My heart was broken into more pieces than there were stars in the sky, but my body and soul kept fighting.
Over and over, my hands raised a sword to parry the traitor's attacks and carry out my own. Each slash and strike carried energies that tore space and time themselves.
After only several minutes of this fight, the surrounding palace had turned to rubble. If I didn't see the corpses on my way here, I'd worry about the fates of servants and palace guards.
I'd worry about the surrounding planet, if my hidden palace wasn't set in its own dimension.
I and the traitor were evenly matched—he knew all my tricks, and I knew all his. When I made a feint, the traitor easily parried the real attack. Our blades crossed, and he tried to push me back. His Qi lashed out, acting not like a weapon, but like a dog let off the leash.
The traitor snarled at me, and a grimace of anger twisted his familiar and dear features. For some reason, I couldn't remember his name, but I still loved him as much as I hated him.
"Stop this! You still have the chance!" I pleaded. "You can't avoid your death anymore, but at least save your soul!"
"My soul?! My soul, Father?! IS THAT ALL YOU CARE ABOUT?! When I want to live, just like you and everybody else in your precious empire!" the traitor raged. "I will become a true immortal, and then I will have an eternity to bring Mother back to life!"
"Bring her back? YOU HAVE JUST KILLED HER, YOU IDIOT! How about NOT FUCKING DOING THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?!"
The fury fueled my strength, and I shoved the traitor back. I charged after him to finish the job. One strike would be enough…
But I looked into my son's shocked eyes, and my hand faltered. Only for a fraction of a split second, but that was enough.
Next thing, there was a blade piercing my stomach, right through the True Soul within. A fatal wound for anyone but me—until a spike of Death energy from the traitor's palm pierced my heart.
The traitor stood up, pulling his sword free. His hand was shaking, but I didn't know if that was because of his wounds or anything else.
I fell to my knees, tried to hold myself up, and failed. It took a colossal effort to just turn my head toward my enemy. My traitorous son.
"YOU are the idiot, Father," the traitor muttered, preparing the finishing blow.
I mentally agreed. But if I had only a few last words, I wanted to say more important things.
"I couldn't… save you. So… save yourself, please. Please."
The blade sunk in my head, and my worries went away together with my life.
***
I woke up with a start and a headache.
That dream was the clearest of my recurring nightmares. I believed the dreams were actually memories of my past life, but to my frustration, no matter how I forced myself, I couldn't remember more. Only that and facts that I sometimes knew out of nowhere.
The sound of a gong went through my barracks. Next to me, a dozen of the outer disciples of the Lin clan began to get up and, groaning, prepare for another day of hard work. All of them were youths from 10 to 14 years old, with only me standing out—I was 16.
After we washed our faces and had a breakfast of bland rice, our supervisors sent us to do various chores around the Lin Manor.
The Lin Manor was the size of a town, and was populated by several thousand people: soldiers, servants, and, of course, cultivators of the Lin clan. It was a place full of sprawling mansions, paved alleys, and gilded statues. And the Lin clan itself was only a vassal of the larger Purple Dragon Sect, which was one of the many religious sects that ruled over the Black Land continent, constantly fighting each other.
In this place, I and other outer disciples were just a step above servants. We cleaned, we gardened, and we carried things back and forth until noon. Since cultivators, even of the lowest rank, were much stronger than normal people, it made them perfect cargo mules!
Honestly, it was just like in the village I was born in. Except back there, I had to deal with the insults from my parents and five siblings, each more dull than the previous one; while here, I had to deal with insults from my martial siblings. Most of which were just as dull.
After lunch, despite being tired from physical work, we had to study. This was the part I looked forward to, because at least I could sit down. Especially since today was a meditation day.
The hundred and four outer disciples sat in rows in a large courtyard that served as our class in good weather. Inner disciple Fen Kuang, a person with a youthful but severe face marred by several small scars, was our supervisor today.
He walked past the rows of students, pulling Qi stones from a pouch and giving them to the students.
Since I sat in the middle row and to the side, the place of least attention from the teachers, it took a while for Fen Kuang to reach me. But eventually I had them—my quota of three Qi stones.
They looked like ordinary small pebbles, unless you had a talent for cultivation—only then a person could see a faint glow of Qi within.
"As always, ten people who use their Qi stones first will have an extra Qi stone. Now get to work, disciples!" Fen Kuang said, returning to the front of the courtyard.
I grabbed the Qi stones, sat in a more comfortable position, and closed my eyes. Even with closed eyelids, I could see the glow of Qi. In these stones, the Qi was unrefined and impure.
I beckoned it with my thoughts, forcing my intent on it until a mote of Qi slowly flew from the stone to my palm and entered my meridians. As that happened, my soul refined it, and when it mixed with the rest of my Qi, it was pure and mine to control as I wanted.
Through my meridians, the Qi flowed to the orb of Qi in my stomach—my budding dantian. The Qi from the second stone went to another budding dantian in my forehead, and the third to my heart.
Then I opened my eyes and looked around. As usual, everybody else was still pondering their Qi stones. Just like every single meditation day since I became the Lin clan's outer disciple.
Fen Kuang noticed me moving before I even raised my hand and got closer. Like myself, he had Qi flowing through his meridians and passing through a fully formed dantian in his stomach. His one and only dantian.
"You are done already again, Ru Yujin? And you STILL keep three dantians? I know that Master Lin Tan allowed you this deviation in cultivation as an experiment, but it's just foolish. You will never move from the Qi Shaping stage to the Qi Foundation stage if you keep doing this, Disciple. Much less before the end of the year!"
I smiled at him, projecting calm and self-assurance, while cringing inwardly.
Yeah, I knew that much! The end of the year was only a month away! Every outer disciple who didn't reach the Qi Foundation stage until that time automatically failed as disciples and human beings and were eliminated. Literally. I heard they were sacrificed to the Divine Purple Dragon or turned into zombies that local cultivators liked to use as laborers.
I already had a disadvantage, being thrown into this place much later than everybody else in this year. However, I knew in my heart of hearts that cultivating the same way as everybody does will cripple my power in the future.
I saw it in my dreams. In them I had three cores where Qi gathered. It was the most balanced way, and practice only confirmed it. However, it required me three times the normal Qi and concentration required to advance to the next stage.
"Thank you for your worry, Senior Brother Fen Kuang," I said with a bow. "But please, don't occupy your thoughts with a lowly outer disciple like myself."
He scoffed, but passed me a Qi stone.
I just finished taming its Qi, when several seats away, another disciple raised his hand to call for Fen Kuang.
"Ah, Junior Brother Chun, you are done, too? You are making progress in meditation. Maybe just a few more Qi stones and you will be ready to transition to the Qi Foundation stage!"
"Thank you, Senior Brother Kuang! It's only thanks to your help that I succeeded, he-he."
The fawning made me roll my eyes. When I glanced toward the pair, I saw Fen Kuang discreetly passing Chun not one, but two Qi stones!
Which was not unusual. After all, Chun's family name was also Fen. They were cousins, and anyone would have to be blind to not notice with how much Fen Kuang helped Fen Chun.
Not that it mattered. I wasn't competing with him, or any other of these youths, unless actual rewards were promised.
I closed my eyes and returned to meditation. There were no more Qi stones, but ever since I consumed my first hundred of Qi stones, I was seeing Qi much clearer. Now, if I focused, I could see the tiniest motes of Qi everywhere.
They were in the air, on the ground, even in my own body. Each mote was at most a hundredth the size of a Qi stone, but there were thousands upon thousands of them! And those were just the ones I could see—they were too small to spot farther than a meter away.
With a directed thought, I could gather an entire chunk of them and bring it to my meridians. It was slower than with Qi stones, but any progress was better than no progress at all.
I opened my eyes only when the gong announced the end of a lesson. Raising my arms to stretch, I glanced around and immediately dropped to a kowtow.
A majestic figure in exquisitely embroidered robes cut through the courtyard, his face handsome but twisted with smugness and sadism. His Qi shone like a blue moon next to a colorless candle compared to Fen Kuang's, and there was a sword on his back. There was another disciple following him, carrying a large stack of papers.
The teacher and god of all outer disciples, Lin Tan. We all kowtowed before him—out of respect, and because he ordered three lashes to be given to the last disciple who was too slow to bow. Only Fen Kuang was allowed to bow while standing.
"Fen Kuang. Did the lesson go well?"
"Yes, Master Lin. I was just about to gather unused Qi stones from everybody."
"Do that, Fen Kuang, then help pass these papers to the disciples. In the meantime, I will make an announcement."
He turned to us and dramatically raised his arms.
"Disciples, sit up, and listen! Exactly a month is left until the grand date, and none of you have yet reached the Qi Foundation stage. This is unfortunate, but I believe in you. So I'm giving you a special lesson, and a special trial."
He raised his palm and waved his fingers in the air. From this distance I couldn't see Lin Tan's Qi moving, but I clearly saw a beautiful flower made from seven petals of icy energy appearing on his palm. It vanished a moment later.
"The papers you are being given contain instructions for a very simple technique usable even on the Qi Shaping stage—'Water Flower'. For the next week, you will have lectures about elemental Qi and techniques. Then, you will show me how well you can use the Water Flower. Three people who have the best performance will be free from menial work for the rest of the month, and will have 10 extra Qi stones, and the person who can fully master the technique will have 10 more Qi stones!"
Everybody gasped, and I sucked a shocked breath myself. Lin Tan enjoyed giving disciples competitions, but they were usually much more pointless. Like writing the best praise about him… Or memorizing the most lines of a poem he liked… Or growing the best plant…
None of them had a reward this huge, either.
I made mental calculations: I needed about 30 Qi stones, and then several extra days, to reach Qi Foundation. Outer disciples were given one Qi stone per day on average, which would REALLY push me to a wall here. If only I didn't need to sleep…
However, if I win that contest, passing to the Qi Foundation will be easy—especially since I will have more free time to meditate!
Of course, I still had to win. However, my competition wasn't anything to be worried about—except for Fen Chun, at most, because of nepotism.
Fen Kuang reached my row of disciples, passing everybody their leaflets. Near Fen Chun he paused for longer, and I saw Chun whispering something to his older cousin, while glancing at me.
Fen Kuang frowned, but nodded, then glanced at me and nodded again. Fen Chun grinned smugly.
They were conspiring! With growing apprehension, I watched Fen Kuang approaching me.
"Your leaflet," he said, passing me a sheet of paper.
As soon as I touched it, the Qi in Fen Kuang's hand glowed blue. He twisted his fingers, and the paper immediately turned thoroughly wet. I stared in shock at the dissolving ink.
"Oh, my apologies, Disciple. But you get what you get." He scoffed. "Good disciple of the Lin clan is one that does as he was told, instead of going against the flow. You are not a carp that becomes a dragon!"
With these words, he walked past, leaving me with a piece of useless soggy paper, the words on which were completely illegible.
Damn Fen Kuang and his cousin! How I was going to win the contest now?!