by Tinalynge
Lan Feng once again sounded so self-satisfied, but this time it only caused Hui Yue to chuckle slightly. Lan Feng did have the right to be self-satisfied as he most likely did have an extensive amount of knowledge hidden within that flaming head of his.
‘Death really does sound like a very common occurrence in this world,’ Hui Yue commented with a bit of sorrow as he thought about the information he was given by Lan Feng. For some reason it made him feel slightly hesitant about the new life he was forced to live.
He had grown up in a world where murder was frowned upon, but to survive in this world, he would without a doubt have to kill people sooner or later.
This thought alone made him feel repulsed. His stomach contracted, and he was close to vomiting. Killing shouldn’t be a big deal, but thinking about hacking down another human made his complexion pale and nausea swept over him.
The thought of blood splattering everywhere, the imagination of flesh being torn, everything made Hui Yue feel sick to his stomach. He had no interest in wondering what it would be like to kill someone.
‘You need to forget your old world,’ Lan Feng said with a gentle voice as he felt the discomfort Hui Yue had. ‘We have a goal and to achieve that goal you cannot be soft.’
Hui Yue knew that Lan Feng was right. Thus, he fortified his determination to achieving his goal. Although Hui Yue currently felt sick to his stomach, he knew that there was no turning back. Even the slightest hesitation would end with his death which in turn would result in him no longer being able to be reunited with Li Fen.
A chilling coldness appeared in Hui Yue’s eyes as he said, ‘I refuse to slaughter needlessly, and I will not touch those who do not trouble me, but if anyone wishes to kill me, I will kill them! If they stand in our way, I will remove them. If you are ready to kill someone, you have to be ready for death yourself.’
‘What will you do if family members or friends go against you for revenge?’ Lan Feng asked. The phoenix was of the philosophy that showing mercy would only injury one later.
‘Let them come. I will fight whoever opposes me, but I will not touch those who have not gone against me.’ This was the rule that Hui Yue set for himself. This was so he could retain some aspect of his humanity.
Hearing this caused Lan Feng to shake his head slightly, nevertheless, he did not say anything. He knew Hui Yue’s current state of mind was still very unstable. The chaos and discomfort from dying were still present, and although Hui Yue said that he was ok with killing it was one thing to say something, but quite another to actually do it. Now was not the time to pressure Hui Yue with his ideals.
‘I am happy that you at least accept killing,’ Lan Feng said laughingly. ‘There are some things we can do, although we are in the body of an infant.’
Hearing the laughter within Lan Feng’s voice made Hui Yue leave the thoughts of murder behind, and instead, he sighed in despair. He feared that their tit discussion from earlier was resurfacing.
‘The reason that children do not start cultivating before they reach four years old is because it is quite difficult to grasp the method needed to cultivate.’
Lan Feng said slowly enjoying the hope he felt growing within Hui Yue’s mind. ‘The most important part of cultivating is to make sure that the Qi you absorb is refined into pure energy. The purer it is, the stronger you will be. Do you remember me saying that earlier?’
Lan Feng asked. Suddenly his usual haughtiness and arrogance were gone replaced by a newfound seriousness. Hui Yue nodded. He did indeed remember this from earlier.
Hearing the seriousness in Lan Feng’s voice caused Hui Yue to understand just how important their current conversation was. Thus, it seemed within his heart some of the enmity between the two was finally slowly starting to evaporate.
‘What we need to do is to make sure that you build a very strong and pure energy foundation. Usually for one to gather essence that is turned into Qi, they would need to meditate. Another reason why it is so difficult to start cultivation is that meditation needs a specific position at the beginning to help facilitate the refining process. The more used to the refinement you get, the easier it is to absorb essence constantly, even while on the move.’
Hui Yue nodded, this information made sense; however, he was still not certain how it would help him because he had years to go before he would be able to start meditating.
‘But, I know another way of gathering essence,’ Lan Feng said slowly. ‘However this way is very taxing, and it is going to take a lot longer than if you were to allow your body to meditate naturally.’
Hui Yue stopped breathing as excitement overtook him. When he heard Lan Feng mention that there was another way to refine his Qi hope grew within him. He quickly let his breath go, and asked breathlessly, ‘So, I can start cultivating now!?’ Expectation was evident in his voice, and Lan Feng was very pleased with the eagerness he was showing. His revenge and revival depended on Hui Yue’s strength after all.
‘It is possible,’ Lan Fang continued. ‘But I need to tell you that it really will take a lot longer than anyone else when they start to cultivate. When a four-year-old or five-year-old starts meditating, they will reach the first-star Student rank within the first day with proper meditation, but with this method, it will take you between half a year and a year to reach the same level. And that is the level we need to reach to be able to perform a Soul Contract.’
Hui Yue was a little surprised about how big the difference in essence gathering was, but he was still determined to go through with it. Even if it did take him a year, it was still better than waiting until he was four. Thus, he patiently waited for Lan Feng to explain the procedure.
‘Our current body is really small so the amount of essence we can absorb at a time is minuscule. However, this is actually not a bad thing,’ Lan Feng started to explain. ‘The smaller the amount of essence you absorb the more attention you can pay it when you refine it. Remember, you need it to be refined to the highest quality, or we will never be able to reach the rank of Emperor,’ Lan Feng said strictly. Hui Yue, in turn, nodded his head in understanding; he knew how important one’s foundation was.
‘This method allows you to gain Qi of a better quality than your peers, but you will need to spend a lot more effort and time with it. This is why most children don’t use it. They would never have the patience to do so,’ Lan Feng said with a laugh. Being reborn was definitely beneficial for him.
‘For now, I need to explain everything to you, but when we complete the Soul Contract, I will be able to transfer my knowledge directly to you,’ Lan Feng stated with a sigh. The sigh clearly represented his feelings on how much of a waste of time it was to explain everything. However, even if he was impatient, he made sure to explain everything thoroughly.
‘Close your eyes and steady your breath,’ Was the first order Lan Feng gave, and Hui Yue quickly did as he was told.
Anyone who saw the newborn baby would be unaware of the conversation that was going on inside Hui Yue’s mind, as their two souls were communicating within their shared infant body. Lan Feng knew that Hui Yue would be unable to cultivate with the body he had now, so he decided to teach Hui Yue a way to refine essence into Qi using his consciousness alone.
‘I need you to enter your body and search for your lower dantian. Flow through your veins until you reach the area below your navel,’ Hui Yue did as he was told, and he was consumed by the sound of his blood flowing through his veins. Shock filled his mind as he noticed that a mental projection of himself was standing in the middle of a tunnel like structure within his body.
‘Focus!’ Lan Feng ordered with a stern voice, as Hui Yue was focused on this strange structure inside of him, he jumped in surprise before allowing his soul to descend further and further down until he reached the dantian where Lan Feng was awaiting him.
Within him was an empty cave. A cave which gave him a strange feeling. His consciousness settled down inside, and he quickly noticed the blue orb of fire that
was Lan Feng waiting for him there. Astonished he looked around as he never expected to find a cave like this within himself. Even more surprising was the fact that his consciousness looked exactly like he had looked before he died. He was no baby within his consciousness.
‘It is quite big,’ Lan Feng said approvingly while looking around. ‘This cave will be able to gather quite a lot of Qi.’ Hui Yue had a feeling that it was caused by having both himself and Lan Feng cohabiting within his body.
‘Sit down, cross your legs, and form your hands into the bird hand seal,’ Commanded Lan Feng. Hui Yue was a bit surprised at first but quickly followed the given order. He sat down with crossed legs and made the hand sign as told.
‘Steady your breath and follow the blood out towards your skin. When you reach the outer layer of your body open up a suction force and keep moving at a steady pace until you have gone a whole circle through your body then returned here to your dantian,’ Lan Feng explained the best he could. Hui Yue gave a slight nod before his consciousness turned into a streak of light that made its way through his veins sucking up essence from outside.
It took him half an hour to go a full circle around his body, and when he returned to the dantian, he had a small mist of essence that was hanging around his consciousness, similar to a low valley that gathers mist early in the morning.
Lan Feng nodded content at the sight.
‘Sit down like before; now make sure you use the bird hand seal. Do not open your eyes no matter what happens,’ He ordered, and was satisfied when he saw how Hui Yue followed his directions with no questions asked.
‘Keep breathing steadily. With each breath inhale some of the essence around you. Let it spin in a cyclone inside of you until it has turned as white as newly fallen snow. The whiter it is, the purer the quality,’ Lan Feng gave the final order before he stopped talking. The orb of blue fire was quiet as he spent his time observing Hui Yue refining the essence he gathered.
Hui Yue ended up spending five hours refining the essence. When he finally finished, all the essence around him had vanished; instead, it was replaced by a fine thread of Qi. It was of the purest white. So white that it was shining and it kept swirling around itself in the middle of his dantian cave.
Hui Yue was exhausted but gratified. The amount of effort he had put in had only amounted to a single Qi thread that looked so alone inside the empty cave.
However, this single Qi thread was the product of Hui Yue’s hard work, and he felt great satisfaction within his heart.
‘Well done Hui Yue. That is a very good quality Qi,’ Lan Feng said happily. He had never seen Qi this pure before. Hui Yue had spent more time refining it than even Lan Feng expected. ‘Rest for today; we will do it again tomorrow. This will take a lot of time,’ Hui Yue nodded. Although he wished for the possibility of being a great talent, he quickly acknowledged that he needed to be realistic. Being a great talent was not very likely.
The days went by one after another. Hui Yue spent around six hours every day absorbing essence and refining it into Qi. He wanted to absorb energy twice a day, but Lan Feng would not allow him to because the refinement took a lot of energy. If he were to try twice a day, the quality of Qi was likely to drop.
Upon hearing the reasons, Hui Yue acquiesced. He wanted only the highest quality Qi possible.
Deep inside he was grateful for the help the phoenix was giving him, and their initial enmity had almost completely dissipated. In return, Lan Feng was slightly less haughty towards Hui Yue as he, in turn, was astonished by the boy’s perseverance.
Hui Yue never complained as he struggled day after day while absorbing the essence and refining it. Hui Yue’s Qi was of a quality much purer than his own had been before, and the fact that Hui Yue followed any order given caused Lan Feng to take a liking to the stubborn young man.
Apart from refining Qi, Hui Yue began to understand that he was born into a poor family. He had no siblings, but his parents were both young. His mother, named Hui Lifen, was younger than Hui Yue had been in his previous life. Leaving Hui Yue feeling rather odd about the whole situation.
His father, Hui Guang, was earning money by going into the forest and collecting medicinal herbs. Nevertheless, he could only gather low-grade medicine as they had the least amount of danger. Both of his parents were Student ranked cultivators; his mother was a four-star while his father was a seven-star Student.
Lan Feng said it was the result of not cultivating, but by passively absorbing essence during their everyday life. It was likely that everyone from his village was ranked somewhere in the Student level because they did not have the resources or knowledge to seriously cultivate. Even if they managed to reach the nine-star Student rank, the quality of their Qi would be too poor to allow for any breakthrough.
Everyone who worked in this village lived by gathering medicinal herbs and once a month they would travel towards Riluo City and sell them.
As none of them were cultivators, they would be given the absolutely lowest price possible for the herbs, but that was enough for everyone in the village to survive. Even if they were poor, everyone would help each other, and the whole village was incredibly friendly.
Hui Yue’s new mother looked after their shack while growing vegetables. During the day she also helped look after the few animals that the village raised. She would bring Hui Yue with her on her daily chores to watch over him, but Hui Yue would usually be sleeping.
Hui Yue spent the night cultivating and then would sleep during the day pretending to be a child while looking at the other children he was supposed to play with. Lan Feng would usually just sleep his days away or give Hui Yue a little information about the world they were now living in.
Hui Yue was a beautiful baby. Everyone adored his big eyes and fair skin. His skin never got tanned. Even when his parents brought him outside under the sun all day, the village elders would say that he was as fine skinned as a noble lady. His hair and eyes were black much like in his previous life. His appearance and temperament made him a very loved child throughout the whole village.
With the passing of days, eight months quickly went by. Hui Yue quietly and diligently gathered essence and refined it into Qi during this time. The quality had not dropped at all from when he started, but the fine thread had turned into many threads that were swirling around all over his dantian cave. Nonetheless, something occurred after Hui Yue finished refining his Qi thread for the day. All the threads grouped together and tangled into each other. They merged into a long rope of Qi. A rope that swirled around itself in a cone-like spiral in the middle of his cave. The rope was so white that it shone brilliantly.
The light being emitted from the spiral radiated throughout Hui Yue’s infant body imbuing it with a power he had never felt before. Shock and happiness were evident on his face as he understood that he had finally reached the first-star Student level!
‘Well done!’ Lan Feng said from the side of the cave where the blue orb of fire moved towards the Qi spiral. ‘Now, Hui Yue are you still willing to make a Soul Contract with me?’ He asked while inspecting the spiral. Hui Yue nodded, clearly excited to see what would happen now. As soon as Lan Feng heard his reply a flame shot out from the fire orb. A flame which absorbed the entire Qi spiral.
Hui Yue stared bewildered. He was dumbfounded to see his eight months of hard work disappear in a flash. As the Qi entered the blue orb, it grew in size sizzling with power before it finally burned down and left behind something human shaped.
The anger which had been dormant for so long started rising again until he noticed that the human shape left behind started moving.
Hui Yue stared as the person slowly straightened out. It was a boy who seemed to be around ten years old. Both his eyes and hair were azure blue, and his whole body was covered with small white feathers that were so white it gave him a celestial aura.
Hui Yue was astonished as he saw the boy, but he quickly adjusted and smiled. Who would have guessed that Lan Feng was a
ctually a ten year old boy.
Although Hui Yue was shocked, this world already held so many surprises that Hui Yue no longer felt greatly shocked upon seeing the display which just occurred.
‘Idiot,’ Lan Feng exclaimed while watching Hui Yue. He was displeased as he felt that Hui Yue was making fun of his current form. ‘You have the body of an infant, and I need to scale down my consciousness too, or our body would explode from my mental energy alone,’ He explained.
Lan Feng went straight towards Hui Yue without giving him any time to reply. He took out his hand and with his nail made a long cut on his palm. No blood appeared, but instead, a silver colored liquid slowly oozed out. Hui Yue clearly understood what was expected of him and copied the gesture. He held out his hand towards Lan Feng who grasped both hands together and allowed the liquid to merge.
A voice, which sounded much older than what should have, came from his body and resonated within the dantian cave. ‘You hold my soul, and I hold yours. In accordance with the ancient Soul Contract, we are now one and one shall we be till death do us part or goals achieved.’