It was time for me to leave, I could already feel my presence becoming a little overbearing. I got up onto my knees. “Thank you for the tea, and for everything.”

“Well, thank you for coming to see me. Regardless of your method, I can see that you mean well.” she said as she rose and walked to the door.

“Yes, well. I hope I can show you some of my better sides next time.”

“I have high expectations, reincarnator.”

I grinned a little as she held the door open for me. I stepped outside and with a reserved wave, she closed it.

I let out a sigh of relief, what had just transpired was far more intense than what even multiple lifetimes could prepare me for.

In front of me now, however, was a situation that multiple lifetimes had sufficiently prepared me for. A man stood a little ways down the street, he had no intention to disguise his malevolent intentions.

I walked towards him. After days of scrabbling pathetically, I gained permission to live from the one person that matters. It was time to stop second guessing, stop overthinking and finally start progressing.

“You gave my subordinate quite a fright, Sen’o.” said the man with a sneer. I continued walking. “You know, he had fainted when we found him! I must admit, even I am trembling a little seeing you here, I’m quite sure you were dead when I was done with you after all.”

I continued to walk, engaging the man that killed me in conversation was a smart way to die quickly, that and… “Coming back to life must have muddled your brain a little, I almost feel sorry for you. How about you look at me when I’m tal… What?”

That and... I wasn’t actually there.

I was currently pumping my pathetic little legs, sprinting as far as I could away from the nasty man. I may be a reincarnator but I hadn’t had the time to cultivate or practice any skills. Trying to accomplish techniques with an unfamiliar body will get me killed just as quickly as cursing seven generations of his family.

I’d formed my soul base but had not begun to integrate it, making it extremely difficult to use. The projection technique I just used was my current limit. Combat techniques were out of the question.

I remembered a place in my memories, a place for me and an old friend of mine. We would use it when we were smaller, until I was more concerned about causing trouble than maintaining friendships.

I was reasonably sure I’d given the scary old man the slip, even after he found out he was talking to a projection he would have no idea which direction I’d escaped to. I climbed inside the old cellar. I had no idea who owned it now but the dust and cobwebs let me know that it was probably abandoned.

I was hesitant to take a deep breath even after all that running. I sat on the floor, ignoring the layer of dust that I pushed into the air in the process. It was time to hope this body was not allergic to it.

I spied a brush in the corner of the cellar, leaning up against some empty boxes. My urge to open the cellar door and sweep the dust out was firmly squashed by my urge to live. I sat still, using the time I had to myself to cultivate. It seemed as though returning to Safi’s house tomorrow would be an impossibility.

Before I began to absorb qi, I remembered the little statue. I placed it in front of me. Vern’s technique, the technique the talented sculptor used, was made to enhance the early stages of cultivation, hence the technique can only be used crafting statues depicting a baby.

With the statue and my personalised cultivation method specifically designed for a chaotic rose soul root, I was set to begin my journey.

My dantian was filled to the brim with qi so I began the process of integration. Imprinting the qi with the cultivation method. This method, I had so meticulously spent around two lifetimes completing, was finally put to use. I felt an unexplainable joy in heart, despite being in a deeply meditative state I could feel the smile forcing itself upon my face. My brain’s lack of concentration probably meant my speed was a little lacking but I was too happy to care.

This method, I called it Tireless Celestial Rose at the time but I thought, maybe I had another name for it now. So, I began to cultivate the strongest dual cultivation technique I knew of, Redemption’s Rose, inspired by the long path I had ahead of me in this lifetime.

The method was best practiced alongside another, becoming essential at the soul formation stage, but practicing alone at the integration phase was not detrimental, just a little slower. It was created with the mind that I may not be immediately capable of finding a partner. I was thanking my previous selves for preparing for such a scenario considering it was exactly the one that played out.

Eventually, I calmed down and fell into a deeply meditative state. All I envisioned was red and white, the red coming in every shade but ceaselessly interrupted by a void of unforgiving white. It took me some time but I came to the conclusion that these empty spaces of white were brought about by the lack of a partner.

The colour show continued, it slowed down eventually as I felt l was floating atop undulating waves of red silk. I was lonely, the more I meditated the more I was acutely aware of my longing gazes towards the white waves that occasionally tore apart the red ones, trying to will another colour into existence, anything besides that mocking white.

My mind wandered inevitably to Safi, with indiscernible amounts of time passed I was jolted awake by my responsibility to her. I eventually admitted to myself that actually, I just wanted to see her again.