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Immortal Lu sat inside the cave, roasting a large chunk of meat over the campfire.
The fire illuminated the entire cave and made the inside very visible. A young teenage boy laid unconscious on a large animal's soft hide.
The two beasts occupied the innermost part of the cave, one alive and the other dead.
A rich oily aroma spread in the air and made Immortal Lu crack a smile. Carefully rotating the meaty beast leg, he excitedly waited to have a taste of something that he didn't get to experience for a long time.
As he waited for the meat to get cooked, he started thinking about the events after his breakthrough.
It was an eventful day full of surprises, and most importantly, he was able to save someone's life.
Finally, the Beast rabbit meat was cooked. Immortal Lu was meticulous with his roasting that the meat didn't get charred. The meat turned brown after the roasting, and the permeating oil on its surface reflected the light giving it a glistering effect.
His mouth watered, and he couldn't wait anymore. With great anticipation, he brought the meat closer to his mouth, inch by inch.
He finally took a bite and tasted food after a long time.
Immortal Lu couldn't help close his eyes and enjoy the juicy flavor that exploded in his mouth. He grinned as he chewed. He wanted to swallow the entire leg piece in one gulp, but he knew it was better to enjoy piece by piece.
'Only if I had some spices and flavorings.' It wasn't the best he had eaten. He still remembered once he got a chance to eat something 'Heavenly.'
Immortal Lu regretted not having any seasonings with him. He gathered whatever he could find in a short time. Other than salt from the nearby sea and he could only find a wild pepper, which was too extreme for consumption.
He focused on his eating with one hand while placing the second leg over the fire.
"What time is it?" He heard the youth beside him say,
'He woke up.' He had waited for almost an entire night for the kid to gain consciousness.
After saving the youth, carrying him on his shoulder, Immortal Lu considered going up to the people and leave him there. But he decided against it after remembering the signs of torture on the lad's body.
'They could be the reason for his decision. Leaving with them without knowing the situation will be like throwing a stone up to fall on your head later.'
So, he decided to wait. He wants to know more from the youth himself. He was curious about the Zhao brat's accomplishment.
The youth laid on the hide he skinned from the rabbit. His eyebrows twitched, and his face contracted as if he was experiencing pain.
Immortal Lu finished eating and moved closer to the youth to check on him.
"What?" The youth got up and muttered. "Did I transmigrate?"
He sat on the floor with his eyes closed. His face showed Immortal Lu that he was struggling with something.
Immortal used his senses to observe his soul.
'His new consciousness is gaining memories from the old one. But, his consciousness is not strong enough to sustain the integration.'
Immortal Lu didn't want to interfere with another's soul, but if he didn't do anything, the lad was going to suffer a lot and may die. While it was also possible that the Zhao brat made arrangements regarding this, he couldn't wait and risk. Because it was a matter of life and death.
He used his Immortal will to control the memories. He made them lined up in order and helped the youth integrate them.
The youth was still in some pain, but with his help, the memories integrated faster and with lesser pain.
Right after the new consciousness fully integrated with the memories, it started thinking. Immortal Lu, who was fully analyzing the soul with his Immortal sense, got flashes of the youth's thoughts.
One of those made him realize something that stumped him. This new consciousness wasn't from this world. A different world that he never heard about made him curious.
Immortal Lu knew that he shouldn't peek on the boy's thoughts, but his curiosity overrode his guilt. Other than him coming from another world, he didn't understand anything else. The new consciousness thought a lot about writing and something like a web line or whatever, which didn't make any sense to him.
After a few minutes of his past life reminiscence, the youth thought something aloud that made sense to him.
'How the hell did I end up here? Did I die, and transmigrated or some crazy force decided to place me in this world?'
Immortal Lu didn't understand what exactly 'transmigration' meant, but he was pretty confident in answering his other questions.
But, that wasn't the end of the youth's self-questioning.
'This body's original Zhao Yao jumped off a sure death cliff. How did this body survive?'
Seeing the lad asking himself an easy question when the answer was right beside him, Immortal Lu couldn't help but laugh. He shook his head with a smile seeing the lad still had his eyes closed.
"Kid, if you don't open your eyes and search, how do you expect to find answers." He said after withdrawing his Immortal sense. It was time to talk with the youth.
"WHAT THE...." The lad instead freaked out by his voice. Because he had his eyes closed, he wasn't expecting someone to talk near him. But Immortal Lu decided to continue talking and answer his thoughts.
"You really did die before taking possession of this body."
This only made the boy more panicked.
"How? How did you...? You can read my mind? Who are you?"
The youth asked something that made Immortal Lu feel a little guilty. So he chose to dodge that question and answer the previous questions.
"It was me who saved you from your fall...Who am I?"
Immortal smiled, remembering the nagging Zhao brat.
"I am an 'old' friend of yours?"
.
..
...
"Eh?" He looked at me in confusion. The boy then closed his eyes and started thinking again.
"Hahahaha. You don't have to search your memories for me. We never met."
Immortal Lu realized that the youth was trying to search his 'new' memories about him and couldn't help but laugh louder.
"Then. What do you mean?" The youth asked while bizarrely looking at him.
"It means I never met you who is from a different world or the boy whose memories you just inherited. But I am familiar with you and can be considered an old friend of yours." Immortal Lu said with a smile. It was a weird situation to experience, as well as to explain.
"How is that even possible?" The lad shook his head, then his pupils dilated as he looked at him with shock. "How did you know that I am from another world? Either you can read my mind, or you are the 'force' that summoned me here."
"No. No. No. I am not a force, and I am not the one who summoned you here. In fact, you aren't summoned at all." Immortal decided it was time to end all the confusion. "How I know what you thought? As you said, I did read your mind."
The youth looked at him like he was some kind of creep.
"How do you think you successfully integrated the memories with your weak mind? Do you think your mind survives something like that? If I didn't reduce your pain, you wouldn't even wake up at this time." Immortal Lu asked the youth questions this time. "I used my power to aid your soul, at that time, I saw glimpses of your soul."
'I could read any weak one's thoughts if I use my Immortal sense.' He thought, but he wouldn't tell that.
"I remember hearing your voice in my sleep. I thought it was a dream."
The youth spend some time thinking, then with a smile, he bowed.
"I am sorry. You saved my life and even helped me when I was in pain. Thank you, Senior."
"It's fine. You don't have to call me that." Immortal Lu smiled before asking.
"Before we go into the explanations, tell me your name."
"I thought you can read from my mind."
"I told you, it was 'accidental.' I only saw some glimpses."
"I am sorry. My name is Zhao Yao." He bowed. The youth now was more respectful compared to before.
"Good name. What about the other one?" Immortal Lu asked.
"His name was also Zhao Yao."
"Is it? Interesting." To think two reincarnations have the same name, it was indeed very interesting.
"So, did I transmigrate into this body? And how can you be sure that I died?" Zhao Yao sat straight, ready to listen to the explanations.
"Transmigrate? What is that?" Immortal Lu asked Zhao Yao a question instead. He heard it before when he saw Zhao Yao's thoughts, and now when he heard it again, he had to know what it meant.
"Transmigration...that.." Zhao Yao showed some hesitancy before he steeled his mind to answer. "It's that one soul takes over someone else's body, usually after the soul of the body died."
"Isn't it possession?"
"Let me clarify how I define it in my world. In simple terms, its the migration of a soul from one world to a living person of another world."
"Oh, I get it." Immortal Lu got more interested in the other world Zhao Yao came from.
"Now to answer your question, whether you transmigrated, and how I know you died. I can tell that you didn't transmigrate, and you died because of one thing." Immortal Lu didn't answer straight away just to tease Zhao Yao. "It's because you had Reincarnated."
"What?" Zhao Yao profusely shook his head.
"Why I said you died? It's because the other Zhao Yao was your reincarnation. Both of you Zhao Yao are basically the same person and same soul."
Zhao Yao looked at him with his mouth wide open.
"Who? If I reincarnated into this person, he should be in charge even if 'our' soul regained my memories." Zhao Yao appeared thinking a lot to make sense out of this. "Why didn't I awaken before."
"You should know why, after seeing his memories. He didn't want to live, which gave a chance for your consciousness to awaken and take over."
Immortal Lu also looked back at Zhao Yao. He wasn't sure he should be happy or sad after seeing the youth.
"I am your old friend because you both are the reincarnation of someone I used to know."
To Immortal Lu, it meant that the spirited but nagging Zhao brat had died. But it also meant that the Zhao brat wasn't completely dead, he was living in a different form.
"What?"
"If you hadn't met me, you wouldn't have awakened. Through some string of fate, your inner soul recognized me, and my Qi unlocked your consciousness." Immortal Lu believed that the Zhao brat tweaked his soul and added some special abilities which will only awaken when one of his reincarnations reached a specific cultivation realm.
But, when he used his Qi to heal Zhao Yao, the soul recognized him and mistakenly acknowledged his Qi to unlock the abilities.
Because of this, instead of reincarnating again, the soul activated it's first hidden ability: To gain access to the knowledge and experience the previous reincarnation processed.
A lot of coincidences made this Zhao Yao, from another world, became the controller of the soul that was programmed to wait for a talented and powerful reincarnation.
"Who is this old friend? Who am I a reincarnation of?" Zhao Yao asked with anticipation.
"I will tell you. Before that, I need to know somethings from your 'new' memories." Immortal Lu didn't have much idea about what happened to the Zhao brat. When he went to the volcano to breakthrough, the Zhao brat was decently strong and famous. He had no idea about anything that happened afterward.
"Who owns the place above the plateau?"
"The clan he was born in, the Ancient Zhao clan." Zhao Yao answered, without much thinking. He appeared to have completely merged with the memories.
"Who established the clan there?"
"It's our Founder Ancestor, the Great Zhao Zhen." Zhao Yao replied, there was slight pride in his words.
'Zhao Zhen. Hmm. That must be him.' Immortal Lu rubbed his jaws as he confirmed his doubts.
He picked up the rabbit leg he was eating and asked Zhao Yao.
"So you are his Great Great Grandson?"
"Why are you bringing up Ancestor Zhao?" Zhao Yao looked at him suspiciously. "I doubt I can call myself a grandson of his because there are a lot of generations between us."
"He was the friend I was talking about. And..." Immortal Lu then continued with a smile. "You are his reincarnation."
Instead of the surprised expression, Immortal Lu expected to see in Zhao Yao, he was met with a doubtful look.
"Are you sure?" Zhao Yao asked. "The Founder Ancestor died like 500,000 years ago."
Hearing this, Immortal Lu's smile froze and the rabbit leg he was holding slipped out of his hand and dropped to the ground.
Immortal Lu looked at Zhao Yao without speaking.
Half a million years. That brat died half a million years ago.
That also meant he was in the volcano for...
Immortal Lu took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
'That's an insanely long time.'
Picking up the meat from the ground, Immortal Lu absentmindedly cleaned it before taking a bite.
For some reason, even without any seasonings or flavors, the juicy meat tasted so 'Heavenly.'
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