind one of the walls, along with the sound of laughter and greetings. Some words were a little incomprehensible but most were familiar.

"Well, enough talking! Let's get this over with."

Before Li Jiong could find a place to hide, a group of men entered through one of the rectangular openings in one of the walls. Both sides faced each other. The men were shocked to see the strange individual with long hair, dressed in a long-sleeved tunic, armed with a sword strapped to his waist and sprawled over a glittering scribble on the construction site floor.

And the cultivator was stunned to see that group wearing strange clothes, tight-fitting and without any kind of protection other than weird yellow hats on their heads and heavy black boots.

"Oh!" One of them stepped forward. "What are you doing here? This area is off-limits to civilians!"

"And what is this? Is this some kind of vandalism? Graffiti?" Another chuckled.

Li Jiong analyzed the stranger, he didn't sense the presence of a spiritual core, therefore he was an ordinary person.

The group also seemed displeased by his presence there. But he needed to find a way back to the canyon! And the matrix was disappearing, even if slowly, he had no way to make a copy of the circle pattern.

"Boss! Boss! We have a problem here in ward 3! You better come soon!" One of the employees shouted at someone in the hall, and then laughed. "Dude, he's going to be mad!" The men moved away and another man entered the space, walking with long, steady strides.

Li Jiong:".........." It can't be...

"Very well! What kind of problem happens at seven o'clock in the morning when everyone is coming in to work the first shift, huh?" The man questioned, clasping his hands in prayer in front of his chest and smiling cynically. He was wearing formal clothes, but he had already rolled up his shirt sleeves and put on his yellow helmet.

"And then..." He saw the cultivator on the ground and the array on the ground. The color in his face disappeared. "WHAT THE SHIT! What's that scribble over there on the floor! Is that fluorescent paint?? Huo Bai take a picture of it right now!" He exploded with irritation.

"And you boy, do you know that trespassing and property damage is a crime?" he pointed his finger right in front of Li Jiong.

"MENG FEI! YOU BASTARD!"

Meng Fei: "........"

"Hey boss, do you know this person?" one of the men asked.

A buzz formed full of whispers. "Is it something the boss is doing?", "But doesn't he already have a firm commitment?", "No, that guy kicked his ass already..."

"SHUT UP! I've never seen this man in my life!" Meng Fei snapped in exasperation. Li Jiong ignored the voices and presence of those people and with his sword in hand he attacked. Since his spirit energy still hadn't returned, the most he could do was fight like a normal person. The man in front of him looked away from his puzzled gaze and quickly walked away.

That Meng Fei was very weird! He wasn't wearing his usual black clothes, his eyes weren't even the right color and... did he cut his hair? Besides, did he really dodge that fast? The Meng Fei he knew had the slowest movements due to his lack of martial skill so he was well versed in traps and the lethality of his blows. One of the features of the whip he used, Jiegang [1], were those sparks that always hit the target from behind and from the sides, no matter which protective barrier was used.

Li Jiong brandished his sword again, chasing him in the small space. This time with the intention of hitting him from above he raised his sword but received a strong blow in the floating rib. Meng Fei had hit him with the side of his hand and even completed it with a violent punch to the nose. Li Jiong fell back, more shocked than it could have been.

"Uuuhhh!" The men exclaimed excitedly, their boss was no joke. Someone yelled in the background "Boss! Forget that raise I asked you for!" There was a burst of laughter.

"Damn it, Huo Bai, take that cosplayer knife away! That bastard is drunk or on drugs and will end up killing someone!" Apparently I!

"And you guys get out of here before someone gets really hurt."

The group immediately dispersed, a little disappointed that they couldn't see the outcome of the scandal, although Meng Fei was actually more worried that the knocked out guy was a dangerous lunatic and hurt someone on the team.

He turned to the stranger and kneeling beside him, lifted his face and watched closely for signs that he had used drugs or alcohol.

"Hey you! You don't look drugged or drunk! What are you doing here being so crazy? And how do you know me?"

Li Jiong spat out blood and laughed softly filled with rage. "Why don't you just kill me?"

Meng Fei: "..... Whaaaat? You think I'm some kind of mobster?? The worst I'm going to do is call the police if you don't explain exactly what you're doing here at the construction site!" Meng Fei shook his head irritably and stood up. He stared at the matrix whose glow was now just a wisp of light.

"Seriously! You came here dressed up like that and tried to summon some demon, was that it?"

Li Jiong's eyes flashed with anger.

"How dare you say that! I would never work with demons like you!" He also got up and slammed into Meng Fei, grabbing her wrists from behind. With the tranquility he had conquered for moments like this, Meng Fei kicked his heel and pushed him with the upper part of his torso, unbalancing his rival. Then he spun around and knocked him to the ground.

"It's not possible! You can't be the original Meng Fei!"

"Ah, now you've said something plausible!! Maybe I'm not the Meng Fei you know!" The man pinned him to the ground. This guy really wants to kill me.

Li Jiong came to the conclusion that at the moment he urgently needed to escape. This Meng Fei might be more skilled in martial arts however he was still the strongest. He turned his body hard to the side, landing on top of the other's body.

The man moaned softly under his weight and Li Jiong used the momentum to get up and run away.

"Wait! Not that way!" Meng Fei regained his senses and shouted at the fugitive, trying to warn him about something.

Li Jiong did not listen to him. What was this place? Who was this?

The cultivator dashed across the construction site, crossing it in a few steps. Because he soon hit an improvised wooden wall and fell over a ravine, rolling to the beginning of a paved road.

Li Jiong felt his head spin and he staggered across the busy thoroughfare. Then he found himself among several metal vehicles. Some ignored him, brushing past him at high speed, while others honked and swore at him before continuing on their way as if nothing had happened. He didn't know if it was his impaired reflexes from the fall or he was seeing too many carriages. Then before he was run over, someone grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him off the road.

"Shit! SHIT! SHIT! You're crazy! Definitely crazy!"

Li Jiong gaped at him. Meng Fei just saved my life?!

[1]Jiegang (颉纲): name of Meng Fei's whip, it means flying upwards with a heavy rope.

First, Li Jiong is teleported to a strange world, second, he rolled down a ravine. How much disgrace for one person! 😅🤣🤣🤣