Last thing I remembered was chasing after Yoturuki and blacking out. Only to awaken in the dark. This was not dreamscape. A luminous glow and suddenly light sprung up from rotating energy fields. Words of archaic spells were circling in them.
I was in a cavernous chamber. No exit seen. No entrance seen.
Thirteen intimidating stone statues towering over me.
The statues were of sitting cloaked men with barely visible sculpted faces.
Sadness. Deep, gloomy despair.
"HellooooooOOOO," I called out.
"HellooooooOOOOO OOOOOO OOOO," the darkness around echoed back.
A movement and a boy appeared with some sort of spotlight on him.
If this is an alien kidnapping, where the hell is Zaixing to rescue me? Shit, this can't be the netherworld, too. I am in the f**king Twilight Zone. That damn show used to be popular during my earthly youthful existence.
The boy looked at me as I stepped away cautiously. The face was of Ji Feng. Lifelike, almost human. If not for the slight translucency.
Pitch black darkness was surrounding us along with the statues.
Wake up. I am in a dream. I slapped myself hard.
The boy looked in my direction and pointed to me. "Why... why do you look like me?"
Ah, shit. Because I am the hun that occupies your body?
Is this the po of Ji Feng? Isn't it just a memory card of his life? Why was it showing sentience? Then again, why did I retain his memories and mine? Good questions to ask Zaixing when pops up.
"Well, urm, awkward to say, I am now you." I scratched my head.
Nothing to lose. I am already stuck here. What else could be done to me?
"Anything you would like me to do for you?"
Pays to be nice to the po who is feeding me information to function in this world.
He shook his head.
"You sure? I can help you take revenge?"
Yes. Sweet revenge on a platter is best served cold. Vengeance was a special innate capability of mine. Well, before becoming Ji Feng. I was vicious when someone offended me. An old saying is to kill the grassroots so it cannot regenerate, also known as killing the root cause of the problem. Finish someone's career before they can finish yours.
"No revenge." he shook his head. "I know who killed me. But still that is family. The one I loved most. He did it for my own good."
Who the hell is he kidding? For your own good? A po of an intelligent prodigy is defending his murderer with the 'I was murdered for my own good' excuse. Sorry , don't buy it. Your whole family is f**ked up in their blood-thirst for power - royally.
"Your brother, Ji Liang?"
Ji Feng shook his head.
"Ji Lang?"
Again, a no.
"Don't tell me that it is your father?"
No reaction.
Filicide could make sense. All the while, Royal daddy was nice to give me whatever I wanted. Correction, he gave me, Ji Feng's replacement, whatever I wanted.
Still, it was the least expected person. Like an M. Night. Shyamalan's movie plot. But why? Ji Feng was no threat to his throne.
"The poison... there was no hope. I would have wasted away slowly. Dad loved me the most. He didn't want to kill me but I made him."
Eh. So it was Euthanasia. His own father had to mercy kill him with his bare hands, probably most unwillingly. Almost like what I did to my previous father except the doctors call it the 'cessation of advanced medical treatment' in view of 'terminal state where death is the final outcome.'. Aka the 'he is going to be dead soon, just sign it and spare us the nasty noise of cracking his ribs during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.'
Oddly, looking back at my previous life situation - that was done more in a sense of duty to that old soul that brought me up. My crying was just a cover up act to follow the 'normality' of the crowd. There was still the guilt of taking his life with a signature. Did they call it sorrow?
He crumbled on the ground before me, his twin image. Then covered his face with his hands and started sobbing. A 13-year-old boy sobbing in front of me - the very person whom everyone in my previous life would avoid when they were upset. What do I do?
My hand reached out to him for a cursory, comforting pat on the shoulders. The usual 'pat pat there there' action which was so ingrained in my past.
Usually, crying people annoyed the shit out of me. Get over it. There are the worst things in life. In Ji Feng's case, his ending was the worst. I could not help but feel very sorry for him.
His hand suddenly grabbed hold of my wrist firmly. He looked up. His eyes were now glowing red.
"I can teach you how to use xuan qi, like the last time." the look in his eyes pierced into me.
Something stinks here. The aura is not of the third entity.
"Remind me, how did I teach you the last time."
Zaixing did say he would pursue the matter of the xuan qi usage. Was this him?
"What ever do you mean?" I feigned ignorance.
"If you can't remember, so how can I teach you again? I am also busy."
Definitely not the third entity. There's a malevolent feeling about this Ji Feng duplicate, eating at me. In fact, a certain looming darkness. I am being played and I don't like games. A deal is a deal, my word being my honor never to reveal the third entity's presence.
If he wants to know so much, then no words, some attempt. I closed my eyes and started concentrating on the single point in my finger. The strange tingling flow initiated.
Opening my eyes, that duplicate had stepped away further. I glanced at my forearms - the tell tale purplish glow of the flow is there.
"This is how I did it," I answered.
"Wait, don't…," the duplicate said as he reached out to stop me.
A sudden burning sensation ran through my body. Hot. SEARING HOT.
"Damn it," Zaixing's voice could be heard. "Aaaaahhhhhhhuh Sh********t, you are breaking through another level."
"Told you it was a bad idea." That was Kanghui's voice. "But it means that he can take on the other. Not exactly a vegetable now if he can survive the pain of initiation."
My body was engulfed in some blackish, purplish inferno, straight from hell. Every part of me was burning through, like my body wanted to splitter apart into minute pieces. Then a loud BOOM was heard. Darkness again.
***
"How's he doing?" Lianfeng asked Xuanyi as he looked at the feverish Ji Feng, tossing and turning in the bed.
Only yesterday, he exited seclusion, only to find the headquarters wrecked with casualties from a fight he had missed out on. Wugang was still busy comforting a very frightened Mingyan when she blurted out the entire incident. A newcomer had caused the entire mess.
"Still hot. It is odd, he has been feverish for the two days. Usually a breakthrough in level shouldn't bring upon such symptoms," Xuanyi mumbled. "Even the physicians are baffled. Hopefully your elders can find out the reason."
"If he doesn't recover, we may need to return to the capital because the best royal physicians are there," Xuanjing sighed.