Wu Long went through the outer court and quickly approached a small house with a tiny courtyard on the outskirts of the sect.
Because of the nature of the sect, every disciple had their own private dwelling, even if small, as that would eliminate any privacy concerns during their 'cultivation'.
As he went into his room, he approached the mirror and closely examined his appearance, confirming that he was essentially just younger, and this genuinely felt like his own body.
'That woman..., did she put me in an illusion?'
This was his first thought. There were certain constraints on an illusion, and as long as you could even consider a possibility of being in an illusion, you could break it. However, he still thought of a possibility of it being an illusion only because he now understood that the woman he met was someone far more terrifying than anyone he ever knew of, and as such, maybe had the means to bypass the restrictions of illusion with unknown methods.
But he quickly discarded this thought as he recalled her words to him.
'A gift... huh?'
If he stretched his imagination, this gift would be a second chance, returning him to his younger days, but he never was in this sect, in fact dual cultivation sects were extremely rare at the time he was young, so much so that not many people knew they existed.
The second possibility was reincarnation, and while reincarnation existed as a confirmed fact as it was necessary to contemplate and comprehend Samsara on the way of cultivation to immortality, the memories of past life being wiped out was an irresistible law of the universe and no one had the means to resist it, even Gods. Let alone keeping memories, no one had the ability to keep track of when or where someone would be reincarnated after their death, as comprehension did not even remotely signify control.
However, he could not deny the reality before him as he indeed had all his memories but was in a younger body that matched his to a hair.
'This gift, I will have to work hard to be worthy of it'
A sharp glint emerged deep in his eyes, and a determination filled his heart. He knew that he encountered an extraordinary chance, albeit not willingly.
He, of course, was not without concerns, as there were people left behind that he was worried about, but he understood that worrying about it now would not solve the problem and the only thing he could do right now, was to seize the opportunity before him. Moreover, he had to properly pay back the people responsible for his near demise, so he had to regain his strength.
'Because of the background I grew up in that did not have a strong cultivation legacy, while I achieved great heights in my past life, it got progressively harder to advance the further I went as my foundation was already solidified with low-grade cultivation techniques. Now, I have the chance to practice the best cultivation techniques I know right from the start, as well as temper my body at the same time instead of inferior methods I used in the past. In this life, I can achieve even higher heights, and I can do it at unprecedented speed!'
He grew excited just thinking about the new prospects opened up in front of him.
He then sat down on the bed in a lotus position with closed eyes and spent about three hours going through all of his memories and checking the condition of his body.
After this, his eyes flashed open and he had a weird expression on his face, while the excitement he felt before was a bit more restrained.
"My sword is broken?" he said out loud.
The most valuable treasure in a Dual Cultivation sect for a male disciple was the sword between their legs, and his was not able to stand up.
When he first joined the sect, because of his overwhelmingly handsome appearance, he was immediately approached by many female disciples who wanted to cultivate with him, but alas, his problem quickly became apparent and the news spread around. Being clueless and without memories also did not help, as he was known to be a silly dumb boy who could not use his thing down there by the second week he arrived. This, coupled his near non-existent cultivation base at his age quickly extinguished any hopes for him to be able to cultivate with any of the female disciples, and as an Outer Court disciple, he was quickly abandoned and forgotten by nearly everybody.
If not for a few elders who checked in on him and helped him by sending him on minor missions such as the one he was accomplishing when he was bitten by the snake, he would not have enough achievements to even procure food, let alone get cultivation resources.
'Heh, to think I, who was called the God of Pleasure would be in this situation' he smiled wryly.
In his previous life he was the target of envy of most men, as he was surrounded by the most beautiful women and held a great deal of influence and power, he had it all. Thus the pathetic state he was in was so vastly opposite that it was quite ironic.
However, he was not greatly discouraged, as he knew a lot of ways to improve his condition.
He concentrated a bit and recalled one of the best cultivation techniques he knew, the 'Chaos Refinement Body Tempering Art', a technique he obtained from an ancient clan known as the greatest warriors in the universe at one point in history, the Great Rakhshasa Clan.
They reigned supreme at the time, but a long and intense internal strife brought them down on their knees, and almost all major powers at the time took this opportunity to nearly wipe them out of existence.
Despite their efforts, however, no one was able to obtain their most guarded secret, the unrivaled cultivation technique their core members practiced, and even wiping them out proved to be impossible as they simply closed off in their own world and have been quietly recuperating ever since.
It was only eons later that Wu Long was able to obtain this technique, alas, at that time his cultivation was too high to start practicing it, and he could only lament at his misfortune.
This miracle of a technique allowed one to refine any energy that they come into contact with to their own Spiritual Qi, as well as expel all impurities without leaving even a spec behind.
Despite taking medicine to counter the venom, there was still a small lingering amount of it as well as the medicine in his body as not long had passed since he took it. He used this energy as well as Spiritual Qi in the air to cultivate for nearly all night, tempering his body and cultivation base.
The weakness in his body rapidly went away as he felt strength coursing through his body, strengthening it.
His current cultivation was at the Body Transformation Realm, the very first step one takes on the road of cultivation, in which the cultivator transforms their body using Spiritual Qi in the atmosphere, to be able to host spiritual energy inside.
As he cultivated, he quickly noticed that the quality of the Spiritual Qi was astonishingly bad here, not even backwater lands would have it this bad. However, there was not much he could learn just by contemplating, so he decided to focus on increasing his strength first, and learn about his surroundings when he at least has some leg to stand on.
By the end of his cultivation, it was already dark outside, and he reached the third level of Body Transformation Realm. This was his first breakthrough since arriving in the sect, as he was not able to cultivate properly before.
'Hmm, as a dual cultivator, it is quite fortunate that I ended up in this sect, but with the broken sword, I will not be able to properly cultivate at an optimal speed. I need to resolve this issue first.'
He thought to himself. As it was already close to night, he decided to make his move first thing in the morning, so he went to the bathroom to clean off the sticky impurities he expelled during his cultivation and went to sleep.