There existed two realms namely the higher realm, where Louvain was before death, and the lower continents.
There was only a single higher realm with thousands of lower continents interconnected.
The moment a person makes a breakthrough and becomes a rank six cultivator, the way to the higher realm opens up letting them enter.
Mangrel was also reborn in one of the lower continents from Earth.
'This should also be one of the many lower continents.' Mangrel concluded after looking at the sky, which had a purple moon. The moon of the higher realm was different.
The place where Mangrel sat had a foul stench wafting around it. The stench of rotting feces and corpses.
A cold wind brushed by his body, making him shiver nonstop.
The slum alleyway that Mangrel was in was silent, dead silent. The surrounding houses and tiles were made of cheap grey material.
Mangrel found almost everything missing in his memory, leaving aside a few things. This baffled him somewhat.
Supporting himself by leaning on the grey wall, Mangrel got up with shaky legs. His body swayed left and right almost like a drunkard.
'Such a weak body...I will die soon if I am not able to find a way to fix it soon.' Mangrel felt a little pressure thinking about this.
He checked his body's condition after closing his eyes.
From the condition of the body, he knew that this body was pure with no sign of cultivation. This opened up many possibilities for Mangrel, he didn't have to go through the trouble of changing the cultivation path.
'What If I lost all my past cultivation? Hehehe, with such an untainted body, I can take the best course of action in my path of cultivation and form a foundation that would shock the whole world!' Ambition and excitement rose like blazing fire, but were shortly calmed down by him, extinguishing the fire in his heart.
Overcoming his current body's weakness came first, thinking of something far in the future was a waste of time.
Finding nothing wrong with his body, Mangrel opened his closed eyes and looked beside him.
A woman lay there like a corpse, four meters away wearing the same worn-out clothes as him. She was the mother of the previous host of Mangrel's body.
Looking at her, Mangrel's eyes shone: 'There is a spell that can use blood-relative life and origin essence to strengthen oneself. I was able to get my hands on it by chance, to think it would come in use here....'
It was blood kin extraction spell. This spell brought risks with it of polluting one's cultivation. With impurity in the meridian, future cultivation would be ruined and limited.
It was created by a rank-six cultivator called the death doctor. He created this spiritual spell in his younger days, showing his immense potential in this path.
Normally Mangrel would never use it, but this time, it didn't count. The women had never cultivated, hence no impurity would appear in his nonexistent meridian.
A human can only form a meridian at the age of 18. So currently Mangrel had no meridian too, this just further reassured him.
Absorbing the life essence wasn't a rare thing in the cultivation world. It was used as an attacking art in many sects in the lower and higher realm.
The only thing special about the blood kin extraction spell was that almost no life and origin essence would be wasted. No other spell could match its performance in this area. In exchange for that, the impurity too would slightly increase.
Using both his hands to support himself using the wall, Mangrel headed towards his mother while half leaning on the wall. His pathetic state was again being made aware of as he did this.
Getting near Mangrel's mother's body, he was able to get a proper look at her appearance. She too appeared very weak, almost like a corpse. There were signs of bruises all around her face showing how she was treated in the slums.
The past Mangrel's memory flashed by in front of his eyes. There was a memory of how his mother was always called upon by some of the other beggars here.
Various emotions rose within him, helplessness, anger, Indignant, and hatred but the very next instant, these emotions were suppressed like they never appeared in the first place.
'The matters of mortals do not have anything to do with me.' Mangrel threw this memory away unfeelingly.
Arriving in front of his mother's body, Mangrel extended his hand and placed it upon her head.
Just when he was going to activate the blood kin extraction spell. A familiar feeling rose within him.
It was a filial feeling toward the family. It wasn't his own but instead, it was something ingrained in this body.
...
700 years ago.
When Keivan was transmigrated to the world of cultivation. He was mesmerized and excited by this world, and a yearning feeling like never before rose within him.
A world rich with origin essence and myriad cultivation arts. Using them he could attain what he couldn't in his past life.
So he made a promise to himself.
"This time, the second life that I was given, it would not go to waste."
"Coming to this world was my biggest fortune, as here I could gain true freedom."
Keivan did not give in to despair this time, because, in this world, there was hope.
Keivan as Louvain began his cultivation journey in his clan, named Luoer. But unfortunately, his cultivation talent was below average.
This didn't stop him from pursuing his dream. He cultivated day and night without rest.
He chose to stay in the clan and use the resources provided by them. After all, a lone cultivator could never do anything without resources, it doesn't matter if you are the most talented person in the world or the most talentless, this one thing would never change.
Childhood, Adolescent, middle age, and then old age.
Clansman, disciple, and eventually, an elder.
In a forest full of long trees with thick trunks, a bamboo house, covered in verdant green stood in the middle of it. The trees shook to and fro with the winds, giving it a peaceful atmosphere. The sun shining in between the sky shone the whole forest in bright light.
Sitting in the bamboo house, Louvain, who had the appearance of a middle-aged man with black hair having a few strands of white hair mixed in, looked at the peaceful forest.
'It's time to give up on the past.'
He had married the woman he fell in love with and even had two children. His wife was the daughter of the previous clan leader.
But, in the end, the empty feeling within him just grew.
Keivan noticed: Though he was able to become a rank three cultivator with hard work and some opportunities, his growth was currently being suppressed by the clan intensively.
Thus, he decided he could not let the thing go as it is right now.
Hence, he chose to leave the clan. Walking on his own path. Living behind the protection of his clan would not benefit him in any way further in the future.
He was hesitant because of his wife, son, and daughter, but nevertheless, he still wanted to do it.
The complexity of human emotions lay open at that moment.
It was painful parting with them, but it was even more painful to end his cultivation journey there. In such a situation, he made an extreme choice for himself.
In the future, His clansmen would come to laugh at his stupidity and would be looked down upon.
But to Louvain,
So what if the whole clan laughs at me?
So what if I was considered an idiot by everyone?
'I still want to do it nonetheless.'
Whether he dies or attains what he wanted, the chances of failure wouldn't stop him.
As the saying goes, The chances to succeed only open when tried upon.
Having no confidence in oneself and making excuses for failure to not move forward was a normal thought to human beings.
Keivan had matured a lot and his mind was also firm because of what he went through.
He was considered one of the wastes to the whole clan and oppressed by many for a long time.
He knew that cultivating without the help of resources was very hard with his talent. He would only die soon if he left the clan. So he endured everything while cultivating painstakingly.
While facing all this, Keivan felt himself breaking apart many times but he persisted and reached the level he was at the time.
Keivan looked at the sun above him, he had made his resolve to leave the clan that he lived in for more than ninety years. he appeared in his fifties because his body's aging had slowed down.
Now all the clansmen of the Luoer pay respect and try to carry out favors with him. He was looked at as a role model by all the clansmen.
But even after attaining all this, Keivan felt empty deep within himself.
He liked how people respected, revered, and praised him but that was not how he wanted to live his life.
Clenching his hand with resolution, Keivan made up his mind.
Pride didn't stop him, humiliation didn't faze him, and the love and filial feeling towards his wife and children were trampled upon!
Just so that he could walk further into the path of cultivation!
'I refuse to forgo my ambitions just because of these feelings! The world is huge. If I don't even try, how can I forgive myself?'
'Wasn't this the opportunity I waited for my whole life? I will definitely do my best!'
Let the lowly desires of this body rot away in hell!
...
Facing the filial feeling this time, Mangrel sneered at it in his heart. His face returned to tranquillity with his initial joy from succeeding in rebirth floating away.
He squished his hand on his mother's head, spreading the little spiritual energy he had in his soul to activate the blood Kin extraction spell. He was using it upon a mortal, so a weaker version of this art works just fine.
Normally, it would have been impossible for Mangrel to activate it, in his current state. The reason he was able to use it was because of another art — Spiritual harmonization.
Controlling the spiritual essence in the atmosphere using one's own spiritual energy. That was all this art did, not many learned it as it would be useless as their cultivation rises.
But to Mangrel, this art was a must. This art was very useful at the beginning of his journey.
Mangrel's mother woke up having a bad feeling within her. The first thing she saw was Mangrel standing in front of her with an expressionless face and his shining eyes filled with evil intentions.
"Son?...no, you are n-not my son... who..." Though the hand on her head looked very weak, an ominous feeling rose in her.
This was her first time watching such a cold expression on her son's face. It was akin to how a wolf would set its sights on a rabbit.
She wanted to move away from it, but it was already too late.
"Correct," Mangrel spoke out slowly to not gather any unwanted attention in this slum area. His eyes shone in a ruthless light, killing was also nothing but a part of cultivation. The killing wasn't the main part, but what you got from killing was.
Blood kin extraction!
From Mangrel's outstretched hand, a black stream of light came out, twisting like worms entering his mother's body.
The moment it entered her, the expression on her face changed.
Her horrified visage, twisted from pain, now darkened the pale face from being unhealthy.
As Mangrel willed, the black streams, now turned pure green began to flow back from his mother into his body as she herself was withering in front of his naked eye.
Rays of pure green streams circled Mangrel's body, before directly entering it. The sight was beautiful like he was being blessed by a supreme being.
Just performing this one art had exhausted almost all of Mangrel's spiritual energy at once. He felt slightly dizzy internally.
A few seconds later, Mangrel took back his hand and sat crossed-legged, refining the life force overflowing in his body.
His mother's corpse collapsed, turning into ash. She died full of regret, agony, and confusion.