Tian Shi's vision regained focus. At first, he felt utterly confused. Various memories or visions flickered through his mind almost instantly. His head throbbed as if he had drunk a lethal dose of liquor and received a good old face pummeling by an Immortal.
The first thing he noticed was a young man kneeling on one knee, offering his respects, a cup of wine grasped in his hands. The man's flawless red hair flowed behind him, carried by the gentle breeze that whirled within the courtyard. He wore tight-fitting black robes that accentuated his square jawline in a manner that Tian Shi found difficult to describe—or rather, he didn't want to.
The man's bright red eyes complemented the flame-like hair flowing behind him, which struck Tian Shi as familiar. Battling through the pain and the foggy crowd in his memories, he finally found a name to the face. Pinched eyes, high cheeks nearing touching the eyes, and slanted long ears could only belong to Guo Jian, one of his various 'friends.' He hesitated to label the man a friend.
"Young Master Shi, what do you think?" Guo Jian said.
"Forgive me, Brother Jian, could you repeat that?" Tian Shi followed the flow of the conversation as bits and pieces of his memories came flooding back.
"This is my younger sister. She's been struggling lately with her cultivation. At eighteen, she has already reached the Peak of the Heavenly Passage Realm," Guo Jian said, chuckling.
Only then did Tian Shi notice the fair maiden kneeling behind Guo Jian. The lady shared a few similarities with Guo Jian, most notably her high-placed cheeks and small eyes. Her facial features were slanted and round, with a narrow nose that had a tinge of red at its tip. Pure, bright red eyes glanced at him every few moments, and her crimson hair suited her far more than it suited Guo Jian.
"Greetings, Young Master Shi. I've heard all the legends about your exploits and talents," she spoke in a shy sing-song voice. "I'm Elder Brother Jian's younger sister, Guo Mei."
Tian Shi loved the way her voice sounded. He wouldn't mind playing the guzheng for eternity as she recited various classical poems. He felt that his musical talents would be put to good use when paired with such a voice.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sister Mei," Tian Shi said. "It's always appreciated when we have new talents among the God Clans."
Finally, all the information that was a swirl of flickering images and impressions straightened out. He remembered his last moments vividly. The piercing pain ruptured his internal organs as his father's clawed fingers punctured his skull. The disbelief, anger, and anguish that wrenched him then. Even though for a moment, he felt the flood of emotions overwhelm him, he was so far removed from the situation that it didn't even feel real.
His name was Tian Shi, in both sets of memories. But the clans he belonged to were vastly different in power. The Tian Clan, in his memories—which he chose to call his previous life for simplicity's sake—was boundless in terms of strength. He had no word in his current memory to describe the vast reaches of their domain, let alone the boundless strength they held. The clan he currently belonged to, also a powerhouse in its own right, being the third largest God Clan within the Dragonreach, paled in comparison.
He immediately checked his cultivation to ensure that he wasn't hallucinating or misplacing his existence. He dived into his inner world, confirming that he truly was a mortal, currently in the Saint Passage Realm. He wasn't a being at the peak of his power, one step away from becoming a primordial existence like his visions.
Tian Shi honestly didn't know what to make of it. Were the visions truly him? Or was it someone else? Was it in the past? Or was it in the future? He couldn't quite place it. Sighing in resentment, he channeled his focus into the present situation. The problem of his supposed memories was something he'd explore over the next few days.
Tian Shi pinched the cup of wine between his index finger and thumb. He emptied the cup in one gulp and placed it on the stool next to him. Relief struck Guo Jian's face. The man wasted little time and shifted his sitting posture to one a little less submissive. A smile bloomed across his lips, revealing pearly white teeth.
"What exactly seems to be the problem, Junior Sister?" Tian Shi directed a question to Guo Mei.
She fiddled with her fingers, pursed her lips, puffed her cheeks, and said, "It's been a while since I've seen any visible improvements in my qi flow. I've already stabilized my Heavenly Passage."
Tian Shi rose from his seat and circled the courtyard, walking past the marble pillars that framed the little space in a lopsided ellipse. He placed his hands behind him, the gentle breeze blowing his black robes in every direction. Guards stood ramrod straight in the passages leading outside the courtyard. A few others hid behind trees and walls in the distance outside the manor's perimeters.
Guo Jian and Guo Mei traced his footsteps, arcing their eyes as he leisurely moved through the courtyard at a snail's pace. Patiently, they waited for his response. They weren't annoyed, or at the very least, they didn't show it physically. Tian Shi didn't mind. It showed him that the level of respect he commanded was sufficient enough to smite negative thoughts and opinions.
He focused more on straightening his game plan. Pinpointing who he truly was proved to be a challenge. The panic that briefly flooded him receded, replaced by his neutral countenance. While he couldn't confirm a few vital pieces of information, he could run with the facts that he knew.
"The problem is pretty simple. You need rest," he answered after a while. "Most cultivators forget the most vital piece of information when it comes to transcending the realms: rest."
"Young Master is right. I have been overworking myself lately," Guo Mei replied.
"I could analyze your situation further if you could so kindly allow me to examine your pulse, Junior Sister," Tian Shi offered as he went back to his seat. "Brother Jian, I hope I haven't offended you with that propo—"
"Don't think much about it, Brother Shi. As long as her talents can shine brighter than they do now, I'd be satisfied," Guo Jian said as he chuckled.
Tian Shi finally realized why the situation was rather odd. He had just regained consciousness in the middle of the courtyard. One of his friends was clearly selling his sister to him for some sort of profit. And if all things went as he thought they did, he had died. And somehow came back to life. The memories he dubbed as the previous life were simple. But those he dubbed the current life weren't so simple. There wasn't a single memory of his death.
That was strange.