As always, keep in mind that you are reading this from the biased viewpoint of the Main Character! Not everything is the absolute truth!

Finally! I got some more time on my hands, YUS!

Anyways, here is the chapter that got heavily delayed thanks to the bane we call real life, curse you!

Just fyi but will have a lot more time from now on so more chapters will come out a LOT faster.

----

Chapter 10

For the sake of clarity, habit and so we wouldn’t slip up when other people were around, it was decided that the girls would continue to address me as Young Master or Li Jun.

Even though they still only addressed me as Young Master despite the talk we had.

It was clear that we did indeed get closer, the 3 of us, but that was the last hurdle that was still just as imposing and unmoving as ever.

Hua Ping mentioned something about it being an ‘honor’ for them to call me that way even though I had no idea what she meant by that and neither would she elaborate.

Thanks to my breakthrough in my understanding of Qi I was able to come up with many different theories and ideas and was burning for the time that I entered the Qi condensation level, whenever that would be.

Another thing I discovered was that used up Qi, not how I was burning it away to nurture my body, but how I had used it to press a bit of sweat out of my body, recovered quite quickly and pretty much on its own.

It wasn’t to the point of recovering after an hour or two of meditation like in some other stories I had previously read, but instead of taking 2 weeks it took me about 2 days of intense meditation to get my Qi flame back to the size of an adult’s fist.

Just from that it was clear that Qi, although energy based, was similar to a muscle.

When you achieved a certain kind of strength, it would not take as much time and effort to reach that same height once again.

Another thing that I noticed was that although my muscles were filled to the brim, Qi was starting to meld together with my tendons.

It was only logical that they would be next as they connected to the filled muscles but as mentioned before I had to take this kind of stuff slowly.

That it was happening naturally and on its own was a good sign so I was pretty sure that I was really moving into the right direction.

After about 3 days, I was able to integrate a huge amount of Qi into my tendons and ligaments, much more than I was previously able to stuff into my muscles.

This brought about a rather strange change as my height actually started to reduce a bit on this 3rd day.

I had been so used to my gigantic frame and size at this point that this noticeable decrease came with a surprise and was also the reason why I stopped my cultivation madness.

It was incredibly satisfying to feel strength like never before flowing through my body as every step that I took was accompanied by a low thud.

Even though my height had decreased, I felt somewhat heavier than before and my guess was that I had become ‘denser’ if that made any sense at all.

Standing before a stone with a size that was rivaling my previous one, a gigantic number was carved onto it.

“1000!”

This round and smooth stone had two handles at the sides and a near exact weight of 1 thousand Jin.

It was normally used to determine if someone broke through or was close to the Qi Condensation stage.

Despite my doubts if what I was feeling was false or not, I grabbed those handles, bent my knees and pulled with all my might.

A low thud echoed out into the surroundings as well as a shout of emotion and surprise as the stone actually lifted up a tiny bit before slamming back into the ground.

“So I wasn’t imagining it.”

I murmured, staring at my own hands.

My body had grown and the amount of muscles alone was very evident at this point, but more than anything, my strength had exploded up immensely while the actual amount of Qi inside of me was accumulating at a moderate pace.

Based on my internal Qi, I had reached the crossroad between the 6th and 7th layer of Foundation Gathering but my fleshly body had actually started to cross over into the Qi Condensation stage.

This alone could be considered as terrifying in most people’s eyes, that much I was sure of.

My unique cultivation nurtured the body far better than my own Qi.

What exactly the end to this road was, even I didn’t know as I once again grabbed the two iron handles that were hammered into the thousand Jin stone.

Tensing every single muscle I was now the proud owner of, my feet dug into the ground as the stone lifted off the ground, this time without me letting go out of surprise.

I stayed motionless, 1 thousand Jin held in my hands in a steady and calm manner.

Judging by the fact that I wasn’t really growing tired despite the weight I was holding, it was clear to me that I had already passed the thousand Jin mark some time ago.

A childish joy was visible in my eyes for a second before I let go of the stone once again.

Wiping some of the sweat that had started to accumulate on my brow away I turned and walked to the side of the courtyard I was training at to get a drink of water.

Hua Hong and Hua Ping were currently outside of the clan in disguise and looking for the mad blacksmith that I had not forgotten about.

If my guess was correct, he would play an incredibly important role in the future as someone of his line of work would pose to be an incredible asset should he grasp what I would be able to tell him.

Having advanced knowledge when it came to forging techniques that spanned thousands of years and were possibly completely unknown in this world did have its advantages after all.

But that was something I would discover after questioning the blacksmith in person and when I knew more about his ability as well as knowledge in these matters.

Until then I would be concentrating on training as much as I could, even if it was starting to get a bit boring and tedious.

Now that I was once again wearing my secret weapons on my body I felt safe and strangely comfortable even though most of my throwing needles were either bent or chipped at this point.

Despite them being of supposedly great quality, it only took a dozen or so practice throws for them to go out of shape, which made me suspect that they were not made out of the good old iron I was used to.

Naturally it could be that such an ore didn’t even exist here but I kind of doubted that.

Even with my crossbow bolts I had to be careful as 2 of them already snapped thanks to a badly aimed shot of mine.

So most of my time was spent mastering the ‘Blazing Fists’ and I have to say I was able to get the hang of it at this point.

Every time I punched I sent a tiny bit of Qi through my arms and thought of a fiery explosion which surprisingly enough helped in increasing the speed and ferocity of my attacks.

When I tried doing the same without imagining the flames by just sending Qi through my arms, the speed of my attacks barely increased.

The only reason I even noticed this to begin with was because I was paying careful attention towards it but it seemed like my previous suspicion of imagination playing a big role in quite a lot of things that involved Qi turned out to be true.

Now I know what you might be thinking dear reader, why not try using my internal Qi in my arms and thinking about wind or some other thing that could help create some kind of strange phenomenon?

Well the answer to that is quite a simple one.

Whenever I didn’t have a clear picture, like let’s say not an entire martial arts manual explaining how to properly punch and what to ‘be’ like during the process, similar to what the ‘Blazing Fists’ scroll was doing for me, I used up a ridiculous amount of Qi.

The reason for this was only an educated guess but I at least suspected that it was because I wasn’t sure what to imagine or make my body do.

It was the problem of there being too many things and options to choose from as well as a theoretical outcome that caused this massive amount of energy loss.

I had to really think, imagine and get a clear image while also using the best catalyst (like with speed imagining a hurricane or storm for example) to really get anywhere.

This was miles away from creating my own techniques or even eclipsing already preexisting ones, but it was a start.

One thing was for sure, should I ever reach Qi condensation, then I would be able to filter water simply out of thin air thanks to something convenient called ‘moisture’.

It basically meant that even in a desert I would always be able to acquire water.

Affinities existed even in this world but because I had such a good grasp on the science of things I was able to draw connections between many seemingly unrelated concepts, like there actually being water in the air, that I could use to my advantage.

I was pretty sure that I was one of the only, if not the only one, that really knew about this to such a degree.

Thanks to this huge advantage I could only frown upon something useless like ‘elemental affinities’.

Qi experiments were thus put on a temporary hold until I grew stronger, as every bit I wasted took hours to regain, and that was already pretty fast.

I was indeed growing stronger at a steady pace, but my thoughts kept circling around certain pills that could increase my cultivation by a good bit these days.

Call it my own greed getting ahead of me but shooting flames out of your hands? Everyone wanted to do that!

And so did I.

It was pretty clear that thanks to my rather unique way of cultivation, my body would grow way ahead of my Qi, which was okay, but still made me itch for the time when I would be able to mindlessly waste it.

Not like now where I had to watch my internal Qi flame carefully so it wouldn’t just completely disappear.

To put it another way, despite my growth, I still felt incredibly weak compared to others that were out there.

Which was why I wanted to use pills as a short cut.

This train of thought was interrupted by the sound of soft footsteps coming from my left and I turned my head to see if the girls had brought any news.

What I didn’t expect was to find Li Min, my ‘big sister’ in the clan standing before me.

We had occasionally met after that rather interesting late-night talk but it was the first time since then that she actively looked for me.

This naturally made me suspicious.

Not because of her mind you, but of the Xianxia setting trying to put me into a difficult position.

Until now it had tried a few times but nothing outrageous or life threatening had happened yet, still you never know.

And this sudden visit from her gave me a nasty premonition that things were no longer going to stay as peaceful as before.

“Li Jun.”

She greeted me, a small smile on her lips.

Alright, so it looks like I am not just going to get thrown out for no reason judging by that expression, good.

Now I know this might sound like I was just paranoid but if you ever read Xianxia stories then you know that they do some crazy plot twist from time to time which make no sense whatsoever and are only there to make the life of the main character harder.

Ok, maybe I was being a bit paranoid here.

“Is there anything you want to talk about big sister Li Min?”

I asked with the most honest and real smile that I was able to muster.

Please don’t throw me out…

“I have come to take you to the Clan Head as he has some questions for you.”

Fuck!

Alright stay cool, nothing conclusive that indicates you are a soul parasite occupying his son’s body has come up yet, no need to panic.

Actually, now that I think about it, who in the world would suspect this to begin with?!

Logic, this simple but most powerful tool known to mankind helped me keep a completely straight face on the outside.

Without even asking another question or allowing a frown to appear I followed her deeper into the mansion.

To be honest, I was starting to dearly miss the two bodies that always followed closely behind me at this point.

Despite my hidden weapons that were always kept close as a precaution and Li Min leading me to see the Clan Head, I felt uneasy.

Not because the man I was about to once again meet wasn’t anyone I particularly cared about, but because there was no logical reason for him to call me.

If he had not made a move despite me clearly showing a much higher cultivation level than before in the clan, why make it now?

Only two reasons came to mind, either I was in trouble because something of the past I had no knowledge of had caught up, or I had been found out and was even more so in trouble.

Both cases didn’t give me a good feeling but there was not much I could do to change the inevitable.

If I didn’t want to arouse any suspicion, complying without a word was the right thing to do.

It made me feel vulnerable, yes, but that was because I didn’t expect it.

There were not many things that could surprise me when someone was working against me, simple logic and putting myself in the person’s shoes could help me anticipate a lot of things.

This though came as a real surprise, and I didn’t like surprises.

Can you now understand why I was reacting like someone had plucked my feathers while I was sleeping dear reader?

Maybe I had been a bit arrogant to believe that everything was in my palm but seriously, summoning me in the middle of the night like this when I was about to end my training session and head to my room was pretty strange.

More so considering I had never really talked much with my ‘father’ after waking up.

Just judging by the fact that he had sent Li Min, it was clear that they were close in some way as she had also been there with him when I first opened my eyes.

What exactly this connection was I wasn’t sure about but knowing that he trusted her enough to send her to get me in the middle of the night was a piece of information I decided to remember.

I have said this before but I didn’t call her ‘big sister’ because she actually was my sister.

Now that I thought about it, what did I really know about this girl except her name and that she was a bit naïve?

We never talked much despite her apparently caring a lot about me.

Strange…

I didn’t like this at all.

Too many unknown factors and things were not adding up.

Something else was going one here and I could only hope that the following meeting could shed some light on certain things.

....

My steps eventually halted before a wooden door while Li Min stood next to it quietly, obviously waiting for me to be the first to enter.

Despite the power rushing through my gigantic body, I felt more than a bit nervous as I walked into the room.

My eyes soon enough saw a rather unique picture.

Li Kong looked… old.

That was the only way I could describe it.

This before middle aged man now had streaks of silver in his hair as well as dark circles beneath his eyes.

The room itself was adorned with luxurious vases, pictures and mahogany furniture but all this glamour made his condition stick out even more.

Honestly speaking he looked like he had not slept in days.

“Li Jun, it is good that you are here.”

Li Kong said, greeting me as he waved his hand. A sign for me to step closer.

When I was eventually seated in a rather comfortable chair that nearly broke apart beneath the weight and mass of my body I noticed that Li Min was now standing to the right of my father.

Seems like their connection really is far deeper than anticipated.

“Now then Li Jun, would you tell me why it is that you have hired a painter for yourself as well as to why you are fervently looking all over town for a certain blacksmith?”

Li Kong asked, a strange glint in his eyes and not the smidgen of a smile on his lips.

Why they both looked so tense was eluding me.

I mean honestly, it wasn’t like what I was doing was a crime or in any way harmful to anyone, right?

“It is but to follow a rather interesting idea of mine, nothing too major-”

“And what would this idea be?”

Li Kong asked, cutting me off before I could even finish my sentence.

This sudden aggressiveness and strange undertone that I only just now noticed left me stumped.

What the hell was going on here?

“Li Jun, don’t worry about the Clan Head. He is just curious, that is all. Now please, could you tell me what it is that you have been thinking about doing recently?”

Her smile.

Yeah, the thing that had been on her face this entire time while Li Kong looked like someone personally close to him just died 5 minutes ago.

It was this that had made me nervous the entire time.

This smile never reached her eyes unlike the one I had seen on her before.

“Something that will help the clan.”

I couldn’t outright tell them that I had only some rough ideas and needed those 2 to achieve at least something with them.

Unlike what you might think dear reader, I had no idea how a toilet really worked even though I had a general idea of the insides of one.

Neither did I know how to build a computer or anything advanced like that from scratch but I knew that something like that COULD exist and had my experience and imagination that was grounded on facts as clues.

Together with a (hopefully) quick witted blacksmith I would eventually be able to bring a bit of technology back.

Because no matter how oblivious you are as a human being to the wonders around you, your brain starts to pick things up unconsciously.

And that was enough.

Li Min’s smile pretty much instantly froze as my words echoed inside the room as a never before seen coldness was emanating from her eyes and a grim expression was visible on Li Kong’s face during this change too.

Naturally I was more than confused as to why this was happening and silence now reigned inside the room.

It was only when I noticed a tinge of sadness and despair appearing in the corner of Li Kong’s eyes that I had been avoiding to look directly into until now that a thought struck me like a bolt of lightning.

Could I have made a near fatal mistake?

Until now I had treated nearly everyone of this world like an idiot, unconsciously or not but I had been looking down on them after reading countless Xianxia stories and seeing my views reinforced by some of their actions.

But this was not essentially true.

I knew for a fact that the girls for example were exempt from this rule.

So what did that mean?

That these two that were now standing before me could probably think outside the box too.

And not only that.

The rumor, myth and legends about reincarnation in my old world.

Stories that were retold many a times and an entire fiction category that existed around it.

All of this existed here too, but in this world it was a fact.

They knew about reincarnation and what it meant probably better than most of my own world so what did my actions and words in the past couple of weeks tell them?

That I was no longer the old Young Master.

Not because of ‘Amnesia’ but because of something far more tragic.

I had, intentionally or not, doomed myself with looking down on them and doubting their ability.

No, I had let my guards down around them.

A cold feeling was invading into my body as I looked into their faces and a new thought was crawling its way into my head.

Should I run?

This would be probably my only chance if at all to make it out alive or in one piece.

Who knows maybe they had some kind of ritual that would put an end to my existence that had occupied this foreign body.

Just judging by the fact that people could quite literally play the last ai*b*nder in this world I had no reason to doubt that something like that existed here too.

Was this really the end to my plans and future?

The tired voice of a man that had aged well ahead of his time echoed in the room and immediately ripped me out of my thoughts.

“I am only going to ask you this one time, are you my son?”

My first impulse was to lie.

Shout out ‘Yes!’ and be done with it.

Saving my own hide came first, right?

And then I saw the tears of a man at the end of his wits.

It was clear to me then that he knew.

He knew that I was not him, that this was not his son that was sitting before him but even still he had clung to a hope that was now slowly dwindling away.

It was this raw emotion that I could see in his gaze and on his face that stopped me.

I was not a cold hearted person to begin with.

Even to this day, after nearly a month here I still had my doubts of being able to end a person’s life when given the choice so how could I steel my heart and blatantly lie?

It was the thing that had been burning inside of me more and more this entire time and the reason why I had to tell someone like the girls.

Guilt.

No matter if fate had deemed it so or because it was just pure luck, but I had ended up in a new body.

This entire time I had been waiting for something to change.

Like having strange dreams of the previous Young Master’s past or another person suddenly floating around in my head while I went to do my daily business.

But nothing like that happened.

And with this silence came guilt.

Was I the reason why there was no one in this body anymore?

I couldn’t help but think so.

Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to be alive and enjoyed every moment here even though there were some unpleasant parts.

After all, I was lucky to have a second chance like this.

But that made me think that I had gained this thanks to stealing it from someone else.

I doubted I even deserved something like a second chance considering I had never done anything outstanding or noteworthy in my past life, but fact was I had received it.

And now, faced with a grief stricken father and a cold looking ‘big sister’, this guilt multiplied and made me weigh my options.

Telling them the truth would go against everything I had worked towards, it would burn many bridges and make my life a lot harder, if not ending it right away.

But that was the worst case scenario and I heavily doubted they could do it even if they were sad.

After all I still looked like the guy.

Going by the fact that they had given me nearly a month before calling me, it was clear that they hadn’t been sure, but what I previously said only reinforced their fears and worries instead of dismissing them.

So they gave me a choice and asked me a simple question.

Even though they knew the answer.

This, more than anything else, was more a test of my character.

I could see that much clearly.

Lying would be easy, even lying in a way that would trick them was possible.

But was it what I wanted to do?

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe in this justice crap or being honest at all.

Hell, if at all I would say I believed in the opposite.

But what I did strongly believe in was to stay true to at least yourself.

That included to always do what you wanted to do or achieve it as best as possible and what was deemed to be inside of your limits.

And I didn’t want to crush this poor man’s hopes nor the dream of once again being reunited with his son after all this time.

I mean the possibility still existed that I would one day wake up as another person.

So I chose the third option.

“All I can say is that I don’t remember any of you before waking up, I am sorry.”

Now this sounded like me saying that I had no idea if I was his son or not, but if one examined this sentence and thought about it a bit more, it could mean something else entirely too.

I couldn’t tell them and I was sorry about the lie.

A half-truth that would neither put my plans at jeopardy nor completely crush their hopes.

But at the same time I was lying to them in a way.

And for that I couldn’t help but once again feel a light sting in my heart.

Li Kong was looking at me for a long time after my words left my mouth and I wasn’t entirely sure how much time really passed before he finally let out a defeated sigh.

“You may leave.”

It was a simple and short way of telling me to fuck off.

Clearly, this had not been what he had hoped for but I decided not to add more fuel to the fire and quietly stood up while exiting the room.

A silence that rang far longer than before filled the air after I was gone and a soft hand firmly placed itself onto Li Kong’s shoulder.

….

When I returned to the room, I found both girls waiting there for me.

“Our search was once again unsuccessful.”

Hua Ping reported with a downcast face but I didn’t care much for that crazy blacksmith at the moment.

After about 10 seconds I decided to just bite the bullet and tell them.

“We have a situation.”

This naturally only helped in putting question marks above their heads as I slowly retold what happened with the Clan Head.

When they heard that I was basically ‘found out’ both girls immediately turned a shade paler and started to tremble a bit before calming their shaking hands and feet.

“So what are we supposed to do now?”

Hua Ping asked, a tinge of fear in her voice.

It was clear that she knew better than I what devastating news and possible dangers the current situation brought with it.

Even I had the feeling that staying inside the clan could no longer be considered as ‘safe’ after today’s events.

I doubted that Li Min or my father would do anything against me but considering I could definitely not hide anything within this mansion before their eyes even if I wanted to, this place would only spell trouble for me from now on.

They were alert and on guard before me, knowing that much, how could I on the other hand not be?

I also had not forgotten a certain father and son duo that had it out for me and would love to take action the moment I moved away from here.

Basically, after earlier I felt like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

There were things here in this clan that I definitely couldn’t spit on like being able to live quite leisurely while also having the prestige of the Li clan itself.

It helped open a lot more doors than it would close, that much I figured out by now.

Just looking at it from a financial standpoint…

It was at that moment that I stopped my train of thought and looked at Hua Hong.

“How much money do we currently have?”

The girl quickly reacted to my question and pulled out a small green pouch from between her breasts (a rather interesting place to store things I have to say) while immediately spilling its contents on the table before us.

“Thanks to our recent expenses, like paying the painter and ‘asking’ a few rather shady looking people for information we have about 28 Gold coins left.”

She said while quickly counting the various coins that were spilled out before her.

“How long would we be able to live comfortably in a decent inn while also eating 3 times a day? Remember, decent, not luxurious.”

“About half a year Young Master, not much more but also not less.”

This was actually longer than I had expected.

Considering the rather expensive price of a hotel or inn, adventurers and cultivators alike only spent one or two nights to sleep at places like that and especially inside a gigantic city like this, one meal was pricy enough.

Nobody would spend a long time in places like that normally but I couldn’t really afford to buy a decent house and live in an already packed city like this with a meager 28 Gold, that much I was sure of.

It looked like holding out until the Clan Gathering was quite possible but what about other resources I would need?

Despite everything, I was in dire need of some pills and elixirs that would help my cultivation tremendously and some real fighting experience could also not be overlooked.

My victory before was because I had waited for the other party to exhaust itself and I threw a punch without much technique or finesse behind it afterwards.

The result looked mighty, sure, but the truth was quite different from the story.

As much as it pained me, I knew lying would have been the smart move today.

But what was done is done.

I had locked the door and thrown away the key, time to look for a new room.

What I meant with that was that no matter how bad things looked, there was always a silver lining.

And mine was quite simple really, my past knowledge.

If I was able to use it effectively, or even just use simple Xianxia logic, then I would be able to profit quite a bit.

Not long ago I had been afraid of a few random scrubs being able to off me in a street corner thanks to my meager cultivation but now things were different.

Sure, being careful was one thing but there was little use of hiding all the time now that I had a body that bordered on the Qi condensation stage.

I eventually made my decision and decided on the things we needed to do.

It was about time to leave the safe zone and start some PvP (And no I was not going to go on a murder spree either, just felt like putting that one out there).

….

“I think we got everything.”

I finally said after shoulder the ‘bag’.

Naturally, this little bag of mine was not just any ordinary ‘bag’.

In reality, this thing contained a bunch of ingredients as well as valuables like the skull and strange ore that I previously picked up and was dubbed as ‘disguise kit’ by me.

Simply because it had a staggering amount of pre-prepared skin colors one could apply, different hair styles as well as an entire week’s worth of costumes to choose from.

This little baby was the reason why I waited three days before leaving.

I naturally sent one of the girls ahead to book the inn we had previously talked about while also informing the painter of a new base of operations that he could meet us at, should his services be needed.

In all honesty I was pretty thrilled about the situation as the ‘Dragon’s tail’ was famed to be an excellent place to stay at and had a relatively low price tag if one took the quality of the place in consideration.

Not only that but I would be able to live on my own again too (kind of).

Quite a few people had been surprised when they heard I was leaving and Uncle Mo especially had made a ruckus when I told him the news.

Seriously, bless his heart.

But in the end I gave a vague reason to everyone that asked me and only hinted towards the Clan Gathering.

That was thankfully enough to shut most of them up.

There was no doubt in my mind that they all had no confidence in me concerning that little competition and even I was unsure if I was going to go far in it but that was in the distant future.

For now, I at least had a new home to get to and a goal.

To make as much money as possible and to cultivate more.

It sounded quite simple but naturally I wasn’t going to go about it the normal way, my unique cultivation technique alone proved that point.

With the girls following behind me I approached the gigantic golden gate and couldn’t help but raise my head up to stare at it for a moment.

I was unsure when I would see it again.

If and when I returned, everything would probably be a lot different than it was now.

The future is a strange thing really.

We can try to go against it and cling to the past like shipwrecked clenching a piece of wood in a storm but no matter how much we struggle, eventually we are all swept away.

My path was leading away from this place for now, and only fate would entail if I returned as myself or as Li Jun.

Honestly speaking, this thought still scared me, that I could possibly lose my chance at a new life but I had no other choice but to embrace the future.

Because for me there was no past in this world to cling to.

….

Two shadows, one taller than the other watched a muscular man with a somewhat childish looking face and two nearly identical looking maids leave through a small exit beside a pair of gigantic golden doors.

They silently stood at the top of the wall that surrounded the mansion of a certain clan and watched these three figures disappear into the distance.

Soon enough they were lost in the crowds but nevertheless they still remained standing in silence.

Only when a deep sigh was heard did those two descend from the wall and return to their home.

A place that they hoped a certain person would return to again in the future.

Just like he did in the past.

----

Alright, hope you enjoyed the chapter and leave a comment below if you feel like it.

Always nice to read your thoughts or other things. ^^

Wish you all an enjoyable evening and see ya later nerds! [th_084_.gif]