In his first life, everything was his; from wealth, fame, woman, talent to the jealousy of those around him, it all came upon his hands without fuss or worry.
Descending from a line of cultivators with a history incomparable to others he had never thought things would go astray, not during his lifetime.
Cultivation was a formality for his family, should he wish to advance a stage all he needed was wealth. With wealth he could buy everything required to skip all but the worst of hardship.
Cultivation by meditation in order to gain a single layer in Qi condensation? Pointless.
Buy a pill, an elixir, a treasure that raises your inner Qi passively so that even sleeping could raise ones Qi. Wealth provided him with all the treasures he could ever ask for, defensive or otherwise.
With wealth he could even buy fame, it was simple to gain the admiration of his 'subjects' when one could flaunt treasures of all kinds without care of breaking the bank. Should these followers of his be lucky he may even gift them an item or two as a show of his generosity.
Fame and wealth put together gave him additional advantages over a specific group if you could call them that, the opposite sex.
From those seeking to be free of restraint, to the many seeking nothing but money, to the ones' aspiring to be the leaders of a generation, to those trying to raise their families up from nothing, to the cold beauties who believed themselves to be untameable, all eventually giving themselves to him.
The desire to gain freedom, to keep cultivating in order to gain power, it pervaded his society just like any other, one could cultivate for eon's or one can simply buy their way to the top.
As for himself, did he need to try hard in life? No.
His family had ruled along side the many noble house's of cultivation for many a millennia not through wealth but talent, their bloodline noble even among those who considered themselves equal.
Not once in life did he have a need for assistance from anyone for he - even among his peers, stood alone at the top.
If he wished to cultivate a certain technique he only needed to look for a moment to understand it, his bloodline abilities along with his incredible instincts would overcome any limitations that the cultivation technique may have.
Yes, it was not him that made an error in cultivation but the technique itself having been flawed.
As for his own looks, well, he would be lying if he said anything other then exquisite. No one could not resist him, he was charming, wealthy, dashing, had a background glimmering in prestige and most of all he had power.
In the Empire known as Gisoo no one would dare say he lacked in any aspect.
He had it all.
That was truly what he believed.
The countries surrounding the Gisoo Empire could only be called backwater towns. Should any country try and attack the empire it will undoubtedly fail, it would be a military campaign that could only be called a 'severe lack of judgment'.
It would also be the last time that it would be called so.
Should the Empire seek to take something from the surrounding countries no one would dare to confront them head on, they could only defend hiding behind their strongholds while the empire simply takes what it wants from the surroundings.
Treasures, secret areas, cultivation furnaces to even the future talents that country may have, it will all be taken.
With each successful campaign further elevating the prestige of his household and those of his allies, he lived in splendor.
In the Gisoo Empire the only one's who had a 'right' above even his own was the Royal family, this right came from a legacy long past, not from the present.
Should he look upon the royal families heir, he could say 'Barely a royal, more of a leech surviving of the pity of society' with no one daring to say otherwise.
As for any of the princesses, well... they are no more then political chips for the royals to keep whatever meager power they may have, in essence his future playthings.
At least they should have been.
From his view the world of cultivation had little to offer.
Prodigies rouse and fell, great battles between heroes of a generation spreading waves of glory came and went, calamities shaking the land spread and faded.
Yet none of this affected him standing.
Until they came.
A foe he could not have anticipated.
A foe that shouldn't have existed.
From the void they came, not from the east, west, north or south, not even from below.
They simply appeared from the void of space, a place so vast and empty he could not envision life of any kind living inside of it.
At first all seemed well, a few vessels landing in far off countries that held no real relevance to the wider world he knew.
He thought nothing of it, a few unknown beings suddenly appearing was a common trope among cultivation rumors and stories.
Even if something came from it, could it hurt his empire?
Then the stories started to appear closer and closer to the empires border nations, great tales of wars raging in distant lands spread like wildfire reaching even the ears of the Empires noble families.
At first only minor interest peaked their attention, after all rumors of beings from the void could not so simply be dismissed but they shouldn't be cause for concern either.
"Just a bunch of parasites screaming bloody murder" Kao had said.
Nothing should have come of these fabrications by the lesser beings. Yet before he knew it a war council had been gathered by the royal family.
He could only scoff at such a farce.
Whenever the royal family needed to assert power, they brought together the noble families not to reign them in but to pit them against each other.
It was a simple yet effective plan that worked time and time again.
When one family lagged behind the other it became a point of ridicule and shame for that family, to them pride was everything. Every war fought in the empires name was only considered an opportunity to one up each other.
It did not matter who or how many died in war, only the gains were counted.
Thinking of this as just another pointless feud in the making, Kao ignored the summons.
From the west they came on land, from the north by air, in the south from the ground while the from the east the very seas turned against them.
The attacks happened so suddenly even the war council prepared to counteract this very force had been taken by surprise.
Legions fell in days, cities burned to the ground, towns simply vanished while even the land became deformed.
Blood flowed in rivers while ash covered the skies, not even the souls of the departed had been spared being captured never to let go of their grudges in the afterlife.
The empire caught of guard could only defend its vital points until an effective counter attack could be launched. While most legions on the outskirts had been ambushed they still held strong long enough for the enemy forces to divert more attention towards them.
This distraction allowed for many survivors to flee deeper into the empire, even if they had been thoroughly beaten.
Not willing to lose this opportunity the noble houses rallied whatever forces they could holding the invaders advance or even outright eliminating them.
This counter attack, although successful had been hasty.
As soon as the counter attacks made contact with enemy troops a game of cat and mouse began.
While one attack was successfully repelled another came, each fight the enemy cared not for it's losses.
This would not impact the empire in the short run had the enemy been any of the surrounding kingdoms, but against an enemy who's number was unknown this loss of life on both sides became an ever increasing problem for the future.
With an ever escalating war with no end in sight, the noble houses started to eye each other.
Which among them would try and betray the other first? Without wasting time the southern houses started to take advantage of the situation first.
Raids on resource's owned by noble houses started deep within the south of the empire, a feat that could not be explained by a simple breach of the defense line.
With the south taking the lead, the western and eastern noble houses let greed take over.
This is what lead to his current state.
'I remember that day still, what should have been a simple outing for a lord among lords, had turned into the last day of my life. Those traitors, I will get my revenge soon enough'
Kao did not have wealth in this life he was an orphan, he did not have fame to speak off as he had nothing to claim pride over, he did not have woman fawning over him... this one he couldn't do anything about currently.
Even his most prized possession, his bloodline was no more.
At this moment Bran Ai walked into the shared room quickly reaching his mat to rest, Kao ignored him not caring for how long he had gone missing for.
'I have already collected earth, fire and water elements. All I need now is wind and wood elements to craft a decent Qi gathering net. If I can successfully create it my immediate worries should be alleviated'
As for the future, he still had to plan.