"I'll kill them, I kill them all! No matter, I'll be the one to burn them to the ground!"
Then.
[System Integrating...]
[Ding! You have unlocked the Infinite Cultivation System!]
[Dormant skill — Dragonic Longevity has been activated...]
GASP!
His eyes shot open. And he sat up fast.
His breath grew uneven, each gasp sharp and heavy, as though he had just finished a marathon. "What... happened?" He muttered under his breath, pressing a hand to his forehead. The last memory he held was of drifting through purgatory, yet somehow —he found himself back in the cultivation world.
But that wasn't the confusing part.
If his memory served him right, his arms had been severed just before death by some strange technique — but now, they were whole, firmly attached, as though it had never happened at all.
But it did.
The soft moonlight washed over his face in a pale glow as his vision sharpened. The cabin they once called home lay reduced to ashes, and the memory of what caused it just as vividly in his mind.
"Mom!" He staggered to his feet and rushed to the heap of ashes where his mother had lain before he lost consciousness. With trembling hands, he clawed through the ashes in desperation, clinging to the faint hope of a false miracle that she might still be alive.
But all he saw was ashes.
"No..." He whimpered.
"Mother!" He cried out, tears streaming down his face. This was his second chance. His second chance at happiness, at grasping the feeling every man longed for, no matter how harsh the path life had laid out for him.
The feeling of having a family to return to, the feeling of having a feeling in general.
And now.
That feeling was stripped away from him.
"Y—Young Master... Li Yao." A voice sounded from behind, and his tear-streaked eyes shot open as he quickly glanced over his shoulder.
He set his eyes on Daichi, who barely clung to life.
"Guard Daichi!" He hurried to his bodyguard — what remained of him to be precise. A fatal wound pierced straight through his heart, yet with sheer will, he had forced an advanced breathing technique to keep his Qi flowing, clinging to life for just a little longer.
"Guard Daichi!" He placed his hands on his wounds, trying to channel his magic to heal it, but because of all that had happened so far, it slipped his mind — he didn't have his magic anymore.
"Damn it... Damn it! The physician from earlier!" He remembered the physician they had summoned earlier — without his magic, that healer was his only remaining hope. "Where does he live!?"
"Li Yao." Daichi gathered the last of his strength and reached out, gripping his arms with trembling hands. "It's no use, I don't think I can hang on for much longer." The more he tried to speak, the weaker his breaths became, and his Qi circulation faltered, losing its strength bit by bit.
"No... You can't leave me too." Li Yao muttered, refusing to believe that he was about to lose the only person left he could consider a family.
"Li Yao, it's been a pleasure serving and protecting you. If there's one thing I regret, it's the late timing of your recovery. If not... I would have taught you all I know." He said softly, his breath and consciousness fading little by little.
"I don't care that you didn't teach me! I only care that you stay with me!"
A smile crept up Daichi's face.
"This is the second time you've shown love and affection towards me. You've always shoved me away, cursing at me because I came from the very sect that tore your life apart. The first time, I thought you were happy that you could use me to learn the saber technique now that your body somehow recovered itself to that point."
"I see now I was wrong." His Qi circulation completely faltered, and his consciousness faded away the next moment. "It's been an honor serving you... Young Master Yao..."
Silence.
His pupils widened, then faded into emptiness— and finally, he yielded to death's quiet embrace.
"Daichi." Li Yao called out to him, but he didn't respond. "Daichi!"
At that moment, a piercing ring echoed inside his skull, sharp enough to drown out the world around him.
He clutched his head with both hands, a raw shriek tearing from his mouth as an onslaught of memories surged into him—memories he had never lived, faces he had never seen, fights he had never fought.
They crashed into his mind like a violent storm overwhelming him with the life and experiences of another — the previous soul that once inhabited this very body.
When it finally ended, he found himself sprawled on the ground, some distance away from Daichi.
The pain of the sudden influx was so unbearable that he didn't even realized he had rolled across the dirt, thrashing in a futile attempt to lessen the torment tearing through his mind.
But now.
It no longer mattered. Every fragment, every detail of the previous soul's memories. He rememberred it all. The chain of events that had driven him, his mother, and his loyal guard Daichi to flee, forcing them to seek refuge in the depths of the forest.
And most importantly, he remembered the face — the cold, merciless face of the man who had slain his new mother, struck down Daichi, and nearly ended his own life as well.
Those memories had been sealed away for a single reason—the Heavenly Divine Pearl. It had exhausted the last of its power to carry out his transmigration, cleansing his body of all irregularities.
It had served as a mental barrier, shielding him from what the past soul had endured. Moreover, Li Yao's mind was far stronger than that of the body's former inhabitant, making it nearly impossible for those memories to surface.
But now, now that he came face-to-face with death, that barrier had finally shattered, and the memories came rushing back to him.
He rose to his feet, and brushing the tears from his eyes. His gaze fell on the ashes of his mother and the lifeless corpse of Daichi, then reached down and picked up a piece of charred wood from the ruins.
With it, he gently scattered the ashes over Daichi's body, covering him bit by bit until he was buried beneath the remnants of their ruined home.
"Guard Daichi I'm forever grateful for the love and affection you once showed me, or rather the previous soul of this body... Wherever you and mom are, please... Protect her just like you've always done."
He pressed the charred wood deep into the ashes, setting it upright as a makeshift tombstone. Then, lifting his head to the night sky, his gaze burned with unyielding rage.
Once again, he had nothing left in this world, not left living for. It was as if the shadows of his past came to hunt him, and now, history repeated itself.
"With all I previously cherised lost and gone, I have nothing left but my vengeance. The demonic faction huh?"