Johnny did not hesitate before breaking into a sprint down the slope of the hill. He gave up on watching over the goats. Where they smart enough to escape just because he took a break? Probably not. And even if they did, he could always find them back. It was many times more important to go check out the unexpected things that dropped from the sky.

Throughout his youth, he heard many tales from his family and the neighbors. They told of immortal grandpas hidden inside rings, powerful cultivation techniques hidden in rocks and even weird talking voices within one's head that acted as guides... He had many expectations as he rushed over.

However, he was quite disappointed.

He saw quite the big crater but next to it, there was already someone. It was a man. He looked horrible and the stench was nothing to scoff at. Even the public latrines in the village weren't so smelly. He carefully approached and noticed how the man was nothing but bones under his tattered and unclean robe. He had a long unshaven brown beard going down to his stomach and his hair went down to his ass in a messy accumulation. However, as he looked at his face, he was forced to take a step back. Unconsciously, he had been scared. The eyes of that man, even though he didn't know why, made him feel threatened.

Still, he might only have this one opportunity in his life. He used all the courage he had to move next to the man and look down into the crater.

Grandpa from the ring, here came Johnny!

He was disappointed once more. Inside the crater, there were only two halves of a mysterious crystal. It did not look average but it did not seem to contain any grandpas.

As he was slightly disappointed, he heard the man next to him mutter: "Where the fuck did I end up?"

Without much thought, he answered the man as if the question had been addressed to him: "We're close to GreenMarch Village, Sir"

Then, he freaked out. He spoke without meaning to and unwillingly seemed to have attracted the attention of the man as he was now staring at him with a very scary grin on his face. As he saw the man turn around to face him, he finally noticed the other half of his body and it was so frightening to his young mortal self that he fainted out of fright...

...

After who knew how long, it finally happened. From within the marble, Jin saw how the surroundings changed. It was no longer a random mix of fluctuating colors but the wide horizon of a planet with land. Then, he witnessed as the marble he was in crashed within the forest and created a big hole within the earth. He was unharmed from within the protective seal. And now was finally the time to exit this thing.

He took out the sword and gourd and used them accordingly to break the seal, sacrificing some souls from the sword.

The marble split in half and he was ejected. At the very same time as he was in the midst of recovering his size, he hurriedly put the sword and gourd within his spatial ring.

He knew for a fact that such precious items had to have some peculiar protective charms or formations built-in. In fact, it would not be impossible for him to consider them like soul-bound weapons. Such weapons were given an imprint from the owner, much like the soul channel he had on his wrist in a way. It linked the object and the user and from it, the owner would always be able to pinpoint its location. He learnt about it back then from Hae-Hyuk as they talked about his spear. At the time, he rejected to have it bound. The reason was quite simple: if it was possible for the owner to locate the object, would it not be possible for the owner to be tracked thanks to the object? Hae-Hyuk told him that it could happen if the cultivator was strong enough. After learning of this, he refused to have it bound to him. He never completely trusted Hae-Hyuk after all. And it was a good decision not to.

Now, however, if those weapons had been bound, it was likely that using them or even just keeping them out would alert the owner. He could not let that happen. Keeping them within his spatial ring was the best option. It was impossible to locate them from there since it was an alternate space outside of this one. Even if he could locate them in the different space, what could he do about it? Nothing! He just hoped that his current position wasn't leaked in that short time frame.

He had to leave quickly in case he had been located by the owner. Whoever that guy was, he would not let him keep his things... But to know where to go, one had to know where one was.

As he thought so, he unconsciously muttered his own crude thoughts: "Where the fuck did I end up?"

And unexpectedly, a small voice next to him answered: "We're close to GreenMarch Village, Sir"

He turned around and grinned as he saw a human. It had been so long since he met one and the first that he met was not scared or rebuked by his appearance, what luck!

But right as he turned, the kid's face distorted and he fainted. That's when he realized that the kid hadn't seen his 'monster' side from his position before... He sighed. Still, that kid was a mortal and not going anywhere until he had his answers.

Now, to wake him up, he walked to him and gave him a gentle slap. It did not seem work. Since one slap was not enough, then two would.

It took five before the youth hurriedly spoke: "Please stop slapping me! I'm awake! I'm awake! I'm sorry!"

Jin nodded. This was a good start. At least, the kid did not die from fear.