The Sun Reborn: Chapter 2 - The Memory
TidePart I: The Screaming Omen
The peaceful cadence of two years had lulled the Sun Family into a deceptive security. Little Karun, now a bold toddler whose movements were unnaturally swift, played in the Azure Serpent Garden. This garden was a sanctuary of wealth—the shimmering Spirit-Infused Jade Walls, ten feet high, were constantly energized by defensive Arrays that kept the chaotic wilderness Qi at bay, allowing only the purest essence to nurture the trees and herbs within. Beneath his simple tunic, the small, circular Kavacha of the Solar Crown resting on his chest pulsed with a faint, steady light, an invisible anchor to his powerful soul.
He was captivated by a swirl of Qi-Woven Butterflies, creatures of pure light and color. They danced, ephemeral and beautiful, symbols of the easy, untroubled life he now led.
Then, the world choked.
The garden's vibrant Qi flow suddenly ceased. The butterflies disintegrated into motes of light, and a cold, visceral silence dropped like a shroud. Karun, his golden eyes wide with an instinctual alarm that went beyond a child's fear, looked up.
From the crown of the ancient, towering Qi-Gathering Pine—a venerable tree whose roots tapped into the heart of the estate's energy—a shape plummeted. It was not a bird of the Hao Tian World. It was a malignancy, a Feral Qi-Bird, its form distorted by centuries of exposure to negative energy. Its feathers were a repulsive, oily green that shifted color in the subdued light, and its beak was a weapon of black obsidian. Its eyes were two blazing points of raw, untamed spiritual malice, locked onto the faint golden light emanating from Karun's chest.
It knew, in its corrupted animal instinct, that the child was a font of pure Solar energy—anathema to its existence.
The Feral Qi-Bird struck like a javelin. Its screech was not sound, but a psychic blade that tore through the boy's mind, stunning him. Karun, the great warrior who once dodged the most powerful Astras, was paralyzed by the terror of a child.
The obsidian talons scraped across the Kavacha. The armor, acting on a defensive reflex programmed by the Sun God himself, erupted in a momentary flash of brilliant, painful golden light. The light deflected the strike but simultaneously sent a devastating concussive shockwave through Karun's tiny nervous system.
He was hurled backward—a fragile body flung through the air. His head connected with the unforgiving granite of a Foundation Stone with a dull, sickening thud that echoed the finality of a war drum.
Blackness claimed him. A crimson stain bloomed instantly on the pale stone, shocking against the white marble.
Chaos erupted. Servants shrieked, their cries tearing through the sacred silence of the manor.
In a flash of light, Elder Sun Jin, Karun's grandfather and a formidable cultivator, appeared. He had sensed the disruption and the surge of malignant Qi. Seeing the unconscious boy and the blood, his aged face contorted into a mask of pure, killing rage. The bird, hovering for a second strike, was now facing a mountain of fury.
Elder Jin did not draw a weapon. He simply extended his hand. A torrent of jade-green Life Qi, thick and roaring like a celestial river, flowed from his palm. This was the refined essence of his power. It didn't just strike the Feral Qi-Bird; it obliterated it. The creature didn't burn or fall—it was instantly reduced to a puff of noxious black vapor and dissipated into nothingness. The power was so absolute, so swift, that the destruction left a scorched outline on the air where the bird had been.
Karun was instantly rushed to the Grand Medical Sanctuary, a structure built not of stone, but of polished white, crystalline healing jade, crowned by a dome of brilliant, energy-conducting blue glass. Inside, the clan's high-level Alchemists and Physicians worked frantically, their robes swirling as they initiated complex healing Arrays. The head injury was serious, but the spiritual trauma—the jarring shock to his nascent spiritual sea—was the greater concern.
For three days, the Sun Family knelt in silent terror. The only sound was the rhythmic hiss of the healing arrays and the occasional faint golden pulse beneath the skin of the unconscious boy—the Kavacha working overtime, desperately sealing the spiritual damage.
Part II: The Tsunami of Lifetimes
In the serene, boundless expanse of his spiritual universe, the Void of the Golden Star, Karun's soul was adrift. This inner world was a breathtaking tapestry of gold and deep ruby light, the legacy of his sun-god father.
Karun, still in the spiritual form of a bewildered two-year-old, wandered the amber void. His innate curiosity was the only guide in this silence, until he saw it—the object that would shatter his peace and unleash the warrior king within.
Suspended at the celestial core of his spiritual sea was the Memory Bubble. It was a gigantic, perfectly spherical prison of ancient power, shimmering with a tragic, magnificent energy. And within it stood Karna.
The sight was overwhelming. Karna, the epitome of the tragic hero, stood tall and imposing, his eyes closed in eternal sorrow. He was clad in the glorious, unscarred Golden Sun Armor and the radiant Kundala, his divine birthright restored in this spiritual realm. He held the celestial bow, Vijaya—a weapon that pulsed with the latent power to unravel stars. It was aimed at a destiny that was now finished.
The child spiritual form of Karun was drawn by a magnetic, terrifying longing. It was the purest form of self-recognition. He reached out a small, trembling hand and touched the smooth, crystalline surface of the Memory Bubble.
The touch was a cataclysm.
The Memory Bubble did not burst; it imploded, turning into a raging, conscious tsunami of lifetimes that crashed directly into the child's pure, empty soul.
The pain was absolute. It was not physical pain, but the searing, psychological trauma of two fully formed lives trying to occupy a single, two-year-old consciousness.
He saw his mother, Kunti, placing him in a woven basket, tears silently pouring down her face—the burning shame, the betrayal, the fear of exposure.He felt the heavy, calloused hand of Adhiratha, his foster father, and the joy of simple, honest love, immediately followed by the searing sting of being called the "Suta's Son"—the driver's child—a lifetime of scorn condensed into a single word.He was on the training grounds, mastering the art of the bow, every muscle aching, driven by a furious need to prove his worth to a world that despised his low birth.He stood before Indra, the chief of the gods, smiling solemnly as he carved the invincible Kavacha and Kundala from his own flesh, trading eternal life for the honor of a beggar's promise—the agonizing, profound pain of that sacrifice.He saw the face of Duryodhana, not as a villain, but as the only friend who ever accepted him, and felt the iron-clad loyalty that forced him to stand against his own divine blood.He was in the final battle, sweat and blood stinging his eyes, the weight of the war pressing down. The chariot wheel was stuck, cursed, an inanimate object sealing his fate. The final, sinking despair.He heard Lord Krishna's cold, authoritative command to Arjuna, the final word of Destiny.He felt the arrow pierce his chest, the life force leaving his body, not in fear, but in profound, exhausted acceptance, whispering, "Jai Shree Krishna."
The torrent continued, accelerating into a blinding, infinite stream: military strategy, spiritual Veda chants, the knowledge of celestial weapons, the complex politics of a dying age, the raw, perfect skill of a master warrior in every form of combat—all of it fused, indelibly, into the fabric of his new self.
The spiritual body of the child vanished. In its place stood a figure of absolute calm, his golden eyes now possessing the ancient, tragic wisdom of the Mahabharata. He was Karun, the Son of the Sun, the King of Anga, reborn with the fierce, pragmatic focus of a cultivator.
In the Grand Medical Sanctuary, the physical reaction was swift and terrifying. Karun's tiny body arched violently on the Sky-Silk bed. His golden eyes snapped open—not with a child's innocence, but with the chilling, calculating intensity of a seasoned general. He was not crying; he was simply booting up.
His mind ran a diagnostic on his current vessel, effortlessly calculating: Low power core (Dantian empty), stable Qi saturation (due to Kavacha), severely limited physical structure (two-year-old body).
Sun Wei and Lady Ming rushed in. Lady Ming swept him into a hug, clutching him with the desperate, raw love of a mother who thought she had lost her son.
As Karun felt the genuine, fierce warmth of his new mother, the sheer, profound wave of his past life's memory—the sorrow of Kunti, the loss of Adhiratha—collided with this pure, unburdened love. The newly forged soul cracked, and for a fleeting, tragic moment, the warrior wept. Two lone, crystal-clear drops of water escaped his golden eyes, silent tribute to the parents of two separate, painful existences.
"Mother, Father," Karun said, his voice small, yet perfectly articulate and measured, "Where exactly am I, and what is the meaning of this energy manipulation you call 'cultivation'?"
The clarity of his speech and the depth of his question froze his parents. The fear of memory loss was instantly replaced by the terrifying, exhilarating shock of a divine genius awakening.
Part III: The Path to Eternal Freedom
Sun Wei quickly composed himself, recognizing the sheer scale of the shift in his son. He sat down and, with the solemnity of a high priest, began the essential instruction.
He spoke of the Hao Tian World, a cosmos built on the foundation of Heaven and Earth Qi, and the one true aspiration: Immortality. Karun listened, the adult warrior's mind classifying, cross-referencing, and absorbing the data like a celestial computer.
Sun Wei detailed the seven great mortal realms that led to the final, unbound state of the Immortal Zenith:
Qi Awakening (The Seed): The ability to sense and draw foundational Qi.
Meridian Establishment (The Roots): Tempering the body's channels for smooth Qi flow.
Golden Sun Core (The Fruit): Condensing Qi into a physical, eternal energy source.
Nascent Soul Form (The Spirit): Birthing the spiritual twin, the immortal essence.
Solar Void Stepping (The Horizon): Perceiving and stepping into the cosmic void.
True Dao Illumination (The Law): Comprehending and mastering a fundamental law of the universe.
Ascension Tribulation (The Final Gate): Surviving the test of the Heavens to shed the mortal shell.
Karun's mind reeled with a single, burning thought. In his past world, the only path to the celestial realm was virtue and divine grace—a gift granted by the Gods, symbolized by the mythical Amrita. But here, the Heavens were a challenge, a test to be overcome, not a master to be obeyed.
"Tell me again, Father," Karun whispered, his voice gaining a hard, focused edge that sent a shiver down Sun Wei's spine. "By sheer will and my own effort—by refining the raw energy of the world within my body—I can forge a state where I will never again be subject to the whims of the Gods, a cursed fate, or the inevitability of death?"
Sun Wei nodded, beaming with pride at his son's intensity. "Precisely, my son! You cultivate to break free of the cycle! To become an Immortal Zenith is to become truly unbound and master of your own destiny."
This declaration ignited a fire in Karun's soul that was hotter than his divine parent, Surya. His past life was a tragedy defined by external forces: Kunti's shame, Indra's deception, a Brahmin's curse, and Krishna's final, decisive word. He was shackled by Destiny and undone by a simple, sunken chariot wheel.
In this life, the entire world was telling him: Forge your own path. Achieve absolute freedom. Control your own fate.
A cold, fierce determination settled over him. "Then I will cultivate," he declared, the sheer weight of his conviction making the air in the room feel heavy. "I will not just achieve the Immortal Zenith. I will surpass it. Never again will my life be dictated by the mud on a road or the curse of a man."
Part IV: The Ninth Rank and the Silent Annihilation
Karun then inquired about the Soul Weapon Awakening Ceremony, scheduled for his third birthday.
Sun Wei explained that every cultivator's power was channeled through a Soul Weapon, a spiritual twin of their will, born from their soul's essence and maturing alongside their cultivation. He reiterated the ten most revered archetypes in the world:
Rank
Weapon Archetype
Karun's Past Life Comparison
1
Sword (Single-Edged)
The versatile weapon of tactical advantage.
2
Spear (Polearm)
The weapon of formations and unstoppable charge.
3
Shield (Defensive)
The ultimate defense against celestial strikes.
4
Brush (Calligraphy)
The tool of a strategist and wise counsel.
5
Twin Blades/Swords
The chaotic, high-speed skirmishing weapon.
...
[Various]
...
9
Bow (Ranged)
The weapon of the King of Anga, ranked almost last.
10
Rings (Martial Arts)
The focus of pure, physical technique.
Karun's golden eyes narrowed at the ninth rank: Bow. The weapon of his ultimate mastery, the mighty Vijaya, was relegated to the bottom tier of utility.
"This is an error of judgment," Karun stated, the tone of a King correcting a flawed map. "A bow grants distance. Distance is control. Distance is survival. Why is it ranked so poorly against a close-quarters weapon like the Sword?"
Sun Wei laughed, a warm, booming sound that momentarily broke the heavy tension. "Ah, my little warrior! You speak like an old general. But here, a warrior can create distance with a single thought. Let me show you the truth of the Sword Dao."
Sun Wei led Karun out to the Training Courtyard. It was a vast, circular plaza paved with ancient, seamless granite, radiating warmth from its hidden Qi-Accumulation Formation.
Sun Wei took a breath, and Karun felt a profound, almost crushing spiritual pressure. The Golden Sun Core expert was not merely breathing; he was acting as a gravitational center, forcing the ambient Qi of the entire courtyard to surge toward him.
A blinding flash of silver-blue light erupted from Sun Wei's palm, the air sizzling with pure, refined energy. The light coalesced into his Soul Weapon: the magnificent, five-foot-long Azure Dragon-Patterned Spirit Sword. The blade pulsed with an ancient life force, and the stylized dragon etched into the metal seemed to writhe with captured lightning.
"Watch the Qi," Sun Wei instructed.
The Patriarch performed a simple, clean thrust toward a massive, millennia-old boulder resting thirty feet away—a boulder so dense it had been used as a target for generations. He channeled a visible, pulsing wave of Qi into the blade, and with a grunt of focus, unleashed a concentrated blade of compressed Qi.
The translucent projectile shot across the courtyard and struck the ancient boulder with a deceptively dull thud.
Karun, his warrior mind analyzing the impact, frowned. "The external force was negligible, Father. The stone remains intact. I do not see the utility of trading the power of an arrow for such a weak projection."
Sun Wei smiled, a mysterious, knowing look in his eyes. "Patience, my genius. The power of a true Sword Dao lies not in surface impact, but in internal annihilation. Go, touch the rock."
Karun approached the boulder. His golden eyes scanned it, his formidable spiritual sense searching for fissures, cracks, or surface heat. Nothing. It appeared completely unharmed. He reached out and placed a single, cautious finger on the rough granite surface.
Fshhhhh. RATTLE.
The instant Karun's finger broke the final tension of the stone, the massive, three-ton boulder did not explode; it imploded. It shuddered violently, then, as if it had been pulverized into powder on a molecular level, it collapsed inward, dissolving into a fine, swirling column of granite dust that the courtyard breeze instantly carried away. Where the boulder had stood for generations, there was now only clean granite paving.
Silence. Karun stared at the empty space, genuinely shocked.
"Internal destruction… molecular-level annihilation… achieved through an invisible, focused shockwave of compressed Qi," he muttered, processing the technique in a heartbeat. The Bow's advantage was distance; the Sword's advantage, in this world, was unseen lethality.
The master archer's loyalty finally wavered. If the Sword Dao can perform such internal destruction from thirty feet, then the widely used Bow Dao here must be terribly underdeveloped.
A fierce ambition was born in that moment. My heart belongs to the Bow, the mighty Vijaya. But his tactical mind acknowledged the truth: Rank 1 Sword offered versatility and the key to hidden power.
If I awaken a Sword, I will become the Sword Saint of this world. But if I awaken a Bow, I swear by the memory of my first life, I will perfect it to a level of cosmic destruction this Hao Tian World has never dared to imagine.
He was ready to begin. The weapon he drew would determine the initial trajectory of his eternal path.
Part V: The Scholar's Ascendancy
With six months remaining until the mandatory Soul Weapon Awakening Ceremony on his third birthday, Karun knew every moment was a weapon to be sharpened. He had the soul of a King and a warrior—but he was illiterate in this world's rules.
He approached his father with a concise decree: "I require immediate, unrestricted access to the Scholar's Repository. I must master this world's language, history, and all known cultivation lore to prepare my path."
Sun Wei readily agreed, assigning the family's most respected and ancient tutor, Butler Lin, to the task, instructing him to spare no effort.
The Scholar's Repository was Karun's new temple. It was a massive, cylindrical tower of dark, polished ironwood, radiating an ancient, deep, scholarly pressure. Within, hundreds of thousands of silk and bamboo scrolls, protected by complex Silencing and Anti-Deterioration Formations, lined the walls, holding the accumulated knowledge of the Sun Family's lineage.
A true prodigy in the Hao Tian World typically required four to five months to fully internalize the intricate ideograms and linguistic structures.
Karun, fueled by the fused mind of a warrior-king and his Karmic inheritance, took two months.
His mind, which had once flawlessly memorized entire Veda texts, military strategies for armies of millions, and the administrative laws of a vast kingdom, devoured the local language effortlessly. He wasn't simply reading; he was assimilating the core concepts behind the characters. Butler Lin, a venerable scholar of eighty years, began the task with patience and ended it two months later in a state of slack-jawed, tearful disbelief, unable to find a single text that could challenge the child's intellect.
Karun then moved onto the Auxiliary Paths—the support pillars of the cultivation world. He spent the next four months in a frantic, systematic study of:
Alchemy: He learned that the art was less about chemistry and more about Qi Synthesis—using advanced formations to refine heavenly materials into Pills and Elixirs. He mused that this was the world's self-made version of Amrita, offering power and longevity by command.
Formation Making (Arrays): This fascinated him deeply. It was the engineering of the cultivation world. He saw it as the ultimate tactical maneuver—inscribing complex, interdimensional energy circuits onto objects or terrain for defense, offense, or resource gathering. Why waste energy fighting an enemy when a well-placed array can trap them for a century? he thought, the ruthless tactician surfacing.
Beast Taming: He read about the spiritual contracts and the symbiotic relationship between cultivator and powerful Spirit Beasts, recognizing it as the ultimate form of a bond, far exceeding the loyalty he commanded as a king.
He cross-referenced every piece of information, particularly the data on longevity. The table detailing the increasing lifespan with each breakthrough became his mantra:
Cultivation Realm
Estimated Lifespan (Mortal Years)
Karun's Internal Interpretation
Qi Awakening
Up to 120 years
A decent span for a servant. Insufficient.
Meridian Establishment
Up to 200 years
The lifetime of a privileged noble. Easily shattered.
Golden Sun Core
Up to 500 years
The life of a long-lived, respected Patriarch. Still a captive of time.
Nascent Soul Form
Up to 1,500 years
A taste of eternity. Now, true power begins.
Solar Void Stepping
Up to 3,000 years
The ability to watch continents rise and fall. Unbound.
True Dao Illumination
Up to 5,000 years
A lifespan equal to minor deities of my past world. Nearly sufficient.
The thought thrilled Karun to his core. Every level was not just power; it was a physical, tangible rejection of the inevitable end that had claimed him once before. Every step forward was a step away from a fate decided by an archer's arrow and the curse of a man. The excitement was a silent, internal roar.
The four months vanished in a blinding flash of study and preparation. Karun, the mind of a king trapped in the body of a boy, emerged from the Scholar's Repository, his golden eyes filled with the cold, focused light of absolute certainty. He was ready.
The day had come. The day Karun, the Son of the Sun in two lifetimes, would enter the Awakening Hall and discover the destiny of his Soul Weapon. He was armed with the knowledge of five thousand years of cultivation, the wisdom of a general, the sorrow of a King, and the physical armor of a God. The next chapter of his eternal legend was about to be inscribed.