Reincarnation: A Wuxia/Xianxia Cultivation Novel (Path of Lazy Immortal Book 1)

by A P Gore

  If he compared it with his old life, this was same.

  If he wanted to walk on the same path he’d previously walked, he would have to wait two more months for his fortuitous encounter with senior sister Wang Zia.

  But he would not dare. Nor would he accept it. That bitch had killed him in the end.

  Hatred blew in his head when he thought about that bitch. She was his life. When he lay in the depths of a crevice, waiting for Ferocious Beasts to eat him, she’d arrived like an angel. Lifting him up from the depths of despair, she’d given him a way to walk forward. With her help, he’d transcended cultivation realm after realm. Only to die at her hands in the end.

  Hatred rode through his meridians, pushing him to the brink of madness. If only he hadn’t met her, he would be dead. Well, he couldn’t blame her for helping in the first place, but then why did she kill him in the end?

  Calm down, Wei.

  Taking a deep breath, he controlled his emotions. Being an Array Master, he knew patience. Once he’d had to spend ten years in a puny place to carve an array to get out of a secret realm. Comparing this to that, this was nothing.

  Anyway. That was then, and this was now. Somehow, he had another chance at his own life, and that too with his memories intact.

  His lips moved, spreading in a wide smile. With all his memories intact, he was almost an Array Master. He could direct his life again from the start. This time he would change his destiny.

  For the better. He would become a lazy immortal in this life.

  What should he do next?

  When senior sister Zia found him, he was a wastrel beggar and whatnot. He’d lain at the bottom of the deep crevice, waiting to get eaten by a Ferocious Beast.

  But he didn’t die. Two beautiful gray eyes had saved him and looked at him with amusement. It was senior sister Zia that carved a Three Beast Sealing Array in his leaking dantian and repaired it. She’d also given him a cultivation method for his attributeless qi, Three Vein Metal Qi Art. It was a mid-level cultivation art, and with that art he’d cultivated quicker and soon joined a mortal sect. In the end, he’d even had time to join senior sister Zia’s sect, Firmament Sect.

  If he wanted to run on the same track again, he would be called a dog by the heavens. This time, he would choose his own path.

  First thing first, he had to fix his leaking dantian. But where would he find another Array Master to carve a high-level array like Three Beast Sealing Array in his dantian? This State of Zin had no Array Master. And even if he found one, why would an Array Master carve an array for him? And even if he somehow convinced an Array Master to help him, would he or she carve an array on his dantian?

  No, they would think it suicide. Even senior sister Zia wasn’t sure at first and asked him to think one hundred times before agreeing to it. That time he was desperate enough to not die, so he’d agreed.

  If he wanted to cultivate, he had to carve an array into his dantian himself. With his divine sense, he could carve the Five Direction Sealing Soul Array that he had learned in his previous life. It required one to have strong divine sense and soul power, and he had both.

  Excited, he poured his divine sense into his dantian and tried to check the leaky part, but a headache overtook him, and he was quickly thrown out of his dantian. Something was wrong with his divine sense, and his gut told him not to use it unless he needed it badly. He would need to reach layer one Foundation Realm to stabilize his current divine sense. Right now, he could only gauge its condition, couldn’t pinpoint its location. His stronger divine sense wasn’t useful until he broke through a whole realm.

  There was another issue. His current body might not withstand the overbearing method of array carving on the walls of his dantian. Sister Wang Zia had used a different method, but he didn’t want to go with that low quality method again. So, carving an array he wanted would be nothing but suicide.

  Depression hit him. Was he going to end up a wastrel even after gaining a reincarnation advantage? Would he have to run away and wait to meet with senior sister Zia?

  No way. He would die rather than meet her again. This time, he would ignore her and become a lazy immortal.

  Chapter 4 Blood Essence Body Cultivation Art

  Someone entered his room, disturbing Li Wei’s thought process.

  The six-foot-tall boorish figure bending his way through the five-foot-tall open frame door wasn’t Fei’er but his stepfather. It was pitch dark and cold, but in the flickering candlelight he spotted his father’s rage filled eyes. His long fingers held a leather whip, and Wei knew what was coming for him.

  Wei looked around, longing to avoid the upcoming beating, but with his tattered body he couldn’t move from the ragged bedroll he slept on. Even moving slightly on the rough cloth made him feel like someone scrubbed a mountain top with his bare body. It left a bitter taste in his mouth because it was similar to the body cultivation art he’d practiced in his previous life.

  Cold wind rushed through the open door. It was broken the last time his stepfather had smashed it in rage. Ever since, when it rained, he’d faced the assault of cold wind and mad rain.

  When his father bent down over his fragile body, he looked like nothing less than a demon looming over its prey. Wei’s first memory of this man was when he’d beaten Wei’s ass red for some miserly reason, and it sent shrills through his soul.

  Li Sua was an arrogant asshole, and Wei hated him through and through. It might seem an extreme opinion for a stepfather, but he wouldn’t bother trying anymore. After Wei’s mother died, Li Sua had completely ignored him, marrying more concubines and making children with them. He not only ignored Wei but beat him at every possible occasion.

  “Please forgive this Wei for not being able to properly greet father.” Wei spoke first, clutching the ragged bedroll with his fingers. The man least deserved respect from him, but he didn’t want to add fuel to the fire. The old him was a stubborn fool and always went against his stepfather, receiving beating after beating.

  But no more. On this new path, he had to tread carefully and enjoy his life.

  “You can already talk . . .” Li Sua replied, his eyes red. His quivering hand betrayed his intention to beat Wei. Lashing out with his leather whip, he attacked Wei’s abdomen.

  Wei cried out in pain. That bastard treated him like a dog. But Li Sua was still Wei’s father, and that’s why he’d never gone back to the State of Zin because he feared he would kill Li Sua at first sight.

  Another attack landed, and his soul almost jumped out of his mouth.

  “Father!” Wei shouted in pain. His body was still recovering from the beating he’d received from Kang Tan, and now his stepfather was adding to it. Blood spurted from his body whenever the whip touched him, and soon his gray robe turned into shredded rags stained red.

  “Why did you come back alive, wastrel? If you’ve guts to fight, why didn’t you die instead of bringing shame to my Li clan?” Li Sua’s whip moved like a snake, biting Wei in various places.

  “I have a Foundation Refirming Pill, father,” Wei somehow shouted, and suddenly the whip stopped an inch short of him.

  “What did you say?” Li Sua’s face flushed red. He definitely wanted to continue, but he stopped, as Wei had told him something precious.

  Li Sua had been stuck at layer two of qi Foundation Realm for years, and without a costly pill he couldn’t advance. In the State of Zin, Alchemists were rare, and every pill cost a huge amount of gold coins. Being a measly elder of the Li family didn’t provide many resources to Li Sua, and he could only bitterly try to absorb heaven and earth’s energy to reach the next level. But with the poor heaven and earth essence levels of the State of Zin, it was nearly impossible to advance through cultivation levels without a pill.

  “I’ve got a Foundation Refirming Pill. That’s what I fought with Kang Tan for. This little one had only one thought, to get it for you. With my blood, I found it for you, father.”

  Li Sua bent down, his face flashi
ng with delight. “Wei’er. Tell me, where is the pill? Give it to me now.”

  Wei snickered in his mind. This bastard changed his colors faster than a chameleon. In Wei’s whole sixteen years, he’d never him Wei’er, and now he was trying to get cozy.

  How presumptuous.

  But what could he do? Wei sighed in his heart. This was a pill he had gotten his hands on a couple years back and saved for himself, but now he had to give it to his stepfather. This pill was his ticket to finding a peaceful month so he could cultivate peacefully. Otherwise, this man might beat him to death. In his current condition, any more injuries might push him to death.

  Damn this body. He hated it right now. If only he could cultivate.

  “Father, it’s in the right corner of the room. Under the ceramic pot.” He coughed, spitting blood. He had many injuries, but that barely fulfilled the requirements to cultivate Blood Essence Body Cultivation Art.

  After waking up in his sixteen-year-old self, he had thought this through. Every cultivator had two paths of cultivation. Qi cultivation and body cultivation. In the State of Zin, only a few knew about body cultivation, but outside of it many people walked on this path.

  Qi cultivation used heaven and earth essence energy and converted it into qi that could be stored in one’s dantian. Body cultivation didn’t convert essence energy. Instead, it stored it inside one’s flesh.

  While qi cultivation depended on one’s Spirit Root attribute, body cultivation solely depended upon one’s Physical Root. It was a mysterious organ present in one’s body that determined the person’s cultivation, talent, and aptitude.

  Well, he had a flop there as well. He had a Bronze Grade Spirit Root and Earth Grade Physical Root.

  Everything in this world was divided into grades: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Earth, Human, and Heaven. Bronze was the lowest grade, and Heaven was the top grade. In the mortal world, Silver Grade root was of paramount importance, and even in the Firmament Sect that ruled over the mortal world, Earth Grade root was a rare sight. Because he had an Earth Grade Physical Root, senior sister Zia had taken a fancy to him.

  Unfortunately, his Earth Grade physical root was of the lowest quality, so he couldn’t cultivate Firmament Fire Body Cultivation Art to the higher realms.

  That wasn’t important. That art was tyrannical and required one to constantly temper their body with fire, and he hated getting burned. After a day’s session, he would have blisters all over his body, and everyone would treat him with disgust.

  But in this new life, he wouldn’t cultivate Firmament Fire Body Cultivation Art. Instead, he would cultivate Blood Essence Body Cultivation Art. He had found it in the secret realm where he was trapped for ten years. He didn’t know the Grade of the art, but it was absolutely above Gold Grade, so he wanted to cultivate it, but he couldn’t before, because he had already cultivated another art.

  But in this life, he could, and he remembered the steps and incantations to reach the first few realms of cultivation with Blood Essence Body Cultivation Art.

  It was just that he needed to drink the blood of other people.

  Chapter 5 Sneak Attack

  Li Jia sneered at Li Tang’s proposition. In the darkness, he was trying to hide his devilish smile. That old brother of his was trying to push him, the mightiest son of Li clan’s patriarch, to a lowly branch city. Did he think Li Jia had just come out of his mother’s womb?

  “Senior Brother, just because you’re an eldest son doesn’t allow you to rule over others. The Patriarch position is yet to be decided, and I’ve already reached layer four of Foundation Realm, while you’ve been stuck at layer five for many years.” Li Jia refuted his Senior Brother’s idea of stationing him in this city. The Patriarch wasn’t pleased with the current elder, Li Sua, and his way of ruling, so he had sent the three of them to re-prime Li Sua and decide on the next actions.

  “Jia’er, you don’t know the might of the heavens. Until you reach layer five, you’re beneath me,” Li tang replied in a stern tone.

  Li Jia snorted in his heart. Wait until the Heavenly Firmament Sect opened their recruitment for outer sect disciples. Once he was admitted into the sect, he would definitely get his hands on the Foundation Refirming Pill and reach layer five quickly. With his talent, he might even get another pill and reach layer six soon after. That would put him in line with their father, Li Shua. He might even become the next patriarch.

  An intense smell rushed through his nose and enthralled his senses.

  “A Foundation Refirming Pill. Someone has taken out a Foundation Refirming Pill.” The youngest son, Li Ti spoke. He had been trifling with pills for some years, and he was said to have some knowledge about them.

  Even Li Jia recognized the fragrance. He had seen a Foundation Refirming Pill in the clan treasury by accident—their father treated it like a profound artifact. How could he forget the way his father had beat him after he touched that pill?

  “Let’s see who’s in possession of the clan treasure,” Li Tang said in a calm voice, but even the darkness couldn’t hide the greed in his eyes.

  “Yes.” Li Jai quickened his pace. He had to get his hands on this pill and make a breakthrough. With this pill, his chances to get in the Heavenly Firmament Sect would be doubled.

  ***

  A sudden laugh pulled Wei out of his ruminations.

  “A Foundation Refirming Pill. My Li clan is surely blessed by the heavens.” Someone spoke loudly, and Wei squinted to take in the scene unfolding in his room. Three people had entered his small room, and suddenly it felt like they were all chickens stuffed inside a small cage.

  Wei recognized the trio that had barged into his room. They were his uncles: Li Jia, Li Tang, and Li Ti. They were sons of the current patriarch, Li Shua, his maternal grandfather, and had a tyrannical attitude. They all wore dark blue martial robes baring the symbol of the Li clan on their chest. It was an axe, because the Li clan mainly performed wood cutting on their large pieces of land.

  They had their eyes fixed on the small bean-sized pill in Li Sua’s hand. It was the Foundation Refirmation Pill Wei had hidden a few months back. He had found it in an ancient ruin near Old Martial City, where they lived. For two years, he had hidden it from everyone else, saving it for himself. Originally, when his old self had left Old Martial City, he’d lost the pill to a group of bandits. Now, Wei used it in a way that would benefit him.

  Squinting, he watched the trio carefully. The eldest uncle, Li Tang, had a huge body, a monkey face, and a boorish appearance. He looked after the main business. The other brothers, Li Jia and Li Ti, were stationed in other important cities. What were they doing here?

  He had to stop them from snatching the pill from his father. If they succeeded, his father might vent his frustration on him, killing him in one go.

  That must not happen.

  Wei sent a divine transmission to his stepfather. “Eat it already, you fool.”

  Li Sua jumped on the spot, looking around.

  “Li Sua, what are you waiting for? Give me the pill,” Li Jia said impatiently, taking a step forward.

  “Li Jia, the pill will come to me.” Li Tang ferociously pushed his hand in front of Li Jia.

  “What are you looking at?” Wei transmitted. “I’m the pill spirit, and I’ve taken a liking to you. It was destined for you, fool. Eat now. If you eat it, you’ll gain immense benefits and might even become the next patriarch.” Divine transmission was a skill that came when one’s divine sense awakened, and for the first few realms of cultivation it was impossible to know about divine sense or divine transmission. So, Wei was sure his stepfather wouldn’t know where it came from.

  A headache overcame him as he used divine transmission, like his body was telling him not to use it.

  Damn, that bastard was hesitating while looking at the pill.

  Wei sent another message, venting a bit of the hatred from his heart. “Bastard. If you wait any longer, they will snatch me and then you can only wipe your ass with
your empty hands.”

  Li Sua stared at Wei for a moment.

  Wei sent another message. “What are you looking at? That crippled kid? That fool didn’t even know what treasure he looted from another fool kid.” “Don’t even think about anything else. I, the pill spirit, will squash them once I enter your body. You don’t have to worry about anything.” As Wei boasted, he could see the hesitation from his stepfather’s eyes vanishing. Divine transmission was a soul-to-soul message, so his physical body didn’t make a single movement, and that was enough to fool his stepfather.

  Li Sua once again stared at the pill and then gulped it down.

  “Li Sua . . .” Li Tang, the tallest and oldest son of the patriarch, dashed forward and slapped Li Sua, but the pill had already entered Li Sua’s stomach. There was no turning back.

  “You bastard. You defied an order from me, and that means punishment,” Li Tang bellowed in rage as he punched Li Sua twice, back-to-back.

  “Elder brother Tang, please stay your hands.” Li Ti stepped forward and held Li Tang’s hand. “Let’s arrest him and take him to father. He has betrayed our clan and stole the pill from treasury.”

  “Treasury?” Li Sua howled, his face grimacing in pain. The pill contained a huge amount of pure qi, and one had to refine it as soon as possible, otherwise it would endanger the user’s life. “It was mine from the start, and I ate it.”

  “Li Ti, let’s just kill him.” Li Jia howled in rage. “He ate my pill, and I must kill him.”

  “Elder brother Jia, don’t do something that will anger our father.” Li Ti once again stepped in. “We have to take him back. We can’t kill him. We should ask the patriarch to kill him by throwing him in Thousand Hell Valley and make an example of him.” Li Ti spoke softly, but his ideas were quite cruel.

  Li Sua’s face turned grim. He opened his eyes and gawked around himself. “Senior, please save me. You said you’d help me. Now, please come forward and take action and kill these wastrels.”