On top of a strange mountain, Gu An arrived at a big palace with many buildings, gardens, and open areas. It looked like a stronghold for many people.
Gu An stood in front of the main palace. It seemed to be the central place.
Before he could enter, a girl blocked his way. She had short light brown hair that reached her shoulders, and grey eyes. She was very beautiful.
Gu An bowed to her and stepped aside. He didn't dare lift his head until she passed.
But before leaving, the girl stopped and turned to him.
"You."
"Yes," Gu An replied quickly and bowed deeper, afraid to disrespect her.
"Why do you leave often? And today you stayed out longer than usual."
"I visit the grave of someone important to me. Today, I stayed longer because I had to speak with that person's son."
"So you're saying you spend five hours with a dead body? Even the living don't get that much time. Don't go there again. It's a waste. If you're free, join the exploration teams."
"Yes."
She looked at him with disappointment and said softly, "Tsk, coward."
She wanted him to fight back or say something. But no one dared to go against someone like her. The gap in status was too big.
She left, unhappy. Gu An stayed bowing. Water drops fell from his face.
He was crying.
Just one word was enough to cut the bond with the person he loved most.
Gu An couldn't take it anymore. He had watched the love of his life be taken by another man. He was forced to raise her child. And now, he was forced to leave her.
His neck felt tight, his breath weak. His crying grew stronger. Suddenly, he dropped to his knees and put his face on the ground.
…
Back at the inn, Lucian sat on the window with one leg inside the room.
"Hmm, I guess I need to get my power back. If this is really time travel, then my memories will help me a lot."
He climbed down and closed the window. Then he lay on the bed.
"In my past life, I became a general and the strongest cultivator under the Ten Families. No one was stronger than me. But I left them. Some families didn't like that. I lived running and hiding."
"Later, a war started between the families. That helped me."
"Tsk, those bastards. Even when the world is ending, they still kill more people."
"This time, I won't be anyone's general. I will grow in secret."
"Especially far from that witch's eyes. If not for her obsession, the Lightborn Family wouldn't have chased me."
"Forget the past… or is it the future? Whatever. The good part is, I can grow stronger faster. I can steal—I mean take—more chances."
He spent some time organizing his thoughts. He noticed that only the last part of his memory was missing. He didn't know how he got here, but he had to finish his mission.
To destroy the Ten Families.
If anyone heard that, they would laugh hard.
It sounded like a joke. The Ten Families were too strong. They had great talent and could reach levels no normal cultivator could.
But did Lucian care? No.
He would plan in secret and cause problems between them. Let them destroy each other. He almost succeeded in his past life.
He had already killed some members from the families before.
Lucian sat cross-legged and started meditating.
It was time to get his cultivation back. That was the only thing he could do while trapped here.
Three hours passed as he meditated.
Then, something happened.
He felt the Qi gathering in his dantian.
Lucian opened his eyes in shock.
"What's happening? Has it started already? Damn, that was fast... No, it doesn't make sense. It should take months of training, body preparation, and pills."
But he wasn't wrong. The Qi really was gathering in his dantian.
Now he had to send it to his bones. If he kept it in the dantian, it would explode because his body wasn't ready.
As he moved the Qi to his bones, he felt terrible pain. He put his head on the bed and screamed.
Minutes passed…
"What the hell was that?!"
It wasn't supposed to be this fast or this painful. Nothing made sense.
Lucian tried again. This time he was ready. But still, it felt like hot knives cutting his bones.
Time passed. He lost track of it. But the Qi kept flowing fast. If he didn't move it quickly, it would gather too much and explode.
He didn't understand why it was so fast, but it was helping him.
Still, his bones didn't change, no matter how much Qi he used.
"I think that's enough for today. I have a theory, but I'm not sure."
The most logical reason was his soul. If his soul really returned from the past, that would explain a lot.
A cultivator's first step is to merge body and soul using Qi.
The process is:
Absorb Qi from the air by meditating. This depends on the soul's power.
Move the Qi from the dantian directly to the bones, without keeping it, to avoid explosion.
The Qi changes the bones to match the soul. This bonds the soul and body.
After the bones, the Qi refines the blood, then the organs, then the skin.
Once complete, the body and soul become one. Future Qi becomes easier to handle. Not just because the body is stronger, but because the soul helps share the pressure.
If Lucian was right, then his soul from his past life was still the same.
That soul had been refined not once or twice, but three times.
Even the Ten Families thought that was amazing. It was his biggest strength—the reason he was the strongest under the Ten Families.
If his new body was refined using that soul...
Lucian's breath grew fast. The power of this process was huge.
He was about to try something no one had ever done before…