by A P Gore
"Senior Joshua, calm down. Relax and meditate. I'll leave now and come back in a year." Jei jumped to his feet. The senior wasn't in good mood, so he better leaves him alone.
"Wait! Tell me your name first."
"Li Jei. You can call me Jei." Jei swiftly left his soul palace. The longer he stayed inside the blue box, the more he suffered after leaving.
"So, your name is Li." Joshua's sound echoed in his mind.
Jei was startled at first. He didn't believe he could hear senior even when he wasn't in his soul palace. "Josh, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Li. I can even read your thoughts. I'm connected to your damned soul after all."
Jei didn't have any words to express his feelings. He was dumbstruck by this development. After a long pause, he managed to choke out, "It's Jei. Li is my surname.”
JOSHUA
Joshua floated in the strange place Jei had called his soul palace. When Joshua had first arrived, it was empty as a recycled pizza box except for a shiny crystal floating in the middle. After fighting with the crystal, and losing, he realized he could change the environment with his will. So, he had created a mountain, a field, and eventually a house for himself to ease his mind.
Everything had turned to shit.
That fucking busty overseer had cheated him. She’d said the kid had innate talent.
“Innate talent” my ass.
They’d all cheated him. Destiny had fucked him in of all his orifices, and it felt like shit. Dog shit!
First, it was the fire at his company, a trap to kill him and his sister. He’d fucking died, but fortunately his sister had survived and even married to have a kid. Aygo. He wanted to play with his nephew.
Second, he’d been given hope to return to Earth after a thousand years on this shitty planet. He had seen where Jei lived, and it wasn't up to his standards.
But why would he care where the fuck that kid lived? He was stuck inside this box. He’d thought it would be just few minutes before he had a chance to get out in the real world by stealing the kid's body. But then he’d found out that the kid would probably die in fifty years. Why bother?
He was fucked again.
Everyone had fucked him. The fire, the overseer, the blue crystal, and now the kid's shitty lack of talent.
Fucking Jesus. What am I going to do? Why do I have to spend fifty years waiting for the kid to die?
He glared at the blue crystal which prevented him from absorbing the weird kid who put his surname first. God only knows why!
He lifted the tea and took a sip, then spat it out. The tea tasted like snake shit. Why?
He willed a cup of Starbugs into existence. The green and white printed paper cup appeared with a golden-brown liquid inside. Beaming, he sipped it and once again spat it out. The acrid taste lingered on his tongue.
"What the heck is happening with my coffee?" He stared at the golden-brown liquid with horrified eyes.
"Let's order a pizza."
A box of Sam’s pizza appeared, but it was empty. Like the box he lived in.
"Fucking crazy world. Why is this happening to me?"
Everything was strange and unknown. Loneliness crept across his heart. The empty space, stale air, shitty food... Even if he had succeeded in taking over the kid’s body, there was little chance he would have lived peacefully in this crazy world.
Who the fuck named a continent White Phoenix and a town Cloud Dragon? Why couldn't they call it something like New York. Or they could have called it Los Angeles or, worst case, Miami.
No matter what, I'm going to die alone.
Damn! How am I going to get back to my sis? Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
I need to do something. Only if I had a way to make this kid live a thousand years. Even if I can't get out of this place, at least I'd have a chance to go back and see my sis.
Joshua floated inside the soul palace, and when he couldn’t think of any way to escape, he hovered next to the blue crystal.
"You stupid fucking crystal! You’re protecting this kid, but don’t you know he’s going to die in fifty years? What's the use of your protection then?"
The crystal pulsed with a dark blue light, and so did the small piece of the crystal he had hidden behind a stone. When he’d fought against the crystal, a small piece had fallen off. He’d hid it for analysis, but he hadn't had the time to think about it yet. Why was it pulsing now?
He grabbed that pulsing piece of the crystal. The rough crystal disintegrated in his hand, and a thread of blue light shot out of it and entered his forehead.
Joshua lost consciousness and fell down, his forehead emitting a strange blue light; New information appeared in his mind.
Chapter 7
It was almost dusk when Jei stepped out of his soul palace. Shadows wrapped around him as he opened his eyes.
Expecting a rush of pain, he breathed deep. The pain came every time he left his soul palace, so he tried to avoid going there too often.
But today was different. His body was relaxed and pain free, like he’d breathed in the natural essence he gathered using his gate of healing. This had never happened before.
Shaking his head, he glanced at his sister who lay unconscious. Brother Green lay next to her head. The spirit animal’s small eyes narrowed as he peered at Jei.
Jei got up and lit an oil lamp. Dim yellow light spread out and covered every corner of the small house they lived in. The dim light exposed his bare household with minimal furniture, consisting of only a small ding, a wok and few plates. He’d always wanted to provide better for Xue, but it was all he could do to get enough food for the two of them; better furniture was a luxury he couldn't afford.
Xue will wake up any time. I’d better get to cooking.
But instead, he sat next to Xue, watching over her pale, fragile body tucked under a rough brown sheet. She was all the family he had left, ever since their grandmother died a few years back. He tousled Xue's long black hair before moving on to reheat the rice he had bought.
Thick black smoke soon filled the room.
Xue woke, coughing hard.
Jei quickly grabbed a fan and waved the smoke out the tiny window on the north side wall. He only had one wet fire wood, which was ample in the surrounding area; it contained 98% impurities, resulting in smoke as thick as talisman paper. Dry fire wood required special refining and cost one silver each, which he couldn't afford.
"Xue’er, five minutes. Food is getting ready." He helped Xue get up and lean back against the wall. Brother Green rushed to sit in her lap. As Xue's long fingers cuddled over his head, he quickly fell into a deep sleep. He loved sleeping in her lap.
"Is that your sister?" Senior Joshua's voice echoed in Jei's mind.
Jei sighed. “Yes, she is." He had almost forgotten about the man living in his soul palace. There would be no privacy going forward, apparently.
"Brother Jei, who are you talking to? Did you meet a pretty girl in your workshop?" A beautiful smile spread across Xue's pale face. "Can you bring her here? I want to meet my future sister-in-law."
Jei shook his head. "There is no girl here. I'm talking with senior Joshua, the man in my soul palace.”
Xue’s eyes darkened. "What? Is that the guy I saw? And how can you two talk outside of your soul palace?"
"Well..." How can I explain this to Xue’er? Joshua wanted to take over my body, but the blue crystal didn't let him. But he also seemed to be a good person. He even offered me tea. But what would Xue think about him? "He can talk with me through my mind. Don't worry about him. Let's eat. You must be hungry."
"I am." Xue closed her eyes, inhaling the sweet aroma coming out of the ding. Though prepared much earlier, the food still maintained its freshness. Normally, food would maintain the heaven and earth energy it absorbed for 10-12 hours after being cooked. After that, the energy would dissipate. Giving off a good fragrance when heated meant it still held the energy within.
Jei took out two plates and served the meat and rice n
eatly to Xue. He even put out a small plate and a piece of meat for Brother Green to eat whenever he woke up.
Xue placed her hand on her stomach as she ate slowly. The happiness on her face radiated in Jei's heart. This was what he lived for, to see his sister happy.
"Kid, what happened to your sister's legs?" Senior asked.
"She lost the life in them in an accident when I was seven years old. In the same accident I lost my parents and my dantian." Jei sent a mental message rather than speaking aloud. He didn't want Xue to remember the freaking accident. Xue always got emotional when they talked about their parents’ death.
"Hmm, I'm sorry for your loss." Senior sighed. "But why don't you get her checked by a doctor?"
"A doctor?"
"Aha, you might not know that term. Let me check. Yes, an alchemist in your language."
"Do you know how much money an alchemist charges for a simple checkup?" Jei said. "Five thousand silver for a sitting, and my daily earning is around ten silver. From that, I use five silver to buy food. I've been saving for the last two years, and I still haven’t collected that much money." A tear escaped his left eye. "Even asking a healer to check her out is a costly expense. There’s no alchemist in this town anyway, only a healer who comes to the sect branch once a week."
Xue stopped eating, her eyes filled with worry. "Brother, what happened? Why are you crying?"
"Keep eating. It was the smoke." Jei hoped she wouldn't catch on to his lie.
“Kid, do you want to give your sister a better life?” Senior asked in a serious tone.
"Yes, of course." Jei's fingers clenched in a fist.
"Then you must train and improve your cultivation."
Jei snorted. He didn't understand why senior Joshua was making a joke suddenly.
"Don't laugh,” senior said. “There’s a way for you to advance your cultivation. It's called Body Cultivation. Do you know there are realms beyond level 9 of qi condensation? It's called the Heavenly Sea realm. And there’s a realm in body cultivation that would reforge your body and let you form a new dantian. Even body cultivation would enable you to learn divine arts. These are quite stronger than the martial skills qi cultivators can use."
Jei laughed, and in doing so, he accidently bit his tongue.
"Brother, eat slowly. Why are you laughing? Is there something on my nose?" Xue checked her nose. She had a habit of letting food stick to her nose. Jei always teased her when it happened.
"Senior. Please stop joking with me. Even if it's true, how would you know all these details?" Jei sent mentally. He’d thought the senior was a serious person, but listening to him now, he sounded like a crazy outsider. Something beyond qi condensation level 9? Body Cultivation? People would laugh at him if he said something like that in public.
"Don't believe me, eh? You’ve already opened your gate of healing. That’s part of the Fiendgod Body Cultivation art. There's more to it, which I don't know yet, but if you find my spatial bag there is a Body Cultivation system suitable for you. I bet there are more things in that bag that would come in handy for you, too."
Gate of healing. Fiendgod Body Cultivation. Master Yu had said something like that when he’d opened Jei's first gate of healing. Did that mean senior Joshua was telling the truth?
Is there hope for me after all?
Chapter 8
Relief washed over Jei as he matched the senior's words with Master Yu's. The rice in his bowl suddenly seemed like the most delicious meal in town. Xue stopped eating and stared at him with narrowed eyes.
A smile played on his lips involuntarily.
"Big Brother, why are you smiling like you found some treasure in your food?" Xue’er asked, wiping her mouth with a towel. Though she couldn't move by herself, she remained particular about hygiene and tried to depend on her brother as little as possible.
Brother Green hissed at him, a look of surprise in his small eyes.
"Something like treasure." Jei closed his eyes and moved toward his soul palace. It would exhaust his physical energy, but he had to discuss this face to face with the senior.
In less than a breath's time, he hovered inside his soul palace. It was changed once again. The mountain and grassland remained the same, but now a river flowed from the mountain, through the grassland, and vanished on the edge of the soul palace.
A man with golden hair stood at the edge of the river, staring at the water. He was senior Joshua, wearing strange clothes.
"Senior..."
Senior Joshua turned his head with disdain. "No more Senior Joshua, kid. Call me Josh."
"Okay... Josh." What a strange name.
"I knew you’d come." Senior threw a smirk at him.
"But how do you know all of this? You said you’re not from White Phoenix continent."
"No, I'm not from here," the senior said, turning to look at the crystal. "It's because of your guardian crystal. With its help, I received some enlightment about your world."
Jei's face turned solemn. Enlightenment. He’d heard this word from Master Yu. He said an enlightment was required to reach the 7th level of qi condensation. Of course, Jei didn't understand what “enlightenment” was, but for some reason the word stuck in his mind like paint on a canvas. "Enlightenment?"
"Yes. I made a pact with the soul crystal." Senior's eyes shined with a profound light.
"A pact?"
"A contract, actually. He asked me not to harm you for the next sixty years, and then he'll let me guide you on the path of immortality." senior glanced at the blue crystal. "Mr. Guardian, if you concur, pulse twice."
Spinning around, Jei focused on the crystal. To his surprise, the crystal did pulse twice with dark blue light.
"Can it speak? It never spoke with me when I tried," Jei said.
After their parents died in the accident, Xue’s ability had awakened suddenly, and Jei was the first person she’d involuntarily used it on. It was Xue who found Jei had a soul palace and that a blue crystal floated inside it. While pondering the crystal, Jei was accidently transported to his soul palace. That first time, Jei thought the crystal would kill him, but it hadn’t. Soon, he realized it wouldn't hurt him. So, when he got the chance, he’d tried to talk with it.
Only to fail.
The crystal had never spoken back or signaled its liveliness. It stood there like the Sword of Immortal on the mountain Cloud Peak where the branch of Purple Cloud Sect settled thousands of years back. People said that even a level 9 qi condensation expert couldn't remove that sword from the mountain peak, hence the name. Sword of Immortal.
But the things had changed.
The blue crystal had spoken to senior Joshua.
Still, Jei found it hard to believe senior completely.
"Why would you agree to this? What's in it for you?" He was only seventeen years old, but living in a small house and feeding a family of two all by himself had taught him one simple truth: no one helped anyone without any expectations. He had stopped expecting people to help him out of goodness long ago. Only Madam Yu was an exception to this.
"Listen, kid. I'm not a saint to work without expecting any returns," senior said. ”There is a way for us to co-exist. A way for me to get a body for myself. I don't have the complete answer yet, but I think if we can separate after fifty or sixty years and you retain your body, I’ll get my own." Senior stroked his brows. "If it can be done, then we should co-operate. But to make it happen, the first step is to make you strong. Only after you reach the Heavenly Sea realm will we get the truth out of this bastard." He glanced at the blue crystal.
"A Heavenly Sea realm? What's that?" Jei asked. He only knew about the 9 levels of qi condensation. Was this beyond that?
"Let me help you." Senior stepped forward. Extending his hand, he grabbed Jei's forehead and a thin line of blue light flew inside Jei's head.
Jei suddenly felt like his head exploded with information. A stream of profound information settled in his mind, radially available to consume.
&n
bsp; Then everything went blank.
Jei woke an indeterminate time later. He didn't know what senior Joshua had done, but now he possessed the knowledge of the possibilities that existed in the world. Immortal Ascendance. It was a real thing, and people used to attain it. What’s more, there were several paths to this destination.
He could become an immortal—a being who could live until the end of the world, a being who could surpass even the gods.
Jei always thought qi condensation was the way forward. Not anymore. There were actually three different paths that lead to Immortal Ascendance.
Qi Cultivation was the one he knew and had seen people practicing. Condensing the essence of heaven and earth into their dantian in the form of qi.
But there was also Body Cultivation—using the essence of heaven and earth energy to temper one’s body and reach Immortal Ascendance.
Finally, there was Magic—using the essence of heaven and earth and studying the natural edicts to reach Immortal Ascendance.
Each path was profound and had its ups and downs. The main point was, he didn't need a dantian to travel the other paths. He could study edicts to advance or use body refining techniques and store the heaven and earth essence in his whole body to make it tough like metal. Every path lead to a single destination: Heavenly Sea realm. There was more, something beyond that, but he couldn't access that information. He didn't know what it was, but he knew there was something beyond Heavenly Sea realm.
Maybe if he reached Heavenly Sea realm, he’d be able to access information from beyond.
Why had no one told him this? Even Master Yu, who looked favorably on him, had never told him about this possibility.
Tamping his sorrow down into the bottom of his heart, he peeked into the four realms every path went through. The final path, Heavenly Sea realm, would reforge his body into something heavenly. Once he got there, his muscles, blood, bones, and internal organs would be reforged into the fires of heaven and earth. Maybe he would get a new dantian.