Edited by Resmund8964 copyright protection718PENANAIDVQYVtdWk 維尼
Hui Yue had been floating in a sea of blue flames for what seemed like an eternity. He himself was comfortable in a way he had never felt before. He was light and without any worries, just floating around and observing the flickering blue embers that had engulfed him.8964 copyright protection718PENANAC6yIt4YSeS 維尼
He was well aware that he had died. There was no way he could ever return to his previous life, however death did not seem as terrible as he had expected. The blue flames were so calming that he did not even worry about leaving neither Li Fen nor his parents behind. Hui Yue had an unexplainable feeling that everything would be okay.8964 copyright protection718PENANA8YoS8X7NdQ 維尼
Suddenly Hui Yue heard a faint mumbling, as if the sound came from far away. He strained his ears trying to pick up the words, however everything had been muffled and no matter how hard he tried, he was still unable to understand what the voices were saying.8964 copyright protection718PENANAn2FLXWzi1B 維尼
The blue flames that were surrounding Hui Yue were slowly dying out while the voices got louder. As the final embers disappeared a suction force started pulling the relaxed Hui Yue towards a black abyss.8964 copyright protection718PENANAGNkspzSRdS 維尼
Hui Yue felt his consciousness flicker slightly as he was rushing through a dark tunnel, falling towards an unknown location. A hint of fear sneaked into his heart, as he was unaware of what his future might bring, however he calmed himself with the thought that he had already died and with no body he should no longer be able to feel pain.8964 copyright protection718PENANALCuErdLZWs 維尼
Hui Yue had focused on suppressing the fear using his rational thoughts, and it took some time before he noticed that he had stopped moving. His surroundings had changed. There was no longer a low mumble, but hurried voices that were yelling right next to him. The darkness had changed from a black abyss to a lighter shade, a shade that Hui Yue was familiar with all too well.8964 copyright protection718PENANAtJZcQr5A8o 維尼
Hui Yue needed a moment to understand what was happening around him and notice that he was no longer just a consciousness but once again was contained within a body. The darkness was from having his eyes closed, however opening them was not an easy task.8964 copyright protection718PENANAgfl3yJXEFp 維尼
Hui Yue tried moving his limbs, and although they were somewhat following his orders he could not help but feel that something was amiss. His body felt very different from what he was used to, however details like those could be focused upon once he reached a safe location. The fact of controlling a body once again left him feeling relieved, and he focused all his energy into forcing his tired and sealed eyes open.8964 copyright protection718PENANAUvhI9di1Dv 維尼
As soon as his eyes opened he instantly screamed.8964 copyright protection718PENANAJDq7zdPwxW 維尼
In front of him was the face of a giant. It was a rough looking man with a bearded face so close that Hui Yue was certain that he would reach it if he stretched out his arm. After containing the scream, Hui Yue dared not make another sound let alone move a muscle. The giant did not seem hostile; however it was still a dangerous situation to be caught in right after waking up in a new body.8964 copyright protection718PENANAHs5V0zEbGY 維尼
“Don’t be that close, you are scaring him dear,” an exhausted but gracious voice sounded from the side, and Hui Yue slowly turned his head to look in the direction that the voice came from. It was hard to move his head or even keep his eyes open but he noticed that he was currently located in a worn out bedroom in a run down shack. The bed was occupied by a woman who should have been beautiful, but right now her face was filled with exhaustion and pain.8964 copyright protection718PENANADE1WCerg1e 維尼
The lower part of the bed was smeared in blood and a young girl was washing the injured woman.8964 copyright protection718PENANAmLUvVvNlE0 維尼
Hui Yue was confused. He had been thrown into a situation that he was not currently able to understand, but clearly the giants were not a threat to him. He contemplated for some time, but reached the solution that the easiest way to gain information would be to simply talk to those friendly giants.8964 copyright protection718PENANAp8YRq7x5l1 維尼
“goo goo.. Gah.. Uwhaa!” Hui Yue had tried to say something along the lines of ‘Excuse me, could you explain what is happening here?’ however the words that came out from his mouth made no sense. Hui Yue got quiet and had a strange and rather uncomfortable premonition.8964 copyright protection718PENANAKzRsInKzvJ 維尼
“Listen darling,” the bearded giant said as he reached down and carried Hui Yue towards the fatigued woman, “our son is already trying to speak.” There was tenderness in his voice, and the same tenderness was shown on the woman’s face. The tenderness and care that those two people showed Hui Yue made his heart ache as he was reminded of his parents and the pain he most likely had left behind with his early death.8964 copyright protection718PENANAm6S1gxoKcf 維尼
Lying on his new mother’s bosom, Hui Yue could not help but to take the time to think through everything that had happened to him. He should have believed the old lady when she said that the hairpin was cursed, it truly did seem to have killed him, however he was not certain how he could have gone from death to instant resurrection. Resurrection alone defied all his modern logic.8964 copyright protection718PENANAcLVPrRjYNy 維尼
‘Obviously it was caused by my astonishing power’, a self-satisfied voice drawled somewhere inside of Hui Yue’s mind. The voice seemed faintly familiar.8964 copyright protection718PENANAPxeIIrZ9Xk 維尼
‘Who are you?’ Hui Yue thought, while trying to remember where he had heard this voice before, however as soon as he had thought that he remembered. It was the voice that he had heard just as he was dying.8964 copyright protection718PENANAh2XNSIHmVB 維尼
‘Well done!’ The voice said, as if he was praising a good dog, ‘I am indeed the blue phoenix hairpin you bought.’8964 copyright protection718PENANAUkKBVf4pvJ 維尼
‘You are the one who killed me?’ Hostility filled up Hui Yue’s mind as he roared towards the hidden voice.8964 copyright protection718PENANA4TCqKatVA1 維尼
‘Nah, I didn’t cause the truck to appear, I just used the opportunity to merge with you,’ the voice sounded bored as it spoke, ‘you should thank me you know. If I hadn’t merged with you, you would not have had the possibility to reincarnate this quickly.’8964 copyright protection718PENANAJqZOOLXIuK 維尼
Hui Yue was filled with doubt as he questioned the self-proclaimed phoenix hairpin. He did not trust it one bit.8964 copyright protection718PENANALKZzgENFGd 維尼
‘What do you mean when you say that you caused me to reincarnate? And where am I?”8964 copyright protection718PENANA2Xrig7qwXO 維尼
As soon as Hui Yue had asked those questions he heard a sigh coming from the Phoenix and somehow he understood the feelings that the Phoenix felt. A certain degree of impatience, annoyance but also hope. Hui Yue did not know why the Phoenix would feel like this, however he decided to just wait for the Phoenix to explain.8964 copyright protection718PENANAWyCBwJ67Gl 維尼
‘It’s a long story,’ the Phoenix finally said, clearly too lazy to explain too much right away, however Hui Yue had no intention of letting it off with just that.8964 copyright protection718PENANANPB28RLghZ 維尼
‘I got nothing but time. I am a baby you know.’ He thought back, while noticing that his new mother had fallen asleep, and he himself also pretended to be asleep so that he could have an undisturbed talk with the voice in his mind. Hui Yue could not help but to wonder if mental patients felt the way he did right now.8964 copyright protection718PENANAPOe7fX8UsV 維尼
‘Okay, I’ll tell you,’ the Phoenix said, ‘but it’s a long story and you better listen because I will only tell it once.’ Hui Yue stayed quiet, he had a feeling that the Phoenix was able to understand everything about him even if they did not directly communicate, unfortunately it did not work both ways.8964 copyright protection718PENANAg27wWTtrIX 維尼
‘humm,’ the Phoenix grumbled a little before it decided on how to start, ‘this world is quite different from the one you are used to. Here strength is what matters the most, the stronger you are the better prospects you have in life.’ The Phoenix were quiet for a second before continuing, ‘this world was created by the Four Divine Beasts, the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, The Vermillion Bird and the Black Turtle. These Four Divine Beasts had created multiple worlds prior to this one, however they decided to settle down here. They laid down their bodies as foundation for each of their countries. Their consciousness created new bodies that they used to walk these lands and experience a normal life.’8964 copyright protection718PENANAwZj6ATSkoa 維尼
The Phoenix was quiet once again, ‘thousands of years went by and the Divine Beasts had created their own families within their individual countries. Their descendants were not divine beasts as them, instead they were normal humans.’ Hui Yue felt a nostalgia washing over him as he heard the words, he had no doubt that those were the feelings of the phoenix.8964 copyright protection718PENANAcGXIgOLhlI 維尼
‘Time went by and eventually the Four Divine Beasts decided to enter the eternal sleep. The world had long since buried their original bodies far below surface, and they spend the rest of their energy to create four mountain ranges that were splitting this whole continent into four equal parts with a large castle in the middle. Those four parts represented the locations of their bodies, and each one called their oldest son to the Four Beast Palace in the center of the continent. There they passed down their legacy, together with some of their powers and the right to lead a kingdom. After the right of passage was completed they then re-entered their original slumbering bodies and went into an eternal hibernation.’8964 copyright protection718PENANAxE3p73qiQw 維尼
Yet another wave of sadness and nostalgia hit Hui Yue. Hui Yue was not a slow person, and he instantly understood that this was the Phoenix’s story. ‘The sons did a good job and many thousands of years passed by in peace, civilisation flourished and humans started cultivating their internal power. However, four thousand years ago a human tricked the descendant of the Azure Dragon and used his powers to seal and banish four beast clan leaders from this world.’ A mixture of hate, regret and pity flashed across Hui Yue’s mind as he understood part of the reason why the Phoenix had ended up as a hairpin.8964 copyright protection718PENANAaTxHGB3kOu 維尼
‘You got to be the descendant of the Vermillion Bird?’ Hui Yue decided to make sure he was right about his assumption, he had a lot of questions waiting to be answered.8964 copyright protection718PENANAcf80qBfPm2 維尼
‘That’s right,’ The Phoenix said with a proud voice8964 copyright protection718PENANAJafKgLyMz7 維尼
‘Then why are we stuck in a baby’s body instead of one matching our age?’ Hui Yue could not help but ask. It was simply too bizarre being a baby with an adult’s mind.8964 copyright protection718PENANAbCAK3NWYdn 維尼
‘Why don’t you try being sealed inside a hairpin for four thousand years?’ The Phoenix snorted, ‘I had the minimum amount of power back then and only a small fraction got released when I merged with you when you were dying. We share a body right now so I am unfortunately limited by this,’ he continued with disdain8964 copyright protection718PENANAVO3JRF3kkk 維尼
‘Hey, don’t complain about the body, it was you who chose it,’ Hui Yue pointed out with a laugh, this Phoenix was incredibly haughty.8964 copyright protection718PENANAO2FrhjBLlI 維尼
‘I didn’t have much to choose from you know’ The Phoenix retorted, ‘you should actually thank me. If I had not helped you with this reincarnation you would have been stuck in the netherworld for god knows how long and there would be no possibility for you to remember anything from your previous life.’8964 copyright protection718PENANAprBHguwg0d 維尼
‘It was you who was complaining’8964 copyright protection718PENANAw8wSMLtc2c 維尼
‘Shut up. Do you want me to continue or not?’ hearing that, Hui Yue decided not to argue any further and waited for more information from the proud Phoenix.8964 copyright protection718PENANAXORRNPnokG 維尼
‘It was four thousand years since I was last here, so I don’t know how the countries are split up right now, nor do I know about who controls what, but I do know about the cultivation since that is one thing that will never change.’ Hui Yue’s interest was piqued when he heard the word cultivation. Cultivation had been practiced in the past, but he had never found anything that could prove it to be helpful.8964 copyright protection718PENANAYKgGOTyL1S 維尼
‘Everything in this world has an essence and a person has something called a Xia dantian, or a lower dantian, where they are able to refine the essence in the world into Qi and store it within. You can increase your strength by gathering more essence and refining it into Qi, refinement is crucial for achieving best results. The finer the Qi gets, the better the results. There are three different dantians, but you can only gain access to the next two if you are strong enough.’8964 copyright protection718PENANADScl0QPb91 維尼
‘This is confusing, try and make it simpler’ Hui Yue said, trying to follow the explanation.8964 copyright protection718PENANAflJYR9O49y 維尼
‘It’s not my fault it is confusing! Okay, people are ranked with ten ranks of strength and every rank is split into nine stars. First rank is Student, then it is Disciple, followed by Practitioner. Those three rely solely on the xia dantian, the lower dantian, and refinement of essence into Qi. If a person has enough of Qi of good enough quality and some cultivating talent it is possible to break into the Master rank. Can you follow so far?’ The phoenix asked with an overbearing voice. Hui Yue was insulted, but chose to just say "Yes."8964 copyright protection718PENANAcfN0WySLSH 維尼
‘After Master comes Grand Master and Duke. Those three ranks still absorb essence into the lower dantian and refines it to Qi, but they also opens a second dantian, the middle dantian known as Zhong. The Qi travels from the lower to the middle dantian and gets refined even further into spirit power. It is much finer than the usual Qi, and it allows the user to use some higher ranked combat skills amongst it's other uses.’ The Phoenix chose not to explain spirit power too much, as it would be a very long time before Hui Yue would even be able to see a spirit power user.8964 copyright protection718PENANAQ4qDEMrk01 維尼
‘The next three ranks are King, Emperor and Saint. To achieve the rank of King you need to open the final dantian, the higher dantian, known as the Shang. It allows the user to refine the spirit power into Wu Wei. Wu Wei is the ultimate strength, upon achieving it you will be in a completely different league than all other cultivators below this rank, however it requires building some insane basics from the start at the lower dantian and continuing with intense, grueling training throughout the middle dantian. One can only hope to reach the Emperor rank. Because of this they are incredibly rare.’ The Phoenix was quiet for some time while trying to think if it had gotten all the basic information explained.8964 copyright protection718PENANAWuQK3YXrQp 維尼
'That is only nine ranks,' Hui Yue pointed out, 'what is the tenth?'8964 copyright protection718PENANASmiv4OriBa 維尼
'It's the rank of a god,' Lan Feng answered swiftly, 'but you don't need to know about that yet. Firstly it is completely different from the ranks that rely on dantians and secondly there has only been four gods as far as I am aware.'8964 copyright protection718PENANA89pSq4uj41 維尼
‘What rank were you before you were sealed?’ Hui Yue asked with curiosity, but did not expect to be given an answer, however the phoenix surprised him as it replied ‘I was at Saint rank before, there has only been four gods in all of history and they were the Four Divine Beasts.’8964 copyright protection718PENANA0xomjttK3m 維尼
‘If you were a Saint rank then you are really strong aren’t you?’8964 copyright protection718PENANAGui76LxXGo 維尼
‘I was before, but right now I can’t use my powers very well. I am trapped within this body with you and if I was stupid enough to use them I can guarantee that this body would both explode and we would both die.’8964 copyright protection718PENANAWGDZJdE4SI 維尼
‘But can’t you just do another instant reincarnation then?’8964 copyright protection718PENANAlVAKJP1PzU 維尼
‘Do you think I am some almighty person? When you die your soul goes to the Netherworld. In the netherworld it will wander around until you lose all your memories from the previous life. Doesn’t matter if it is you or me, we would both forget. I could move us this one time because I used a burst of power, but don’t expect me to be able to do anything for a couple of years.’8964 copyright protection718PENANAvUE1JFQB4N 維尼
‘Then are the four divine beasts turned into other creatures after going to the netherworld?’8964 copyright protection718PENANAUXypDA71Dn 維尼
‘They never went to the netherworld. They entered something called eternal sleep. They are asleep and will be sleeping forever. Legend says that there is a way to wake them up but no one has ever found it before.’8964 copyright protection718PENANAp45py4MtUS 維尼
‘What is your name?’ Hui Yue suddenly asked. He realised that he had been told the whole life story of the Phoenix without knowing something that basic.8964 copyright protection718PENANAVlsi4lIn3R 維尼
‘Lan Feng.’ Said the phoenix, and both Hui Yue and Lan Feng were quiet for a long period of time.8964 copyright protection718PENANAtXyPos3dEA 維尼
‘So, what do we do now?’ Hui Yue finally sighed, not completely sure what the whole point of this new world was.8964 copyright protection718PENANARlRDofr1lH 維尼
‘I need revenge. As soon as we manage to kill the person who was behind tricking the descendant of the Azure Dragon then I should be able to return to my own body. That is the goal.’8964 copyright protection718PENANAzZqiETuE9d 維尼
‘What rank was that person?’8964 copyright protection718PENANAgg2sFaB4y6 維尼
‘He was an Emperor.’8964 copyright protection718PENANAC2MHycusbo 維尼
‘Right.’ Hui Yue said, but then he realised exactly what it was that Lan Feng had said, ‘but if you cannot return to your own body then you are stuck in mine, and you expect me to fight someone that highly ranked expert?’ he started to panic slightly. He was a perfectionist and it was true that he was quite curious about this cultivation, but he was not suicidal.8964 copyright protection718PENANA1ixb0ce1i2 維尼
‘I’ll help you to cultivate.’ Lan Feng assured him, almost as if everything had already been decided and Hui Yue had no say in the matter.8964 copyright protection718PENANA0BiA3vwfjF 維尼
‘Why would I do something that dangerous? Give me a reason.’ Blaming his death on Lan Feng, he had no intention of dying for an unknown person once again.8964 copyright protection718PENANArKIKExzBCU 維尼
‘When you reach the rank of a God you can be reunited with that girl from before’ Lan Feng said in a matter-of-fact sort of way, that one sentence removed any hesitation within Hui Yue’s heart.8964 copyright protection718PENANAR923huzW1o 維尼
‘Li Fen?’ he asked breathlessly8964 copyright protection718PENANAc8a8gf9bSM 維尼
‘Was that her name? The one you saved before you died.’8964 copyright protection718PENANA2udYITWN9M 維尼
‘Are you certain?’ Hui Yue was sceptical, not knowing for sure if Lan Feng was trying to fool him or not, but in the end, if there was even a slight chance of reuniting with Li Fen, then he did not mind if he had to go through hell to achieve it.8964 copyright protection718PENANAsWdFy77Dri 維尼
‘Well yes,’ Lan Feng said, but before he could continue he was cut off by Hui Yue,8964 copyright protection718PENANA5NIs8HndE1 維尼
‘If I reach the rank of God she will most likely already have lived her life and died wont she?’ he said with a depressed voice as reality hit him. Lan Feng sighed and replied, ‘That is why I told you to reach the rank of a God. When you become a God ranked expert you can safely go to the netherworld and find her soul, then you can create a body for her and restore her memories.’ Lan Feng clearly used this knowledge to reel Hui Yue in. Both of them needed each other to gain what they wanted the most.8964 copyright protection718PENANAPMdfI1pXaa 維尼
‘I will help you cultivate to the rank of a God and you will help me get revenge. After returning your lady to you our deal will be done and we can go our separate ways. Do you agree to make a Soul Contract?’ Lan Feng asked, slightly nervous until he noticed the determination in Hui Yue’s soul.8964 copyright protection718PENANA9jsTbGUBiQ 維尼
‘Just tell me what to do.’ Hui Yue firmly replied.8964 copyright protection718PENANAAtjm8CwNXi 維尼
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