Chapter 2138: Rebirth Through Possession
Qing Yu and the little fox stood dumbly on the spot, at a loss for what to do. Lu Yun and Motong had both fallen into the deep passage and it closed the second they entered.
In the crucial split second he had, Lu Yun sent all of his strength into his dao partners. They now grasped all of the great daos he’d ever cultivated, including the method to control the nothing.
“He’s not dead, he must be alive!” Qing Yu rasped out in a voice so charged with emotion it was like she was crying.
“Mmhmm!” The little fox shook as she spread out her hands. A black book appeared in them.
The Tome of Life and Death.
……
Incredible pain coursed through every inch of Lu Yun’s flesh and bone. It was like his body was disassembling. It was fading away and his will slowly deteriorating.
He’d sent away the Tome of Life and Death at the last possible second, gifting everything he owned to the little fox and Qing Yu through the ties of karma.
Finally…
Boom!
When his body fully faded away, so did his consciousness turn hazy. In this moment, he seemed to see another body that’d also just died. His struggling soul barrelled into it.
Whoosh!
A tiny memory part suffused his soul, occupying everything that was him.
“Yushi Moli… Is that your name?” Lu Yun exhaled gently. He was reborn through taking possession of another.
In these unknown straits, he latched onto a newly dead young man for the sake of his own survival. Unexpectedly, a sword shadow that towered to the sky floated out of the boy’s mind and stabbed into the memories of Lu Yun’s soul.
Lu Yun trembled and found that his memories were being sealed off by the sword! The shrewd look in the boy’s eyes immediately cleared up to utter purity.
Everything of the past began to drift away from him.
“This is just as well… Only with losing the past can I grow anew and fight my way back to the nothing. Only then will I… not miss everyone. Little Yu, little fox, wait for me.”
……
The unending Origin Continent.
The Qiulan Empire.
The northern expanse of the Nebula Prefecture to the north, Aurora City.
The backyard of the city lord’s residence.
A young man roughly thirteen years old gripped a qingfeng sword, raining sweat through the air as he stabbed forward again and again. White robes clad his tall and slender frame, red lips and white teeth were set in a handsome face. Determination suffused his black eyes.
The sword in his head moved steadily, swiftly piercing the air in front of him again and again.
“Nine hundred sixty-seven!
“Nine hundred sixty-eight!”
……
“Nine hundred seventy-two…
“I can’t do it anymore… I’m so tired, I can’t go on!” Pain flashed through the young man’s eyes. “No, I have to go on! I, Yushi Moli, am the son of the Aurora city lord. I have to keep going!
“I can’t cultivate true qi because I have no sense of qi, but I still can’t give up! Not being able to cultivate true qi means I can’t become a martial cultivator, so I’ll be a top notch swordsman instead! I won’t let father lose face!
“One thousand strokes a day, not even one less will do!”
The boy persevered! Despite being tired beyond his limits, the sword in his hand remained as steady as Mount Tai. It didn’t lean in any direction, droop, or tremble.
“Legends say that the great sword master Long Qianjue of one thousand years ago possessed an qi absentia constitution, but his sword skills were marvelous and he reached the celestial rank with them. He dominated his era!
“So while I cannot become a martial cultivator, I will become a swordsman like Long Qianjue! I will bring honor to the family name!
“Nine hundred and eight-nine!”
……
“Moli continues to persist.”
Two men stood side by side in a tower of the city lord’s complex and looked at Yushi Moli in the backyard. One of them sighed heavily.
“His furious training will destroy him. Are you not going to stop him?” Ouyang Du looked at the massive man in front of him. This was the lord of Aurora City, the strongest of its citizens!
Yushi Jianchou.
“He has herbal baths and fare nourishing him. He won’t die,” Yushi Jianchou replied expressionlessly.
“Are you that heartless? He is your son, my nephew!” Ouyang Du’s lips twitched. “His cultivation method is completely incorrect.”
“Correct or not, it is his choice.” Yushi Jianchou stared at the boy below. “Since he has chosen, that is his business. I will not interfere, and the Aurora city lord residence has never kept trash around.”
“You…” Ouyang Du brandished his sleeves with a sharp crack and left in a huff.
An expressionless Yushi Jianchou continued looking down at the boy below.
……
“One thousand!” Yushi Moli finally finished one thousand pierces. He was drained of energy and his right arm flopped weakly. He could barely lift it and wanted to lie down on the ground. “No, no, I can’t lie down or I’ll have wasted my earlier efforts!”
He held fast against the weariness of his heart and stood ramrod straight like a spear, shifting to practice a sword method.
“The eldest young master is relentless when he cultivates!” Two maids gossiped off to the side.
“The eldest young master is the city lord’s son. Although he can’t cultivate true qi, he’ll still be a wealthy scion who lacks for nothing for the rest of his life. Why does he work so hard?” The younger maid didn’t understand Yushi Moli’s actions.
“You dummy! It’s because he’s the city lord’s son that he works so hard. The city lord is the strongest powerhouse of Aurora City and the eldest young master in the only stain on his glory.”
“I feel bad for the young master then…” Sympathy welled up in the younger maid’s eyes.
“What are you feeling bad for?” The older maid next to her curled her lip with disdain. “He’s the city lord’s son and lives a life that ordinary people can’t dream of! Apparently, the herbal food and baths he takes costs one hundred gold coins every month. Ordinary people won’t even earn that many gold coins in their entire life!
“Anyone else would already be a high level martial cultivator after two years of these resources! But him? Heh. I suspect the city lord would rather this young master not work so hard.”
“Huh? Why?” The younger maid failed to understand.
“It’s a waste of resources. Even a pig can advance to the human rank with so much valuable food and baths. But what’s the difference between throwing them into the gutter and using them on the young master? Throwing them into the gutter would at least raise some ripples, but on this one…? Heh,” the older maid snorted. “C’mon, back to work. Us servants shouldn’t talk about stuff having to do with the masters.”
The younger maid shrank in on herself and stuck out her tongue before leaving.
……
Although Yushi Moli wasn’t a martial cultivator, he’d been born with keener senses than others and thus heard every word of the maids’ conversation. He clenched his fists so tight that the veins popped on them.
He’d heard this kind of jeering ever since he was a child. Whether it was within the city lord’s residence or Aurora City, most sighed when they heard the name Yushi Moli. A tiger father had beget a dog son!
His heart spasmed with pain every time he heard talk like this, like a dagger had been plunged through it. But the more this was so, the more he wouldn’t give up.
He exhaled noisily and regained his usual determination.
“Waste of resources?” Yushi Moli reached into his robes and ran his hand over the silk handkerchief on him. “I’ll let you know that nothing I’ve done is a waste!”
He gave another long sigh and retracted his sword aura, accepting a bowl of medicinal soup from a servant and draining it with one gulp.
“Moli!” Ouyang Du walked over.
“Uncle?” Yushi Moli smiled happily when he saw the buff young man. Ouyang Du was the younger brother of Yushi Moli’s mother. The two had a strong relationship.
“That’s enough training today, Moli.” Ouyang Du couldn’t bear to dash Moli’s hopes when he saw the young man dripping with sweat.
“No, I’ve got three more techniques to practice before I’m done for the day.” Yushi Moli shook his head with great reluctance.
“Wait a minute, uncle’s brought you a piece of great news today!” Ouyang Du grinned. “Alchemist Grandmaster Yuqing Yang of the celestial rank will be visiting Aurora City soon.”
“Huh?” Yushi Moli looked curiously at his uncle. “What’s Grandmaster Yuqing Yang have to do with me?”
“Grandmaster Yang is a celestial rank alchemist. They say he can refine a celestial rank pill called the Qi Elevation Pill that can enhance a martial cultivator’s sense of qi! Anyone will gain a sense of qi upon taking the pill, so long as they don’t possess a qi absentia constitution!”
Yushi Moli’s eyes lit up. Obtaining a sense of qi meant that he’d be able to cultivate true qi and become a martial cultivator. This was what he dreamed of!
“Being a celestial rank pill… the Qi Elevation Pill… isn’t cheap, isn’t it?” Yushi Moli frowned.
“Well, the price is apparently one million gold coins.” Ouyang Du started, then answered with a wry smile. As young as his nephew was, he was sharp witted and very few things flew under his register.
“Then forget it, I’ll just stick to practicing sword techniques.” Dejection flashed through Yushi Moli’s eyes.
One million gold coins?
Yushi Jianchou was the city lord, true enough, but he didn’t have one million gold coins to spare. The entire city lord residence was likely worth one hundred thousand. Just one gold coin alone was sufficient for an ordinary family to live in the lap of luxury for an entire year!
Spending one hundred coins on herbal baths and food every month was already undue pressure on Yushi Moli’s young heart.
One million gold coins?
He didn’t dare think about it.
Instead, he raised his swollen arms and returned to his training.
