Every time I wake up from hibernation the world has changed in such a drastic fashion that I almost can't recognize it anymore. -- Unnamed Arch Lich

I slowly regain consciousness. After a few minutes the haziness begins to recede and I can make out my surroundings. Apparently I am buried alive very deep underground as there is rock all around me. If I had a clear mind I would be panicking right now, but in my state I just calmly begin to scan my surroundings with my Soul Force.

Suddenly I know everything there is to know about the environment in a 20-meter radius around my head. It seems I have at least a bit of luck because a few centimeters to the left I can feel part of a cave. Or it is just another pocket of air underground, but I don't want to think about that possibility yet.

The first thing I now have to do is make my way through wall of solid rock, as I recall that mortals need to breathe and it would be very inconvenient to suffocate in a cave after surviving the end of the world. Luckily my body is not that of a normal mortal's and so I won't have any problems for a short while and can focus on accessing what is left of my power and which type of energy is available in this new environment.

I close my eyes and use my Soul Force to examine what amount of Divine Force is still remaining beside it. What I find is absolutely nothing. My reserves are completely dry. My first guess would be, that it dissipated due to its incompatibility with the new world order. That is a problem. The only good news is that my Soul Force somehow doubled. Soul Force Training is very slow and arduous, so having a head start in that area is definitely something I’m very happy with.

After a bit of additional searching I find out what happened. My Divine Force and some kind of energy with relation to death have seeped into my body and transformed it to better accommodate the Laws of Creation and Death. I am really fortunate that both of those Laws are very broad, as I will have much difficulty gaining insight into any other Law unless I can incorporate them into my body like the other two.

Next I try to gather any kind of energy that might be nearby. For normal mortals this would be a time consuming and difficult step, but since my body is made for holding some kind of higher energy I can quickly attract a milky white energy.

It seems that wherever I currently am Qi has survived as the primary energy source. I feel the happiness growing inside me since I finally found something I knew from before. The happiness subsides as fast as it came and I wrinkle my brows. Something seems to suppress my emotions, but my displeasure upon noticing it vanishes just as fast as my happiness.

I decide to let it slide for the time being since it does not negatively affect me and I have to focus on more important things right now. Like ensuring my survival. I can already feel the air thinning.

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I slowly begin to gather Qi by generating a suction force in my energy channels. After the channels are filled I manipulate the suction force in such a way that the Qi begins circulating through them like blood. After every circulation a bit of Qi is gathering in a special space inside my brain. The lost Qi is then automatically restored through further absorption from the outside.

After about an hour something in my mind snaps into place and informs me that I have just reached the Early Qi Gathering Realm. I quickly begin to direct my Qi into one arm and once enough has gathered in my muscles and skin I begin to repeatedly punch the wall until it breaks down. Once I have my freedom back I take a deep breath and make sure that I am not in immediate danger.

The cave I ended up in is empty though and I can also not find any signs of recent or regular use. It’s just a dead end in some cave system. The only abnormalities are some crystals that are glowing softly in a milky white light. It seems that Qi is at least dense enough here that it can form some accumulations, but due to the distinct lack of plants here it had no other choice but to gather in this crystal form.

I walk up to one such crystal and try to absorb the Qi inside. At first I feel a strong resistance from the Qi since I don’t absorb it from the surrounding air and normal rocks where it was just loosely accumulating. The Qi inside the crystal is richer, purer and more stable then that found on the outside, but the stability also means that one has to put in more effort to get it.

On the plus side though, my body will accumulate less impurities compared to normal Qi absorption which will make breaking through bottlenecks in the future much easier. Another positive aspect is the richness of the Qi. One such crystal will last me quite a while and I can also absorb the Qi inside faster since it is denser then the one outside.

I begin to harvest every crystal I can find and put them into my Spatial Pouch that has luckily survived along my clothes. The last thing I need right now is to run around nude and with no way to store the natural treasures. Normally no Early Qi Gathering Cultivator would be able to get his hands on these valuable crystals, as those who want to break through into the Foundation Realm would monopolize them.

I am very clear about the fact that there has to be a reason that no one has found such a treasure trove yet and so I cautiously make my way forward with a crystal as a lamp. After a few meters the cave is curving left and after I glimpse around the corner I can see the reason why I got such a haul. I am greeted by yet another solid wall.

I walk up to it and inspect it with my Soul force. I can indeed find a hole that also leads outside. The only problem is that the exit of the hole is located somewhere on a cliff since I can feel neither a ceiling or ledge nor a floor so both of them are located at least 10 meters above or below the hole.

Due to a lack of better options I sit down and begin cultivating. With every small gap in cultivation I cross my chances to survive whatever I find out there will rise dramatically. Additionally I found a very good cultivation resource and I have rations that were preserved inside my Spatial Pouch for situations like these. With the crystals at hand I am confident in reaching at least the late Qi Condensation Realm where I will get access to quite a few useful abilities so that should be my goal for now.