Reincarnation: A Wuxia/Xianxia Cultivation Novel (Path of Lazy Immortal Book 1)

by A P Gore

  However, it had ended well, and the young master had passed into a calm sleep. His face was devoid of any pain, and what more could she ask?

  While staring at his peaceful expression, she remembered the strange White Cicada Fruit juice the young master made for himself. It was a bizarre method she had never heard about. Where did the young master found about it? Thinking about it, the young master had hidden so many things from her. This weird method, money buried in the ground . . .

  The strangest thing, he even knew the path of the knife when she’d stabbed it into his chest.

  A bout of emotions jumped into her throat when she thought about how she’d stabbed her young master so ruthlessly. When he’d bled, she felt like stabbing herself for the inhuman thing she’d done.

  But he’d survived, and that was what was important. After he went through all that, his injuries had healed from the inside out, and now only shallow cuts remained. If he wasn’t sleeping peacefully, she would have changed his bloody clothes. Seeing those bloody clothes on his fair body made her heart squeeze in fear.

  Did he lose some fat?

  She stared at the young master’s figure. He looked a little thinner. It must be because of the injuries. Going forward, she must feed him well enough to regain all the fat he lost. If he became thin, he wouldn’t look handsome anymore.

  “Fei’er.” The young master’s eyes popped open, a shade of red and green peeping at her. Wait, when did the young master’s eyes became a little red? They were always green. Was he bleeding in his eyes? “Go and hide. Whatever happens, don’t come out. I’ll solve this matter myself.” Raising his palm, he patted the back of her hand.

  Bewildered, she stood. What was going on? She wanted to ask, but instead she moved out of the room and stepped into the darkness. Tracing her palm over the stone wall, she moved behind the home. The fragrance of wet grass haunted her nose when she stepped on it. The area behind the young master’s house was covered in weeds. She made a note to clean it up once the young master regained his health.

  Two figures rushed from the well-lit buildings and headed toward the young master’s room. In the dim light coming from a nearby street lantern, she spotted their fierce faces.

  “The heavens are smiling on us. This trash is still alive,” one of them exclaimed after entering the room.

  Ki Fei clenched her fist. She wanted to dash in and punch that bastard who dared to talk rudely about her young master, but then the young master’s words reverberated in her ears. He’d said he would solve it. And after seeing him miraculously surviving the brutal ordeal of blood loss and injuries using a weird fruit, she believed him.

  “Uncle Li Jia. Please forgive this little one for not being able to properly greet you. This little one is injured.” The young master’s fragile voice drifted out next.

  Her heart shuddered in fear. Was he injured again?

  No, that couldn’t be. A minute before, he had spoken with vigor. Was he pretending?

  “Brat, if you want to live, tell me where you got that pill.”

  “Uncle . . .” A long silence prevailed. “Okay, this little one will tell you. No, I’ll show you, uncle. I found it accidently, but this little one was afraid to go in there. There might be more of those heavenly pills.”

  A greedy laugh echoed through the room, and then the two men walked out, one carrying the young master over his shoulder.

  She was about to follow them when a sound echoed in her mind.

  “Dig three feet down in the middle of my room, and bring the ring you find to the Ancient Ruins outside of the city.” That voice sounded like her young master, but how could he speak directly into her mind?

  She didn’t understand, but she went back inside five minutes after the men left the room to do his bidding.

  Chapter 11 Ancient Ruins

  Fierce wind blew against Li Wei’s face as they made their way through the long lanes of Old Martial City. He had grown up on these streets, and seeing them again made his heart flutter. Two hundred years. It was a long life to live, and he realized he hadn’t enjoyed it much. In the mad pursuit of power and love, he’d lost the reason of being a human.

  Li Wei enjoyed piggybacking on Li Jia’s back. Being cared for by someone, he loved this, and he should do this more. In his last life, he’d wasted too much time working hard and cultivating. Most of his years in his previous life, he’d spent a few hours with senior sister Zia, and rest of the time he cultivated and cultivated.

  But in this life, he would walk a different path. With the knowledge he had about the future, he would live a lazy life.

  Yes, that was his goal. To become a lazy immortal.

  Closing his eyes, he enjoyed the free ride.

  His being shook as Li Jia jumped over a large pit. At some point, Li Jia’s leather shoes stopped smacking paved city street, and Wei opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by pitch dark night and dirt road. Five minutes into the wild, the city’s urban smell vanished, replaced by wild grass and fresh soil. The last of the city lights vanished as they delved further toward the Ancient Ruins.

  Did Fei’er followed them? He hoped she would, otherwise his efforts might be in vain. If he couldn’t lure these bastards with a few Body Refirming Pills, they might not let him go, and right now he absolutely couldn’t go against them.

  Licking his lips, he savored the bitter taste of the Blood Nourishing Powder Fei’er had fed him before sleeping. With the Blood Nourishing Powder and the innate healing capabilities of Blood Essence Body, his deep injuries had already vanished, and only shallow cuts remained over his skin.

  There was one more thing he’d gained after reaching layer one in body Refinement Realm: his senses had improved a lot, especially his sense of smell. He was shocked when he’d first inhaled the overwhelming fragrance of orchid from Fei’er. It was so pure, but now inhaling the dark smell coming from Li Tang’s body, he was disgusted with his own ability to smell. Something was wrong with Li Tang. His blood smelled polluted when compared to Fei’er’s or even Li Jia’s blood.

  And Li Tang’s haggard look was evidence that he was tired as hell.

  If he’d gained benefits just by reaching layer one of body Refinement Realm, what would he gain when he reached layer two of body Refinement Realm? The jade slip he’d read also mentioned a minor power he would get once he reached body Foundation Realm.

  Ragged breath from Li Tang woke him from his ruminations. “Uncle Jia, can we stop for a moment? My internal injuries are flaring up because of your extreme speed. Uncle Jia seems to get more powerful with every passing day.”

  Li Jia snorted coldly, but he stopped anyway.

  “Jia’er, let’s take a break.” Pushing his palms on his knees, Li Tang dropped his ass on the grass.

  “Brother Tang, why do you look tired? Didn’t you sleep well with Old Martial City’s Fragrance House beauties?” Li Jia asked in a sarcastic tone while putting Wei on the grass.

  Li Wei let his body sprawl on the ground. In reality, he was fine. Absolutely fine. But there was no point in showing his improved condition to the Li brothers. It might even become useful once these bastards found the pills.

  “Little nephew Wei, how are your injuries?” Li Jia asked as if he cared a lot for Wei.

  Wei wanted to smack his face, but he suppressed his rage. If this bastard had cared for Wei, he wouldn’t have stomped on his stomach. It almost killed him.

  “Uncle, please let this little one rest for half an hour. This little one will be in debt to you.”

  “Hmm. Make it fast. I don’t have too much time on my hands. I have to cultivate too.”

  “Yes, uncle.” Wei spread his divine sense around, noticing every single thing happening in a mile’s area. It was a risk, but he had to do it. His divine sense was powerful, and he could spread it around easily, but due to the risk of crumbling his divine sense, he used it sparingly and retracted it quickly.

  After a minute, he spread his divine sense again and recalled
it back. He repeated this at one-minute intervals until he spotted Fei’er sneakily moving behind them. Every time he used his divine sense, his head hurt like someone hammered it against the ground, but he had to take the risk for Fei’er and himself. There was no other option.

  “Fei’er, go around and drop three pills from the ring into the fourth chamber of the Ancient Ruins.” He sent a message to the little lass through his divine sense. It was the same hole he had found the storage ring last time. It was a rare treasure in the Mortal Realm. A few months back, while fighting with an enemy, he had slipped into this hole and found a skeleton with this ring. He’d also found a pill and some gold in a pouch attached to the skeleton’s waist. When he touched the ring, he’d felt nothing, but it had shone with a strange color, so he’d buried it inside his room, hoping it might sell for some money.

  He chuckled. His old self didn’t know it was a storage ring and had lost it after running away from the Li clan. He’d worn it on his finger like an idiot, and one expert stole it with force. He’d even bragged about its contents. It had many pills used by humans and beasts. If only he had reached layer one Foundation Refinement Realm, he could have accessed it in his previous life.

  Wei sighed in his heart. He’d made many mistakes in his previous life, and he wanted to fix them all. The first thing was to get himself out of this predicament. His plan was simple: With Fei’er’s help, he would throw three pills in the same hole. That should satisfy the three brothers. What these bastards did with the pills was up to them.

  “Let’s go.” Li Jia got up and brushed his ass to remove grass pieces stuck to it.

  “Uncle Jia, please wait for a few more minutes.” He made a puppy face. “My stomach injury is still not good. If it’s aggravated, I might die.” His voice came out as that of a weak and fragile youth.

  “Hmmm.” Li Tang grunted. “Kid, make it fast, else don’t blame us for dragging you there.” His face suddenly turned cautious, and he rose from his place and looked in the direction Fei’er had stood a moment before. “Someone’s there.”

  Wei’s heart squeezed in fear. If Li Jia went after Fei’er, she would be in trouble. Deep trouble.

  Chapter 12 Escape

  Li Wei’s lungs constricted when Li Tang got up and looked in the direction Fei’er had vanished. If Li Tang decide to check further, Fei’er would get caught and she would be in trouble.

  A resolute look flashed in his eyes, and his back muscle twitched. He circulated Blood Essence Body art to push all his energy to his legs lying on the wet grass. If Li Tang made a move, he would jump up and obstruct him.

  Darkness covered everything, and it was impossible to make out anything with bare eyes. Even with Foundation Realm cultivation, Wei doubted Li Tang could sense anything in the dark veil of night.

  “I smell something from that direction.” Li Tang pointed in the direction where Fei’er had vanished.

  Perspiration formed a river on Wei’s lower back. The more Li Tang suspected, the more he sweated. He felt a strange nervousness moving through his body for the whole time Li Tang kept suspecting. In fact, Wei had never given a second thought to Li Tang. But his perception was better than Wei had thought.

  Fortunately, Li Tang sat down after staring at the bone-biting darkness for a few more breaths. Taking a piece of meat from his bag, he started munching on it. It smelled like Pink Rabbit’s meat, something Fei’er had brought for Wei, but she’d dropped it when she spotted him lying in blood. What a waste. When he saw the meat going bad after he opened his eyes, he’d regretted it.

  “Elder brother, what was that?” Li Jia’s hoarse voice broke the silence.

  Wei’s shoulder muscle contracted, perspiration forming a thin film over his forehead. Did Li Jia notice something too? But how?

  “Nothing. I thought I felt someone, but it must be an animal,” Li Tang replied with his eyes closed.

  Relaxing his back muscles, Wei wiped his perspiration and stared at the starry sky. Wang Zia loved staring at the sky as she practiced Star Sky Body Cultivation Art.

  Suddenly he wanted to slap himself. Why the heck was he thinking about her? She killed him, and he hated her. There was no point in thinking about her.

  Sighing in his heart, Wei closed his eyes and recited the next cultivation chant for Blood Essence Body Cultivation Art. After ten minutes, he opened his eyes and coughed before saying they could move.

  Twenty minutes later, they all stood in front of the fourth chamber in the Ancient Ruin city. In the dark night, the ruined city looked creepy and grim, but Wei had spent many nights here and knew that, for some unknown reason, no Ferocious Beasts stepped in the city boundaries.

  “Three pills. Elder brother, this kid is telling the truth. There are three Body Refirming Pills in this pit.” Li Jia jumped out of the hole with dirt covering his face, but his eyes lacked any annoyance. They were beaming with joy.

  Good job, Fei’er. Wei sighed in his heart. That little lass had hidden the pills below ground with the withered pouch she had dug from his room. It already looked ancient, so it didn’t arouse any suspicion from his uncles.

  Li Tang broke into a greedy smile, but it soon turned into a bitter one when he opened the worn gray pouch and dropped three white pills on his palm.

  The atmosphere suddenly turned tense, and Wei could smell blood in the air.

  “Jia’er. How should we divide these pills?” Li Tang was first one to speak.

  Wei snorted inside his mind. This elder uncle was trying to make the younger one sacrifice. Damn sure he expected the younger one to give up on two pills.

  “Elder brother, you’re already at layer five Foundation Realm, and I’m at layer four. Shouldn’t I take two pills, so I can reach layer six along with you? Think about how much power the Li clan will wield in the city if we have three layer-six Foundation Realm martial artists in the clan. With the ancestors standing behind us, we might be able to contend against Du clan.”

  Once again Wei snorted. This younger one was shameless, talking about going against Du clan. Was that even possible?

  “Okay, let’s do that,” Li Tang said in a casual tone, but something was wrong with his disposition. Wei sensed a killing intent from him. “I don’t like it, but I’ll sacrifice for our clan.” Picking two pills, he extended his left hand for Li Jia to take them.

  Wei squinted. The elder uncle wasn’t left-handed. Why was he extending his left hand? Something was fishy here, but Li Jia’s greedy eyes didn’t seem to recognize it, and he stepped forward to grab the pills.

  Swoosh!

  Blood sprayed out of Li Jia’s gut as Li Tang stabbed him with his right hand. It was so fast that even Wei didn’t see Li Tang pull out the knife. Only when a tiny amount of fire qi leaked from the dagger did Wei realize Li Tang had used qi to break through Li Jia’s defense.

  “Elder bro. . .”

  Li Tang broke out in a wicked smile as he stabbed his own brother again and again.

  Wei couldn’t resist shaking his head. Another family had fallen to greed. In his two hundred years of life, he had seen this numerous times, and it always baffled him.

  It happened so fast that Li Jia couldn’t react at all. All he could do was die with his eyes wide open in shock.

  A bad premonition took over Wei’s heart as Li Tang tilted his head to look at him. Although he didn’t care what these two brothers did, being an eyewitness was troublesome.

  “I’m sorry, my dear nephew, but you must die.” Li Tang’s knife hand slashed down.

  The knife descended like lightning, and Li Wei had no chance of avoiding it. In a moment's flash, he remembered how he’d died in his previous life. That time too he was killed by a family member. Yes, he’d considered senior sister Zia family, She was even betrothed to him by the sect leader.

  He still remembered the Ice Jade fragrance senior sister Zia used to spray on her clothes.

  Yet she’d killed him ruthlessly.

  Well, he should just call that bitch by her
name, Wang Zia. She didn’t deserve to be called his senior sister.

  Right now, his own uncle wanted to kill him. That, too, after Wei had done so much for him. Maybe it was good that the Li clan was annihilated after he left in his previous life. If people like these ruled the clan, there was no way the clan would remain righteous.

  Suddenly he felt better at his own decision to walk alone on this path. There were no good family ties when people like Li Tang existed in the family. Now, he didn’t even feel guilty about making his stepfather a scapegoat for his plan. Everyone deserved their end.

  But he still regretted that Chi’er had died, and Fei’er had vanished.

  The knife pierced through his chest, just a fraction away from his heart. If he hadn’t moved slightly, it would have pierced his heart, killing him in one go.

  “Uncle, you . . .” He sprayed a mouthful of blood over Li Tang’s face.

  Wei sensed a movement not far away. It was Fei’er moving out of her hiding place.

  Wei sent a message with his divine sense. “Fei’er don’t. I’m all right. Just stay where you are.” She seemed restless, and he didn’t want her to get into this mess.

  Li Tang groaned, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. “Brat, you ruined this father’s face. I’ll slice you to pieces.”

  Ignoring Li Tang, Wei pressed his hand to his wound and stopped the bleeding. This was his chance. When the duo came to his room for asking about the pills, he had foreseen this event. He’d thought both of them would try to kill him; Li Tang killing Li Jia was out of his expectations, but the fewer people to tackle, the better the outcome.

  Flipping onto his stomach, he went on all fours and threw himself in the pit where the Li brothers had found the pills. It was an interconnected network of tunnels, and he knew them like the back of his hand. When he’d found the storage ring and pill, he had been stuck in these tunnels for almost a month, and he had made a map for himself. The tunnel opening in the fourth chamber would allow him to step out from the other side of the Ancient Ruins, and that should be enough for him to walk away from the Li family’s clutches.